Wound up

I wound up a ball of the Purl Soho yarn, but haven't knit with it yet. It's ready and waiting for me though! :-)

In other news, I am blocking a wee cardi for my friend's little boy. This time (first one I made see here) I did the tapered sleeves instead of the straight ones, as I think it will be better to stay close to little newborn arms. I still need to get buttons but here is a progress pic from when I was still knitting it:

Pattern: Puerperium Cardigan
Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist - Baby Twist

Currently on the needles is a pair of fingerless gloves for my friend Natalie. She sent an amazing package in the mail which contained not only YARN, but hot chocolate mixes AND homemade (yes!) marshmallows. YUM!!!! In exchange all I "have" to do is knit the yarn up into things. The yarn is super amazing, so it's really just like one big treat for me!!!!

Yarn: Shepherd's Wool (Stonehedge Fiber Mill) - worsted weight

It's super springy and cushy for 100% wool! Plus when I was winding it up it DIDN'T shed little bits of fuzz like a lot of wool has in the past. I'm a big fan of this stuff! :) As for the glove pattern, she had sent me a photo of some gloves she had seen in a store that she liked. Working roughly from that, I am really just winging it with my own pattern. (scary!) Here is what I came up with:

I borrowed the amazing stitch pattern from this hat: Claudia Hat

The rest is cobbled together and I am hoping they will suit her tastes!!!! I will keep you posted to see if I can make the 2nd glove the same size/pattern. LOL. (I took notes but it's still hard!) I might also have some ideas for the rest of the yarn (seeing as I am going to have plenty leftover!).

Last and also least, I finally gave it up and frogged that sweater I had started for Norah. It just wasn't what I wanted, and I'd much rather make something we will both enjoy wearing and using. Oh well!

Christmas knitting 09

Happy 2010! Before we look forward to the new year, let me recap my christmas knitting!

First and foremost, I can now reveal my secret project that I've been working on since JUNE.... it is the Estes Vest, and I knit it as a christmas gift for my sister in law!!!!!!


It was quite a project... cables, charts, POCKETS (never made those before!), and more! It was really a lot of fun though and I am very happy with the finished project.




And more importantly, so is Mare!!!! Woot. And it fits her, another plus! Apparently she even liked it enough to wear to her husband's family christmas party the next day... that was so awesome of her!


Next up was gifts for my family. We just had our christmas celebrations the other night since my mom was out of town! First up: I blogged about the "button gloves" I made for my mom earlier, and luckily she was very impressed when I gave them to her!


Also a big hit was the hat I made for my brother! He put it on right away and made comments like he thought it looked like something he'd see at abercrombie or something.... I'll take that as a compliment!!!!


(yes ladies, he's single!)

Finally, my other big project.... my dad's vest!!!!


For all the plain gray stockinette I had to slog through, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out... and also happy I was able to block a few extra inches into the width! :-)


Luckily dad indulged me and tried it on when I gave it to him.... and it fit! YEAH!


Finally, two small projects I whipped up in my "spare knitting time" before xmas.... Yes I actually had some! I know you will all hate me for that. Maybe next year I will be the one sweating it out and knitting into the wee hours of the night on something :-). I made a simple yellow dishcloth for some friends of ours (not anything photo worthy) and then I did some gloves. Simple fingerless ones for my Aunt: (one of my fav patterns: malabrigo mitts)


And lace up "opera gloves" (pattern) for my friend Shawn. I made them shorter than what the pattern specified, but I think they are plenty long enough!


Whew! So that sums up Christmas 09. I am very satisfied with what I got done, and am looking forward to what I can whip up in 2010!!!!

Glovies!

These have been done for a few weeks, but cross one xmas gift off my list: Gloves for my mom!


It started when my mom took me shopping for my birthday in October. While perusing the hat/glove/scarf section at a store, she saw some cute (abet fingerless) gloves that had a little strap across the wrist fastened with a button. I immediately took a mental note that I could make something like that for xmas!


When searching Rav, I wasn't finding anything that I really wanted, so I used a plain glove pattern and added my own strap! How did it turn out??? Well thanks to the PERFECT buttons I found at a fabric store in Indy...


They are perfect! Hope mom likes them!


(like the camera strap in that pic? oops! hehe)