FO: Boat blanket

Ravelry project page

Knit this blanket for my cousin's baby, due in November. They have a nautical-themed nursery, and I hope this blanket will fit in nicely. The yarn is a beautiful (and hard to photograph) deep blue shade, appropriately named azul profundo. The photo above is the true color.



I modified the pattern a bit, changing the pattern rows from right side to wrong side, thus minimizing the amount of purling required. I reversed the direction of the boats on each row, and knit 4 rows (the pattern calls for 3).



The yarn, Malabrigo Rios, was fantastic to work with. I used exactly 3.5 skeins for this blanket.

Hula Dancer costume

Erin with her favorite landmark--the "Sface" needle!

So rare is it that my crafty visions come to fruition as smoothly as with this project! I had ideas of making Erin a hula dancer costume in time for my mom's performance at Live Aloha this past weekend, and I finished this late Saturday night. I probably spent 4 hours on this costume, including the time spent shopping for the shirt (value village), skirt fabric and felt (Joann).



I wanted the outfit to look a bit cartoonish, and I think it does. Finding the green stripe seersucker was a real "aha!" moment for me at Joanns. I walked up and down all the aisles trying to find something that would make for an easy to make and easy to play in "grass" skirt. I used felt for the coconut bra and lei--all sewn directly onto the shirt with zigzag stitch.



A few details that really made this project seem perfect: I bought 1 yard of the fabric, which was just enough to make a skirt that is about 4x Erin's waist--excellent for twirling. For the flowers, I started by drawing and then cutting 8 flowers out of each of the 5 colors of felt-->40 flowers. And I used all but 1 of them to make the lei and bracelets. How often do I premake almost the perfect amount of something--like never!



Best of all, when Erin saw the finished costume, she exclaimed "I love this one!" And no last minute Halloween preparations! :)

Here's a quick video of Erin dancing along with some hula dancers

FO: A Pair of Stovetop Hats

I made a hat, and the pattern was so nice, I knit it twice! One in baby size, and one adult large size. The baby size fits Erin, so fits more like toddler, and the adult large size is nice and slouchy even on my large noggin.



The baby size is knit from some yarn that I bought in Boston probably....almost 10 years ago?? Not even sure how long ago--I know it was toward the beginning of my time living in NYC, so probably 2005 or 2006, while visiting Jessica in Boston, I think.

The adult hat is knit from alpaca yarn from a local alpaca farm down in Fife. As one would expect from alpaca, it's delightfully soft, and VERY warm. Too warm for me. Because this yarn is a bit special, I'll probably put this in the gift pile (vs the donate pile), and hopefully it'll find a home with some large headed person in a cooler climate.



Another note on this yarn: the color bled and faded after a soak, which was a bit of a bummer, but the resulting color is still pleasant.

Ravelry project pages:adult hat, baby hat

FO: Kitty Hat

ravelry project page

Made this hat for Erin back in July, knit almost entirely while camping. Fun to make and fun result--win win!



Knit as written, though I did add a couple extra rows in the section between the ears. The yarn is Manos del Uraguay--wonderfully soft.

FO: Arne&Carlos Socks

ravelry project page

LOVE these socks made from Regia's Arne & Carlos yarn. Who are Arne & Carlos, you ask??? Well....



These socks were knit from the top down, with a true afterthought heel. Lots of notes on my ravelry page.

A Pair of Pairs!

ravelry project page

Made two pairs of toddler socks for Erin--closest thing to instant gratification one can get when knitting socks. Both pairs were worked toe-up, starting with 12st cast on to each needle, increased to 24st/needle (48st total); short-row heel.


ravelry project page

They fit well now, with a little bit of grow room so hopefully they'll fit through to spring. Great way to use of little bits of sock yarn. I recently organized my craft corner and realized I have TONS of little balls of sock yarn. A 1 cubic foot container crammed full! Time to think about some sort of project to use them up... something like this, or this perhaps? Or just lots more toddler socks!

FO: TTL Mystery Shawl 2015

ravelry project page

Participated in the Through the Loops 2015 mystery shawl knit along. I used some souvenir yarn from Whidbey Island for the MC, and bit of bare knit picks for the edging.

The variegation of the MC means that the lace patter is bit lost, unfortunately. Should have opted for a more solid color of yarn. This one is for me to keep. :)

Here are two pics that really demonstrate the difference blocking can make!

FO: Little Shells Hat

ravelry project page

Changed things up a bit and did some crochet back in July. This yarn seemed well suited to the pattern, and used up one complete ball, with just a few inches left over! A good hat for fall/spring.

FO: Camping Socks

Pattern: Camping Socks (my own design) (ravelry page)

Yarn: Knit Picks Felcici (rustic cabin colorway)

Needle: 2.5mm Addi 

Started these socks while camping with the family. I love the texture of the waffle stitch pattern. 

And the stitch pattern on the leg, from Barbara Walker's 1st Treasury, is called Little Tents, but to me it looks like trees--either way, it's fitting for camping!

Socks were worked 2-at-time from the toe up. Cast on using Judy's Magic Cast On. Cast of using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Used almost all of the two balls of Felici. 

Note: both socks were knit pulling the yarn from the center--the stripes are going in opposite directions! This was annoying at first, but now I like it--took off any pressure to make stripes match. 

FO: My First Brioche Hat

 

Happy to have finished my brioche hat yesterday on the way home from our little Labor Day trip up to Vancouver. As I mentioned, brioche stitch is a bit slow going for me, but I definitely feel like I have the hang of it now and am ready to tackle other brioche projects in the future.

I am not too pleased with the crown decreases. I wish the pattern used a neater way of doing them--I think a center double decrease would be better than the k3tog. But I didn't feel like trying out an alternative method, so oh well.

This hat is very warm. Too warm for me. But I think it would be nice for someone who is outside all the time--it's destined for the donate pile.

And, note to self: the yarn, Berocco Vintage, was a joy to work with!

Ravelry project page

I have learned a new skill!

And I'm feeling pretty happy of myself. :)

Brioche stitch! I'm working a hat from a Purl Bee pattern, using Berocco Vintage yarn. I'm so happy to have learned a new technique. But it's slow going! Gotta post about this hat now, because who knows how long it'll take me to finish. :-/

Beach robes!

I've sewn 3 of these beach robes so far (one of them didn't get photographed, apparently). The hardest part is cutting the thick towels that I made the mistake of purchasing :-P 

The stripey one above is for Erin, the others have been gifts for other toddlers. 

This is the pattern. After making Erin's, I felt like the hood was a bit too shallow, so I added about an inch to the top of the hood piece and tapered it down to meet the lower part--this mod made it just right. And the sleeves seemed a bit long, so I shortened them on the blue one by about 1 inch. Still long enough to cuff, but not too long, hopefully.

I purchased the white bias tape for Erin's robe, but made my own bias tape for the other two robes. I love the look of the bias tape I made (and it is cheaper), but making the bias tape added a few hours to what would otherwise be a super quick project. For future robes, I may lean more toward pre-made bias tape. I used 1/3 yard cut of fabric for my bias tape, and this made more than enough. Might be possible to use a fat quarter, though not sure I'd want to risk running short.

FO: little striped cap

When a friend requested a little hat to fit her soon-to-be-born baby, I was more than happy to oblige. This little cap took only a few hours and was a joy to knit. Per the suggestions of other ravelry users, I cast on a smaller number of stitches to achieve a newborn-sized fit, but it was still a bit too big for  baby Daphne. Oh well, it's not really hat weather right now anyway. :) Ravelry details.

The yarn used for the hat is the same as used for this sweater I knit a few years ago. I guess I'd forgotten about the sweater because I never used it when Erin was a baby, so I included it in the gift for baby Daphne. :)

FO: Tiny Tea Leaves Cardi

A few weeks ago, I dressed Erin in a sun dress and had the thought: "She needs more cardigans to wear over dresses." And so naturally I went and cast on for this sweater. I made the 2 year old size with extra length in the body and sleeves. 

Right now she's wearing it with the sleeves rolled up a bit. I'm hoping this will fit through the winter. The yarn is Dream and Color Classy, from a sweater I knit for myself ages ago, then frogged because I didn't like it. Very happy with this little sweater, but if I knit it again, I'd pick up fewer stitches for the button band in the yoke section. Ravelry details.

FO: Hey Little Sister

Made this little sister sweater dress for Baby Daphne, who was born a few weeks ago. Mostly mindless stockinette, worked in fingering weight yarn--pretty quick project, knit exactly as written. Funnily enough, this fits Daphne's almost-2-year-old big sister as a snug vest! So hopefully it will see lots of wear. :) Another project using knit picks stroll tonal (same yarn as the Maile sweater for Baby Hailey). I had fun watching the pooling on this. I've decided I'm firmly in the "I Love Pooling Colors!" camp. Other projects I've made with fun pooling: socks for Tracie, mitts for Melisa, more socks for Tracie. Ravelry project details.

And, the stuff of nightmares! A bumble bee landed in the sink when I was soaking this sweater. Obviously, the bee has good taste--but what the heck?!

FO: Larch

Pulled out this skein of lovely merino/cashmere yarn that was a gift a few years ago and decided it was time to make something for myself out of it. When someone gives you merino/cashmere yarn, you use that stuff for yourself, amiright? Chose a relatively simple pattern that would suit the colorway of the yarn, called "mallard" :) This pattern was a joy to work. Read all about it on Ravelry.

FO: Maile

Made this lovely little sweater for baby Hailey. The pattern was (mostly) easy to follow and the yarn was lovely to work with. Love the bunny buttons! Read all about it on ravelry

Sun bonnet success!

After that floppy, mis-sized sun hat, I climbed back onto the saddle of the sun-hat sewing horse (tortured metaphor!) and I'm so glad I did! This bonnet turned out great. It's a bit ridiculous looking but does a GREAT job shielding Erin's face from the sun. She likes it because it doesn't flop down into her vision. The pattern was really easy, too! I changed it just a little bit--did edge-stitching around the perimeter, and used my machine to sew down the little pleats at the back (vs hand-sewing them as called for).

Mid-year check in!

The year is roughly half over, so how am I doing on my #15in15 goals??

- Hats: 6 done. After a bunch of hats at the beginning of the year, I've definitely slacked on hats since then. 

- Socks: 4 pairs done, 1 pair about half done. So that's about 9 socks. If I use 15 pairs as my goal, I've got a lot of work ahead of me... But if I use 15 individual socks as my goal, I'm well on my way!

- Other knit items: 8 done, 1 nearing completion. Doing great with this goal!

- Sewn items: Harder to keep track of since I don't enter them into ravelry. I've blogged 10 sewn projects and have definitely made at least 5 more, so I'm going to call this goal completed!

I have quite a few unblogged projects that need writing up, so watch this space!!

Silly sewing

First, the sun hat. I had medium high hopes, and did extra work getting the pattern to work (basically sewed the whole thing twice). And the fit is horrible! We're taking ridiculous. :( The pattern was free, so I guess you get what you pay for.

The pants, on the other hand, look so silly but turned out great! I used an old shirt of mine for a bloomer pattern that called for using a woven, and I love the way they look with the knit. So comfy. And silly looking. But great play clothes :) Pattern from See Kate Sew, scaled up a bit (her biggest size is 18mo)

Two more for #15in15

FO: Rope basket

Can of my fave La Croix for scale, and also because it matches

It's a bit ridiculous how much I love this basket. Just looking at it fills be with joy. Partly because of the colors used (from bottom to top: pink, lavender, royal blue, pale green, forest green, royal blue); partly because I made it; partly because it's an actually useful object. I know much of what I make is useful, particularly the socks, but this feels useful in a different way. I think I also love it so much because it's useful regardless of the numerous flaws. Nice to have a project that is so forgiving!

I could go into detail about the flaws, but what a waste of time that would be! There are tutorials online for rope baskets sub as this. I winged it. Used 100% cotton clothesline. Set my stitch length to 2, used my widest zig zag. To get the shape I wanted,  I started with an oval for the base. I wish the handles were a tad longer--maybe 1/2" more. They're functional as is, though. 

This basket would work great for storing toys, knitting projects, magazines, whatever!

A trio of knitted socks

Making some progress toward my goal of 15 pairs of socks (though still more likely it'll need to be 15 individual socks). I've got 3 recently finished pairs to share today. 

First, this pair of navy stripe socks. I used remnants from other projects. Worked the socks toe-up with short row toe and heel, and used continuous helix-style 1-row stripes. I'm keeping these socks for myself. Neither of the yarns used contain nylon, so I'm curious to see how they'll wear. 

Next up, these lovelies, the Columbine Peeks pattern by Cat Bourdhi, knit from KnitPicks Felici self-striping yarn. Simple pattern, plus fun yarn--these were a joy to knit and worked on these primarily while in Europe. These are heading for the gift pile. 

Finally, these which I've dubbed Jade Leaves (Falling leaves pattern plus jade colorway yarn). Followed pattern but used a short row heel. Planned to keep these but they turned out just a smidgen too tight, so into the gift pile they go!

These are pairs number 2, 3 and 4--only 11 more to go 😁