anny purls

Life after knitting...

2009-02-18T11:25:00.003-05:00

Way back in December, after that feverish bout of designing and sample knitting for those Buddy Sweaters, I took a deep breath and decided to quit knitting…for the holidays.

I always have these grand plans for the holidays and in the end, there are just too many chores, expectations, and too little time. And now that the boys are a little bigger, I thought they would much prefer spending some good quality time getting excited about Christmas than watching mommy go bonkers and pleading to be left alone for ‘just 5 more minutes’ to finish something or another. So just like that, I tore up my holiday knitting list, put away all the yarn, needles and books strewn all over my house and just put it out of my mind.

And it was wonderful…

For the first time in my adult life, Christmas didn’t sneak up on me. By the time it rolled around, I was ready. I accomplished everything I wanted to and had a blast with the boys getting excited about it all: we made all of our own decorations for the tree, made sweet treats for our friends and fun toy gifts for all the little people in our neighbourhood, we baked, we made bread, we celebrated Santa Lucia, had dinner with friends, went to a bowling party, saw Santa, went to Church, had picnics under the tree, opened our advent stockings every night, sneaked out to cafes after dinner for chocolate milk and fanciful deserts. We even went to see a movie in a real movie theatre! We had our neighbourhood buddies over for a Christmas party and just were really, really merry with no pressure, just fun and smiles and giggles.

And it was wonderful…

Now that Christmas is long behind us, I’m still enjoying the perks of my non-knitting lifestyle: my life is organised, we have fresh laundry (there isn’t even an ironing pile looming in the closet anymore), my house is clean and guest-ready at anytime, I’m reading a book (!), sometimes I even nap with the boys. I joined the gym with my buddy and have actually been going three nights a week, get to bed at a reasonable hour and am enjoying cozying up with hubby on the sofa at the end of the day.

And that’s why it’s mid-February and I’m still on Christmas break. It’s hard to get back into the groove. Actually, I’m not even sure I really want to get back into the knitting groove the way I have been for the past 4 years. I need more balance in my life I guess and it took a good long knitting break to see that fibre had really started to take way to much room in my life.

I hope to get back into it soon because it did mean a lot to me and I got a lot of pleasure and self-esteem from knitting and have enjoyed sharing it with you all here and on Ravelry. I guess I just need to figure out a way to not get obsessive with it the way I think I have been in the past and that’s going to be tricky for me because once I cast on, it’s hard for me to put a project down before it is finished.

But there’s lots of yarn in my knitting chest and there are two perfect little guys in my midst to adorn with loving woollens so it’s just a matter of time, really.

But for now, I’m enjoying the no-pressure lifestyle…

I’ll be catching up on the blog in the next few weeks with all of our holiday adventures. I’ll cheat a little with the dates of the posts so that the dates match up more with when the activities took place so it makes more sense in the archives. And then, I’d like to get back into the blogging even if there is no knitting to talk about and I hope you won’t mind terribly ;0)

Thank you for all the kind e-mails and all your support throughout the years, you’ve been good friends and while I haven’t missed the knitting so much, I have missed writing about life with the boys and sharing it all with you.

I have so much to tell you…

Cables for Jubilee

2008-12-17T00:11:00.001-05:00

I've known it was happening for a while now but chose to ignore it. I dismissed it. I even managed to convince myself it wasn't happening at all - especially when I peeped into his room at night and caught a glimpse of his sleepy self in his little jammies. But suddenly, there is no denying it anymore. My Jubilee Bubilee is not a baby anymore! He isn't even a toddler anymore. He's, well, a kid!

I came to this realisation recently as I flipped through my knitting books in search of a new sweater pattern to knit up for him. None of the little knits who's page corners I had eagerly folded long ago would fit him anymore. I have so many pattern books for babies and tots but only a handful are sized past that knitting critical (it seems) 24 month mark. It's like a big knitting abyss for the 4 year old set and my Jubilee and I are totally stuck in it!

If it weren't for my Lolobean, who is also growing but still small enough to keep the dream of many of these little knits alive, I think I'd be completely heart broken over this. I knit a lot. I mean A LOT! But I still didn't get it all in while I could and I have to say that the reality of it makes me really emotional.

I'm so thankful that my husband and I somehow manage to make it work on one salary and that I get to stay home and enjoy every precious moment of their fleeting childhoods. I'm also glad that I speak and read French and that I live in an area that doesn't lack in stockists for Phildar magazines! It seems they're the only place for delectable knits for kids 4 and up. That's where I found the pattern for this little cabled sweater.

The pattern is 'Pull 004-T8-081' from Phildar Pitchoun magazine No. 004. I knit the 4 year size using 5 balls of stash Valley Yarns Amherst in Regatta Blue. The yarn is a workhorse - nothing fancy but it did the job, doesn't itch and hasn't shown any signs of pilling yet. The pattern, as always with Phildar, was delicious to knit and is very well tailored. I love this about their patterns. They are always fully fashioned and don't cut corners even for baby garments.

There are a few more patterns in this issue that I may have to knit for this kid of mine in between madly rushing to knit the 24-month size of all those patterns I've earmarked before my little Lolo outgrows them too! Though even he is almost at that critical mark. He's 21 months!

Here they are tearing up the lanes at Stephen's company's kid's Christmas party this weekend. It was held at a local bowling centre (as Julian calls it ;0) and was a total blast! Julian's been very eager to try bowling for a long time and so we were all thrilled to finally give it a go and it didn't disappoint!

Santa even showed up with presents which totally freaked Julian out. He thought Santa was just a Christmas decoration for our tree... not a real person. Even the promise of a present was barely enough to get him in the same room with Santa! In the end, he got the mini-golf set he'd asked for and was thrilled to bits. I guess that Santa dude's not so bad after all!

Happy Santa Lucia!

2008-12-13T23:19:00.000-05:00

So we're not Swedish. Or Scandinavian. But we do dig Ikea, swedish meatballs, lingonberries and a reason to celebrate...so this year, we decided to have ourselves a little Santa Lucia feast ;0)

I found a yummy sounding recipe for Santa Lucia bread and thought we'd give it a try this morning. It was a real collective effort. I measured all the ingredients and Julian helped me mix them together and then everyone had a hand at kneading the dough.

It didn't rise properly though so I think I may have killed the yeast when I unwittingly poured some scalding milk into the yeast mixture (don't do that). But I baked it anyway and it still turned out pretty okay. It certainly was pretty ;0)

Oh, and there was crafting too (thank you Kiddley archives)! According to Santa Lucia tradition, the eldest daughter wears a crown of leaves and candles on her head while boys wear pointy hats with stars. But since we have no daughters and the dunce-like boys caps just didn't have the right pizazz for our two, we decided to make ourselves some crowns anyway.

I cut out leaves from sticky craft foam and everyone helped to stick them onto the crowns. Then came some pompom berries, popsicle stick candles and feather flames. What a glorious way to craft away a snowy December morning!

We put it all together with a feast right out of Ikea's grocery section: swedish meatballs, cream sauce, lingonberry jam and cider and some fries and salad to round it out. Perfect! The boys especially liked the little plastic wine glasses filled with apple and lingonberry cider.

Our bread wasn't ready in time for lunch (I was giving it more time to rise but it really didn't want to) so we had it picnic-style around our tree during our advent stocking celebration at the end of the day. It was pretty good and the perfect sweet ending to a wonderful day feast day ;0)

Happy Santa Lucia!

A new charity pattern...

2008-12-08T23:45:00.013-05:00

I wanted to do something special with my Jujube and Lolo for the holidays this year. Something that would bring a little meaning and humanity to our celebrations, especially in these difficult economic times and that would bring them a taste of the joy that comes from giving...

So when a blog-reader and friend told me about MOST's Holiday Adopt-A-Family program, I was on board from the get-go. The program is now in its tenth year and has helped nearly 200 families and 1000 children in need. The idea of families helping families just warms my heart and it's been a fun project for all of us to get involved in.

I recruited daddy and the boys to pick out some toys and books for the baby triplets we 'adopted' and they were so eager and proud to help. Naturally, I contributed some fiber love and designed and knit little holiday sweaters for 'the babies' as they came to be known in our house these past few weeks (Julian is so invested in making them happy...so sweet).

When I heard that MOST's Holiday Adopt-A-Family program had been underfunded for years and may not be able to continue to operate unless they succeed in raising $10, 000, I thought we knitters could do something about that ;0)

So I wrote up the pattern for these Buddy Sweaters and am making it available for free with any contribution to MOST's Holiday Adopt-A-Family program. Find out more and download the pattern from Jujube & Lolo here.

The pattern includes instructions to knit the seamless yoked sweater and all three holiday-themed finger puppet buddies (elf, snowman and penguin) and pockets (north pole, gift box and ski slopes) in sizes 3 to 24 months.

{Hint: the pockets and buddies are also the perfect size to adorn Buddy Bags if you need a quick knit for a special little one on your list}. Thank you in advance for your support (as always)! If you have a blog or knitting group, plese help me spread the word about this charity project. I know we can make a big difference for this organisation and bring a little extra cheer to families in need.

You can find out more about MOST here.

Get the Buddy Sweater pattern here.

Cheers!

Rockin' robots!

2008-11-17T12:16:00.009-05:00

After warming Lolo's toesies with his puppy bootees, the time had come for a little Julian warming so I got right to work last week concocting the 'perfect' slippers for this eccentric 3 year old of mine.

And here they are. The quintessential rocking robot slipper boots for the boot wearing, rock and roll obsessed, robot loving, red favouring Jubilee Bubilee of mine ;0) And how I loved making these for him, the whole time anticipating how much he would love everything about them. This is one project that brings together all his (current) favourite things and for all of those things they mean to him (and to me) they just might be my favourite thing I ever made for him.

You see, my little guy is totally obsessed with his bright orange winter boots (a steal from Land's End overstocks which I got in the middle of summer). Completely and utterly obsessed. So obsessed that despite the high temperatures of July and August, my little guy would sneak on those squall boots anytime I wasn't looking.

When I insisted he took them off, he would carefully placed them in his little blue cart and take them for walks around the neighbourhood, to the park, out with friends and of course to bed. So when I started thinking about the perfect indoor slippers for him, I knew they would have to be boots!

They also had to be red, his new new favourite colour (it sure beats his previous favourite colours, brown and black!), but since all I scavenged from the stash by way of feltable wool was but 8 yards of red yarn I decided to go in a different direction and add some embroidery of his two other favouritest things: robots and guitars (a nod to his favourite thing to do with his dada: watch him play guitar hero with the tv robot character, the red guitar, on the truck stage preferably playing "I want to rock and roll all night" or "Slow Ride")!

I used Knitting at Knoon Design's Family of slippers pattern and modified it by working 1 row stripes in gray and cream Lopi (I used about 2/3 of each ball), working the cuff for 30 rows , adding an i-cord for stability, knitting an afterthought heel and adding some embriodery. Oh and I painted on some morse code with puff paint on the soles to make them less slippery.

When he first saw his new slipper boots, the first words out of his mouth were: "They're perfect!"

Indeed ;0)

Woof!

2008-11-12T17:57:00.007-05:00

The leaves are raked, the tires are changed, the pool is winterized, the snow removal pickets have been picketted at the end of our driveway, and my little Lolo bean has some brand new puppy slippers. Winter? Bring it on mother nature...if you dare!

My little Lolo's been sniffly for a few days and it occured to me that his socks needed some knitterly reinforcement ;0) So naturally, I raided the stash and found a ball and a quarter of Lett Lopi in a dark brown heather with which to knit and felt him some slippers!

The pattern is from a book called Baby Knits Heads & Toes which is filled with cute hats and booties but alas they're all too small for my 18 month old, 5.5 inch footed little dude so there were a bunch of mods which I pretty much faked thinking felting would hide a multitude of sins which it did! Basically, I took the figures for the largest size and multiplied by 1.2 where it made sense and ignored the "you should now have" numbers since mine were seriously wonky.

I added little i-cord stump eyes and noses pre-felting (above) and improvised a little eye patch and off to the washer they went. 3 cycles later, they were just the right size! I knit up the cuffs with stash Knit Picks shine in a light gray and am really impressed that these stay on. Though until I get some puff-paint on the soles, these are sooooo not safe to wear. He's like bambi on ice wearing these around our house. Cute, but deadly!

Ah winter! How my knitterly heart loves thee ;0) Now for some rocking felted boots for my Jubilee Bubilee...

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T22:27:00.001-04:00

Halloween Buddy Bags!

2008-10-17T08:41:00.001-04:00

Trick or treat

Smell my feet

Give me something good to knit!

With halloween at our doorstep, I couldn't resist knitting up a couple of spooky Buddy Bags for my little Jujube and Lolo to trick-or-treat with. I used my original Buddy Bag pattern to knit up

the drawstring backpacks.

I knit Lolo's to spec, but made Julian's a little larger by casting on an extra 20 stitches and knitting for 10 inches before working the eyelet row. I also made his I-cord a little longer so that it would fit well (and hold more candy of course)!

I came up with three new spooky pocket/buddy variations. First there's the witch in her cauldron with optional logs and flames!

Then there's the glow-in-the dark one-eyed goblin in a jack-o-lantern. If you haven't seen this glow in the dark yarn yet, head off to Michael's, Mary Maxim or Zellers right away! It's the coolest thing ever. Nasty to knit with to be sure but it really does glow quite brightly. Julian's been sleeping with a ball of it waiting patiently for me to turn it into something funner. It's made by Bernat and is simply too cool for school!

And then, perhaps spookiest of all is the ghost in a tombstone. Boo-ooo-oo! It doesn't have a face yet but I plan on getting some of that glossy fabric puff paint to 'paint it on'! If it works, it will completely revolutionize my approach to eyes on knitted toys. I'll let you know how it works out ;0)

As a special holiday treat (and thank you) to all my patrons, I'll be including the pattern for all 3 halloween variations with my Buddy Bag pattern at least until the end of the month. That's all 7 variations (4 original + 3 halloween) for the price of 1! Ravelry downloads going forward will also include all 7 variations.

Already bought the pattern? No problem. Check your e-mail, it's on it's way to you too ;0) I am sending the pdf pattern file with the halloween buddies to everyone who bought the original Buddy Bag pattern. Due to quotas from my e-mail provider though, I can't send them all at once so you might need to be a little patient. If you haven't received the new pattern by Sunday night, send me an e-mail at anny {at} jujubeandlolo {dot} com and I'll hook you up.

Happy {early} Halloween from Jujube & Lolo!

A L'illo for Lolo...

2008-10-13T22:42:00.007-04:00

I think I cast on for L'illo the very day it was released on knitty. It was one of those projects that just was meant to be. I had just the yarn in the exact right quantity and just the boy to wear it too! And so it was, a little L'illo...

...for my little Lolo ;0)

The sweater is super cute in a modern vintage kind of way: the woven stitch and construction makes it feel vintage, but the assymetric ribbed placket and collar is cool modern. Love it!

Though I have to admit that the actual knitting on this one was less than pleasant. I knit it from RYC Cashcotton which is deliciously soft and shows great crisp stitch definition but it's utter lack of give makes it really hard on the hands and wrists.

So much so that knitting this sweater gave me my very first taste of carpel tunnel pain - loss of grip and strength in my right hand, sharp shooting pains to the elbow, cold hands and numbness in my thumb, ring finger and pinky. Scary!

Thankfully, now that it's done, the pain is gone. It's one of the many things I was thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend. Of course I was also thankful for my family, grandma's turkey, a delightful walk in the woods (above), my sister's ham and fiber...naturally!

Happy Thansgiving to you and yours! Oh, and if you're Canadian, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, eh?

A is for Apples...

2008-10-08T12:25:00.003-04:00

...and for Abigail! I had such fun knitting for Ceilli last week that I just couldn't resist knitting for the daughter of another one of Stephen's office buddies, Abigail, this week. And that's how these cute little piggies charmed their way onto my needles ;0)

The pattern is Spilly Jane's Piggy mittens and the yarn is Knit Picks Shine Worsted. I was worried about running out of yarn (I only had one ball of each shade) so knit the rolled cuffs in a lighter shade of pink which turned out to be a good thing because by the time I finished the second snout, there were just a few yards of the darker yarn left! I used it to knit a striped I-cord to make sure these little piglets don't loose each other and by the time I was done, there was no yarn left, just cute little mittens. Oh how I would have loved these when I was a wee one. I hope Abby loves them too and that they keep her little hands nice and toasty in the cooler days ahead...

The days sure are getting shorter and cooler around these parts. The tempertatures are a-dropping, the leaves are a-falling and the apples are ripe for the a-picking! So we made the most of the season by taking the boys to a local orchard last weekend for an afternoon of ladder-climbing, crisp-apple eating, tractor-riding, farm-animal-petting and of course, just plain running amuck in an orchard. And what fun it was.

And then to top it all off, there was homemade apple and sugar pie! A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Martha would have been proud ;0)

Knitting for Ceilli

2008-10-02T10:22:00.004-04:00

I love having two boys. Love! Of course I would love to be putting bows in curly locks too, but when I see the beautiful relationship that is developing between my little guys and how much they enjoy playing together, I'm pretty happy it turned out the way it did ;0)

But every once in a while, I get an urge for cute girly knitting...you know, with lace and ruffles and flowers and eyelets and picot edges! Ah, the stuff of dreams! Luckily, there seems to be a little girly baby boom around us and a sweet little girl was born to friend of Stephen's a few weeks ago and I was more than happy to get knitting on a little frilly knitterly gift ;0)

It's the upside-down daisy hat from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats and the flower pacifier clip from Itty Bitty Nursery (though you can get the flower clip pattern for free here just like I did). The yarn is stash Knit Picks Shine Worsted and both were knit with US 7 bamboo needles.

Both were quick to knit but long to seam. I don't mind that because I actually really enjoy seaming and finishing. I'm strange that way. I ended up making a few mods to the pattern, some intentional, others quite by accident. For the hat, I sewed on five of the petals instead of six. I knit the newborn size and found that there was too much overlap with six petals...so much so that it looked like a circle up on top rather than a daisy.

For the flower clip, I found the instructions for the petals confusing and figured there had to be errata there. I thought I fixed it by knitting one, moving the yarn to the front, slipping one, passing the yarn to the back and continuing this way across the row. I continued this way and ended up with what I think is double knitting! Quite by {happy} accident!

I thought this is what the pattern meant but then the pattern says to turn it right side out with the purl bumps on the inside when finishing and mine didn't have any purl bumps, just nice stockinette that laid flat on both sides. Tres cool!

For the pacifier clip, I sewed two pieces of velcro on the end instead of dismantling an actual store bought pacifier holder to harvest the hardware. It just seemed wasteful to me. I used the clip from an old name tag holder I got at some convention in another life when I had business functions! Seems like ages ago. It felt very fitting to be dismantling office supplies to turn them into pacifier holders ;0)

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out and hope that baby Ceilli will enjoy them for a while before outgrowing them. I guess that's the nice thing about the binky holder, it will fit for a long while!

Now off to knit something blue...

More soup!

2008-09-25T20:03:00.009-04:00

I nestled myself on the sofa with a nice cup of green tea and the most decadent and buttery yarn I've ever felt last weekend to cast on for another Duck Soup, this one in the largest size for my {not so little anymore} Jubilee Bubilee.

The yarn is Frog Tree 100% merino wool and even though it is technically worsted weight, I got the required gauge of 4 sts per inch with it on US 9s. It's nice and drapey, but not holey. This stuff is surely the closest thing to butta I've ever knit with and I can't tell you how many times I had to put down the knitting to check the label because I was in total disbelief that 100% wool could feel this soft and cooshy. And it has great yardage too boot - I used just over 6 balls to knit the 4/5 year size (that's how much Classic Elite Countess I used for Lolo's 18 month size)!

I really like the sagey gray-green too, but couldn't think of any colours that would work well for the frog closures. I didn't want it to be too babyish but didn't want it to be too grown up or serious either. It suddenly came to me just as I was finishing the sleeves: Behr's Color Smart tool!

It's this really nifty tool that generates colour ideas. I started by searching for a colour that most closely matched the yarn ('celery ice') and then asked the tool to find coordinating colours and it generated 8 different palettes. I ended up going for the 'cool details 1' combo (the last one in the screen shot above) because it happened to be most compatible with my stash and ended up with this...

Not bad, eh? I think I'm going to use that tool a lot more from now on. It completely took the guesswork out of the equation and gave me ideas I wouldn't have even thought of on my own. This one's definitely going into my knitting bookmark folder ;0)

I ended up knitting the frog closures from stash worsted weight yarns and it worked out really well though I did have to knit the i-cords for the buttons a little longer to be able to knot and fold them with the thicker yarn and still end up with a 2-inch button frog. I ended up knitting 4 inch i-cords for the loops and 7.5 inch i-cord for the buttons.

I'm thrilled with how it turned out in the end and would love to wrap myself up in it myself. Julian wouldn't have a problem with that, because even though he looks perfectly happy with it on in the photos (he was bribed with a chocolate race car ;0), he decided he can't wear it because it's "not his favourite colour"! Well thats a new one. Hopefully he'll change his mind again soon and make green his favourite colour just in time for cooler weather.

Fingers crossed...

ps - I ended up making a few edits to the pattern after knitting this one to give the sleeves a bit more ease in the larger sizes (the baby sizes are not affected). I issued revised pattern to all buyers on September 22nd (it says 'v.3' on the cover). If you didn't get it or if you suspect it might have been deleted by your spam filter, send me a note at annypurls{at}hotmail{dot}com and I'll send it along.

Eighteen months...

2008-09-17T21:28:00.009-04:00

...of Lolo cuddles and giggles, warm milky cheeks and smelly feets. That's a year and a half of being an excellent young apprentice for our resident big brother. Five hundred and forty seven mornings of pure sunshine and as many evenings of loving bliss. It was 18 months ago that our Lolobean graced us with his enchanting cuteness for the very first time on that peaceful spring morn.

So naturally, because we love ourselves a little party, we celebrated the occasion! Julian and dada baked our traditional half birthday half birthday cake, this time we tried the most simple and delicious Boston Cream Pie recipe ever - you can get it from Kraft Canada's website here. And we had ourselves a lovely lunch with grandma and grandpa and autie Libby and uncle Gary and even cousin Neil who was visiting all the way from Vancouver. It was great ;0)

I also wanted to mark the occasion with a little bit of knitterly goodness but since it took me so long to pick just the right project and to find just the right yarn from the stash, I didn't get started on the actual knitting until the night before.

I tried really hard to pull it off though, knitting into the wee hours of the morning but despite my best efforts to keep my eyes open, I fell asleep on the couch and didn't get it done to gift to him on his actual half birthday. So he had to wait a few more days for his present, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He's great that way!

The pattern is Mochi Mochi's Sleepy Snake and Mischevious Mouse and I knit it using a full ball each of green and blue Karabella Aurora 8 (oh, how I heart that yarn) and less than a third of grey for the mouse.

I added a squeaker in the mouse and a jingle bell in the snake's tail to up the play value. Turns out a big empty tube for chubby little hands to stuff with cheerios, hotwheels and magnetic alphabet letters is all the entertainment this little guy needs though!

Happy half birthday lolobear, we love you ;0)

Cooler weather and six balls of Katia Venus

2008-09-15T08:35:00.014-04:00

The temperatures are beginning to drop around these parts and I am giddy with all of the woolen possibilities that fall is sure to bring along: apple-picking with the boys, hats and scarves and mittens {oh how I do love them mittens}, comfy cozy little sweaters, and lots of cuddling with my family. You know, for warmth!

So I was thrilled to see the mailman walk up the driveway with 6 balls of Katia Venus in a red and orange colourway and 3 balls of Elann Sierra Aran in a dark brown last week and cast on immediately for this slithering snake scarf for my Jujube (get Sarah Bradberry's free pattern here).

I only ended up using 2 and a half balls of the Venus and just over 1 ball of Sierra Aran to make it so I put all the leftovers to good use by rounding out the set with a matching hat. Of course ;0)

I used this free pattern from yarnsticks' blog, working the brim and earflaps in the Sierra Aran held double to get gauge and then alternating with the Katia Venus also held double for 2 row stripes all the way to the top where I finished it off with a little I-cord loop.

And then, since there was still leftover yarn, I knit some target wave mittens from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. I knit the smallest size which is slightly big for my Julian, but he doesn't seem to mind at all. Turns out he looooves the woolens!

He's been wearing them lots and lots around the house with his big chunky firey orange winter boots that the mailman also happened to bring us this week. Never mind fall, this kid just can't wait for snow!

And then it was Lolo's turn! Would you believe that after all that, there was still enough leftover Venus to make Yarn Harlot's unoriginal hat for Lolo! It was meant to be a hat for me, but it was not so flattering (it's not the hat...it's me!) so I tried it on Lolo just for kicks and it was the cutest thing ever!!!

I made a few mods to toddlerify the pattern. I unravelled the top down to the 2nd row 16, knit 2 together all the way around and then pulled the yarn through all the stitches to finish the top. I then picked up stitches around the bottom edge and worked a garter stitch brim and earflaps just like Julian's hat making the earflaps slightly smaller by working them over 12 stitches instead of 14. And to top it all off, I taught Julian how to make a pom pom to adorn the top. He did the winding and I did the tying.

When I finally ran out of the Venus, I pulled out the leftover Filatura Di Crosa Andina I had languishing in the stash and knit a simple garter scarf to match Lolo's new hat. I held two strands of the Andina together to get a gauge of 3 sts per inch, cast on 125 stitchs, worked in garter stitch for 4 inches and cast off. Voila, a sideways garter scarf sized just right for a baby or toddler ;0)

And then when it was all done and I was finally done with the photos, we took off our woolens and set up our picnic under the biggest tree we could find because it turns out there is still a little bit of summer left ;0)

Happy fall-is-coming to everyone!

A little postscript...

2008-09-10T22:41:00.007-04:00

How lucky am I? No really? Many people pour their heart and soul into their passion and have no one to share it with, no one to shower them with ooh's and ahh's, and no one to do a happy dance with when it's all done.

And here I am with a great supportive and helpful husband who doesn't mind that I spend his hard-earned money on yarn, who doesn't mind helping me solve tech issues when he comes home after a long day at the office, who can always be counted on to help me figure out knitting math, and who will stay up until 3 in the morning with me many nights in a row because it's the only time the house is still enough to get our website organised for the launch of a new pattern.

And then, as if that weren't enough love and support and kindness, when it's all done, when all the photos have been taken, when the pattern has been written and proofed a million times (or so it seems), when the website is done and the e-mail updates have been sent out, when it's all done, done...I have you ;0)

I really am one truly lucky knitter! Thank you all for your kind words, your encouragement and your support. You are making a dream come true for this knitter and for the two sweet-as-pie little guys who's education funds grow with every pattern sold {because that's where all the money goes...the best way I could think of to contribute to the family while I'm at home with the boys}.

I was relly sad to hear that the yarn I used for my Duck Soup was discontinued and have spent a lot of time this week trying to find a good sub and haven't found anything just so. But here are some suggestions for you anyway. If anyone has any other suggestions, please do share in the comments ;0)

Valley Yarns Berkshire (cooshy and lofty wool/alpaca blend, inexpensive and lots of colours including great baby pastels...I've actually used this one for this pattern and like it a lot but it does pill so you'll need to 'comb' your sweater every once in a while to keep it looking like new)
The new Swish Bulky from KnitPicks (it is washable and comes in lots of colours)
Cascade Greenland (machine wash and dry, soft merino, great cheery shades for babies and tots)
Cascade Bollicine Baby Night (shrink resistant merino, classic baby pastels)
Karabella Merino Superwash (super soft and washable and lots of great gender-neutral shades)
Berrocco Peruvia (great heathered shades to mimic the look of the Countess but not many 'baby' colours)
Karabella Aurora Bulky Melange (has the same multi construction as the Countess but the colour range is very limited)

Note that I haven't tried most of these and suggest them simply because they should give you the correct gauge of 16 sts to 4 inches, are suitable for a baby or child (not too scratchy), and come in colours I might use for a baby or tot myself. All have also received at least 4 out of 5 stars from Ravelers. A note on yardage, the Countess offered 100 yards per 50g and was used to determine the estimates for yarn requirements so keep this in mind when shopping for a substitute yarn.

Before I go, I should mention that I updated the Duck Soup pattern on September 8th and sent this revision to all those who had already purchased the pattern, either from my site or from Ravelry. If you didn't get it or if it was caught by your spam filter, just send me an email at anny{at}jujubeandlolo{dot}com and I'll set you up.

Happy knitting!

Duck Soup!

2008-09-01T23:46:00.009-04:00

There's a new pattern for wee ones hanging around my shop today, meet Duck Soup!

He came about one winter night as I tried to imagine the simplest, sweetest, freshest, and most practical baby garment ever. It would have to be really simple. That means no fancy stitches (just stockinette and garter), not too much shaping, as little counting as possible (aka, can be worked without looking at the pattern too too much), no buttonholes, no frilly bits, minimal seaming, supercute, current, warm, sized to grow with those kidlets who never seem to pause for the knitting, and fun to make. It took about 8 or 9 months of tinkering and tweaking until it was just right, but it's finally here!

It's is a fun to knit and wear (nearly) seamless jacket featuring a knotted hood (too cute), knotted i-cord buttons and loops (fancy lookin' but easy peasy, you'll see) and grow-with-me sensibilities.

Frustrated with sweaters that seem to only fit my tots for a few weeks, I designed this one with multi-season wear in mind.

This jacket will fit as a roomy overcoat with a folded brim and cuffed sleeves this fall and as a more tailored-fitting sweater perfect over a light layer come spring. I've also worked out sizing to fit wee ones from 3 months to 5 years so there really is something for everyone ;0)

The frog closures are such a fun (and deceptively simple) detail and I've included a thorough photo tutorial for making them in the pattern. Mine were knit from Knit Picks Palette (fingering weight) yarn I had lying around in the stash, but they would make perfect use of sock yarn oddments you might have lying around. You can make coordinating multi-coloured ones using the different colours in self-striping sock yarn since each only uses but a few yards of yarn.

As for the main yarn, I used Classic Elite Countess which I purchased from Webs during boxing week last year (told you I've been thinking about this one for a while!) The yarn is a beautiful multi and is made up of lots of strands of different coloured yarns which I picked up on when choosing colours for the closures. It is also so soft and cooshy and a pure pleasure to knit with it.

This is my favourite pattern so far and I hope you'll enjoy it too. You can it here or as a Ravelry download for $6.50.

Happy knitting!

Anyone for some tea?

2008-08-30T13:17:00.000-04:00

There are two toy closets in my house: the one the kids know about right in the middle of our family room, and the one the boys have never seen.

That's where I keep all the wonderfully crafted wooden toys and such that I've been finding here and there for years. I snatch them when I find a deal and since they are not always age-appropriate...up in the upstairs closet they go just waiting for the rainy day when either of my little guys needs a little cheer me up or better yet a day that calls for a special reward.

When Julian was sick with his first "big boy" cold last winter (you know, the first one they are too old to just sleep through?), I climbed up on a chair in that special closet and found just the thing, a tiny little porcelain tea set. We wore our jammies and robes, stuffed tissues in our runny noses (oh so chic!), plugged in the humidifier and had a delightful tea party right there in his room and all the stuffies we could find were invited. It was the sweetest thing ever.

It's been almost a year already, but my heart can't help but swell just remembering that special moment. He was so happy to handle the tiny tea set and though he didn't say anything about it, I could tell by how careful he was that he knew it was a privilege to get to play with such a grown up toy that would otherwise have been reserved for when he was older.

It was so adorable to watch him pour tea and offer sugar and cream to all his delighted guests. He played tea party in the morning. He played tea party in the afternoon. And he just couldn't wait to take it all out again and play with daddy too when he got home from work.

It is one of my fondest memories of his toddlerhood and I hope I never forget it. When his cold was gone a few days later, we packed up the tea party and put it away again...for another time. And he was okay with that too. And I was so proud.

That's what I thought of this week as I knit all these wonderful tea sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres for my boys. So as the autumn chill draws near, we all get to look forward to special tea parties to help us chase away those colds...and this time, there'll be food for everyone!

Oh, and by the looks of this, I think Lolo might be looking forward to cold season too ;0)

Cheerio!

Ps - Should you feel the urge to knit some of the tea party treats for a little someone too, you can get the free pattern directy from Jean Greenhowe's site. It looks complicated, but every piece is but a strip of garter - no shaping whatsoever! It was a true pleasure to put this little spread together using US 8 needles and scraps of leftover Bernat Satin. I see Jean's knitted deserts in my future too someday, there's a free pattern for those too from that same site ;0)

Ravelympics: Days 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16!

2008-08-27T21:27:00.009-04:00

Oh my! Has it really been that long? And to think I was on a roll with two posts in one week! Well, let me catch you up with my Olympic knitting: meet the lovely and completed right on time, Natalie Coat...

The pattern by Libby Baker is from Big Girl Knits. I knit the smallest size (not sure without looking at the book whether it is large or extra large), using 17 balls of Filatura Di Crosa Andina in camel and US 9 bamboo needles.

The pattern was smooth sailing until I got to the second front on day 7. I did well at first knitting up to the waist shaping. But when I laid it down next to the other front piece, the daisy stitch bands didn't quite look symmetrical and so I ripped back about a foot and a bit! Ouch!

Demotivated a bit by the ripping, I found it hard to pick it up again and since I was doing really good on time, I allowed myself to procrastinate for a few days while partaking with fun-filled vacation activities with my boys, watching lots and lots of CBC and SRC Olympic coverage and mostly hanging with my honey and enjoying spending so much time together.

But it was back to the needles with a fury on day 13 and I finished that second front that evening. I seamed it all up on day 15 and completed the collar on day 16 just in time to claim my spot on the podium and accept my award.

Yay !!!

Oh, and of course the cheering robots Stephen and I made with the boys and hung in plain view of my knitting spot helped me bring it all home

Oh, and Simon Whitfield provided some awesome inspiration too...watching him make his way back in contention in the final minutes of the triathlon and bringing home the Silver was my highlight of the games and watching team mate Colin Jenkins' enthusiastic last place finish is an olympic moment I will not too soon forget!

Forget Jacques Rogge, these were the best games ever!

Ravelympics: Days 5 and 6

2008-08-14T02:41:00.010-04:00

So my loving husband surprised me by arranging for two full weeks of vacation during the games to care for kids while I knit. And it is his support that has made all the difference. Having him on board has meant guiltless hours of knitting while he feeds and entertains our little guys. He's even been getting up early with them so that I can catch up on some zzz's after long knitting sprints watching olympic morning on the CBC until 3 am for the past few nights.

So given my progress, I thought we all deserved a little break on day 5 for a day out with my sister and brother-in-law. So I left the needles and yarn by the couch and off we went to a historical site in my hometown of Terrebonne, Quebec: L'ile des moulins.

We had such a great afternoon (despite the occasional rain cloud) taking in the coolness of this park from my kids perspective: there are little walking bridges, mini-falls, ponds with ducks and fountains, lots of green spaces under a lush canopy of maples with big rocks poking out of the ground.

Oh, and there was ice cream too while we waited for the rain to pass. It was really great. And I totally forgot about the knitting...

...until I got home and realised a whole day had gone by with wary a stitch! So I cast on for the left front late on day 5 after the kidlets were in bed. Unfortunately, mentally keeping track of all the pattern rows and multiple shapings while cheering for the Canadian divers competing in the men's 3m synchro event meant a lot of head scratching moments and frogging. Turns out those two are not compatible tasks and the diving was more interesting than the knitting so day 5, while a great vacation day spent with the family, was a total knitting bust. Then the story on day 6 was all about sleeping! All those late nights finally caught up with me and I slept in until 11 and napped away the afternoon with the boys.

I did manage to kick it back into high gear late in the evening again though just in time to finish the left front of my Natalie Coat while watching the men's all around gymnastics competition. Another 3 balls of yarn and a 3 am bedtime for this knitter ;0)

...but with just one front and collar left to knit (oh, and all that seaming of course!), it looks like we'll be able to pay daddy back for all his efforts with more vacation fun next week. Cause I sure am going to owe him big when my games are done!

Ravelympics: Days 3 and 4

2008-08-12T23:30:00.003-04:00

While daddy and the boys were hanging around and learning important life lessons (here's a pic of them reading "How to behave and why", a classic by Munro Leaf - I think ;0)

I continued to make strides on my Olympic knitting project, knitting a sleeve on day 3 (while attending a barbecue at Stephen's sister, no less), and another on day 4, stopping only to bake pumpkin muffins with the boys in the morning and again for an evening ice cream outing with all our neighbourhood buddies. So that's 1 back and 2 sleeves completed! Yay, mommy!!!

Now on to the fronts...

Ravelympics: Day two

2008-08-10T02:23:00.004-04:00

No way!

That's the finished back of my jacket in all it's 37" long, 22" wide, and blocking glory. I am in utter shock! This is my fastest knitting performance ever. Watching swimming helps apparently.

The riveting competition keeps my mind off the boring-ness of stockinette and the length of this jacket. Case in point, I only stopped to measure my progress twice today (when knitting this much stockinette, I usually feel compelled to measure oh, I don't know, every inch and a half ;0)

Specs for day two: 21 inches and 3 balls of yarn!!!

Coaching support: hubby made breakfast, took us out for lunch and picked up dinner. Plus he brought the boys outside to play after their naps so I could knit quietly. Oh, he also read library books and put them to bed. And yes, ladies, he is already married to this lucky mom and knitter! How I heart that man ;0)

Ravelympics: Day One

2008-08-09T17:51:00.005-04:00

So I've been scheming, fondling yarn, reading and re-reading instructions to identify possibly tricky bits, swatching, and mostly coming down with Olympic fever for the past few weeks. And yesterday, I finally got to cast on for my Olympic knitting project, the Natalie Coat from Big Girl Knits.

If you haven't heard of the knitting olympics (really?), you can read up all about the original event here and this year's Ravelympics event here. Basically, the idea is to knit something personally challenging during the olympics, starting when the flame is lit and ending 17 days later before the flame is extinguished. My personal challenge: a grown-up knee-length sweater coat for my sis.

I generally don't have the knitting stamina and commitment required to knit the gazillion stitches in an adult garment (which is why they are a rarity on this here blog). Put another way: the last sweater I knit for my man took me over a year to complete! So a coat in 17 days: totally challenging ;0)

Though day one has been very sucessful! I knit for 12 hours and managed to knit 16 inches of the back section and work through 3 (of the required 18) balls of the glorious Filatura Di Crosa Andina in a camel colourway.

You might have noticed my snazzy Olympic timer in the sidebar. A gift from my geeky hubby. If you would like one for your blog, just go into your template and add the following code where you would like the timer to appear:

<div id="knitolympics">Olympic Countdown Timer</div>
              <script language="javascript" src="http://jujubeandlolo.com/olympics/timer.js"></script>

That's it! The timer is set to GMT so should be accurate regardless of your time zone.

Happy knitting!

Jury's still out...but I think I like it!!!

2008-08-06T22:48:00.006-04:00

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions about the fruity scarf I showed you last time. I finished it last night and after a good blocking and a fifty-ways-to-wear-a-really-long-skinny-scarf session in front of the laundry room mirror, this psychadelic Easter scarf is really starting to grow on me...

So I'm going to hold off on dying it for a little while to see if I fall in love with it's fruitiness come spring. The pattern is chevron scarf from Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It calls for 4 skeins of sock weight yarn total, but I only used 2 and ended up with a 74" scarf (just 3 inches shy of the 77" the pattern calls for). I used one skein of Knit Picks Sock Memories in paper dolls and the other in the hawaii colourway and knit the whole thing in 4 days using my very favouritest Crystal Palace bamboo straights in US 5 (they're the short-ish 8 inch ones with the balls on top pictured in my last post).

I love those needles so much which is strange really, because I usually don't feel comfortable using straight needles at all. But there's something about these that just feels so right that I can not put them down. This is a quality that makes these perfect for scarf knitting, a project that can get tedious really fast. But not with these babies!

Though to come back to the scarf, I must say that this very simple pattern (4 rows, 3 of which are just plain old stockinette) was completely addictive to knit in and of itself (if you've ever considered it and then decided not to make one because of the sock weight yarn, go for it, it's actually knit on US 5 needles so even though it's sock yarn, it comes together pretty quickly). I love the little scallop effect it creates at the ends of the scarves too. As I laid it out for it's photo session, I noticed that the little scallop at the top would be just right for a mitten top. So naturally, I had to cast on for a pair....

And now for something completely different! Jujube and Lolo playing tennis in the street with their toddler buddies from across the street (their dad is a Canadian tennis champ in the 35 and over category)! This was the first time they took over the street and Stephen and I got such a kick out of it. There's nothing cuter than tots with rackets ;0)

One last thing...did you sign up for the Ravelympics yet? You have to sign up before AUGUST 7 to participate officially. I'll be competing in the Sweater Sprint event. I'll tell you more about my project when I cast on dunring Friday's opening ceremonies ... it's so exciting!!!

One fruity scarf

2008-08-04T20:41:00.003-04:00

So the Olympics are coming in a few days and since I had nothing on the needles and since I can't start my Natalie Coat (I'm knitting it as a present for my sister as my official Ravelympics project) I thought why not use up some stash yarn and cast on a simple and mindless project...

Meet my chevron scarf. The pattern is from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and while I would not normally knit a 77 inch scarf out of sock yarn (!), somehow I felt compelled to rescue a bunch of skeins of Knit Picks Sock Memories sock yarn from the "what was I thinking" section of my stash arrangement.

The colours look nice on their own (they are paper dolls and hawaii), but combined together in the two-row stipes called for in the pattern... I REALLY REALLY HATE THE COLOURS!

I started it late at night by the incandescent bulb of my night stand lamp and it didn't look too too bad in the orangy light...but come morning, ouch! The colour is not my cup of tea at all. It's sooo Fruit Loopy, but not in a good way. I considered frogging the 10 inches I had already done. But then I figured I wouldn't want socks knit out of this stuff either so I kept going. And going. And going. The whole time hating the colour more and more.

Then it hit me: Kool-Aid! I've never tried dying yarn. And I certainly haven't tried overdying a scarf knit from sock yarn before cause let's face it - that just sounds crazy! But I think that's what I'm actually going to do.

I googled overdying and have already decided to go for Kool-Aid or Wilton cake dye since I want to use cooking utensils and will be cooking the scarf indoors where we will all be smelling the dye aromas for a while.

But other than that I've got nothing! Anyone have any tips, resources, and advice to share? I'd especially appreciate colour suggestions ;0)

Please help me save this scarf...

Slacker blogger in the hizzle!

2008-07-24T09:17:00.004-04:00

Well it's definately summer now and that means there has been a lot less knitting than usual, and a lot less blogging too. But there has been lots of fun in the sun with my growing boys:

But let's not get crazy. There has also been a lot of knitting too...just lots and lots of samples for a new pattern I'm still not quite ready to release yet. I can't wait to show you what I've been up too.

All I need now are a sunny day for pretty pics, a working camera, and a willing husband to do the web magic. And it all has to come together before the Olympics because I sure have picked out a challenging project. Actually I still can't decide whether it's "challenging" or "loopy" but either way I'm committed to making it. More about it next time ;0

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer (but secretly looking forward to winter) like me!