knitted baby accessories

In the spirit of actually posting the various projects I've been making, in no particular order, I wanted to share some of the knitted accessories that I made for Esther.  I also have made her quite a few little tiny sweaters (love how fast baby sweaters are to knit up!) but I'll share those later.  This hat was the last knitting project I finished before she was born - I realized that I had knit her several larger hats but nothing newborn sized, and with a march due date I wanted to be sure she had a special handmade hat to wear in her first days!

I knit this hat with a variation of my basic baby hat pattern on ravelry and using Knit Picks felici sport yarn (which, ahem, I got on sale and have a bunch more of, so you may see another baby project in this yarn in the future).  Esther was just a few days old in this pictures and the hat fit her for her first month or so, and then it got pretty warm so she didn't need a hat anyways.

I had also made her several other hats before she was born, and conveniently now that it is getting chilly again, they both fit her now.  So that worked out well!  Both are improvised designs that are similar to that basic baby hat linked above.  On a recent outing she started trying to pull the hat off her head, though, so I may need to get to work on one with ties to keep it on pretty soon!

She gets very serious about looking around (and trying to eat the straps on the stroller) so here is a serious baby photo from a few weeks ago:

Before she was born, I went on a bit of a baby legwarmer knitting spree.  I knit three pairs and was all geared up to knit several more but didn't get around to it.  Baby legwarmers are great since they can keep little baby legs warm while allowing easy diaper changes, or they can provide an extra layer of warmth under or over lightweight baby pants.  I had no idea what a huge baby we'd have, though, and Esther didn't get too much wear out of her little legwarmers before she outgrew them!  I bought her some of the super stretchy larger commercially made ones and she has been getting a lot of use out of them, so maybe I will motivate to knit her another larger pair.

Somehow I only got photos of her wearing this one pair of the legwarmers although I know she wore at least one other pair quite a bit. They're packed up now so you'll just have to take my word for it.

[Edited to add:]
Oh wait! I found some progress pics from my phone at least of the other two pairs of legwarmers.

end of winter knitting

So, I have had in the back of my mind that I should do a knitting blog post soon, but I hadn't fully realized how long it had been since I had written one.  So long, in fact, that all these items now seem out of place because the seasons have changed... oops.  In my defense, it has only just started feeling warm here in Oregon and I actually just finished (and wore) one of the cowl (below) last week.  Anyways, this is kind of a roundup of the end of my winter knitting for the year.  Since I didn't have many hats or scarves that I had knit for myself (and those that I did have ended up in storage when we moved), I went on a bit of a winter accessories knitting bonanza this year, helped on by a temporary obsession with cowls - as seen in previous posts this winter here, here, here, and here.

Pretty much all the projects in this post came out of desire to think of a use for a fun yarn more than anything, and the winter accessories kick was a good fit with trying out new yarns without having to commit to a big project.  The hat above is the Claudia pattern, knit with 1 skein of superwash 220 that I bought exclusively because I loved the teal color.  The hat is a bit snug and since it was warming up by the time I finished it, I didn't get much wear out if it this year, but I am hoping that it will break in well with more use next year.

This necklace/cowl thing is made from the sevencircle pattern (although I ended up only making 6 circles), and was a great project for malabrigo sock yarn - which I had wanted to try but was hesitant to use for socks since it is 100% wool (no nylon) so it seemed like it would wear out quickly for socks.  It is an interesting pattern, where you cast on a bunch of stitches, knit some rows, then cast off most of the stitches and cast back on a different number, repeat.  You end up with loops attached by a small continuous section at the back that you can see in the photo above, and the back section mostly rolls up when you are wearing it and isn't too noticeable.

Finally, I just finished this cowl, the tuesday night cowl pattern, which was a great match for super soft tosh merino yarn.  I had heard folks online gush about tosh, but after having some serious pilling with other single ply yarns like malabrigo, I was hesitant to buy this expensive yarn for a big project.  I love the depth of color in the yarn, so it will be good to see how well it wears - if nothing else, I would definitely use it for more hats/scarves/cowls in the future, if not for a sweater (not that I have really been knitting adult-sized sweaters lately anyways).

This pattern was really fun, with a series of really big cables that give it a neat folded texture when you are wearing it.  The construction was cool too - you do a provisional cast on and then knit back and forth like you were making a scarf, and then at the end you do a grafting stitch to join the two sets of live stitches and make an invisible join to form the loop.  I tried a new provisional cast-on technique which was so much easier than the chained cast-on I have done in the past.  It was especially great because I was using my knitpicks interchangeable needles - since you end up with the new stitches held on a needle, I just took off the needle tips and put on the needle end caps while I was knitting making a convenient stitch holder.  Then at the end when I was ready to graft I just put a needle tip back on one end and I was ready to start the kitchener stitch. (Apologies for all the lingo for any non-knitters reading this).

In other news, we are moving on Friday, so the next time I post may be from the new house (fingers crossed we will have internet there soon).  I'll try to take some photos of the house to share here!

greetings from your absentee blogger

I've been a bit MIA around here lately, but I have a good excuse!  We are in the process of buying our first house (closing in 3 weeks) so that has been eating up what spare time I had.  We are very excited!  I actually have still been squeezing in some time for crafts, I just haven't been good about taking photos and writing blog posts.  So this is a knitting update of things that I made several weeks ago since the more recent projects still need to have ends woven in, photos taken, etc.  This hat was a quick one that I made for the recent craft hope project to make hats and bags for kids with cancer.

I also was knitting the rose ribs sock pattern from the book Sock Knitting Master Class, which I really should write more about at some point - it's a great book - but I didn't take the time to knit a gauge swatch or even to try on the socks until I was 2/3 through with the first one, and they are way. too. small.  Bummer.  The lace pattern was so pretty and not that hard to keep track of while knitting, so I may try to knit these again on larger needles or in the larger size at another time.  But for now I decided I that my life was complicated enough right now and my knitting should be easy.

So I treated myself to some yummy soft malabrigo chunky yarn in this fun yellow/ochre/almost chartreuse color and knitted myself up a quick cowl (the luxe cowl pattern) which I found via angry chicken.  I normally don't wear a lot of bright colors so I kind of surprised myself when I bought this yarn, and have surprised myself even more to find that I love wearing it!  So I am kind of on a run of making cowls... it is starting to feel like spring here but I am tempted to make another before it warms up for real... maybe this one that a friend and I saw a sample for at a yarn shop here in Portland?

Happy spring to you!

A surprise hat and a few cowls

It is a testament to how little time I have had for blogging lately that it is the second week in February and I am only just now getting around to posting about the hat that I made Lawson for Christmas.  Every weekend I kept forgetting to take pictures of him wearing it, so much so that I finished another two knitting projects in the meantime... so we had a little photoshoot this weekend and now I can finally share!   I knit this hat using the Knotty but nice pattern from Knitty and I love how it turned out... this was the first time I had made traveling cables like this (my term - is that what they are really called?) and it was surprisingly easier than I expected.  Details of my project are on ravelry here.

The best part about this hat was that it was a surprise!  I had shown Lawson the pattern and he helped pick out the yarn, but he had no idea that I was actually making it for him for Christmas, and was totally shocked when I gave it to him.  Mostly I was able to knit it in carpool or when he was out of the house, but I ended up frogging it a bit because I thought it was too small, and so I was still knitting it up to the last minute whenever he would go out for an errand (or even sometimes when he was in the other room).  I felt pretty sneaky!

After that, I had been really wanting to make myself a cowl, and I found this pattern (looped loop) on Ravelry and thought it would be perfect.  I really love how it turned out, it has a twist in it (a full twist, not a moebius half twist), so when you wrap it around your neck twice it loops around itself perfectly and there is no twist.  I didn't think I would like it as much wrapped just once, but I am finding that I also like it that way... it is super comfy and I have been wearing it all the time since I made it!  Ravelry details here.

I decided to continue right on and make the honey cowl next, because I got this gorgeous, soft Manos Maxima yarn as a christmas gift and it just seemed like the perfect pattern for it.  I probably should have gone up a needle size to get better drape in the fabric, but I actually like that it is pretty dense fabric and really warm.  I haven't actually worn this yet since it has been pretty warm here, but it will be great for outdoor adventures or for trips back east in the winter.  I wanted it to wrap around twice but still fit pretty snugly, so I used somewhat fewer stitches than the large size - I think I used 210 but I don't actually remember;  Ravelry details here.

The yarn really is as soft and delicious as it looks - I think I may have to get more of this to make other projects!  It reminds me a lot of Malabrigo worsted but doesn't seems as pilly, which is nice. 

I actually may make myself yet another cowl - more of a single wrap/neckwarmer type - but for now I have cast on a pair of lacy socks which are pretty fun!

And I have been working on a few sewing projects too, but don't have any photos of them yet.  While I am not looking forward to getting up an hour earlier, I am looking forward to daylight savings time and the possibility of it actually being light any time that I am home during the week so that I could have time to take photos!

Lotus Hat and Mitts

I actually finished my lotus hat several weeks ago, and even got Lawson to take some quick photos of me wearing it, but haven't had time to post about it with all the last minute holiday gift-making around here (more on that soon).  I am really happy with how the hat turned out, the yarn (Knit Picks Capra) is so soft and comfy with the cashmere - not at all itchy.  As I mentioned before, I ended up having to do more repeats than the pattern called for to get it long enough, so the pattern is a bit smaller scale than as written in the pattern, but I love how it looks, and now it is long enough to cover my ears, which is key.

I love the cool pattern the stitches make as they come together at the top of the hat - the charted pattern is really clear and turns out great.

I had bought 2 skeins of yarn and the hat used just a bit more than one, so I was thrilled that I had enough to knit up a matching pair of mitts!  I modified a basic fingerless mitts pattern using the stitch pattern from the hat and also making them longer and adding ribbing at all the edges.

Since I finished these up, I have been continuing to knit away - I just finished a hat for Lawson and gave it to him for Christmas, so I'll be sure to show you that once I get a picture of him in it.  And I just cast on for this cowl/infinity scarf for myself in a grey gloss DK (also lovely and soft) - it is knitting up pretty quickly, I can't wait to finish it up and get to wear it!

Branching Out Scarf

One of the great things about the long thanksgiving weekend was that not only did I have plenty of time to sew (and finish my Drunkard's Path quilt top - thanks everyone for your nice comments!), I also had lots of nice time to knit! I was really excited to finish my lacy branching out scarf (originally mentioned here).   I love how it turned out, and was really impressed that I was able to get a whole scarf out of one skein of Knit Picks Gloss Fingering yarn (and the yarn is really lovely - super soft and it has great drape).

I love the leaf motif and it is a nice light weight that is perfect for the cool but not frigid weather we've been having here in Portland.  It will get lots of use I am sure, since most of my other scarves are very heavy weight (and in fact, all of them except one are actually in storage).

I also only have one hat not in storage, and was overdue to make myself a new hat anyways, so as soon as I finished the scarf I cast on for a lotus hat using this lovely green cashmere blend yarn, also from Knitpicks (Capra).  While this yarn is technically DK weight, and the pattern calls for worsted, the gauge called for on the pattern and the gauge on the yarn ball were the same, so I figured it would be OK (and no, I didn't knit a swatch... that would be too practical).  The pattern calls for three repeats of the lace pattern before you start decreasing, but suggests you do four repeats if you want it to be less of a beanie and to actually cover your ears.  Well, I did four repeats and then went ahead and did all the decreases... and it was way too short.  I am guessing that since the yarn is a bit lighter weight the whole thing is just a bit smaller and while it can stretch to be wide enough, that makes it even shorter.  So I frogged back to just before the decreases and am thinking I will add another two repeats of the pattern before decreasing again.  I think I will still be able to make the hat with one ball of yarn, but I do have a second one if needed.

I love the stitch pattern - it is lacy but not so much that my head will get chilly, and actually looks a bit like a cable pattern at first glance.  I am not planning to block it since I like how it looks as knitted and don't want to emphasize the lace aspect too much.  If I can swing it with my second ball of yarn, I am hoping to make a pair of matching fingerless mitts, modifying a basic pattern like this one.

I am on a bit of a scarf/hat knitting kick, so I may well knit another one of each after this, too, or a cowl.  How about you, have you been doing any knitting?

Baby Hat with Self-Striping Yarn

When I finished my self-striping socks last week, I didn't have another project on hand so I started a baby hat with the (substantial amount of) leftover yarn.  I didn't have a particular plan but figured 100 stitches would make a good size baby hat... and it just happened that it was a perfect fit for my adorable nephew who we were seeing this weekend!  Hopefully it will still fit him OK when it gets cold enough for him to need a hat again.

The self-striping yarn makes a super cute hat, especially with the decreases at the top of the hat.  He was kind enough to submit to a quick photo shoot even though it wasn't anywhere close to hat weather.  But I wanted to share a hatless photo too - don't you love his red hair??