Category: knitting

And even the buttons are sewn on!

I finally finished the flower sweater! An Olympics knit that turned into a Downton knit that has just kept going and going, but delightfully. This was originally supposed to be a 24M size, but I was generous in resizing the pattern to match my yarn, and I think realistically it’s going to be closer to 3T. I love the way it turned out – the colors, the yarn, the pattern. I wish the shoulders were a smidge less 80s, but the rest is so cute that I even forgive it that.

The yarn I ordered for the green button-fastening i-cord looked spring-green online and turned out to be more of a poop-gold in person. Bummer. I substituted wool in a different gauge, but it’s proven for being machine wash and dry, and I think the jewel tone and slight variegation is gorgeous. Win!

The buttons have a faux-shell veneer, and I played up the white yarn with several knots on the front side. I think they’re great. I had about 9 things I was looking for in buttons, couldn’t quite find any of them (wrong size, hand-wash only, not enough on the rack, etc). These were a surprise find at the last minute and I love them.

And the Yarn Harlot posted a great blocking refresher a few days ago, and I’m so glad she did. I always block but it rarely turns out this beautifully.

Linen stitch scrubbie

The Yarn Harlot had a post about how much she loves knitting washcloths and how much more wonderful they are then anything you could possibly find in a store, and after way too many days of coming in from the yard just caked in dirt, that sounded nice. I must have been in a loud mood when I went to the craft store, because instead of a serene color yarn that would look subtle and sort of classy in the bathroom, I came home with something that produced this:

It’s certainly cheerful, at least. This was my first attempt at linen stitch, and I enjoyed it, although it was tricky to keep the tension even.

Colorblock dress

This was a LONG project (at least six months, on and off), but I finally finished the little colorblock dress!

I’m delighted with the way it turned out. I didn’t have a pattern, I was improvising (I used one of her store-bought sweater dresses as a very rough sizing guide for an 18 month fit, but this was mostly made up as I went). It was my first time trying crochet as a surface embellishment – it took a few tries to find the right size hook and get the knack of it, but I really like the way it turned out, I will do more of this. Here’s the back:

What WILL I do with my knitting time, now? Maybe finally knit that nativity set?

Projects

My new yarn arrived! The plan is that these are going to be kid-friendly knit nativity figures.

The bright column on the left is the wise men, the middle are shepherds, the camel, the donkey, the angel, and the sheep, and the two top right are Joseph, and the two bottom right are Mary. I had such fun picking out colors last week. The wise men colors didn’t turn out exactly as expected working from a print catalog and my computer monitor, but I’m still excited about them. A fun project, it will be interesting to see how far I can get by next December.