First Socks

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but I had one goal in mind when I learned to knit: socks. I don't like crocheted socks so that left knitting. Thus I set out to learn to knit and, of course, got sidetracked by other projects along the way. I also discovered that I really like knitting.

Pattern: Easy Toddler Socks by Karen Caron at Needles and Wool
Dates: September 2007
Yarn: Moda Dea Sassy Stripes (100% Acrylic)
Color: 6997 Lucky
Needles: Set of 5 size 1 vintage aluminum DPNs
Finished size: fits Abby’s size 11 foot
Modifications: none
Lessons learned: These were my first socks so I learned everything here: turning the heel, picking up gusset stitches, and kitchener stitching the toe closed. I used the Toe Grafting: Kitchener 101 section of The Sock Knitter's Companion: Step-by-Step Help by Clara H. Parkes at Knitter's Review to help with the Kitchener stitch.
Comments: I know acrylic isn't normally the greatest choice for socks but there was no way I was going to shell out the money for nicer yarn. The acrylic is just fine for a first pair of socks being given to a 5-year old.

The only reason I was able to complete these socks was thanks to the generosity of a fellow knitter on Ravelry. I didn’t have enough yarn to finish the toe of the second sock so I posted a message asking if anyone had any scraps. Someone did and sent me the yarn as a gift. Knitters are wonderful!

First Mittens

An extremely wonderful friend of mine gave me this yarn and this pattern for Christmas last year. I put off doing the project for a while, largely because I was afraid of how nice the yarn was. But I finally got the courage and am pretty happy with the result. They seem a little different in size in the picture but don't seem that way in real life. I'm blaming my non-existent photography skills.

Pattern: Easy Hats & Mittens (AC-20) by Bev Galeskas at Fiber Trends

Dates: August 2007

Yarn: NORO Kochoran (50% Wool, 30% Angora, 20% Silk)

Color: 1

Needles: size 7 & 9 bamboo DPNs

Finished size: pattern says women’s medium and they fit me

Modifications: none (I'm not one to modify a pattern the first time out)

Lessons learned: This was my first set of mittens. Although the Ribbons Baby Blanket used DPNs for the center, this was the most I had used DPNs to date. There is a thumb gusset in these and I had to leave the thumb stitches on waste yarn until ready to knit them, something I had never done before.
Comments: I hope no one is surprised about the fact that this is a Fiber Trends pattern. I really love these! The colors and the color variations in these are amazing as well!

I swear I haven't gotten lost!

I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I have posted anything. I've actually been knitting like crazy but then not getting the project posted. At a minimum, I knit every day while waiting at the high school for Abby's bus. You'd think my posting problem was related to the house construction, but actually its a Ravelry problem. I've gotten so distracted by everything to be found that I often sit up late without realizing how much time is passing. But I've got a few drafts worked up and should have a flurry of posting activity coming up.

Oak Leaf & Acorn Scarf

This was my second lace project (I haven't posted the first one yet). I chose the pattern for my mom because Manley's last name is Oaks. The color choice is a little Christmas-y but that was done because my mom is a Christmas FREAK.

Pattern: Oak Leaf & Acorn Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark for Fiber Trends (AC-41)

Dates: October 2006 - about May 2007

Yarn: Plymouth: Suri Merino

Color: 2055 & 1440

Needles: Clover bamboo size 7

Finished size: 8.5" x 68"

Modifications: I used a heavier yarn than what was suggested. This was due to my desire to make the scarf at least partially alpaca.

Lessons learned: This is the first provisional cast on for me which consisted of a crocheted cast on. I worked the green side first, then pulled out the crochet stitches and worked the red side.

Comments: I've said it before and I'll say it again, I really seem to like the patterns from Fiber Trends. They are clearly written and the presentation is fantastic. The pattern is printed on cardstock and an actual photograph is attached to the page. The whole thing comes in a sheet protector. I'm becoming a big fan of buy individual patterns rather than a whole book where 2/3 are something I'll never make.

More of Abby's Hats

Back in May I mentioned that Abby had also made two more hats but never got around to posting them. These were made with thicker yarn which seems to improve the appearance of the finished product.

Pattern: No pattern, just the basic hat instructions that came with the loom. She used the basic e-wrap, allowing the first to roll up and creating a basic brim for the other.

Dates: January 2007

Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky (100% Acrylic)

Color: Carnival (40729)

Loom: Blue Knifty Knitter by Provocraft.

Finished size: About preemie sized

Modifications: none

Comments: These two hats look much better than her first attempt but only because of the choice of yarn. The previous yarn was too thin and laddered like crazy. This worked out much better. The hat is very warm but still very stretchy.

Knitted Cabled Owls

Last fall, shortly after moving up to Ohio, I took the kids to visit Mark's aunt and uncle who live just up the street. While I was there I noticed this really cool potholder hanging on the wall and used my phone to take a picture of it. Not long after, I mentioned it to my mother-in-law and she said she had one just like it. Apparently one of them had purchased both at a craft show and given one to the other. My mother-in-law couldn't remember who had purchased them though.
My mother-in-law had used hers, resulting in quite a bit more wear and tear. But she gave me hers and I used it as a model to figure out how to make a cabled owl. You would think I had written down what I did, but actually I'm going to have to make another and pay more attention to writing it down.I made mine out of a small bit of dishcloth cotton that was leftover from something else. I never bothered to put eyes on it either since it was just a test piece. So this little piece of knitting marks my first ever attempt at cabling as well as my first attempt to look at finished knitting and try to recreate the stitches.

Apparently, cabled animals were quite the thing for a while. I've heard of a set of children's vest patterns that featured a yoke of cabled animals and that even have the backs of the animals on the backs of the vests. Then I think there was a set of baby blankets and such that were also published. If anyone has any of these patterns, I'd love to borrow them for a bit. I think the animals would make a really cute baby blanket (animals in squares alternated with plain squares). Or one of those knitted cubes with different animals on each side.

Quilts for Good Friends

Some friends recently adopted three boys from the Ukraine and I decided to make snuggle quilts for each of them. Of course, when they left for the Ukraine the plan was to bring back two children but they surprised everyone with three (under the age of four!). As the two older boys are twins I made two alphabet quilts for them and the frog one for their little brother. These are about crib sized.

Dates: April - June 2007

Fabrics: Hungry Animal Alphabet II & Circus Menagerie by Janet Wecker-Frisch from South Sea Imports for the two alphabet quilts and Ribbit! by Signature Classics from Oakhurst Textiles (who does not have a website but Bear Paw Quilting has good pictures).

Lessons learned: Having never sewn a quilt before, the whole thing was a learning process. I had already pieced all three tops before I even stumbled on the not-binding technique. I think this is called a pillowcase binding or an envelope binding. I'm still not sure but I really like it. Also, don't try to cut this many quilt squares with scissors. Using clear acrylic quilters' rulers helped but my fingers were aching from the scissor usage. Also, the frog one was pieced first when I had no idea about fabric grain. I just grabbed squares willy-nilly and sewed them together. Nothing was square. Total nightmare. Then I learned about fabric grain and the alphabet squares were a dream by comparison.

A piece of crochet history

As far as I can remember, my mom taught me to crochet somewhere around the fall of 1981. That means I've known how to crochet for about 26 of my almost 33 years. Anyway, for some strange reason I still own my first ever effort at crocheting a scarf. When I realized it was narrowing, I just decided to make it a triangle. This may appear to be a hat, but let me assure you that it is simply a flat triangle. For some reason I wasn't willing to rip it out but I was willing to waste yarn by making something so useless.

Thrift Store Goodness

Last week I finally had a good excuse to go to Cincinnati and while I was there I stopped in at the Salvation Army. There was a bunch of craft stuff but it was mostly yucky acrylic in atrocious colors. But then there was a collection of knitting needles all wrapped up in a bundle. Since the Salvation Army is a big fan of bagging things and stapling it shut, I couldn't see exactly what was in there. But the price was only $2.99 so I grabbed it.

I couldn't even wait to get home and opened the package in the car and look what I found!

The grand total was 10 pairs of vintage plastic single-pointed needles, 11 pairs of aluminum single-pointed needles, 22 plastic double-pointed needles, 13 aluminum double-pointed needles, 10 steel double-pointed needles (judging by their weight and rust), 2 aluminum stitch holders, a plastic crochet hook, a very long-handled (10") wooden crochet hook, a plastic stitch holder, and a plastic thing that appears to be for holding embroidery thread (one tab for each color).

The needle sizes vary, but are mostly smaller than about a size 5, particularly the double pointeds which are mostly around a size 1. The double-pointed needles rarely make up a complete set, at least not a set of 5 like modern sets are. Some were duplicates for my collection, but many are sizes I was lacking because I have yet to venture into the small-needle stuff.

ARGOSY!!!!

I can't believe I left the world of archaeology only to turn around and do a project named after the biggest project ever. Even more unbelievable is the fact that this dishcloth was done as a test piece for a scarf I've currently got on the needles.

Pattern: Argosy Dishcloth by Vyvyan Neel
Dates: June 2007
Yarn: Lily: Sugar’n Cream
Color: Pink Lilac (00159) (no longer available)
Needles: Aluminum size 8 or 9
Finished size: 17.5" X 12"
Modifications: Pattern followed exactly as written
Lessons learned: I learned how to do the knitted on cast-on method. This is also my first knitted project that was not a square or rectangle as a result of constant casting on and off.
Comments: In the Knitter’s Almanac, Elizabeth Zimmerman suggested making swatches large enough to stitch up the sides and make a baby hat. My own version of this advice is to practice the pattern stitches on a washcloth to get a feel for the knitting if not the actual gauge. I’m currently working on the scarf version and will post it when its finished.

Mother-In-Law Scarf

Shortly after Christmas my mother-in-law asked me if I would knit her a scarf. I think she was jealous of the scarf I'd been working on for quite some time for my mom (future post). I said "sure" and the next thing I knew she had purchased three skeins of the yarn you see. Not what I would have picked, but it's what she wanted. I wasn't sure what to make and settled on the basketweave pattern because I figured it would work up to a very thick scarf. It did. But I'm not sure the multi-colored yarn shows off the pattern to its best advantage.

Pattern: Traditional basketweave design.

Dates: February 2007.

Yarn: Red Heart Classic (100% Acrylic), about 2 skeins.

Color: gemstone (959)

Needles: vintage size 10 aluminum, I think.

Finished size: 8.25" x 48"

Modifications:

Lessons learned: Never let a non-fiber person pick their own yarn. You'll end up knitting with plastic when you'd rather be knitting with something a little nicer. I was originally planning to use Wool-Ease by Lion Brand.

Comments: This scarf doesn't lay as flat as I'd like but the recipient will never know the difference.

Comments needed

I started fiddling around with the look of this goofy thing and can't decide if I like the light blue/grey background. Maybe the solid, dark, navy blue was better? Can everyone vote for me so I don't have to decide?

Next on my list is to post the projects I photographed last week but I got sidetracked with this.

Abby's first knitting loom project

Some of you may have already seen this, but I was pretty proud of Abby so I'm including it here. She has since done two more which I expect to photograph next week. She plans to send one to the hospital where she was born. I have also made two that will travel along.
Pattern: No pattern, just the basic hat instructions that came with the loom. She used the basic e-wrap for a few rows, folded up the brim, continued on until it was long enough, and got help from me closing the top draw-string style.
Dates: December 15, 2006
Yarn: Bernat Baby Coordinates (75.2% Acrylic, 22.2% Rayon, 2.6% Nylon).
Color: Baby Pink (01008) (Chosen by Abby because its pink and slightly shiny!)
Loom: Blue Knifty Knitter by Provocraft.
Finished size: Fits her favorite baby. I suspect it would be about preemie sized.
Modifications: none
Comments: The yarn was obviously too thin for the gauge of this loom. There should have been two strands, if not three, in order to eliminate the "laddering" seen in the photo. The as-yet-unphotographed hats were made with a heavier yarn and look much better.

Loom knitted scarf

For those who don't know, peg knitting has been around for hundreds of years. I've learned a lot about it from the HistoricKnit group at Yahoo! that I had never realized before. It is not a new technique and nearly anything done on straight needles can be done on pegs including lace, cables, increases, and decreases. Really fine knitting can be created with nicer looms that the Knifty Knitters. The key is lots of pegs that are very close together (Decor Accents, Inc. has a wide range of very nice looms, among others).

Pattern: No pattern but I used the instructions from Knitting with the Knifty Knitter II: A New Experience in Knitting by ProvoCraft. I used the basic figure 8 style method until I ran out of yarn and method C for removing the knitting from the loom.
Dates: December 2006
Yarn: Probably Red Heart (100% Acrylic) but I can't be sure since it came out of my stash.
Color: One strand each of pink and white.
Loom: Small wooden knitting board with 11 pairs of pegs. Purchased at Hobby Lobby, but I have no idea of the brand.
Finished size: 4.75" x 24" (just barely long enough for Abby to wear). I made it as long as the yarn lasted.
Modifications: none.
Comments: This was really just a test piece to see what the loom could do. I think it has a cool texture, especially when worked with two strands. The figure 8 wrap produces twisted knit stitches which are further altered by the double strand. The bind off I used is a basic cast-off like in needle knitting, but done on pegs with a crochet hook (if that makes any sense). I think I'd like to see about a wider one to make baby blankets for the NICU. This is very thick and comparable to double knitting.

Alex's baby blanket

Pattern: No pattern, but lots of inspiration from the Log Cabin section of Mason Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters Guide.

Dates: March - April 2007

Yarn: Baby Bee: Little Britches from Hobby Lobby (85% Acrylic, 15% Polyamide) - about 3 skeins.

Color: child's play (#4101).
Needles: Clover size 10 bamboo flex.
Finished size: Yeah, probably about 30" x 30". Another one to ask about.

Modifications: Instead of changing colors to work the strips, I chose to use one color. Mostly I was trying to avoid ends to weave in but I ended up really liking the finished effect.

Lessons learned: I'm still not sure if I picked up the stitches correctly because I got a definite ridge on the reverse side of the blanket. When I googled looking for pictures of what other people have made, I discovered that people don't usually photograph the back of their projects! I found one example at january one and became even more convinced that mine is "wrong" (although it looks kinda cool).

Comments: This was another good mindless knitting project.

Mystery flower revealed

Those are Columbine!

Heather's baby blanket

This blanket was the largest knitted object I had attempted when I started this. I bought the pattern and needles in Lexington at the Stitch Niche.

Pattern: Ribbons Baby Blanket by Fiber Trends (CH-44x). I was attracted to this one because the description called it a Quaker Rib.

Dates: Begun in early December 2006 and finished in early February 2007.

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby 100% Acrylic - about 2 skeins.

Color: White (02000)

Needles: size 8 bamboo double points for the center, size 8 Bryspun circulars for the rest.

Finished size: Its about 30" x 30". I'll have to check with Heather because I forgot to measure it.

Modifications: I went with the optional raised petal center and really liked it. Other than that I followed the pattern as written.

Lessons learned: The end result would not lay flat, which, of course, I didn't realize until it was off the needles. I thought the center was too loose or something but TF thinks the problem was in the border. The border is just garter stitch but I may have gotten a little tighter and the cast-off was almost certainly too tight.

Comments: This was a great pattern for mindless knitting with the kids around or while watching TV. Each strip is made of either 8 rounds of knitting or 8 rounds of purling. Every other round has an increase on the corners. I have several Fiber Trends patterns and really like them so far.

Garden again

My mom came to visit and I used her (better) camera to take more pictures of the flowers. I also got a good close-up of the underside of the flower. These seem to be one of Abby's favorites.

Cupcakes

I made these for Alex's second birthday (May 1). Mark wanted the usual yellow cake with chocolate frosting and I wanted the opposite. So I made two batches and put my fantastic cupcake stands to good use. Its hard to tell but those are tiny toothpick sized pinwheels (silver, gold, and blue) in the cupcakes that actually spin when you blow on them. Unfortunately, it looks like they have been discontinued. I wish I had been able to get more colors but I bought every pack Wal-Mart had. Also, those are star shaped candles left over from Abby's birthday party because I flaked and forgot to buy Alex his own candles.

Not quite crafty....

These are some flowers in my (temporary) yard. I'm not sure what they are though. The next ones are small irises (only about knee high).