Another Sweater for Sadie

I just finished another knitting project. I got some yarn from the redditgifts yarn swap, and the giver suggested I use it to make something for Sadie. There were four skeins in four different colors, so I looked up a pattern that would use about that amount that had different colors in it. I found the Rydberg pattern from Ravelry that I thought would work well.

It didn't take me very long at all to finish this. I don't know the exact date I started, but it was probably near the beginning of May, and I really only knit for an hour or two a night while watching TV. Anyway, I'm sure you wanna see the pics!

She really did NOT want her picture taken!

Since Sadie wasn't being a totally cooperative model, here's a better shot. It hasn't been blocked yet, which I'm hoping I can block out some of that puckering around the edge.

I got a great pack of vintage buttons off Etsy, including cherries, bows, and butterflies but I thought the yellow on these was a great match:

Close-up of the bottom edge, with i-cord bind-off

So I did make a few changes to the pattern. As written, it takes only three colors, but I had four, and probably not enough to do it the three-color way. So once I started the part with the pattern, I changed the main color from blue to white, and then when I got to the bottom I went back to blue. I also added an i-cord bind off to the-- button edge? placket? I don't really know what it's called, but you can see where that red border is in the picture. I had planned to only add it to the outer part that could be seen when the sweater is buttoned, but that sort of cinched it up a bit so I had to do it to the other side as well to make them the same length.

I have two more projects going right now that I am excited about. One of them is a gift, so I won't be posting anything until it is received; the other is to donate through a group on Ravelry called Bundles of Joy. The group donates knit items to a maternity ward on a reservation in South Dakota and I am making a blanket to send there. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can post some more finished objects!

Sadie's Pink Elephants!

So, I've been sitting on this knitting project for kind of a while; it was mostly finished but I just had to block it and sew on the buttons. The pattern is Ella Funt, which I found on Ravelry. Lately, when I do my knitting projects, I'm usually trying out something new, to challenge myself. This is the first time I've completed a project with that fair-isle style colorwork you see on the yoke. It's not particularly hard, as long as you don't tangle the yarn!  On to the pictures! Oh, and some of them aren't as good--the batteries on BOTH cameras were dead, and I found some weird corrosion on my battery charger so I didn't think I should use it. So a few of the pictures of just the sweater are phone pics.

This picture is pre-blocking, but I think it still looks OK.

I told her to dance

I know nothing can compete with my little model, but here are a few closer-ups so you can see the pattern a bit better:

The buttons!

And just a few notes on the "knitty-gritty:" The pattern as written has you making the background for the yoke the same color as the rest of the sweater, but I wanted it to have a different background. So once I got to the yoke chart, I just switched. The elephants are done in a bit of a variegated yarn, so some of them register better than others, but it's a yarn I had in my stash so I went with it.

Well that's it for now! I hope to have something else to show you soon!

Hallowe'en Pictures!

Last week for Hallowe'en, we went to a little gathering of English-speaking parents in the park. Sadie showed off her costume and we learned that she likes spring rolls! She even got a little bit of candy. She didn't actually mind wearing the costume, it was just getting it on that was the hard part--she hates even getting dressed because of the few seconds where she can't see. Anyway, I took a few pics of the little cutie so here they are:

I'm hoping to make another post within the next few days because we have a MAJOR update about Sadie's sleeping habits.

Capsule Wardrobe.

So, I decided to make a Capsule Wardrobe. I'm mostly using the guidelines from this site, with a few modifications to make it fit my situation. Before the tornado, if I'd had to pare down my wardrobe to 30-40 pieces, I don't think I would have been able to do it. That is probably about 10% of the stuff I owned, if not less. After the tornado it would have been quite a bit easier, but by the time I moved away from Tuscaloosa I still had quite a bit of clothing. And now, in Germany, I have a lot less, but still more than a person needs. Although, Hunter and I are able to fit all of our clothing in one dresser and one closet, which I think is pretty good. All of Sadie's clothes fit into a carry-on size suitcase.

So anyway, why am I doing this? A few reasons. Since Sadie was born, I don't really get into dressing up the way I used to. I have only gone out in sweats maybe twice (and it was just to the bakery to get breakfast), but I also haven't spent time like, planning an outfit very often either. I think if I have the challenge of having a limited number of items and needing to actually style and accessorize them, I will be able to have some fun with fashion again. Also, I have a lot of graphic tees, and find myself just throwing the same ones on all the time. In my capsule, I limited myself to only four, so I'll be dressing a little more stylishly/like a grown-up.

The guidelines I linked to are for a 37-item wardrobe. Mine consists of only 31 items currently. I figured this way, I can add something in if there is an item I really miss. I have a few things that need repair that I may add in. I'm also not including clothing I've made in the count. If I want something new, instead of buying it, I'll just make it; I'm hoping it motivates me to get onto some of the projects I have planned. I planned my wardrobe for fall. Since Sadie was born, I run pretty warm, so I don't have my very warmest clothes in there. If it gets super cold, obviously I'm going to add in an extra jacket or something. And a little limitation I'm setting for myself is not to wear the same outfit twice. I'm going to try to post my outfits on Instagram when I think of it, although I don't know if that's something I'll be able to do every day.

So, what's in my wardrobe, you ask? I'll show you! The pics are all phone pics because both of my real cameras were dead :(

6 Bottoms:

From top: Jean skirt (H&M), Gray drawstring pants (H&M), Olive cropped pants (H&M), Tan cords (H&M), Black cords (Loft), Straight leg jeans (H&M)

4 Sweaters:

From left: Green cable-knit v-neck (Old Navy), Navy cashmere cardigan (H&M), Black pullover (H&M), Red cardigan (H&M)

3 Dresses:

 Black and orange dress (ModCloth)

 Houndstooth dress (H&M)

Camera-printed dress (ModCloth)

4 Long-Sleeves

From left: White long-sleeve (WalMart?), Black-and-white-striped long-sleeve (Old Navy), Black-and-green-striped 3/4 sleeve (Old Navy), Burgundy turtleneck (H&M)

4 Short-Sleeves

From left: Brown t-shirt (Loft), Navy t-shirt (Loft), Black v-neck (Old Navy), White/navy polka-dot scoop neck (H&M)

4 Graphic Tees

Clockwise from top left: Pulp Fiction/Doctor Who mashup (Teefury?), Neutral Milk Hotel concert shirt (concert), Mountain Goats concert shirt (concert), Brown "adopt" shirt (fundraiser)

1 Jacket

Olive Jacket (H&M)

5 Shoes

Red bow pumps (H&M), Brown sneakers (Converse), Red sneakers (Kangaroo), Brown boots (Rieker), Owl print flats (Dogo)

I also made this handy little Polyvore collection. It doesn't have the jacket or the graphic tees, and some of the items aren't exact, but I think it gives a good overview of my selection.

So, as I said, I'll try to post outfits on Instagram when I can, and we'll see if I can stick to this.

A Few More Projects

I recently finished a few more projects for people I know who had babies recently. They may or may not be reading this, and one of them should be pretty obvious to the person it's for, but it doesn't really need to be a surprise. The first is this embroidered onesie:

Sorry for how blurry the second pic is. Anyway, I made this with the embroidery transfer method I have discussed previously. Any imperfections are due to the fact that the transfer kind of faded so I had to freehand a bunch of it.

I also knit this sweater for a different baby:

The pattern is Anya's Cardigan, from a baby knitting book I got for Christmas last year. And of course, I can't leave you without some action shots of Sadie modelling the sweater.

I had so much fun making these. I know a few more incoming babies, so look for those gifts in future posts.

Sadie Legwarmers

I recently made a little pair of legwarmers for Sadie. They are based on this pattern from Ravelry. They are a bit big right now, but she'll obviously grow into them eventually.  Here is what they look like on:

So, as you can see, they are a little loose.

Every time I knit something, I try to incorporate a new technique. These are basically just a circular tube, which is pretty easy, but I used this knitting in elastic for the first time on the ribbing. I think the idea was to make it so they would stay on better, but I'm not really sure how much good it did, or if I was even using it correctly. I'm entirely self-taught (or maybe book and Internet taught would be a better way of saying it) so I'm never totally sure I'm doing things right. Plus the only bind-off I know how to do is not stretchy at all. I put that part on the bottom, so they would be less likely to come off of her feet, but she moves around so much that they slid off eventually anyway.

She is still pretty small, so I think when she's bigger they might work a little better. I have also heard you can make these from adult knee socks, so I may try that next, and I also have some cool self striping yarn that I plan to use to make some legwarmers for her of my own design.

My Green Hair

About a week ago, I finally dyed my hair green. I had actually bought the dye several months ago, but my hair was so long and I always have trouble dying it myself because of how thick it is. So I waited until after I had gotten my shorter haircut and I had some time where Hunter could watch Sadie so I could do it. I actually lightened my hair about a week before dying it green. The idea was to lighten it to a white-ish blond, which I know is possible with how light my natural hair is; after my hair was cut there was very little of the dyed part left. However I guess even with short hair, I'm just not too great at dyeing it myself because this is the "before" picture:

As you can see, it's not super light. I decided to just go with it since I wanted a dark-ish green. Which brings me to my next point: how I decided which green to use. The color I was picturing was a very true, grass-like green. I looked at a lot of different brands of dyes, and none of them seemed to make the exact color I was picturing. They would either be too light, like a more lime green, or too blue, more like a pine green. So I mixed two colors together: Directions Apple Green and Directions Spring Green.

And here are some pics of the results, in several different lightings:

The last picture is after two washes. As you can see, it is coming out in the parts that weren't bleached as much, where my hair was darker before. However since my hair is so short, I have plenty of dye left to re-touch a bit and may even use only the darker green on the darker parts of my hair--I was using the two in a 50/50 mix before. I am really happy with the shade of green I got. It's pretty much exactly my favorite color of green.

I guess one more sort of observation. It's been pointed out to me that when I have crazy-color hair, I walk around like there's nothing weird about it. I think the reason for this is that usually I forget! It isn't until I notice someone maybe looking at me slightly weird that I remember I don't look entirely normal. But I think it is largely a confidence thing; it's just that the reason I'm confident about it is because I forget that I shouldn't be, kind of. You see a few people with different hair colors in Aachen. Certainly more than in Tuscaloosa, but probably not as many as in, say, Berlin.

And, since I don't want to deprive anyone of Sadie pics, here is one:

One of my favorite cloth diapers! I'll be doing a post about those coming soon...

Winter is Coming: A Onesie for Scunter

As most of you probably know, I am a big fan of hand-embroidery. For Christmas, I got the Sublime Floss Packs and was excited to finally have a project to use them on. I will show you the finished product, then tell you how I made it, in case you're interested or want to make your own. Here is what it looks like:

As you can see, it is the Stark House Sigil from Game of Thrones. I had thought about doing a more cutesy looking wolf, since it is for a baby, but I couldn't really find a picture I liked and I'm not good at cartoon type drawing. This is a really easy project to make. I'm not going to explain how to hand-embroider; you can find a good beginner's tutorial about that here.

Sadly, I don't think officially licensed Game of Thrones embroidery patterns exist, so I had to make my own. This is pretty simple.

1. Find an image you like. Something that is more line-drawing-esque will be easier to embroider.

2. Edit the image in Photoshop/Gimp/Image-editing software of your choice. This is optional, but it's what I did to combine the text with the picture. The text portion was made using an online "font image generator," of which there are many if you Google.

3. This step is very important. Use a photo editor (it can even be MS Paint, nothing fancy) to rotate the image 180 degrees around the vertical axis. Basically what you want is a mirror image. Since you are making a transfer to iron on, the image needs to be the opposite. This is especially important if you have words; some images you might not mind if they are flipped.

4. Print out the image in the size you want it to be on the finished project.

5. Use an iron-on transfer pen (the one I use is the Sulky Iron on Transfer Pen) to trace over your image. If you want, you can print out the image in a different/lighter color so you can tell which parts you have traced over.

6. Pre-iron the garment to make sure it is smooth, then with a cloth over your paper, iron the transfer on. Make sure you get everything ironed without moving the paper, because if you don't it's going to be pretty much impossible to line it up perfectly again (I suppose you could mark where you put the transfer but I'm not that pro. And depending on how small the transfer is, pinning it down doesn't really work because it keeps parts of the transfer out of contact with the fabric.).

7. If you are embroidering on jersey fabric, like a onesie or t-shirt, you will need something to stabilize the fabric so it doesn't stretch out and warp the design. I used to just skip this part because I didn't want to buy something else, but it really does make things a lot easier. The best stabilizer I have found so far is Sulky TenderTouch. It is a permanent iron-on stabilizer. I have tried tear away and water soluble stabilizers and found them to be pretty frustrating to use. With this, you just iron a piece of it onto the back of the fabric, where you plan to stitch. If you are using an embroidery hoop, make sure that there is enough stabilizer to fill the hoop or there will be weird stretches on the sides.

8. Embroider the image.

9. You will most likely want to put a backing over your finished design for two reasons: first, it will protect the embroidery from coming apart/unraveling and second, it will feel smoother against the skin--particularly important for a baby garment. Just to show off, I'm going to show a picture of what the back looked like before I put the backing on:

As you can see, pretty much just a scruffy-looking mirror-image of the front. I don't use knots when ending a piece of thread but there are some ends sticking out. Here is what it looked like after I put the backing on:

The backing is the same TenderTouch stabilizer I used before embroidering the image. The blur is maybe partly due to me not having a steady camera hand and partly that the backing is semi-transparent, so it obscures the image a bit.

Anyway, I am excited to make a few more onesies for Scunter. I am thinking of one that says "Make it So" with a Starfleet insignia and maybe one that says "I got a bad feeling about this." And of course I can always embellish my own clothing as well. Let me know if you have any questions about this project or the materials I used, or suggestions (or requests?) for designs.

Achievement Unlocked: Haircut in Another Language

Today, Hunter and I went to get haircuts. Even though I had been saying I wanted to grow my hair out, I decided I just couldn't do it. My hair is so thick and gets so heavy and falls out so much that it just wasn't practical for me. Plus, I wanted to dye it a crazy color and one box of bleach is NEVER enough to lighten all my hair so I figured I would go quite a bit shorter which would make it easier to do at home. Hunter looked up a few key phrases to know when getting a haircut; I was like pshhh everyone speaks English here. Plus I did have a picture of what I wanted, which I figured would be sufficient to convey what I wanted my hair to look like.

So we went to this place right around the corner from where we live and sat down. Hunter went first and his haircut looked great. He basically told the guy he wanted it 5 or 6 cm shorter than it was currently, and it turned out I think exactly how he pictured. I was not quite as fortunate.

When it was my turn, I showed the guy the picture of what I wanted. For reference, here it is:

I thought the length of it would be pretty evident from the picture: it's really short in the back. He asked me (in German, which Hunter helpfully translated) how short I wanted it in the back. I indicated a point that I thought was fairly short, although obviously I can't see the back of my head, so apparently I didn't convey quite enough. Anyway, this is what I ended up with:

Yeah, I don't even know.

At first I was basically thinking that on Monday I would just go somewhere else, show them the same picture, and hope they did a better job, but I kinda decided that would be a waste of money. It's cute enough and probably short enough that one box of bleach will take care of it, if I choose to go that route. I just don't understand what the guy was even thinking. I mean it isn't asymmetrical AT ALL. Hunter said I could just take some scissors and try to adjust the lengths in front. I don't know, maybe I'll try that but I don't really want to make things worse.

It's hard to see from the picture, but I think the back is actually marginally LONGER than the front. I was pretty disappointed at first because it wasn't what I wanted, but it doesn't look BAD per se so I figure it's just one of those things that happens and then in a month or two it will be time for another haircut and I can go somewhere else.

At least they didn't expect me to tip.