FO Friday: Tony the Toy Box Monster

I made it! Jellybean’s birthday toy is done!

  
He may not have gone according to plan but he’s cute and lovably squishy. This is Tony the Toy Box Monster by Rebecca Danger from the Big Book of Knitted Monsters. I used a combination of Knit Picks Brava Bulky in pea pod and Berroco Vintage Chunky in purple. I didn’t have enough of the pea pod to finish but I think the pop of purple adds charm! I did go down to US 7s instead of the 9s. But it didn’t affect my monster.

Now to wrap him up for Jellybean’s big day tomorrow. I literally cannot believe my baby is going to be 1! Pardon me while I sniffle into my stash…

Happy Knitting!

FO: Shalom Cardigan

Here she is! Stashbustin’ #18 aka Shalom Caridgan finished and thanks to the husband photographed!!

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This is an awesome pattern! Just as an aside this is only written for a small/medium size or 32″ bust. My chest is a bit bigger than that so I followed the author’s suggestions and tweaked the pattern for my needs.

  1. I used a 10 1/2 US or 6.5 mm needle.
  2. I used a 7 stitch garter border by simply adding two stitches to beginning and end of each row. This added just enough to make the sweater close comfortably across the top my 37 1/2 inch bust.
  3. I worked a three stitch button opening to accommodate my larger button.
  4. I worked an extra decrease section (row 83 followed by rows 48 & 49 alternating for 7 rows) at the bottom after row 105
  5. I knit 7 rows garter bottom border in order to match the length of the collar instead of the 9 rows in the pattern.

I did dork up the garter border a bit. See my 911 post here and my fix here. But all in all I’m very happy. This will look great over a tank (as pictured) or thrown over a long sleeve tee in the fall/winter. Not sure I would re-knit this particular pattern but it’s a great addition to my wardrobe.

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Sweater 911: The Fix!

Remember my sweater 911 from last week? I mistakenly knit part of my garter edge as a stockinette edge. It looked something like this….

oops

 

After some hemming, hawing, and wine drinking I decided on a fix. I picked up my yarn and tapestry needle and went to work. I ended up with something like this..

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I cut a length of my leftover yarn and threaded on my tapestry needle. With the right side facing me I simply stitched over and around each one of the 7 edge stitches with a whip-like stitch creating the top of a faux purl like bump. When I reached the stockinette section I turned the work around and stitched back across but this time staggered by half a stitch. This way I could create the bottom of the row to create the look of garter stitch. It didn’t turn out as perfectly as I wanted but it definitely looks better then when I started.

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I think the corrections are hardly noticeable when looked at the garment as a whole. Stashbustin’ #18 is officially complete! I hope to snag the husband some night this week so I can get some shots of this garment in action!!

Happy Monday and Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Snug

Stashbustin’ #16 is almost complete!

I bound off the last edge last night as I was catching up on my DVR. I had to pull in a lamp this dark yarn really started to play with my eyes as I was trying to pick up and finish the crochet edge, lol. However, I love love love using the leftovers of my Berroco Vintage Chunky from my Mud Season. I haven’t found a yarn that Berroco makes that I haven’t liked yet. And it didn’t hurt that this project was chunky yarn on my big needles, lol.

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I didn’t exactly follow the directions to a tee….not that they weren’t very well written! Hinke did a great job of spelling things out and including lots of links to tutorials. I just kinda took her directions as suggestions, lol. I used a knitted on cast on instead of the crochet on waste yarn. I also cast off in pattern instead of a sewn method. I also accounted for three buttons instead of two. And finally I crocheted all the way from the left bottom corner, around the hood, and down to the right bottom corner.

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I still need to find the right buttons for this project. But I’m not in a rush. I think this little sweater is going to stay with me. It’s the partner to my Mud Season and hopefully I can bundle up a little one in this when the hubs and I decide to have kids.  And then mommy and baby can match. That means the buttons have to be special. Next up for this sweater is a good bath and blocking!!

Happy Knitting!!!