Trading Yarn for Ribbon

The knitting has really slowed down around here.  I still have a few things on the needles that have been languishing while I worked on smaller, more quick-to-finish projects.  Over the weekend I cast on a blanket square, part of a larger blanket project through my knitting group.  Things were going well until I realized I was almost out of yarn, with about 1/3 of the square to go.  Riiiiip!

Then my hand pain came back with a vengeance.

Swollen, achy joints in both hands have kept me away from the knitting for days now.  Occasionally I sneak in a couple of rows to see how it feels, but inevitably things start hurting worse after a few minutes.  It’s quite distressing!  I really thought giving my hands a break from the knitting and drinking lots of water would help, but the situation persists.  My only hope is that this is temporary, that things will return to normal once I have the baby.

In Lieu of knitting, I have been spending a little more time in front of the sewing machine.  Turns out I love ribbon as much (if not more) than I love buttons and have amassed a nice little stash of it.  Ribbon is great for gift wrap, sure.  But it’s also great sewn onto simple things as playful embellishment.  I have already made a couple of these playmats as gifts (inspired by one from SouleMama in Handmade Home), but needed one for Peaceful Baby.  Then I got invited to a baby shower, so I decided to make another.  So fun!  So fast!

How would you spend your free time if you couldn’t knit?

 

Turkey Day Beret

I was so excited to share this new beret with you that I ran outside with wet hair as soon as it was finished blocking!  This time of year you have to seize the good daylight when you can for photos.

• Pattern: Meret (Mystery Beret) by Wooly Wormhead, size large, Ravelled here
• Yarn: Cascade Yarns Pure Alpaca in Pumpkin Spice, about 130 yards
• Needles: US size 6/4 mm
• Mods: I knit three pattern repeats before beginning the crown decreases.

This pattern was fun and straightforward to knit.  Everything I’ve knit by Wooly Wormhead has been clearly written with good charts where needed.  I knit the largest size, to fit a 22-inch head and did three repeats of the lace pattern.  Even after blocking it’s not quite as full or slouchy as it seems to need to be; if I didn’t have bangs I’d want to wear it more on my forehead, and this hat would then be too snug on my head.  So maybe 4 repeats next time.

This yarn is something I picked up a few weeks ago at a new knitting store nearby.  The color is called pumpkin spice, and I guess the overall appearance of the color fits that description.  But up close, the yarn has two colors running through it: cranberry and a golden wheat color.  It was lovely to work with, even if it was a little splitty at times.  It is soft and has a nice halo perfect for this kind of accessory.  And good news–I have enough left to make a matching pair of fingerless gloves!

 

Neon Bandit

• Pattern: Silk Kerchief by Kate Gagnon Osborn Ravelled here
• Yarn: ShibuiKnits sock in colors 5130 (multi) and 2955 (dark teal), 1 skein each.  I did not use the full skein of multi, but ran out of the teal (191 yds).
• Needles: US size 4/ 3.5 mm
• Mods: I knit the stripes until this was approximately the size of my small Ishbel shawl.  Then I switched to the teal color and made increases to form a ruffle as described here.  Although I just noticed she did hers in garter stitch where mine is in stockinette; maybe that’s why mine curls in so much?  It was my intention to knit the entire ruffle in the solid color, but I underestimated the amount of yarn needed and had to bind off with the multi.

All in all this was a breeze to knit, and a I had a lot of fun with the color combo.  On its own the multi-colored yarn is a bit bright, reminding me of Play-Doh and neon accessories from the 80s.  When tempered with this lovely, multifaceted dark teal, it takes on more of a magical quality.  I love it.

I’ve been inclined to wear this bandit-style (above), but it also turned out to be a nice shawl size.  I blocked the living daylights out of it to get a little more width, which I found was the only downfall of this pattern.  The increases are only made on the front of the scarf, which resulted in a triangle that seemed to get more deep than wide.  If I were to make this again, I would probably make increases along each edge on both sides of the work.

Lately I have been knitting up a storm, trying to finish up holiday gifts, knits for me, and anything I can get my hands on really.  Apparently I overdid it because I woke up on Wednesday with sore, swollen hands and couldn’t knit for two days.  Two days!  That’s an eternity for me under normal circumstances, but was especially alarming when I still felt the urgent need to knit and was hampered by such a silly thing as hand pain.  It sure made me hope for continued good hand health; I can’t imagine having to give up knitting!

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend, full of all the knitting you (and your hands) desire.

 

The Gift of Handmade

It has been a little overwhelming around here, what with all the baby gifts that keep showing up on our doorstep.  A very high percentage of them have been handmade; knit, crochet, or sewn, people’s talent is astounding.  I am impressed and inspired by the time and thought that has gone into each item.

The blue cabled hat is from my friend Natasha, to whom I will be forever grateful for teaching me how to knit.  She also made the blanket below, complete with itty bitty crochet edging.  The brown hat is from a family friend.  I love the big flower, don’t you?  Just in case Junior is a boy, she included a knit band and two brown buttons that could replace the flower.  Clever!

Another family friend went way above and beyond, sewing up this baby quilt, a matching fitted flannel sheet, and a couple of burp cloths.  The quilt is puffy and soft and fits perfectly in the co-sleeper I recently snagged at Once Upon A Child for 1/4 retail price.  And to think I had almost bought one new for $200!  Can you tell I love a good bargain?

And last but not least is this fabulous red sweater from a fellow Stitch ‘n Bitcher, Denise.  I’m loving the hood and the frog closures:

Thanks again to everyone for their creativity and generosity!

 

Twilight Flittens

For all the silence around here, I have been getting a lot of knitting (and casting on) accomplished.  Since I keep starting new projects, the rate at which I am finishing things feels rather slow.  But I do have something to show you!

• Pattern: New Moon Inspired Alice Cullen Fingerless Mittens by Nancy Fry, free Ravelry dowload
• Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints in color 9848, 45 grams or about 100 yards
• Needles: US size 8/5 mm
• Mods: I knit one plain round after binding off for the thumb.  Then I proceeded with the ribbing, neglecting to change needles sizes. Didn’t seem to matter.

This was one of those patterns that I saw pop up on Ravelry, queued instantly, and actually went out and purchased yarn for immediately.  That rarely happens for me.  Typically, I like to mull these things over, stalk the finished projects of other knitters for yarn ideas, and then eventually knit the pattern (or not) a while later.  So this was very satisfying to discover, knit, and finish in the span of a few days.

These mitts are a little bit longer than other fingerless mitt patterns I have tried in the past.  There is sure to be no cold air sneaking up your coat sleeves when wearing these!

 

Couldn’t Stay Away

Over the weekend I went a little crazy casting on new projects and hurriedly trying to finish others.  I started this project a couple of weeks ago as a simple round and round knit to work on when I watch TV or don’t have the brain capacity for something more complex.

• Pattern: Kicking Bag for Babies, free Ravelry download here

I’m not sure whether this will be a useful baby item or not, but it’s going quickly and I’m using up some sock yarn from the stash.  I may not have knit any socks during Socktober, but I sure knit with some sock yarn!

On Friday Sweetie asked me if I could make a pair of baby booties for a friend of hers by Monday.  Of course!  And she was impressed when they were done that night.  Shhh…don’t tell how quick and easy they are!

• Pattern: BSJ Inspired Bootees, free Ravelry download here, 3-6 month size
• Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK in 0355 Brown
• Needles: US size 6/4.0 mm
• Mods: I cast on with a contrast color to give these a little pop.  This is a really fun pattern!

On Saturday I was determined to start a new project that was a shawl using sock yarn.  I had purchased the pattern for Ulmus about a month ago, and have been playing with (and being frustrated by) different color combinations.  Despite pulling out all my fingering weight yarn and mixing and matching to see who played well with each other, I was not inspired.  So I ended up choosing a free pattern that has been in my knitting queue for some time, the Silk Kerchief by Kate Gagnon Osborn.  The original is knit in lovely, muted shades of Noro Silk Garden Sock; while I have some nice neutral colors stashed, I was feeling a little more…wild!  So I took a dip in the 80s and came up with this:

The consensus at my knitting group was that this is a “wildly awesome” color combo and that I should not try to tone it down by doing double repeats of the blue.  I think I will add some sort of edging in blue to class things up a bit, perhaps a ruffle or lace repeat.  Funny thing is, I’ve tried this color combo before here, and then again with the Ulmus pattern.  Third time’s a charm, I hope!

I also cast on for Juliet, pulled out my Hemlock Ring Blanket, and bought yarn for 2 Christmas gifts. I feel like I’m running out of time to knit whenever I want as often as I want and I’m trying ot cram it all in now! And so far it’s working.  My fingers are a little sore this morning, but I can work through the pain!

 

Day 31

At long last, it’s the last day of Blogtoberfest!  Overall, I enjoyed the challenge of blogging every day for a month.  It pushed me to keep knitting, buying yarn, and thinking of post ideas.  While I didn’t venture as far outside my blogging box as I thought I might, I’m satisfied with this month’s content.  There were a lot of fun new experiences, plenty of knitting, and a few silly posts thrown in for good measure.  I’m sure that now it’s over I’ll crash a bit and have a period of silence.  The next post will come when I feel like I have something to say or show, not when I feel I should.

Thank you for joining me on this experiment.  I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s comes next in knitting and in life!

For now, I’ll leave you with a photo of our first fire of the season.

Have a great weekend!

 

Day 30

Friday Fill Ins, The Day Before Halloween Edition!

 

1. It was a dark and stormy night, and the motion-detector lights kept turning on outside.

2. No one wanted an entire stack of knitting books, so I offered to take the books myself.

3. Rushing out, I almost forgot to grab something hand-knit to keep me warm.

4. Yikes…I think I heard a howl from my craft room!

5. Shhhh… Big Martha is sleeping, and you know what they say about letting sleeping dogs lie.

6. I haven’t had any candy all day… give me something good to eat!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a Halloween Party, tomorrow my plans include watching a scary movie and handing out treats and Sunday, I want to go to Stitch ‘n Bitch!

 

Day 29

I almost forgot: I have another finished object to show you!   This one has been finished for at least a week now, but got lost in the shuffle somewhere along the way.  I’m not crazy about how it turned out, and consumer reviews are mixed.

• Pattern: Alpaca Comfort Blankie from Natural Knits for Babies and Toddlers (ravelled here)
• Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds in Ecru & Brown, approx 130 and 30 yards each
• Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
• Mods: Omitted ribbon edging and cast on 2 extra stitches so I could do a 3-stitch garter edge up the sides instead.  Knit a 6-inch icord and attached it with the head.

This is one of those patterns that caught my eye because it was cute and seemed like a practical plaything for baby.  As a knitter, the fact that the pattern called for alpaca yarn didn’t really phase me.  I chose some nice undyed yarn, thinking that would be healthier for a baby to ingest if things got wild.  What I didn’t bargain for was the texture of such yarn in the mouth of a baby.  While it’s soft to the touch, it’s not as soft to the palate. My nephew promptly put the sheep’s head in his mouth and made the Yuck Face.   He played with it a little bit after that, but never again did it go near his mouth!

This was another lightning fast baby knit, until I got to the finishing.  The little head knit up quickly, and I stuffed it with wool yarn scraps.  Then it sat around looking more like a sheep’s testicle than a cute toy for a while until I mustered up the courage to whip up some French knots.  And even after I embellished the face and attached it to the blanket, it sort of just bobs around…  Not something I think I’ll make again, but it’s a decent addition to the toy box.

 

Day 28

You may recall I mentioned getting a goody bag at the Ravelry party last weekend.  Inside were some great samples, including an entire skein of Knit Picks Gloss. Striped Socks and I promptly traded skeins, as we each had a color better suited to the other.  something about this deep purple yarn told me that it wanted to be a baby hat immediately, and so I obliged.

• Pattern: Modern Baby Hat from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies, 3-6 month size (Ravelled here)
• Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss DK in Admiral, about 90 yards
• Needles: US 6/ 4mm
• Mods: I knit an extra row or two after making the button hole.

This was a fun, fast project to knit.  Once the knitting was done, there was a little bit of seaming to do which is usually a little less fun for me.  This is such a small project though, it was done in no time.

Fortunately for me, I happen to have a real life babe in staying in the house this week.  I’m used to taking pictures of my knitting on a table or draped across something immobile.  It is a whole lot more challenging to take a good picture of your knits when in motion!  Hence the blur…

Something about seeing this hat on my nephew elicited laughter.  Some say he looks like a peasant baby, a young extra on Star Trek, or perhaps a synchronized swimmer.  My sister just kept saying “I bet it will be cute on your baby…”

I think it’s cute now, dang it, not to mention intensely practical.  There’s no wind or chilly air getting to those ears or head!

The pattern came from a new book I just picked up, Vintage Knits for Modern Babies.  This is a very pretty book that takes inspiration from vintage patterns and updates them for use with today’s yarn and aesthetic in mind.  There are a couple more projects from this book I have in mind to make, but they’re both distinctly feminine.  Guess I’ll have to wait and see….  In the meantime, maybe I’ll make another wool swim cap bonnet in the next size up.