The first yarn packages are on their way out today! Three bags full, of course. Uh, this whole tracking orders and payments and packaging things up shebang takes some serious time. I don't know how someone like Dani runs a business like this and gets any knitting done at all!

Funny story... Dani and I actually use the same post office and when I showed up today with all my yarn packages, the woman who was working the counter said she knew that Dani was moving and was I her replacement. Ohhhh noooo, there's no replacing Dani! Thank goodness she'll still be dyeing her fabulous yarns from Colorado. No, no, a week or two of this yarn "business" and I'm done. Then I can get back to knitting again!

These teeny tiny 6" quilt blocks of my civil war sampler quilt are so darned cute, I'm going to have to start calling my quilt "cute civil war" instead of "pretty civil war". They are pretty though.

four more blocks

These are all from Barbara Brackman's book Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery. Brackman, a quilt historian who published THE encyclopedic collection of quilt blocks, has done an excellent job presenting the shameful and the heroic aspects of the period using established history and first-person accounts. She has chosen quilt blocks that reflect the facts about slavery and the fight against it either in style or name or both. These four blocks, for example, are: 1. Catch Me if You Can, "a block to recall escape"; 2. Cotton Boll, "a block to recall the slave economy"; 3. Lost Ship, "a block to recall the ocean voyage"; and 4. Aunt Dinah, "a block to recall Americanization." The North Star block above is to recall Abolition fairs in places like Boston, where Northern women would sell their needlework to raise money for Anti-Slavery efforts.

The history is fascinating and the piecing of the blocks is challenging, especially at this size. But the resulting blocks, despite what they may represent and despite the difficulty of the construction, are simply cute.

Finally, it's the golden vintage cardigan all done! It took a month and a half for me to finally decide which buttons to put on it. I went with the little vintage-looking pearl buttons, which, it turns out, are just a smidge too small for the buttonholes. I've worked some buttonhole stitch around the buttonholes to make them snugger, but a few of the buttons still pop open. It's good enough for posing, but if I want this thing to stay closed while I actually move, I'm gonna need to do a few more rounds of buttonhole stitch. It's okay. I wasn't a fan of the buttonholes anyway. Next time, on a sweet cardi like this, I think I'll skip making buttonholes and add little loops to the buttonhole button band instead.

The other final touch that I dragged my feet on was the lovely attached collar detail.

When Thea originally knit this sweater, she added the baby cables from the bottom and the button bands to the neckline. She changed it to a plain attached i-cord for the pdf version, but once I'd seen it on the original, I knew I wanted mine to have the cable there too. It wasn't hard to make, I just put it off, oddly bitter that I had to knit a separate band and sew it on. What can I say? I like picking up stitches, you know? But this band needs to run lengthwise across the neck, so it's knit separately. Suck it up, Alison.

I love this cardi! Since I changed the yarn from a worsted weight cotton to the light and lovely Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, the resulting sweater is more dainty and delicate. The not-so-solid quality of the Silky Wool really adds to the vintage feel, as well, I think. Despite my change in gauge, I didn't change the size that I knitted, so the sweater is also much more fitted, just the way I wanted it.

The baby cables are sweet. The three-quarter sleeves are darling. And it's all done. An early happy birthday present to me!

I have nothing active on my knitting needles! Can you believe it? I don't know how it happened, but after I finished the cardi, I looked around to pick up the next project and... nothing. (Wee one's bonbon sweater is all knitted but still needs buttons, so even though it's not done, it's not on the needles anymore!) Okay, I will be starting a baby sweater with my next knitting class tomorrow and I am already swatching different yarns for a fall jacket for wee one, but my hands were itching to start something this weekend.

So they started crocheting. This pattern is the super cute "ted purse" from Jaeger JB-29. It's small, it's simple, it's different. And wee one loves purses. And necklaces. It's perfect for her!

I didn't have any good bear-colored yarn in my stash at the right gauge, but then I remembered how much I loved that hot pink bobbi bear I knit for Shannon's baby. I've still got plenty of that blue sky alpacas dyed cotton and I know it makes a darned cute bear. So I snatched it up, stuck a hook behind my ear and went to Knitsmiths to crochet! So far I've only managed to crochet the back piece. I did start the front but goofed it up (hey, I'm not so good with the reading crochet!). And then I got distracted by the gang at Knitsmiths. But that's what playing hookey is all about, right?

Oooh, I love this one! This, the latest block for my civil war sampler, is also from Barbara Brackman's Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery and is called Beauregard Surrounded. The block is traditionally called Burgoyne Surrounded after the defeat of a British general during the Revolutionary War. Brackman has renamed it to recall the Civil War, more specifically the defeat of Confederate general Beauregard at the Siege of Corinth in 1862. Beauregard, who was actually the general who commanded the forces that fired the first shots of the Civil War at Ft. Sumter in South Carolina, was surrounded in Corith, Mississippi and outnumbered 2 to 1 by Union forces. He eventually chose to evacuate the city and snuck his troops out on the trains that should have been sending reinforcements.

Reading this history got me thinking about my relatives during the Civil War. I knew there were some who fought in the war, but I didn't know much about them. I spent an evening looking through some ancestry stuff and found that practically every male ancestor alive at the time had a military record. All on the Confederate side, of course, as my family is deeply rooted in the South. In fact, I remember once trying to ask my relatives in Texas where the family originally came from and they would say, weeeellll, waaaaay back, I think the family came over from.... Georgia. Yes, Georgia, the state four states over from Texas. Way back. Turns out, "way back" was around the time of the Civil War. I found records that show that my great great grandfather joined the infantry in Georgia in 1862. He signed up at the age of 16 along with his father, my great great great grandfather, who was about 45.

 
Confederate Oath of Allegiance & Roll of Prisoners of War

Their regiment was among the many who surrendered to Grant's forces in 1863 in the Siege of Vicksburg, a great victory for the North (coincidentally, the move towards Vicksburg, Mississippi was aided by the Union's success in overtaking Corinth where Beauregard found himself surrounded). Both my great great grandfather and his father returned to their regiment after their release and were captured again, probably in 1864 in Kentucky, but survived the war without serious injury. My great great grandfather is the closest direct relative to me that I could find who fought in the war, but there were dozens of his cousins and uncles in the war as well. As I work on other blocks from the Civil War books, I hope to look more into their histories and some of the battles they were a part of.

My block may be blue, but my history is gray.

The fact that any pink animal face, especially one with a pointy nose, was going to look like a pig.

"ted purse" from Jaeger JB-29

Presenting Peg, the pink pig purse. I had to rename her. I mean, Ted is for a bear and this ain't no bear.

Hubby says it looks like a mouse. For some reason S keeps saying elephant. But I think it's a pig. Especially without the little felt piece over the hole at the nose (gotta find the craft felt still!). There is supposed to be a little embroidered mouth under the nose as well, but I kinda like it minimalist like this. And she does too.

So what does wee one think it is? Well, let's just say, she's already started sucking on the nose.

Yesterday, for an early birthday present, I took the boys to their very first ballgame at Fenway Park. The Red Sox vs. the Twins. The Twins - how perfect! They were so excited. And so was I!

The boys wanted to make a sign to hold up between innings, in the hopes of maybe making it on tv. The game was much too interesting for the tv crew to be picking folks out of the crowd though. There were a lot of hits and a lot of runs, but still it stayed close for the first six innings. Then came the seventh....

bases loaded - look for Tek's red socks on second base!

In the seventh, we loaded the bases and scored a total of 7 runs, turning the game into a bit of a blowout. But if you're a 7-year old boy and your team is doing the blowing out, it's awesome!

If I zoom in on the green monster in the back, you can almost see the final score of 18-5.

I live for this.

Tell me, do we love this or hate it?

I'm teaching a class now where we're making the child's placket neck sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I was going to make the sweater for wee one in some plain minty green yarn. I swatched. I brought the yarn into class. And then I spotted this awesome Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in reds and purples and orange. I couldn't resist it. And here we are: four inches in and I'm just not sure.

Sigh. I never like variegated yarns knit up. Wee one looks great in these colors though. What to do?

Now this is more my speed. I put the crazy pooling sweater aside and started a new version of the child's placket neck sweater (from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts) in a nice, calm, solid shade. This sophisticated shade of KFI cashmereno was so intriguing, I couldn't resist it. It's like a mauve-y gray and isn't scary at all. Heh, heh. But I haven't put the über-bright one away entirely. It's still alive and in progress. I'm going to work on them in parallel. And we'll just see which one looks better on wee one!

Last week, while sewing up one of my civil war quilt blocks and thinking about my own family's history in the war, I discovered that my great-great grandfather and his father served together in the Georgia Infantry. I managed to find records of their having taking Oaths of Allegiance to the Confederacy in 1861 and of their being prisoners of war after the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. This week, I began making quilt blocks from Rosemary Youngs' wonderful book, The Civil War Diary Quilt, which includes excerpts from diaries kept by a variety of women during the war along with quilt blocks inspired by their stories. Among the 121 blocks in the book I found, "Oath of Allegiance" and "Surrender at Vicksburg". I decided to make these two blocks first, since I could trace a little bit of my great-great grandfather's story in them.

In the diary entry associated with this block, a Missouri woman, originally from North Carolina, records that she has refused to take the Oath of Allegiance required by the Federal commander of all Union citizens and must now fear leaving her own home, for danger of being arrested. "Those who do not swear are not allowed to follow any business whatever and are prisoners at home. This oath compels thousands to swear against their own conscience or have their families to perish."

News of the Surrender at Vicksburg is recorded with amazing detail by a 14 year-old girl from Kentucky: "Pemberton has surrendered at Vicksburg but I do not believe it.... [He] surrended the northern papers say on the following conditions-he was to have all of his men paroled and given 10 days rations...Officers to keep their private property, sidearms and mounted officers one horse each."

When I first noticed this book, I thought that 121 blocks might even be too much sampler quilting for me, but I take it all back. These stories and these blocks are so fascinating that I know I'll be making blocks from this book for a while.

I've knitted wee one's wild-and-crazy and quiet-and-classy placket neck sweaters up to the armhole openings.

And I find myself ready to knit four little sleeves. Hmmmm, isn't this what I used to do when I was knitting for the boys? Here I have just one baby to knit for and I'm doing it again. Two of these, four of those. I just like working in pairs, I guess.

My lys has this old Fisher Price dollhouse for kids to play with that I totally remember from my childhood. I didn't have one, but I'm beginning to think that I must have wanted one. It's a great sturdy toy for the kids who come into the store and after playing with it (and customers' kids) for a couple of years, I kinda decided that if I ever had a girl, I'd find one for her. Now I have my girl and so now I have my dollhouse.

After trolling ebay for a few months, I found this one, complete will all the little people and little furniture bits. And then I couldn't resist getting this additional accessory for it.

It's a grandma with a sewing machine! I really like having the kids' toys and books include my hobbies. Seeing someone knit in Goodnight Moon or Book! or Ivy and Bean makes me hopeful that my kids won't grow up thinking I'm a total freak. (Even though searching online for a vintage Fisher Price Little People sewing machine does kinda qualify.)

I just can't leave well enough alone. Here's wee one's bright and crazy placket neck sweater, now tweaked into a two-colored, gathered sweater dress. Shortly before I got to the point where you remove stitches for the sleeve openings, I decided to throw in some ribbing and decreases to form a sort of high waist and give the bottom of the sweater a kind of skirt-y look. Then, after I finished the ribbing and increased back to the original number, I changed colorways of the Lorna's Shepherd Sport, switching from that dark "bittersweet" color to a lighter, coordinating colorway, "neon". I'd envisioned doing the top/bodice section of the sweater in this yummy sherbert-y shade and so decided that the sleeves, which will come right into the yoke at that point, needed to be neon as well. Oh, and I'll probably leave out the placket when I get to that section.

Tweak, tweak.

The boys had their birthday party over the weekend - a pool party!

They had 17 little friends join them for swimming, pizza and cake. So now we've got about 17 cool presents to play with all day, every day. Yesterday it was Monopoly.

I had forgotten what a long game Monopoly was! By the time wee one's nap was over, I'd totally missed my chance to blog. But I did own Fenway Park and Times Square (the new dark blue properties on the board). I've been taking pictures of the boys as they play with each of their new toys so we can make goofy thank you cards to send to their friends.

Zoomorphs

stream machines

Tomorrow, back to knitting....

click for the big version

Wee one's bright, bright placket neck sweater dress is taking shape. The neckline ended up a little high, so I'll go back, rip a few rows, and reknit that contrast edging, lowering it about an inch. And I've still got to seam the arms and close up the placket (which I've put in the back). But I can see how it's gonna look and I like it. I actually like it. Funny how I was unsure about one variegated yarn, but adding a second one made it all okay. In fact, I love the way the lighter color pooled in the bodice area. And the sleeves practically look like argyle! It's crazy. But then again, so's my little girl.

"Games, Music and Knitting" block

Miss Lou gave me some Cotton to knit Eddie a pr of socks. I began them, but did not get much done, most of the time playing Bagammon, Chess, or having some Music.... I bet I would finish my sock, she bet I would not, so she put the Gas out. I lit it again and finished my sock.

The Civil War sampler continues. I'm well into Rosemary Youngs' book, The Civil War Diary Quilt: 121 Stories and The Quilt Blocks They Inspired, and am hooked! The diary entries of several of the younger women tell of an often quiet home life filled with knitting, reading, games, music and other parlor activities and are accompanied by beautiful quilt block patterns.

"Knitting and Reading" block

Mother can't conquer the mystery of 'turning the heel' - there it is again - 'Emma, how many times did you say I must knit plain?'

"Parlor Activities" block

On the next page, these everyday domestic scenes will be suddenly interrupted by the story of a neighbor's son killed by the enemy or bombardments in the town. The shocking contrast and jarring realities of war are reflected in the bold blocks Youngs has paired with these stories.

"Alvin McClure" block

"Bombardment" block

Here at home, I am lucky to be able to sew and knit with no such interruptions. Well, maybe a few minor civil wars between the boys. And of course, a lot of games.

today: playing mini-chess games from the most excellent book, Chess for Children

I can finally move wee one's bonbon cardigan (from Rowan Classic Mother & Baby) to the finished pile! She waited over a month for the right buttons. After trying buttons in all different colors and with all different designs, in the end, I chose some simple, cheapy pearly buttons. Everything else just detracted from embellishments on the sweater.

All spread out, I find this sweater simply stunning. I love the sleeves, the triangles along the button bands, the embroidered flowers, everything. And the Calmer was a delight to work with again. This is the pure joy of knitting for a little girl!

I spent waaaay too much time on etsy last night. That can't be good. But I did find these:

Kid's Mischief Managed Shirt
Gryffindor Bracelets
Horcrux cards
Harry Potter Handknitted Finger Puppets
Dumble Dormouse
and
my book!

TrundleBot waits

Last night's game of RoboRally had to be paused on account of it being 9pm and way past bedtime. I could only get the boys away from the table if I promised to snap pictures of the game as we left it so we could set it up again and continue it today. B's TrundleBot (above) is way ahead, but S and I still have hopes of getting our little robots all the way through the maze of conveyor belts and lasers safely.

the factory floor where the robots race!

After putting the game away, I got to work on this.

wtf is that?

Also awaiting their continuation are the boys' lion and tiger toys. (Started last August. Progress made in January. Forgotten until now. Heh, heh. The last time I worked on and blogged about these, I joked that they probably wouldn't be done until July. Whoops. That's not going to happen.) Anyhoo, these little buggers are pretty complex, with shoe uppers and intarsia tummy patches and separate face muzzles (also with intarsia, natch). The yellow bit above is the head. That long flap folds down, then you flip it over, fold the sides in, sew the muzzle on and it's supposed to be an animal face.

Ya-huh. Now you can see why I'm always taking month-long breaks from this project. Thank goodness the boys are more anxious to get back to the robots than they are to have the stuffed animals!

So it's time to start another, wouldn't you say? And since I just heard that friends are expecting, I have to, right?!

No more details on this one for a while (except on Ravelry). I'm trying to keep it a surprise for the parents-to-be, who might be watching.