Knit Baby Pants: Completed!

I love the way these two items turned out! The pants are sooo adorable, I may have to make some for my sons for their birthday (I think they would look great with some knit or crochet suspenders!) in fun, complementary colors.

The hat is my own design, as I didn't have a pattern for the 2-strand mix. I think it's a little large for a newborn, but hopefully it'll fit my little cousin through the winter months (he's due in August). It fits my 8-month-old sons right now.

Pattern for hat: starting with size 15 needles and 2 strands of lighter color, cast on 40 stitches. Join and 1 x 1 rib knit for 4 rows. Drop one strand and pick up complementary color. Stockinette stitch for 5 inches. Next row, k6, then k2tog around. Knit 3 rows. Next row, k5, then k2tog around. Knit 3 rows. Continue until 10 stitches are left, then knit until desired length is reached (mine is about 11 inches). Decrease one more row and sew closed. Add pompom and weave in ends.

I love making pompoms with my fancy maker!! It's so easy; if I weren't using all my long scraps for my ugly square, I would definitely make poms all day with them!

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in chocolate and silver blue; used every last bit of blue!

Next, I'll be working on my "Ponchopolooza," getting all 3 of them finished before summer's end.

Knit Baby Pants

It's been a while, but I've been working on the knit pants and hat for my cousin's new baby, due in August. She sent me a picture a couple of months ago, and I was flattered that she thought of me (they live in South Carolina) and was eager to help her out. 

Original design that she sent

 She found a set that she liked on Etsy and sent me the link, and I quickly got to work finding a pattern that would accommodate the style she liked. I ended up purchasing one on Ravelry that was meant for a bulky weight yarn, and the design she likes has 2 strands of different colors. So I modified the pattern to her liking and added a couple more stitches and made the pants. I got to learn how to do grafting for these (kitchener stitch), as well as a new bind-off, and I think they turned out almost identical to the pants she found!

Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in chocolate and silver blue

She also asked me to make a different style hat than what was pictured on the original photo, and it's the same color scheme with a long elf-like tube. I'm still working on it, after a couple of trials and errors, and should finish it up this week. The pants need a belt, which I will knit out of blue i-cord, and then it's finished! I like the pants so much, I'm thinking about knitting a couple pair for my boys and fashioning some suspenders to go with them, in the 12-month size. If I were to knit them in wool, I could market them as a leak-proof diaper cover as well...

Once I'm done with this project, I've got some more ponchos in the queue, so it will be a busy July!

Poncho Extravaganza!

We've had a lot going on around here, like birthday parties, a promotion for my hubby, and a couple of Etsy orders, so I haven't had any new projects to post.

I've missed my yarn and finally had a chance to make up a queue for all the outstanding projects I want to make. There is a knit baby hat and pants, several ponchos, a purse for myself,  a baby blanket, 2 sweater vests, an adult sweater, 2 Halloween costumes, 2 birthday hats, and a scarf all in my future!

The best part is, I've already got the yarn for all of these projects! The bad part is, I've got ALL the yarn for all these projects...

Here is the yarn for the upcoming ponchos:

All Lion Brand Homespun yarns, clockwise: gothic, waterfall, ambrosia

 I've got to make the knit hat and pants first, which I'll post about later, then I'll get started on these!

Poncho x 2

It's been a while since I posted, since I haven't had too many projects going on. I've been working the last couple of weeks on this second poncho, which I will be giving to my two year old nephew next week. I love the color, called waterfall, and think it would be great for little boys or girls, with the purple tones in it.
I need to take some new pics of my other projects this week, so I can add the items to Etsy, so I'll post them here as well.

Poncho Completed

I all but finished the poncho this weekend, and I must say that I really like it. I wasn't sure at first; it was just something new to put up on Etsy. But now that I've finished it and got to try it on one of my precious models, I really think it's adorable!
The pattern calls for stitching up the sides a bit, which I didn't see any point in, until I saw it on him. It twists without arm holes...well, it'll twist anyway since it's way too big on my five month old, but you can see the potential problem. I'll finish that up and maybe try to borrow my friend's son for a couple of shots so you can see it on the correct size child.

Photo Shoot

These were some photos I took to update some of my Etsy listings. I may caption them someday, but today is not that day...

A New Spin on an Old Favorite

My best seller to date has been my removable Viking/dwarf beard, which is very popular among the LARP folks. I've even had inquiries regarding a large number of them for a group here in Kansas City.

While they have been great for funding my other yarn projects, I've been looking for a way to make them a little more exciting. When you make 10 or more of something in a row it gets a bit monotonous.

I was inspired by watching How to Train Your Dragon, among other influences, and wanted to have something a little more interesting, so I came up with this.

It's still not my ideal, but with the thicker beard and more braids, it's getting closer to what I had in mind. I may even throw in some other shades to give it highlights.

A Week's Worth of Hats

And I'm not kidding! After I finished my sweater, I had some miscellaneous hats I had found on Pinterest I wanted to make. So I spent all last week working on several different types of hats with yarn I (mostly) had lying around.

Knit Men's Beanie: Remake of the jogless stripes hat I previously made; it was a little small for the customer

Stash buster Rainbow Stripe Hat; per Pinterest pic, I did 8 increase rounds, starting with 10 dc; each color is 3 rounds, except pink, which is 2 in fpdc/bpdc ribbing; H hook and Red Heart yarns

Baby Cable Hat: This really looks much better on than it does here! It fits snugly. Per Purl bee pattern here; Bernat Satin yarn in sage and size 4 dpns

Slouch Hat: Also looks better on. Per pattern with shoe rug yarn and Red Heart in Aran

Hershey's Kiss Hats: for the boys! Still need to add ribbon. From pattern, I hook and 48 stitches on final increase instead of 44; I Love This Yarn in graymist

Stripe Pom Hat: An original creation! H hook and I Love This Yarn in navy, Red Heart with Love in iced aqua, Deborah Norville for the pom and edging, and Vanna's Choice in radiant lime; 8 stitches for 5 sets of 2 rows, then increase as normal until 54 stitches

My First Garment!

This morning I finished my very first full garment! I bought the yarn for this sweater over a year ago, and then, when I found out shortly after that I was pregnant, I abandoned the idea, knowing it wouldn't fit my growing belly.

I pulled the yarn out a couple of weeks ago and started on it. I love the color and the length. If I could change anything about it, I think I would have made the sleeves a hair shorter. I made them longer than the pattern called for to hide my large upper arms, but they look a little too long now.

It looks great with the feminine beanie I made with the extra sage yarn!

I finished it just in time to wear to my family gathering today, where I received tons of compliments.

Dolman sweater in Bernat Satin sage; per pattern (notes for size on pattern)

Kleyh family photo 3/23/14

New Technique

I watched a few videos on some simple techniques when I was learning about cable knitting, and I got to try one of them out on my Etsy order this week.

These are my first attempt at jogless strips in knitting. I have yet to perfect it, but if I ever make another striped stocking or something with an immense number of stripes, I plan to use it.

Finished!

I finished my rug today! I think it turned out great, and the cable pattern is beautiful on this color. It's ready for some shoes!

Progression

I'm really quite excited about this project. I've been wanting to learn to cable knit since I found a beautiful sweater pattern last winter, but I always thought it would be some incredibly difficult task, so I kept putting it off.
I finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and read about it in my beginners knitting book I made my very first scarf out of. I should have guessed, if it's in the beginner's knitting booklet, it can't be that hard.
After reading about it, I found a simple pattern that I modified to work on just the cabling, to get used to the vernacular. It seemed easy, so I started my first project, a shoe rug. I figured if I messed up terribly, it's just going to be covered by nasty shoes.
So far, I've only made 2 noticeable mistakes (to me, anyway), and I think it looks quite nice. I had 2 skeins of the yarn and I can't get any more, so this is the perfect use for it. I'm 5/8 of the way done! I'm also learning moss stitch, which looks great over a plane. It's a nice change from stockinette.
My mother-in-law likes it so much, she has commissioned a project for a cable knit sweater for my father-in-law. That will be a stretch in the future, though, as it will be my first sweater and knitting takes me a bit longer. I'm excited though!
Here's my progress so far on the rug...

A Variation

I don't like posting items to my Etsy shop without having examples of variations, so I made the feminine hat in aqua for myself. I already sold the pink one I made!

The aqua is the same color as the dolman sweater I'm working on, so they will complement each other nicely. I love how quickly this hat works up, and I got to learn the alligator stitch for the flower.

A Multitude of Items...

It's been a busy week! I've been working on several projects, and I've got some new ones that I haven't posted yet. These are all available on my Etsy site!

I've also been working on the dolman sweater I mentioned, and a really neat cabled rug for our entryway. I'm starting to love cable knitting! Pics to come...

Knit scarf with Lion Brand Wool-Ease bulky in light blue and cream; size 15 needles, ribbed 1x1 for 20 stitches

Viking hat with extra-long horns; I think I did an extra round in between each increase on the spiral to give them more shape. Wore this in the hospital with my boys!

My favorite little pilots in training :-D The weather's been so nice this past week!

Rainya boot cuffs and ear warmer in rose heather; Lion Brand Wool-Ease in worsted weight, H hook, per pattern

Mary Janes in Vanna's Choice pink poodle; per pattern

Feminine beanie in Caron Simply Soft gray and pink; per pattern

Waffle dish cloth in Lily 'n Cream cornflower; 10 x 11 squares, size H hook

A New Skill

I've been wanting to learn how to cable knit for over a year now, and with no immediate needs for other projects to be completed, I decided to give it a try today.

Surprisingly, it is much simpler than it looks! I was excited to learn that it's really comprised of a very simple twist of a few stitches, and gives satisfyingly beautiful detail to otherwise monotonous knitting. I'm enthused to start putting my new skill into practice, knitting hats, scarves, arm warmers, an afghan, and perhaps even a sweater with cable details!

Here is my practice swatch from today. It brings to my attention another skill I need to master in order to be successful at this: blocking.

A Few Finished Items

Four posts in one day really did me in for a few days! I've been busy finishing up the diaper covers and a couple of really cute hats for my boys.

The covers worked up quickly, but the buttons were a bit of a mystery to me for a couple of days. I couldn't decide where to put them, since they had to be somewhere the straps could overlap, but I finally sewed them on this morning, so I could get them on my boys after their baths this afternoon. We got 4 months vaccinations today, so my models were pretty grumpy, but the covers fit beautifully.

White: H hook and F hook for edging; Cornflower: J hook and H hook for edging

Another project that's been on the backburner for a couple of days are these aviator hats. They are a little odd looking without a precious baby face in them, but we got so many compliments from wearing them to the pediatrician's office today!

I love that I was finally able to find a use for the toasted almond I Love This Yarn I had to buy for a beard project last year. I barely used any of it for that project, but it's the perfect color for this adorable hat. The pattern was written for a newborn size, but the author put specs for a toddler size in the comments. I don't have an L hook, so I used my K hook and it fits my 4 month olds great.

K hook with brown Red Heart With Love and Red Heart aran edging

K hook with I Love This Yarn toasted almond and Red Heart aran edging

Now that I've finished using all the yarn for my ugly square, I'm waiting to get to the store for yarn to make some cute newborn Mary Janes. After that, I will start on a dolman sweater I've been wanting since before I became pregnant, and then I'll be looking for a fun new knit project. I've been doing a lot of crocheting lately.

For the Family

My cousin asked me to make him a hat for work, which turned out fine. When I gave it to him at Christmas, he told me his son wanted a viking hat with his school colors to wear to games and spirit days, so this is what came of that. I included a beard just because. What 12 year old boy doesn't want a beard?

If I had it to do over again, I would have made a black hat with orange horns, but I think he'll definitely get noticed in this. He got it in the mail today and loves it!