A cowl, an owl and cables! FO Friday!

It's been a good week! This cowl was my first crochet test project! Crystal wore hers a few weeks back to our knitting group and I was absolutely taken with it. I was rather forward in telling her that I was very interested in the pattern - I am feeling a lot more comfortable with a crochet hook and really enjoy the process. Crocheting makes me feel like I am using my brain in a different way, if that makes sense, probably because I still need to stop and think frequently, unlike knitting (usually!). Anyway, the Miss Adler pattern is wonderful for a beginner like me. Once I got through the first set of rows I was flying. Crystal has a great knack for explaining the details and her style is very clear. I can also vouch for her dedication to a pattern - I have seen her work through designs to be published at our knitting group and she doesn't do anything half-way. She is having a trunk show this weekend and I am really looking forward to checking it out! I used Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend for my version in the Wildflowers colorway. So many lovely colors poking through, very appropriate for spring. I did dip into a second skein, and as my gauge is different, my cowl is bigger, so I will probably wear it folded over as you can see in my Ravelry notebook.

Continuing with the crochet theme, this is Nel, the tiny owl, that I made for a swap on Ravelry.  He is another Fresh Stitches design and a lot of fun to make. I used Cotton Classic from the stash, and he turned out to be around 5 inches tall.  I hope he is loved when he gets to his destination!

And finally, the Sweet Fern Mitts, from The Knitter's Book of Wool.  These are also for a swap and I am very sad to see them go, but I will certainly make myself a pair.  They are just snug enough, and I made them with less than one skein of Berroco's Blackstone Tweed. I struggled for a while with that yarn, trying to decide what to make with the lonely skein, but I would seek it out again - I loved working with it.

Have a great weekend!

Mittens!

The weekends should not be for catching up, but this weekend that is what I will be doing.  After a wind / rain storm on Wednesday night, we lost power and did not get it back until late Friday afternoon! UGH.  It was such a ridiculous thing too, not a huge storm, but it did knock a huge tree onto power lines around the corner from me.  I had finished my NaKnitMittMo mittens for January on Thursday morning while waiting to see if the Lorax would have school (she didn't) and if the power would come back on (it didn't).  Oh yes, and it was 50 degrees! January, you're so crazy!
This is leftover Lorna's Laces yarn from one of my first sample knitting jobs. The yarn cake was more than my little scale could handle, so I know I started with at least 100g (probably more). I have 46 g left! The pattern is Thames Street Mittens and I love how they turned out! I am really pleased that I was able to finish them in January, currently they are in the running for the Viewer's Choice part of the KAL - if they caught your eye, would you click my love button? Check out all the other gorgeous mittens people have made! My queue is growing, again! I have started on a pair of fingerless mitts for February already and I hope to continue with the same momentum.

While I was trying to take photos of my mittens (which is not easy), the temptation of the viewscreen was too much for one little person and I was photobombed!!


Have a great weekend!

FO Friday - A Hat

I feel like a terrible knitter sometimes. All of a sudden, winter weather is coming on strong and my kids still did not have proper winter hats! I did make the Lorax a hat back in November with sparkly purple yarn she chose (Kollage Glisten), but I was impatient in getting to the crown decreases. The result was a hat that really didn't fit. See?








She did wear it outside for some snow action last week, so I'm pleased that she actually wore it, but it wasn't going to cut it. Winter is here for the next few months. I can do better!
Hey look, there's the Regular Guy Beanie I made Dan - also in action!










A bit of stash diving turned up a magenta skein of Vicki Howell's Sheep(ish) yarn, one of the Lorax's favorite colors. A bit of searching on Ravelry brought me to the Heel Stitch Hat, a free pattern from the Purl Bee.   The two played very nicely together I think. It fits, it's warm, and when we arrived at school one of the first things she said to a classmate was "Look at my new hat my mom knit for me!" Be still my heart. A picture of my child in something I knit and she's not in tears? AND she spoke of it with pride to another kid? Wow. This may be a turning point, but I won't hold my breath. Cheers to the first FO of 2013!

In addition to my other resolutions, I'm going to try and get this blog back on track with the link ups and such. Today, it's FO Fridays with Tami's Amis!

So this was Christmas...

Whoosh. Another Christmas has come and gone - it was a whirlwind (as always) and went by way to fast (as always) but was a good time & a success! This year we were low key on the side of decorations due to the Little Nutmeg being rather full of grabby hands. We had a pink plastic pre-lit Christmas tree (really) - it was a work prize for DH back in the summer when they moved locations. We had some garland and lights, a few printed signs, and this year we brought in an Elf on the Shelf. There are a zillion ideas on Pinterest, and I made a note of a few, but our elf was less into mischief and more into a daily game of hide-and-seek. The Lorax loved it. Elfie, our elf, is a bit creepy looking, but it makes for fun photos - here's the round up of my instagram shots of where he hid.
My favorite was when the Disney Princesses captured Elfie in a bug box!
Though I did have a last minute flare-up of thinking that I must knit ALL.THE.THINGS. for Christmas gifts, in the end I knit 4 things. My mom had pinned several times cowls on pinterest as a not-so-subtle hint to me. I worked up a Fiona Button Scarf very quickly!
I still consider myself a beginner crocheter and this was a piece-of-cake pattern.

I'm calling these my DIY-gold-toe socks, even though the gold toe stripe is really not in the right spot. I started these Cauchy socks for Dan back in March. He had forgotten about them! They were very well received - he has worn them every day after work! I would indulge in the Spud & Chloe Fine yarn again and trying these on for the photo made me realize that I need to make myself some new socks!! I also made Dan a basic guy beanie with Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair that he loved - the hat is ready to go and in his car, so no photos yet. It's snowing / raining now, so maybe tomorrow or the weekend? It seems that winter weather has truly settled in!

One family Christmas party involved a Yankee Swap this year. I made Oatmeal the Snowman to go with a gift card. I love this little snowman and will be making myself another one! Unfortunately we had to duck out right after we picked out our gifts because it was getting late with the kids - so I have no idea who ended up with the snowman, or if he was loved. I hope!
In my little nutmeg, we had a nice Christmas. There were yarnie gifts which are great & I am very excited for 2013. I am working on my "resolutions" and what I want to accomplish / try, but for today (and probably the rest of the week), we're recovering - I think we all have a touch of Holiday Hangover and both kids are sick with sniffles / coughs / temps. How was your holiday?

Baby Rock'n'Rollneck Sweater

A full-sized (baby) garment at last! There has never been a shortage of hats or cowls or other small things around this blog, so it feels quite good to post this one. I have had the Baby Rock'n'Rollneck sweater on my mind since last year when I saw PeacefulKnitter's version, WifeMomKnitter's version, and of course, ColourKnits version!

I have had the red Rowan Calmer in my stash for a long time. I claimed the brown in a Ravelry swap and figured they would work together. I love this yarn (but heard it has been discontinued!). I've been calling this the "Brick Rolled" sweater - in reference to the color and the "RickRoll" internet meme (specifically the Muppets version). Anyway.

My gauge was off, so I did a bit of math, thank you Ann Budd & her "Favorite Formula"! I knit the 18 month size to end up with a 6-9month size sweater. I am quite pleased that it is spot on!

A more usual hat

Last week's heat wave really had me a bit puzzled thinking about baby#2 - how to dress the little one? With the Lorax, who was born in November, I didn't really think twice about putting an extra layer / blanket / hat on her to keep her warm enough. This time around, I think I mostly plan on keeping the kid in a onesie for August. But, I still think hats are in order. I do have the the baby bucket hat ready but wanted something for maybe inside, just a little something. Babies need hats!

Anyway, I crocheted a Shell Stitch Beanie using yarn that was leftover from the Lorax's Big Bad Baby Blanket and the Baby Bucket Hat.

I stuck a little hair clip to the back of the flower, so it can be on the hat or not.

Allow Jackson to model.


It's quite cute, worked up really quickly even for a novice crocheter like myself. And, best mark of a good pattern? I would make this again. I think it would work year round in any number of yarns.

So cloche, so far

Still here, still pregnant. I did go off to Rhode Island for the night with the Lorax and my mom - it was really nice to get to hang out near the beach and even go out to dinner and show with a few of my aunts. One of my cousins babysat the Lorax while we were out and I am so pleased that went off without a hitch, given that only grandparents have watched her when we have gone out! Makes me feel a bit better about dropping her off for "camp" next week :)

I finished up the cloche last night... I don't think I'm going to bother with the ribbon inside the bottom band or bother to look for a big old button either.

meh. I think I may try tossing it in the wash and then lining it so it can be a bowl instead.


I tried it on Jackson as well, but he really was in no mood for a photo shoot. Most of my photos look like this:


Lorelai is actually a pretty good assistant - she sat next to Jackson and held the hat on his head.


And I think she may be a budding photographer as well - after we took pictures of Jackson she wanted to take pictures of Dan wearing the hat. Luckily, he is a better sport than Jackson:


Oh well. It's done and I can move on to other projects.

Serendipity hat

The weather is warming up and being just all kinds of gorgeous, which I can appreciate even as I suffer from seasonal allergies (for whatever reason, this time around my eyes are killing me! Itchy, watery, can't wear my contacts!). I was gifted the Serendipity pattern (by Brandy Fortune, of pixiepurls.com)recently and in less than a day I have a new finished object! No time like the present to get a jump on winter! Plus, it has been freezing at SnB, so working on wool while in air conditioning works just fine.


I used one ball of Rowan Country in a colorway that is described on yarndex as red-red-orange. I think it is a great multi-colored / gender-neutral colorway. I made the infant size, which is slightly larger than my iphone.

Jackson was less than thrilled to model it for me, as expected.

Must Knit In Color - Complete!

Binding off a project is quite satisfying. Especially for a project that requires not much else post-bind-off except for weaving in a few ends, maybe a bit of steam to block it flat. I finished my "Must.Knit.In.Color." scarf this week - after a rather frustrating day and then frustrating knitting session. Each row is quite long, and I could see the end of the yarn! I had just enough to do the bind off row and then decided to double check the pattern. Why then? I have no idea. I went a row to far, so if a fit of wanting it done right, I undid that extra row. For the record, undoing a 400+ stitch row of linen stitch takes a lot longer than knitting linen stitch. Anyway, it is done now and done correctly. It still could use a quick pass under an iron, but I may skip that part for now, because I am looking forward to wearing this scarf.

(Jackson can model for now. He owes me.)

As I have mentioned before linen stitch or woven stitch is great for these wild-colored yarns. Both sides look good, and as you knit the yarn up it is a mystery as to how the color will play with the color and stitches nearby. I had thought about alternating with some grey wool, just to make it bigger, but I am glad that I let this yarn do its own thing. If you need further inspiration check out the project gallery on Ravelry for the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf - this is a great pattern for scraps too! I would love to work one in sock yarn leftovers, or even a Hope-and-Donald-2.0.

Hello September!

While I have some difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that it is indeed September, I am more than ready for it. I love summer, I really do - but heat waves I cannot stand. I have had enough - I am ready for cool breezes, layers, cups of tea in the afternoon and evening, eating warm foods and baking in my oven! September also means that sweater weather is coming! And I have finished a new sweater for the Lorax.
Jackson a version of Willie.

I used Plymouth Encore Chunky (which is fantastic! I love this yarn!) in a mottled grey-brown for the dachshund part which is a pretty good color match to some of Jackson's dappled spots. Same yarn for the body, in a cranberry-ish red. I used Patons Canadiana held doubled for the cuffs and trim.

I think my favorite part of this sweater is the ear. Totally makes it. I didn't bother to block the ear flat because I like how it curves or flips up - gives it some dachshund attitude.

Jackson snuggled up (and under) the sweater. I tried to get the Lorax in it (even with the promise of her favorite candy, Ms. But she runs away from me shouting "I Don't Want To Wear It!" - and we've had a rough week. Lots of whining. Lots of meltdowns. I'm not looking to start another fight and I'm tired of the tears (crocodile or otherwise). I think that this is going to be long on her - almost like a coat instead of a sweater, but that's fine - maybe we can get a wear or two out of it as an extra layer, this year or next.

A little birdie

Each week, the Lorax and I attend a "Mommy & Me" sort of class. We started going when she was 8 weeks old or so - it was a great resource as a first time mom. As the Lorax grew, we made our way from the baby class to the waddlers group and now we're just about done with the toddler group (up to age 3 or so). Through it all we have had the same teacher - we love this teacher! She has such patience and care for each of the kids that attend - she is such a sweetheart. Last week she shared with us the news that she has accepted a job to teach preschool full time (in a different town, so not one the Lorax will attend)! I am happy for her, but wanted to let her know how much she means to our family. She always commented on the handknits I made for the Lorax, so that seemed an appropriate way to go. In the end I settled on an Itty Bitty Toy by Susan B. Anderson - the Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest Too. I think it came out really sweet!

(trying to get a cute picture - you can see the lorax peeking in the corner of the mirror)

Before:


After:


I'm wondering if I should start knitting up Pencils next for future teachers!

Practice

Last week I spent a lot of time in the car traveling (and luckily not a whole lot stuck in traffic). My knitting projects at the moment were either too big or too complicated to bring along, especially when you take into account the Lorax in the backseat who frequently asks me to hand her things or give me things. I decided that I would work on my crochet skills. I settled on simple crochet dishcloths / washcloths - the same stitch over and over and over again (not all that different from my first knitting project really).

I made two "Everyday Dishcloths" from the book, Cozy Crochet. They are roughly 8x8 inches (my gauge changed halfway through - guess I relaxed my grip on the hook), organic cotton yarn, dyed by Misshawklet. They were great to practice on. And now I'm bored with that. So much for my grand plans to use up all that cotton. Two is a good start for now I guess.

I had another car trip on Sunday and was not feeling the dishcloth mojo, so I flipped through the "Cozy Crochet" book for another project that was equally simple, but maybe used a different stitch (I've got single crochet down! I think.) I settled on the "Cozy Kerchief" using Blue Sky Alpaca dyed cotton leftover from the Lorax's baby blanket. I had forgotten how much I love this yarn, must get more!! It's soft and squishy and was wonderful!!

Cute, right? Lightweight, seems to stay in place. I think this will get quite a bit of use!

Of course I had to try it on Jackson (the Lorax runs away. I make do with what I have.)

Plus he spent a good deal of time this morning barking at the vacuum cleaner. It's a little bit of payback.



Yes, my head is that big and my dog is that small.

Happy things

Things that make me happy right now:
New Yarns!

Susan from Schaefer Yarn Company, in the "Laura Ingalls Wilder" colorway. This is likely going to become Storm Cloud Shawlette, Calais, or Traveling Woman. (Is this picture ugly-pretty? I was playing around with fabric and while I don't love it as a background for the yarn, it makes the some of the color in the yarn come out a bit more).


100g of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Ysolda Red. Tricky to photograph - there are many subtleties to this colorway. I love it. It will likely become socks as I don't know if I can pull off a red shawl / wrap... but it would be stunning!


I finished a pink Milo for a baby girl who should be here any moment now. She's the intended recipient of the ladybug jacket I'm working on (all the knitting is done. Just have to make all the spots and sew them on, weave in ends) - but the jacket could fit the Lorax. So, this will fit her this fall - I used Cascade 220 and knit the newborn size, hoping for a 0-6 month size, following the example of another raveler. This was a really quick knit and fun - the pattern has sizing up through size 4, so I plan to make one for the Lorax as well.

I'm taking a break from my Swirl Shawl - it lost it's mojo. I am unsettled as to what I want to do with it. In the meantime, I have started a new shawl which has been graced with probably my longest project name ever: "Herbivore of Spring Flowers at Twilight"

Herbivore pattern and Indigo Moon superwash merino fingering yarn, colorway "Spring Flowers at Twilight" - I'm loving this yarn - I keep stopping to admire the colors that pop up on the needles.

I've also got a new project to start - a sample knit and it's hush-hush, but the yarn is luscious and the pattern is gorgeous!

Hike in the Heat?

So, we're in the early stages of what's looking to be one serious heat wave this week. I'm not leaving my AC if I can help it, though I do love to spend time outside. This is pretty much the only "mountain" I can handle this week:

It's a Micro Mountain from the Knitting Mochimochi book. I used some "Connecticut" yarn (J.Knits Superwash Sock) that is leftover from the Scowl I knit for Sara. The white is NOT fingering weight, but I went ahead with it anyway and snapped the tip of a dpn in the process. Oh well. I've decided to name this little guy "Bluff Head" after a hiking spot near my parents home - Connecticut has some great places to hike, but mountains? They are micro in my opinion.

Random note about that photo? I went through all the coins in the house to find a Connecticut State Quarter - I couldn't find one in any of the loose change, but lucky us - my MIL had given us a nearly full State Quarter Folder - it's only missing one (Alabama? Arkansas? it's an A state and I'm too lazy right now to go double check.)

Bluff Head (the knit version) is entirely appropriate for Jackson: