We had a few days of heavy rain this week, and the flowers are showing their appreciation. Three rose bushes used to line the walkway up to our house. They were stunning in the early spring and the fall, but most of the summer they were covered with piles of Japanese Beetles. We tried different methods to get rid of them - bug bags, planting chives, chemicals, even handpicking them in the morning and dropping them into a bucket of soapy water. But they kept coming back. We probably wouldn't have minded them as much if the roses were in a less conspicuous spot. So we gave away two of the bushes and moved the third into an island bed where the beautiful blooms would be noticed when they presented themselves, but the beetles would not be. We planted various perennials in place of the roses, and so far the beetles seem to be ignoring them. The bees, on the other hand, are ever-present, but they are welcome guests.

I am trying to get inspired to knit another hat for my friend's new baby boy. Knitting can be such a stress reliever, but it is sometimes difficult for me to knit when I have too much other stuff going on at the same time.

I am in the process of getting my publicity materials ready in order to do a mailing to opera companies, and other performing organizations. This is something I haven't done in quite some time, and it is definitely one of my least favorite parts of trying to get work as a singer.

Also on the agenda, I need to decide between the ubiquitous Flower Basket Shawl or Ene's Scarf for a 90th Birthday gift for my grandmother-in-law. I had better get started soon, since her big day is in August!

Here are some pics of my finished Patons Cabled Hoodie. I started it when I was pregnant with Abe as inspiration to get thin again after he was born.

Of course, knowing I wouldn't be able to wear it for a while didn't inspire me to work on it very often, so I ended up doing the most work on it after he was born. I made the hood bigger than in the pattern so that the cables at the bottom of each side would match.

Very economical project using the Patons Classic Merino. Now that I am more comfortable with putting in a zipper, I may try making the Urban Aran into a zippered cardigan as I have seen other people do.

I also finished the bear hat for my friend's son, but it ended up being big enough to fit me. Bran enjoyed modeling it though. I think I'll knit something else for my friend, maybe an earflap hat using some Falk I have leftover from another sweater I gifted to a friend for her baby a few months ago.

I'll be performing songs of Mary Howe and Duke Ellington this Sunday at 3pm at The Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington DC.

My knitting group planned a surprise baby shower for Ashley, and it took place Monday night. Now I can finally show pics of the lovely felted diaper bag that we made for her. The pattern is from Knitting For Baby. We used Classic Elite Renaissance yarn in dark and light purples for the body, base, handles and side pockets, and a coordinating variegated purple for the front pocket. The bag is made in 8 pieces, and there are 7 of us, so the distribution worked out well. When the pieces were all knitted up, we had a sewing/felting party at Tiana's house, replete with homeade NY Cheesecake and strawberry topping made by the hostess. We took turns sewing and the bag went together quickly. We kept an eye on the bag when it was in the washer since none of us had felted with this yarn before, and we didn't want the diaper bag to suddenly be wallet-sized! It felted at a good pace, and ended up being very close to the pattern dimensions. Tiana happened to have a Cuisinart box that was perfect for blocking the bag, so we slipped it on and left it to dry upside down for a few days.

This yarn felts into a very soft, but also very fuzzy fabric, so when it was dry, I shaved it down with an electric razor and that made it look much more kempt. Kim and I went shopping for needlepoint canvas, fabric and buttons, a successful but somewhat stressful experience with two 3-year-olds and two 1-year-olds in tow at Witching hour. She did a beautiful job of sturdying the base by taking needlepoint canvas, doubling it, wrapping it with pretty fabric and tacking it down. I knit and felted flowers for the front pocket using this pattern and then sewed the flowers and buttons to the pocket.

I wrapped the finished bag in a big box, put a note to Ashley on it that said we would pick her up that evening for baby shower festivities, and left it on her doorstep at 6 am (she is my neighbor, so that wasn't as hard as is sounds). We of course had arranged it with Ashley's husband that she would be available that evening, and all worked out according to plan. And here she is, the happy recipient of the bag.

Zipperfest. After months of letting these two hoodies sit around without closure, they have now been zipperfied! My friend, and wonderful knitter and seamstress, Linda, came over today with her two daughters and her sewing machine, and taught me how to put a separating zipper into a sweater. She did the one in the Patons Cabled Hoodie, (I'll post pictures of the finished product soon) and then I did the one in the Hoodwinked with her sitting over my shoulder making sure I was doing it correctly. Now Abe and I both have hoodies ready for the fall, and I am not scared to make another knit with a zipper!

The Cabled Hoodie pattern is from the Patons Street Smart Pattern booklet and was knit with a little more than 6 skeins of Bright Red Classic Merino Wool. The Hoodwinked is from Monkeysuits and was knit in Filatura di Crosa Primo, which I got from the sale rack at The Knitter's Cottage back in the fall of 2005.

Here are some photos of my finished Katja with matching hat, which is based on a pattern from Monkeysuits.
Both the hat and the halter were quick and fun to knit, and I look forward to making more of them for other friends who are expecting girls. I will definitely do both in the round next time though!

I purchased a pair of cotton pants from The Children's Place to complete the gift ensemble. Can't wait to present them to my friend!

I finished Katja on Wednesday and had almost a full skein of Cotton Classic leftover, so I decided to make a hat to match. Of course, I ran out of yarn, but happened to have some cream-colored Cotton Classic in my stash, so the hat is 2 colors. Pictures will follow soon.

This is the beginning of Katja. I would have knit it in the round if I had circular needles in the right size. At least it is a small project, so the stockinette and seaming shouldn't be too tedious.

Not much knitting done this afternoon. Poopy nap time, literally. Abe slept pretty well, but woke up covered in poop. And Bran, who has been fascinated with taking his diaper off lately, decided to do so after a poop, and then decided he was Picasso. Shower for the boys. Carpet cleaner and gloves for me. Guess I won't be giving them prunes before nap time again.

Baby gifts are in the works. I recently started a bear hat from Zoe Mellor's Double Knits for a friend's new baby boy and am about to cast on for Katja in some rose-colored Tahki Cotton Classic for another friend who is due to have a baby girl in a few weeks. Pictures to follow soon.

A few people have asked me to share my Lotus Blossom Tank ("LBT") experience, so here is the whole story. I found this to be a very fun and relatively fast-moving project.

When I received the Summer Interweave Knits in the mail, I really liked the LBT, but didn't decide to knit it until I was in Bethesda for a rehearsal and decided to check out the Knit & Stitch=Bliss store, which had been recommended by a friend. My husband and boys were waiting in the car, so I didn't have a ton of time, but I noticed that they carried the SWTC Bamboo, and it is unlike anything I had worked with before, so I decided to go for it. I was between Tequilla and Electric Blue, but went for the Tequilla because the colors were so warm and summery.

I purchased 2 skeins, since that is what the smallest size of the pattern calls for, and I hoped it would really be enough. Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn just as I was finishing the neck shaping, so I needed to order another skein. Luckily, the store still had one from the same dye lot in stock, and kindly sent it to me USPS for about $1.50 shipping...instead of UPS, which they thought would have cost as much as the yarn!

My initial concerns were that the lace might not show up very well in a variegated yarn, and that the yarn might be too scratchy to wear against the skin. As the pattern developed, my concerns about the variegated yarn were allayed: the colors used in the variegation are similar enough that the eye can still appreciate the lace pattern. But since I didn't block my swatch, I didn't find out until I had blocked the finished product that the yarn does soften a bit and gets a nice drape to it. It still does not feel super soft against the skin, but I do enjoy wearing it, and think that the lack of sponginess will perhaps make it more comfortable and airy than cotton on hot and humid summer days.

I only had 32" size 6 Addis, and since the 6's are only for the bottom of the tank, I figured I could save money and use those instead of buying 24". The longer length did make it more awkward to join 200 stitches without twisting them, but they worked okay once I got going. I did have the size 5 in 24", and the knitting seemed to get easier once I switched, which also could have been because I had already done 9 rounds and was in the groove of the lace pattern.

The ever-helpful Knitting Fiend helped me calculate my decrease once I was done with the 4 rounds of lace. When I was working the stockinette part, I held the piece up to me as I went along until it hit my armpit where I wanted it to. I think the stockinette part ended up measuring a little less than 3", not far off from the pattern. The rest of the tank was fun to work and chugged along pretty quickly--that is, until I ran out of yarn on the left neck shaping, and had to wait for it to arrive before I could continue.

After weaving in ends, I bathed the tank in Eucalan and blocked it on my ironing board. I pinned the edging around the armholes and the shoulders to help it to lie more crisply, and did the same with the bottom edging and the 4 rows of garter above the lace pattern. I wore it a few days later for my anniversary dinner--eight years, yay! I have almost an entire skein of the Bamboo left over, so if anyone has any fun ideas for it please let me know!

Here is my Lotus Blossom Tank from IK Summer 2006. The yarn is SWTC Bamboo in Tequilla. I started May 20 and finished June 3. I thought it would be done sooner, but I ran out of yarn and needed to get another skein.