Mitts and Turtles

It’s been awhile since I’ve had time to blog here. My apologies! Lately, after a few years of being burned out at work, I have taken up my knitting again.

I’m starting slow, but I recently made some hand mitts (for me!), and a turtle for my niece’s daughter’s first birthday. I made the rose hat for the turtle because its neck seemed too long. I definitely overstuffed this turtle – out of practice!

The hand mitts happened because our house is drafty and typing in cooler temperatures is hard to do with frozen fingers! That’s all I have for now. Hopefully more soon!

Socks and Sweaters!

Finished the Sage sweater and the Lemon-Lime sweater! Evidence:

I was so happy to be finished with those two that I wasn’t sure what to start next. So, I have started more socks. I like doing socks because they’re relatively easy and quick. They don’t take as long as sweaters, baby or otherwise. So now I am working on some red Ragg wool socks for my father-in-law, and also some “Monica’s Blue Dress” socks, possibly for me. Monica’s Blue Dress yarn is from Politically Incorrect Yarns, which is where I got the yarn for the Distraction socks. I’m using the same “embossed leaves” pattern for the Monica socks that I did for the Distraction socks. It was easy enough and it doesn’t hurt my hands.

More as it happens!

Catwoman’s Toe-Up Sock

TwoChixCrafting is written by Catwoman and TricotChick. Catwoman is unable to post this, so I am posting it for her. Enjoy!

Toe-Up Sock

I used 0 needles and started with casting on 10 and ending with a total of 68 stitches around.  The first pair I made I started with 8 and a total of 60 stitches and it was a bit snug. I started this sock early August and worked on it off and on.

I now have all kinds of sock yarn and want to try varying my pattern with each new one I make.  The one I am sending I did a k3 p1 along the top of the sock after I finished the toe increases.  One of the women in my class did that with hers and it turned out beautiful.  Mine wasn’t so bad either.

 

Summer Knitting or lack thereof…

Well, this summer has been ridiculous in so many ways. It’s August 21 and I am STILL not finished with either the Distraction socks or the Lemon-Lime baby sweater.

I haven’t posted because how many ways can you say “I’m still not finished?!” It’s been horrendously busy at work — our executive director passed away a month ago today, and our annual meeting was the 2nd week of August. And home life has been ridiculously busy as well. I have nothing to show for my summer knitting.

I am finally knitting the second sleeve of the lemon-lime baby sweater. But I have about 5-6 inches left, and I can’t begin to tell you how long the first 2-3 inches took. The other sleeve is finished, as is the body of the sweater. I am trying desperately to stick to these two projects and FINISH them, but for whatever reasons, they just do not want to be finished.

But I am determined. Truly.

Wish me luck!! I am so going to need it.

Still distracted…

I’m still working on the “distraction” socks. We had such a hot and humid streak there I just couldn’t bear to be near yarn of any sort, so the socks and the lemon lime sweater have been on hold. But this is how far I’ve gotten on the socks. I missed my niece’s birthday (last Sunday) with them, but she was very understanding (“it’s too hot for socks”), so I have a reprieve.

Still Distracted!

The lemon-lime baby sweater, however, I have to get moving on. The twins have arrived and will be in college if I don’t get a move on! Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

Lemon-Lime Baby Mine is Finally Good!

This is what the “distraction socks” have been distracting me from.

The yarn is from Peter Pan, and it’s called Tinkerbell. The mother-to-be (and now mother of twins — a boy and a girl) picked out the yarn and pattern, just as with the other twin’s sweater, the Sage sweater (for the son). This pattern is called Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, and I doubt she envisioned using this yarn for this pattern. It was hard for me to even see if I was doing this right! I consulted with the mother, and she said she didn’t mind if the pattern was obscured, so I continued. But it wasn’t really until yesterday, with the help of some rare sunshine during a very stormy day, that I was finally able to see that it’s doing just fine.

Now…finally…I am distracted from the Distraction socks by what I shouldn’t have been distracted from in the first place!! Hurray!!

Socks from the Toes Up by Wendy D. Johnson

Yummy!

I ordered this book last October, and it just came today.  I’ve only had a chance to peek through the photos, but it is delish. Usually I only like 1 or 2 patterns in a sock book — I love all of these! What a great sock book! And I am determined to learn the toe up method, so it’s doubly good!

I particularly like the “Hearts and flowers” pattern which is shown on the cover. Too cool. You can check out the author’s blog at http://www.wendyknits.net

I recommend it!

Distractions….

You know, just when you try to keep to one project at a time, there’s always something that distracts.

Politically Incorrect Last Call yarn

Sage Baby Sweater, Baby Cot/Soy Sweater

The sage sweater is going well.

Adding buttons

When the photo above was taken earlier this week, I still had to sew the sleeve seam. I have since accomplished this! Also, you can see the buttons the mother-to-be chose. They go very well with the sweater, I think! Hard to tell in this photo. But it’s almost done. I just have to wash, block and then add the buttons. Yay! Then I can start on the little girl’s sweater.

Had a great time at Stitches West. I took a class to design my own baby sweater. The teacher was terrific, she made sure everybody understood the math. She gave us a basic pattern to follow, and showed us how to figure out how many stitches we needed for each part, based on our stitch count and our row count. Pretty cool.

I had chosen a beautiful yarn that is half cotton, half soy. I love the color, which I think is Steel Blue. There ought to be a prettier name for such a pretty blue. Anyway, this is what I’m doing with it so far.

Blue Cot/Soy SweaterIt's hard to see in the photo, but every fourth stitch on every fourth row is a purl stitch. And you alternate where you start in the row so it gives it a staggered pattern. At the bottom I did a few rows of single crochet and then a row of picot. Kind of cute, eh? I'm about to start the yoke, and I am going to use a different pattern. Stay tuned!Some other photos of both projects.Progress!

Creating raglan armholes

Working on Cot/Soy Baby Sweater Body

More as it happens. I have to go shovel some snow. Argh.

Pirate’s Booty Finished; Sage Daisy Sweater Begun!

I finished the Pirate’s Booty baby sweater, more appropriate known as the “Baby Yours” sweater. (Pirate’s Booty is the Socks that Rock colorway name.) It has been blocked and wrapped and sent off to its recipient. It’s a 12 mos. size, so it’ll be awhile before the little one can wear it (he’s just a little peanut right now!), but at least they have it. And not too long after the baby made his entrance into the world! Yay!

I think it turned out rather cute!

Now I have gone on to another baby sweater, also by Stephanie Pearl McPhee. This one is much simpler in pattern — it’s the Daisy sweater from Knitty.com. This is the first sweater for a pair of twins who are due some time in March or April. This is for the boy — the twins are a boy and a girl. At the mother’s request, I am not adding the snakes or daisies, which I think it quite sensible. I had her pick out the yarn also (she’s very creative and I thought she would enjoy having a hand in choosing the pattern and yarn). She chose Invernal by Aslan Trends, in a light sage green. It’s lovely to work with — half rabbit angora, a quarter merino wool and the other quarter is polyamide.  This is what I have so far:

It has a seed stitch border along the front edges, very subtle, and very fun to do.

That’s it for now. Catwoman and I will be off to Stitches West at the end of the month. More as it happens!