Finally Catching Up

During the Christmas season, I was quite busy, so I neglected my blog. However, I am now back to posting. To see what I have been knitting in the past month, feel free to click the link on the left to view my Ravelry projects, as I have finished many, many projects, lately.
Most recently, I am working on a baby blanket for a coworker. During our mid-November all staff meeting, I was sitting near the back knitting on a sweater. I was recognized by one of our clients as going above and beyond in my job. As such, all eyes turned towards me. I knit because I concentrate better and fidget less during meetings. My bosses understand this so there is no problem. However, I prefer not have EVERYONE interested in what I am doing as I do not like to be a distraction. Well...To make a long story a little shorter, I later received an email from a coworker that I don't know that well. It read, "Do you make baby blankets?" I basically said, "No," as I don't like the idea of making something that someone else has imagined. I am always afraid that it will not be what they expected or that they will want me to use a yarn or pattern that I hate. Several weeks later, an invitation to her baby shower arrived in my inbox, so I decided to make her one, but in the yarn and pattern combination of my choosing.
I drove down to VY&T that evening and purchased 5 balls of Berroco's Comfort and a simple pattern for the Heritage Blanket. (I later returned one ball as the blanket is already getting plenty big enough.) I hope to have it finished today and may get a picture up by the weekend. The shower is next week, so I need to wash and block it, too.

New Cotton Project

When I knit for babies, I just love to make sweaters. I have used both washable wool and cotton many times. I have found that mom's don't mind laying a sweater out to dry instead of throwing it in the dryer, so I don't worry about it much. My SIL, with the 18 month old, is not usually very careful with laundry. However, she loves the things that I knit so they are well taken care of. I made a little hoodie for her son E last spring and she puts it on him all the time. I used Tuulia Salmela's Tailored Sweater Pattern, which is lovely. A person does need to know exactly which measurements to use, but I have found that with a little research, I can make a pretty good guess.
Over the weekend I was in my favorite LYS, Village Yarn and Tea. They were having a 40% off sale on many of their summer yarns and Tahki's Cotton Classic was on the list. Available for sale, they had a deep chocolate brown, a bright orange and a cornflower blue. I purchased two skeins of blue and one of each of the other colors and figure that it should be easy to get a sweater out of it for him for less than $15. I plan on using the orange and brown for accent stripes.

FYI I finished the stealth project, so I should have more stuff that I can actually blog about, now! :)

Fifth

This is one of my newest projects: a baby hoodie for my nephew. His mom just loves to receive hand knits for him and puts them on him very often. I, of course love knitting for him, but know that his mom takes little time to wash his things, so I always look for a very machine wash friendly yarn. I have washed my cardigan made from Elann's Super Cable Aran, a cotton yar, and have found it to be an easy to care for garment. I'm hoping this means that it will wear well for him, too! I picked up a few balls of it on my last stash enhancement from Elann and cast on nearly the same day it arrived. My secret pal sent me a knitting pattern a day calendar, and the pattern comes from there. Its a cute sweater that I'm sure will work wonderfully. I took it with me to the class last Saturday and worked on it between the instructions given by Tuulia. When my hands are busy, I am much more patient. (As an asisde, I guess that I really am a fast knitter. I waited on everyone else quite a bit and was the only one to finish the sample project to the point where the sleeve stitches are taken off the needles!) I went to pull it out to finish it on Sunday, and found that my directions were missing! I sent an email to my friend, who drove us to the class, and they were no where to be found. I remembered putting them into my bag when cleaning up from the class, so I kept searching the house. I finally found them tucked inside the notebook that I took with me for note taking, which I never wrote in, but I FOUND THEM! Hopefully, I'll get some time soon to finish this as he is growing more and more every day and it won't fit if I don't finish soon!

Lots of Knitting!

I've been doing lots of knitting, and, yet, not posting! First up, another Wee Tiny Sock for the exchange on Ravelry. The theme was summer, so I made a cotton, roll-top ankle sock. It came out very cute.








Next up, I had another exchange to finish up. These are the Beaded Socks from the LYS Tour that I went on with a friend back in May. I love the way these came out, and so did my pal. Her daughter liked them so well, that she have expects them to "disappear!"

Another gift is up next. My chiropractor's wife gave birth to their first child this week, so I knit a little pair of socks for the baby. He often sees me knitting on some project or another while I'm waiting my turn and has said how he likes it. It really made him smile when I handed him this little pair of socks. I made a size 3-6 months.

Finally, a little stash enhancement from my trip to Churchmouse Tea and Yarn on Bainbridge Island. A couple weekends ago, a friend picked me up and 3 of us went to the Northgate Transit Center, where we caught a Metro bus for Downtown Seattle. There, we walked on the Ferry for a trip across the water. We had wonderful weather and enjoyed the short walk from the ferry terminal to town. We enjoyed ourselves very much, taking time to look through the yarn store and several others. We also had lunch and, of course, ice cream at Mora. It was so wonderful that I keep trying to figure out another trip we could take like this one!

Finished!

I finished sewing on the ties for the baby sweater that I started on Tuesday! It still needs washing/blocking, which I'll get done the next time I do laundry. Since there is a baby expected to my brother's family soon, I had such fun knitting this one. I often knit items to save for baby showers, so I'm not entirely certain if I'll end up giving this particular sweater to them or not, but it sure is fun!

One Day Project

On Tuesday, I was looking for a project that could be started and finished in a day. I have many knitting books checked out from the library right now, and so I chose a simple baby sweater from one of those books, "Minnies: Quick Knits for Babies and Toddlers." This is the Koko Kimono. I began by looking through the book for projects that I liked. Next, I opened my box of stash yarn and found that I had 3.5 skeins of sock yarn. The yarn is fingering weight and the pattern calls for DK, so I used it double. (Now that I have it nearly done, it looks like I'll have enough yarn leftover to make matching socks and a hat!) That day, I finished all but the ties and one sleeve. I finished the second sleeve last night and finished half the ties on the way to work this morning! I hope I'll have them all done by the time I arrive home tonight and that I'll be able to sew them on and wash the sweater. I previously made my MIL a pair of socks from the other 1.5 skeins that I purchased. The yarn, Sock-It-To-Me, is a bit rough feeling. Being superwash wool mixed with nylon, it does hold up well to multiple washings, though. I've also noticed that after several washings the finished project softens, so I'll probably wash the sweater a couple times in hopes that it will soften before I give it as a gift.

Only A Little Knitting Progress

I've been working on 2 sweaters at the same time and expect to receive the yarn and start a third at any time...As such, I don't have very interesting progress to show for it. However, I am progressing. On Durrow, I have started the raglan decreases for the front. (I already have the back and one sleeve finished.) At first I was having a terrible time because I was finding knots in the yarn (where is broken) every 60-70 yards! The first 5 skeins I knit from were all in the same bag. Then I starting from the 10 skeins that were in another bag and have found no knots, yet. I'm so glad this problem is not continuing. The yarn (Knit Picks Swish) is so soft to the touch and has great stitch definition. I think this will become a favorite sweater for dh.

On the UnGranny Smith, I've finished the first front and am about a 1/3 of the way into the first sleeve. It, too, is going quite quickly. I'll have to get a picture of the finished front. It looks gorgeous with the beautiful shine from the rayon part of the yarn.

Yesterday, I felt like working on a short project, so I knit these baby socks. The yarn was left over from a sweater that I made. This set will probably get a hat knitted for it in the future so that it can be given as a baby shower gift. The socks were a fun, cute, quick project that makes me smile.

2 Finished Projects!!

I finished the yellow "Baby Stripes" sweater, tonight!!

When I finished it, I went on to finish the Huskies socks. They fit well and dh likes them. I was going to wait to give them to him, but had to see how they fit!