YAY! It turned out really actually. The waist is huge but with the drawstring it's pretty close to perfect. The first half turned out to be really wide, so I did the second half a lot narrower and I was afraid it wouldn't really work and I'd have to start all over, but it was pretty perfect. I didn't use the ribbon at all. For the lace part I just put a couple rows of straight stitch which looks fine, and for the top I used 6 lines of yarn which was leftover, knotted at the ends, for the drawstring, which I think looks really nice. Yay! I was also afraid that the stitch was going to be too loose and I'd have to line it but I think it turned out ok. Definitely have to be careful which underwear I'll wear with it though. In a couple of the pictures you can check out, for your viewing pleasure, my gorgeous support hose. Ugh.

Free at Last!

I have finished one panel, it's true. The photo isn't the best but you get the idea.... I'm feeling rather intimidated by the prospect of doing that all over again, even though you said it goes faster.... But I gotta admit I'm excited about wearing it....

Jamie THANK YOU so much for the package! That was so thoughtful of you! I got it when I finally got home, but that yarn is gorgeous! I found one pattern in one magazine that I want to attempt, and even though i'm going to be busy I have decided that really there is no point in stressing out about finishing my classes at this point, so I'll just take it easy. I will not be denied my summer!! And if nothing else, I will definitly have time to knit on the drive out to Montana.

As far as the running goes, I think I over-did it a bit. There are these great lakes in Minneapolis and these great bike trails to them, but it's about a 30-45 minute bike ride there. It's been gorgeous here and so the day after I got out, I biked to the beach and attempted to run in the 85 degree heat of the afternoon around the lake. Needless to say, after laying in bed for three weeks straight I didn't get far. My legs are sore and achy, but it feels good. It'll just take a while to get back into the swing of things. I'd love to hear your suggestions about what to eat when I am training, what's the best for before and after running and stuff like that... I did know that you are a dietitian so that did make sense to me. :) I have another friend who ran last year and wants to run, too so having him as a reference will help a lot, too.

I'll leave you with the first shot (a little blurry) of the new, clot-free, healthy me! (knock on wood) Twins game last night, we picked a good one to go to, they won 13-4! Lots of home runs!

The Big Reveal

Here it is, the lacy skirt with no bows:














And yeah, it was hard to finish it. I spent so much time knitting it and ripping it and knitting it and calculating and all that... and now its done. I worried so much that it would be too small. But its too big. I mean, its okay, but it kind of bunches more than I'd like at the top where the drawstring is. Even after my millions of calculations, I figured something wrong because the waist is 2 inches bigger than it is supposed to be. However, I am not ripping it out and starting over again! I like it, it fits the rest of my body fine. It does seem a little heavy and "hangy". I don't know what the right word is...
But I am happy with how it turned out.



I am participating in Sockapalooza4 and I just got my sock pal's information the other day. I am really excited, but there are so many choices in yarn, and color, and pattern. She didn't give me much of an idea of what she likes, so I don't know where to start! I was thinking about dyeing some yarn for the socks, but I don't know if she would think that was as neato as I do. And what if the color fades really quickly? I did try using hibiscus flowers (actually hibiscus tea from the natural food store) on a little bit of sock yarn & I really like the color - its kind of a rosy pink with almost a hint of grey. However, I didn't mordant the yarn first so that may change the color a bit. I think this might be a good color for the socks, what do you think? I ordered some undyed yarn from knitpicks and I hope it arrives soon. I am hoping that this dyes a little bit better than the stuff we have been using.

Hey Jamie, I was thinking about dyeing some yarn for your mom for Mother's Day. Do you think she would like that? Does she like earth-toned colors like the ones we've been getting so far?

Oh yeah, and if you want to see the loud and colorful lounge pants I made yesterday, check out my flickr. There are better pictures of the skirt I sewed, too. I figured this post had enough pictures for today.

Back to sewing...

I have recently been inspired to start sewing again and to try embroidery, mostly spurred on by the discovery of SouleMama's blog and this and this. Well, anyway, it got me sewing again today. I pretty much just took the day off and played all day. My friend Cheryl came over and played sewing with me for a while too.










A simple skirt (pattern is Simplicity #7229) and an linen embroidered hand towel I made for part of my Mother's Day gift for my mom.

....my skirt is finished and blocking. More on that tomorrow.


P.S. Mol, I am working on a dishcloth in that picture you were asking about. Its a ball band dishcloth that is all the rage on Mason Dixon. They're pretty fun to make.

A day in the life of me...

1. Yarn dyeing paraphanalia 2. Ivy dye bath with yarn 3. Yarn dyed with ivy, virginia creeper, virginia creeper with iron added, and red clover 4. Frazier! 5. Afternoon tea and knitting 6. Ivy & Virgina Creeper dyebaths 7. Bankhead crew 8. Albinistic hooded warbler we caught a couple days ago

...I don't even know where to start, its been so long! I have been done at the coffee shop for a week now (thank God!), but its still been busy around here - the field season has somehow snuck up on me - the birds are here and are getting ready to get busy. So, I've been out in the field a bunch last week to get prepared, not really fun stuff, but it has to get done. That means not much knitting (well, not as much as usual). It rained over the weekend, so no field work, but I got lots done... taxes (finally), cleaning, organizing, and knitting.
I had been on a knitting hiatus last week - however,

I did make these wee sockies for my friend's baby whose first birthday was a week ago.

I've lost all interest in the cardigan that I started... so I've put it aside for a while. Its not turning out the way I was imagening, so its hard to motivate myself to figure out how to shape the sleeves.

I did however manage to work on my skirt a little. The lace is going much quicker on the second side than the first side did. I did this lace in two nights - just a couple hours (...okay, well maybe 4 hours).


Rachel and I have big plans to do some natural dyeing using plants. So I went to the library tonight to see if they had any books on dyeing using plants. Well, let me tell you, ya'll should visit the library. They have an awesome selection of books!!!! Why hadn't I thought of this before? So this is what I came home with:

The book on the bottom is Killer Tea Cosies - very strange book with all sorts of patterns (knit, crochet, and sew) for tea cosies, the next one up is Sensational Knitted Socks, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, and on top is Wild Color - an awesome book that explains all about plant dyeing and what plants yield what colors under what circumstance, what you can add to the dye baths to change the results, etc. I am really psyched about this - Rachel & I even stopped in Hartselle on our way back from Bankhead today to look in the thrift stores for big pots or kettles to use for our project. I can't wait!

In other exciting news, we are getting trailers to stay in out at Bankhead this year! Could not be happier. One word: air conditioning (I guess thats two words). We are going to be staying out there this weekend, and I can't wait for the laid-back feeling of being out in the woods for a week at a time. I should be able to get lots done...

And Jamie, we need a update on whats going on with you. I know you're busy, but your brother proves to be a dearth of information when it comes to your big move... fill us in!

First Panel, Ces't Fini!

Everyones Back!

I'm glad to have everyone back! Jamie - Utah looks beautiful, even if there wasn't a lot of snow. It sounds like you had fun despite the chaos! ... And those socks are beautiful! I love the colors - its kind of funny because I read your post yesterday right after I got home from Barnes and Noble where I bought Favorite Socks. In blogland it seems everyone is raving about this book, and when I saw it I decided I needed to start making more interesting socks. Its weird, because before I made any socks I thought, whats the big deal? They're socks, no one even sees them on your feet! But then I made a pair, and then another, and then another. Its addicting. And there is just something comforting about wearing socks you made. Its almost like having a secret or something. So I will make more! I do find it kind of ridiculous, though because sock yarn is SOOOO expenisive. I can go to the store and buy a pair of socks for $3, or I can spend $20 on yarn and two weeks making them.

So on to more exciting things... Here is the progress of my skirt. Slowly but surely, it is coming along. I think I finally have the pattern set & I think it will work. Molly, (and Jamie, too), if you want, I can figure out the pattern for you, it is actually pretty easy now that I have it figured out. When you are done with the lace & the eyelet part, stop knitting and give me this information:
1. The number of stitches on your needle when you are finished with the eyelet (I didn't have the number that it said I should have, but I didn't try to go back)
2. The length of what you have done (the lace and eyelet)
3. The total lenght you would like the skirt to be
4. The waist & hip you want
5. Your stitch gauge & your row gauge

I am also working on my first design project. Figuring out the skirt pattern made me decide that I could design something simple if I wanted. I saw this and had to have it, so I designed a pattern inspired by it. I am knitting on size 10s, so it is going fast. I am finished with one front side and just casted on for the other.

Learning about patience...

I was telling Molly the other day that knitting has really taught me to be more patient. Well... little did I know that I had more to learn. Last night I went from this:


to this:


I checked my stitch gauge, but I never checked my row gauge. I have never checked row gauge before, but when making a skirt, apparently it is important. The row gauge the pattern called for was 29 rows = 4', I think. Mine was 35 rows. No wonder my skirt was seeming rather short...
So I decided to just start over from the lace. I checked my stitch gauge again before ripping, and it was off, so I just decided to rework the entire pattern. I measured a skirt that I already have and that fits nicely & decided I wanted 7 inches between the waist and the widest part of my hips. I needed the skirt to be 20" across at the hip and 17" across at the waist. And I wanted the skirt to be a total of 28" long. So I got out my calculator and got to work figuring out how many stitches equaled 20", how many stitches equaled 17", how many rows equaled 7" and so on, and figured out how to space the decreases to make it all work. It was at first annoying, and confusing, but then once I got the hang of it, it was quite satisfying. I basically rewrote the pattern (except the lace part), and it really wasn't that hard. So if either of you think you may need to do this, let me know and I can give you more specifics on how I figured mine out. Until then, good luck. This better be a pretty grand skirt, thats all I've got to say!

Rethinking...

Okay, I was thinking about this some more and realized that I want the extra rows at the bottom, before the decreases rather than after the decreases. So If you are going to stay with the length as it is, the pattern changes would be as follows:

Work 17 rows even (6 rows + the 11 rows)
k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1
work 11 rows even
Repeat last 12 rows 5 times (101 sts remain)

It think that should work better & that way the waist won't be really long!
Hope it makes sense! Good luck with your hat, Jamie & have fun on vacation... You really should be going some place warm, though. Its wonderful here, 80 degrees, sun's shining, light breeze... I sound like a jimmy buffet song or something!

Pattern Adjustments

Hi girls! I have started working on the stockinette part of my skirt. Last night I tried to figure out how to adjust the decreases so that the skirt will fit me. So, here is what I am going to do:
I followed the pattern up until the heading "All sizes:" on the second column of the second page. I didn't change the first paragraph (Rows 62-67) at all. But in place of the second paragraph, I am going to do this:
Work 11 rows even
Decrease row (k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1)
Repeat these 12 rows 5 times
Work 6 rows even (101 sts remain).

I added the 6 even rows to keep the lenght correct, but if either of you wanted to shorten the skirt at all, you could omit those 6 rows. If my gauge is correct, 101 sts should equate to about 19". From this point I am just going to wing it to make it fit my waist. I am most worried about it fitting my hips. I hope this helps!

Here is a picture of my finished honeymoon cami and a baby hat I made for Afghans for Afghans. I am trying to use up some of my leftovers, so I am making some stuff for charity. They need infant hats and other childrens warm stuff right now (hats, mittens, socks, etc.).

We're Back!

Molly drove all the way back on Saturday, so I had lots of knitting time in the car... I've got the lace and eyelet finished my first panel. I mis-read the pattern - I didn't realize that the lace was suppposed to be done in a larger size needle than the stockinette part, so it is all going to be done in the same size needle. I hope that it still looks okay.



We had a nice time on our little road trip. Gulf Shores turned out to be not what we were expecting. There wasn't anything to do except sit on the beach,and it was cold and dogs weren't allowed on any of the beaches, so we decided not to stay. So we went to New Orleans instead. Neither of us had been there either, and we had fun just walking around and exploring. It is a very pretty city. Yesterday we went back to Nashville and I dropped Molly off at the airport early this morning. And now its back to work...

Progress...

Here is Molly's progress on the first lace panel of the skirt. It has been a bit frustrating, and not as easy as I first said. I think this is her third (?) try. I am on my second. Once you get the hang of the pattern, it goes okay but it has taken us a while to get the hang of it. I think this is common with lace patterns, at least in my very limited experience knitting lace. I think it looks fabulous, though! I love the texture of the yarn. She is working on the second panel now (there is 3 for each side of the skirt).
I got an email back from Kat Coyle, the designer, and she said to just adjust the decreases so the hip part is about 1 inch larger than your hips. (So if your hips are 39", then you would make the hip part of each panel 20", for a total of 40" around the hips). Then just follow the pattern for the waist shaping and it should all work out. I think that seems easy enough, but we'll see as we go along. I am trying to finish my socks before I start working on this one. I did work on it last night at knit club and thats where I messed up and had to rip out and start over. Its too hard to concentrate when everyone is talking. Since Molly was there, we took a picture of our knit club last night. (I'm holding Molly's knitting while she is taking the pictures. Hers was more interesting than mine.) Anyway, can't wait to see the yarn you picked out!

Our Very Own Knit Along!

Dear Jamie,
We wanted to write to keep you posted on our adventures in the south. Nothing too exciting yet...
Lots of Elvi in Nashville


You really aren't missing much, we didn't find anything that great in Nashville, although we did go to a yarn store - and neither of us bought ANYTHING! We did a little thrift-store shopping and got a few good deals, but thats it!

The whitewater festival was a bit of a drag. Not nearly as exciting as we had hoped. The playhole was lame, even from a laywoman's point of view, such as myself. Molly did get hit on twice, though, so that was pretty neat.


However, we have decided to do a little knit along of our own, and we want you to join if you're interested. We are going to make the 'laces and bows skirt' from the Knit Cafe book. It you don't have the book and don't want to buy it, I can copy the pattern and send it to you. There is a bunch of information about the skirt here (she refers to it as the daktari skirt). Since she had problems with the suggested yarn, we decided to try one of the substitutes she listed - we are using Jaeger trinity (its cheaper too). Molly chose a green color and mine is light blue.

Sooo.. if you're interested, let me know and I'll send you the pattern. Talk to you soon! ~Jill & Molly