Pardon me, for today I take a break from crafting to enjoy one of the greatest gifts anyone can make. A new life…
My oldest and dearest friend had a beautiful and amazing little girl this past weekend. I couldn’t stop staring at her angel face and tiny tiny hands. Who knows where those little hands will take her, but I can’t wait to find out!!!
Earlier this week I completed a very special request for any old friend. While she was thrilled with the results…I felt the need for a few tweaks
All in all I was happy with the results! Sorry for the i-Phone shots. I finished the hat late one evening in a rush to get both hats in the mail to Momma before she popped. I’m hoping she’ll send me some action shots once the wee one gets here.
I used a smidge more yarn on this one, 63.1 yards or 32 grams. And I made the thing in one night! Not bad for a quickie 🙂
Huzzah! I have one sleeve complete!! And it’s a pretty one to boot, if I do say so myself! It only took me a couple evenings to finish one sleeve since I picked up at the armholes.
This pattern has tested my patience, but I’m finally feeling in the groove. Here’s hoping I can slog along on the second sleeve and have this sweater ready for a bath by the weekend!
I did have to do some pattern mods to shorten the sleeve. But I’ll wait to finish the second sleeve before I post them. Â Here’s hoping I can make them match! Apparently I have moderate T-Rex problem when it comes to the length of my arms in relations to my torso. Ugh…
Until then, Happy Knitting!!!
I’m been on a HUGE sweater kick as the weather is slowly turning to fall. And I have had The Nutmeg Sweater in my Rav queue for a while. I’m pretty close to finishing my Brick sweater do I thought, what the heck and cast on! After all it’s a bulky sweater and will go crazy fast right?
Oh, the knitting hubris. Remember when I had all the trouble with my increases in the body of Brick? I’ve been foiled again!
The pattern didn’t specify what kind of increases to use in the raglan portion of the yoke. And I was in too much of a hurry to check Ravelry notes, so I just clicked along using the backwards loop cast on method. Don’t know why…just did.
After a whole evenings knitting and tv watching I looked down and what did I see but holes at the increases! Now this is black yarn and I’m very pale. Therefore with any stretch these holes will become readily apparent with my skin underneath. Sigh.
To the frog pond I went and ripped back the whole thing. On the next go round I’m going to use the make one left, make one right increases as explained by Twist Collective.
I really should learn faster. This is probably one of those “fool me once and so on” moments. Good thing it’s bulky yarn and I had some chilled wine in the fridge!
This will be Stashbustin’ #37 and I’m using Knit Picks Brava Bulky in black for those who are interested.
For this WIP Wednesday I give you, Stashbustin’ #33 aka Brick is finally making serious progress!!
After some major frogging and frustration, I think I have conquered the body of my sweater. And being of top down construction, I have tried it on and it fits exactly how I want. It’s loose without being baggy. I’m shooting for a cozy sweater to cuddle up with on weekends this fall/winter.
I have picked up the stitches for one of the arms. And based on the size of the opening and numbers of stitches, I’m definitely going to knit the sleeves with a taper. Otherwise I think they would just be WAY to big and loose. Good news is that I’m going to have enough yarn. Maybe even enough leftover for a small hat?
Happy Knitting
My husband was asked to be soloist for a wedding ceremony by some dear friends. While it was a bit breezy in KS for an outdoor wedding, we persevered!! The bride is a fellow actress and fiber artist. So of course she thought of activity books for the wedding reception. I did a little coloring and photography to kill some time after dinner but before the dance.
It was very nice to have a date night with the husband. I even managed a few rows on a new project. Hopefully I have a few more rows complete this week to have enough to share!
My favorite part? The whole wedding part and assorted friends did the Time Warp dance from Rocky Horror Picture Show. I love to going to weddings of theatre people!
The Bride and Groom look so in love and it was a very beautiful day!
Tah dah…my special request Breast Beanie is done!!! This is Stashbustin’ #35.
This hat was super simple and super easy. Only took a couple of hours over a few days. I opted for Caron Simply Soft for the durability and easy care. This wee hat is knit from the brim up and finished on DPNs.
I used 53.6 yards or 28 grams of Caron Simply Soft in soft pink and 7.6 yards or 4 grams of Caron Simply Soft in dusty rose. And the finished size is definately newborn to 3 months old. The fabric is pretty solid, but does have some give/stretch.
My only criticism is that the nipple portion is very pointy for my taste. And I don’t like the rolled brim. Just a personal style choice. I am going to cast on another version in white/pink. And I will make the brim in 2×2 ribbing and the nipple shorter. I think I will wait to see how that version turns out before I show the momma to be. Who knows…she may just get both!
Happy Knitting
I have been working my Brick sweater. And things were clicking away, until this….
I had originally opted for a straight waist with no shaping. But I have what I like to call Scandinavian hips, so I opted to throw in a few increases at the bottom of the sweater before I started the 1×1 ribbing. The pattern called for K1fb or knit one front and back. This left ugly holes in the fabric. Not sure if I was doing them incorrectly but I hated them none the less. So I frogged and inch and a half of work….
And this go round I used “lifted” right and left leaning increases. I had to google how to do those because I only vaguely remembered them from another project. These increases make a much prettier fabric and leave no holes. I am much happier with this stitch.
So being happy, I managed to move on and complete the stockinette portion and all 30 rows of 1×1 (painful) ribbing. I popped the sweater on and discovered two things:
1. I didn’t take into account that the beginning of the round was NOT at the side of the sweater. And therefore my increases were in front and back of the sweater instead of along the sides
2. The increases weren’t even necessary, the sweater will fit without them!!!!
So after a glass (or three) of wine, I frogged six inches of sweater. And I am going to re-knit. I want a sweater to be proud of and doesn’t have mistakes I can stare at. It’s just going to take some deep breathing….
FO Friday!
I interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a super adorable FO…
A very special little princess turns one year old on October 31. Her momma asked for a sparkly K-state purple tutu to complete her fairy costume for her birthday.
I was only too happy to oblige! It does a knitters heart good to see their knitted bits go to good homes. Happy Friday to all!!
An old high school friend posted a link on my Facebook page last week with a special knitting request. She is due in December with a baby boy. And being a proud momma she wants to swaddled her bundle of joy in hand knits. Her request was for a breast hat. I admit I have seen these on the interwebs, but never had the inclination to make one. So to Ravelry I went!
I settled on The Breast Beanie by Irene Birk
(Photo from Irene Birk Ravelry page)
So I went stash diving and came up with three colors of cream/pink in Caron Simply Soft. This soft acrylic is my go to for easy care baby knits. The pattern seems straight forward, so I think I’m going to make a couple of color combos and let momma decide.
And away I go!
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