My Leksak has a completed body!
I very pleased with the way the striping worked up in this sweater. Next up is a unique button band that involves not breaking the yarn from the garter hem. I’m intrigued! And now that I have completed the body work I am a lot more confident that I won’t end up playing yarn chicken. This Berroco Comfort is 50/50 Nylon and Acrylic but it actually has a nice hand to it. I’ll see how it wears but I might consider this for future kids knits….
Happy Knitting!!
After dreaming of sweater for Jellybean yesterday I also decided he needed a new stuffy. He sleeps with the monkey I made him almost every night these days. And surely Monkey would like to have a friend?!
So I pulled the remaining Plymouth Encore Worsted left from the monkey and found I had enough yarn for a Dinosaur patter in my queue but only if I reversed the colors. So Dinosaur Jr by Katie Boyette hit my needles. I have only started the head portion but I’m hoping some good evening knitting will see this project chug forward in no time!
Happy Knitting!!
I had finished PB’s Second Sporty Cardigan and I couldn’t stand the thought of not knitting cute baby girl sweaters. So I did some Ravelry searching and stash diving to find a good match.
I found Leksak by Yarn-Madness. It’s a top down raglan style tunic (or pullover if you prefer) made for DK yarn. It has an interesting button band construction I found intriguing and I had two colors of Berroco Comfort DK languishing in my stash. Comfort DK is a 50/50 acrylic and nylon blend so very washable and very durable. And I like the idea of a tunic for my sweet PB. And I am for SURE making the open front construction versus the pullover closed construction. (P.S. Leksak is Swedish for “toy” and I am of Swedish decent so I that kinda hooked me as well.)
The colors are a minty green and bright blue I originally got for making hats. While not a a pairing I would normally make I think they actually work well now that I can see them knit up together. I will be playing a small bit of yarn chicken on this project but I think with some strategic order of operations and yarn management I can make it work.
Happy Knitting!!
One morning I was perusing Instagram while waiting for my son at the dentist. And I saw one of the dyers I follow was de-stashing some of her personal stash. I though what the hey, I’ll go see. Guys….she was selling primo stuff! And for less than original purchase price.
I saw two wish list yarns and jumped on them like a lion on a wounded wildebeest.
I scored some Voolenvine yarn in her Smitten DK for a color called Mood Indigo. I never managed to catch her updates and had given up hopes of ever trying her yarn. So this was a big win. Next was some Leading Man Fiber Arts Show Stealer in a color called Sand Castle. I had been thinking about putting this yarn dyer on my Christmas list and now I don’t have to.
Guys….both these skeins have CASHMERE in them. They are soooooo soft and wonderful. I have no idea what they will grow up to be. But I just knew they wanted to come live with me.
Happy Knitting!!
I had previously regaled you with the tale of many cast-ons and frogging of a Sockhead Slouch. I think I had “swatched” enough to be satisfied with a gauge and stitch count for the project and then I realized that the 2018 Pigskin Party KAL was starting September 6th. So I frogged what I had and waited to cast on my final iteration of the hat until it counted for the KAL. And then I knit like the wind!
I’ve cruised through four inches of 1×1 rib and I’m into the stockinette section. I’m pretty pleased with how the color is dispersing. It’s almost a tad bit striped but it is definitely not pooling or flashing so I’m happy.
This project has been promoted to primary purse and bedside table knitting. Just soothing round and round and round knit stitches with no brain space required. I could go for a good movie so I could make some serious progress on this puppy!
I have one niggling thought….do I knit a slightly less slouchy hat and save yarn for some matching fingerless mitts??
Happy Knitting!!
I wrote last week about dreaming of sweaters for PB. She is cute and tiny and has zero opinion about what I put on her. So it’s awesome to make fast projects that I think are cute and have someone wear them without complaint. But my mom guilt got the better of me…Jellybean hasn’t gotten a new garment in awhile. He really liked the Storytime Scholar I made him last year. Not that he has noticed that he hasn’t gotten a new sweater. But I decided I need to dream about a sweater for him as well. My current options are:
What I learned from this Ravelry dive is that I may love everything Jenny Wiebe designs for boys and Jellybean may end up with a sweater collection….
Happy Knitting!!
Well, ladies and gentlemen….PB has a new sweater! The Second Sporty Cardigan is finished, washed, blocked, buttons added and ends trimmed off. Now I just need cute baby photos to put the icing on the cake.
I went with the round two tone buttons. As you can see I really worked a lot of buttons into this sweater. And the top two turned out really close together. But I kind of like it. Now I can fasten the top two buttons and let the rest of the sweater hang open to show a cute onesie underneath.
Note: Blocking didn’t completely correct my buttons bands but it greatly improved them. I’m marking this a win and moving on.
Pattern: Sporty Cardigan for Boys and Girls by Cecilie Clark
Yarn: Frabjous Fibers Messenger Kit and Knit Picks Comfy Sport. I used roughly 266 yards or 89 grams of yarn to make a 12 month sized sweater. This included every last drop of Frabjous Fibers so no pesky leftovers hanging out in my stash!
Needles: US 4s (I forgot to switch to 6s for the body so I just kinda rolled with it. My gauge is just a little tighter and my sweater a smidgen smaller than I wanted but it’s still lovely)
Mods: See above or check out my Rav notes.
Happy Knitting!!
I raided (with permission) my mom’s button stash in my sewing room for buttons for PB’s second sporty cardigan.
I came out with two nice grey/black neutral options. My mom suggested putting them in the button holes to really get a feel for what they would look like. She’s pretty smart you know. The ones on the left have a nice two toned look that I dig. But the ones on the right have a little bit of smoothness and sheen. I’m letting myself sleep on it but I’m kinda leaning towards the ones on the left.
What do you think?
I am sooooo close to finishing PB’s second Sporty cardigan that I’m already dreaming of my next cast on. I seem to be really energized knitting for cute baby girl clothes. I pulled up my stash on Ravelry and perused what I have. I know that it will have to be sport or DK weight. Those kinds of projects work up quickly but also make a nice light fabric. And because babies are messy and get changed a lot…the sweater needs to be easy on and off, not to mention easy cleaning. I created a Ravelry search and came up with the following options
I think I may stash dive and pull out yarn and let the colors speak to me and tell me what pattern to pick next!!
Happy Knitting!!
I have been binge watching old 90s and 2000s television cop shows after the kids go to bed. And thanks to Psych and Diagnosis Murder I managed to knit the crap out of some sleeves!
I weighed my remaining yarn after finishing the button bands on PB’s second sporty cardigan. And I KNEW I didn’t have enough to make decent sleeves. So I considered my options and I decided to extend the garter ridges from the yoke into the sleeves. Then I took the remainder of my two colors and split them into two even sets by weight. One for each sleeve.
I was kinda tired and just winging it. After six garter ridges with associated decreases I thought it looked good (and I was tired of purling, to be honest). This was of course not having any idea how far my striped colors would get me. So I knit the two colors until I ran out of each color. What resulted….well, elbow length sleeves at best.
I thought about ripping back and adding more garter ridges to make full sleeves but I honestly didn’t want to think about burning precious knitting time redoing it. This sweater will look perfectly adorable over long sleeves peaking out or just as elbow length sleeves. Kids get sleeves really grubby anyway…I’m just saving myself laundry duty!
Happy Knitting!!
Michele plays with yarn, food, and music in Portland
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