Trinity's Top

OK, I made this for my niece (and wrote the pattern) about 3 years ago, so pleasepleaseplease, imaginary readers, excuse the terrible pattern writing. etc. The size is about a 5t. I think it only used 2 balls of Sugar n Cream. If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to comment below. Thanks.
eta: Trinity is super petite, so these sizes probably run small.

Trinity’s Top
Size 3T (4T,5T)
Materials:US7 straight or circular needles
Size H crochet hook
1 (2, 2) balls Lily Sugar n Cream worsted weight yarn -100% cotton (I used ecru)

Gauge:5st=1 in, 6rows=1 in

Notes: all inc are k in front and back of st. YIF is slip sts with “yarn in front” - Hold it there a little loosely, it will tighten up quite a bit when you make the bows.
The top that I made was actually a little shorter than I had intended, if you want to make it longer, add a patt repeat (or half a repeat - only 5 rows) to the bottom before BO - but I suggest having another ball of yarn handy just in case you need it.

Bodice-3T
Cast on 5 st
Row 1: k2, p1, k2
Row 2: k2, inc next st, k2 - 6 st
Row 3: k2, p2, k2
Row 4: k2, inc next 2 st, k2 - 8 st
Row 5: k2, p4, k2
Row 6: k2, inc next st, k2, inc next st, k2- 10 st
Row 7: k2, p6, k2
Bodice -4T( 5T) CO 8(10) st.
Row 1: k2, p4(6), k2
Row2: k2, inc in 1st st, k 2(4), inc next st, k2 - 10(12)st
Row 3: k2, p6 ( 8 ), k2
Row 4: k2, inc next st, k4(6), inc next st, k2 - 12(14) st

By now, you should have a small area of stockinette st and an emerging garter st border. All WS (odd numbered) rows should be worked as *K2, p (#of st to garter stitch edge), K2*. All RS (even numbered) rows should knit all st, increasing the third and third from last st, until you have 22 (24, 26) st on your needle. BO.

Make another triangle in the same manner as above. When you have finished the second triangle, cast on 5 st, then pick up 40 st spaced evenly across the bottom of both triangles on the RS. CO another 5 st. Turn to the WS, and begin waist band.

Waist band
Row 1: p across (wrong side)
Row 2: k across
Row 3: k across
Row 4: k across
Row 5: p across
Row 6: k across
Row 7: k across
Row 8: k across

Bottom
There are 50st on your needle now. The first and last 5 will be worked in garter st. So -
St Pattern is a variation of little butterfly worked in multiples of 10 over 10 rows, and will be worked over 40 sts, 20 rows

Row 1: k10,*sl 5 WYIF, k5*, repeat from * to last 5,k5
Row 2: k5, Purl across until last 5. K5.
Row 3: Rep row 1
Row 4: Rep row 2
Row 5: k5, [k7, insert tip of needle under both yif’s, k 1- being careful to draw st around yif’s, K2], repeat across until last 5st, k5

Row 6: K5, *sl 5 wyif, k5*, repeat from * to last 5, k5.
Row 7: K5, Purl until last 5 ,st, k5.
Row 8: Rep row 6
Row 9: rep row 7
Row 10: K5[K2, insert tip of needle under yif’s, k1, making sure to draw st around yif’s, k7], repeat until last 5, k5.
Work pattern two times total (3 times for a longer top) , finish with picot bind-off below.

Finishing :
Picot bind off (thanks to Marnie MacLean for showing me how!)
This will create the ruffle at the bottom, just do a regular bind off if you don’t want the ruffle

K2, pass 1st k st over 2nd k st, *place remaining st back on right needle, CO3, BO4, k1, pass st already on needle over new st*, rep from * until only 1 st is on needle, cut yarn, pull through remaining st, weave in tail.

Straps: Make one at the top of each bodice triangle and at either end of waist band

pick up 5 st.
Row 1: k all
Row 2: k2tog in back of st, k1, k2tog
Row 3: sl1, k 1, psso, sl last st, psso
With crochet hook, pick up last st on needle and chain st for app 6-8 in. Cut yarn, pull through last st tightly. Weave in all ends, block.

Give to your favorite little girl, and enjoy!

Raving About Ravelry

Seriously, how cool is this site?
I resisted the lemming-like urge to join the first time I heard about it, for longer than I thought possible. Eventually, though, I followed a pattern link through to Ravelry.com and was denied access because I wasn't a member. So, I bit back my pride and applied for an invitation, and joined. Big surprise, I love it!
It is any crafter's heaven. The only thing that comes close to being half as cool is Etsy - which I have to avoid like the plague because it is a time-suck of epic proportions! I could easily spend a whole day doing nothing but looking at Etsy and Ravelry... and who said computers were supposed to make our lives easier??
Anyway, Ravelry has inspired me to try to organize my knitting, yarn and various projects, much to my husband's delight. He has quietly and kindly lived with random balls of yarn, needles, hooks, and UFO's floating around the house and cluttering up the side tables, and has never once been mean about my endless need to create and my contradictory inability to complete any projects. I am tidying up tables, tallying and inventorying and making excel spreadsheets... he's beside himself.
The only downside to Ravelry? I now have a knitting queue I could not possibly work my way through in this lifetime. And that's not even with all the patterns I want to knit, just the ones I think I could actually find the time, patience, and yarn for. If only all my problems were like this, life would be grand.
That's all the time I can spare for you, blog, I have Ravelry business to attend to!

School is NOT out forever!!

No matter what Alice Cooper tells your children, it's not true.
And so begins another school year. Since I have only two kids, it was a very short jump between sending my first one off to school and sending my last one off to school... and I have reached that very emotional, empty-nest point. #2 is starting Kindergarten, and I have to admit, I'm having a bit of a breakdown.
I'm trying to be excited, because he is, and I don't want to dampen that any, but I'll probably cry. Thank goodness he goes in the morning, I can drown my sorrows in coffee and have myself all put back together by the time he gets home.
Well, back to school time is just as hectic and stressful for the parents as the kids, so off I go - between sorting clothes to see how bad the latest growth spurts are going to affect the budget, buying school supplies, trying to set up my Ravelry account and knit some gifts for a baby shower next month, I'm swamped. (Not really. I just need to get off the computer and make dinner. The children need to eat in order to fuel the next growth spurt, you know!)
More soon, with some pictures, too!!

I is hukt....

I don't know what is so fascinating about dozens and dozens of pictures of cats and dogs with captions that seem to be created by graduates of the Hooked on Phonics reading program, but there is something, and it has grasped me firmly around the ears and will not let me look away from icanhascheezburger.com, or its sister sites, ihasahotdog.com and punditkitchen.com (that one is my current favorite, having temporarily overloaded on funny but completely annoyingly misspelled kittehs and goggies).
I mean, seriously, it's just a cat. Or a dog.

Or a politician...
Somehow, I have become completely absorbed in the bukkit saga of the lolrus, the rift between ceiling cat and basement cat, and the fact that no one seems to give their poor cats a cheeseburger, and they only give their dogs annoying hot dog costumes, rather than the actual hot dogs they desire.
Hoomans iz stoopid.
Help me, please.

Really?
Over a year since my last post?
REALLY?
I'm not a very good blogger, I suppose.
But I suppose we all figured that out, already.
I'm not a very good gardener, either. Although I have learned that
A)Poison ivy is not as easy to identifyas I thought it was, and
B) it is not easy to get rid of, either. Oh, and also
C) when tearing suspect vines off the side of your house, avoid rubbing your eyes, unless you want to end up looking like a lopsided Cabbage Patch kid. :(
I may have to go to the doctor tomorrow, this is misery.
It does, however, give me plenty of time to catch up on things that I have been neglecting, like housework, knitting, reading, and blogging.
More soon, most likely.

Hunter's Itty Bitty Baby Socks

Hunter's Itty Bitty Baby Socks

These are socks that I made for my new nephew. Because they are so small, the heel and gusset are worked together in a unique way.

Materials :
Magic Stripes sock yarn (color Sea Blue Stripes)
4 size US3 double pointed needles

Cast on 24 sts as follows :
needle #1 - 12 st
needle #2- 6 st
needle #3- 6st

Cuff:
In k1, p1 rib, work 10 rounds, app 1 1/2 inches
Turn.
Begin Heel Flap
Row 1: sl 1, p1 across needles 3 and 2 - 12 st. Turn
Row 2: sl 1, k1 across - 12 st. Turn
Repeat Rows twice, ending on a RS row.

Begin Gusset/Heel Shaping
With Needle #3, pick up 5 st along edge of heel flap- 11 st on Needle 3 k1, p1 across Needle#1, pick up 5 st along heel flap and knit Needle 2 - 11 st on Needle 2. Knit across Needle 3.

Knit one round, knitting into the back of picked up stitches on needles 2 and 3.
K across needle 1 and 2.
On needle 3, k3, k2tog through the back loop (tbl), k1, turn
sl 1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn
sl 1, k9, k2tog tbl, k to end of needle - 9 st on needle 3
k across needle 1
on needle 2, k4, k2tog, k4 - 9 st on needle 2
k across needle 3 and 1.
on needle 2, k1, k2tog, k6
on needle 3, k6, k2tog tbl, k1
knit one round
next round-
#1 - k
#2 - k1, k2tog, k5
#3- k5, k2tog tbl, k1
knit one round
next round-
#1-knit
#2- k1, k2tog, k4 - 6 st
#3- k4, k2tog tbl, k1 - 6 st

Body of sock, and toe shaping-
k next 7 rounds
next round -
#1- k1, k2tog, k across to last 3 st, k2tog tbl, k1 - 10 st on needle 1
slip stiches on needle 3 to needle 2 - 12 st on needle 2
#2- k1, k2tog tbl, kacross to last 3 st, k2tog, k1 - 10 st on needle 2
k one round
Continue decreasing in this manner - remembering to knit one round between decrease rounds - until there are 8 st on each needle. Knit one round.
To finish toe -
Cut yarn and graft toe using the Kitchener stitch. I prefer this method, but I know some people don't like to graft, so here are some alternate finishes-
Work one extra decrease round, so that 6 st remain on each needle. Knit one more round. Cut yarn, thread onto a tapestry needle, draw through remaining stitches on needles and pull tight. Weave in ends.
Or, finish with a three needle bind off.

If you find any problems or mistakes in this pattern, please comment!!

Blowin' in the wind...

Wow, what amazing things can happen in just six months, am I right??
It appears that I have set my life on a course that finally feels right, which is absolutely wonderful and totally gratifying, after all these years of trying on hats that just didn't quite fit me. This one may not be a perfect fit, but it feels nice right now, and doesn't look like it will become too constricting in the near future, so I'm happy.
I just want to put it on record how much I love my DH, without him I know I wouldn't have had the guts to head off in such a crazy direction, but like I said, it feels right, so who's the crazy one, really??
Is this all too vague and mysterious for my vast, blog-reading public (all three of you!) ? Oh well, until things work out, one way or another, I'm not spilling the beans. No way I'm going to jinx this, it's been a hard enough road getting to this point, and I'm not even halfway there yet!!
So, right now I'm working as a caricaturist (see Mom, finally 'doing something' with my art wink wink) and etc., which, although not the highest paid job I could have ended up with, has led me some interesting places, and may have also landed me a baby-sitter.... FINALLY!! I may actually get to go somewhere (besides the doctor's office) alone with my hubby. Hooray!! Seems like it's been forever.
As I write this, we are suffering through Ernesto's death throes - and here I thought that leaving Florida would get me away from hurricanes, tropical storms, etc. Not so, apparently. Blech.
And speaking of leaving Florida....
It seems that my evil plan to export all of our friends to PA may slowly be happening. Mwah hah ha ha ha....
But anyway, back to Ernesto.... He's making it quite the wild night ( but, as Mrs. Whatsit said, "Wild nights are my glory!") and it's been blowing so hard I had to take down my dolphin wind chimes, they were clanging so randomly that they sounded like a Yoko Ono song. Except for that, it's been quite cool to listen to the wind howl around the windows. So, I have been curled up on the couch in my flannel jammies, with some knitting and hot coffee, and I will probably stay there all day tomorrow, too. I know, you wish you were me, don't you? I would, too.