FO: Undercover Blanket

Pattern: Undercover (ravelry project page)

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in "peapod"

Another throwback FO. Knit this blanket for my friend Kari's second baby who was born at the end of December last year. Simple pattern, easy to memorize. I especially love square blankets that are knit in the round--not having to turn my work/purl on wrong side rows makes it seem faster.

FO: Pumpkin Hat

Pattern: improvised

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in "glazed carrot" and some worsted superwash that I dyed green years ago

Size: Infant 

Now that I have a baby, time to revisit pumpkin hats! This first one is on its way to a sweet baby in New York. A replica is on the needles for Baby E. 

After this, turkey leg hat???

FO: Baby Yours (aka Tedious Gray)

Pattern: Baby Yours (ravelry project page)

Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in "every day gray"

6 month size 

Made this sweater last fall for a coworker's baby. Pleased with the results. But man! This sweater was tedious. First, trouble with gauge swatch not matching gauge of actual sweater (negative reinforcement for gauge swatching). To decrease seaming, I picked up stitches for the sleeves and worked down to the cuff. Not pleased with the way the garter stitch above and below the cable puckers. 

If I make this again, I would changed the checkerboard stitch to stockinette or seed stitch. I'd work the body in one piece to eliminate seaming. And I'd work to eliminate the puckering at the cable top/bottom. 

The yarn was great--hope to work with it again soon. 

Let's do this!!

Its been almost 11 months since my last post. I'm a bit too busy with baby to craft much these days, but I can blog from my phone while nursing, and I've got about a year's worth of projects to talk about. 

Why I'm not knitting much these days:

Baby E, 1 month old

Star Wreath Quilt

Taking a break from my pre-vacation house deep-cleaning and packing to share pics of the finished quilt!



I'm so so so happy with how this turned out. The design is based on this pattern, using bright kid-friendly colors. This was my first real experience with free-motion quilting (aside form a little 12"x12" wall hanging), and I feel like I learned so much during the process! At this angle, you can see the nice texture from the quilting



I decided to do a variety of quilting designs on this quilt, to practice many different ways of free-motion quilting. I started with a basic wobbly meander in the green areas of the wreath



Next, I did a sort-of paisley-ish design in the orange parts



Then I did a pebble stitch in the yellow area. I really love this look, but this stitch seemed to take way longer... maybe also because there's so much yellow.



Next, I did heart echo pattern in the middle of the purple star, and those weird snakey things in the purple star points. I don't really like the weird snake-looking things, but they don't bug me enough to rip them out. :-/



Finally, I did the loopy-meander in the blue sections. This was probably my favorite stitch. Also, it seemed the easiest... maybe because it was the last one.



For the back, I used paper-piecing for my niece's name, Jiya. When I saw that stripe fabric, it was love at first sight--I think it makes a fun back for this quilt.




The binding is a cheery orange with yellow flowers



In lieu of a label, I wrote on the back of the quilt with fine-tipped permanent fabric marker. :)



As with all gift-giving, I know that once I give this away, I need to let it go (as I did with the first blanket I made for her.... which is lost and gone forever in the Indian postal system). I do really hope she likes it, though! I have such fond memories of my blankets as a little kid--I hope this can be that kind of thing for my niece. And this time I'll be hand-delivering it--so I don't have to worry about it getting there in the mail!

Hello Fall

Leaves are turning, the sky is grey. Rain is in the forecast. It's fall! AKA the beginning of wool season.




Thought I'd share a bit about our summer quilt before I pack it away.





Made from two thrifted queen-size sheets, with cotton batting, and fun contrast binding. I quilted this in straight diagonal lines and diamond shapes with three different colors of thread. The quilting was actually done last summer, but I dawdled on the binding, and didn't do that step until early this summer.



I particularly love the binding fabric, "Damask Dot" in pomegranate by Tula Pink. Like pixelated art. Now time to pack this away until next year.

Love this great window spider web at the art store in our 'hood. Just masking tape--what a great idea!

Peer Pressure

I never felt pressured to use drugs, steal, cut school. The only "peer pressure" I felt was to keep my grades up. But that was nothing compared to the baby boom that is happening around me. I'm not sure if it's just specific to my circle, or more generalized to the broad world, but I can count more than 20 people who have had or are having babies this year! Craziness!

I've been working on a few small projects for these small people that are popping up, including this crocheted blanket which I mailed off to my friend Kathleen.



Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Worsted
Pattern: Improvised (ravelry project page)

My crochet skills were a bit rusty, which resulted in a bit of gauge wonkiness for the first few inches of the blanket (see lower edge curving out in pic below), but hopefully baby won't notice! The pattern was improvised--simple and quick. The yarn seems like it will be a great baby yarn--soft, easy care. I hope that it holds up to multiple washes.



I've got another knit/crochet blanket or two in the works, plus this quilt that I'm making for my niece's 1st birthday. The pattern was adapted from something I saw online, and I'm working on free-motion quilting the top. I'm still climbing the FMQ learning curve, but things are going better and better.



I've also been working on some smaller items, most recently a baby surprise jacket and pebble vest that are each lacking buttons.



yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball
pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket (ravelry page)



yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
pattern: Pebble (ravelry page)

Love the quick gratification of baby garments, especially these two, which don't look bigger than newborn size--seriously, they're so small! Now to find the best buttons for each, and perhaps to make coordinating booties/hats so that I'll have gifts all ready when I need them. :)