While still stymied by the decision over which buttons to put on my babycables cardi, I thought I'd move on to finish up all the little baby sweaters I had in progress. I managed three and then found myself in the same situation again.

It's time for the embroidery on wee one's bonbon cardigan and a search through my stash came up with too many choices! The original pattern picture shows sweet baby blue, chartreusey green, and orangey pink flower details. I've got those colors. Problem is, I've also got a fun, bright blue, a lighter, grassier green, and a rosier pink that would all look fine too. Plus, there's all the purpley, lavender choices. The original pattern sweater is done in a pale purple, whereas mine is pink so that pretty much leaves all the purples wide open as even more options.

Poor wee one had to spend another morning modeling a new outfit I've made for her. She makes it look easy though, doesn't she?

Here she is in a little summer top I've been working on for a few days. The pattern is a free pattern from www.jcarolinecreative.com (which also has tons of awesome fabric and ribbons!). It's totally wee one's style - she looks good in a high waist and gathered skirt. I got the fabric a while back at Purl Patchwork I think and after making a pointy kitty with it, I had just enough left over to make this little top.

I absolutely love it on her! It totally reminds me of some Shirley Temple type short-short poofy dress. Soooo cute! I really want to make more of these. It's a good way to get something sweet and pretty for her out of less than a yard of fabric. The only downside is that the pattern is only written for one size, so I may have to tinker with the sizing a bit in a month or two. But it's fairly straightforward sewing - I think I can manage.

For this result, I think I can do just about anything!

I feel a little bad that my last couple of knitterly book reviews have been less than unequivocal. So I asked myself what I could really recommend, without any reservations, to everyone out there. Then I asked the kiddos for some suggestions. And here's what we came up with...

From me:

This brand new book, Knitted Critters for Kids to Wear: More Than 40 Animal-Themed Accessories, is soooo cute! It's got 20 different animal hat patterns, most with coordinating accessories like mittens or scarves. Not only are these things simply adorable, but I'm amazed at how such simple embellishments transform the basic hat shape into animals.

This whale is so cool! And he's an awesome example of the simple design elements
Jean Adel uses to transform the hats into critters.

The hats look very knitable for knitters of all levels. They're even divided up into chapters based on their level - either beginner, easy or intermediate.

Jeremiah the Frog is my favorite in the "beginner" patterns

I LOVE Bandit the Raccoon!

There are several doggie hats, but this one from the "intermediate" chapter is just perfect!
Don't you just love the little folded down ears?

Another thing I really like about the patterns in this book is that they're truly unisex. There are only a handful that seem too girly to work on a boy (and for a change, the "girl" patterns are not even the cutest ones!). It's just such a treat to find a book where you're getting as many good boy patterns as girl patterns. Especially when it's a book like this, that you probably want to have in your knitting library as your go-to kids' hat book for all the nieces and nephews and grandkids. The sizing is 3-7 years, so this book would be an excellent supplement to Itty-Bitty Hats, giving you a whole zoo of patterns for those now-toddlers you've spoiled into expecting unique, fun, knitted hats from you!

From the boys:

S loves Ivy & Bean!

The boys LOVE the Ivy and Bean series! I never would have thought to get them these, since they're about two girls, but my mom took a closer look at them and knew that the girls and the stories were so funny and cool that the boys would like them. She sent them the first two.

B loves book two

The second one, Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go is B's favorite at the moment. They read through those two in no time and we had to rush out to get the lastest two, including the last one, Ivy and Bean: Take Care of the Babysitter, which is S's current favorite. They love the books so much that we even had to make special rules about choosing books to read in bed at night otherwise they'd fight over the Ivy & Bean books every night!

From wee one:

What can I say, she loves food and books. So this First Book of Sushi pretty much combines her two favorite things! And apparently, it's yummy too!

Happy reading from all of us!

Anachronistic enough for ya? Wait, it's November 2007!

Sister's Choice block

The final block of my 2007 block of the month quilt is done! I had so many issues with this block that I even chose to do the scary, life-in-your-own-hands, set-in seams December block before it. The original November block was simply too hideous to sew as is. There was more gross green fabric, waaaay too much of that dotty purple flower fabric, and those crazy purple/white squares that were competing with everything else. I had to find a way to tone things down and tie them together. I ended up searching through Marti Michell's Encyclopedia of Patchwork Blocks (a great resource for sampler quilts, by the way!) and found this block design. Then I pulled out the Amy Butler and Heather Ross prints, which will make pretty much anything look better.

So, how's it look with the other eleven blocks?

click for a bigger view!

Now we know why my lqs called this version of the block of the month quilt the "bright" version. Wow! I do like the blocks though. I even like 'em together. Phew. After all that work I did substituting fabrics and re-piecing the first six blocks, it's such a relief to see them all together now. And now that I've done all that, I find a fabulous book with all kinds of great info about color for quilters.

Seriously people, this is the beginner's quilting book I was searching for like six months ago! How did I not stumble across it before?! It's got clear, thorough chapters on cutting, piecing (by hand and machine), borders, bindings and quilting. And then there's the whole second half of the book on color. Oh, Quilting and Color Made Easy, where have you been all my quilting life?! If only I could somehow go back in time, back to when I was just getting started with quilting, back to about, oh, let's say, November 2007.

I always wondered how wee one's emli bonnet would have looked in pink. Well, she's outgrown the green one, so it's time to find out!

Ooooh, that embossed leaves pattern is just as good as it ever was. Love it! This will make a fun weekend knit.

Can you tell we had a busy weekend? There was an end-of-the-year party, a birthday party, a school play and a playdate! And precious little time for knitting. But I did get wee one's new emli bonnet to the try-on stage. To size it up for my now 15 month-old, I added one more repeat of the leaf pattern to the stitch count (that's 16 more stitches) and one more repeat of the leaf pattern to the length (that's 16 more rows). The little red yarn you see at the bottom was to hold the stitches while we did an early morning try-on and.... it's gonna fit! Just the increases left to do at the bottom to form the brim and then I can cinch up the top to finish her off. And just in time too, because it is sunny as all get out here now. Plus, wee one has to have one more new hat to show off before school's out! The other moms at drop off and pick up have been asking. Seriously.

Have you ever heard this story about quilts being used to help slaves escape through the Underground Railroad? I originally discovered this story while online searching for info on the children's book, The Quiltmaker's Gift. Amazon recommended another kids' book about quilts, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, where a young slave girl sews a map to freedom into a quilt. I clicked through from that book to another and another and found Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad.

This book takes the oral history of one descendent of slaves and pieces together a history of a system of codes which could be hung out by abolitionists in plain view in the form of quilt blocks with names like "North Star", "Wagon Wheel" and "Sailboat" to help slaves find their way to safe homes and eventually freedom in Canada. A few more clicks led me to this book, Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery, which presents the now prevalent opinion that although the idea of quilt codes is a lovely way of thinking about the time, the people, and the way that quilts and quilt blocks have always represented the important things in the lives of those who made them, it is mostly fabrication (revealed by the errors in the story and the fact that no other such narratives exist). The story is compelling though and has worked its way into classrooms, libraries, and quilt shops (check out this link for a video and explanation of some of the blocks!).

from Eleanor Burns' Underground Railroad Sampler

This is a sampler quilt of the blocks mentioned in the original narrative about the quilt codes. I have to admit that I love sampler quilts (the block of the month quilts I'm working on are sampler quilts, of course). It's so fun making a different block each time, learning new techniques, and hearing all the interesting traditional names the blocks have had. So, despite all the controversy, I was intrigued. And when knitting and quilting buddy, Carol, said she was interested in making a civil war sampler, I knew I wanted to make one along with her.

We headed off to our lqs and collected some reproduction fabrics, with the muted shades and calicoes of nineteenth century prints and shirtings. The fabrics from the period tend to be pretty dark (not like all the bright prints of the 30's fabrics) and I found myself always searching for the sweetest and prettiest of the group. Pretty civil war, I kept calling it. And it is, the whole story. A lovely story about a horrible time. It's a shame that it's not true. It's just a quilt project. My 2007 block of the month quilt doesn't say anything about the year 2007 and this one won't really say anything about the Underground Railroad. It's okay.

Speaking of pretty civil war, I really want to glance through these books, The Civil War Love Letter Quilt and The Civil War Diary Quilt.

The author, Rosemary Youngs, has chosen or invented quilt blocks inspired by the real stories of civil war women and men. Very pretty civil war indeed. But it's surely a more legitimate mixture of fact and fiction than the quilt code book and probably more interesting reading than some of the quilt lit that's out there. Still, 121 blocks? Pretty or not, that might even be too much sampler for me!

I know I wanted to see it in pink, but it turns out that I loved that green Trinity yarn from the first emli bonnet so much that I had to bring it into this one somehow. Instead of simply using my yarn tail from the top to cinch up the hat, I decided to make a little embellished tie with the green. I had Susan Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats book out and thought that the little leaf from her pumpkin hat would be cute as the ends on an i-cord.

I think it really adds a lot to the hat. The pink is very sweet, but quiet and subtle. The green brings some contrast and life to the whole thing.

Wee one was certainly full of life this morning. She wanted to play you-put-on-the-hat/I'll-pull-off-the-hat instead of staying still for a pretty picture, so this is the best shot I got of her in her new bonnet. It's a smidge long, but all the better to keep the sun off her face. And the fit around is good. Because the lace pattern wants to cinch up like ribbing, but there's a lot of stretch in the cotton, the hat ends up stretching to fit just right.

The next one might just have to be green again though.

So, here's what happens when you go to a quilt shop. No matter what you're shopping for, you end up throwing a couple of fat quarters (18" x 22" cuts of fabric) into your basket. It's a standard size that every quilt shop sells (usually of end of bolt or sale fabrics). They only cost like $2 each and with 10 or 20 different ones you can make a really cool scrappy quilt. Plus, sometimes you don't want a full yard of a fabric. It might be cute or funny or pretty, but would never work in one large continuous piece. What this all means is that you're less critical when you choose your fat quarters. You don't have to loooove 'em. They just have to catch your eye in some way.

Because I have been to a few quilt shops, I have quite a few fat quarters. And I have been given many more by others (oh, everyone will help you collect fat quarters - easiest gift for a quilter ever!). I've got plans for a lot of them that work together real well or are from the same designer. And then I've got a bunch of uglies. Some of them are genuinely ugly and some are simply too bright or kitschy to fit into a standard matchy-matchy quilt design. I sorted out all my so-called uglies the other day and am planning to put them all together into a picnic blanket for me and the kids to bring to the park this summer. I'm hoping that all that ugly will come together to make something pretty cool.

click to see the uglies close up!

The large piece of fabric on the bottom is some Ikea fabric that was on sale for $2.50 a yard that I'll use for the back of the quilt. Doesn't it just scream "ugly picnic"?! Again, it's not heinously ugly, just weird, hard to coordinate with other things, not something that's gonna match anything else you have anywhere. In other words, it's perfect.

School ends in a week and a half, which means I've got to get sewing!

What a lovely day for a picnic dress.

After the ugly picnic yesterday, it seems only fair to show you wee one's new pretty "picnic" dress. The fabric, by Kokka, is called picnic. I found it at Purl Patchwork, of course. They have so many cool Kokka prints! I tried making a little smock dress for wee one with this fabric several months ago but the pattern just wasn't working for me. In disgust, I hid the pattern pieces I'd cut out far, far away and haven't seen them since. But after making the little child's sleeveless top pattern for wee one last week, I figured it'd be worth a try to make another one with what I had left of my original yard of fabric. It was tough cramming all the pattern pieces onto the fabric I had (I actually had to piece together the facing from smaller scraps!) but I did it! I even made the skirt section longer so this will fit wee one more like a dress than a top.

No try on yet, as I still need to sew on the snaps to close the back. Pics of the picnic this weekend, I promise!

Well, it's a cool rainy day here, so the only picnic pictures I have for you are of wee one helping me plan the arrangement of the ugly picnic squares.

I was actually worried that my ugly picnic blanket was too pretty, so I searched through the dregs of my fabric stash and found even uglier uglies to add. Here's the final arrangement with the ugliest of uglies all added in. Oh, that's gonna be one ugly picnic!

click for the big ugly!

Instead of having a pretty picnic today, we went to our town's annual flag day parade.

There were folks dressed in colonial costumes. Later they fired off old-timey muskets which scared S and made him cry. But a nice man came by and threw a handful of lollipops towards us to make it all better.

I kept the wrapper on for wee one.

B got a blue one - can you tell?

We got to see our neighbor driving his antique fire truck. And then the big highlight of the afternoon, the boys' favorite, a street cleaner!

Woo hoo.

Wee one's bonbon sweater (who even remembers that one - it was so long ago!) has been patiently waiting for its embroidery. I thought I had so many color choices to pick from in my stash, but I think what was keeping me from just doing it was that I wasn't completely happy with my red/pink options. I finally just pulled three colors I liked from the bag, sat down at Knitsmiths and did the darned embroidery.

Loooooove those flowers!! It's the colors I'm still not sure about. I liked the red a lot (it's actually a sort of coral red, but it turns really red against this pink). While at Knitsmiths, I had also used the coral color in the cross stitches in the triangles. But by the time I got home, I decided it was really too bold there, overpowering the triangles and the other little touches of color in there. I took it out and tried the other pinky color I had (see the link above for the picture), but it was way too pale and was barely visible on the sweater. So I ended up putting some of the orange in there instead. It's better. It's more the right sort of shade (warm, but not taking over). But, still, I didn't love it enough to redo the red flowers.

click for a big close-up

Take a closer look and tell me what you think. I'm beginning to think that the sweater really needs a cooler color altogether. Maybe orange out, red out, and the lilac in?

My stash may have let me down a little when I was searching for just the right colors for the embroidery on wee one's bonbon cardigan, but it has come back strong this time!

can you guess what this is for??

I'm teaching a class now at my lys on Susan Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats book and I'm itching to get started on my hat! We're focusing on all the different sorts of little techniques and embellishments that are in the book and that every good knitter should have at his/her command like i-cord, three-needle bind off, crochet edging, picot edging, bobbles, tassels, pompoms, simple embroidery, and attaching small applique "doodads" (official non-scary term for students). Each student is choosing the hats she wants to work on and we'll just do whatever comes up. In the first class last week, I finished off the tie on wee one's new emli bonnet with leaves from one of Susan's patterns. This week, I'll bring in wee one's bonbon sweater and can rework some of that embroidery in class. But I can't pass up the opportunity to make another one of these hats! And olive you is one that's been on my list since I first got the book.

The stash of scrap yarn and extra balls has come through for me with the perfect colors. Olive it!

I spent the baby's naptime (which is also my computer time) yesterday, doing some very late spring cleaning. I've been sorting out old kids' clothes and toys to donate and preparing for a big reorganization and move of my yarn and fabric stashes. It's time for me to get my yarn crap out of the baby's room! She's shared with me long enough. Plus, she can open the doors of the yarn cabinet now and is starting to think of the yarn as her own playthings. So I'm working on a chain reaction sort of move, where the boys' toys all go in their room, my stash goes where their toys were and wee one gets some room for a little play area with a table and a dollhouse. I'll have to pare down my knitting stash to make it all fit though. So look for a pretty good yarn and knitting book sale here next week!

We all know how stressful it is sorting through the piles of stuff that accumulate over the years - and I haven't even gotten to the yarn yet! - but I'm thankful that at night I can relax with my little olive you martini hat and it's fabulously yummy looking olives. There's only one day of spring left and wee one is asleep right now, so I'd better get through that last closet fast! I can treat myself to more olives and drinks later....

It's the last day of first grade! The boys' classes celebrated with "First Grade Olympics", including:

the long jump

the shuttle run

badminton

and soccer

I sewed my first blocks for the civil war sampler, including:

"Lincoln's Platform" block

"Underground Railroad" block

And did the last bit of embroidery on wee one's bonbon sweater, including lilac and still that red (love that red!):

I think I finally got a good picture of the red here.

It's the first day of summer and the last day that I'll have time to take a shower and sit and write a post like this until September. Yikes!

My free time is so shrinking! I wanted to blog yesterday. But the kids had other plans. Hmmmm.

My quilt blocks are shrinking!

3", 6", 9", 12"

My first block of the month blocks were 12" square. This year's block of the month blocks are 9" square. My civil war sampler blocks are 6" square. And the teeny tiny block is the 3" square center for my latest civil war block, the North Star.

And, the best of all, my stash is shrinking! This is your warning. The BIG yarn and book sale is a-coming! I'll start by posting a list of knitting books for sale tomorrow. There's newer releases in there and some oldies-but-goodies as well. All are in like-new condition and I'll be selling them at about 50% off. Then comes the yarn. There's Debbie Bliss, Rowan, Lornas Laces and way way more. It's all gonna be priced to sell, so check back Thursday for that. Oh boy!

Just Scarves by Lion Brand (uncorrected b/w proof) - free (shipping costs only) [SOLD]
Tweed by Nancy Thomas - $13 [SOLD]
Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush - $12 [SOLD]
Hip to Crochet by Judith Swartz - $10
Knitting Tips and Trade Secrets by Taunton Press (1996) - $7
A Yorkshire Fable by Rowan - $10 [SOLD]
The Yarn Girls Guide to Knits for All Seasons by Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs - $15 [SOLD]
Folk Hats by Vicki Square - $11 [SOLD]
Big Fish, Little Fish by Jil Eaton - $9 [SOLD]
Minnies by Jil Eaton- $10 [SOLD]
Family Album by Kaffe Fassett - $10 [SOLD]
Glorious Knits by Kaffe Fassett - $10 [SOLD]
Glamour Knits at Home by Erika Knight - $10 [SOLD]
Suss Design Essentials by Suss Cousins - $15 [SOLD]
Morehouse Farm Merino Knits by Margrit Lohrer - $15 [SOLD]

These are all in new condition and prices are 50% off original cover price. We can split shipping costs. Payment can be through Paypal or by check. Email me (alison AT knitsmiths DOT us) if you're interested. I'll update this post periodically throughout the day, marking the items as sold that people have asked for. And I'll wait to ship the book(s) until next week just in case you want to get some yarn in the yarn sale later this week.

Remember, yarn sale is coming Friday (there's A LOT and I have to take pics of it all!). It's all great stuff, so don't miss it!

Update 11:15pm: Up for a bathroom break! I've made it to the emails from 7pm now. Almost everything is gone. Wow.

Update 9:50pm: So far, I've made it through emails that arrived by 2:20 this afternoon. Man, you all are fast! Check the yarn page for updates.

Update 8:50pm: I'm going through emails and updating the sale page now. Watch your inboxes and watch for your initial when the yarn is put on hold!

teaser pic - click here to see all the yarns for sale

The BIG YARN LIST is here.

teaser pic - click here to skip to all the SOCK yarns

And the SOCK YARN LIST is here.

Contact me by email - alison AT knitsmiths DOT us - if you are interested in any of these. We can split shipping costs. PayPal or check should be fine for payment. I will update the page as the yarn goes. Once someone has asked for a lot, I'll mark it "on hold" and once I receive payment, I'll change it to "sold". Thanks for looking!

Note: I'm out with the kiddos until this evening, so I won't be updating the page until dinner time. Send me an email with what you're interested in and I'll go through the emails in order and let you know what was left when I received your email. Good luck!

Thanks for making my spring cleaning book and yarn sale a huge success! It was fun! There are still a couple of books and few yarn lots left, so check 'em out. Between going through emails and sending paypal invoices, I was finishing up wee one's "olive you" hat (from Itty-Bitty Hats).

Wee one thanks you for helping get mommy's yarn out of her room!

Hee hee. (That hat just makes me giggle.)