Little things

I've been having fun making lots of little/medium things lately!

A pile of Ice Pop Sleeves for Norah's friends....

Squishies for baby gifts....

A cushy soft cowl for my MIL for mother's day....

Pattern: Helter Skelter Cowl
Yarn: Punta Yarns Merisoft

And I did make a short-sleeve baby sweater, but I used acrylic and surprise, I didn't like how it looked/felt when I was done. It also seemed to small for the 12 month size I was shooting for! So back to the drawing board :)

Now I'm working on a secret project! This is all I can show you now....

I might have to set it aside though and make THIS: Cutting Teeth Toque
Courtney is an awesome knitting designer and is so nice to offer her pattern for FREE until August! Get it while it's hot, folks! I plan on making it for Norah. :)

Little hats and blankets

I decided it was time to do something with this box of scrap skeins I have been keeping forever. My first thought of course was baby hats! I pulled out some colors I liked and came up with these:

(Side note: WHY does blogger turn my photos like this? so annoying!)

(I give up... everyone just tilt your heads to the right. thanks)

So anyway! The first one is geared towards a baby boy but doesn't have a recipient just yet. The second one I had enough of the green to make an entire hat, and then I had the idea to go buy a flower hair clip (tarjay) and clip it onto the stitches. I gave that one to some friends/former coworkers who won't find out the sex of their kid until they are born in Sept. It works out great though: if they have a girl, the hat is fine! If they have a boy, they can remove the clip and give it to their daughter! Perfect :-)

In other baby knitting news, I started some baby blankets. I'm not sure if I should post them just yet because I want them to be a surprise... so hold tight people! I am making them stroller sized, so the first one is almost done and it's only been a week! Woot.

It's July???

Whoops it's suddenly July! I guess I should do a wrap up of anything that came off my needles in the past few months! I haven't worked much on that blue cowl (surprise surprise, because it's for ME).

OK this one is actually from April?!? I made a cowl as a birthday gift for my friend Natalie. I used some yarn I had reclaimed from an old navy sweater and it's really nice... has some wool and I think even a touch of angora? Anyway I had fun modeling it for my project photos :) I really want one for myself now!

Pattern: Columbia Cowl

I also made some preemie and baby hats, and a ballband dishcloth (which pulled me out of a knitting funk where I was not in the mood to do anything! Scary!!!)

Then after finding out the sex of my cousin's baby-to-be, (Boy!) I got to working on a few things:

Pattern: Baby Sophisticate

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Encore

I liked the pattern but I made the 6-12 month size and it came out newborn.... yikes. So keep that in mind if you want to make it. The arms were long enough for a 6 month old but it would barely button around my friend's 2.5 month old kid.... sooooo thats why it is going to my cousin (was originally making it for a baby who is already born, oops).

I also threw together this "Phoenix Suns" hat - I hope the basketball button makes them realize it is in team colors! hehe!

Whew - Still more to share!!! Hope you guys aren't getting tired :)

My friend from college (she's the one who made those cool knitting cookies!) is pregnant again... with TWINS! She found out they were going to have 2 girls (woot!), so along with passing on some of Norah's old clothes I made these hats:

Pattern: my own, notes here

Yarn: Leftover Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky (they knit up so fast!)

And last but not least, mom's birthday present:

Pattern: Ilene Bag

Yarn: Sugar & Cream kitchen cotton

I followed another user's mods to make it slightly smaller than written, I think it turned out nicely. I think if I make it again I might make the strap a few stitches narrower, but it is comfortable on the shoulder. Anyway I think mom liked it! Happy birthday! :-)

Mossy out!

Finished the Mossy baby sweater, sewed on buttons and mailed it off. I forgot to get pics with the buttons but here it is drying on a towel:


I like it! I'm glad I didn't do the sleeve stripes. Hope it fits its little boy recipient sometime after he is born this year :)

In other news, I've finished the body on the Owls sweater and have started a sleeve. I have a playdate next week with the recipient so I hope she will humor me and try it on so I can make sure it is the right fit. Otherwise I will be ripping and ripping.... so cross your fingers!!!!!! :)

Jewelry and Vikings

What do those things have in common? I knitted them!

1. Jewelry:
I was trying to think of something to make my mom for Christmas... something I haven't knitted her yet (see: 2 sweaters, scarves, gloves, slippers, dishcloths, felted bowl, etc etc). Mom always wears really nice jewelry that matches her outfit. I thought... maybe I could knit a necklace???


Pattern: Knit Your Pearls
Yarn: Wilkinson Fancy Yarn Lustre (gifted from a UK friend)


I still need to find a button or clasp to close it up, but I like it! I think having the shiny metallic yarn helps it feel more like jewelry.

2. Vikings
A friend and coworker of my husband is expecting his first child. He is a fan of Lord of the Rings and dwarves and such. I was trying to come up with a cute geeky baby gift to knit for them, and this is what I ended up with:


It's technically a viking hat, but I think its close enough to something dwarvish. The horns are kind of huge compared to the hat/baby head size, but I think it's going to be extra adorable that way!

Pattern: Viking hat, followed some mods for a newborn size and horn mods (see rav page)
Yarn: Various basic wools, I think mostly patons!

Coming soon: a bear!

P.S. Check out Courtney's blog... she did her "Ravelry links" post and included some of my favorites :)

Pants Saga

Weeeelllll I might have posted a bit too soon about being "done" with the baby pants yesterday. After binding them off and going about adding elastic and sewing down the waistband, I stepped back to admire my work


Hmmm, wait a minute.


Crap. One leg is like 1/2 inch wider than the other. I followed the pattern! Didn't I??? What the heck? Oooook fine. Rip out the large leg, reknit. kitchner the new "crotch" stitches. Add a button.




NOW I'm done. Jeez. Baby shower is tomorrow!!!!!!

Kanoko

This is an old picture already, considering I just bound these off and am sewing down the waistband! I cant decide if I should use elastic or make a drawstring per the pattern. I better decide in the next hour because all my baby shower gifts are getting a wash tonight in preparation for Saturday! Also: YES I MADE IT IN TIME!!!! :D

Round 2

After finishing up the baby legwarmers and hat for my hubby's pregnant cousin #1 (having a girl), I moved onto the second couple, who are having a boy! I thought this pattern would make him look like a cute little baby elf boy:


I am missing the button in the photo, but it's a cute little brown one!
Pattern: Vintage Pixie Cap from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies
I used worsted yarn so I only cast on 60 sts (trying to make a 0-3 month size)

And I whipped up some bootie/socks to match:


That is probably one of my fav baby sock patterns. (Link: Layette from Itty Bitty Nursery)
It's constructed just like a regular sock, but on worsted yarn and in the tiny baby size it goes SO fast! I knit the foot a little shorter than the pattern specifies (probably like 2.5 inches long instead of three before the toe).

Now for pregnant cousin #3.... I have cast on these pants: Kanoko Pants
We will see if I can get them done by Saturday! Go go go!

Knitting: a strenuous sport at times

Not this weekend but NEXT weekend I am attending a baby shower for THREE of Greg's cousins who are expecting. THREE! Yikes... let's just say it is full on baby knitting time!!!! Luckily Norah took a really long nap this afternoon and that combined with time in the evenings I whipped these out this week:


Baby legwarmers and a hat, my own design. 2x2 ribbing and then 2 rows of each color. Quick and hopefully cute! The hat came out a tad bigger than I planned, so I will call it a 6 month sized set.

Now... what's next!!!!

Finished photo

I realized I haven't gotten a nice "finished" photo of the green newborn sweater!


I really love it. I need to mail it off to its recipient!

In other news, that pretty teal yarn that I ripped out? Well let's just say I ripped it out, AGAIN. I finished the yoke of this sweater dress and it was huge, like 2T or so! Oopsies. Poor Norah, I am going to knit you a sweater for this winter if it kills me! :-)

Done but not done

Well that newborn sweater flew off the needles! I've even washed/blocked it twice, because the first time I didn't use wool wash and the yarn had a bit of a smell to it. The second time I used some lavender SOAK that I got from Cynthia. :-)


I still need to add the buttons, which is why this isn't "DONE" done.... and the reason that hasn't happened is because they sell buttons in packs of 5 (which I had one), and this sweater needs 7! Sheesh! I hope I can get to the store this weekend for some button shopping!

In other news, remember the cabled baby sweater I had started a couple weeks before Norah was born? (crazy me) Well I finally decided it wasn't worth the yarn to finish it (considering it would be too small for Norah) and also I just wasn't "feeling it" anymore. Soooo rip rip rip, and a soak:


And now I've cast on for a big girl sweater/dress for my big girl!

Pattern: Little sister's dress (rav link)

I'm knitting the 12 month size but using slightly larger yarn/needles... so we will see how this turns out!

Don't you love....

...baby knitting??? There was a wave of people having babies last year. I enjoyed knitting lots of little tiny things, especially for my OWN wee one! Luckily the wave seems to keep on going, because we recently found out some friends of ours are expecting their first little one next year. Even though they JUST told us, I couldn't help but cast something on.....


Pattern: Puerperium Cardigan (rav link)

I am already casting off the body! I love how quick newborn knits are! Plus this yarn is gorgeous. I think Jessica sent it to me for a gift (if my brain serves me correctly). Thanks Jess!

Back in the groove

It's nice to be back in the groove of knitting again! After getting Christmas stuff out of the way, I have had several baby items to make (so many friends having babies! Must be something in the water???)....

For my friend from high school Sarah, who is having a baby girl ANY DAY now, I sent her this hat and bootie set:

 

Pattern:  Hat pattern   Bootie pattern (Rav link)

Next up, one of my coworkers and his wife were also due to have a baby girl (she is born now!) so Cynthia and I collaborated to make a hat and booties (she did the booties) out of some fun orange yarn:

Pattern: Aston hat

Third in line is another one of my high school friends, Becca, who is having a baby boy in March! We just had her baby shower this last weekend, so I got these things together:

Booties:   Garter stitch booties  (used some mods from ravelry)
Sweater:  Felix's cardigan

I also threw in a couple of bibs for Becca as well:

Pattern: Sideways Garter Stitch Bib (rav link)

Pattern: I love stockinette baby bib  (rav link)

WHEW! I have a couple other bibs but I haven't gifted them yet (for 2 other friends who have already had their babies). It's the same garter stitch sideways bib as the solid blue one above, only I cast on less stitches and used small scraps of different colored cotton I had lying about. It makes for a cute bib and a good use for all the tiny balls of cotton I have!

Anyway I think that's enough for now! Will post again soon with some charity knitting and something I just cast on for Norah :)