I thought I was working on mom’s sweater. Where did this come from?

Here we go again.

Ignoring the fact that there is still a list of things yet to do on Olivia’s backpack, I’ve started mom’s sweater! It is already clueing me in to the fact that it is going to be a pain in the rear to knit, and yet, I’m enjoying myself. What does that say about me?

I’ve completed the first cable row, and lost one of my stitch markers in the process. I was away from home, and quite annoyed.

Cotton is weird. I didn’t detect any weirdness while knitting my Mother’s Day Diagonal hat, nor did I suspect while knitting my swatch. But now that I’m actually knitting the sweater, it’s weird. The stitches move. That’s the best way to describe it. Maybe it’s just the ribbing, but I’ll look down and see scoliosis, freak, and then run my fingers along the rib and it jumps back into place. It is quite unnerving. Next, based on my mom’s body measurements, I should probably be making the medium, but looking at the pattern schematic compared to measurements of a sweater at home that she likes the fit of, the small is right on. There is a 4 inch difference between the small and medium sizes. That seems a bit excessive to me. The medium looks like it would be too big for either measurement, but she buys mediums in the store. (This is brit sizing, however). After my experience with Nate’s Manly Sweater, I’m nervous about knitting the smaller size and getting something that is too small in the armholes again. That Manly Sweater had some other issues as well though, so I don’t really know which way is up. This is only my third sweater, and the first one (which is perfect in every way!) had no sleeves. Concern #3 stems from the fact that I’m making the smallest size and it is looking pretty big to me, like, big enough for me who is considerably larger than my mom in every possible way.

I apologize for the above, disjointed ramblings.

In other news, Abigail has been invited to THREE !!! birthday parties in the last two days. We have started taking Abby into an isolated room and informing her privately to save us all from the hours and hours of crying and carrying on Olivia performs on such occasions when she is not invited. There is no exaggeration here. My question is, do you think that the knitted dolls that have been gracing Poor Miss Finch recently would make nice birthday gifts for 6 year old girls, or are they too “homemade”? Are you all sick of reading about them and cringe at the thought of seeing a couple more? I think they’re cute. They’d definitely be cheaper than store bought gifts, and considering we have three parties coming up in the next couple of weeks, that’s a plus. I don’t want to send my daughter to a party with a dork gift however. What do you think?

Well, it’s felting right now. I could die. Remember my prediction Thursday about throwing up while it was in the wash? Poor Veronica is throwing up, but not from nerves. I legitimately feel nauseated. It’s just a backpack for goodness’ sake.

I took some before photos and measurements, and I’ll share them with you to pass the time.
Bag- 19 inches tall, 14 inches wide
Flap- 15 inches tall
I cord hook- 5 1/2 inches long
Straps- 31 inches long each

I was going to post another before picture but the term “beating a dead horse” came to mind, so I’ll leave it be. While we’re waiting, I’d like to take this opportunity to once again thank sweet Stephanie for saving my washing machine through her post on destroying hers despite carefully scooping fuzz out of it before draining. I had no idea I was going to be putting my washing machine in peril, and the day I read her post was the day I was going to felt my first. Thank you, Stephanie! I will honor and revere you always.

THIS JUST IN….. It is spinning dry right now. I’m not sure how the rest of it is going to be yet, but I can tell you now that my straps are a dismal failure and I made a silly mistake on the hanging loop as well. The hanging loop will be easy enough to fix. As for the straps, well, I have no clue.

Now it’s out of the wash, and drying. There are many, many things wrong with the straps, so I’m most likely going to cut them off and find some other way to attach the backpack to my child. (Duct tape? No, just kidding.) I’m not going to do anything until I have a plan. In my defense, I did take measurements of the pouch in my red and orange purse that was used as a reference for how this yarn would felt. Some of the strap problems aren’t surprising, but some of them really are. The bag itself is pretty cute. The flap felted unevenly, and I’m not sure if I’m OK with it, or if I’m going to have to hand felt the bottom a little. I think I like it as is, but won’t really know until I make and felt the i cord drawstring that will cinch up the top. Speaking of that…. my triple yarnovers are a dream! I’m so happy about that. They are all strong, consistent, and a great size. So something went my way. The backpack is a little tall, but I think it’ll still work for her.

Ready for pictures?

So cute.

List of things I still need to do to it:
1. figure out what I’m going to do about the straps
2. knit and felt the orange i cord drawstring
3. buy and attach a button for the front
4. think about possibly attempting a removable liner, with the help and support of my friends :-).

Thoughts- I think that the backpack would look really good with straps made from something other than knit, like say, leather or canvas (thanks Nate). I have ideas on how to fix the strap problem for Abigail’s bag, but I’m not sure what to do about Olivia’s. I might just leave the straps I’ve got and cut & sew them to get the right length. That is the option I’m going to explore first. I’m up for any suggestions. The bag is still a little on the long side, but I don’t think it is too long. It gives her room to grow. Those Wednesday envelopes they come home with full of papers and annoying solicitations are very large.

Finished measurements:
Bag- 14 inches tall, 11 inches wide
Flap- 11 1/2 inches tall
Straps- 36 inches long WHAT!!? How did THAT happen?

Seriously, I’m open to opinions and ideas, either for this one, or the next. Tell me what you think. If you don’t like it, let me know. I can take it. I have to knit another one before September 1st regardless, so I might as well improve it.

Good morning! It’s a beautiful day here in Seattle. Thank you all for coming! Shall we begin?

Monday, I did weights, physical therapy, and went swimming with the kids. I motored them around on a floating chair, kicking my legs to propel us. I think that counts. I got tired.

Tuesday, I did weights, physical therapy, and a 2 mile walk.

Wednesday, I did weights, and physical therapy.

Thursday, I did weights, physical therapy, and about half of a new hula video that I really don’t like. I want to find some better ones. The music on this one talks about how I’m a “hula rock mama”, and that just doesn’t do it for me.

Friday, I did weights and a 2 mile walk.

My weights are going really well. I bumped up my military chest press to 50lbs. My weight system is all pulley based, and I’ve been told that it is more like using free weights than a fixed motion machine because of the smaller stabilizing muscles needed to complete the movement. I’ve also changed my biceps from the machine to free weights because the angle feels a little better and I think it works my arms more. The physical therapist had me add external rotator cuff this week, (I was already doing internal), and a standing row focusing on pinching my shoulder-blades together to build strength in one of my sore areas. He is going to come out to my house on Thursday afternoon to look at my weights and make sure I’m doing my routine safely. Isn’t that cool? I’m so excited.

As far as food goes…. Last weekend I went a bit nuts and did some baking. I made black bottom cupcakes, and when those were all gone, I made zucchini bread. Then on Sunday, we had lasagna for dinner. I didn’t eat a ton of the baked goods, but I had enough. The rest of the week I did OK. I’m not doing great though. I feel like I’m doing good maintenance eating, but not good weight loss eating. I need to step it up. I’m going to try to sit down this weekend and work up a plan, a menu, and a grocery list. I don’t mind eating the way I need to, it just takes effort and planning, something I haven’t been doing much of. (Probably because all of my time and energy are spent exercising)

The scale? 227.5. Down a little from last week. Still in the 220’s which has me happy.

Your turn. I’ve really been enjoying the conversations popping up. Keep ’em coming. How’s Angie in TX doing? We missed you last week. Is anyone else exercising out there?

The word of the day is “interrupted sleep”. At least, that’s my word of the day. I’m very tired. Olivia had tormented dreams last night, and I was up with her 3-4 times, I don’t recall exactly. Then this happened…

Little Veronica isn’t feeling so good. Poor thing. Usually, she stays in bed until about 10 AM, but she had me up at the crack of dawn this morning.

So, here’s what I’ve got…

I know. How many pictures of an almost done backpack can a blog readership take? Well, I’m getting antsy as well. I’ve had a lot going on. BUT, the straps are done. All I need to do is weave in ends on the top two straps and make a hanger loop thing.

I’m confident I’ll have it done this weekend, and then I’ll be able to start mom’s sweater! I’m looking forward to that.

I did work on the backpack yesterday. Honest. Still not done. If it makes me feel any better, I did drag the girls to four (count them, FOUR) doctor appts. Liv got the necessary shots for kindergarten. Veronica was prescribed prunes. Abigail’s eyes are fine, so we don’t need to haul her off to an optometrist like the elementary school nurse said, and my back still hurts.

In mid fall of last year, one of the neighbor girls came by selling magazines to raise money for her school. I was in the middle of painting my kitchen, so I quickly scanned the “craft” section and bought the only knitting magazine they offered.

I know. It’s bad. Until this month, Knit ‘n Style was the only knitting magazine coming in my mail on a regular basis. I think it is almost worth the price of the subscription just to get that much of a laugh every other month. Nate and I have lots of fun. This month, I found one sweater that could be cool, if I use a different yarn. You’ve got to see some of these. If you click on the link, and click on the cover, you’ll get to see lots of lovelies. (Now, to be fair, there are a couple of totally cool and sassy pictures in their feature article on Italian Knits. I want to find a pattern for some of those.)

Back to the backpack…… I’ve finished one top strap, and have the second well under way. So I’ll finish that up, knit some sort of loopy thing, and felt away. I still think my fear is dragging this one out. I can’t stand the thought of a bomb. I’m probably going to go throw up while it’s in the wash.

Olivia’s backpack is coming along. I’m really close, I just need the time to finish it. I’m hoping that today will be the day. Here are a couple shots of the back and straps….

I am knitting four almost identical straps that will overlap and be tied together by a brown felted I cord that will criss-cross and weave in and out of double eyelets at the border of each color change. Does that make any sense? I’ll tell you what doesn’t make sense, and that is the fact that I am putting many, many yarnovers in this project after having publicly denounced their reliability in all things felted. Hopefully they won’t seek revenge and punish me while they’re in the wash.

I did the best I could at coming up with a way to make the straps adjustable. I am undecided as to whether my method is brilliantly simple, or messy and complex. I guess that will depend on how it turns out. If it is beautiful, functional, and harmonious, than it is simple. If it isn’t quite right, or (shudder) doesn’t work at all, then it is messy and complex. If the latter happens, I’ll be knitting dish clothes for awhile until I regain some confidence. (Not really, but I will stomp and cry and throw a tantrum my three year old could be proud of)

Or trying, at least. Yesterday, I spent all of my knitting (and after dinner kitchen cleaning) time trying to figure out how to get my blog more to my liking. It all started with the discovery that I am using an unnecessarily high amount of bandwidth, and I wanted to change a few things to fix it. One thing led to another, and almost nothing productive was accomplished on either the needles, or the blog. Sigh. A big thanks to the hubby for trying to help, though. I’m trying to change my comments window a bit, I want to learn how to create links to pop up windows in my content, and I really want to know how to do stuff in my sidebar.

I can still show you something pretty.

That is a portion of the garden window in my kitchen. I don’t know why, but african violets love my house. It must have good, african violet vibes or something because they divide, survive my crude and amateur surgical separation techniques, and continue to grow. That dark purple one in the center has been in constant, abundant bloom since mid February. I’ve started giving them away, because I was up to 20 plants! I started with around 8-10, I can’t remember. I don’t have room for them all. It is ridiculous.

You know it has to be a good weekend when you get a lot of knitting done. Ahhhhhh, how nice. Not a very exciting weekend, admittedly, but a nice one.

SO, as I mentioned in the comments to Friday’s post, Elaine gave me that gentle push of moral support that I needed to finish Abigail’s doll, whom she named Christine. She’s pretty darn cute. (Thank you, Elaine!)

Showin’ some thigh there? Yeah. Initially, the skirt was much longer and she looked very frumpy. I felt ugly just looking at it, so I had to frog and make her sassy. Since the skirt is so short, she has little undies!

With that out of the way, I turned to Olivia’s backpack.

It is huge. I’ve done my math, and it should shrink up just fine, but it is still huge. There have been seemingly hundreds of ends to weave in, what with all the striping, and I am almost done. Almost. I still need to do the two top straps and the little loopy thing that enables the bp to be hung on a hook at school. Just in case it doesn’t shrink like it is supposed to, I’m making the straps adjustable enough to suit me as well.

What?!

I said “just in case”……… you know, just… in… OK, fine. I like the dumb thing. It’s cute. Who knows how long she’s going to want it? I mean, we’ll get more use out of it this way. Right? (Work with me here)