The Moon on a String or "The Year of the Baby"

Episode 33

1. Production Scheduling

   1. Events

   2. Shipping

   3. Production

   4. What's in my tea pot

   5. Materials Sourcing

   6. After 5

2. Events

   1. Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival http://www.pghknitandcrochet.com/ February 10, 11, 12 of 2011.

   2. Camp KIP Session #1 will run April 21-24, 2012 The 2nd Annual Camp Kip retreat will be hosted at Cedar Creek Conference Center in New Haven, MO

3. Production

   1. The Holden Shawlette by Mindy W ilkes being knitted from Wollmeise Twin in Nazar Boncugu ( merino super wash, semisolid) Electric Blue. Pattern has charted and written directions for the lace. I've not gotten as far as I would have liked on this. I'm still in the stockinette section.

   2. My knitting group has declared 2012 as the year of the baby. In honor of that they are currently having a contest for baby hat's, mitts, and booties. It's team Sugar and Spice vs team Snips and Snails. My hooks and needles are laboring for team Snips and Snails. The competition has been fierce and the crocheter's are kicking the knitters butts. I started out thinking that I could quickly knit up …

      1. Sock Yarn Baby Hat and Easy Peasey Project by Malia Mather. Out of my left over Opal Rainforest Tiger. I knit it up quickly enough in 2 days (to save my hands and not ignore my family) but even though I swatched the hat fit B. So I 've been tearing it out and knitting the pattern again using only half of the stitches. Which makes it still dividable by 4 so the the 3x1 ribbing still works and the decreases at the top work as well. The second try came out much better. I did decide to forgo the I cord top.

      2. So I thought maybe I can knit faster with a thicker gauge yarn so I cast on A vanilla hat from a pattern in the knit groups library. No dice not really faster at all and the heavier yarn just hurt my hands. But at least now I had 2 hats.

      3. I was beginning totally left in the dust as I only had one hat done and others were posting 6 or seven and one crocheted and additional pair of booties! I thought I was moderately quick if not fat but Holy Toledo! So I took a cue from them and switched to crochet. A quick trip to Ravelry found the Looks Like Knit Crocheted Shaped Baby Hat by Yarn Cottage LLC. AHA! I have been able to rocket through one of these in about 3 hrs. I like the look of these hat's in their pics they all have pom poms on the top. I'm not a fan of Pom Pom's so I leave them off and the hat's still look good. I finished two of those and now I’m up to 4 hats.

      4. As a side contest it was posted that the 1^st team to post a completed pair of booties would get bonus points. I don't know why I thought I could beat the crocheter's but I cast on Christine's Baby Booties (free on Ravelry) I have made these before out of fingering yarn and found the 5 needles to be a bit hard to maneuver at times. I thought that by using left over sock yarn they would be easier. WRONG 2 days after Donna Marie the fastest hooker I know has posted the completed crocheted booties I was at 50% on the first bootie and and the I dropped a stitch and then fixed it only to purl when I should have knit. With all of those fixable issues aside. I took a look at my yarn and I've decided that I don't have the yardage to finish the second bootie. So I'll Be tearing this one out and turning it into another Sock Yarn Baby Hat.

4. What's in My Tea Pot

   1. Barry Mitterhoff's Fret No More Herbal Tea

   2. I have to admit that I had to Idea Who Barry Mitterhoff was a quick search on Wikipedia show's he's an incredibly versatile (any one who can swing from Klezmereh to Bluegrass I call versatile) On their bands site they sell a few tea's I don;t see this one currently but it's available at whole foods.

   3. The back of the tin reads:

   4. Meh.. just another Chamomile blend with mint. I'm not impressed and I don't hate it. This tea is all about the name and the Picture of the guitar on the package. Pick it up if it's in the dollar bin.

   1. Material's Sourcing

      1. Hidden Valley Farm and Woolen Mill (http://www.hiddenvalleyfarmwoolenmill.com) 8 oz of Mary's Lake effect is done plied and finished. I ended up with abt 450 yds of a 2 ply DK. I love the colors! Dark purples, burgundy, and oranges like a sunset on fire. The yarn has a lovely loft to it and my swatch very fuzzy. Can't wait to figure out what to make with this!

   2. Shipping

      1. The Dragon slayer Earflap Hat by Pixiebell Elfinwear

         1. I was cruising the revelry patterns and fell in love with this so I cast it on with my Nantucket hand spun. The pattern calls for Super bulky I held my hand spun double with a sz 15 needle and got gauge. I love this hat! It's soft and smooshy. And it has ears! I was a bit put off by the price of this pattern. This hat can be knit up in abt 3-4 hrs the pattern was 5 dollars. But I adore this hat! So I obviously need to stop being cheap and just enjoy this great hat.

5. After 5

   1. The inventory is in the hands of the auditors. HALLEJUAH!

   2. 2 knit group dates woohoo!

   3. Mommy You're going to Jail