FREE PATTERN: Sarah's Christmas Ball

Materials needed: Scrap sock yarn, set of 5 size 0 dpns, 4 stitch markers.
Gauge: approx. 8 sts/inch. (not terribly important, don’t bother to swatch, really! as long as you get a nice, firm fabric.)
Size: This should yield a spherical ornament of about 9” circumference but is easily varied.

BOTTOM
CO 4 sts. Knit 1/2” of I cord.
Rnd 1: Kfb in every stitch, distributing 2 sts onto each of 4 dpn’s as you go. 8 sts.
Rnd 2: Knit. 8 sts.
Rnd 3: (Kfb, PM, Kfb.) repeat 4x. 16 sts.
Rnd 4: Knit.
Rnd 5: (Kfb, knit to marker, Kfb, knit to end of needle.) repeat 4x.
Rnds 6-17: Repeat Rnds 4 & 5 until there are 18 sts on each needle and 72 sts total.

CENTER
Slip markers throughout this section. You don’t need them for this section but you will for the top of the ball. For variations, replace this simple basketweave stitch pattern with a pattern of your choice.
Rnd 18-25: (K6, P6.) repeat 6x.
Rnd 26-33: (P6, K6.) repeat 6x.

TOP
Stuff the ball as you go, starting when you have about 8 sts per needle, as the opening will get smaller and smaller. Get as much stuffing in there as you can for a nicely shaped ornament. Sarah’s ball is full of used fabric softener sheets but you can use the stuffing of your choice.
Rnd 34: (K2tog, knit to marker, K2tog, knit to end of needle.) repeat 4x.
Rnd 35: Knit.
Rnds 36-48: Repeat Rnds 34 & 35 until there are 2 sts on each needle and 8 sts total.

FINISHING
Cut yarn leaving a 9-10” long tail. Using a yarn needle, weave the end through the remaining stitches and draw it tight. Leaving a loop of yarn on the outside of the ornament for hanging, weave only the last couple of inches of yarn tail in very securely.

Options/variations:

You can increase more quickly – more stitches per round – for a flatter ball, or less for a longer ball. Try it at the top or bottom, or even in the middle of the ball. Be creative! The stuffing will round it out and it can’t be a ‘wrong’ shape. Have fun. :)

The rainbow colored Sarah’s ball is knitted out of ribbon yarn at a much larger gauge. You can also adjust the stitch numbers of this pattern to suit any yarn you like, and make any size ornament you want.

Have fun with it!

A Holiday FO



This is a Christmas Ball from a pattern I wrote, though at this size it's more like a child's play ball! Or a ball for a really big tree. The pattern is in draft format on Ravelry (on ceci9293's projects page, under Sarah's Christmas Ball, in the pattern notes) and I'm going to make several more I think. :) I love the fancy look it has in this satiny ribbon yarn (Crystal Palace Party, colorway Celebration) but I've also made it on sock yarn and it was cute. I already want to make Quants for lots of people... this is quicker... eh, we'll see what mood strikes me. Not like I have time to knit enough of anything to give everyone anyway!

Warm Thoughts and Prayers Please
I'm gettin' spayed on Thursday morning. Minor, easy surgery but it's still surgery. I'm not looking forward to it, and I know Will's not looking forward to even just the 5 little hours at home without me. Gigi never has warmed up to hanging without me for very long. I bought some soy formula to tide them over... we'll experiment with it tomorrow to try and get her a little used to it before I ditch. I hope she'll take it because even after I come back, I can't breastfeed her for a while afterward. 24 hrs? I'm supposed to ask the anaesthesiologist for confirmation. (How do you fit THAT on a business card??)
Anyway, here's a cute brother n sister photo comparison in the meantime:


She is sooo much chunkier than he was!

Haven't done a meme in ages!


1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Dean Winchester
2. What were you doing at 8:00? Nursing Gigi and watching TV, probably The Wiggles.
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Finishing up this month's bills.
4. What happened to you in 2006? Nothing out of the ordinary, that I remember... just raising the Brent.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? “Yes, the noise IS coming from that vent.” (in response to Brent acting out an Imagination Movers episode for the hundredth time.)
6. How many beverages did you have today? 2 glasses of water, 1 cup of veggie/fruit juice, so far. There will be many, many more I'm sure.
7. What color is your hairbrush? black
8. What was the last thing you paid for? Jack In The Box for Will & Brent
9. Where were you last night? home, in the blue chair.
10. What color is your front door? Off white and dirty <-- mine too!
11. Where do you keep your change? an old Coca Cola tin
12. What’s the weather like today? Gorgeous! Sunny, lightly breezy, barely 80dF.
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? vanilla
14. What excites you? everything and nothing, depending on my mood
15. Do you want to cut your hair? omg, I wish! I want a GI Jane buzzcut.
16. Are you over the age of 25? By enough to make another adult me.
17. Do you talk a lot? Yes!
18. Do you watch the O.C.? I did. Let's change this question... how about, Do you watch Smallville? Yes!
19. Do you know anyone named Steven? several students, one of Will's co-workers, an acquaintance back in the Valley.
20. Do you make up your own words? constantly, and not always on purpose.
21. Are you a jealous person? Not at all.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “A”. Ana
23.Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “S”. Sarah in Seattle comes to mind first.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? my father
25. What does the last text message you received say? “hey can you do webex with cognos any time after...” oh waitaminnit, that's my husband's phone. Mine is "ind hot water" and I still have no idea what she meant by that.
26. Do you chew on your straw? nope.
27. Do you have curly hair? I used to wish... now I just wish I were bald most of the time. :P
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? probably not anywhere until knitting group on Sunday
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? my father
30. What was the last thing you ate? bowl of honey nut Cheerios
31. Will you get married in the future? I still foresee my current marriage as being for good.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? no movies that recently. The last, best movie was Iron Man -- man, I loved that one!
33. Is there anyone you like right now? If you mean a crush, only celebrities. Especially those named Winchester.
34. When was the last time you did the dishes? around noon today
35. Are you currently depressed? maybe mildy, as much as any SAHM, really. It only comes down on me sometimes, especially when I haven't had enough sleep.
36. Did you cry today? Not yet :P
37. Why did you answer and post this? memes are fun, haven't done one in a while.
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey: no idea! But if any readers do, please let me know so I can go read them! :)

Things that made me happy today

The boy came to the fridge where I was writing on the grocery list, asked for the marker, and said, "Momma, 3!" and wrote a 3! (It took him a few tries, and he moved from right to left as he tried, but oh well.)


And I went to a family website today in search of a photo and in addition found some proof that I have lost weight. Hallelujah? :D On the left is moi in a family photo taken in 11/06, and on the right, at the yarn store in 10/08:

Happy Birthday, Emily :)

We had a birthday party at Gauge this weekend and it was a blast!

Here's the birthday girl opening presents:

Wow, she got a lot of yarn... imagine that. (And stitchmarkers. She has enough stitchmarkers to open a store now, hehehe.)

Everyone ooh'ed and ah'ed over the pretty new yarns (and Ana and Sheva obviously found something really funny):

Emily self-catered a great spread of fresh fruit, cold cuts, olives, bread, and fancy cheeses accompanied by champagne, Italian sodas, and homemade gelato (my new favorite thing in the world is blood orange gelato!):

We watched some classic Wallace & Gromit:

And, of course, knitted:

Emily brought in her Christmas Garland in progress and invited us all to contribute links for it:

I had to bring mine home to finish it 'cause I'm the slowest knitter in Austin. :P

All in all, a really nice party! Emily is a sweet, wonderful lady and I hope this is a wonderful year in her life. Cheers, Emily! :)

My 1st whack at entrelac

If you say it just so, it rhymes!


ETA: I'm going through yarn like beer at a frat party with this and I sooo do not have enough so I'm switching patterns, but I will start a Quant next! because I was really enjoying the entrelac.

An FO!

I know, knitting content, can you believe it? (It's called, aim low, or teeeeny tiny projects.)

Lookie here, 'tis a cute, gnome-y lil Sterling Cable Hat which I knit up as a sample for Robincat's yarn at Gauge:

Halloween

OK, so Halloween started out rough -- the boy was in a horrid mood as we were leaving the house, Will and I were both pretty close behind, and since Robin wanted us at her house at 6, we had to fight the bumper to bumper crawl of rush hour traffic while listening to Gigi howl the whole way there.

In all the rush, I forgot the camera, which is really sad because the kids looked adorable and especially Brent pretending to be terrified of Richard's bones costume over and over again would have made for some cute photo ops. Sigh.

Here's all I managed to get, a photo at the end of the evening of the boy chowing down on his haul: