Red Koolaid Yarn

Red Koolaid Yarn
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

I dyed up a HUGE hank of wool I had kicking around. I used kiwi strawberry and Raspberry koolaid to make the lighter pink (a tad lighter than the photo shows it) and Tropical Punch + Raspberry koolaid for the darker shade. I'm happy with the colours, girly but not wussy - perfect for my daughter! I'm going to make her a Tiny Tot Helmet and maybe matching mitts, I'm sure there is more than enough wool.

Tivoli is workin up fine. I tried it on and it's a tiny bit looser than I'd like around the chest, but otherwise great. I'm working the waist decreases now so not much left.

Still working away on my Tivoli, I'm into the waist shaping now. It's getting a bit boring, but I really want to wear this top so that is keeping me motivated.

There are a whole bunch of things I want to make, baby things, christmas gifts, stuff for my daughter. I think my next project could be this Tiny Tot Helmet for my daughter. It would look great in some koolaid-dyed wool, I think. Now I just have to find the big stash of white and cream worsted wool I bought for dying. I got a bunch at a thrift shop (50cents a skein!) and then some Lana at Walmart ($2) knowing I'd use it, but I haven't seen it since we moved......I sense a search and rescue mission this evening.

Here is my Tivoli T so far:



I'm halfway through the "knit straight for 5 inches" section. It's a little boring at this point, but knits up fast at least. I really want to finish this so I can wear it. We're having our first 'coolish' day in a while and it's making me more aware that summer won't last forever.

The reclaimed yarn is well on it's way to becoming a Tivoli T. It's kntiting up nicely, and fairly fast. I just finished casting on for the underarms, so it should go pretty quickly now.

I'm having severe startitis pains these days. I keep seeing more stuff I want to start, but I've got the pinwheel baby blanket AND Tivoli on the needles, plus an abandoned fruit cap. That should be enough for now.

Reclaimed Yarn

Reclaimed Yarn
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

Reclaiming this yarn was a lot easier with the winder! This yarn used to be a failed attempt at Knitty.com's Bob sweater, and I may try this time to turn it into the Tivoli Tee. That's definitely the next pattern I want to make, I just haven't decided if I should make it with this yarn, or some other cotton yarn I have.

Baby Hats

krishats
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

I finished up a couple baby hats for my friend. She had twins a couple weeks ago, so they had to be smallish, I hope these do the trick. I used the same yarn for both, the blue/green is the stuff I dyed before, the reddish hat I dyed after knitting. It took two attempts but the dye soaked into the cables ok, there aren't many spots where the old colour shows through, and they're really subtle, so I'm leaving it.

I love the swift and winder. The swift made setting up for koolaid dying, and winding after, so nice. And the wound skeins are great to knit from. The yarn doesn't get stretched, they don't roll around on the floor or table, and they remain tangle free RIGHT TO THE END!

I bought a bunch of wool for koolaid dying before we moved into our house. Some Lana from Walmart on clearance, and 5 or 6 smaller skeins of wool from a thrift shop. I don't have a clue where they are! I would love to do some more dying, but I don't know where these yarns went. Maybe I'll work on organizing my stash this weekend. I need to sort out all the yarn I don't want, maybe try to find some local knitters to swap with or something. It's hard to find the yarn you want when it's burried under lots you don't want.

I got a couple of neat knitting gifts for my birthday on Saturday: a ball winder and swift from my husband! The swift is so pretty, soft light coloured wood, so smooth. The winder is industrial looking but works great. I've been resisting the urge to wind up everything in site! (I did do a few balls right away)

I got a chance to do some koolaid dying yesterday so I put the swift to use making hanks. Let me tell you it is SO much easier using the swift than winding around chair legs, which is what I used to do. Way less tangles, too. And once everything dried in the morning, winding the hank into a ball using both pieces was so fast and easy!

Here is the yarn I dyed, using ice blue lemonade and changing cherry koolaid. You can see the blue in pretty hank form, and then in skein form, with a tiny ball of scrap I dyed using spiderman koolaid (thought it would be green but it was red so I dyed the scrap rather than waste it)

Blue Pinwheel Blanket

Blue Pinwheel Blanket
Originally uploaded by wendymc.

I started another Pinwheel Baby Blanket and have abotu 9inches done so far. I REALLY like his pattern for mindless knitting, and it grows quite quickly. This colourway looks really nice to me, but I'm dissapointed to notice that it's not as soft as others in this yarn. The solid white and solid pink I've used before were much softer than this one. It's still okay, just not as nice. I've heard of this happeneing, different dye colours affecting the yarn differently, maybe the veregated yarns have to go through different processes as well. (It's Bernat Satin, incidentally)

I think I want to make the Mu Shu throw from Berroco's latest newsletter. It was the "no finishing" note that grabbed me, but I think it could make a really nice baby blanket. I'm not sold on their yarn, I'll have to think of what I'd like to make it in. The Vibe yarn they use looks interesting, but nothing amazing, and I suspect it would be expensive as most Berroco yarns are. Surely Bernat or Patons have something I could use. It might look good only in two colours, just a checkerboard pattern as well.

I knit a little more on the baby hat in "be mine" but I'm not loving how it's turning out. I like the yarn, it's a lot like snowflake but stronger so it's not as delicate to knit with. I was aiming for a roll-brim hat, but my cast on was a bit tight so I'm not sure how that will work out.

I've been working a bit on my soleil top again. I haven't got much done but I'd like a chance to wear this during the summer, so I'd better get knitting! The cotton blend yarn is knitting up nice and light, so it's easy to cart around, not too bulky.

I am still knitting.....a little. We just moved into a house we bought (go us!) and life has been busy and stressful to say the least. At a time when knitting would be most welcome, I didn't have time for it! I finished reknitting the hat for my neice in time for her birthday. I don't know if my sister liked it, the party was on our moving weekend so I couldn't go. She didn't get that it matched the cardigan, my mom made her dig it out to see that. (thanks mom!)

I bought some Patons Be Mine yarn yesterday. It's SO soft, I'm going to make a fluffy baby hat out of it, I think. Probably just stockingknit in the round - nice and easy.

I want to make another pinwheel baby blanket. I have been looking for a nice veregated yarn in a large skein, but not much other than the cotton seems nice. Walmart has some Red Heart Comfort, but it feels scratchy and the colour repeats are really short. I'm thinking about Bernat Satin, it's really nice and soft, and thick so it would knit up fast. I'm not sure if the blanket would end up really heavy, though. I'm liking what Emily did with hers, she put garter rows in. It looks really nice, if I don't go with a veregated yarn I might try that.

Off to the frog pond with this hat:

The only thing wrong with it? It's too big. It's for my neice, to match the cardigan I made for her in april. It's meant for fall, when the cardigan will fit, and she'll be the age my daughter is right now. I tried the hat on Teagan this morning, and it's a bit too big, and my daughter has a BIG head. No sense making a matching hat that can't be worn with the item it matches, so I'm ripping out and starting over. I made it 96 stitches around, maybe I'll go down to 80, that seems like it will be about right.

The purses felted up ok. Sophie(blue) is a bit stiff, and quite heavy for the handle. I may consider putting on a different handle later. They're a little pilly too, so I'll shave them later.


Teagan's purse(purple) was a made up design and it turned out pretty well, I might make more like that. She seemed to like it:

Both purses are finished, and felting away (I hope) in the washing machine as I type. I'm excited, this part of felting is scarey and cool at the same time, you're never quite sure what's going to happen to the pieces........

Very little knitting time these days. We just bought a house and are renovating it before we move in, so we're quite busy. I try to sneak in a few rows driving to and from the place each day, though. I'm working on a sophie bag (magknits.com) and a made-up purse for my daughter, both to be felted.

I've been 'outted' as a knitter at work, big time. I carried my current knitting project (a just-started baby hat) around with me in my work bag, in case I found myself with some down time, and headed off to my departmental all morning meeting. I was the first one there, and it was in a sort of auditorium (we're a big department, 50+) so I found a seat and pulled out my knitting. As people arrove I got some interesting comments, people checking out what I was making. My boss seemed quite amused that I was knitting. And as the meeting started I didn't bother to stop, since I wasn't causing a problem. It turned out to be a good thing to be knitting, I have trouble with my mind wandering in long meetings, sitting so still and inactive drives me nuts, so keeping my fingers busy let me concentrate better.

Anyways, as my boss got up to give the summary of his group, who's new, etc, he says "and knitting away there is Wendy, just back from maternity leave" *blush* I could feel the eyes on me. Later near the end they were doing a draw (they gave away silly prizes for fun) the person drawing joked that the prize was the hat I was knitting. *blush again*

But I did finish the hat!

It's finished!

I finally finished the round baby blanket. I actually finished it a couple days ago but I wanted to wash it before taking a photo. I think it shrunk a tad in the wash, as it's cotton, but that's ok. It's a little over 2 and a half feet accross, small for a blanket but a nice size for a stroller or lap or carseat. I found most baby blankets too big when Teagan was very young, hopefully the recipient feels the same. I was dissapointed in how it wouldn't lay flat, it's not actually a circle, and looks like I could have skipped one of the sections (there were 10) to make it turn out better. Here it is folded in half, you can see how it's bigger around than a circle:

I didn't find any mistakes, so I'm not sure what happened, maybe my row guage was way off or something, I certainly didn't bother with a guage swatch for this.

I enjoyed making this a lot, even though it wasn't difficult or exciting, and I could see making more in the future. The price is right, a whole skein of the veregated cotton I used is around $7, the solids would make a slightly larger blanket for the same price.

I had to rip out about 10 rows of the pinwheel blanket. I got the increases messed up so half the round was on an increase row and half wasn't, and I couldn't find where I went wrong. It might have been ok, or the blanket might have ended up lopsided, and I didn't want to chance it. I'm almost back to where I was, though, since it knits so fast. Good thing, I have 2 weeks to finish this.

I need another quick project too, something I can finish in a week. I was thinking of an apple hat, those are cute and fast, but I have no red yarn. Maybe I can make it to Michael's in the next day or two. I'd love a cotton or cotton blend since it's heading into summer. Wool is warm and acrylic scratchy for a baby.

Here's the pinwheel blanket, as of 2 days ago:

I haven't made a lot of progress since then, maybe 5 rows? It's getting big, barely fitting on the TWO needles even. Since it's a baby blanket it doesn't need to be too big, I'm just going to let the yarn be my guide, I seem to be about 2/3 of the way through the skein now, so when I get nearer the end I'll finish off with some seed stitch. Cara did that with hers and I like how it looks. I don't want anything too frilly for a boy blanket

I'm still really enjoying working on this baby blanket, mindless knitting is a nice break these days. It's about 20inches accross right now. I'm not sure how big to make it, I was thinking about 3 feet would be good. I'll have to measure some baby blankets I have at home to see what a nice size would be. I might need to get a longer needle, or use two. This circular needle is around 36inches (do you measure tip-to-tip? I did) and I can just manage it at the current size. A few more rounds of increases and I don't think it will fit on the needles, I'll have to see if I have a second one this size. Maybe I will see if they make them any bigger, though I don't make a lot of blankets I might be better off just using 2 shorter ones.

I started a new project, because the 50-odd ones going on now weren't enough. I'm making the Pinwheel Baby Blanket in a pretty purple/blue veregated cotton. Here's my progress so far: It's easy to knit, and I love how it looks, we'll see how boring it is in another 20 rounds though. I love the colours, the yarnwas going to be for a top for myself, but that didn't work out. I hope it's "boyish" enough....

I'm feeling a little unravelled. (har-de-har-har)

I can't focus on one project, there is so much I want to get done, and should get done, stuff I haven't even started yet, and I can't figure out where to focus. Current WIP list(ACTIVE WIPs, not mentioning the abandoned ones)

• Soleil (just finished the lace)
  
• Sophie Bag
  
• Crochet Star Afghan
  
• Knit socks for Teagan (nearly done)
  
• Cotton cap sleeve top for me (nearly done)
  
• Bulky Assymetrical Baby sweater
  

Stuff I need to do and haven't started yet:

• Sun hat for Teagan
  
• Gender Neutral baby gift for May
  
• Slippers for neice - June
  
• Boy Baby gift for June
  
• Gender Neutral Baby Gift for June
  
• Boy baby gift #1 for July
  
• Boy Baby gift #2 for July
  
• Girl Baby gift for July
  
• Gender Neutral Baby Gift for August
  

*not mentioning planned xmas gifts at this point*

I've made it a little further up soleil, but quite a ways to go yet. I haven't had a lot of knitting time, and I fear I will have to set this project aside to get wroking on more baby gifts. Thankfully baby items are small and fairly fast, but I really want to finish Soleil!

Here's my progress on Soleil so far, just about done the lace repeats:

I love how the lace looks, assuming the designer's promises of the curling blocking out come true......It should move quickly now, just miles of stockingknit with occasional increases and decreases after the lace.

And a photo of the rainbow baby set I made for a couple of gals on my lacrosse team that just had a baby boy:

I made it before I knew if they were having a boy or a girl, so I tried to choose a neutral (but fun!) colourway. It's Patons Look At Me, which is a nice acrylic, since we're heading into summer I didn't think wool would be a good choice. I found I really like a 1x1 rib for baby stuff (sock and hat cuffs) since it's soft and plushy, and looks pretty even while still having lots of stretch.

Someone commented that I was having a BLUE mood with all the photos in the last post. I realize my Sophie Bag I also have on the needles is blue too! I did do one baby project recently that's not blue, it's bright rainbow veregated, actually. I'll try to snap a photo before I gift it tonight.

I'm still working on Soleil. I ripped out what I had done to cast on again, hopefully fixing the curling issue. It didn't help, it's still curling, but it appears others have the same experience so I'm just going to hope it blocks out okay when I'm done. I'm just starting the third lace repeat now. Hopefully I can pick up speed a bit, the weather turned warm here laely so I'd like to get this done to wear it!

I found an old abandoned sweater in my stash that would be great for the warmer weather. About 2 years ago I started making a cap sleeved cotton sweater, knit in the round from the bottom-up. My own design.(I had delusions of submitting it to knitty, even, though it was far to plain and then I lost my pattern notes) It got forgotten for a while, and then I realised it wouldn't fit, as I'd gained a few(cough) pounds, so I just abandoned it. Pulling it out the other day I realized it would almost fit me now! It needs about an inch more in the yoke, then trim around the neck and it will be done. No finishing since it's in the round, either! I'll have to find some time to work on it soon!

And yes, it's blue too ;P

I sent a couple of knit hats up to my cousin, who just had a baby boy. It's still cold where they live, so I sent one wintery hat, and one summery hat:


I REALLY like the design of that cabled hat, but I can't seem to find out where I originally got the pattern. (someone asked for it so I've been searching but I can't seem to find it) I thought it was in one of the minnowknits books from the library but I've checked them all. I've made this hat about 4 times now and love it every time, I can make it from a photo now, so no worries about finding the pattern.

I've gotten a good start on soleil from knitty.com, here's where I was at yesterday:


It's rolling a bit but I'm going to press on and hope blocking takes care of it.

I'm currently swatching for Soleil from the new issue of Knitty.com. I was looking for something sleeveless to make that I could wear to work as the weather warms up, and luckily this showed up at just the right time! I have some Patons Rio (discontinued I think) that should work nicely, in a light blue colour.

I also started Sophie from magknits.com. It's a nice easy knit, and works up fast on 6mm needles!

Finally finished it, within an hour of leaving for the party! Nothing like finishing something at the last minute, eh? I was pleased with how it ended up, blocking (ironing with steam) helped it out a lot, relaxed and softened the fabric up nicely. It ended up quite large, despite making it in the 9-12 month size and being close on gauge it came out like an 18month+. Oh well, it will work for my neice in the fall. Here's the sweater:

I had to snap a photo quick after gifting, I forgot to take it before I wrapped it up.

Next? Felted bags. I'm in the mood for some quick knit projects, and haven't felted in a while. Maybe I'll even dye some yarn.

Still having trouble with the sweater, found ANOTHER error so I didn't get to block last night, I'm still knitting! I might have to skip the pre-assembly blocking I'd planned.

In other news:

Check out my [cough] large assortment of yarn HERE Sorry the photos and layout are so sad, I don't have time for anything nicer.

Back is done, front pieces are done, and I'm about 1/3 of the way done both sleeves. I'm knitting them at once, since I've heard it's the way to go. It's a little more challenging keeping the yarn from tangling, but it is nice to be able to have the sleeves end up the same length without madly counting rows all the time.

I still have the blocking to do and the neckband, but it's looking doable. I think I'm going to have to block twice, once before I seam everything up, and once after, just to make it look nice, but it shouldn't take too long. The birthday event I'm hoping to gift this at is Saturday at 5pm, so I've got some time......

GRRRRRRRR!

I was just thinking "Wow, I might actually get this sweater done in time for the birthday this weekend" when disaster struck. The pattern all of a sudden seemed wrong. I was thinking "if I decrease like that, the neck will be on the wrong side of this panel.....oh crap, the panel is BACKWARDS!" That's right folks, I knit half of the front of the sweater BACKWARDS!!! I have two right sides. Even my husband remarked on how quick it is to rip out a piece, compared to the time it takes to knit it up.

So now I have to reknit that whole piece, AND do both sleeves, AND assemble it, block it, and find buttons. This weekend seems awfully close, I'm going to have to be a knitting fool.

A word about Tea.....

I love Tea. I drink it pretty much every single day. (Black with milk and sugar, please) If you haven't already heard of them you should really check out Adiago Tea. They have some of the most amazing tea flavours you'll find. And the coolest Tea Wares for brewing in. (I've never seen a teapot like their IngenuiTEA one - such a cool idea, I bet it works great!)

Adiago Tea Rocks.

I'm making fast progress on the sweater, here is what it looked like last night:

That's abotu 8 inches up the back, it needs to be about 11inches to get to the shoulder shaping, I'm hoping to get to that point today. Cotton on small needles is rough knitting though!

Lots of new yarn for me:

My mom was heading past a yarn shop out of town and I asked her to peek in and see if they had any more of this 'Topacio' Cotton/Acrylic yarn I liked in the sale bin. Well, they had two balls (top right corner) but they also had all this pink and blue cotton/acrylic she figured I'd like, and the purple acrylic that just looked nice :) The pink is already well on it's way to becoming a toddler sweater for my neice. My sister's birthday is in 10 days, I'm trying despirately to finish it in that time. I wish I weren't working with 3.5mm needles, but I think it can still be done. It's mostly stockingknit, so it will be fast, mindless knitting at least.

I finished the socks and did up a matching hat. I tried a square top hat I saw in another blog(Bagatell) but I wasn't thrilled with the end result so I'm going to do a regular rounded top for future baby hats, I think.

I finished that white hat, haven't decided if I'm going to make mitts or booties to go with it yet. Instead I started something else. (gotta get the active projects list into double digits - YAY) I made this sock from some Lion Brand Magic Stripes a friend gave me:

I like this yarn, it knits up nice, and is thicker than most sock yarn so it works up quickly. I think this colourway will be good for a boy, I might make a matching hat once the mate is done.

When you have yarn you like working with (unlike that pink junk used for the last hat I posted about) it seems to fly on the needles. Here's a short stint of knitting from today:
It's destined to be a baby hat, likely with matching socks/booties. The yarn is Bernat Satin, and it's really soft, quite nice to knit with. I'm just knitting a 3x1 rib, it should be stretchy enough to accomodate a range of baby head sizes.

More hats, though I need to get some good "boy" patterns as all the expectant moms I know seem to be having boys. I DO NOT LIKE this yarn (Innovation by Lewiscraft) but I do like the pattern and how it turned out:


It's the Quaker Ribbed HAt shrunk down to a smaller size. It still came out toddler-sized, I was aiming for baby-sized.

I've got a little bit of 3 different purple shades of Look At Me yarn left, I'm going to try and make a hat out of them. One is veregated, I might stripe it with a solid purple. Not sure what to do with the small amount of dark purple I have left, I may skip it if I can make a whole hat out of the other two. Perhaps I can add earflaps with it at the end?

I finished the PingPong hat. It's not as deep as I'd like, but I used every last bit of the yarn. All that are left are the trimmings from tieing the tassles on, maybe 6 inches total. The yarn was nice to knit with, soft and squishy, but would be a nightmare for seaming, so I'm glad I did a hat in the round!

I REALLY liked the look of these little Ugg Booties everyone seems to be making. I'm trying to knit for a whole lot of babies right now, so I was considering making these, and I called the yarn store in town that carries Berrocco yarns. A mere $16.49 a ball for the Suede yarn. The pattern calls for 2 balls of the yarn PLUS a little of another kind for the trim. Those would be some DAMN pricey booties, I think I'll pass.

The star blanket is getting slower, the rows are longer and longer as the blanket gets bigger. It's also less fun to work on as I can't watch TV or read blogs while I crochet, I have to watch my hands. I'm going to try and do a round every day though, I'd really like to see the end result sometime soon!

I started a hat in PingPong yarn in Pink by Bernat. It looks and feels really neat, but doesn't seem that practical for a sweater. I didn't notice the yardage was so short, I don't know if I will have enough for the hat. I'll just keep knitting and see if I have enough, it goes fast so if I have to rip it out that's not a huge deal. I might use some Satin yarn I have in bright pink along with it if needed. I don't know if stripes or colour blocks would look better though........

Still working on the blanket. It's coming along really nicely, I can't wait to finish and see how it looks done.

I'm working on a little crochetes mouse right now, from a pattern here:
http://www.sarahanns.com/crochetworks/animals.html It's a lot smaller than I expected, but it will be really cute, I think.

The star baby blanket is coming along nicely. I'm really enjoying crochet! I do find it requires more attention than knitting, I have to watch my hands while I do it, but that's ok. Here's the blanket so far:

(moved the photo to another host so it wouldn't take so long to come up)

Finished the pixie hat. Hopefully my sister likes it :) I started a cabled baby hat using the Basic Cable pattern from Stitch n Bitch Nation. I like how it's turning out, and if there is enough wool left I might make mitts to match.

I have found something I REALLY want to make. Problem is it's a crochet pattern. I don't really crochet, and have never made anything from a pattern. I think I might just have to learn. The pattern is HERE and the photo doesn't really do it justice, I saw another photo in baby colours and it was gorgeous. We'll see how I do......

Working on another of those pointed pixie hats for my neice to wear - my sister liked the one Teagan was wearing and asked how much I'd charge for one. I didn't go into how you really can't charge enough for your knitting to make it worth while, I just said I'd make her one.

I also came accross a GOREGOUS sweater today, that I'd really like to make. Check it out HERE. It's written in one size - smaller than me - and meant for a yarn I don't think I can get locally, so I'm not sure if I'll try it, but it is pretty!

SOOOOO happy to be done with Christmas knitting and all the stress that it brings. I've said it befere, though I REALLY mean it this time, I will not leave it all to the last minute this year!

So I wanted to make my daughter a hat, she doesn't have many hats knit by me, which is a crime considering how much I knit, but I didn't want to make some boring old plain thing. I came accross a pattern for a pointed pixie hat, and I'm pretty pleased with the result:

I got the pattern HERE and it is SO easy - no increases or decreases, just knits and purls.

I also started on WAVY from the current issue of knitty.com. It looks like it won't be too hard, but keeping track of the pattern row will be key. I don't yet own a single knit scarf - another crime in my opinion - so it was time to knit something for ME! I had some pretty medium blue woolease from an abandoned christmas project (my sister's loss will be my gain) and I think it will make an excellent scarf.

Another finished xmas gift, the koolaid purse! This one was a bit of a challenge, the shape and material don't make for easy sewing! I had found pretty good instructions to work from, but had a minor disastor in sewing the darn thing inside out. After that was fixed, I think it turned out okay! Hopefully my cousin likes it!

Finally a photo! My hot water bottle cozy is done, blocked, and ready to wrap:

Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the cable well, and I'm far too busy to start messing with photos for the blog! The fingerless gloves are done except for weaving in the MANY ends, not sure if I will block them. I still have a bunch of coasters to knit, and some things to felt. Back at it!

I'm getting a grip on the christmas knitting. I finished the hot water bottle cozy, just need to block it, felted a baby gift, did some samples for mom's gift, and finished the sleep mask, save for the elastic:

So I'm feeling a little more in control. Still lots to do, but it's looking remotely possible now!

Christmas Panic!!

I don't think there is any way to get all my christmas gifts done in time. I was already running behind (babies don't leave you tons of free time for knitting) and had an ambitious list, and then I started having wrist issues. Doc says a bit of tendonitis. Knitting doesn't seem to aggravate it, but I need to be careful.

So I've pretty much axed the big project for my sister (Poncho) and am struggling to finish what I can. I'm almost done my sister's fiance's knit hot water bottle cozy, half done brother's fingerless gloves, and mostly done the sleep mask for my aunt. I have a couple other things waiting, we'll see how much I can finish.

I got started on the poncho from Vogue Knitting. Right off the bad I screwed up, I forgot to switch to the smaller needles right after the first 3 rows of garter stitch. Oh well, it shouldn't matter. Now that I am a number of rows in, I realize the needle I am using is a 4mm instead of the 4.5 called for. (darn my old inaccurate needle sizer!!) I am going to try to ignore that too. Finally, I missed the first decrease - but it's only half a row back so I'm going to fix that. At least it's moving along fairly quickly........photos when there is something to show.

I went to the yarn store today. Wow - there are some gorgeous yarns out there. I had to touch everything.....well as much as my baby's patience would allow. *I* could have spend a whole day in there, but she had other ideas.

I bought some yarn for a gift. (can't go into specifics as she reads this blog) It is fun but challenging shopping for yarn for someone else. When you are shopping for someone else you feel justified in "splurging" when you might not on yourself, and you can really get into the process. BUT it's worrisome to be picking out colours based on your own preferances, or guessing what the other person will like. Hopefully she'll be happy with the selection I made, I did my best!

Still working on things for my brother. The "family birthday dinner" was postponed, buying me more time. I finished a Seaman's cap for him, and now I'm working on fingerless gloves. I don't think I'll finish them in time, so they can be for christmas.

I found this neat pattern for a Hot Water Bottle Cozy so I'm making that for my sister's fiance. I bought some Decor yarn to make it, someone reccomended it to me and it feels nice, a lot like Woolease.

We're all moved into our new place! It's great, so much space! I don't have a designated crafting desk anymore, but I have loads of storage for my craft things. I haven't gotten much knitting done, partly because most of it is still packed and there is so much else to do. Plus it's all up in the storage on the third floor, so it's not easy and quick to grab. I think I need a "working" craft bin in the bottom floor. Maybe my folding knitting bag can live in the living room for easy knitting access.

I haven't started the poncho yet, I'm trying to whip up something for my brother. His birthday is tomorrow but I won't see him for a few days. I really like working with Woolease. It's a nice yarn, feels nice to work with and is forgiving to frogging as well.

I found a new poncho pattern I might try instead of the Harlot Poncho. Vogue knitting has a really nice slim poncho with a nifty cable down the middle. It's done in a similar weight to Woolease, so I shouldn't have to tweak the pattern. I might need to use a lighter colour though, dark colours don't show cables that well and it would be a shame to go to the trouble and not have it show up. The pattern is done flat in two pieces, but I might convert it to the round. I just need to check if the cable would work out okay if I do that.

Not actually knitting much, busy packing most of the time. I'm feeling like starting lots of projects though, I think feeling unsettled in general is making my kntiting unsettled too!

I'm not thrilled with the Harlot Poncho I'm doing. The rolling neck edge bugs me, and I keep getting nervous my sister won't like it anyways. She's particular about her clothes. I'm also finding it a bit boring.

I've also got a bunch of other things to work on. Christmas gifts make up a lot of the list, as well as a last minute hat for my cousin's daughter. She's in town and her birthday is Sunday, so we're having a little party for her. She's two, and has all the toys she needs, so I figured a cute hat was in order. They liked the blossom hats I made them when I visited up north in the summer.

Started the Harlot Poncho, but the neck of mine is rolling! I don't know if I'm going to ignore it, or rip it out. I think I'll google for other Harlot Ponchos to see if others have this happening.

I had to rip out my progress on a poncho for my sister today. 2 balls of Woolease into it, I had made the classic knitting-in-the-round error of twisting the stitches to create a mobius strip. There was so much knitting on the needles I couldn't flatten it out to notice the error earlier, and it peeved me to rip all that work out. BUT, there is a bright side, I realised the pattern I was using was just not going to do it. The edge was rolling, and the fabric was pretty thick, not drapey like I was hoping. I am starting over today, possibly with the famed Yarn Harlot Poncho still in woolease. I think with a single strand rather than doubled the woolease will drape okay. I've seen photos of others made in wool blends and they looked pretty nice.

I tried making Velvet Oblivion from knitty.com using Patons Classic Wool and another eyelash yarn. It didn't work great. I expected it to felt more, so I made the eyelash yarn really tight around the edge, and then it didn't felt as much as I thought. I also doubled the wool to make it thick, but I might try the next single. I can't get the reccomended yarn here, so I'm just going to keep experimenting.

I finished knitting up a gift for my neice, just needs felting now.

I started the tank but I'm really dissapointed. I forgot how short the colour sections are in veregated handicrafter cotton. You don't get stripes or pools of colour, just a random mess. The colours also hide the cabling, so it's wasted effort doing the facy stitches.


I'm hesitant to rip though, I don't like ripping and don't know what I'll do with this almopst one pound skein!

It's finished, washed and blocked! Now the baby just has to get here, so I can give this gift!



I got smart this time, and put all the buttons on and wove in the ends before knitting the sleeves. Then when I finished the sleeves. I had only a little finishing to do! I hate finishing, and this made the project seem faster.

I'm so close to finishing the purple baby set. I ended up making a hat to match, since I had some yarn left over. I also got smart and did the buttons BEFORE the sleeves. I hate finishing, it's the main reason I choose projects knit in the round, and it seems a tedious way to end a project. This way, I only have to do the sleeve finishing at the end, which won't take much time!

Photos once I finish up and wash the items.

I couldn't help swatching up a bit of the Handicrafter yarn to see how the colours looked. They are gorgeous, and I think it will turn into a really pretty top.

I picked up a large skein of Bernat Handicrafter yarn in Jewels today. It's the top right colourway on This Page
I'm going to make the tank pictured HERE with it, the guage seems right, and I think the veregated yarn will look nice. Plus it will be cheap.

The purple baby sweater is moving right along. I just finished off the first skein of Patons Look At Me, and am just about to start the bottom ribbing. Then just the arms to do. I think the second skein will finish it off and let me make matching socks if I feel like it. Here's a photo of my progress:

I swatched some Lion Brand Woolease for the poncho. I'm not sure if I should use it as a single strand: Or double it up: The second way will make it thicker and warmer, and it will knit up faster, but the first will make a "finer" fabric and will use less yarn. The colours come out about the same, which is what I was mainly checking with the swatching.

Making progress on the purple baby sweater for my friend. That pattern knits up quickly, and it is a nice portable project.

Finished Haiku the other day, and am just sewing the buttons on now. Photo when they're all one, the buttons I found MAKE the sweater so there is no sense taking a pic now. I also got the buttons sewn on a sweater knit in Patons Pixie, Pattern here, that I knit a while ago.

Thinking about that poncho for my sister. I came accross a sample of THIS at the yarn shop the other day, and it's just stunning. Unfortunately, the yarn used and called for int he pattern was over $35 a hank. One hank would make the whole thing, but I'm not even sure she'd wear it, so I couldn't justify the purchase. I'm trying out swatching some Lion Brand Woolease veregated yarn, to see if I can't just work something out on my own. I'm trying to think of how to do the decreases: matched up along "seams" would look nice, but I might want to avoid that so it can be the same all the way around....

More baby projects in the works. I'm making a baby sweater for a friend who is due in about a month. She's having a little boy, and I found some great BRIGHT purple Patons Look at Me yarn on clearance. I'm making This Pattern and here is my progress so far:

It's a touch more purple than it appears in the photo, but about that bright.

I also did some dying. I have a felting project in mind, so I attacked some of the Patons Classic wool I have with the koolaid:
Both photos show the before and after yarns. I'm really happy with how the veregated stuff turned out. They grey was kind of dark to start with, so I don't know if I will use that one. I was leery of buying white, I've heard the bleaching process affects feltability, so I stuck with darker colours.

Ran into trouble with the striped sweater. The sleeves seem way to small and the wrists, and are increasing too rapidly to look right. I'm going to try and rip and start over, doing it differently. It's a basic idea, I should be able to fiddle without too much trouble.

I'm starting to look for a poncho pattern. I think that would be something nice for my sister, they're the "in" thing right now. Plus she just had a baby and I have no idea what size I'd knit for her if I were to do a sweater or something!

Making progress on a sweater for my daughter. I'm basing it on a pattern from the 2nd issue of Knit It, using stripes of Lewiscraft's version of Sirdar Snowflake in a veregated colour and Paton's Look at Me in medium purple. I'm done the back and over half done the front, but it's slow going. Here's a photo of where I'm at:

I'm trying to get as far as I can to see if I need to buy more of either yarn today at the mall. Hopefully I can get by with what I bought. I'm also nervous I made it too small, so I'm finishing it as fast as I can to help the chances Teagan can wear it.

I headed back to Michaels's today and scored a bunch more yarn. I got 7 balls of woolease in "Blue Heather" and 3 balls in "Dark Rose Heather". I'm considering making Accordion from Knitty for my daughter and I, Blue for me, Rose for her. I'll have to check how the guage works out, but woolease seemed an appropriate easy wear, easy knit yarn for sweaters. (I've made a pair of socks and a hat from it and enjoyed working with it)

I think Patons Look at Me yarn is being discontinued! Too bad, it's a nice sport weight in great colours for baby stuff. I got 4 balls at Michael's last night in Deep Purple to make another baby sweater for a boy due this fall.

Well I scrapped the plan to make a sweater in that Ping Pong yarn. The skeins only had about 50 yards each so I was looking at 6+ balls for a baby sweater, and at $5 a ball plus tax, it was going to be too much for a sweater that wouldn't get a lot of wear.

I started on Haiku instead, in a really pretty dark blue Bernat Satin yarn. It's coming along, but I also started plans for a second sweater at the same time, due to a sale at Lewiscrafter. I'm making a striped sweater in purple and a veregated fluffy yarn with purple, blue and green in it. Here is a quick swatch I did up tonight:

It's a little more "red" in reality, but that shows you about what it should look like. The pattern is from the second Knit It! magazine.