Socks!

It's been hard to get time this summer - both to knit and to update this blog! The kids have been keeping me busy, but I did manage to finish two pairs of socks. I've also been working on test knitting the pattern I designed. And of course because I finished a pair of socks, I had to cast on something new - a pair of gloves. I like having two projects going at all times. The variety keeps knitting interesting. :)

Without further ado, here are the finished socks. The pictures aren't the best since I took them with my phone, but  you can get an idea of what they look like.

The Artichoke Socks
I now have two pairs of socks using this pattern. It's an easy repeat to learn that goes quickly once you get started. Here is a picture of the finished sock. I used Liberty Fibers fingering weight merino in Freeform. I like how the yarn knit up, it's soft and snuggly. I can't wait for cold weather!

The Angee Socks
I had made one Angee sock as part of my mixed-up socks and liked the pattern so much that I decided to make a matching pair. Unfortunately I cannot find the ball band for the yarn so I can't tell you what kind of yarn I used but it so pretty!

Current Projects:

My socks - I finally settled on a design I like and wrote down the whole pattern. Now I'm working on knitting a pair using the pattern. So far, so good! Hopefully I'll have a sock done in a week or so and can get a picture or two up. Once I'm sure the pattern is mistake free, I'll share it.

Mitered squares Gloves - So far, I think these are going to be quick to knit up. I like the look of the mitered squares on the cuff. I'm making these gloves with Bugga! yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon. The yarn is in shades of brown and gold and yummy to the touch. I have a feeling it will make very warm gloves for this winter.

I just received the fall Interweave Knits, and I'm already marking pages for things I'd like to make. Too many patterns, too much yarn, and not enough time! Maybe one day I'll finally knit through my stash...maybe :)

Dipping my toes into sock design

After knitting so many pairs of socks designed by other people, I've decided to give it a shot. I printed out some knitters graph paper (thank you http://www.knitonthenet.com/) and sharpened my pencil and got to work. I came up with a design that looked good on paper but when I tried knitting I could see right away it wasn't going to work out well for a sock.

I tried again, messing around with combinations of k2tog/ssk and YO's as well as some twists and came up with a pattern I thought would work. I knit up a flat swatch to get a general idea of what it would look like. I like it, although I can't tell if it's too busy looking because of the pattern or the yarn - I used some of my leftover blue/teal yarn from my mixed up socks. I'm thinking it's the yarn but I'm not 100% sure. I dug through my box of leftover sock yarn and pulled out a solid color yarn. I'll give that pattern another try today and see how it looks. I'm still on the fence about it. I also charted out a third design that has promise but again, I won't know until I have a swatch done.

To all the knit designers out there, you have my respect! I've only been trying for a few days and I find it's as hard as I expected it to be. Coming up with creative, pretty patterns that will work for a sock is a challenge, at least for me. I doubt I'll ever become a professional designer, but it would be nice to have one pair of socks that I can say is totally mine from beginning to end. :)

To be continued....

Purple Kangaroo and baby too!

They are done! I finished the Mommy Kangaroo a few days ago and wrapped up the baby today. The 2 year old loves Mommy and has been dragging her around the house since I gave it to her. She's been sleeping with the Mommy in or else next to her bed every night. I'm glad she likes it. I gave her the baby today and she's tickled pink with it. I expect both will be carried around the house a lot. Here are some photos of Mommy by herself and with her baby:

 


















And here are two close ups of the baby:

I'm glad they are done. The seaming on the baby was tough because it was small. I did the best I could, and the 2 year old loves both Mommy and baby. Now to finish up two projects that just need to be sewn together, which is why they aren't finished yet. I hope I can get them done in the next few days so I can just take my two sock projects on my vacation with me. Cheers!

Purple Kangaroo Update

The summer has begun! I've been readjusting this week to having both kids home with me, since the 6 year old is finished with school until September. With trips to the pool and the ice rink (the 6 y/o plays hockey), there have been a few nights when I've just been too tired to think, let alone work on the 2 year old's purple kangaroo.

Late last week I finally finished knitting all the parts of the mommy purple kangaroo. I've begun seaming the whole thing together. Seaming is my least favorite part of knitting, and one of the things that I feel like I don't do well. When I first started knitting I had no clue how to seam things, so if you ever take a close look at my son's Blue Kangaroo, you'll see just how bad I was at seaming. But after reading a few books and lots of practice, I've actually gotten much better at seaming. I still don't like seaming, and I'm rather slow doing it, but at least I am making progress on sewing the kangaroo together. It's actually starting to look like a kangaroo instead of a bunch of random pieces. The 2 year old saw it today and was ready to run off with it, even though it's only about a third of the way done. I think she's going to like it when it's done. If she doesn't like it, I think my neighbor's 6 year old daughter would be happy to have it. She was asking me all sorts of questions about it, like how long it would take to make one, what colors could I make it in. I may have to make another one when I'm finished this one. Or maybe I can talk her into wanting something with a little less seaming. :)

I love you, Purple Kangaroo!

When my son was 3 (he's 6 now), I started reading him a series of books about a blue kangaroo by Emma Chichester Clark. He loved them and wanted a blue kangaroo of his own. Being the good mommy and knitter who likes to try new things, I decided to make him one. I found this pattern in Debbie Bliss' book Toy Knits. It was for a mother and baby kangaroo but of course he wanted a boy kangaroo, so it was easy to modify - I just didn't make a pouch or a baby.

I've been reading these same books to my 2 year old. She's been stealing her brother's kangaroo from his room which of course makes him unhappy. I've decided to make her her very own kangaroo. She chose purple, since that seems to be her favorite color these days. I hope I can get the kangaroo done before she changes her favorite color. :)

I'm using Knit Picks Shine Sport in Iris and Wisteria on size 4 needles. The yarn is soft and makes a nice fabric when knit but it tends to curl up a lot. That could just be this pattern though because I remember the Rowan Wool Cotton I used for my son's toy curled up too. Having learned from the first time I made this, I decided to block the pieces as I go rather then wait until everything is done. I've gotten the left side panel done, and here's a picture of it on the blocking board:

It's going to be a good size toy when it's done. I'm just hoping I have enough yarn. I used just over a skein on the left panel, so I figure I'll use about 2 1/2 total for both the left and the right sides, which will leave me 2 1/2 skeins for the rest of the kangaroo. If I have enough yarn left over I'll make the baby. And if I don't have enough, well that gives me a reason to order more yarn. :)

Picture Day!

The Beaded Scarf:

I finally got around to blocking this scarf. It was incredibly easy to block - I just wet it and pinned it to my blocking board. A few hours later it was flat and dry. I can't wait for fall to come so I can start wearing it! Here it is, all finished:

The Garden Plot Dress:

I am really proud of how this turned out. I got it all blocked and sewn together in a day. A tip for anyone doing this - block the skirt first, then sew the side seams. The directions say to sew then block but it was so much easier to block it first. Here's a pic of it in the blocking stage:

And here is the finished dress, modeled by the happy recipient:

Yes, those are toys around her ankles. She discovered yesterday that she can slip the soft rings from one of her baby toys on her ankles and has been parading around the house with them on all day. They jingle when she walks. It's a nice accessory for the dress, eh? :)

Here's a few more pics of the dress:

 All in all, this was really easy to do. The lace might seem intimitating to a beginner, but the chart is actually really easy to follow. I only found one mistake in it and I was able to compensate for that. There is probably a correction for it out there, but since I was able to make it work I didn't bother looking for it. The bodice was easy to do - you knit part of it in the round and you do a 3 needle bind off for the shoulders so there are no seams to sew on it. The only seeaming I had to do was the two side seams of the skirt and I was able to do that in a very short time. If you know a little girl who loves dresses, I highly recommend making the dress!



Hello June!

The formerly dreaded beaded scarf is done! I finished it about a week ago but haven't had a chance to block it yet. Hopefully I will get to that tomorrow - finding the space to do it is more of a challenge than finding the time! It looks really nice and has a good weight to it. I probably could have made it longer than I did but I just got tired of stringing the damn beads on the yarn. :) I think it will be best for fall and spring, since the beads will probably end up being a bit cold next to my skin in winter but I'll just have to wait until then to try it out. I already posted one picture of it, pre-blocking. Once it's all nicely blocked I'll get a good picture of it.

Since I finished the scarf I've been focusing entirely on the Garden Plot dress for my daughter. I have one skirt panel done and I've got about 20 rows left on the second panel. I should be able to have this finished in a week or two (in theory). Then we'll see if she actually will wear it. She's gotten picky about her clothes lately, so I never know what she will wear. Hopefully I can get her to wear it once so I can get a picture of her in it.

Once it's finished I will be working on two unfinished pairs of sock and starting on a purple kangaroo.Yes, the daughter has asked for a purple kangaroo. I made a blue one for my son a few years ago that the two of them have been fighting over. Once she has her own kangaroo they can find something new to fight over. Ah, the joys of children!