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.

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?