Remember these?

You may remember the sweater I had tried to make for my poor nephew. You know, the kind-hearted 6 year old who had to open up his present of a sweater on the needles at Christmas????? Seriously. Sorry kiddo, your Auntie dropped the ball! Luckily for him, his mom took the poor sweater from me and gave it to her awesome friend Courtney (she's amazing). Courtney did what I should have done in the first place, which was ignore the pattern and make up my own yoke shaping! Doesn't my nephew look handsome???

Thanks again Courtney!

You also may recall that I was knitting a baby blanket for my little man. Or maybe I never blogged about it since I can't find anything! Well, my SIL and I have a tradition of jointly  knitting  blankets for our kids.

From clicking those links you will see I couldn't find a FO pic of the blanket we made for Norah (sheesh). Here it is if I never posted it!

We knew we had to make something for my little guy who showed up in January. I had got this book as a gift and thought the baby blanket would work out well for breaking into parts we could each work on. I made 3 triangles and my SIL made the 4th and then did the tough work of seaming it together and doing the border! Thanks so much Mare!

Pattern: "blanket"
Yarn: Vanna's Choice (had to go washable!)

Everything Else

I hope you all saw my new pattern for the Ice Pop Sleeve! I'm hoping to make a bunch for Norah's little friends too... gotta keep all those tiny hands from getting too cold! :)

Besides that, I've been making various small things for gifts:

These soft squeezy orbs are great baby gifts! I made a few for various friends. So quick to knit and easy/safe for little babies to play with!

Pattern: Squishies
Yarn: Red Heart Eco-Ways

My friend Shawn joined me in the exclusive club of people who recently turned 30, so I knit her a monster. :-) I was digging around in my yarn and found a bunch of gold... and since Shawn went to Purdue I thought I'd use her alma mater's colors of gold and black. I think he turned out pretty cute!

Pattern: Geet the Garage Monster
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool

I was debating whether or not to add a "tooth" like the original pattern but I like him as is. Did some striping on the arms/legs to add more contrast color. Shawn says his name is "Beezer Twelve Washingbeard" and that "His friends just call him 'The Beez' ". I like it!

For mother's day, since my mom carries around a bottle of water at all times (her throat gets dry easily), I made her this water bottle carrier:

Pattern: Bishi
Yarn: Sugar n Cream cotton 

I did the strap a lot shorter because I thought my mom wouldn't want to wear it like a purse. Really quick and easy pattern!


More soon, I promise I will try! 

Ice Pop Sleeve

Updated in May of 2019 to reflect bigger ice pop size and additional notes after years of using these sleeves! The ice pops we purchase are from the Kroger grocery stores here in the US. Your local brand size may vary, but it's easy enough to customize this pattern by adding or subtracting stitches!

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Just in time for warmer temperatures, this Ice Pop Sleeve was created after realizing my (then) 2-year-old hated to hold onto her ice pop. Her little fingers would get too cold! As much as I love sitting around and holding her popsicles (ha), I used a temporary solution of wrapping the ice pop with a dishcloth to protect her hands. Of course the knitter in me saw the opportunity to make this a thing! Should fit a standard ice pop "tube".

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Ice Pop Sleeve

Yarn:
Partial skein of Peaches & Creme or Sugar 'n Cream kitchen cotton, or any worsted weight cotton yarn (this is a great opportunity for stash busting!)

Needles:
4 double-pointed needles in size US6 (or could do magic loop on a circular needle)

Notions:
Scissors
Darning needle for weaving in ends

Gauge:
Not critical for this project, although I recommend going down one needle size from what your yarn calls for so that the resulting stitch is tighter.

Pattern:
CO 16 sts, dividing stitches across three dpns as evenly as you can (For example: 6 sts on first needle, 5 sts on the other two), although exact layout doesn't matter! Other option is to use the magic loop method on circular needles.

Join to begin knitting in the round, being careful not to twist.

Knit every stitch (stockinette stitch) until the tube measures approximately 5 inches (or custom length as you desire). For my sleeves pictured I knitted 33 rows.

Bind off loosely and weave in the ends.

Add your favorite ice pop and enjoy without freezing your fingers!

Ravelry link: Ice Pop Sleeve