Plugging Away

 I made a little hat and bootie set for A. for her upcoming shower in May.

I used Purl Bee's Little Fair Isle Hat pattern. It was easy and fun. I'll definitely make another, maybe for my own little guy.

After finishing the hat I figured I'd make some booties to go along with it. I used this pattern. They're supposed to be booties that are guaranteed to stay on. I'll have to ask A. if that's true once the baby comes.

I like how they turned out for the most part, but I was pretty confused on the first one. Somehow I resolved any issues on the second, but I'm not sure what I did differently. The only modification I made was to add an eyelit row underneath the ribbing, to thread in the i-cord. I also made the i-cord on a US 1 needle with 2 stitches. I used Patons Angora Bamboo for the hat and booties; I give the yarn 2 thumbs up. They also make a silk bamboo that would be interesting to try sometime...

I hope she likes this little gift.

Baby Brain

You know your pregnancy brain is really bad when you try to put your key into someone else's car when you drop your toddler off at pre-school...

Or when you make a special trip out to the store to pick something up (milk, eggs, bread, fill in the blank) and you manage to pick up several worthless items but not the one you set out for and need...

Or it's been so long since you went to your own blog that you type in the wrong address in the browser...

Yep, it's been getting pretty bad around here. At least I finally finished this cute little vest for the new baby (who will be making his debut in a little over 2 1/2 months).  I used this pattern and made the 6-9 month version. I used a discontinued yarn from yarn.com that was on sale. The pattern really isn't that hard (even for a brain-befuddled person like myself) but it is written a little strangely in some parts that requires some heavy thinking/ figuring out. I wrote some notes about it on my Ravelry page.

Presto-Cold-O

You will never believe this...wait...wait for it....

Yep, I'm sick again! After a respite of 3 days I came down with another cold, but this one has been my favorite cold so far.

(It's sad that I am so familiar with the cold viruses this year that I can pick a favorite). This time I have little nose congestion--it's mainly a sore throat. It feels amazing to breathe again! I have so much more energy!

...enough energy to finish this Presto Chango baby sweater. I made the 6 month size in stash yarn. It was a very easy pattern that knit up quickly. The entire front panel comes off (those are all working buttons). I think the idea behind that is, if the baby spits up all over the front, just take it off and button in another panel. If I was subscribing to that theory I should knit another panel. However, with my luck, the new baby will throw up on his shoulder AND the panel. Also, with my newfound nasal breathing abilities pumping energy into my body, I've been crafting up a storm and I'm too distracted to knit another. I just finished my March quilt block, I'm 99.9% finished C's big boy blanket, and I'm really close to finishing up an adorable gray vest for the new little one. 

You Can't Always Get What You Want

This is the sweater I made for the new baby. It's a 3-6 month size from this pattern. I didn't add the lace on the sleeves, to give it a more unisex feel.

The lacy-leaves going down the front are a little feminine. If the baby is a girl it's no big deal. If it's a boy...well, at least the sweater is blue, and boy babies can be dressed in sweet little things when they're tiny. I don't think it's a big deal.

The sweater gave me a little consternation only b/c of how I arrived at the pattern.

I originally saw this Pea Pod Set on Ravelry and added it to my queue over a year ago. I was so excited to make it but then I found out that the pattern was no longer available.

Say, what!???!!! I searched everywhere for it online. I was willing to purchase it--but it was a no go. Do you know how frustrating it is to have your heart set on making something, when tons of other people have already made it, and then all of a sudden it's not available anymore? Also, there is no information about why this is so, or if it will ever change.

I'm not the only one who feels this way in knitting land either. I read a bunch of posts from people who are in the same boat as I am. The designer has not really mentioned changing the status of this pattern either, and there hasn't been any mention of it from her in several years time, so I'm not very hopeful about it being offered in the future. At one point I even wondered if maybe she had died and that's why there was no response about it. Seriously!

Needless to say, not being able to knit it really bummed me out. I have no idea why it is no longer available, but that's life. I can't speculate or judge because I really don't have any information about it/ her. Me whining about it is pretty pointless.

That's where this other sweater comes in. I thought about trying to re-create the Pea Pod cardigan, but it was a challenge I really didn't feel up to with my current pregnancy fog. The second sweater is cute in its own way (even though I made several mistakes while knitting it), and I'm thinking about adding a little hat to go with it once I find a pattern I like. Oh, and before I get too excited about it, I'll make sure it's available first!

Gap-tastic Cowl

Here is the finished seed stitch project I talked about before Christmas. It's the enormously popular GAP-tastic Cowl pattern on Ravelry.

As of today over 4000 people on Ravelry have knit it and over 17000 have favorited it. I guess you can count me in that number now too.

Despite my dislike of making seed stitch, I do love the result. The texture is fantastic.

I'm not sure when this pattern first came out, but I know it was around last year b/c that's when I added it to my queue. I also noticed online that the Gap is selling this cowl again this year. So it must be a big seller for them. Here's the Gap version (they were selling black and cream this year):

I made mine with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky in oatmeal (I think).

It was a labor of love for me, but definitely worth it. And I might even be persuaded to try it again next year if cowls are still stylish. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Seed Stitch Stinks

I've been laboring through a project lately and my heart isn't exactly in it. The finished product is really cool and I think the gift recipient will like it, but the process of knitting it has been kinda rough.

I'm over the big needles, for one. And two, if I ever have to knit seed stitch again I will probably have a breakdown. I can see myself purposely avoiding any pattern that features seed stitch in the future. It's slow going, monotonous, boring...

I finally finished this project last night and the result is worth the monotony of knitting it, in my opinion. I had planned on making another one either for me or someone else but hell will have to freeze over first!

Ok, seed stitch does produce great texture-I'll give it that. And it probably wouldn't have even been that bad if I was using smaller (more comfortable) needles.

I'll show the finished product once it's been gifted. Now, it's back to crocheted snowflakes for my sister for Christmas.

Girls Night: November

K. hosted Girls Night last week and it was the perfect opportunity for me to finish adding C's name to his Christmas stocking using duplicate stitch. I had planned on lining the stocking so gifts don't get stuck on the floats inside, but there's a 50/50 chance that I will actually get around to doing that. At least the name is finished though.

Another project that's finished? P.'s Koigu Ruffle Scarf.

The yarn colors are so pretty on this--of course my camera does them no justice. If I recall correctly, P. said she had to cast on something like 600 stitches for this? I have a headache just thinking about that.

After dazzling us with her scarf, P. whipped out this ongoing project she's been working on: a cute punch needle design.



It was interesting to watch her work. Punch needle looks fun. I can definitely see myself getting into that in the future as well as embroidery. *

I don't have any pictures of K's projects, but she was working on some applique letters for personalized towels (these are great gifts) and she is still struggling with that knitted cupcake hat. It's very cute, but it might be a love-hate relationship at this point.

Hopefully I also can finish up some projects that have been hanging around too long over the Thanksgiving weekend.

K. was a lovely host as usual and the food and company were a wonderful break before a crazy holiday week.

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*Painting, knitting, sewing, embroidery...what am I? A reincarnated Victorian lady?! I can't carry a tune though. So I definitely don't possess that Victorian skill. That's a real bummer too, b/c in every Jane Austen novel (or movie adaptation) there comes a pivotal scene where the heroine impresses the man she loves with her singing skills while accompanied by the pianoforte. Thank God it's 2011 and I didn't have to impress my husband with the sound of my voice.  Yeah, it must have been my knitting that did it. What guy isn't impressed with knitting?

Anthro-Scarf

I finished my Anthropologie-inspired-ruffled scarf and I'm so excited to wear it this winter!

It was a little monotonous, as I mentioned, but overall it's a very interesting design. After knitting the middle, cabled portion, you use a crochet hook to create the broomstick lace around the edge.

I had never heard of this crochet stitch before so I used this video to learn how to do it. It was easy once I got going, but it really is quite an unique method. There are so many different ways you could use this technique. It's always good to learn something new!

I used Cascade 220 wool, so it's pretty thick and warm. I'm hoping the vibrant red color (I couldn't get an accurate shot of the true color at all; it looks different in each picture) will be warming in the coming frigid temperatures too. It was Red #9404.

We've been having an Indian Summer in my area, however I know it won't last. I'm not looking forward to the cold, but winter and knitting kind of go hand in hand, right? So maybe it's not so bad after all.

Inspiration Love

Scarf Love

I am still working on my scarf. I estimate I'm halfway through. As much as I really love the pattern/ yarn/ color I have to admit that scarves are kind of boring to knit. That's too bad b/c I feel like there are a million scarf patterns out there that I want to try. I'll have to just get past that.

I'm still in love with this design though and I'm looking forward to actually being able to wear it.

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Book Love

This is an awesome new book I got online. I had a gift card for Borders (which just closed its doors forever) and thought I better use it up before it became void.

When this came in the mail and I opened it for the first time, I'm not kidding, I actually felt awestruck. I even sucked in my breath for a second-- like in a gasp. I am truly a knitting geek. It's official.

The patterns and stitches are amazing to a novice like me.

I never even knew such stitches existed before.

As thorough as this book is though, I know there are many other stitches out there that I want to learn about. Not sure what I'm going to do with all this stitch information, but it's certainly handy to have as a reference tool.

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Hat Love

 After I'm done my scarf, I plan on making a couple hats for Little C. this year. One source of inspiration is a Janie & Jack hat I saw from last year:

I would really love to use this as a starting point, alter the design by adding earflaps, and maybe incorporate the Norwegian Star Earflap Hat pattern from Ravelry. Little C. has an orange winter coat from Janie and Jack and this would look perfect with it.

Janie and Jack always has such charming designs, but sometimes inspiration comes from unlikely places--like junk mail. Last year I got a mailer from Tiny Prints about Christmas cards. I had already bought mine at the time, but before I threw the ad in the trash I ripped out these pictures of a couple of adorable kids with the cutest knit hats ever.

I'm going to make C. a ribbed hat following this pattern in the orange, white, and navy stripe color scheme.

And should I ever have a baby girl, you can bet your money that I will be making this cream-colored baby cable hat. I might even force a baby boy to wear it though if there is no girl!

And finally, I also love this Missoni for Target knit hat that my sister emailed me a picture of the other day:

The whole world is mad for Missoni, so you have a better shot of being struck by lightening than finding this hat in a Target store right now. I don't plan on making a hat like this, but I still love looking at it.

I'm trying to focus and finish things, taking one step at a time when it comes to all this craft inspiration, but I have really been distracted lately with all this beauty. Two bad I only have one pair of hands to knit with. The fall is such a busy time anyway; I'm really going to try to slow down, and enjoy the knitting/ crochet process this season. I don't plan on knitting/ crocheting any Christmas gifts this year (except for lots of snowflakes!), so I should have the luxury of time. We'll see how I do.

It's Not a Blanket

I decided to take a little blanket break and finish up the Oh, Handsome sweater I started for Little C.  a couple of months ago.

This was the leftover Cascade Superwash I had from his hooded sweater vest. Back in March I impulsively started knitting a yoked Shalom cardigan for myself with the extra yarn.

Then I realized I had made it way too big, and the gauge was totally wrong. I was just excited to be knitting something, I guess. I decided not to make it after all and pulled it all out.

And I'm really happy I did, because I love how the Oh, Handsome sweater turned out. It's much better than the one I made last year for a number of reasons: 1. I have a year's more experience; 2. I used a higher quality yarn; 3. I did not run out of yarn on the collar this time.

I think it might even be my favorite thing I've ever knit so far. It turned out almost perfectly.

The part that isn't perfect? The sleeves are a good inch too long. I'm a little relieved about it though, because C. has long arms to start with and if he has another growth spurt this year, he'll still be able to wear this all winter.