8 posts tagged “knitting”
i hadn't been knitting or crocheting much because all i can think about nowadays, craft-wise, is my sewing machine. i hate cutting, though. hate it!
anyway, i knit my first toy! i used ysolda's stuffies pattern, some leftover wool-ease chunky, and 5mm needles to get him. then, yesterday, i decided to finally make a sock monkey! i recently found a pair of socks in my couch, so i used them.
the monkey slept in bed with us, last night. well, actually, he fell asleep in nate's arms and i carefully pried him away, once the bub was asleep and set him on a chair nearby. when J got a wake-up call from his boss, this morning, Nathan awoke, asking "where my monkey go?" amazing memory, no?!
he toted him around all morning and actually just ran away from nursing to find him!! unbelievable.
I need to find some cute socks to make one for cousin's daughter, whose birthday party is this weekend! i think it'd be a cute gift. she's turning 5, though. i'm soooo not good with older kids. her daddy said no toys, but BOO to that! heh
check out my new wallet, made from an old cassette tape, some paint, a zipper, felt, and glue (blech).
size: i measured nate's chest, arms, and torso length, then added a few inches for growth. I had 110 sts for the body and 36 sts for each arm.
gauge: 5 sts/in
yarn: Cascade 220 in silver grey over-dyed with many many packs of tamarindo kool-aid (2 skeins with just a smidge leftover) for the body/sleeves and azure for the button bands and hems (less than one skein). I probably have enough to make a fair isle-ish hat. oh the possibilities!
needles: US 8 (5mm)
cool things i learned: steeks! stst hems! one-row buttonholes! raglan-saddle hybrid sweater decreases that RULE.
i used steeks to turn it into a cardigan and added hems to the body and sleeves. the sleeves are obviously a tad long, but the hem makes a perfect turn upward.
i dig it. the photo of the sweater alone looks lumpy because i had to just throw it on the floor for a few solo photos. I learned it's HIS sweater and i can't play with it anymore.:(
I recently started a seamless hybrid from the "recipe" given to us in Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann. yesterday, I finished most of the knitting (the rest of the second arm + the amazing decreases to the neck + the neck band). I tried to try it on Nathan and discovered the neck opening was TOO SMALL for my son's ginormous head. the only thing to do, which will appease my mother who said it should not be a pullover, was to use steeks to turn it into a cardigan. After reading and re-reading Eunny Jang's steeking tutorials (specifically the crocheted steek part), I bravely performed my first steek (read: I CUT MY KNITTING), then immediately over-dyed and started blocking it. I originally started out with Cascade 220 in silver grey and over-dyed it with many many packs of tamarindo kool-aid (hence the yellow fingernails). here's a sneak-peek:
I'm calling the sweater "Rusty" because it looks like it has rusty spots. I'm extremely excited about knitting up the button bands. I just have to wait for it to dry. I've already changed the towel it's laying on 3 times! i've stomped on it with another towel over it and I think I've got as much of the excess water out of it as possible. the rest is up to the air...
more later!
because these booties are most def cute: yes or yes?
pattern can be found here: http://www.saartjeknits.nl/
I used worsted weight wool and 3.25 mm (US3) needles.
I need some baby feet to put them on. they're about 4 inches long, so they'll fit 6-12 month old toes, I believe.
I finished the body and one sleeve of a toddler seamless hybrid (Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern I'm using from Knitting Without Tears) I put the sleeve and body on a long needle, while I finish up the second and let me say...I am totally psyched. this will be my first bottom up sweater! I'm going to be bummed the little one won't be able to wear it til fall! I made it slightly larger than the measurements I took because I know he's going to grow a bit by then AND I want to hope he'll fit in it the NEXT winter, as well.
I went a baby shower, this past weekend. I gifted a blanket, sweater (crochetme.com's Baby It's Cold Outside), overalls (part EZ, part me), a burp cloth (Mason dixon Knitting) and a bib (me) all in a basket that I lined myself! i was sooo excited and everything was well received. her theme was John Deere, if that isn't apparent. heh
i actually finished this soaker a while back, but the ribbing looked atrocious.
my second pinwheel!
i used some red heart acrylic and US8 needles to get this. i really like the way the colors spread! during knitting, I disliked it a lot, though. it's a gift for a new-newb in my life.
<<newb socks basic top-down sock pattern with short-row heel.
next up:
when it's laid down flat like that, it looks like a huge sock toe. love it! while the box was set-up, I managed to also get pics of the Happy Hooker bunny I made over a year ago and some coasters I made as my first sewing project, this weekend-
hooray! a few things kept me from updating regularly. the major factor was time, of course.
anyway, since my last post (lace yarn), I've made a few things. I don't have pictures of the lace shawl progress, but I'm only 7 repeats into the budding lace chart. it's coming along nicely, though I get a little anxious just thinking about it. I think it's going to stay in my incomplete box a little longer.
the following are my largest FO's from the past month and a half--
first up, I made another star blanket for a friend's new baby. this one was made with a bunch of wooly scraps. it was so soft and cushy. I embroidered her initials on it, too. it was much appreciated and that made me happy!
next, I used this pattern, size US 8 needles, and a bunch of Peace Fleece to make a blanket. I increased to 600 stitches before I used a picot bind-off (crazy). this blanket took me 3 weeks to make. it's currently on my son's bed. even though it's too ridiculously hot outside to have a wool blanket, it keeps the bub warm when he falls asleep without any clothes on. it can get chilly with the a/c on.
next, I made yet another star baby blanket. this one was made in 3 days! it was a gift to my niece, who turned 3 at the beginning of April.
for this one, I used Caron Simply Soft and an H hook. I can't believe how fast it worked up. one reason I'll never ditch crochet is precisely that--it works up so fast!
next, I dyed sock yarn (Bare - Superwash/Nylon Fingering Weight) for the first time. I used various colors of kool-aid in a very large cast-iron pot. I basically just poured random colors all around. I also knit up my first complete sock in fingering weight yarn. I had started and frogged a few, so this one was very exciting to finish!
I used the yarn I dyed and KnitPicks US2 DPNs. the pattern is from the current issue of knitty, the Quill Lace socks. this pattern was very easy. I had to increase to CO 72 sts, because I used thinner yarn and slightly smaller needles. they fit perfectly!
I was so happy with the dye results, I wanted to immediately dye (and knit) some more sock yarn. I had 2 large mason jars and wanted to experiment with more organized dyeing, so I ended up hanging half the yarn in this golden yellow color and half in an orchid color. during the dyeing process, I had to renew the amount of colored water in each jar, because the hank would absorb the color (water would go clear), but parts were still bare. when I was satisfied with those colors, there was still a bare section in the middle (the part of the yarn that didn't go into any jars) and I ended up hanging that portion into the pot, after I sprinkled blue and green kool-aid into it. what resulted was some fantastic yarn!
with it, I made 2 pairs of socks. one pair was for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day and the other was a pair of baby jaywalkers for my son! I used the knitty pattern Monkey for my MIL's socks. we actually gave them to her this weekend and she loved them! we also gave her a pair of Crocs that she thoroughly enjoyed. for the baby jay walkers, I just decreased my CO sts to 44 and the number of sts between increasing and decreasing to 3. they were easy peasy!
now, I'm working on another pinwheel for my new nephew and a tomten jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. it never ends.
i was originally going to use the pattern for the MÖBIUS HAT from elann.com, but I didn't want the rim to be as big, nor did I want it to be in plain stockinette stitch. SO, I made the mobius strip only 10sts wide (and I opted for garter stitch instead of seed stitch) and when it came time to knit the hat, I knit it in a garter rib (k2 p2 for one round, then k all for the next). I had no idea how to do rib decreases, so I just did decreases as if for a regular hat. some ribs lean into others but whatever. I think it came rather neat.
I have a nice sized ball of pink yarn left. this was supposed to be project that ended the pink reign, but alas no! I may try overdying it with some blue and see how that looks. then, perhaps, another hat! hah
