bestitched

pebble sweater

Thanks for everyone's two cents on the sleeping arrangements. Things are slowly getting better. Slowly.

Since I had a little help this week with grandmom + pop-pop in the house, I was able to finish the pebble sweater (name courtesy of grumperina).

I'm v. pleased with the results and there are some touches I really like:

including the collar and the contrasting bind-off

the slightly puffed sleeves with eyelets

the lovely hem. 

the ribbing detail on the shoulders that extends from the back

Pattern: bits and pieces pulled together from various inspirations such as a sweater on the bus, some Kim Hargreaves,  and shaping from Sahara

Yarn: Nashua Ecologie Cotton in Logwood with a touch of Acacia. Love this yarn and plan to use it again.

Hooray! An FO! Time to find a new project.

uneasy bedfellows

Meet LL's newest nemesis: the toddler bed.

Until recently, our bedtime routine was pretty easy. We'd read a book, stick her in the crib, say good night, and then she would happily flip through books alone in her crib until she fell asleep. Often she would fall asleep singing. Those were happy times.

Not so now. The toddler bed is now viewed by my 2-year-old as the darkest, scariest place in the Boston Metro area. I'm relieved that the screaming and wailing to be heard upon the suggestion she crawl into her "big girl bed" have finally ended. Now, the only way she'll fall asleep in it is if one of us stays with her until she passes out from fear and exhaustion.

Julie of Fricknits posted about her similar dilemma  (but somehow I imagine she doesn't scream "go to sleep for Christ's sake, already!" at her toddler. she seems so much more sophisticated than that, doesn't she? She does. I, however, border on fishwife  status most days).   

Anyhoo, in our email conversations, we decided  to reach out to the other bloggers. And I'm pretty sure she won't mind if I quote from her email here:

"How do you get to the point where you can leave them in that BGB/BBB to fall asleep on their own?  How?  HOOOOOOOWWW?"

Help us. We want our time back. 

hey, thanks

I lamented to Maritza some time ago that I got the shaft in the last vintage button swap. I sent out a great package and never received one in return. Le sigh.

But then Maritza showed up at knitting today with a package for me. It contained vintage buttons.

Very happy vintage buttons with oranges on trees and a duck family

Hello, little ducks!

And the package contained one of her sweet pincushions.

Wanna see the reverse? You know you do.

I love you little pincushion !

Thanks Maritza! Your vintage button package was better than any other package I could have received!

Now get yer butt over to Maritza's etsy shop + show this girl some love!

the best laid plans

A short trip back to Philly to see some family quickly snowballed out of control. Plans with friends had to be canceled to visit with uncles, aunts, + other assorted extended family members. At one of those occasions, I sprained my ankle. Seriously. I'm a frickin idiot.

And woefully little knitting was accomplished. Although I did take advantage of my ma's rusty old computer to buy some yarn for this. (Ashley, I hope you did the same.) Someone please stop me.

Anyhoo, here's the back of a new tank for LL using Manos Cotton Stria.

On the bright side, I did get to knit a little. Thank god I didn't sprain my wrist. Or break both my elbows like an college friend of mine (she had to smoke using a salad fork. true story).

And I did get into Center City for some shopping + managed to hobble over to Capogiro for some gelato (thanks for the tip Megan).

Now we're  happily back  home, my ankle is taped up + I'm free of plane stank. Hurray!

back home

we're back

we had an excellent time and only a little knitting was accomplished.

but more on that later. right now I need to wash off the plane stank + get the kid to bed.

mob mentality

It's good to know I'm not alone with my obsession over all things purlbee. And why shouldn't we all be completely obsessed with them when the result is this good? Now if only they posted a pattern for ass bandages, I'd be all set. [And the ass is healing up just fine, thanks for asking].

Pattern: Berlin Scarf 

Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too TyDy in Meadow

And here's a photo of the lovely recipient, Miss JMB, who's helping me with a little babysitting in exchange for the scarf.

The kid and I are off for a few days to visit the family in the homeland. See you next week!

why jeans are a mom's best friend

Before LL came into the picture, I didn't own a pair of jeans. Truly. The last pair of jeans I bought was more than 10 years ago. But now that she's with me, I have bought (gasp) two pairs. And I love them.

But on July 4th, I decided to forego the jeans to wear one of my skirts. Big mistake. We were at an awesome park in Arlington that has an enormous slide that goes down a giant hill. Yup, I went down it. Holding my 35 lb. toddler. Wearing a skirt. In the rain. We caught major air. BL said we bounced twice before skidding to a halt with my skirt up over my ears. The toddler was fine + skipped away.

I have absolutely no skin left on my right ass cheek. My ass hurts more than the time when I got wasted in Wildwood, NJ + passed out on the beach wearing a thong bikini (I was 17 + skinny). And I got sun poisoning on my ass. Still less painful than this.

So, I spent the last few days at home on my stomach + got some knitting done.

Here's the back of the gray sweater + the first sleeve in progress. Slightly bell-shaped with eyelets.

I'm basing the design on this lovely piece by Ms. Hargreaves + a sweater I spied on the bus (it looked like BCBG, but it was hard to see without looking like a stalker). 

I wish I could buy one of Ms. Hargreaves lovely kits. Maybe if I didn't have to spend so much on ass bandages. Sigh....

inspiration + actualization

The inspiration for this little linen top is found here, at Uniform Studio Journal. Oh, how I love what this woman makes.

I used some gray Italian linen (sewed on the bias), some orange fabric (yeah, surprise, surprise) and some orange Cotton Stria for the string tie. It's a little shorter than the inspiration piece and probably more swingy (her's seemed to have a gentle a-line).

I made a ton of mistakes + the hem's all wonky, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

And how does it fit? I was kinda curious about that myself since I didn't use a pattern.

Hooray! Success!

cupcakes

Not beautiful and certainly a little worse wear and tear after half of them tipped over in the pan, but still delicious.

Made using this recipe.

All hail the mighty cupcake!

  And while my cupcakes were nice, check out the cake that Martha made for her son. Holy crap! And I thought nothing could beat the giraffe. (scroll down to the post from July 6, 2006).

You're a baking goddess. I worship you.

Thanks for an awesome time, guys!! And Happy Birthday to the little guy!!