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.