Rippin' out the edges

I ended up ripping out all the ribbing I had done around the edges of the hexagon sweater. Once I started casting off I realized that there was just too much yarn for that area. But hopefully this time it will go faster since there are 33% fewer stitches :-) I've found that with this pattern, it's not so much about following the pattern as understanding what it should look like when it's done.

In looking for more patterns for my sock machine, I somehow came accross this entire weird cloth diaper (disposable diapers are evil) sub-culture society. And I bought into it. So I'm thinking that I'll start making some cloth diapers for when Brad and I eventually have kids. Just so I'm prepared. If for some reason we don't have kids, I can always sell them. He'll think I'm crazy, but maybe I won't tell him. After all, he claims I promised 2 crazy-free years counting from the date of our wedding. All I remember is that I told him I was saving the crazy for until after we were married. But I digress.

Here's a free one that seems to be the most recommended: http://www.ottobredesign.com/en/print/pdf/vaippa_en.pdf

And here's the one that looks the most technically sound (using some interesting fabrics for the outer shell):
http://www.sewshoppe.com/hbptn.shtml

And this one looks interesting since the same size should fit newborns as toddlers:
http://www.sewshoppe.com/ppptn.shtml

Please, really, don't ask me how I choose my obsessions.

Now I just gotta get my hands on a surger.

Busy Day

Today we just chilled around the house, so I was able to do a lot of little projects (and the dishes, and the laundry...).

I made caramels for Christmas gifts this last December and they turned out pretty well, but they weren't very chewy, at least not until you had sucked on them for awhile. So I tried again with a different recipe. They have the great caramel consistency I was going for, but didn't taste nearly as good as the last batch. But I wrapped some up and put some of them into chocolate. I'll try again with the other recipe but use the temperature directions of this one. Here's my slab o' caramel ready to cut. The recipe that tasted really good is located here: http://readymademag.com/printarchive/index.pl?id=1234



I had been working on a baby blanket and sweater for little Wolfi, but, of course, I ran out of yarn just 4 rows away from being done. So I finally picked up more yarn yesterday and finished it off.


Then I took the matching sweater that looks like a little blanket-gone-wrong and sewed it up into the Wolfi's baby sweater. This pattern is by my favorite knitting pattern maker, Elizabeth Zimmerman. Her patterns are intelligent and avoid the things I don't like to do (like sewing too many seams, or purling...). This amorphous blob shown on the right becomes this very cute sweater which, because it was done in garter stitch, should grow with Wolfi. If you look closely at the top of the picture, there's Dugan's face in there. He always wants to be in the middle of whatever we're doing...

One of my goals for this year was to learn intarsia knitting, the use of multiple colors to make a pattern. When I pulled out the yellow sweater/blanket set, I realized that I had finished it except for tucking in all the ends (which I always put off as long as possible). So perhaps when I'm ready to gift it i'll finally get around to finishing it.