Free Pattern: GI Joe Pants

After listening to my boys fight all weekend over who’s GI Joe got to wear the only pair of pants they own…I decided to knit them a pair (or three or four). I could not find any knit patterns so I made one up.

Hopefully, this pattern will save some other mother of boys’ sanity

GI JOE PANTS

Yarn: Scrap yarn
Needles: Size 8 dpns
Darning needle
3.5mm crochet hook

Cast on 36 sts

Knit 2 rows.

Next row: *K4, K2tog, yo, repeat from * around.

Knit 10 rows.

Divide sts in half, placing 18sts on a scrap piece of yarn using a darning needle. Rearrange the remaining 18sts on the dpns, join & begin knitting the pant leg in the round.

Knit in round until pant leg reaches 4.5″.

Purl 1 row around.

Knit 1 row around.

Purl 1 row around.

Bind off.

Place the stitches saved on scrap yarn back on the dpns, join yarn and knit in the round until pant leg reaches 4.5″.

Purl 1 row around.

Knit 1 row around.

Purl 1 row around.

Bind off. Weave in ends.

Using crochet hook & scrap yarn, chain 65. Weave the chain in & out of the yo holes for a belt.

 

knitus interuptus

I’m thinking this once a week blogging is about as good as it’s going to get for the summer. I swear, my children have blog radar (and phone radar and bathroom radar and mom’s eating food radar…). Every time I start typing, all you-know-what breaks loose. So far, so good. They are quiet. Almost too quiet. Must investigate.

No one is dead/hurt/bleeding/unconscious. All is well. Blog on.

Although they don’t seem to like me to blog, they have no problem letting me knit. Which is good. I think it’s some built in survival mechanism. They know if mom can’t knit their lives will NOT be pretty. I’ve knitted baby socks. I used some scrap yarn from the striped baby blankets I made earlier in the year. I like the way they turned out.

And I’m doing cancer caps for my Yahoo Group, Knitting Hope. This month we are doing Caps for a Cure. I’ve gotten one done thus far. I used Mary Maxim Ragg, a little less than one skein. Pattern from Headhuggers

I’ve also been plugging away at Summer of Socks, although I may get the award for the least amount of socks knitted over the summer. I had such high hopes, I have SO so so many pairs of socks I want to make and it’s just not going fast enough for me. Probably because I decided to make dh’s socks first and he has a size 11 foot! They are taking me forever! I’ve finished sock one and am about 2.5″ into sock #2. I hope to be done with the pair by the end of this week. I’m using the # One Husband Socks.

Bought some sock yarn. I just couldn’t resist. I don’t know how, but I stumbled upon Sockpixie (I think I was looking at the new patterns at Knitting Pattern Central). I wanted to buy soo soo many, but I resisted. I only got two. Ladybug and So 80’s. I think they had to be dyed because they took a little while to be shipped. Also, the tags on the two yarns were switched which made me think someone was in a hurry to get them out to me. No complaints here, it made me smile. Aren’t they purdy?

I really am sucking at this part of Project Spectrum. It’s so hard to find red/black/metallic in the summer time. Plus I don’t knit with those colors much. This is as close as it gets.

Back to my regularly scheduled summer.

 

I am alive

But my children might not be by the end of the summer!!
KIDDING!!

We are all trying to find our rhythm for the summer. My youngest had the hardest time, oh my heaven the child was possessed. It’s getting better, as evidence I am able to blog finally! Thankfully, for my sanity’s sake, I have been able to knit. OTN I have the Dream Swatch Headwrap. I also knit another Easy Baby Cardigan. This time in lavendar for another co-worker who is due in October (I swear, I am NOT drinking the water there!). I forgot to get a picture of it before getting it to her I probably won’t get a picture either because I put in my notice last week. July 3rd will be my last day. I’m staying home with my kids for the summer, then it’s back to college (again) at the end of August.

**KIP note**

I was working on the purple Easy Baby Cardigan in the van while waiting for my boys to get out of school on one of their last days of school. A woman came up to my window and asked me about my knitting, if I did a lot of it, etc. She knits too, but prefers crochet because “knitting takes too long”. Then she started asking me about the baby sweater, asking if I sold them. I said no, I usually give them away as gifts. She chastised me! Said I should be selling them (yeah right…even at craft fairs people look but don’t buy, saying stupid things like “I could do that!” *huge eyeroll* ). She asked if I would knit her two boys sweaters for two baby showers she has at the end of the summer. Gave me her number & everything. I haven’t decided if I want the hassle. I knit because I don’t have to YKWIM? It’s relaxing because the only deadline I have is the one I give myself. There’s no boss/client/co-worker waiting on me to finish my part. Anyways…

I’ve been working on my Sockapalooza socks. They’ve been giving me fits. Well, actually the first one is giving me fits. Yes, the one that’s been done for months now. I realized I did the toe & heel wrong. So after I finished the second sock, I went back & ripped out the first one all the way back to before the heel. I worked on it over the weekend while we made the looooong drive to the inlaws to see oldest nephew graduate high school. I thought I finished it, I must have been drunk. I was getting them ready for pictures this morning, innocently giddy that I’ve finished them WELL ahead of the deadline….when I noticed the first one is a full pattern repeat smaller than the second one. Grrr!! So I have to pull out the toe, do another repeat, and redo the toe decreases & kitchener the toe for the third time. Can I tell you just how difficult it is to undo the kitchener?? Yeah, not fun.
I have another finished project that I did manage to get pictures of, I finished it about 3 weeks ago while waiting for the Nacsar race at Poconos to start (damn rain delay). It’s from KnitGrrl 2, Workout Water Bottle Holder:

Now I just have to find time to workout again

On the drive down to the inlaws I scored BIG TIME at an estate sale. I got a bag full of crochet cotton, mostly white but with one hank each of ecru and lilac. Total of 30 hanks (400yds each), 2 vintage steel crochet hooks, and a YARN SWIFT!!! for a whopping $3 OMGosh I was so excited. I actually cradled the yarn swift in my arms like a baby and held it for the rest of the way to the inlaws (at least an hour lol).

Here’s my loot:

Now I have to take my boys outside to play & attack that damn sock….

 

Don’t mind me

I’m in love with Ravelry

I have spent the better part of the last two days playing on the site. Transfering all of my pictures from photobucket over to Flickr (by far the biggest headache), putting in all the finished projects I have pictures of. Crying over the pictures of projects I know I have but cannot find *sob* Updating my queue of projects on my “to knit” list (adding more along the way). The only thing left, I think, is to take pictures of my stashed yarns. Not sure if I will do that. I really have no desire to keep track of what I have…except for maybe sock yarn. Me hearts sock yarn

I have done a little knitting too. Today is also a bright & shiny day (as opposed to the dark & rainy days we’ve had all week) so I got outside & took pictures of my progress. I did forget to get pictures of my squares for Rebuilding Greensburg. I’ve got two squares finished & am halfway through square #3. I’ll snap those pics later.

Here is the baby sweater I’ve started. Ideally, I’d like to finish this by the weekend, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen lol. It’s for a co-worker. Her shower is this weekend, I am unable to go because I have to work (everyone else requested it off…someone has to work lol). She’s not due until the end of the month. Plus it’s her first baby, it’ll probably be next month before she has him.

As you can see, I still have a ways to go lol. That is just the hood! The pattern is Easy Baby Cardigan and so far it is easy

Here is a progress shot of my mesh bag of my own patterning. I’ll post the pattern when it’s finished. I’m still thinking in my head as I go along how I want the handles to be. But so far, I’m liking how it’s turning out. And it’s BIG! I can fit alotta bananas in this baby

Still a ways to go on that one too.
Also in the knitting basket, my  modified booga  bag. I have cast off the edge and picked up stitches for the flap. I sure hope this turns out because I’m totally winging it lol.

In other news, the school year is winding down for the kiddos. My older two are done next week and the younger two are done the week after that. The school really packs in a lotta crap in the last few weeks. Last week we had a concert, an award ceremony, and a fair. My youngest was in the concert, both boys got awards, and we won a racecar rug in a raffle at the fair. They were quite proud:

Don’t mind the look on my youngest’s face. He’s trying to show off the other news around here. He has his FIRST loose tooth Yup, whole lotta excitement ’round these parts. This week oldest son has a field trip. Next week they both have field trips (youngest son has TWO!) plus the Flag Day ceremony. The week after they have their school picnic, then the last day of school WHOO HOO! Then we start T-ball season…they are both on the same team this year. Oh boy….

 

Blogging, what’s that again?

I thought that when I was done with my classes, I wouldn’t be so busy. I thought wrong! My kids’ schools cram everything into the last 3 weeks of school. Award ceremonies (my boys each got one :D), field trips (four just in the next two weeks), school “fair” fundraiser for new playground equipment, the list goes on.

I don’t have any progress pics, but I have been knitting. And frogging. I frogged the All Season Shell. Again. I have completely 200% abso-freaking-lutely sworn off any and all LionBrand patterns. I consider myself pretty adept at reading patterns (not charts…yet), I haven’t had even a quarter of the problems with other patterns I’ve used that I have had with LionBrand Patterns. From a hat where the increases were wrong to the felting disaster of ‘06 where the row count was wrong, to this A.S.S. where the row count is also wrong. I managed to correct the back but not the front. By the time I got to the front I was so fed up with the damn thing. I mean, it’s not a hard piece. It’s a straight 2×2 rib all the way until you get to the arm holes, then you decrease/cast off, then you work the neck/shoulder decreases. Yeah. They can do 2×2 rib just fine (who can’t) but when it comes to decreases and having the row counts add up to the wrong side/right side they indicate in the pattern, forget it.

But I’m not bitter lol.

I’m still working on my felted bag. Mostly in my head, thinking how I want to attach the flap and the handles. It will be drawstring closure with a flap over it, but I haven’t decided if I want backpack-like straps or a purse-like strap…decisions decisions.

I also started another project born out of frustration. I was frustrated with the commissary (grocery store for military & their dependents) never having plastic bags. They have paper, and yes I know they are better for the environment but they are NOT better for my back. I have to carry them up the steps into my house then somehow figure out how to set them down without bending over. They pack them so that each bag has about 30lbs in it and unlike plastic bags where you can let them hang off the bottom of your hands and drop them (gently!) to the floor, you can’t do that with paper. So I went in search of a knitting shopping bag. Tried the one at MagKnits (Saturday Shopping Bag?). Didn’t like it. I don’t know why it’s done on circs because it’s in two peices that you sew together. When I did it on circs, then tried to slide the stitches off the cord & back onto the needle, the yarnovers got all mixed in with the psso’s and k1s so I was hopelessly lost. Screw that. I don’t like the Itsy Bitsy on Knitty.com, at least not for a shopping bag. It would be great for a beach bag though (hmm, thinking…). There’s another mesh bag, but it calls for 13dpns and I don’t have them (yet) nor am I planning on buying them just to make some shopping bags.

So, I’m making on up as I go along. I’ve got the bottom and the first few rows of the sides done. I think I’m just gonna do k2tog yo around…still thinking about it some.

I have not cast on for my second sockapalooza sock. I’m pacing myself. I know they aren’t due to be shipped until August, so I’m indulging in a little procrastination

 

One sock down, one to go

My first sock for my Sockapalooza pal is done. I kitchener’d the toe while watching the last few laps of the Coca-Cola 600 (talk about a let-down!). Between the kids being home from school for a four-day weekend, dh having yesterday off & me having to work yesterday I just haven’t had the time to sit down and blog much.

Here is sock #1:

Excuse my homemade sock blocker. It leaves a lot to be desired lol.

Close up of the cables:

I’m almost finished with the All Season Shell. All that is left is to finish shaping the neckline, sew the front & back together and weave in the ends. Still working on the felted bag. I’m getting bored with both of these projects, so I just need to hurry up & finish them so I can get started on something a little more exciting! I want to make a few pairs of baby booties, but I’m not allowing myself to do so until I finish these two things that have been on the needles for FAR too long!

 

Sockapalooza Update

This has been a busy week! Dh is still getting into a rhythm with his new job. My youngest son turned 9 on Wednesday, so the beginning of the week was filled with making his birthday cake, wrapping presents, buying groceries, taking cupcakes & juice up to his class, cleaning the house, blah blah blah. The end of the week, I am working. Thursday through Saturday. Yuck.

I have been working away at my sockapalooza socks. Last time I posted, on Monday, I had gotten 1.5 repeats into the pattern (this was after frogging that no less than 2 times). Monday night I got 2 repeats into the pattern and found a mistake I had made. I tried tinking back but got lost in undoing the cables (I am a pro at this now lol). I ended up ripping out the whole thing. Not just that once, but two more times.

I am now convinced that the L&V yarn does indeed hold up quite well to frogging lol. It is just WONDERFUL to work with. I am in love with this yarn. I need to get a second job to pay for my habit now.

Back to the progress. Since Wednesday I have been plugging away at it. I am now past the leg, turned the heel and am working my way down the foot. The pattern is intended for dpns, but I really do prefer working with one circ. With dpns, I am constantly getting ladders, no matter how I tighten, turn, twist, whatever…they still appear. With circs, I do not get them. I did have to switch to dpns to do the heel flap. (and nearly got a ladder on the bottom of the heel in the process!) I promptly switched back to my one circ as soon as I had picked up all the gusset stitches. It’s fitting right in with Project Spectrum’s April/May colors Green, Yellow, Pink too.

It wouldn’t be a blog post by me without progress pictures

Here is a closeup of the cable pattern:

And the sock on my foot. Lucky me, my partner has nearly the same size foot as I do

And a closeup of the heel. I really like the way this turned out. Even though I had to use dpns to do it lol:

I predict that sock #1 will be done before the weekend is out. There’s lot of knit friendly activities planned for this weekend (around working, of course). Saturday night we are going to the drive in. I will knit on the sock before the sun goes down, then switch to something simplier for knitting in the dark (no lit needles for me). Sunday night is the Coca-Cola 600 so I will be knitting furiously while watching my favorite drivers. I have the entire Monday off and the weather will be perfect for sitting in my backyard knitting while the kids play themselves silly.

I’m also still working on the All Season Shell. I finally got more yarn to finish it up. It’s hard to go back to it while working on the Sockapalooza socks because they are so fun and the A/S/S is so boring with it’s k2p2 over & over. I also have my felted bag to finish, got more yarn for that too.

Oh! A really good book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, about a boy growing up in Afghanistan pre-Russia/Taliban invasion, who escapes to America but still can’t escape his past. Very good book. I finished it in 3 days, only reading at bedtime and staying up WAAAY too late to do so.

Now if only there were more hours in the day…..

Got my grades for the semester. Three B’s and one A. I will take it!! I feel kind of bad because the three that I got B’s in, I really did not apply myself as much as I know I could have. With two of them it was hard because I found out mid-semester that I did not even need them. It’s really hard to get motivated to get an A in a class you don’t even need and are paying for for nothing. Blah.

I have three months of FREEDOM until it starts all over again. Do you know how much knitting I can get done in three months

 

No more pencils, no more books

The college semester is over, all but the finals. But to be honest, I’m not overly worried. I have two in class, accounting and computer programming. The accounting class I recently found out I don’t even need, so I’m not very motivated about that class. I’ll study for the exam, but I’m not going to bend over backwards doing it. Computer programming is open notes, open book…again, not worried. All of our exams in that class have been open notes open book and I think I’ve had to look up something once. I also have an online class, meteorology, that I will have a final exam for. The test is usually open for a couple of days, and again …open notes, open book. This is another class that I recently found out I do not need, so again with the lack of motivation. So yeah, a full half of my classes this semester were for naught. My only other final would have been economics, but I managed to get exempt from the exam because the prof’s policy is maintain a 90% average or better on all the exams and have perfect attendence and you can be exempt from the exam. Wahoo! Go me! I am so excited to be done with this semester!!

More good news! Dh was offered the job he interviewed for a while back. He actually had a third interview with the company this afternoon & they made him a job offer. He will start on Monday or Tuesday of next week. Yah!!!

Knitting content:

I was finally able to get my computer to allow me to upload & edit pictures without crashing on me. Here is the lovely package sent to me by my Knitters Treat Exchange Spoiler, Kitty Kitty:

Ohhhhh man, did she pick winners!!! How did she know I have been stalking Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “River” and “Fresh Stripes”. Seriously, that was one of the yummy yarns I had to resist buying last week! I know JUST what I’m going to knit too…. River Rapics (pdf file). And boy do I feel like an idiot, I have been wanting to make this pattern, with the LL “River” just because I thought they would go to together well. Plus I am really loving Good Charlotte’s new CD with the song “The River” lately. Well, duh, I read the pattern and it’s made with LL “River”. Jeesh! Can you tell I pick out patterns just by looking at the picture & not reading the actual pattern
Also in the package were tea sweets from Amai Tea & Bake House, Carmel White Hot Chocolate…and really, it’s white when you make it, and sooo good! There’s also bath confetti, a pumice sponge, an exfoliating washcloth, size 0 dpns, and the Issue #1 “Sock it to me” sock pattern booklet.

P, you did AWESOME! Thank you so much for being such a great partner

I have been doing a little knitting here & there in between last minute school projects I have(had) to do. I’ve decided to retry the LionBrand All-Season Shell (which I have been secretly calling a*s*s). This time I’m using LB CottonEase in “Lime”. Perfect for Project Spectrum colors of April/May. I am really liking the yarn, it’s holding up way better than the TLC Cotton Plus “Salsa” that I tried it in the first time. My only complaint is the errors in the pattern. It never fails. Is it just me and the LB patterns I choose? Isa, did you have any problems with the WS/RS thing when you got to the arm hole decreases on the back? Anyway, I’ve finished the back and gotten about 1/3 through the front and I’ve run out of yarn. Gah!!

Running out of yarn is my theme for the week. I’ve started another booga bag, for myself, using Patons SWS “Natural Earth”. I LOVE this yarn, LOVE these colors (more green for Project Spectrum). Just gorgeous. I’m making a couple of modifications. I want to make it a drawstring bag where the strings hang in the front & make a flap with a button. I got to within 10 rows of being done with the body & starting the flap….and RAN OUT OF YARN. LOL

A couple of weeks ago, I finished the first sock of “Mom’s Mother’s Day Socks”. I don’t think they are going to work for mom. They are quite tight for me to get on, so I am thinking they will go to my youngest daughter. I did get them on long enough to model them for the ole blog though.

I think I will retry the same pattern and just use a size 3 circ rather than a size 1 and see how that goes. I really like the pattern. It’s uber easy to memorize and I was able to convert it to one circ (rather than dpns) with no problems.

I took a break from running out of yarn and knit up a couple of squares for Hokie Healing

And since I can’t finish either of my other two projects, I cast on another pair of socks for my oldest dd…who is in the process of creating her own knitblog!

I think that’s enough pictures for tonight. Next time, pictures of stitchmarkers that I made a few weeks back, an updated on my newly found LYS, and closeup pictures of that lovely Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “River” and “Fresh Stripe” from my KTE partner

 

Mental Health Day..

I’m taking one today. Whoo boy, do I need it!

In less than 2 weeks I will be through with the semester. I take my last final on May 14th …at the buttcrack o’ dawn to boot. I’m finding I just cannot fit another single thing in my brain. It’s full. Overloaded even.

Much like my computer until recently. I’m having memory issues w/ my home computer. It’s not very old, about 2yrs old. And we already added more memory to it soon after we bought it (HP puts Windows XP on the computer then gives you just barely enough memory to run the dang program & nothing else). Lately I’ve been getting the “Low Memory” warning, as well as slow loading of programs/pages, etc. I even got that warning when I tried to defrag that I didn’t have enough memory to defrag! D’oh!!

The last straw was this morning trying to edit some photos from a baby shower I went to last weekend and the computer wouldn’t let me edit or if it did let me edit just a little bit, it wouldn’t let me save it back to the disk as edited. Said something about there wasn’t enough memory on the ’scratch disk’, whatever the hell that is.

So apparently I have too much shit useful information on my computer. I went through my files, pictures, music, videos, and programs and deleted a BUNCH of stuff I don’t use/need. Like the Windows Office 2003 that came with this computer…you know, the one that lets you use it a whopping 30 days after turning on the computer for the first time after purchase, then requires you to BUY the stupid program to use the files you created with it during those 30 days. Then just sits there taking up 4.1G of space on your hard drive. Yeah, that one. Along with a few others I don’t need on there, like games that I have the disks for, stuff like that.

Restarted my computer and it’s like magic! I’ll defrag it again later (something you should do regularly, especially after adding/removing programs - puts ‘things’ back where they belong so to speak).

Back to my Mental Health Day. I stayed home today rather than slug off to Accounting 101. I recently found out I did not need that class, two days after the last “drop without penalty day”..adding insult to injury. That class along with another class I am finding absolutely no joy in, meteorology. Grrrr!! Needless to say, I’m finding it really hard to motivate myself to complete these courses. I will, it’s just that I’m not going to bend over backwards attempting As or even Bs when I could be spending my limited brain power on the other two courses that I do need and enjoy very much (computer programming and economics).

I stayed home and played Susie Homemaker today. A role I very much enjoy & miss greatly. I didn’t get out of my jammies until almost noon!! Swept & mopped the floors, cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the stove & microwave, folded laundry. I even BAKED!! Rice Custard, yum:

Recipe
RICE CUSTARD
4 eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C cooked rice
1 cup coconut, optional
3 1/2 C milk

Beat eggs and sugar. Stir in rice and remaining ingredients. Pour into casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until knife comes out clean.

DELICIOUS!!

Knitting content: As soon as I get my pictures all sorted out, I’ll post what I’ve completed so far (5hrs baby sweater w/ LionBrand Homespun - rant included, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hat) and what I’m working on (mom’s mother’s day socks - #1 almost done) and another felted bag, this one a little bit different. You’ll see. I’ve also taught myself a new technique

I also got my partner for the Sockapalooza Four, so excited! I’ve been window sock shopping. I found out we may have an actual LYS nearby, so hopefully I can talk dh into driving out there tomorrow or Friday. I got an email from the Sockapalooza participant who drew my name **waves**

Knitter’s Treat Exchange update: I have received a LOVELY package from my partner, she has contacted me to let me know there is more to follow (pictures next time, I promise). I also got my treatee’s package out. I can’t wait to hear that she’s received it. I really like this swap stuff!

That’s all for today folks! Back to my Mental Health Day

If anyone could spare some good luck vibes…the hubster has a job interview RIGHT NOW!

Oh, by the way….anyone know how I can get my WordPress Blogroll to show up on my blog? I see it in my dashboard/admin panel, but I can’t find where to get it to show up on my side panel. I would have thought it would be in the widgets, I could have sworn it used to be there before they changed them recently… Anyone? Bueller?

 

Yarn Harlot-y Goodness!!

I got it!!! Finally my Borders has stocked the new Yarn Harlot book:

Whoo hoo!! We took the kids shopping to spend their Easter money and of course we had to make a stop at the bookstore I’m so glad I let them drag me out (kicking & screaming) to the mall.

While we were out, there was this strange yellow orb in the sky. I think it may have been the sun, but it’s been so long since the sun shown it’s face around here…I’m not sure. What do you think? Is this the elusive sun?

While we were out & about I did a tiny bit more shopping for my Knitters Treat Exchange partner

Did everyone see the Yarn Harlot on Knitty Gritty yesterday? It was fantabulous! AND I learned what I was doing wrong with my SSKs!

I’ve cast on for mom’s socks. I think I will give them to her for Mother’s Day

I’m using Toe-Up Chevron Socks. I’m modifying it slightly so I can do it on one circ instead of dpns. I’m making them with the yarn I got when I hit the motherload Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in Crayon. This color is a bit more vibrant than the skeins that I used for my socks. I think she’ll like them

I hope to have the third Booga bag finished knitting tonight. Hopefully the i-cord too so I can felt it then set it up to dry overnight. If I go very fast it will be done…