So I’ve been making hats. “Lots-m-lots-m hats! Mommy!” I figure the longer I stay pregnant, the more hats this baby girl or baby boy will have. And the more of the other color ones I will get to send to new mommies. Here are the pink ones… I might not have a chance to post much pink on the blog if this baby is a boy, so I’ll take every opportunity I get. :-)
Please excuse the in-the-back-of-the-minivan picture.
I just finished the third sweater for a friend’s oldest boy. The twins’ sweaters were done lickety-split (size 6-12 month) but the one for the 5 year old… well, that took longer. I used a man-sized pattern and shrunk it using some examples I’d found online of other knitters’ mods. I really had no idea what the heck I was doing.
I also didn’t get any decent pictures of the thing between finishing it last night and giving it to my friend this morning at church. These were taken on my lap in the minivan on the way to church. No, I wasn’t driving.
I am about to start a man-sized version for David with a yarn that I’ve had in my stash for over a year. I’m skeptical, though, because I just researched the yarn on Ravelry and learned that it pills like mad and tends to lose its shape after washing. Please pray that this yarn makes a good big-man sized sweater. Please?
Maybe Little Post
I started knitting a purse, not for anyone in particular, just because I had the yarn and this pattern struck my fancy. I’d bought this stuff called Peace Fleece which has almost a cult-like following in the diapering world due to its toughness. I made a soaker for Lowell out of it and upon first wearing it, he immediately cried, “Oww, oww, oww, … off!” So little dudeman doesn’t like Peace Fleece, which is too bad because I had 5 skeins of it! I think I will go ahead and make little bitty ones for the new bambino with the left-over of that color but with the two skeins of dark blue, I thought, I need to make a bag! This yarn is so rough-n-tumble and practically bullet proof, why not a bag? In three days, I finished both halves of the Brea Bag and am a good deal into the gusset already. I don’t know why some knitters have such an issue with moss stitch, but brainless knitting to me equals good independent-kid-watching knitting (knitting without a pattern to keep out of little hands and easy, oh, so easy, to toss down, play with the kids, put a toddler’s underwear back on, get the stroller unstuck from the racetrack, rescue the cat, change a poopy diaper, read a kids’ book with two boys on my lap (one on either side of the belly), then pick back up and start where I left off without being totally dumbfounded knitting)…
Here’s where I was a few nights ago:
I’m so excited about having a new purse, and one that I made myself. I haven’t found the perfect fabric to line it with in my stash yet so maybe a trip to a fabric store for a yard of something fantastic is in order. I’ve also read that a great tip for the strap is to buy a purse from Goodwill or TJMaxx and recycle the purse strap because that is often cheaper than buying a strap at Hobby Lobby. I know I won’t have enough yarn left to knit a strap. I’m loving that this will hopefully not get peed on or pooped on, but I am about to have another baby, so knock on wood… there’s no telling what will happen to this bag in the coming months/years.
But I got to visit a 9 hour old baby last night! See?!
This is Gianna Elise, and she is bound to become a knitter. Her mommy is one of the knitters I meet every Tuesday (well, almost every) at Barnes & Noble late at night to play with yarn, chat, and generally get away from my “job” (that being my house). Amy and I were surprised to show up at B&N with our yarn only to be met with a very excited Aunt Ana who was getting the knitting group together to make a late night drive over to the hospital to visit. I love field trips!
Gianna’s picture will have to do while I wait for pictures of baby Olivia…
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Doily turned Blanket
Source: Jared Flood’s blog post
Materials: Cascade Ecological Wool in grey (8019)
Needles: US 10, 40 inch circulars; KnitPicks Options
Amount: almost 600 yards (a skein plus about a sixth of a skein)
Start to Finish: June 8, 2008 to June 30, 2008
So, I saw this stunning little blob on Jared’s blog shortly after returning from a trip to the Cypress-Spring area with the family to attend Jennifer and Craig’s wedding and I knew instantly that whatever it was would make a lovely perfect wedding gift. It turned out to be a lap blanket, and a lovely one at that. After seeing Jared’s pictures, I just knew it was what I had to make them!
After two unsuccessful attempts (wrong yarn for the pattern, too many mistakes, etc) I finally it the jackpot with the ecowool and another year (eek! I only started knitting in late October of 2006, y’all!) of experience under my belt. I nailed the pattern and quickly fell into a groove and completed it in just under a month of car trips and spare time. I know no one thinks I’d have any spare time with two little boys, being pregnant, and having just moved into a house BUT where there’s a will, there’s a way!
I actually had it done and off the needles by their first anniversary, but I didn’t have it blocked and it was a bumpy, crazy, unwieldy mess of yarn still. We were out of town when I finished it so I waited until I came home to wash and block it into shape. I’m amazed at the transformation.
Stunned.
Absolutely in awe. I’m totally going to make one for me! I just have to find someone on Ravelry with the same dye lot who is willing to part with 1/2 a skein, some more free time, and away we gooo!
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Source: knitty.com
Size: followed pattern
Materials: Bonsai by Berocco (97% bamboo, 3% nylon), beads, 1 spool matching sewing thread
Needles: size 7 Denise circulars
Amount: 7.5 balls of yarn for clapotis, ~1 ball for crochet border
Start Date: Match 29, 2008
Finish Date: June 3, 2008
You might think, “Clap-O-tis” like I did, but no, it’s more “cla-po-TEE” from what I have read online. This is one of the more higly discussed knitting projects and while some love it, some hate it. I am right smack in the middle. It wasn’t the most interesting knit, and it wasn’t boring either. Dropping stitches every little bit was enough to keep me plugging along on it, enough so to finish it.
This was a great grab-n-go project. I worked a lot of it in the car (whilst David drove, duh, I wouldn’t drive while knitting!) or while playing/watching James and Lowell in the mornings, or while having an afternoon and my mom’s house, or while watchiing a TV show or movie with David, or while waiting at Time Warner to turn in our old modem… It did not require a lot of attention. Needless to say, it is an easily memorized pattern and you just go with it.
Bamboo yarn has a lovely drape. In fact, this yarn started off as another project entirely. I had decided to knit a tunic (I know, sounds like something military) with my friend, Amy, and while she finished hers, mine sat half done collecting dust. Well, it’s ziploc collected dust. When I realized I had a substantial enough stash of this yarn for this project, I decided that the heavy drape would be perfect for knitting up a shawl.
Once done, it needed a little something. I came across another clapotis with a beaded border via ravelry (gotta love ravelry!), discussed options with my knitting guru friend Ana at knit-night on Tuesday, and whipped out the beaded border in just 2 days. It’s crocheted on and keeps the shawl from stretching out in all sorts of funny ways. I love how it added just the right touch and stabilized the edges at the same time.
I don’t think I will ever knit another one, but I am glad to have a completed clapotis in my projects over on Ravelry, and, uh, here in my house, too.