Little knits for little girls

 Nearly four years in the world entitles this girl to some opinions.  Namely what she wears and what she likes.  So when I asked her if I could knit something for her, she told me what, picked out the yarn and monitored my knitting progress every day.  Unfortunately she also decided to use my scissors on them so these exact arm warmers, after some repairs, were given away as a birthday gift to Cora's BFF, as a consequence for messing with mama's knitting stuff (her choice of consequence, by the way).  Little does she know I made her another pair just like them for her birthday in a month.  Shhhh!  Keep it on the down low.

As for the pattern, it's a simple tube knitted in a rib pattern and when I got within 3/4 of an inch of the end, I knitted 8 stitches onto some scrap yarn, re-knitted the stitches with the real yarn and carried on until the end.  Then I came back and pulled those scrap yarn stitches, picking up the 8 stitches on each side plus 2 more on the ends and knitted a tube for the thumb.  Make 2 of these, then bind off and weave in ends and watch your little fashionista light up!

Knitting for the Geek

One might think, with all of the knitting I do around here, that Matt would be WELL STOCKED on knitted items.  One would be wrong if one thought that.  Sadly.  So when Matt requested a warm hat that covered his ears, I realized the serious wood deficiencies this man is suffering from and I jumped right in and cast on.  Right after I measured the man's massive noggin, that is.  I'll show you when it's all done, but I can't really point you to a pattern, since I'm making it up as I go.  There is much ribbing involved and lovely olive green wool.  I hope he likes it!

Color for January :: GREEN Alligator

I'm trying to add more color to my very gray January.  (Loved the chair fort idea Jana!!)

So here's a very green little guy I knitted up for a little friend.  It's an alligator, in case you can't tell, who seems to have some very British dental hygiene going on. 

I haven't determined a way to get the teeth to not splay out like that!  He's a prototype and if I can get the teeth to not do that, I'm going to offer him as a free pattern to download! 

(I tucked in his teeth for this photo, but generally he has sort of a Goofy vibe happening)

So any tips on fixing the teeth would be great.  I knitted them as a 'points trim' one at a time.  Very time consuming and then did a little shaping with the yarn end. 

Puppet was enjoyed by all and then sent home with his new friend!

The stockings were hung on the...uuh...bookshelf with care

I've been working on this stocking (Suzi is a friend's daughter by the way) for what seems like an age now!  I ripped out the leg part of the stocking no less than 5 times (too skinny and I needed to add stitches, too bunchy because I stranded the yarn too tight etc, etc.) and the heel and toe (my first foray into 'short rows'), no less than 3 or 4 times respectively.  And now, blocked, woven in, with scarf and jaunty little top hat added post knitting, and some lovely flannel lining sewn in, I give you 'The Christmas Stocking'!  Hurray!

This was definitely a learning experience for me.  Stranded knitting, pattern charts...this was a whole new world!  But I made it to the other side with lots of extra knowledge.  Plus, now that I've done a sock (albeit a big one), I  know I have NO desire to do socks.  None.  Perhaps that will come later, but for now...ug!  I am not a sock knitter.  (which is strange, since I love wool socks)  I liked the pattern even though the chart had what seemed like errors on it. (design ended in a strange place and should continue on to next row since it's in the round, but doesn't - the adding in of stitches when I widened the pattern fixed the problem )

It turned out very well and now I am debating if I should do knitted ones or felted ones for my own family.  Hmm.  Tough one. (Matt has cast his vote for knitted after seeing this one)

[For those who care about these things, I got the pattern from Annie's woolens and knitted it with Lion Brand Wool Ease - worsted weight, in Denim, Avocado, Ranch Red, Black, and White Multi which had a bit of sparkle in it. The yarn felted just a bit during blocking which added a nice clean look to the stitches.  I also had to adjust the patten for the smidge smaller gauge than what the pattern called for.  It called for 16 sp4i and the Lion Brand knitted up at about 19/20 sp4i (stitches per 4 inchs).  One would think that doesn't matter much until you get halfway through and realize how skinny the stocking is and have to rip it all out.  Ug!  The holly flannel lining is from Joann fabrics.]

Frogging

When it goes from a partially knitted thing, to this, balls of re-wound yarn, that is frogging.  Oh the dreaded frogging!!  I started this stocking and got about halfway through, then realized it is too skinny and WHO wants a SKINNY STOCKING?!  No one.  And you know why it's too skinny?  Any knitters want to guess?  Yes.  It's because I did not knit a swatch to check my gauge.  I just started knitting.  If you use the kind of yarn it calls for, it's usually not a problem, but I didn't!  So I'm going back to the pattern and adding in stitches somehow.  Ah well.  The point is to knit, right?  Right.  I enjoy it, so doing it over won't be that big of a deal.  And now, I have a pattern to modify.  Sigh.

Starting the Holiday Knitting!

This year, I have time, gumption, and sensation in my hands (oh, and no postpartum depression).  I will be making things for Christmas!!  Sometimes for our family, sometimes for other families.  I have this sweet little Christmas stocking on the needles right now and it's a whole new world of intarsia and stranding.  I'm slightly intimidated.  See how the letters are puckering up?  Not sure how to make it STOP doing that.  I'm gonna get a few rounds further along and go back and fiddle with it.  The pattern is from Annie's Woolens and is very cute and only slightly hair-pulling inducing.  (Don't try to knit this and watch Hulu.  Bad things happen, I tell ya.  There will be a lot of frogging and tears.)  I've got lots of other ideas and things lined up in my queue over at Ravelry.  More than I could ever actually get done!  But still, it's fun.  Happy brisk Thursday!

Pixie Baby

Just so you know, I SWORE I would never be one of those moms who dresses up her baby in cutesy stuff and treat her like a little doll and for the most part, I'm not.  I buy NON-pink if I can find it, but it is pretty rare commodity.  Sometimes I just give in to the flood of pink that is baby girl clothes.

This hat, however, I made for my niece, Faith, whose very favorite color was pink at the time (and is now gold.  Like gold lamé. Go figure.)  They lived in Ohio and she had someplace to actually wear this.  But they have since packed up and moved to Houston where winter hats are just downright silly.  So my sister sent it (and the red earflap hat that I made for my nephew) back to me.  It sat around for a few years, but lack of baby hats that fit Cora's head sent me digging for it.  I'm so glad I kept it now!  Even if it is just over the top cutesy.  Matt and I could not stop laughing when we first put it on her!  (also, with the tie, she can't get it off!  Bonus!)

 

The original pattern is called "Pixie Hat' from Knit Wit: 30 Easy and Hip Projects and oddly enough, is supposed to be for adults (I made it smaller).  I actually knitted this for myself in orange and, yes, I look ridiculous.  Maybe this look could be pulled off by some hipster waif in NYC, but that is so not me.  So the orange one is waiting for Cora to get older.  This is knitted in a wool/acrylic blend by Plymouth Yarn and the fuzzy stuff, if I remember correctly, is Lionbrand Fun Fur.  (One of the only uses I've found for that stuff!)

PS.  Blogger has done away with spell check in the little post editor, so forgive any weird (or British) spellings!

Fetching AND green - what could be better?

I finished up the sweet fingerless gloves I was working on. (They a free pattern on knitty.com called Fetching) Thought you might want to see. I knit them with a yarn called Lush by Classic Elite Yarn in the colorway 'Granny Smith'. The ends are a little curly and in hindsight, I probably should have blocked them when I was done knitting, but they work the same!

It's so nice to be knitting this fall. Last fall, I couldn't feel my hands so knitting was out. I missed knitting all of the sweet baby things, but she knows I love her. These are going in the mail to keep a friend warm! See Tracy, I told you you were on my wool list.



By the way...what is up with Flickr and their new format which made it really hard to put these photos here? Arg. Anyhoo. I hope your weekend is wonderful. Ours will be another example of 'Chock-tober!' (I hope). See you here on Monday!

A composite of chaos - an oasis of yarn

Once again, life is speeding up. I find myself filling my days up with things that are good for my soul, rather than things that need to be done. (besides caring for the babe) I often think that my desk is an indication of how my life looks, or at least the inside of my head. So today, I bring you, my desk. Click on the photo to go to flickr to see more comments there.

This is perhaps why I knit. A small set of orderly things that I can pick up, work at for awhile, see real progress, then set down, mid-row or mid idea. So in the middle of the desk you'll find this. My current project.

A glorious little thing I can work on when tackling the dishes seems impossible and I know the baby won't be napping for long (because boycotting her nap is her favorite activity!!). I can make a ball of string into something to keep me or a friend warm! FYI, it's Fetching from Knitty knitted in Lush yarn in Crab apple green colorway. A little oasis of peace in my otherwise chaotic day. I hope you find yours today!

February Baby Sweater finished!

{Before I tell you about this sweater, I have to say Happy Birthday to my mama who celebrated her something-second birthday on Saturday. Happy birthday, beautiful Mama!!}

Thursday night I finished the February Baby Sweater (from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac), including sewing on these sweet wood buttons from here (a current favorite site for fun wood doo-dads). Progress here and here, in case you want to see. It wasn't too hard, which was exciting for me. I had to dig around on the web for help since the instructions were brief and without pictures. This was a fabulous help to me.

I also ended up knitting it on circular needles (except for the sleeves - straight needles, not double pointed) which gave me the ability to try it on Cora before I finished it off to check the length. The sleeves were a smidge short, but for us that's perfect since the babe is 1.crawling, 2. into everything, including messy stuff and 3. has not yet come to grips with long sleeves. (I found her with one arm pulled out of the neck hole of her pjs in an attempt to rid herself of her long sleeves.)



And because the point is not to just show you the sweater, but show off the one who I knit it for, here is Cora modeling it for me. {Just FYI, since this was thrifted yarn that I bought for a buck and this is only a little less than half of it, I'd estimate total cost of sweater plus buttons, $1.50. How fun is that!} More photos here, in case you can't get enough.

(and that little smile made all worth it.)

I miss the sun

It has been very gray around here this week and while we are still far enough south that we get more than our fair share of sunshine and I should quit my whining, I still miss the sun!! Please remember that I grew up in Texas so all this rain and cloudiness is still foreign to me.

I know. Whine, whine, complain! I'll blame the weather for my daunting pile of dishes that are (STILL!!) not done. Today is the day, though. I'm leaving for the weekend and leaving Matt with that mess AND the baby is not the kindest act I could think of. Hey! Maybe I should set up a 'get Ariana a dishwasher' fund! Then I could quit whining about it.

On a good note, here's the progress on February Baby Sweater. I like knitting this top down and in the round. It's very satisfying to see how much I've done!! OK. I'm out of here till Monday. If you see Matt this weekend, give him some 'single dad' encouragement!

Mystery Yarn...

I've been scouring our local thrift stores for used sweaters to pull apart and re-make into something lovely either for myself or for the baby girl. Most of the time the fiber content is clearly marked on the tag, but sometimes it is not. So how do I figure out what it is made from? Here are some of my 'go to' methods. I'll use my most recent find...a gorgeous purple and green bolero/shrug thing as an example. (it didn't fit me and was not a good style, but the yarn!! Oh the yarn!!)

I was pretty sure was 1. hand knit (no tag, obvious weaving in of ends) and 2. was made from, if not exclusively wool, then a pretty high wool content blend.

The first test was to see if it felted. As I was unraveling the sweater, I accumulated quite a lot of fuzz. (This was my first clue since wool does this) So I did about 10 minutes in a hot mix of soap and water, working the fibers together with my hand. Martha Stewart has a quick little tutorial here on how to felt wool balls, and the concept is the same for this.

This was the result. I'd say that felted, wouldn't you? (on the left is the fuzz, on the right, post felting)

If it kind of did, but kind of didn't, I'd go to my next resort which is the flame test. I do this last because I am not fond of the smell of burning hair or plastic. Here is a chart that tells what each fiber will look like, smell like, and act like when burning. This yarn stunk the house up like burnt hair. Pretty sure it's wool. (and now to air out the house...Ack!)

I balled this up as I unraveled and followed these instructions for recycling wool sweaters. Now I am gonna make a measuring tool for figuring out how much yarn I have. (wood plank with nails or dowels 3 feet apart). Without a little gizmo to ball my yarn for me, this means a lot of winding by hand. Not so bad when I've got a book downloaded from the library and a sleeping baby...hmmm. But just look at that gorgeous batch of wool!! It's worth it. (final price - $5.99. It would have been less if I had waited until the green tag items at GoodWill went on sale for $0.99. Oh well.) Now what shall I make?

February Baby (for my October baby)

I am finally getting up the nerve to knit my first sweater and to be on the safe side, it won't be that big. Oh the plight of a southern knitter! People here don't wear sweaters! Even if it's cold outside, folks crank that heat on up to 80, I swear! So being inside is like roasting to death slowly if one wears a sweater. I do, however, have friends who have moved up north, and am getting my wool hankering out on projects for them...but I digress...


On to the sweater. It's called February Baby from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac and you can see it completed (by someone else) here in a gorgeous green. I'm going to be using that fabulous thrifted yarn I picked up a few weeks back which is a sweetly heathered gray. The pattern knits up in a size 3-6 months so I'm having to knit swatch after swatch to make sure I'm getting it right so it will actually be done and fit her by the time it gets cool enough to wear it. I know it won't be perfect, but I'd like to give it a good effort! I'll keep you posted as it shapes up.

Yarn Hoarder

It's only August, but the recent rains cooled everything off (however briefly) and my brain has been whispering little projects to me. (and now that my house is clean, I can do it guilt free!) Sweet! Let me tell you a little something. I am not a great knitter. I get bored really fast. I've never done a sweater, because, let's be honest here, I live in Tennessee and a lovely wool sweater would be a complete waste here. Seriously. Even in the winter, people keep the heat at ungodly hot temperatures so it would have to be something that got pulled off and put back on several times per day. That rules out any lovely delicate (yet warm) sweaters and I'm not in the mood to knit something bulky or (God forbid!) a cardigan. So I settle for the instant gratification projects. A hat, a scarf, a groovy something or other. It works for me! So I have this tremendous stash of yarn that rarely sees the light of day.


This, however, is my favorite. It's made of nylon so it's a yarn snob's nightmare, but it's so soft! (And fuzzy. I know, I know. More yarn snob nightmares) The line has been discontinued and I bought up all I could. (It's Aerie by Moda Dea in 'coral' colorway, btw, in case you have some in your stash that you don't want. I'm just sayin!) This, however is the last of it, so if you get something made from this from me, you better know how awesome I think you are.

Hands, Come back!

I am so anxious to knit!! The weather is perfect, I have lots of patterns I'd like to do, but OH my hands (lack of feeling in them) continue to plague me! Think of the baby things I could be making RIGHT NOW! Oh, I could cry. I could press on and do it, but ONE minute with the needles and I'm in pain and things only get worse from there. If I don't stop, then it progresses and the shooting pain becomes so bad it keeps me up all night. So instead I'm going to post all the things I WILL be knitting when she gets here. Poor girl, born into the world in DECEMBER with no snuggly knits to wear. Where is Gramma when you need her? Oh right. She doesn't knit. But enough griping! On to cuteness!

I'll do this for her (minus the floofy stuff)

from here

I think her room needs this too:

from here but perhaps in greens, browns, greys and pinks. Whaddya think?

This for when she's a little bigger:

from here

These (could you just die!)

From here

This (for me) just because:

from here

Isn't THIS cute! I'm not sure about the pink.

From here

How about these for her AND me to keep our toes toasty?

from here

There's just so much I'd like to be doing right now. It's my way of having to learn patience right? I'm trying.

Oh, and these...

from here

Oh Martha...

I am a living, breathing, juxtaposition of incongruous things, and I like it that way.

There's the tomboy holdovers from my youth: (some aren't tomboy, just cool stuff)
I love dirt, I love messes, I love not bathing for days...well, not love, but put up with for the sake of sleeping in 20 minutes, I love books about making things, I love Making the things in the books, I love fishing (though the worms make my stomach flip over), I love swimming in any sort of body of water, I love soccer, I love running around with my dog in the passenger seat, I love home improvement, I love tools, I love working on my Volkswagen, I love 'puters, I love photography, I love yard-work and hammering things and building things. I love jamming on my guitar, I love going to rock shows, I love camping and making fire!

Then there's the 'girly stuff': (not promoting the stereotype, just putting a division up in myself that amuses myself)
I love tea parties and long for my own set of china, I love sewing, I love knitting, I love baking, I love cooking, I love crocheting, I love embroidering, I love mopping, I love vacuuming, I love scrubbing the bathroom (oh the cleanliness of it all!), I love round things and shiny things, I love to make jewelry, I love to paint pretty pictures, I love to buy fresh flowers for my house, I love parties and dressing up (although my feet get so mad at me for wearing high heels) And finally I love Martha.

Against all odds, I love Martha!! I could spend hours on her website and flipping through her magazines about how to make things and make things beautiful. So what if she is a snarky know-it-all who's bourgeois taste in recipes (simple supper my eye) makes her magazine recipes something I am sure to never try, is a convict, wore a very apropos costume this year and not very nice. I don't care!! Say what you will. She's just so very clever!! I can't help myself.

Fully expect to get wads and wads of hand-made gifts from me all you out there. I may just quit my job to stay home, bake, and blog. I promise not to get any car grease on them.