Cast On: Another Baby Sophisticate

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A dear friend from literally pre-school is having a little baby boy. She and her husband worked and prayed very hard for this miracle. So I want to make something extra special. I’ve already knit a blanket.

Now the little mister needs a sweater! I am going with an old standby…the Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down. I pulled some Cascade Yarns Cherub Aran in a navy colorway from my stash. I bought this for a Jellybean sweater but he quickly outgrew this yardage before I could get knitting.

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Ravelry tells me that this is the 8th such sweater I have knit. Nothing wrong with a great classic! Do you have any repeatable patterns?

 

Best of Intentions

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I decided to pull out a recipe from my new cookbook for the Instant Pot. I picked the breakfast casserole because I had all the ingredients and it sounded yummy. Basically it’s a steamed egg casserole with spinach, bacon, sausage, cheese, hash browns and seasonings. This is what it looked like before:

I ended up having to cook it for an extra 6 minutes to get the eggs to set and then despite liberal lubrication this is how it came out of the bowl….

I dumped it onto a cookie sheet, added some extra cheese and broiled for several minutes to finish it off. Now it was extremely tasty and loved by toddler and adult alike. Just not very pretty….

The bacon helped to soothe my cooking wounds. Happy Cooking!!

Going Bold….With A Tube Sock

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I’ve been quietly knitting away on my sister’s Christmas socks. I have a soft spot in my heart for Knit Picks Felici. And I decided to go bold….a true afterthought heel!

There she is, a true tube sock at this point. No waste yarn for heel placement. I still don’t have the trace of my sisters foot and the knitting was going so fast I didn’t want to stop. This sock is done and ready for heel placement. Once I get the measurement it should be alright given that I have good light, sharp needles and no toddler distraction…

At any rate I started the second sock!

What is it about self-striping that makes this kind of sock project so potato chipy???

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Dad’s Camo Socks

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My second Christmas present for 2017 is done! Dad’s Camo Socks are officially a FO…

I’ve actually had them done for awhile, but I couldn’t coordinate a toddler free moment in the natural light of day with the husband to get some modeled shots. Even then I was only able to grab two snaps before the toddler required saving from some perilous adventure like trying to jump off the furniture like superman does. Even then the second shot includes blurry wiggly toes, lol.

For those with inquiring minds, these are a 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock with gusset heel. I used size 1.5 US needles and a single skein of Cascade Heritage Prints 150. This yarn is just such a great way to make socks for size 13 US feet. It’s basically sport weight so it goes very quickly and the 150 grams is the perfect size for these huge socks! I stopped in my LYS to grab another skein and I they were out….now I need to find where to source more

Happy Knitting!

WIP Wednesday: Toe Up Sock With A Difference

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I made it past the heel on my Toe Up Socks With A Difference. These had kind of languished at the bottom of the WIP pile. I had completed the stockinette foot and was ready to start heel. This is a new to me heel construction and I needed time and brain space to sit down and just work through it. Both had been in short supply lately, but I finally made it!

The heel is a double gusset heel worked on the bottom of the foot. I’m following a Wendy D Johnson pattern that is free and found here on Rav. It was easy to follow and a pretty slick construction. Time will tell if it’s more or less comfortable than a traditional toe up gusset heel.

In the mean time I need to finish the leg of this sock and get moving on the second sock!

Happy Knitting!!

Prize Surprise

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Awhile back I completed the Ice Cream and Soda mitts by Melanie Berg for the #BigBadBergALong last fall. I entered my FO in several of the podcast group contests. Well turns out I won in the In A sKnit group!

It’s a lovely small project bag made by 19 Stitches.  

Inside was a veritable treasure trove!

I received an adorable set of stitch markers, a mini skein, a frixion pen, and a matching WIP cozy. I may have done a little happy dance when this arrived in the post. I highly recommend checking out the video podcast by Krisluvswool and 19 Stitches Etsy shop.

Happy Knitting!

Not Bad For A First Try

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My mittens for my bff are growing quickly. Now these really are fairly quick because they are small and worked in the round in stockinette. I zoomed through the cuff, installed the thumb and worked in my heart chart.

It’s not exactly dead center where I wanted it. But given that it’s not entirely visible I’m not going to fuss about it. I’ve the first mitt done except the thumb. And I’m going to start the second one momentarily. Now by the grace of the knitting gods I’m going to make sure and pay attention for the second glove. I know I need to place the heart on the opposite side of the glove so the right hand has the heart on the back and not the palm.

Think I will remember?

Mapping My Intentions

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I started Mere’s Heart Mitts yesterday. I know how I want to construct the gloves, but I needed to sketch the heart. I pulled some printable knitting graph paper from the inter webs. You really do want to use knitted graph paper because the squares are actually square and represent that knitted stitches are wider than they are tall. It gives you a much truer idea what a design will look like.

Here is my original…

While it’s a perfectly serviceable heart…it was a little wide and the lobes looked funky. So I sketched a smaller one. ..

I liked the form much better but I wanted it a little fuller and less lobey. So here is my final design…

The only downside to this plan is the yarn. It’s highly variegated and won’t show the heart as well as a solid or semi-solid. But in this case it’s the intent and thought that counts. Even if it’s not obvious to the eye both she and I will know its there.

Happy Knitting!

Cast On: Mere’s Heart Mitts

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Awhile back my dearest friend from college sent me a sweet gift from the Pacific North West… lovely skeins of some Knitted Wit Victory Sock in the fiesta color way. I couldn’t shake this idea of making the two of us a pair of matching mitts. It’s been one of those project ideas I just couldn’t shake. I want to do something nice for her and maybe send her a little love in the form of knitted stitches.

I pulled and wound one skein of the sock yarn and cast on this vision I had. I am picturing finger-less gloves with a little reverse stockinette heart on the back of the hand. I’m going to use the basic mitt recipe from some gift gloves I’ve knit in the past. Now I just need to figure out the heart size and placement…

Happy Knitting!!