Category: knitting

Ta-da!

A final photo shoot for the broken rib sweater, now that I finally have the neck finished.


Once I finally started paying attention to this one, it just zoomed. The back took four and a half months, the front and sleeves about three weeks.


It looks a bit floofy and unblocked here (thanks to the super stretchy ribbing), but the shoulders look smooth on, and there’s plenty of good growing length in the body and sleeves.


So satisfying to be done! I love the way this one turned out — simple, soft, and cute. And two final shots with the kiddo, front:

And back:

Sharp little vest

I finished the sweater, finished the mittens, and was completely in the mood to cast on for something new, to the point of possibly making bad decisions. This yarn was an impulse buy two years ago (originally possibly for long fingerless gloves, but I’ve had trouble finding three-color patterns that seemed likely), and since then has just sat. It’s completely the wrong yarn for a toddler — thin, glossy, not exactly machine-washable, and that white is BRIGHT white.


And yet, I felt compelled to use it in little three-row stripes for a v-neck vest, and so off I went. I don’t have a pattern per se, and I definitely need to look into jogless striping, since the first few color changes have been pretty rough, but I’m all excited about it and whirring away the rows.


I should also probably check the sizing before I go too much further, and it wouldn’t hurt to make sure the black and green are color-safe. Such an ill-advised little project, but it was exactly what I wanted to knit, so off we go. 🙂

Mittens!

Funny to post for such a teeny tiny project, but it was such a satisfying knit that I’m not sorry. The kiddo’s hands have been freezing outside recently (it IS December), and so I took myself to Ravelry to search for great toddler mitten patterns. In a bit of wild serendipity, I already had the book that contained my favorite option, so I cast on with the remnants from last year’s pumpkin hat – doesn’t match the jacket (nothing will, it’s an unusual blue) but coordinates nicely. When I started to run out of yarn just after the thumb, I went stash diving deeper and found a mini ball of Karabella Aurora 8 left over from my very first sweater – perfect.

I think they’re so pretty. 🙂 And love that I managed to use up two tiny stash bits in one project. The 16 mos. kiddo, however, wants no part of any such things. He shakes his head no vigorously, he holds his hands behind his back, and if any mittens manage to make their way onto his hands, he pulls them off immediately and casts them onto the ground. Such intense dislike of the mittens! However, leave him alone with them, and you get 20 minutes of this:

Yecch. (He thinks that sound is funny, too.) At least my maternal/knitter guilt is assuaged – I provided mittens, not my fault if he’s a toddler and prefers to eat them rather than wear them. 🙂 At least Kevin likes them, too, so I’m not completely alone in my mitten fondness.

Encouraging — nearly there

We had a sweater try-on (I still need to finish the neck) and I couldn’t be happier with the result. It’s still a bit long, but the K5P1 ribbing is stretchy, and I think this has a lot of wear left in it.

The color is awesome – a variegated muted teal/blue/brown that works really well with the ribbing. Soft, comfy, bright yarn, and no protests from the kiddo as it went on.

So now I just need to pick up stitches round the collar, knit an inch, bind off, and wash, and the project is finally done!!


I’d dubbed this my “Summer Sweater” in Ravelry, and it’s turned into more of a Christmas sweater, but the size is perfect and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Yay.

Gift knitting

Good friends had a baby girl in May, and I finally, finally finished her sweater and hat and could send everything off in the mail.

Sadly, I don’t think there are any more DK lace baby projects for friends in my near future – what was an enjoyable month a year and a half ago now takes two seasons to finish. My knitting was never speedy, but I’m lucky to get in two rows most nights. That said, I loved this sweet little sweater. I pulled together portions of several patterns, and then made up a hat from scratch – both are ~12 month size. Henry modeled the hat for about .75 seconds (quite the speedy hat-puller-offer) before I washed it and he looked adorable. The closures are red/pink buttons over a double-loop of ribbon, and they somehow turned out exactly as I was envisioning. She’s the most well-dressed little thing I’ve ever seen, so hopefully this will be a good match for an outfit or two and get some wear. 🙂 The yarn was super soft and machine washable and dryable (funny how having your own baby TOTALLY changes your priorities yarn-wise!). Here’s the back.

I love this diamond eyelet. 🙂 Full details of the yarn and pattern are up on ravelry.

Knitting!

It’s been ages since I last had anything to share on the knitting front, but I made several inches of progress over the long weekend (enough to finally cast off the back of this 24 mos sweater!):

The yarn is such a rich, pretty blue, and I’ve been enjoying working on it even if DK gauge makes for a slow pace these days. It’s a fast pattern at least (every other row is just knit). Maybe with a bit of momentum, I’ll start burning through it. 🙂

Good thing the first photo turned out, if in a speedy and unblocked sort of way, since my “helper” was quick to come over and snatch it away.

Pembroke vest!

This one’s just been waiting for buttons and a good blocking for the last three and a half weeks.

This was a simple project that turned into a much longer one. I’d originally started knitting the six month size, then realized in December after finishing the back that it would be way too small. So I cast on, in the round this time, for the 12 month size. The yarn (Dream in Color Classy, color is Go Go Grassy, exactly as in the pattern sample) is so smooshy and fun to work with. I was expecting the color to be slightly more saturated, but now that my eyes have adjusted I’m a huge fan of the result. I was also expecting to find buttons in the brown/red/orange/wood family, but ended up going for ones that just blended in – subtler was better. The yarn color is funny – I really debated because I loved the sample but thought that part of what made those photos work was having a baby with that red-gold hair color. I did not think our baby would fall in that type, so would the green work? Ordered it anyway, and lo and behold, his hair is reddish blond. 🙂

Here it is on, front:

And back:

A great knit!