Sweater done and new project...

I got the baby sweater done. It's not bad for a sweater, just has some elements I am not totally pleased with. One thing is I suck at is sewing up the sides/arms, so I might try and redo that again with thread instead of yarn. Anyone else have sewing tips? I typically turn it inside out, pinch the two sides together and do a whip stitch (I believe) to join. It really isnt the greatest... but it is all I know how to do. Suggestions welcome!

ALSO I am trying to think of something to use to hold the sweater closed! I am thinking a large safety pin? Maybe a plastic one? Something the baby can't eat or hurt themself on....

My penguin likes to model sweaters for me.


I am working on the ribbed turtleneck shrug for my friend Meg.... I am only a few inches away from being done! WOOT!

Finally I cast on for a pair of booties for my coworker... she mentioned how she wants to get pink baby converse shoes for her future baby girl... I thought what would be better than pink BOOTIES that the baby can wear soon!!!!


One is cast off, I need to sew it up and weave in the ends and then add the fake "laces". Hope to get to that at lunch today!

Lots of snow... hope you all are staying warm!

Project catch up....

OK This one is barely making it on the blog, it was knitted & done so fast!


Keyhole Scarf! (scroll down on the linked page)


My mom loves it :-)

Also I am making good progress on a baby sweater....


Ribbed Baby Jacket (ravelry link) from Debbie Bliss book "Special Knits: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies and Toddlers"

I am insane and decided to make a striped one, which is going to result in 2.5 million ends to weave in! poo!

Recycled sweater yarn

So I had this sweater I had bought from Old Navy quite awhile ago... It was kinda frumpy and too boxy on me (not flattering) so I never wore it... but I hung on to it through SEVERAL moves because I liked the color.... and now I finally have gotten around to salvaging the yarn from it to be knit into cooler things!!!!!! How did I do this you ask?

(Side note: the sweater yarn is worth recycling because it is 58% wool... thats enough wool for me!!!!)

1. I spent an evening picking out the seams and winding the yarn into skeins (wound it around my arm) and then tying the skeins with little pieces of red yarn to keep them neat and not tangled. Look how curly the yarn is after being in a "knitted" state for so long!


2. I soaked the skeins in some warm water for awhile, squeezed them in some towels to get the water out and then hung them from doorknobs/hooks with a can of beans or whatever as a "weight"... this helps get all those kinks out of the yarn!

3. Once they were completely dry, I used my awesome ball winder and swift to wind them into these pretty skeins! Look how much yarn I got from this sweater.... SWEET!

Swift swift!

As I mentioned before, my lovely husband said he would build me a yarn swift to go with the ball winder he gave me for xmas. Well he is a man of his word... here is my BEAUTIFUL handmade swift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (seen here on the dining room table, which is the best place to clamp the ball winder)


I mean, seriously folks... I married the best man a knitter could EVER marry!!!!! Look at these details...


I love that shape of the block in the center! And its fully adjustable to a number of sizes!

And the stain he used... its such a lovely dark color. Sigh :-)


Thanks again hubby... you rock!!!!!

Jesmy handknits

I'd like to take some time out from my regular non-posting to do some shameless promotion for my good friend Jessica!

She has recently been laid off from her job....which SUCKS (thanks economy!) BUT this means she has lots more time to knit more awesome things for her etsy shop:


She has recently added several new projects... I especially love the bright yellowy orange cowl:


Gorgeous!

Right now she has even marked down all her scarves (look in the "sale" section), and is in the process of adding really neat vintage knitting books!

I hope you all go and check out her shop!!! :-)

Also - all of you try and STAY WARM - its been in the negative degrees here lately, blech! I am going to climb under all my wool and hibernate until spring....

First FOs of 2009

9 days into the year and already I am on a roll!!!!!

Due to the large amount of babies I have heard will be born this year, I thought I'd get a jump on my baby knitting.

Booties:


MORE booties:


Yes, they are the same yarn and same pattern... the pattern I have made before. I included the holes so I can put cute I-cord ties in them, but my plan is to wait until I hear the sexes of the babies and then I can make either a pink or blue cord. That way I got some knitting done ahead of time, but at the same time they can be gender-personalized!

On the needles:

A commissioned project.... my first! My best bud Megan (who was my maid of honor at my wedding) found a picture of a really cute turtleneck shrug online and asked if I could make it for her. I was excited to try, so I researched and found the pattern in the book Scarf Style. Megan, being so awesome, not only bought me the book but also bought all the yarn needed for the project! (She and I picked out some Knitpicks Swish Superwash in colors Black & Bok Choy)

Here is my current progress.... one sleeve done!

It looks skinny but its all 3x3 rib and its soooo stretchy and awesome! :-)

Happy New Year!!!!!

2008 was an eventful and fun year... I got hired on as a full time employee at my job (finally), my second nephew was born, I got MARRIED! I can't wait to see what 2009 brings!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a look back on 2008, knitting wise.....


(click for bigger)

What a knitting year also - I made booties for the first time, I made a complicated lace shawl, I knit a pillow, slippers, baby blankets, a knitted tie, baby sweaters, and cabled things galore!!!!! It was a great "learning" year for me.

Thanks to everyone who read my blog in '08!

Oh yeah

I forgot, I made this cowl in one evening over my xmas break:


I am going to gift it to my cousin-in-law (? lol) as a somewhat thank you for her awesome gifts she mailed us!



I hope she likes it... its made from Bernat alpaca blend yarn, so its super soft (yarn was a xmas gift from mom!)

Thanks Cynthia!

Cynthia gave me this really pretty knitting project bag:


I love it!

She also gave me Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Never Not Knitting" calendar for 2009, Woot! I actually got that from my MIL too.... I have had a really great knitting xmas!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Gifts

I must have been a very good girl this year, because I got some amazing gifts!!!!!!!!

1. Yarn from Jessica!!! Mailed to me all the way from Colorado. It is beautiful, I love that shade of green! I can't wait to find something to make from it!


2. Set of knitpicks straight needles from my Mother in Law!!!!!! Isn't the case beautiful too?


I have already moved my dad's scarf over onto the new needles and they are FABULOUS! Very pointy tips and they are super smooth. :-)

3. MORE needles from my hubby!!! This time the circular needle set!!! WOW!!!!!


Can't wait to use those too!

4. A Ball winder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!


DH is the best... I have been wanting one of these for a WHILE! I hate winding up yarn manually. ALSO - He says he is going to build me a swift! WOOT!!!!!!!!!!

I had bought my dear Husband (DH) some yarn for xmas (he knits too a little) and so we decided to try out the winder on his new yarn....


It works great!!!!!



Whew... what a nice Christmas!!!!! I hope the rest of you had a good time with your families & ate a ton of food and enjoyed!

Knitted Tie

Here are some finished pics of the tie I made for my dad... he loved it!!!!!!!!!!! :-)




Here he is on Christmas day opening it and trying it on... I think it turned out just fine!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays from me and the hubby :)

Last minute Christmas Knitting continues....

OK here goes!

1. A Christmas gift to myself... I ripped out and reknit the lower section of the sleeves on my hourglass sweater....(can you tell which sleeve has been reknitted? hehe)


They were beautiful but too long and too wide.


Now they are a lot more manageable and won't get so caught in my coat sleeves! Yay!!!!!

2. Noro striped scarf - DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Isn't she beautiful????????????????????????


Noro is magic. This is another christmas present to myself... Wow, so far this list is awfully selfish!!! :-/


Sorry, I had to take a million pics of this scarf... it is really photogenic, no???

3. Finally, a present for someone else! I just need to figure out who. Originally I was using the leftovers from Holden's blanket to make him a matching hat... (cute, no?)


Well apparently I suck at swatching and at doing math, because it came out a teensy bit big...


YES - it fits MY head. I am going to take it with me when I see the nephews at christmas and hope it fits one of the kiddos with the brim turned up. If not,... I will (sigh) rip it out and try again. Bleh!

4. TIE FOR MY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry it is blocking... I will get cuter shots later but ZOMG ITS DONEEEEEEEEE! Those teensy metal needles really cramp up my hands so it is a big relief. Also for those of you not paying attention, I had this scarf almost half done back in AUGUST for my dad's birthday present... OOPS.... at least he will get it for xmas!


Here it is compared to a store bought tie I was using as a template!

I am on vacation this week so expect more knitting! Yay! For now I am exhausted so I am off to bed... hope everyone is staying safe and warm in this icy winter weather!

Blankie-tastic!

Monday I played hooky and used a "personal day" to go visit the SIL and her fam in Indy!


Aren't we adorable? lol

We had a great day, celebrated her hubby's bday, went to lunch and the library...AND... we finished Holden's blanket!!!!!!!!



It turned out great! All we did is we each cast on 90 stitches. We each had 4 balls of Knitpicks Swish Bulky in the same 4 shades. Random striping ensued. Finally, we decided upon a three needle bind-off yesterday which worked GREAT! You can't even tell where our two halves were joined. Yay for no seaming! (lots of weaving in ends though). What did the recipient think?


Well he was a little sleepy from his nap, but we think he likes it :-)

Also I am making progress on my Noro scarf.... I LOVE it!!!!! I want to wear it soon... hopefully....

Oh! and I finally found buttons and finished the slippers for my mom:



I am happy with how they turned out... I hope she likes them!

Stay warm everyone! Brrrrrrr!

The Big 3

3 years.

Happy 3rd blogiversary, Knitting at Lunch! I never thought I would keep this thing up (well posting sporadically) for three years!!!! And here I am... still knitting, at lunch, with Cynthia. Thank god they hired us and we're not still temps!!!

Thank you Cynthia for helping me get where I am, knitting-wise. You have been a great mentor! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be the yarn-snob that I am today. LOL. Thanks :)

Thank you to Jessica, who without the magic of the internet and this blog (this was pre-ravelry) we would not have met, nor become such great friends. She even flew out from colorado to come to my wedding last month!!!!! I always love her projects and she can churn out stuff so fast. To celebrate my blogiversary feel free to go buy something cute for yourself from her store. ;-)

Thanks to anyone out there who actually reads this... you all rock. By the way, how is your christmas knitting going? I am way too distracted by my Noro scarf. Oh, how I love it. lol.

Have a great week everyone!