Baby Kimono x2

The Pattern: Garter Stitch Baby Kimono by Joji Locatelli
Size: 1-3 months
The Yarn: Rowan RYC Siena (153.0yds/139.9m) in Flounce (3 balls), Grasshopper (3 balls), and Frost (1 ball)
Needle size: US 4/3.5mm

Started: 7/6/11
Finished: 8/11/11

Quick knits made for these two cuties, our soon to be god-kids. Twins born to good friends of ours. The one with the smirk is Grant and Gabby is the angel on the right.

I had a larger vertical gauge than was called for so I didn't do as many decreases along the neckline, so the necks ended up a little tight.

The edging is an applied I-cord.

Overall they turned out pretty cute.

News Bulletin

Thought I'd finally let you know what I've been up to.

Mid-Feb I was really busy putting my portfolio together. I had a review to get into upper division at FIT scheduled for the 26th. I worked really hard to get everything together, then there was a freaking snow storm and my review was rescheduled for March 11.

In between I went to Vegas.
My first time. J and I stayed at Cesear's Palace. Here's the view from our room:
That big pool of water is the Bellagio fountain. I swear our room was bigger than our apartment. Guess that's not so surprising considering we live in a studio.


Our friends from Fargo met up with us there and we had a really good time. I even played poker. Now J and I want to go down there for a weekend every year :)

When we got back my schedule was thrown off and I still haven't gotten totally straightened out. I had my portfolio review and was accepted into the BA program. Yay me!

Oh I've also taken up baking bread.

This is a loaf of sandwich bread and some buttery rosemary dinner rolls. Yum.

There has been some knitting too. I participated in my first Ravelympics. Its an event on Ravelry where you try to knit a project start to finish during the Olympics. Unfortunately I was a total failure and didn't finish my project. I did finish this before the Ravelympics started:

Another Duck Soup Sweater. This one was for Elise, the daughter of our friends that met us in Vegas.

Here's the project run down:
Duck Soup by Anny Purls
Yarn: MC Cascade Yarn 220 Superwash Color #858 - 2 skeins
Closures Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett Color #4451 - maybe 1/4 of a skein
Size: 18 months
Needle size: US9/5.5mm and US1 for closures


Pretty cute.

And I did another swap. This is what I gave my partner:

And I got this lovely package in return:


Whew! A lot has happened.

Now I'm working on:
Getting my portfolio in digital format to apply for a scholarship
Finishing my Clothilde shawl (I'm currently mad at it)
Finishing my Whisper cardigan that I started for Ravelry
School
Work
Sleeeeep

Ok I'm off to knock that last one off the list. G'night!

Rhythm for Anna

Now that all my holiday knitting has been gifted I can finally post about it.
First up are the hat and scarf I made for my 1 1/2 yr old neice.

The Pattern: Ear Cozies (CH-34) by Bev Galeskas
Size: Medium (1-2 years)
The Yarn: About 3/4 of a ball of Jojoland Rhythm Superwash in RS62
Needle size: 5

Started: 11/25
Finished: 11/26

A couple years ago I made a hat and scarf set for my eldest neice, so this year I thought I'd make one for my younger neice. I chose the ear cozie pattern because I love the way it covers the ears. Gotta keep those little ears toasty!

The ear flaps are made using short rows, which took me a few tries to get right. I was using a varigeated yarn and I wanted both the earflaps to be the same color.

In order to get the earflaps the right color I knit one earflap. Then on the setup row for the second earflap I knit 23 sts, knit wrap with st, k19 sts. Break the yarn and weave in end. Next I joined a second ball of yarn that started with similar coloring as the first and knit 14 sts to finish off the set up row. Continue to knit per instructions.

There are two versions of this hat, pointy and rounded. I chose pointy, it makes her look like a cute little elf :)

I chose this yarn because I was looking for something variegated and washable. This was also the right weight for the project.

I really liked this pattern and am thinking of making one for myself.

The Pattern: Speed Hook Scarf from Lion Brand
The Yarn: About 2.5 balls of Jojoland Rhythm Superwash in RS62 and almost 1 ball of Cascade 220 Superwash in colorway 1910
Hook size: P 11.5mm

Started: 12/23
Finished: 12/23

I started about 3 different patterns before I settled on this one. First I tried to do a striped version like Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striped Scarf, but the color combo was looking to masculine to me. I'm not sure how purple and seafoam can look masculine, but it did.

Next I tried a brioche, but I couldn't wrap my brain around the technique.

After that I thought I'd try entralac, but it was too much work to alternate between the two yarns and I didn't have enough of the Jojoland Rhythm to use it solely. So I shelved the scarf for about a month.

At this point it was really late to be knitting a scarf. So I decided I'd go the quicker route using crochet, which remindind me of the speedhook pattern. Its the same pattern that I knit for my oldest neice. Quick and easy.
I'm not totally happy with how it looks with the hat. I feel like they don't look like a matched set.

Birthday Bear

I've been waiting to blog about this since its a gift. This was intended to be a birthday gift for my youngest neice, Anna. But I was a little late on finishing it. So then I was going to send it for her baptism a couple weeks later, but since I decided go home this weekend I thought it could wait some more :)

The Pattern: Cashmere Teddy Bear by Erika Knight 
The Yarn: Jo Sharp DK Wool in Oak 910 purchased from yarn.com
Needle size: 4

Started: April 18
Finished: May 3

I pretty much followed the pattern to a T. Except for the little heart I added to the butt.

I thought it made it a bit more special and was extra cute. I think I may have stuffed him just a wee bit too much, whoops.

The bear is knit in seven peices (2 body/leg peices, 2 arms, 2 ears, and the head). There is a lot of seaming and I hate seaming. I'm just not good at hand sewing and its tedious. If I were to make this again I'd try to figure out how to modify it to combine some of the peices. I also wasn't thrilled with how the face seamed up, it doesn't look as polished as I'd like.

The plus side to this is that it is a pretty fast knit (minus the time for sewing all the peices together). And it is a great stash buster. I was able to use up a skein that had been rolling around in my knitting bag for a few months.

Overall I think he's pretty cute. My french knots and stuffing techniques could use some practice, but he's presentable.

Head Gear for Baby

I have yet to master teeny tiny socks and booties, so when a friend or family member is expecting I've been making hats.

Pattern: 'Vine Lace Baby Hat' by Sandy Wiseheart
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Sport in Black and Ivory and Reynolds Wash Day Wool in Red - less than half a ball of each.
Needles: US 3 DPNs

This is one of my favorite gifts to knit. It looks like it takes a lot of skill and time, but it is really really really easy. I've made this hat at least 4 times and each time the recipient(s) opened it they were thoroughly impressed. In fact upon hearing that it was a handknit one couple's looks of shock were so pronounced they could have been characters in a cartoon, jaws hanging on the floor.

One of these hats could easily be whipped up in a day. I've used a couple types of yarn. I really like how the alpaca turned out, because the fiber looks so soft and perfect for babies.

The other yarn I used is Reynold's Wash Day Wool. Sorry no pics of the hat, I blanked out and forgot to take any before giving it away. The Wash Day Wool is a superwash, so pretty hassle free for new mommies. But it doesn't have the soft, delicate look of the alpaca.

Here's another pattern I've knit for newcomers:

Pattern: 'Umbilical Cord Hat' by Jennifer L. Jones published in Stitch and Bitch
Yarn: Plymouth Jeannee in Pale Brick - less than half a ball. Plymouth Jeannee in Lilac - a scrap will do.
Needles: US 7 24" Circ.

Started: February 10
Finished: February 11

This was another easy knit. I used some yarn left over from my Duck Soup sweaters.

I made a couple modifications. I shortened the i-cord on top and the body of the hat looked too plain, so I added an 'e' (for Elise).

I attempted to crochet embroider the letter, but I didn't actually know what I was doing or bother to look up instructions. So I'm pretty sure I didn't correctly perform the technique.
Oh and I totally winged the letter form. Regardless of my inept embroidery skills it still turned out well.

Little Knits

I am constantly adding baby and kid knits to my RavQ, they are just so cute! Luckily my oldest sister has two daughters, Megan (2yr 8mo) and Anna (10mo):

Perfect recipients for all of the little items I dream of knitting. For Christmas I decided to knit them sweaters. I decided this on December 1st. This left me 24 days to choose a pattern, find and purchase yarn, and knit two sweaters while working full-time and going to night school. Not ambitious at all.

The Pattern: Duck Soup by Anny Purls 
The Yarn: Jeanne purchased from WEBS yarn.com

Anna’s Duck Soup 

Color: 24 Lilac
Size: 18 months
Needle size: 10

Megan’s Duck Soup 

Color: 29 Pale Brick
Size: 2/3 yr (see below for details)
Needle size: 9

This is a great pattern. Very fast to knit, Anna’s sweater (w/o the closures) only took me one week and Megan’s a mere 4 days. Of course I was knitting every second of my free time. By the end of this my hands felt like little claws, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to straighten my fingers again!

The part I found most time consuming was making the i-cord buttons and loops. I felt like the i-cords would never end. Of course you don’t have to make i-cord buttons and loops, you could add button holes and use regular buttons or put in a zipper, but I’m in love the look of the i-cords.

I followed Anny’s instructions almost exactly as-is, including using her favorite type of increase: “knit into the back of the stitch in the row below the next stitch". It has now become my favorite type of increase as well. The only adjustment I made was to knit Megan’s sweater in the 4/5 size using size 9 needles resulting in a 2/3 size.

This is the only Anny Purls pattern I’ve knit, but she has more including a few free patterns. Check out her website at jujubeandlolo.com.