my portugal jenny

this is rowan jenny cardigan (back only) from rowan 37.
jenny was my companion on this trip and we were to spend a lot of time together. as it turned out jenny and i did not spend as much time together as i had anticipated. currently she is only a back, right and left front and the beginnings of two sleeves.

jenny is 7 skeins of rowan ryc cashsoft dk in color sh506. (57% extra fine merino, 33% acrylic microfiber & 10% cashmere) she is knit on us #3 & #6 needles. i substituted cashsoft for the handknit cotton dk used in the pattern & i knit a larger size to make up for the gauge.

if traveling to portugal and you happen to be in the neighborhood of estoril you must visit retrosaria fantasia- perhaps the best haberdashery shop i have been too. in addition to finding my portugal jenny buttons, i bought loads more for which i currently have no use for but would like to eat them like candy because they are so wonderful.

a quick note~ i have been traveling so much recently i have been a bad blogger. my travels in portugal took me by bus to sintra where i made my way walking through town~ passed my neighbor's favorite restaurant the lawrence, hiked up to the castelo da pena and then castelo dos mouros.


favorite things about portugal:
mussels
sardines
cheese
olives
wine
beer
beach

sadly, jenny went to the side once the ravery olympics began in favor of her near twin. as an attempt to better my knitting skills i decided to frog vintage lilac from knit today issue 22 and use the cashcotton dk for a jenny with beads.

cotton~ and what was i thinking?

beads~ and what was i thinking?

with help from one knutty knitter i learned a lot about bead knitting. the most valuable being that the beads i had bought for my pattern were two small. still i was encouraged to knit my project as planned by fellow knitters.

most useful bit-o-advice:

bead size suitable fiber 11/0 #8 perle cotton; d silk, #20 crochet cotton 10/0 #8 perle cotton; e silk 8/0 #3, 5, or 8 perle cotton; ff silk; lace weight and fingering weight yarn 6/0 (or 4mm diameter) a.k.a E or small pony bead #3 or 5 perle, crochet cotton; fff silk; rayon, fingering and sport weight yarn 2/0 aka small crow 20/10 silk; dk to worsted weight yarn 33/0 aka crow bead worsted weight yarn

this lady is a bead queen.

candy for baby ella

candy- remember me?

looks tasty, no?

my first from scratch knit design. the idea is to have a pullover with a keyhole tie to easily fit over the little ones head without stress.

sweet ella

i love baby girls.

ms. ella inspired me to seek out some fantastic fabrics worthy of a small persons wardrobe.

these finds were snatched, cut up and embroidered onto soft white baby tees.



i have also been knitting for the little one. my favorite color when i was a girl was orange. now.. it calls to me again.

this cardigan originally began it's life to end up looking like the "chunky tweed cardigan" by erika knigh from the book baby bloom. this is my not so chunky and not even tweed interpretation. she's a summer baby :)

ok, guage is right but i ran out of yarn and was not able to find the same color. because of this i had to frog the sleeves and come up with an alternative.

sad to butcher the original beautiful pattern but in the end i did a single crochet around the front right & left and neck. also did a simple crochet border around sleeves and ta-da.

what i really like about this sweater is the silk ribbon embroidered flower. i dont know much about embroidery however.

kennel blanket for universal city animal hospital in memory of pepper from percy & opal

in memory of our best friend pepper- this was knit for the vets and staff at the universal city animal hospital for another small dog in need.


thank you to the lady wyvern on ravelry for the free dog bone chart.




....we will miss you always pepper....

oqo soft battery case

i am on my 3rd revision of my oqo battery case for the gadget guy. the oqo is essentially a full personal computer that fits in your pocket.

cool, yes. battery life- poor. therefore, should you desire one, an extended life battery is a must.

this brings me to oqo battery pocket model 01 (not pictured): a small envelope made from wool felt outer, lined with fabric and using velcro flap closure so as not to damage the battery with metal or pressure.

the second generation of the oqo battery pocket (model 02) increased battery storage to two units and included a much needed stylist pocket which also did away with the outdated and somewhat problematic velco closure to be replaced by a twill tape tie. the fabric too has changed to a softer less stiff fleece knit for the outer pocket and a nice tartan flannel inner.


the 3rd generation pocket is rumored to be out sometime in the next few months.

indulgence

meet ‘indulgence’ – my second pair of finished knit socks.
these slouch bed socks are a late birthday present present for my dear friend in boston.

book pattern from jo sharp home book number 4 (you can buy it here)

wool is jo sharp rare comfort mohair in multi (above)

mods: too many to mention. sadly this was a case of having made mistakes on the first sock only to have to repeat the same mistakes on the second sock. lucky for me i kept track of these annoying sock faux pas. so it will suffice to say that there were no real intentional modifications made to the pattern, just a little added individuality.

thank you friends

... for sending happiness to us. i love you both.

a birthday treat

it is not often you run across a great tasting dessert in a can, but we did. and with the pulled back ring on the top of the can i give you 'apple & cranberry crumble'.

yummm i say... no sugar added and with real fruit goodness, hold on it's for dogs. oh that's right. i knew that- just lost focus.

it is opal's birthday treat....

happy birthday our little girl

sweetal turns three... we love her very, very much.

ward update

today i packed my bag and i set out to do some serious work on ward. all things are going well with the two fronts finished and joined at the back. i am currently working my way down the back and have finished the two underarm shapings without any stress.

so far so good..

so…

yes, i am waiting for the revelation-




…where i went wrong .

ward- should i even continue?

yes.

since my last post i have ripped out numerous rows including taking the right front side back down to… zero.

i have so many annoying shaping errors (even though they don’t effect the pattern) visually, i could have made them more appealing.

…and i am not even half way though. just recently i hit a pattern phrase that begged me to ask the question whether or not to continue? a simple ‘reverse shaping’. reverse shaping is easy, nothing that has ever bothered me before but it is the ‘reverse shaping’ of the awful mess i got myself into in my last post.

a repeat of a new beggining

see my pattern notes? i binned these (see multiple scratches). this pattern required a second attempt, as i had to take it out and redo my calculations…


with patience it will become 'ward' from kim hargreaves heartfelt pattern book. this pattern is knit in one piece with 5 skeins of rowan’s kid classic.

updates to follow…

bird

you can get this free embroidery pattern from hp. i need to find something to put it on....

i tried and failed...

but i had fun doing it!

poms...

our first growing pomegranates (we have two)!

plus new flowers in the garden..

happy birthday opal & jasper!

today we are off to a birthday party...
ms. opal turns 6 and mr. jasper turns 3.

i am pretty excited about this party as from what i understand there will be pony rides and a petting zoo. lucky little munchkins!

i am stuck on what to get mr. jasper. partly because he is a boy (which i never was) but mostly because he is 3. nothing like leaving it to the last minute...

for ms. opal i designed a cupcake library bag (she likes strawberry shortcake so i am hoping cupcakes are right up her alley as well)

and a last minute add-on is a little button flower pin (thank you artsy-crafty babe) i want a reason to make more and more of these!

macbook air screen protector

after this past trip i came to the conclusion that the little foam like insert that comes with your macbook air separating the screen from the keyboard has just about had it. in an effort to keep my screen scratch free i decided to make a replacement (this is all my husband- you see, if it was me i would have tossed it with the rest of the packaging which came with the computer) and then had a screen full of scratches by now.


i used a purple 100% wool felt. (it is much softer than the acrylic). just for fun i embroidered the bunny- and yes it is wearing sylvia’s teal mother’s day scarf.

today i feel like...

after a long flight and a bad nights rest... today i feel like a very tired ms. opal.

wagamama @ bournemouth