Category Archives: WIPs

Gauge Is A Thing

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PB’s Gidday Baby sweater has one sleeve. But my sleep deprived noticed one small problem.

Guess what…..gauge is a thing….

I just grabbed the DPNs at the bottom of my project bag and merrily knit away. Well, they are one size smaller than the needles I used for the body. And boy howdy can you tell they are different gauges. I quickly made the executive decision that I don’t get enough knitting time to rip them out and redo them. I’m just going to call this an “unintentional design feature” and move on the second sleeve.

On the upside….I did manage to minimize the laddering between my DPNs, lol. Happy Knitting!!

Gidday Baby Update

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PB’s Gidday Baby cardigan is done through the body!

I’m so glad the button bands are knit as you go. Not that I mind button bands but I’m absolute rubbish at picking up stitches as I go. I never get the ratio just right. But I’m pleased with this cardigan so far. Berroco vintage is a nice washable workhorse yarn. The sizing is working out decent. I’m not sure this is a 12 month exactly but it’s big enough to fit PB this fall. I still have to work the sleeves and they include some striping.

The only hesitation I have about this garment is the color combo. It’s not horrible but the cream and blue sometimes just catch my eye in an odd way sometimes. But considering PB is gonna spit up and chew on it…..I’m not sure the colors matter all that much, lol. And this is using up some relatively old stash for me so that’s a plus. My hubby keeps saying as long as she warm that’s all that matters!

Happy Knitting!!

It’s Back to Work I Go….With Knitting Of Course

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I am back to work today. And my desk wouldn’t be complete without a project tucked into it’s drawers to save me during long and boring conference calls/webinars. But I finished my “desk knitting” before PB was born and never replaced it. So when I was packing baby gear to deck out my office I also did up a project bag with some knitting.

I grabbed two skeins of Felici self-striping in Cheer and my US 0 needles and threw into a project bag. The socks are not started and lord knows between catching up on work and taking care of an infant while at work I won’t have time to actually knit. But I find it oddly comforting to know it’s there just in case I need it!

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Am I the only one who stashes knitting like a squirrel stashes nuts?

Cast On: Gidday Baby Cardigan

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I can’t help myself…..my tiny PB is coming to work with me and she is gonna need A LOT of sweaters. So after the Sporty Cardigan was complete I did some Ravelry searching and came up with my next sweater for PB.

I picked the Gidday Baby Sweater by Georgie Nicolson because I loved how the garter yoke looked with the stripes and the eyelets. And I adored the simple two button closure at the top while the rest of the sweater is worn open.

The only catch was that I wanted to make 9 or 12 month sized sweater for PB to grow into and this pattern is only written for newborn and 3 months. So I decided to be the boss of my own knitting and used some logic with a sprinkling of math. I took the yarn weight from DK to worsted and the needles to US 7s and 8s. Based on my known gauge with Berroco Vintage and some slight length alterations…I was pretty sure I could make this a larger sweater.

I’m following the 3 month size stitch counts for the pattern instructions but modeling the schematic off of a 12 month sized commercially made baby sweater. Fingers crossed this doesn’t come back to bite me. If so, then it will make a good story for the blog! I’m only 8 rows in and it seems okay so far, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Big Bang Socks

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I finished the first tube of the Big Bang Vanilla Socks!

This is a LONG tube and I still had yarn left. I safely tucked the cake away into the tube lest sticky Jellybean fingers latch onto it. For a minute I considered knitting them until I ran out of  yarn…but ain’t nobody in this house have the time to figure out calf shaping. Especially with my 20+ years of volleyball muscled calves. Maybe I’ll have enough yarn to make tube socks for PB?

In order to keep my bedside/in the dark knitting going I quickly cast on the toe of the second sock and re-stashed in my nightstand. I feel this project losing a bit of steam as I’ve been obsessed with PB’s Sporty Cardigan. But hey….what else are nice plain vanilla socks for anyway? Always there and ready to be picked up with no pattern to fuss about!

Happy Knitting!!

An Almost Cardigan

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Well the weekend proved fruitful…sort of. PB received her 2 month vaccinations and required extra snuggles and a TON of nursing to get over the hump. But lots of snuggling meant some easy knitting on PB’s Sporty Cardigan over top of a sleeping baby.

I managed to finish the body, knit on the button bands and *almost* finish the first sleeve. I did have to take Jellybean to the craft store to track down some size 6 metal dpns. I had to settle for Micheals brand store needles. But they worked just fine. I was using my Knit Picks nickle plated interchangeables for the body anyway and I like to use the same needle material when possible to keep gauge consistent.

I’m really hoping to bang out both sleeves this week….fingers crossed! Happy Knitting!!

Sporty Cardigan Update

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I may have an addiction. My Sporty Cardigan for PB is cruising right along.

I managed to work through the raglan increases, separate for the sleeves and work a good chunk of the body! It’s been a quick minute since I had to do so many purl back rows. So much of my last few projects have been garter or in the round that I haven’t had much occasion to do many purl rows!

I’m really hoping against all hopes that I can get this done before I go back to work or before she out grows it….which ever comes first, lol!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: PB’s Sporty Cardigan

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The time is drawing near that I have to return to work. My maternity leave has seemed to just fly right by! Well, I have prepped my office with all the items I think I will need. But there is one situation I need to address….my office is freezing and PB is terribly temperature sensitive.

Solution…..cast on a cardigan! I pulled a Frabjous Fibers Messenger Kit in the #13 colorway. I picked this sport weight kit on a deal at a LYS closing. I did some Ravelry sleuthing and found the Sporty Cardigan for Boys and Girls by Cecilie Clark. I wound the yarn and got to work. This yarn kit was perfect because it has two difference coordinating colors in the same base.

After some napping and knitting I am working on the garter stitch yoke. I’m working the 6 month size. But at the exponential rate at which PB is growing…I might need a bigger one. If I manage my yarn carefully (and maybe pull some different sport contrast from my stash)….I may be able to knit a second sweater in the 12 month size for when she grows out of this one. These colors are just going to look so cute on PB!!

Now, shhhhhh I have more knitting to squeeze in during nap!

Happy Knitting!!

Easy Goes It…Plus Some

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The middle of last week I reached the end of the pattern instructions for my Easy Goes It shawl. I still had a ton of yarn left as the put up on my skein was bigger than the pattern called for yarn. (And I was even using a size 7 US needle instead of the pattern recommended US 6 to make my gauge bigger.)  What is a knitter to do? I didn’t want to bind off and leave so much unused.

Well, I put on my big girl undies and decided to extend the pattern. I am going to work another garter section and weigh my yarn as I go. When I get down to a few grams left I think I will add a short eyelet section before binding off in the pattern recommended manner. I will save just a teeny bit of yarn for my scrap blanket but otherwise I plan to play yarn chicken as best I can. This singles yarn is too yummy to sit in my leftovers.

I’m a few garter bumps in and my yarn is shrinking. I think a good nap knitting session today and post-bedtime session tonight should see me to the rest of my yarn….fingers crossed.

Happy Knitting!!

Big Bang Update

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My Big Bang Vanilla Sock has been growing quietly in the dark.

This is my post-bedtime knitting in the dark while the temperamental PB sleeps in the bassinet next to me. She still has finely tuned baby radar and can tell when she’s alone in the bedroom. Instead of feeling frustrated I take this as an opportunity to knit or honestly….go to sleep too. Babies are exhausting.

This TurtlePurl yarn has an interesting striping sequence. It’s two different two color stripe blocks each separated by a single red stripe. The colors emerge and are a complete surprise to me when I get this out in the daylight. I bought this yarn for the cute name and to be truthful, wasn’t entirely sold on the colors after I started knitting. But they are growing on me.

I have a TON of yarn in this sock set. I’m going to see how long I can stand knitting a plain tube. I am shooting for tall socks but I don’t think I will use up all the yarn. I don’t want to have to figure in calf shaping or too many increases over my standard mid-calf sock recipe. Time will tell!

Happy Knitting!!