FO Parade!

I promised I have been knitting during my maternity leave and am finally delivering the proof. Let's not waste time; here are the goods. First up:

Pattern: Cloud Bolero by Ysolda, [Raveled Here]
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic in color 3214, 5 skeins

Mods: Cast on 74 sts and worked raglan increases for the medium size. Made the sleeves longer and body longer. Added a garter stitch button band as I went along. I like how this came out. Perfect for these cooler days. The big buttons (found at Joann's) cause the button bands to gape a little in the front, but it adds interest, I guess. Overall, a success!

Next up:

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles, [Raveled Here]
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton, 2 1/2 skeins

I've made this pattern twice before, once with the same exact yarn. You can't go wrong with this tried and true pattern. It's a little big on Ellie now but she'll grow into it quickly, I'm sure.

Pattern: Berry Baby Hat, [Raveled Here]
Yarn: Di Ve Zenith, less than a skein of orange and green.

I made this an October-themed hat for Halloween. Totally cute! I only wish the change over to the green "stem" was further down closer to the ears. It's a pretty skimpy looking stem, in my opinion.

Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Sweater, [Raveled Here]
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino DK in teal
You've seen this one before, but now that it has buttons, it's WAY cuter. It's too big on Ellie for a modeled shot right now.

Lastly, I had to show you all this.

This is a sweater, hat and booties knit by my grandmother for my mother. So that makes it over 60 years old. The gauge on this is ridiculously small - about 9 sts to 1 inch. My mom found a box of these vintage hand knits and I plan to share more of them with you as I go through them and as Miss E fits into them.

I'm still here!

Hello out there! Apologies for my recent disappearance. The holidays were busy, I was sick and then the January workload set in. Anywho, you're all here for knitting, right?

Before the holidays, I finished up a pair of mittens for my friend Jen.

Pattern: Druid Mittens, Vogue Knitting Fall 2008
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, less than 1 skein

Here was Jen's reaction when she opened her gift.

I think she liked them! She's a knitter, too, and appreciated the work (and love) that went into making them.

I also knit up some Baltimore Ravens hats for my brother and my dad. I didn't really follow a pattern; I just measured their heads and used that and my gauge to figure out how many stitches to cast on. I found cool iron-on patches on eBay and just pressed them on the finished hats. I used about 1 1/2 balls of Valley Yarns Superwash in black for each hat.

And, last but not least, I finally finished my Ribbon Trim Cardigan.

Pattern: Ribbon Trim Cardigan, for Blue Sky Alpacas.
Yarn: Blue Sky Melange, in Relish. About 13 1/2 skeins.

The actual knitting part of this was finished in early December, but I had a hard time picking out a ribbon that I liked. I ended up going with a pattern called Flora Earth by Patty Young. I then matched it up with a lace ribbon from Joann's for the edging. The sewing on of the ribbon was tedious, but worth the effort. With all the cold temps we've had this winter, getting outside on a sunny day has been a challenge, too!

I really love this sweater. It's really cozy, and the alpaca is stretchy for comfort, but retains its shape. I would definitely use this yarn again. Besides the ribbon, the snap band was time consuming and tricky, but I am really happy with how that came out, too.

I have started some new projects, and will get some photos and share those with all of you soon. A lot of spring patterns are out, which is giving me major spring fever. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping the Ol' Groundhog got it wrong today!

Cabled Hat Finished

It was an unexpectedly snowy Sunday yesterday, so we decided to take the boys (our dogs) for a walk in the snow. It was so beautiful out. I finished this hat a long time ago, and I was waiting to have the matching scarf done before posting about it. You know, show the whole matching set. Well, with all my WIPs now, I think the scarf might be an over-the-summer knit. So here's the hat in its full glory, snow-covered and keeping my ears warm and toasty.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in Cream, 1 1/2 balls.

Pattern: My own. I made up a cable and bobble pattern over 20 sts and repeated it 4 times around. The decreases at the top aren't great looking, but I don't care.

Verdict: It's a fun little hat that keeps me warm and looks good. For about $9, you can't beat it.

I haven't decided on what scarf pattern to use. My plan was to do a matching pattern, but I really like the Irish Hiking Scarf and Sharfik.

My little snow bunnies, Toby and Oscar.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Yay! A semi-cold front came through earlier in the week, and although it's not cold enough for snow, at least I'm not feeling like it's September around here anymore. The colder weather brought enough of a Christmas-y feel that I knocked out the very last hat for Christmas. Here's one I finished about 10 days ago and already gifted to its recipient:

Penultimate hat: Fun little J. Crew inspired hat with a single cable.

And the very last hat is also a first. It's for my hubby and is the very first thing I have ever knit for him. When I was wrapping up the Redskins' hats I made for my nephews, he grabbed the little one and tried to put it on. I knew he really wanted it, so I am trying to be a good wife for Christmas and have knitted it up while he's been out of the house, so he doesn't know it's done (let's hope he hasn't started reading the ol' blog!)

Last hat: Redskins for the Redskins fanatic. Too bad they are having a sucky season, but the Ravens aren't!

(Hehehehe, we have a little rivalry between me/my Dad/my brother and my hubby/my BIL. I am a born and raised Baltimore girl. Hence, I am a Ravens fan. My hubby was born and raised in Western Maryland where they get Washington DC channels, so they grew up watching the Redskins. And my dad and brother can real SOBs about it!)

With the Christmas knitting DONE, I have gotten back to a little knitting for moi. Well, at least for now. My mom's birthday is January 17 and I am going to attempt to knit her a sweater, though it surely won't be done in time. The yarn is still on its way from UPS. But, Forecast is moving along just swimmingly:

The oh-so fab bathroom, contorted arm shot.

It's hard to see the details since the yarn is so dark, but all I've got left is one sleeve and one side of the button band. And the buttons to sew on. And boy does this baby need a serious blocking. I'm thinking this might be the last FO of 2006. Or, the first FO of 2007. Either way, yay for a FO!

Some more Christmas FOs

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. Thanks for all the nice comments about Arisaig. I wore it to work on Monday and my co-workers really liked it.

I am SO SO happy to report that I am almost done my Christmas knitting! The Thanksgiving long weekend gave me some free time to finish up some of that stuff, so first I present the Girlfriend Shrug:

It's for my seven year old niece. I used Knitpicks Swish in aloe, sunshine, bubblegum and ballerina. The sleeves are trimmed with some girly, eyelashy yarn I had in my stash.

Next up are hats #6 and #7. They are for a brother and sister:
Again, used Knitpicks swish. The girl hat was done using Grumperina's Odessa pattern and I added some little flowers all the way around. The boy hat was done in charcoal, sunshine, red pepper and capri blue. Am I sick of Swish yet? Not quite, but almost. It does knit up really nicely with even stitches and it's really soft.

And, last but not least, I did find time to start a new project for me . . . one I've been dying to start: Forecast.

I'm using Cascade 220 tweed in a dark purple. This picture really shows the little flecks of blue, red, yellow and green. I'm almost done the yoke. Boy, does this part go slooooow. Over 200 sts on the needle. I should reach the underarm tonight!

Time flies

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Sorry everyone. Time really flies, especially now that daylight savings time is over. I've been waiting for a good chance to take some photos in the daylight, but I never get home in time.

Anyhoo, I've got 6 hats down and 3 to go. I've cut 2 people from my gift list and added another, so the total is now 9 hats. The 2 people I cut have 2 kids and they are receiving hats. I was hoping to do matching mom-daughter and dad-son hats, but I'm afraid time won't let me. If do end up with extra time, I'll make them. So here are the latest, for my husband's Redskin fanatic family.

Hats #4 and #5. For my 6 year old and 4 month old nephews. Their dad is a big Redskins fan, so I guess these things are inherited, but I'm not even sure if either boy is a Redskins fan (well, the 4 month old probably isn't yet!). I found the iron-on patches on eBay and they stuck right on without needing too much heat. Bill (husband) is getting one too.


I've got hat #6 done, but it's not photo-ready just yet. In other knitting news, Arisaig is moving along nicely. I finished the left front last night and connected it to the back using a 3 needle bind off. It's blocking now. Just 1 sleeve left to go!

I wet blocked it, and boy did this puppy GROOOOOW. I had to fluff it back into place and pinned it just so. I think when it's dry I'm going to sew in the first sleeve and sides to make sure the fit is going to be OK.

Last weekend was Stitches East. My friend Elizabeth (non-blogger) went with me. I think I realized something when I was there . . . I just can't stash. I know that it's like rule #453 of being a true knitter, but there were some great deals on basic merinos and wools and cottons, but since I had no projects in mind, I just couldn't buy it. I am like this in the rest of my life too, though. I am always cleaning things out, getting rid of clutter and organizing. I think if I had a place to keep my stash, it wouldn't be a problem. I need a craft room! I ran into my neighbor across the street and found out she's a knitter too (she teaches it) and she said her 2nd bedroom is her craft room. I should stop by her house for the inspiration. But, here is my sole purchase from Stitches.

Tahki Donegal Tweed, 10 hanks. This is for a sweater for Bill. No pattern in mind, but the yarn was a closeout from the Webs booth - $5.29/hank with like 190 yards.

A dose of reality and some finished hats

I'm trying to figure out if I'm on track to finish my Christmas hats in time or not. I've got 3 complete and 7 to go. Looking at the calendar, there are 9 full weeks left until December 25, but really, I'm going to be giving some of these hats as gifts before the actual holiday. I also remembered that I was going to knit a long-sleeve version of the one-skein wonder for my niece. I also heard from my pregnant friend Katie (recipient of the in-progress Daydream and yet-to-be-started Miss Dashwood) who is almost 32 weeks into her pregnancy. I didn't realize she was that far along! I also thought I would be almost done Arisaig by now, but I am slowing making through the 1st sleeve.

So. It's been a dose of knitting reality for me these days that I am not going to finish things as fast as I planned and I must give myself a break. My goal now is to still complete the gifts, which is totally do-able, but also to not set goals for the projects for me. It's so hard not to plan ahead with all of the new patterns coming out, but I must be patient. Knitting is a hobby, it's therapy, it's supposed to be fun. Not stress. I must put the fun back into it, or else I might ruin my love of knitting.

Ok, the updates. Here are the 3 hats thus far completed.

Hat #1. For my brother, knit with the grey and stripes of blue and green mixed in. Sorry the picture is so dark.


Hat #2. For my friend, Jen. I was going to give this to another friend, but I saw Odessa and thought that would be really cute for her and a matching one for her daughter.


Hat #3. For my 18 month old nephew. This one is my totally my favorite one so far. I love how the stripes came out.

And, I picked up some Cotton Fleece to make my knock-off of Bea. But that's not til end of winter, early spring at best. No pressure! No time constraints!

Lotsa yarn

I took Friday off from work, planning to use the day to run some errands, clean the house and knit. My order at Knit picks for the 21 balls of Swish I ordered had been shipped over a week before and the tracking system said it would probably be delivered on Friday. It was! The package was practically vacuum-packed and felt like an over-stuffed throw pillow. It was heavy. And dense. I pried it open, too excited to find scissors, and the bag burped out 21 balls of yummy soft, colorful yarn....

I ordered at least 1 of almost every color they stocked. It is VERY SOFT. So far, I've got 9 hats in mind. With Christmas less than 4 months aways, that's about 2.25 hats per month. 1.125 hats per week!

In other knitting news, I finished Ms. Marigold over the weekend. She is currently blocking - I'll have a FO report this week. I enjoyed the long weekend, hope everyone else did too!