Baby K's sweater

I recently had the pleasure of going to a baby shower for my friend M. In honor of her soon-to-be-born baby K, I knit a very fast sweater. This is one of my go-to patterns and it seems to be a hit for all the new moms.

I also knit the buttons into the sweater. It is safer than sewing them on as far as I am concerned. The only way the buttons will come off is if the sweater completely falls apart.

For baby K

A baby sweater for a neice or nephew

I have a recently finished project, and I will admit I was finishing this hours before I gave it as a gift. Photos were taken in the hotel shortly after weaving in the last end.





The pattern is called the Pea Pod Baby Set. I happened to come across the pattern a few years ago and decided to print it out on the off chance that I would have someone to make it for.

I loved the cables on this pattern, they look like leaves across the front, with an off center button band. I even managed to find buttons that exactly matched the yarn.

The buttons are knit in instead of sewn on. I feel this is much safer for baby clothes. The sweater would have to fall apart for the button to come off.

Hopefully I receive some pictures of cabbage sporting the sweater. *hint-hint, Auntie Jenny*

Meeting up with Davis' mom and dad

Our good friends came home for a visit. They brought baby Davis out to stay with grandma and our happily embracing their new title of Davis' mom and Davis' dad.

We were glad to meet up with them over breakfast at John's childhood home. Big N enjoyed playing with John's childhood cars and plains. Little N was quite happy rocking on the giant Llama. They did not hesitate to make themselves at home.



Kristen was even nice enough to try on my latest knitting project on Davis. I'll have to knit him something else, perhaps with a closure, since he won't be wearing it for long!



Hope to see you soon, Kristen, John and Davis!

Skinny Boy Vest

Here is Big N in his finished Christmas Easter Vest!





The completion of the vest hit a few snags. First, when I had originally finished it on December 23rd, the neck was too small for Big N's noggin with the neck band attached. The other problem is the size 4 was great around his mid-section, but beyond too short on his belly.

This observation resulted in removal of the neckband, and the poor vest languishing unfinished in a bag on the bottom shelf of my nightstand. The little bag, staring at me each night when I ignored it to go to sleep.

Finally, I brought the vest back out to work on it. I tore out the shoulder seams and added another cable repeat to the front and back. I re-seamed everything up, added the neckband and asked Big N try it on. It not only fit over his head, but the length was great with room to spare.

Big N promptly asked me if he could wear it to church on Sunday, this was Saturday. I said of course, and stayed up way too late Saturday night weaving in all the ends and finally adding the armbands. I will admit, the armbands match the sweater body because I had just woven in the 3 different colors at the waist and the neck. At that point, the vest had enough gray and cream as far as I was concerned at 11PM.





On Easter morning, Big N came running from his bedroom. He found me and asked me if I had finished his vest so he could wear it. The final result made him happy. This, of course, makes me happy.

The long, lost sweater!

I have another finished project! This one can be considered my longest project, yet. When my daughter was still learning to crawl, I attempted to knit my very first sweater. At the time, I was unsure how to seam up the sides and I set it aside planning on asking for help at one of the monthly knit nights at the Yarn shop near our old house. The sweater was supposed to be 18 month sized, but it appears I was a little off on my guage.

I pulled out the pieces of sweater to finally seam it up. I have long since assumed it is too small for my daughter. The plan was to finally finish it and give it to my friend with a 3 month old baby girl.

The sweater appears to be closer to a 3T than a 18 month sized. This observation was made by little N who has claimed the pink sweater as her own. Sorry, Dina.


Stomping those pink boots

Teddy's Sweater

I finished Big N's sweater just around his 4th birthday and here we are coming up on his 5th. Last February, he immediately asked for a sweater for his teddy bear to match his as he was trying it on. Being the speedy knitter I am, I finally finished one for teddy almost 11 months later.

Big N has told me many times that Teddy is cold and needs a sweater.

Teddy's sweater was a surprise. I worked on it at night after the kids went to bed. When I did finally finish it, Bunny agreed to step in as the model. She grumbled a little bit because she had been forgotten from the herd of animals little N carried off to bed the evening the sweater was finally finished. Bunny was a little upset at being forgotten, but its easy to see how little N could forget one when it takes two trips to load up her bed. Bunny did forgive her the next morning.


Big N was very happy when he woke up the following morning. He insisted on wearing his green sweater because Teddy wanted to look just like him.

The finished hat!

Little N likes her hat. It is a little large for her, but she will grow into it. She tested it out in the the snow for me over the weekend. It kept her warm and happy.

Little N's Mew hat

This project has taken a lot longer than it should have! I started this as a test knit in October. It was coming along nicely and then I tucked my daughter into bed, leaving the knitting in a bag on an end table.

I knew better.

I've lectured the kids 100 times and they knew better.

My husband didn't have to say I told you so.

I tempted the puppies and they have no will power.

I came out to find a pink spider web pulled across my living room, with one dog on either end of it. Even though there are two colors in the hat, the puppies thought that pink was the color for them. It had to be the pink, the one where I was really cutting it close if I had enough to finish the hat. Lucy had pieces of yarn around one paw and a piece sticking out of her mouth with her tail going 100 miles per hour. Max, well, max had what was left of the skein in his mouth with his tail going just as fast.

The puppies were willing to trade my project with a toy and Pete took them outside so I could pick up the living room. Pulling the yarn with the puppies inside... not a good idea.

I picked up the yarn and salvaged what I could from the original knitting. I had to pull out a few rows and luckily there was no damage to my needles. What was left of the ball of pink yarn, was a complete and utter loss.

My son and I stopped by the local yarn shop and found a skein of pink in the same dye lot, which meant I could finish the hat. However, I had to put the hat away. I just didn't want to deal with the knots.

Finally, my sad little hat, the one I promised to test out the pattern for, needed to get off my needles. I was able to get past the point where I had been prior to the puppy-tug-o-war event with what was left and started into the new skein.

Little N is very happy with her hat.

Baby sweater and a hat for the big sister

Big N and Little N's good friend and former neighbor, B, is now a big sister. Her little sister C, was born in mid November.

Of course, this called for some knitting on my part. A new baby is a fun person to knit for. The look great in whatever you make them and the projects tend to go fast. Big N helped me pick out the yarn we used for the baby sweater, even though it took some work to point him away from the shiny green yarn. It was fun to get the kids involved in the gifts, especially considering how much the kid's care about the people we were giving the gifts to.

The hat was actually a pattern test I did for the designer. I had originally intended this as an adult gift, but big N informed me that the color was more to B's liking. The pattern was a little confusing, but once all the repeats worked out, it came out beautiful. The only problem is the pattern missed a few rows and the final hat was child size. This worked nicely with Big N's color plan, as the hat now could go to B.

Big N modeling B's big sister hat, in Cascade 220 Heathers


B's little sister, C, was due in November and her parents decided to wait until then to find out whether baby C was a girl or a boy. This made it easy to avoid the typical baby pastels, which was fine with me. We picked a nice holiday color, red for her sweater and some pretty buttons, picked by little N, that either a baby boy or a baby girl could wear.

Wee Welcome set in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.


And, yes, it made my day when our friends told me that baby C wore the red sweater home. I'm easy to please.

Finished Projects!

I can finally talk about two of my most recent gift projects as they were both gifted.

First, I finished the Wee Welcome set sweater for baby J who was born on September 4th. I only hope it still fit him when he received it.



I used Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in a grey blue with a chocolate trim. The buttons were a perfect match to the blue with a slight brown tint. I thought the little stars were super cute. I just hope baby wears it at least once.

The buttons are actually knit into the sweater. Not only was this easier to finish the project, but I felt it was safer for a baby as they are really secure on the sweater.



The second project was a birthday gift for our nanny, M. My daughter insisted on being my model, of course she loves to wear every hat before it even comes off the needles. She took it pretty well when I explained that this one wasn't for her.



I think this was my favorite hat so far! I love the way the Xs at the top melt into the decreases. The pattern really is well designed.

Knit Coffee Sleeve

This was a fun, fast project I knit for a friend of mine! I can talk about it now that I have given it to her. She brings me coffee beans once in a while and I always appreciate them. I love coffee beans.

The pattern was free on the web. I had just a little bit of the wool yarn left in my stash. Now that it is complete, it looks like I have enough for a few more.

I will have to make another one and try felting it. It also might be fun to embellish it with buttons.

In case you wondered, Pete rolled his eyes when I explained what it was.

Happy Guy Socks

Big N is loving his socks! He's had that grin on his face since he tried both socks on. I'm happy with how they came out, but even happier with how much they are appreciated. I hope he doesn't grow out of them too fast.

Little guy socks -- in progress

Big N loves it when I knit for him. Who doesn't like having someone put a lot of love and time into something just for you! He giggled when I showed him the yarn before I started. He did ask that I find something that has more shiny green in it for any future projects.

I am using a pattern out of Knit Socks, by Betsy McCarthy. I really like this book. She has a lot of tips on some of the trickier parts and the patterns are laid out in an easy to follow and an easy to put down manner. I can put the project down and find exactly where I am in the pattern.




The socks are coming out nicely. They appear to have a nice stretch to them and I like the pattern. The yarn is VERY pron to splitting as you knit. I'm not sure if the pattern shows up very well in the variegated yarn. It does look a lot better in person than in the photo. Hopefully I am motivated enough to finish the second sock before Big N outgrows them.

It's a bowl! It's a hat!

I have been trying to use up my left over yarn before I buy more. I came across a pattern for a felted bowl and thought I would use the brown leftover from my daughter's vest. It came out really nice and just as I was binding it off and weaving in the ends, trying to figure out how to felt it, my daughter notices what was in my lap. "A hat! A hat for me!"

"No, it's a bowl for Mommy."

"A hat! A hat!" She then proceeded to put it on her head to show me. This was immediately followed by a dance with spins and jumps around the room, to emphasize that it was, indeed, a hat.

Ok, she wins. It's a hat. I can't take her wagging her finger at me anymore.

I cannot follow directions

I have been searching for a vest pattern for my daughter and I thought I hit the jackpot. My friend Karin gave me this great yarn, Lambs Pride Bulky. The pattern called for 1 skein of bulky yarn. I of course started it over the weekend and it's coming along fast. That is until I begun to notice that I had not split out the sleeves and I didn't have a lot of yarn left. I have serious issues when I buy yarn, I'm so scared I'll run out that I always buy one skein extra. Meaning, running low, makes me panicky. It's so unlike me to not end up with a ton of extra yarn.

I finally noticed that I was 25 yards short and I put it down to figure out what I wanted to do. I could (A) pull it out, ball it up and put it back into my stash, or (B) keep going. I opted to keep going, but I modified the pattern just a little to try and save some of the yarn. I cut out one round and then I made the arm holes a little larger by binding off 8 stitches instead of 6. This makes me end up doing the cable twists on the wrong side. That's not so bad and it still looks ok. At least on size 10.5 needles, I should know soon that I need to pull it out.

Yarn Therapy and cabled socks

I have way too much stuff going on right now, but during my lunch today I made a stop at my LYS (Local yarn shop, I'm still new to this blogging about knitting stuff). I came across this gorgeous crystal palace yarn in the sock yarn section. It is a bamboo-wool mix and it is incredibly soft to the touch. I am making some baby socks, but I may have to go back and pick up some more for a set of socks for myself.

I'm being brave and combining a few patterns. I've made 4 plain socks, 2 singles and a pair, so cables didn't sound too daunting on a sock.

This is my first attempt at cables. I'm surprisingly happy with the way it is coming out. I might try to bring the cables down the front of the foot. Most babies don't wear shoes, meaning some pretty cables on the socks would be sweet to look at.




I prefer using magic loop on socks as you can see above. However, it's been so long since I've made a sock, I hope I remember how to turn the heel. I can't seem to find anything on what to do with the stitches that are not in the heel. I feel like I should put them on a yard holder, but I'm not sure.

Shiny Green Sweater

I finished big N's sweater! He of course told me it was too scratchy to wear. He was so excited about it when I started it. Oh well, it's big enough that he can change his mind a few times and still wear it once or twice.

I opted not to block the sweater. It's a very casual piece and since it was done all in one piece, I didn't have to worry about everything fitting together.

Happy 4th birthday, little guy.

Knit wish list

It's really easy to add to my list of things I want to knit.

My next knitting project will be Something Red. Honest! I won't do anything else. Ok, maybe a hat for Pete and Neva is asking for a sweater.

Shiny Green Sweater -- in progress

This is the sweater I am making for big N. He asked me to make him a shiny green sweater. I originally picked out a gorgeous washable wool in what I thought was a shiny green. Big N told me that it was not the right color. He picked out an inexpensive green/grey yarn and insisted that it was shiny. I have a lot to learn about colors, don't I!

I have really come a long way on his sweater. It is coming out a lot larger than I wanted to. I goofed just a little! I glanced at the raglan length and knit to the size 6 instead of the size 4. I did not realize I had gone so much larger it was until he tried it on and it looked like a poncho on him. That was when I decided it was a good time to split off the sleeves. I went ahead and made the rest of the sweater body the size 6 length so it won't become a belly shirt when it does finally fit him in the shoulders. He insists this is shiny green. I have the sleeves left to do and the band around his neck. It's really coming out nice. I may have to make one for my daughter.

The pattern I am using is from here

Big N did have one comment for me, "Mommy, could you fix my sweater so it's not too big." Poor child, I'm not pulling it out. He will eventually grow into it.

Knitting once again!

I have finally started knitting again! It's really been nice. I've finished a hat for my daughter, a gift I can't mention just yet in case the person it is for reads this, and a capelet for myself based off of this pattern:
http://peonyknits.blogspot.com/2005/11/anthropologie-inspired-capelet-fo-and.html

My son asked me to make him a sweater. He gave me this serious look, "Mommy, could you make me a shiny green sweater?" I of course said yes and looked for a pattern using some larger needles. He picked out a wool yarn in a dark-grey green. It's a nice color, not what I would have thought as shiny. I'm making a nice V-neck for him and I've gotten most of the neck done. He saw it and asked me why I hadn't finished it, yet. "I can't wear it like this, Mommy!" I think I need to work on teaching him some patience.

Here is the sweater I am making for Nathan:
http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2005/10/girlfriends_sch.html