A "snow day" update...

It's not a school day, in fact, it's even a long weekend, but we are having an ice storm here in KC right now, so everything's closed. So I thought it would be a good time to update with some more of my current projects.

I just put the finishing touches on another feminine beanie, for my mother-in-law, in some new colors. I thankfully had the navy in my stash, but the brown I had to purchase. I have been so immersed in knitting, it was nice to crochet something again.

Caron Simply Soft in chocolate and navy, per pattern; adult L/XL size

I really like the flower for this piece, although each one I make looks slightly different. She loves it, and almost wore it to bed last night. Another satisfied customer!

I went through my stash again this week, and am working vigorously to find projects to use my yarn on. I have a ton of baby yarn that was given to me after the twins were born that I've just been hanging on to. I am dying to make a sweater, after watching so many tutorials on YouTube that make it look so simple, so I decided to try making one with all the baby yarns. So far, it's been a breeze, and I think the colors look great together. It's coming together so quickly, I think I might even make 2 more, for the older boys as well. I will have to buy more yarn, since they are growing like weeds (3 years old wearing 5T already!), but at least I have a purpose for it. Here's my progress so far:

Yarn Bee in various colors; size 7 needles

I think it will be perfect on little Sam, although I have no idea how old he'll be when he gets to wear it. I'm making size 18 months, so hopefully he can wear it next fall for some nice photos with the older boys. He's growing so much faster than they did. I attribute it to him being almost 10 lbs. at birth, but he'll probably always be a big baby. He's so cute though...

I made an investment in my knitting this week, although I may be returning them shortly. I got a few gift cards for Christmas and was looking into getting an interchangeable knitting needle set, and found this one on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O99S9UQ/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's over $50, so it's a bit of an investment, but I love that I will always have the needles I need on hand. I went to my local JoAnn's the other day, though, and found this set: http://www.joann.com/boye-needlemaster-kit-200/7984818.html#q=boye%2Bknitting%2Bneedles&simplesearch=Go&start=4

The Boye needles were $70, but I had a 50% off coupon, so I went ahead and got them. They have tons of tips! I like them well enough, except I'm using the longest cord and it's difficult to make a full circle, because the tips are so long. I went ahead and ordered the Knitter's Pride set, and will try them both for a couple of weeks before I decide which kit to keep. I'm really excited about having one of these sets, though! 

The other project I've finished is one of the infamous messy bun hats that are all over Pinterest. I can't find the pattern that I used for this one, but I could easily have just used a knit beanie pattern and bound off early, which is exactly what I did. My cousin (actual 1st cousin--one of the few girls!) is finishing her Bachelor's at UCM in Warrensburg, and she's a cheerleader, so she wears lots of ponytails. I was pleased she asked me to do it, but I wanted to use up some of my "girl" colors in my stash. Pink, confetti, dark purple, and light purple it was, and I attempted to do the jogless stripes technique again (although slightly different this time), and it still turned out a little wonky. You can definitely see the seam where the stitch was pulled from the previous row and bunched up. I don't know if this is worse or better than having jogs. I will have to figure this out before I make striped sweaters for my boys.

All Vanna's Choice yarn leftovers; jogless stripe technique

Front view

I've got several other items in the works, like a stuffed elephant for Sam, socks (I'm waiting on special reinforcing thread to arrive), sweaters for the older boys, the stuffed animals, and a knit shawl I've got lots of yarn for. I also need to make a large tree skirt for Christmas next year. My parents have a 6' tree that we are taking, so my little tree skirt won't do anymore. I also have some fun ideas for Christmas next year, that involve a lot of knitting, wool, and ongoing projects, that I'll post about as I am able to work on them.

Stay warm this cold day, and hopefully I'll have a couple of baby sweaters to post about in the next week.

Thanksgiving fun

It's Thanksgiving, and I finally finished the project I wanted done by Thanksgiving, a few days early even! I called my cousin last week to let her know I should have her sweater done by the end of the week, and we arranged for her to come by to try it on Thursday. 

This forced me to really work hard for a couple of days, as I still had the finishing touches to do, like making the tabs for the sides, sewing them on, weaving in ends, and blocking. I got it done in time though.

Here is a photo of the original design:

Here is a closeup of the cable pattern:

This is the blocking process:

And this is the finished product! I forgot to take a photo after it was done drying (blocking), so I had to run out to the car and have her hold it up before she drove away...

Here is the sweater on, as she intended to wear it:

Blocking the sweater was fun. As you can see, I got a little creative with the process. I didn't have any T pins, which were suggested in the article I read, but I had just enough of the boys' little trains to cover the whole garment. They were the perfect weight to keep the ends flat. I just used a spray bottle and dampened the edges, not even the whole garment. If I had more time, I would have blocked it before sewing it together, and done the whole thing, but she was only available on a certain day, sooner than I planned. 

My cousin loves it! I am so pleased with the way it turned out, and even more pleased that she likes it too. Even though it was essentially a large rectangle, I am excited to have my first knit sweater completed. If you remember, I made a crochet sweater quite a while ago. I think I am ready to attempt a baby sweater pattern for Samuel out of yarn I've had since the twins were born. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought, which is the main reason I've never tried before. 

On a more personal note, my Dad is not doing well. It seems like only a matter of time before the cancer wins, due to an infection it is causing, which is hindering chemo treatments. Please keep our family in your prayers. We are still praying for a miracle, but at this point it's not looking very promising.

Thanks for your time and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you get to spend it with loved ones, and that you never miss an opportunity to tell them how much you love them.

New projects on the horizon...

I love fall. I love the crispness of a chill in the air, the smells of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg wafting from the oven, the colors of the leaves before they fall off the trees. One thing I don't enjoy about fall, though, is the rush to get all things "holiday" completed.

I love my kiddos, and planning for their birthday is fun for me, but between making Halloween costumes, planning a birthday party for two toddlers, baking fall goodies, and making handmade Christmas gifts for much of my family, it is a hectic time.

This year, I decided to do a jungle theme for their birthday, and to give them something they can appreciate for a while after the balloons deflate, I decided to make them animal hats. We had a giraffe themed nursery for them (Sam's is elephants), so I thought I would crochet a giraffe, an elephant, a lion, and a monkey (the extra one is for their cousin, who always comes to the party). When am I going to have time to do this? I still have a sweater to finish, 6 Christmas gifts to start and complete, an infant horse hat to make, a stuffed elephant I started for Sam, and a baby sweater to knit, all before January! In my "free time," I suppose.

I will try to post photos of everything as I complete it, but for now, I need to dig through my yarn collection and get my hooks busy! After all that, hopefully I will get to utilize my beautiful craft area to work on the boys' quiet books.

Wish me luck!

Craft area

It's finally finished! This is a little belated, as I finished setting up my craft area the week before Samuel came, but for some reason posting about it slipped my mind. I ran across this photo in my cache just now and realized I haven't shared it yet!

It may not look like much compared to some of the fancy craft rooms you see on Pinterest, but I have all of my supplies at my fingertips and a nice clear space to work, so it serves all my purposes. Of course, this is not my yarn stash. I enjoy working on a few different kinds of projects, painting crafts for decor, making jewelry and beading, and the felt seen here. I knit and crochet anywhere.

Now all I need is several hours to cut, sew, and assemble the boys' project. I have had all the supplies for over a year and a half to make and complete 2 beautiful felt books (or quiet books) for the older boys, but it is much more time consuming and labor-intensive than I originally thought. Hopefully, the boys and I will hit a groove pretty soon after my hubby goes back to work where I can find some time to do some crafting and work on them, so I can get them finished before Christmas or before they outgrow them. 

I've still got the sweater to finish, hats to make for the boys' birthday and Halloween costumes, Christmas gifts to make, and a little girl baby sweater to make for my cousin, who is having the first girl in years on that side of the family! After all that is completed (and hopefully I won't be sewing Christmas gifts together on Christmas morning this year!), I'll be able to focus completely on the quiet books for a while. I'm opening my Etsy shop up again in January, so hopefully I'll be done by then, or close to, in case I get orders for some of the new items I'm listing on my site. Big plans for this fall and winter!

As it appears, I've got a lot going on, so I better get busy! I'm getting ready to go grab the sweater and fix the neckline, so I can maybe finish it in time to give to my cousin next week at our family gathering.

Halfway there and an end in sight!

I am amazed at how quickly this sweater is coming together. The Fisherman's Wool is not exceptionally thick, which would normally make for a quick knit, but it is going quickly nonetheless. Maybe it's because I've had a lot of time on my hands to work on it, waiting for Blessing to come.

Here are some photos of it so far:

The top photo is the front of the piece. It is a little narrower than I had hoped, but hopefully after blocking (which will be a new skill to try with this piece), it will lay nicely and be wide enough. 

I made this neckline part of the rectangle of the whole piece, but after my cousin got to try it on, I realized that I should probably taper in the neck just a bit, and make the shoulders a little wider. I will take it out and redo the whole neckline some time in the near future. I would like for it to not curl down like it is now, and hope that blocking and tailoring it a little smaller will fix that.

The second photo is a closeup of the cable pattern I chose. I really like the way it snakes and the multiple pieces, as opposed to just 2 different strands like many cables. I found this pattern on Pinterest and chose #4. It's only 8 rows and then it repeats. I don't plan to use it down the back.

I think it will turn out to be a lovely piece. I bought 3 skeins of the wool, and I have lots left of the first one still, so maybe when I'm finished I'll have enough leftover to make her a scarf or hat, or even some cute armwarmers. We'll see.

If I had to do it over again, I would have doubled the yarn from the beginning and made it just a bit wider. The original sweater was heftier in weight and had some stiffness to it. This one is light and soft, which will be nice, since she'll have to wear something underneath it, and will make it good for fall and spring as well as winter. 

I probably won't be able to finish the sweater for a few weeks, since we have scheduled a c-section for Blessing on Friday. Our little guy will be here before we know it, and our lives will change dramatically for a while. With that in mind, if you are the praying type, please say a prayer for us, that we have a healthy baby boy, my recovery goes smoothly and quickly, and that our transition to a family of 5 is smooth. Thanks for reading and God bless!

P.S. I'll try to post pics of him before too long. I have so many cute projects to photograph him in!

A new project

We finally have everything unpacked and now I'm just sitting around waiting for Blessing to make his move, so I thought I'd get started on a project I have been thinking about for quite a while. One of my Mom's cousins approached me last winter to ask if I would consider making a sweater for her, based on a garment she already owned. I told her I'd give it a shot.

We got together at a family function again this summer (we don't get together with all the distant cousins but a couple times a year) and she brought the sweater so I could get an idea what I was getting into. It's a really pretty vest-type piece, and instead of being a full sweater, it just has tabs on the side. Should be easy-peasy! 

I took it with me, and spent a few weeks looking up pattern ideas before I discovered I couldn't really find a pattern to match what she wanted exactly. She said she wanted "boxy," as this one is very straight, and she didn't mind having a different neckline. I suggested a boat neck, which should be fairly straightforward, because otherwise I would have to do some serious research to shape the shoulders like this sweater. I found a pattern I like, and the cable detail is beautiful for this! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to purchase the pattern on Ravelry, as it's part of a collection or a book, but after studying the photo closely, I think I've discovered a way to emulate it without needing one. I noticed the neckline is basically a bind-off with an inch or two of stitches at each end, and then you just pick up the stitches on the other side. Since I won't be working in the round (because of the tabs on the sides), I'll just make it like a large rectangle with the neck hole. At least, that's my plan.

I then spent several more days looking for wool yarn that would give it the stiffness that she wants and the gauge that I want. After several texts and emails, we finally settled on Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in Oatmeal.

It's a little bulkier than I would have preferred, but the other yarns we were discussing I would have had to order online without having an example of, and I really dislike doing that. And I got to use all my JoAnn's coupons to get this...

Hopefully it turns out beautifully, and just what she wants. I started on it the other night, but had to stop a few rows in until I decide exactly how I want to do the cable. I'll pick it up again tonight, after I do a little more scouting online for ideas.

I'll probably post photos as it comes along, so I can document what I did as much as show off. I hope to have it finished before Thanksgiving, but I'll probably have to get together with her a couple of times to check and make sure the fit is good. I would not be surprised if I had to take out the neckline a couple of times to get it right.

I like working with the Fisherman's Wool already, compared to the scratchy Alpaca I used for the purple cowl recently. Maybe I'll make my knot bag out of it...

Until next time!

Catching up...

I've finally been able to make some good progress on my blankets that I started before Colorado, so I thought now would be a good time to post some photos.

The first blanket is a granny square like the lime and blue one from a couple months ago. The boys have been begging me for blankets since I started on it, so I am thrilled to have finished it. If you remember, this was from the batch of 6 skeins of JoAnn's Big Twist yarn I mentioned. The teal and purple go great with our new decor, and the navy fits in well. 

Big Twist yarn in navy, purple, teal with I hook

The other blanket is a ripple blanket using the same color scheme, but somehow I ran out of the navy before I wanted to be finished. It's a little shorter than I would like, but it should fit the baby for a few years.

Big Twist yarn in navy, teal, purple with H hook; I couldn't get him off it!

I had more purple leftover from both projects than I thought, so I made the cute little appliqué elephant (using this pattern), per my husband's suggestion. I still have lots of purple leftover, so I guess that will be added to my ugly square in the future.

The other project I've been working on lately is the hat for my nephew's dinosaur-themed birthday party this past weekend. 

Red Heart in green and orange with H hook

I found the pattern here, but it didn't make any sense when I started working on it, so I just made the beanie from a basic HDC pattern and made the spikes using her pattern.

I had no idea the tails were going to be party favors, and he just happened to pick the tail that matched *perfectly!* I think the whole ensemble turned out great :-) The best part is, I made all of these projects with yarn I already had on hand!

So that is what has been keeping me busy lately. Well, that, and twin 2-year-olds, sleeping whenever I can, and packing for our big move in July, because we just bought a house! More on that later. I hope your projects are coming along well. I've got a couple more small things in the works for the baby, then I'll have to focus on getting things packed, and unpacked, in time for him to arrive. Toodles for now!

Something a Little Different

After finishing some Etsy projects and getting them sent off, I was finally able to put the finishing touches on several projects this weekend!

I had a lot of sewing to do to finish the gift for my father-in-law's request, but after a couple of hours and a few episodes of Property Brothers, I was able to hand it over this weekend. He was very impressed and thinks his coworker will be too. 

It was my first attempt at an afghan in crochet in years, and the last one I finished ended up being large enough to cover a king size bed, but, being inexperienced, it was very trapezoidal, instead of a nice, even rectangle. This one is small enough that I think it will be a good size for an infant to lay on, but not too big to put in a diaper bag to take on trips. I loved learning to make a chevron, and used this video for the pattern: ripple blanket. The little cars were my own design, but based on a photo from a Russian website I had seen on Pinterest.

The afghan itself is made with I Love This Yarn, all from skeins I had at home, and the cars are double thickness from Vanna's Choice I had at home as well. I am trying to use up as much of my yarn as possible this year, without buying more (which has already failed--another day, another story), so this project allowed me to do just that. I did have to buy 1 skein of the light blue, but I ended up using 2/3 of it as well, so I don't feel too bad about that. I love the little pocket in the lower right corner that fits the 3 little cars. I couldn't decide whether to add buttons to the outside, but opted not to, since the little guy may not be able to manipulate them for several years. I hope they like the gift.

I also finished the baby jester hat and got it in the mail this week, after frantically searching for the yarn. My usual yarn shop has stopped carrying it, so I had to order the Lion Brand Jamie yarn from Lion Brand, and was a little fearful it would not arrive in time. I accidentally purchased it in the wrong gender (one of the main reasons I hate buying yarn online), so I now have yarn to make one for our new little one if Blessing turns out to be a girl. I also overbought the boy yarn, so I can make one for another boy, as the odds are for males in our family.

Now, I finally get to work on some bigger projects for my own children. I started several projects as soon as we found out we're expecting, so I am working to finish those up, plus several other ideas I've got in the queue. I also have a little 1-year-old girl's birthday next weekend, so I will whip up a hat for part of her gift too. Any excuse I have to use up the pinks and purples in my yarn stash is welcome at this time, since I don't really have any other use for them... I'll also start working feverishly on the boys' project, and hopefully have some photos to share in the coming weeks.

It's a busy time, but I am feeling pretty confident about being able to get these things done, and hopefully before we start packing for a move this summer or fall. We'll be looking for a home to purchase in the coming months as well, so I might have a new place to store my yarn ;-)

Happy Easter and God bless!

A Rainy Day

I'm still playing catchup from my long absence, so I thought I would make another entry. It's been raining cats and dogs here the last few days, and watching the lightning outside tonight put me in the mood to write.

We don't have many girls in my family (there are 6 out of 22 grandchildren) and all of the babies born since I started knitting have been boys. Except one! My cousin's daughter recently gave birth to a tiny little girl, and the whole family couldn't have been happier. You should have seen all the ruffles and bows and pink and purple at the shower! Personally, I don't much care for those sorts of things, but I know there are those people out there that won't let their child put on anything unless it's covered in bows and glitter. 

So, when the new mother asked me to make a hat for her newborn pictures, I was happy to comply. I do have some pink yarn (it was given to me in a mixed bag), and she only wanted a little pink accent bow, so I still have plenty left...

I didn't have a pattern for the exact hat she wanted, so I took the photo and tried to find the closest thing I could. I added the bow (from this video tutorial) and crochet chain detail to this pattern and I think it turned out pretty close. I like the open weave of the body of the hat and can't wait to try this on a larger size someday. The precious sleeping baby makes it look even more adorable!

Little baby Wilson in her adorable little cap on the day she came home

As I mentioned, I still have plenty of the pink and white yarn, so I decided to make some matching little newborn mittens using this pattern. I like the set. I would like to make the mittens in a couple of other colors, maybe a really pale purple, and a soft baby yellow. Not that I have anyone to give them to at this time...

Mittens and cap in white and soft pink baby yarn

Since we don't have girls in the family, I have to live vicariously through my friends. I had two friends have baby girls over the last year as well, and I found a really cute and unique hat idea, using this pattern. The neat part about it is that you turn the finished product inside out! I thought that was clever, and not something you would normally think of. I also market the hat on my Etsy site as a tiny satchel, because once the little darling outgrows it, she can just tug on the drawsting to make a little pouch to house all her trinkets. I like the versatility :-)

Newborn textured baby hat/drawstring pouch

Since there are so many beautiful patterns and ideas out there for little girl items, I went a little crazy. I knew that one of my friends' little girls had no hair and that she was going to be wearing headbands and those little velcro bows on her fuzz for a while, so I had to test out a headband pattern as well. I didn't get a chance to see it on her, but I think because of the way it's made it would have stretched just fine. I had some bright pink leftover from the little Mary Jane's I made a while back, so I used it.

Little girls' headband in with Vanna's Choice in Pink Poodle

I think I'm pretty set on the little girl items for a little while. No one else I know is expecting, so I can concentrate on figuring out what to make for Christmas gifts, and the boys' birthday gift, which I'll write about soon. 

Have you found that your projects are a little one-sided on the gender scale? 

Another Day, Another Post

Writing yesterday got me in the mood to write even more! And since I've done so many projects since last summer, I have plenty to write about :-)

My last post before my absence was about these adorable knit baby pants. I've only met the little tyke once, but his newborn photo session turned out so cute! Unfortunately, the pants were a tiny bit large because he was born a few weeks premature, but I think the hat is a perfect accessory to this sleeping babe. Here he is!

He's a pretty cute dude, just like his cousins.