A new nephew

Look at those little blue elephant buttons!

...and a new sweater. The Jasper Diamond Hoodie (Rav link) from Vintage Baby Knits. Size 6 -9 months, knit in Plymouth Jeannee DK. I love pretty much everything about this sweater, except that the largest size is too small for Jamie. I've resized patterns before, though, so I guess I could do it again.

Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law on their third child, born yesterday. I can't wait to meet him!

Baby cardi

It's the Audrey Hoodie from Vintage Baby Knits. What a fun little project. Machine washable and dryable, too, for the new mom's convenience. I found the button in my button box. This is the exact shade of red/dark pink I had envisioned, and I can't tell you how excited I was to find it, and that it actually fits through the stitches. Most of the sweater is knit, but the scalloped border is crochet. I just put the button between the double crochet - chain 1 - double crochet that makes up the center of the scallop instead of creating a buttonhole. I love having a button box.

I got about an inch of my Nana's second sock done this morning. I am going to knit nothing else until this pair of socks is done! Hmph!

Tonight my church music department is celebrating the eve of St. Patrick's day with a prelude of traditional Irish music and a Mass. We've practiced well and I'm getting excited about it. I was hoping to record some of it, but now I'm thinking that's something I should have delegated. We'll see how busy I get, getting ready. If I remember to push "record," then it'll happen.

Monogamy and guilt

It was really amazing to me to discover that if I only work on one project, I can actually finish it in a timely manner. I mean, granted, Rose's hoodie was a 28" finished chest in bulky yarn on large needles, but I would never have expected to be done with it in 10 days. My usual habit is to have 3 or 4 projects going at the same time, so if I get bored with one I have some alternatives. But it was so rewarding to be monogamous to one sweater that I think I may have to do it more often.

Since I finished Rose's cardi I've resumed work on this, the Audrey Hoodie from Vintage Baby Knits. It's for my cousin's baby, and the shower is next Saturday. I'm going to only knit this until its done, and I'm sure it'll be ready by then.

Then. I've been feeling very guilty about how long it's taken me to get through these.

I really don't know what my problem is with these. I just haven't wanted to knit them. But they're for my Grandmother. I wanted her to have them for Christmas, then when they weren't done I wanted her to have them by the end of winter. Now they're still not done, and she might have them for Mother's Day. I hope. I feel so bad about this. Must be monogamous to the socks after the baby hoodie is done.

Knitting Olympics: Results

A Cardigan for Rose




I started this during the opening ceremonies on February 12, then ended up unraveling a week's worth of work and starting over again on February 20. I'm really glad I just bit the bullet and re-started it in the smaller size on larger needles, not only because I then had just enough yarn to finish it, but also because the resulting fabric was much more wearable, with a much better feel and drape.

I finished the knitting and grafted the hood and underarms and wove in all the ends on March 3. I had to go out and buy a single wooden toggle and knit an i-cord loop to fasten the cardigan at the neck and I finally did that on Saturday the 6th.

So yeah, if I had started out at the beginning of the Olympics with the needles and size I ended up with, I would have certainly had this thing done by the closing and had my medal. Lesson learned: swatching is good.

Now I really can't wait to start one for myself!

Knitting Olympic Update: Closing Ceremony

This is how far I was last night when I decided to take a break for the sake of my right hand. The entire body and eight rows of the hood. I'm pretty proud that I made it that far by last night, I have to say, considering I had to completely start over a week ago.

I'm so geeked by how this project is turning out. I've had to do some major mathematical thinking on this one, and it's been quite a challenge, but it all seems to be working out. And it's really getting me excited to start an Arwen for myself.

So, no Knitting Olympic medal, but I'm still happy with my hard work. Next post: finished sweater!

Knitting Olympic update: Major setback

Well, I was afraid of this. I suspected that when I had to join the second of four balls of yarn at the 6 inch mark that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the thing. I was right.

I can't just go and get some more, either, this was yarn from a mill up north and it didn't even have a label or dye lot. There's no way I could find the exact same yarn.

The body was finished up to the underarms, one sleeve was completed and the second begun and I had to face reality. If the sweater weren't hooded, I could have made it. If the sweater didn't have yarn-eating cables, I could have made it. If I weren't knitting on too-small needles which were creating a jacket-like fabric as opposed to a sweater-like fabric ... no, I still wouldn't have made it, then.

Anyhow, I ended up ripping out the entire sweater (gripe, sob) Saturday night and starting over again with larger needles and fewer stitches. Andy and I both wanted the sweater to be oversized so she could wear it for a few years, but there just isn't the yarn. So it's going to be a few inches smaller, the fabric will be looser, and I'm just praying the yarn holds out.

I'm about four inches up the body, and I don't expect to finish it before the torch is extinguished, but I'm going to keep working as if I thought I could. I'm going to finish this race, not walk off the track, even though I know there's no way I can win. Actually, when I think about it, at least Rose will have a sweater at the end of this project. If I had just keep going in denial, I really would have been upset when that last ball ran out.

Vest, dishtowel, new projects

So, I finished Andy's vest (finally).

He says he likes it a lot. I wish I had divided for the v-neck a few rows lower, and I'm not crazy about how the left seam turned out, but otherwise, I'm satisfied with it.

(There's wee Jamie playing with cups in his crib.)

Look what else I did!

My mom is teaching me to use a sewing machine, and how to prep and measure and cut and press cloth and follow a pattern. This was my first project, a cute dishtowel. It only took six hours. :\ But I like it, and surely I'll get better and faster at all the prep work. I hope.

I also started the Audrey Hoodie (Ravelry link)from Vintage Baby Knits. My cousin is due in April. I'm hoping to be done with this by the time she has her shower in March.

But! I have to put it on hold starting tomorrow night, because I've decided to challenge myself in the Knitting Olympics!

My event will be a hooded cardigan for Rose, modeled after A Cardigan for Arwen and A Cardigan for Merry. She's too small for the one and too big for the other, so I'm going to use my Ann Budd book and the cable chart as a jumping-off point and see how it goes!

This is the yarn I'm going to use.

I bought it at Zeilinger's Wool in Frankenmuth. It had no label, but I think it's a wool/alpaca blend. Pretty bulky, 4 stitches per inch, so it should work up quickly enough for me to finish by the time the torch is extinguished.

Whoo hoo! Let's hear that John Williams theme!

Did it!

Cast on yesterday during coffee time, finished i-cord ties last night around 9pm.

Given to expectant mommy, along with the Baby Mine sweater and a box of diapers this morning!

Here's the little heart on the back -- isn't it adorable?

Baby Mine and a hat

So I finished up the Baby Mine sweater. What a quick, cute little knit!

It looks a lot more complicated than it really is.

I decided at the very last minute to knit a bonnet out of the rest of the yarn.

It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's Heart Hat. By last minute, I mean that I decided last night to knit it, I cast on this morning, and I hope to give it to our friend tomorrow. morning.

So I'm going to stop typing and start knitting. Wish me luck!

What have I been doing?

Working and making merry, mostly. But also knitting.

Apparently after my last post (from mid-November, sheesh, what have I been doing?) I was about to bind-off and block my Kiri shawlette. Well, here she is, unblocked:
Drying on the blocking board:

And finished!You may want to note that the decorations changed from fall finery in the first pic to Christmas greenery in the last. I have nothing to say about that.

Work proceeds slowly on the Rugged Vest. I have to say, I'm not really loving working with this wool. And I love wool. But this is some crunchy wool. It ought to be a handsome vest, though, if I ever knit more than an inch per week.

And here are my Nana's anklets. This project really should have taken 2 weeks, 3 at the most. But really. I hit a snag and immediately the project goes on the back burner. The snag, in this case, is that I'm trying to get a pair of anklets out of one skein of Koigu. So in my eagerness to save yarn, I started the toe of the first a little early. Nana and I have about the same size feet, even so, when I tried it on and it was a tad uncomfortable in the toe area, I thought, "It's very possible that her feet are, in fact, smaller than mine by just enough for this to feel okay for her." I clung to that until she tried it on herself and confirmed that yes, it was too small. Then it sat in my knitting bag until I finally, weeks later, picked out the grafting and ripped back the toe to just before the increases started. First toe is now being re-knit on dpns, second sock (on magic loop) is currently just past the heel turn. Please, please, please the yarn will last until both socks are done.

These, however, were a quick and delightful little knit. A little-girl-sized version of the Easy Legwarmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, a Christmas gift for my niece.

This is a beret for my mom, kind of a gag gift since I intend to put a pom-pom on top. I'm going to knit one for Rose, too.For some reason, Mom and Rose have a running joke about pom-poms. I can't explain it, because I don't understand it.

And last but not least, Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. A sweet little lace baby cardigan for a new girl, soon to be born to a dear friend. I love this sweater, and the pattern is very well written. I'm not crazy about the yarn. It's a cotton and acrylic blend, so it's quite inelastic, and it also happens to be very splitty. However, it's knitting up nicely, and the fabric feels good, and it's machine washable and dryable, so that is also a good thing.

So that's what I've been doing, knitting-wise! I hope I've learned my lesson: if I post more often, I won't have to upload umpteen pics and write and edit for an hour!

Baptism sweater

A quickie because Jamie is waking up from his nap but I just can't put off posting these pictures any longer: Gabriel's Baptism sweater. (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Baby Yours in Berroco Comfort DK) Baptism booties (same yarn, Stay-on Booties with some mods) The man of the hour himself -- Look at all that hair!

Gabe, I'm honored to be your Godmother. I'm looking forward to getting to know you.

Work in progress

It's another "Baby Yours" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, this time in white for my Godson's Baptism. I'm knitting the sleeves at the same time, which (now that I'm used to it) is a very handy method. Usually I'm counting and re-counting rows, or measuring and re-measuring, to make sure the second sleeve matches the first. This way I just knit, and I know they're both the same. Well, as long as I don't turn my work before I knit on both sleeves, which is what I was doing at first if my mind wandered.

Cutie pie

It's been so cold in our drafty old house this winter. Jamie pretty much just wears sleepers all day, but when we go hang out in the basement, where the family room is, I put a thicker bunting or a baby track suit on over his sleeper.

Yesterday, I wondered if that sweater I knit when I was pregnant would fit him yet. Almost. It's still a bit big. But doesn't he look quite the little man in it?

A wee aran sweater

This is the project I've been working on. "Baby Yours" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in STR Mediumweight. It's for my newest Godson, who is due in March. His mom Heather is one of our oldest and dearest friends, and as soon as she asked me to be Gabriel's Godmother, I knew exactly what I wanted to knit for him. The shower was yesterday, and I wanted it to be a surprise. Knowing that Heather occasionally peeks in (Hi, if you're there!), I had to be quiet about this little project as it came together. It was so hard to wait to share this! I'm really pleased with the pattern, the way it was written, and the way it turned out. There's only one little thing I'd change if I could, and I might be able to. When I blocked the pieces, they blocked to measurements exactly. When I blocked the entire sweater after seaming (and what a lot of seaming, ugh! but it was worth it), I didn't have the schematics with me and blocked it too wide and too short. But, I should be able to fix that with another good blocking -- it just means I'll have to ask for it back for a couple of days. Now I've got the bug to knit sweaters for my other two Godsons!

I think she likes it.

My darling Rose, modeling her blue hat. It's about time I got around to it. She's had her little blue mittens and scarf for a year and a half (although the scarf is AWOL at the moment, grr). She'd been very patient with me during my pregnancy-induced aversion to knitting and the exhaustion that followed.

I wish the speckling had come out more random, but I think I know why it happened, and when I knit another, I think it'll turn out better. Yes, despite the wicked k3togs, I'm probably going to knit this pattern again. We both like it a lot.