Since Tuesday marks the beginning of fall, I’ve decided that it’s time to start knitting warm gifts for my friends and family. Luckily, I have a whole bunch of yarn from the five times frogged sweater. Oh, and when I say bunch, I literally mean a bunch.

What am I supposed to do with this? It’s times like these that a yarn winder would be SUPER handy. *coughChristinacough* Alas, I’m not about to drop $30 on something I can do –painstakingly — on my own. Just for fun, I’m going to keep track of the time it take me to untangle and ball this yarn. Wish me luck!

K.O.K.O.
Michelle

I think it’s safe to assume that Rebecca received the baby presents I sent her last week, so I’ll post photos of them now. Rebecca is a crocheter/knitter who had a baby girl just a few weeks ago. Right after she told me she was pregnant, I scoured Ravelry for baby shower gift ideas. Someone in a forum suggested making washcloths to give with some baby shampoo. Brilliant! Unfortunately I didn’t get them finished in time for her actual shower because of the IK project I was working on, but now they’re finished and gifted.

Three of the four washcloths were my own designs. The green and yellow use stitches I adapted from Barbara Walker, and the stitch I used for the pink washcloth was reverse engineered from a sweater I saw on the bus on my commute home.

And the final washcloth used this pattern:
Pattern: Little Miss Happy Flower Dishcloth by Rachel van Schie
Yarn: Fibranatura Cottonwood (used for all 4 washcloths)
Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm

After I knit them, I took some measurements, popped them in the washer and dryer, then measured them again. They shrank 1″ in length and 1/2″ in width, so if you plan to use this yarn for washcloths, just be aware they’ll shrink and plan accordingly.

The second gift is a dress of my own design. It’s made with Cotton-Ease yarn in 4 discontinued colors. I bought the yellow and green from someone on Ravelry, and I had leftover light blue from Liam’s aran sweater. The orange color has been discontinued for many many years, but I was lucky enough to find one lone skein of it at Tuesday Morning. Go figure! You can’t see from these photos, but there is a yellow button on top of each strap.

I’ve never been great at embellishments on knits but this sun turned out cute!

And yes, the orange really is that bright! Too bad all the new Cotton-Ease colors look so utterly crappy. What’s wrong with bright orange, yellow and green??

ETA: Good idea, Lisa! So if you’d like to purchase the pattern for the Sadie dress, it’s currently available through my Ravelry store or Etsy. The Sadie dress looks a little different than the dress above, with stripes on the bodice, not on the skirt. But it does have the same shape and uses Cotton-Ease.

I finished these adorable hats just before heading off to Tennessee.  Which was a good thing as they are for my friend Hekiknits in Australia who is expecting the arrival of her twins any day now.  Talk about waiting until the last minute!  My goal was to get them to her before the babies were born, so it’s a happy ending.

• Pattern: Propeller by Woolly Wormhead from Wee Woolly Toppers in Medium

• Yarn: Cotton Ease in Lime 194 and Violet 191, about 52 yards each hat

• Needles: US size 6/4mm

• Modifications: None.  I just played around with the i-cord toppers as I have been known to do.  The purple hat got a little bit longer i-cord which I tacked down to the body of the hat to create a loop.

This pattern came from a wonderful collection of hats for little ones by Woolly Wormhead.  It was well-written and easy to follow, and the photos are adorable.  There is something just a little bit different about these designs which really has me feeling inspired.  I can see myself making several of the patterns for my own winter babe.

While there were plenty of great patterns to choose from, I thought it would be fun to make the same hat twice in different colors and with different tops.  Then the twins would coordinate but not be too matchy.  Since I don’t know their gender, it was also important to pick a style and colors that could adorn any baby’s head.

This yarn, Cotton Ease from Lion Brand, has been a great one to work with.  It doesn’t block well or at all really, but it is machine washable and dryable.  There is just enough stretch to it that you don’t feel like you’re knitting with rope, and the finished fabric is soft and supple.

I got overly excited about this yarn a while back and have about 10 skeins in different colors in my stash.  Looks like I’ll be knitting plenty more things with Cotton Ease in the future!

Where’ve I been? Knitting like a crazy woman. I won’t get into it, lest I drive myself mad.

Anyways, to save my sanity, I’m taking a week break from the Bias Blanket. I cast on this morning the Prairie Blanket by Oat Couture. I’m using SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS…the cotton/acrylic Cottonease by Lionbrand. This yarn ’snob’(?) actually is LOVING this yarn. Its like a classy chenille. Very nice!

And it helps this its whipping up quick

It’s incredibly nice to find out you have been nominated by a peer you admire for a blog award.  Thank you so much, Knitting Siamese!  You should check out her beautiful blog for its stunning knitting, photography, and photos of a certain mischievous Siamese cat…

I’ve been thinking about who to nominate for the past day, and the more time I spend thinking about it, the more of my favorite blogs get nominated by others!  So instead of playing by the rules, I’m going to let you peruse my blogroll on the side.  These are the blogs that I read on a regular basis and they all offer something special.  Check out a blog or two that you haven’t been to before.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  Consider yourself nominated, if you so choose, and pass on the love with these things in mind:

1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

ONline Linie 12 Clip

I had a little bit of a stash infusion over the weekend, picking up yarn for specific projects I have in the works.  That’s my new modus operandi, by the way: buy yarn as I intend to use it.  So far so good, although I am starting to crave some new sock yarn as I have a trip to Webs coming up soon…

Cotton Ease in Taupe

Cotton Ease in Lake

These two might have something to do with a baby blanket for a certain sister of mine who is expecting her first baby in May.  Since she is a devoted reader of this blog and had infiltrated Ravelry, this will have to be a completely stealth project.  But I thought it would be fun to give her a little tease and show the colors!

I have a variety of projects in mind, and will be narrowing the list just as soon as I finish up some knitting housekeeping around here.  Damn all those wips that just won’t finish themselves!  Where are the little finishing elves that come out at night and knit a few inches on each project?  I swear I feel I am knitting constantly and yet nothing is coming off the needles!  I don’t know how some of you knit a pair of socks in a week, or an entire sweater in two.  I’ll be lucky to finish half a sock this week!

Cheryl says … I love working with Cotton Ease.  It knits up beautifully, comes in great colors and best of all, it’s CHEAP. Most stores sell it for less than $5.00/50g ball.

It’s a worsted weight yarn and it’s a blend of cotton and acrylic, which means it’s soft but durable.

I’ve made a couple of scarves and wraps out of this and they are SO comfortable.  I currently have three unused balls in my stash and I’m not  sure what to do with them.  Looks like I’ll have to look for another pattern to add to my ever-expanding queue.

Click  here to learn more about Cotton Ease.

All that extra down time last week afforded me the opportunity to sit down and finish up the One-Piece Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting.  I had started it during the first snowstorm that hit New England, and it knit up incredibly fast.  The only catch was, when the knitting was finished, there was still blocking, seaming, and figuring out a closure.

• Pattern: One-Piece Baby Kimono by Cristina Shiffman, Mason-Dixon Knitting

• Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Lime, less than 200 yards.

• Needles: US 7/4.5mm

• Mods: I knit this in stockinette stitch instead of garter stitch thinking it would be more delicate.  I also used buttons instead of ribbon for the closure.

I neglected to take a photo of this before seaming it up.  Imagine this: the seams run up both sides and out underneath each arm.  I pinned the right sides together and stitched them together from the inside.  This makes the sweater a little bit bulkier than I think would be comfortable for a teeny newborn, particularly in the underarm area.  Two things could remedy this: knitting the sweater with a finer gauge yarn, or knitting a seamless version like this one. I think if I ever feel compelled to knit something like this again it will most definitely be of the seamless variety!

In an exciting moment, I got out my button jar reserved for those buttons less than 1-inch in diameter, and set about finding the right pairing.  I was briefly tempted by two royal blue buttons, but in the end went with these slightly mismatched white ones.  I attached some yarn to the front right flap and crocheted 10 chains before attaching it to the same edge to create a loop.  I did another one about 2 inches above the first.  I then sewed on the buttons in the appropriate place with a single ply of the same yarn I knit the sweater from.

Overall this was a fast, fun knit that successfully busted into some of my stash.  The finishing was a tedious learning experience, but a worthy one as I had never seamed up a garment before.

Thank you so much for your kind, thoughtful, and sometimes candid comments on my last post.  Your support is invaluable to me and I deeply appreciate your kindness.

My first knitting project was a hooded baby blankie for my niece, Lulu. And I finally have a pic!

This is Lulu! She's 5 months old now, and she's an absolutely adorable little firecracker! She's starting to get teeth and trying to crawl and talk already!

Here’s the pattern I followed: http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=293, except I decided to crochet the border because it’s faster. And also, because this was my first knitting project ever, I did a garter stitch (knit every row) for the whole blankie. This is meant to be a light blankie for during the summer, so that pattern calls for Cotton-Ease for breathability. I used Lake and Taupe. And this was my first introduction to my now-cherished number 7 us – 32 in. circular needle!

Lulu’s mom, my sis Liz, also crochets!

Lizzie showing off the really cool baby blankie that she's making for her friend! I think this is called a puff stitch.

Someday I hope my crocheting can look as lovely as Lizzie’s projects!!

...Is that Chrissy girl wearing one of her own creations? Why, yes she is!

It's pretty discreet, being all tucked into my coat to keep me all warm & cozy!

The ends are both garter stitch (knit even) for 14 inches each, to be nice and wide and flat.

The middle is a knit 4 / purl 4 deally for 18 inches, to make it thicker and warmer around your neck!

I wanted to be able to easily wash this, so I used Cotton Ease (in Taupe! And thanks, Melanie, for lending me your extra!). I can’t seem to find a link to the pattern online. If you’re interested in trying your hand at this cool scarf, check out this link and download the free PDF pattern: http://www.seamenschurch.org/487.asp.

Thanks to Tim for taking the pics! Unfortunately that's not our nice house in the background; we live in an apartment in the city. Also, can you tell that Tim has the flu and I have a sinus infection??

You may remember that I am on a mission to collect interesting buttons. It started with making neckwarmers that needed closures, and a desire to add something unique to simple pieces. My small button jar has done the job until now, but I have been wanting a little inspiration.

I found some vintage buttons on etsy that have been fun. But I still wanted a larger influx of materials to work with. I have this fantasy of being able to sink my hand into a deep bin of buttons, fish around a bit, and pull out a treasure every time I need inspiration. It’s really hard to fit my hand into a old apricot jam jar…

A trip to Michael’s today for some Cotton Ease resulted in a side trip down an aisle I have never explored before. I found a company that claims to sell a bag o’ buttons clipped from vintage fashions! For just $4.99 you can pick up a grab bag of buttons.

I have no idea if these buttons are truly from ye olden days or not, but there look to be some fun ones in there.

It was an immensely satisfying moment to rip open the bag and dump all those buttons out into a tin. And then I could start picking through them, looking for hidden treasure. There are metal, plastic, and fabric-covered buttons. Some are singletons, others belong to pairs and sets of multiples. So many possibilities! Here are some of my favorites:

Okay, enough procrastinating. It’s time to refill my drink, find a comfy seat, and get back to knitting those darn socks. Because after writing yesterday’s post, reading all your comments, and talking to people at SnB last night, I feel slightly more motivated to give finishing a try. I guess I do want to go down swinging after all, not just lay there while I get punched in the head, wishing I was somewhere else. (Ha! that’s an Olympic metaphor–I must be feeling better already!)

I wish all of you the best who are in the same boat as me. We have until tomorrow to finish up what we set out to do, and should feel good about whatever we are able to accomplish.

Have a great weekend and knit something fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to my new blog!

The photo above is my half-assed attempt to capture my most recent FO, the Ribbed Lace Bolero with my MacBook’s Photobooth camera. In a Starbucks. By the window. Because that’s the way all the great knitblog photos are captured, right? So, in other words, enjoy an eyefull of my shoulder along with a blast of sunlight.

Better photos later. Or not. See this blog’s Manifesto.

Anyway, I like this little project. I knit it over the course of a long weekend’s road trip out of some discontinued red Cotton-Ease that I’d been hoarding saving for just the right occasion. Other stats are on Ravelry, where I’ve just changed my user name from Emmdy to Z-List.

Why Z-List? It’s all in the Manifesto.

It’s good to be blogging again. Thanks to the Manifesto, I think I’ll be better at it this time.

Okay, so in the last entry I was counting all the afghans (donation) that I had started. The real details are that I still have a few that are in process.

Tonight I photoed the almost conclusion of the latest cotton-ease blanket that I had shared earlier:

I used a free pattern from Lionbrand website called, Crochet Shell Stitch Baby Blanket. I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in 3 of the discontinued colors with a chain of 110 stitches to create a 30 inch width. Pretty, huh?

And here’s a detail shot of the borders:

Good work, yes? Now do you want to see the WHOLE truth? It’s a bit graphic, so those with a delicate constitution might want to peek through fingers or such.

Sadly, this is one of the gory details of the ugly underbelly of multiple color crochet projects. I thought I could crochet over the ends when I was doing the borders, but that was a big no-go; too lumpy, so I just worked around them and now I am stuck with weaving them in. Last night I wove in some of the pink ends; I am doing them color by color so as to have a small sense of accomplishment, cause let’s face it, this is the not-so-pretty part of finishing a project, and anything to make it tolerable is something on the plus side.

Tonight I decided to tackle another not totally finished blanket project. Another free pattern, this one the Baby Blocks Throw on the Lionbrand.com website too. I had finished crocheting all 16 squares (the pattern had just 12), but I hadn’t sewn or crocheted them together because I hadn’t decided which to do, sew or crochet. Sewing won out but here is a photo before said sewing.

Now I am working on some crocheted border(s) all around, even though the pattern didn’t direct any. Without borders the blanket feels unfinished. I am not sure how it will end up.

And last but not least there is another blanket that is still in process. This one is taking longer because it is both knit (and a knit blanket takes longer) and a shadow/illusion one at that, which means following a chart = slooooooooow.

This is from another free pattern but this one I found on Ravelry.

It is the Star Illusion Blanket. I actually have more done rows, but the photo didn’t show much more than this earlier photo.

That’s all for now. Hope you USA folks have a great 4th and YEAH! to a long weekend!

~ Peace

I finished another blanket. Here it is:

The free pattern is a free one from the Project Linus website, it is called sideways shell baby afghan (aka newbie shell afghan). There are a lot of similar patterns out there in internet land, if you google box stitch you will see a bunch of them. This one is done with a fixed chain length and done as rows, most of the patterns are diagonal versions where you can decide when to start decreasing. I can see how that would be good if you have a limited amount of yarn.

Having said that – I did have a limited amount of yarn but decided that I wanted to plan it out as I go and take a chance. I had 6 balls of another bunch of discontinued baby yarn in my stash. I figured it would be enough for the main part of the blanket. Then I went and lost a ball of yarn – probably when I was out and about searching for a 2nd type to coordinate, or maybe when I was out having coffee with other knitters. Anyway, it all ended up okay, and the blanket is big enough, being 40 x 45 inches or so.

Here is a close-up too:

I started up another, so this makes my 10th blanket for Project Little Lambs. Ten blankets was my goal. But even if I finish this 10th blanket I won’t be done because I am still knitting on the illusion star blanket, and I need to sew granny squares and do a border on the 6th(?) one too. But here is what I have done so far on the latest when I took the photo:

Another eye-popping one, eh? I am trying to use up my stash of cotton-ease (discontinued colors). I will probably finish off the turquoise, but will have plenty left of the pink and purple and bits of other colors too. I might have enough to do another hexagon – who knows?

~ Peace

Mike and I went on a little ‘holiday’ to celebrate the end of his classes and the end of my job.

It started with the obligatory self-photo shot in the car.

We first made a very important pit-stop.

Did you know it’s ‘illegal’ to take photos inside of a SK liquor board store?  How silly is that rule.

We then mosey-ed on up the road to Rouleau.   You might know it better as

Dog River: home of everyone’s favourite gas station

It totally doesn’t look like a set.  I was really surprised to find out that the gas station and Ruby’s Diner were actually built for the show.  They totally look like they are re-constituted local landmarks.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about check this out.

From Rouleau, we went on to Moose Jaw where we spent a night at the Temple Garden’s Spa hanging out in the pool with ALOT of seniors and prentending we were more fabulous than we are.

The best part was the hotel room

with the king sized bed.  We figured out that the room with the bathroom and entrance actually had a larger square footage than our entire house.

The view from our balcony was lovely too…

Part of our ‘package’ was tours of the tunnels.

THIS WAS SO COOL.  Like many towns/cities in the prairies, Moose Jaw was riddled with underground tunnels that led all over the city.  They were originally built usually to move supplies to hotels, restaurants and stores from the CP stations.  Over the years they got forgotten about, boarded up and generally most people assumed that they didn’t exist.  One day, about 15 years ago, a car fell into the road on man street and ta-da! the tunnels were rediscovered.  They have created tours around them, cataloguing some local and national history in a very fun way. THe Chicago Connection was really fun and it talks about the possible connection with Moose Jaw and Al Capone’s Rum-runners in the 20’s. The Passage to Fortune is really sad and terrible.  It covers how 100’s of thousands of Chinese men (mostly) came to Canada from the 1880s to the 1940s seeking fortune and were treated HORRIBLY by local and national governments, business people and locals.

If you have any interest in Canadian History, I highly suggest making a visit.

Moosejaw is a lovely city.  They have preserved all the old buildings downtown, gutting them and creating a really neat area with old architecture and new shops and cafes.  For a while, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Regina were all vying for the capital of the Province.  Moose Jaw is a really wonderful place.

We enjoyed it very much.

We had snacks at Coffee Encounters on Main St.

We wandered around 3 quilting/knitting shops.

We bought really good fudge (and that’s saying alot because I really HATE fudge).

We had lunch at

Which according to Craig, Mike’s roomate in Regina, is the best Celtic pub west of Newfoundland.

(he might have a slight bias, being that he is from NFLD).

We ran into some of Mike’s friends from Regina, also out to the Spa for the day.

Nothing says holiday like being mostly drunk by 2pm in the afternoon.

We ate lemon squares that were ALMOST as good as those from the Rhineland Bakery in Victoria.

We wandered around some more and met a very interesting man.

This is Chris Weber of CWStringworks.  He repairs stringed instruments.  In the above photo he is standing with his 9th mandolin that he rebuilt.  It was beautiful and so was the music that he shared with us.  He is also part of a fun celtic band called Crofter’s Revenge.  If you ever need any stringed instrument repair, he is your guy.

The holiday wasn’t just about eating and wandering, it was of course all about knitting!

I finished a gift for a former colleague and her new baby

These are Saartje’s booties (pdf) and they are so cute they make me want to have babies, just so I can put them in them.

I also made her the tulip bib from One Skein by Leigh Radford and gave her a bottle of Nutrimetics Baby wash.

This is almost the end of the Cotton Ease, and thank G-d.  I will be so happy to have it out of my stash for good.

I finally got started on my first Rocking Socks Club package of 2008.  And I’m so in love.  The best part about this whole thing is that they send me colours that I normally would never choose and it forces me to knit outside my comfort zone.  Yay!

Um… there was also some yarn purchasing.

Mike lives 3 houses down from

and they carry

You can clearly see that I am being positively influenced by the Blue Moon folk in my new colour choices.

All in all, a wonderful whirlwind holiday.

I finished tucking in the ends. Whew! That was a lot of work. I think it looks so much better with those nasty bits tamed, and the half-hexagon motifs there and all.

click to see full size

Here is a close-up of the half-hexagon motifs:

click to see full size

This child sized blanket is about 34 x 38 inches. It was made with some of the discontinued colors of cotton-ease. I used a bit of one skein of each of the colors: red, turquoise, navy, orange and yellow. I think I used about 3-4 skeins of white (can’t really remember). All of the colors where from my stash, but I ended up needing more white, so I picked up more white for another future project.

The right and left sides where the half-hexs are inserted kind of pooch out a bit, but I don’t think anyone but another crocheter would mind. I decided to go without borders too. Borders made it look odd.

I started on a knitted afghan using more stash yarn. I will post that once it looks like something other than a puny cast on and a few rows.

~ Peace

I’m feeling so much better today.  My husband let me rest all weekend.  My son is feeling a lot better.  My daughter was feeling better on Saturday, but started running a fever again yesterday.  Hopefully, she will be feeling better soon.  She is the only one of us taking an antibiotic. 

The best news of all is that I’ll have crafts to share this week.  Yay!!!

I used cotton ease to make this project.  Cotton ease is 50% cotton, 50% acrylic.  It was what I had lying around in the right color

Here’s the first one.  Surprisingly, it is a knit and crochet combination project.   I knit a rectangle using stockinette stitch.  I think I used size 10 needles.  Then, when my rectangle was the size that I wanted I cast off.  I added a decorative fan border with crochet.  It was {sc, skip a st, three dc in next st, skip a st} across.  Then, I added a holder to the top of the rectangle.  I alternated dc and decrease dc for a about 4 rows.  Then, I just decreased until I had about six stitches left in the center of the cloth.  I continued to dc for about 4 rows.  Then, I switched to sc.  I kontinued the sc until the hanger was the length that I wanted.  I then, added a button hole row.  I sc, skip st, sl st, sc,sc, skp st,sl st, sc.  Then, I continued to sc across for a couple of more rows.  Then, I added a decorative row of sc, chain three across.

For the buttons, I used a scrap of a fat quarter that I had sitting around.  I covered a couple of buttons and placed them on the front of the towel.  I thought using two buttons would add a little twist on this old favorite of the crochet top towel.  I really like that funky fabric,too, I think it adds a fun element and really makes the towel.

I would probably use 100% cotton the next time that I do this project.  I think it would be a little more sturdy.  I’m not a fan of acrylic yarn, anyway.  I would also not do any dc on the hanger and stick to using just sc.  I might even do the entire top in sc.  The towel has too much stretch.  The stockinette is very stretchy, so when hanging the towel has a very long look.  It also doesn’t help that I caught my son pulling as hard as he could on the towel before I snapped the shot. 

Check back tomorrow for another craft project.  I promise this week will be full.  I also promise that by Friday I’ll have some Bell Bottoms crafts to share.  And, probably another sewn project.  My sewing machine is lonely and is calling my name. 

I have a lot of energy after that weekend of rest.  I can’t wait to work my little fingers.

Can’t wait until I am entirely done with this project. Had to get it out into the blog and Ravelry world. Tonight I finished most of the work on my 1st child’s blanket for Project Little Lambs. Please be sure to visit and check out their brochure.

Anyway, here is what I have done so far:

Just tonight I finished doing the last rows on full hexagons, and started working on the half-hexagons. It took many attempts until I was happy with the half-hexagon. It isn’t perfect, but it will do and I think it will look better after I crochet on a border. I have to figure out what color(s) to use for that too. But basically, it is looking pretty good if I do say so myself. I hope to finish this one up some time tomorrow, and then I will post a better photo and some of the details – yarn amounts used and such.

I may do another hexagon blanket using some of the other discontinued cotton-ease colors: pink, lt blue, purple – perhaps white again, but maybe not as the main color. So more later…

Peace

To see Avenue Q! (Thanks to a friend who is awesome and amazing.)

More later… hopefully!

     I’ve made a fair amount of progress on my Juno Regina scarf. The pattern requires a lot of attention, but the results are beautiful so far. I’m all done with the increases, so it should start getting faster (as I have to pay less attention to it). There’s one odd part where one diamond flows into another that appears to have an extra row of yarn overs, but I don’t know how I could have managed that without changing the number of stitches (I still have the right number). Maybe it’s supposed to be like that….. Even if it isn’t, the mistake isn’t particularly noticeable so I’m not going to go through the bother and stress of trying to undo it and fix it.

     As for my Unbiased bag, I’m going to frog it. I only had enough yarn for 2 pieces and then about another half, so I would have to either buy more yarn or substitute something, which I didn’t want to do. It also just looked really large and strange. I’ll probably end up using the yarn for another bag that I’ll design.

     I’ve been wanting a knitting bag for quite a while now, and I finally found a great pattern so that I can make one myself! The pattern is from Bag Style, and it’s knit in berry stitch. I’ve only done about 3 inches of it so far, but I absolutely love the way it’s looking! Berry stitch is easy (once you get the hang of the p3t’s) and looks a lot like mini bobbles. I’m using Lion Brand Cotton Ease in a light green that I had in my stash. I figure I’m going to run out of green so I’ll probably do part of it in a darkish purple I have. I’m thinking that I’ll also line it with some fun fabric to keep needles from poking out. Do any other knitters find it annoying that the knitting bags out there (not patterns for ones, ones you can buy) are almost all very expensive? I guess I can see why they are so pricey, as making them is probably fairly expensive and people want to make a profit, but I just don’t think that it’s worth the money. I would much rather make one myself that I can customize exactly to my needs and preferences

Today’s post is a special one, as it is Caleb’s birthday today. He’s the little boy that I knit this sweater for, and his mother, father and big brother are at the hospital today, anxiously awaiting his arrival. Happy birthday, Caleb!

STRIPED CARDIGAN

Pattern: Striped Cardi

Source: Lion Brand yarns

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (50% cotton, 50% acrylic) in Violet, Lime and Snow (1 skein each)

Needles used: Clover Takumi bamboo straights, US 6

Project start date: February 2008

Project end date: March 2008

Notes: I made the 12-month size for Caleb, as I figured this would be best suited for next fall’s weather here in San Diego. Overall, it was an easy knit. I chose to carry the colors up the side for each piece, which meant less weaving in of ends. Based on some of the discussion/photos over on Ravelry, not everyone has done that. I still hate seaming, but I split it up over a couple of days to make it less painful.

My favorite thing about this cardigan are the buttons; I found them at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I really thought I’d end up going with white buttons, but once I saw these blue ones in the light, that was it! At first I was concerned that they might have been too blue with the violet yarn, but actually they worked really well.

I have no idea what I have been doing lately, for real.

I started Yosemite, from this latest knitty and I’m using some sort of Cotton/Soy mixture which feels so freaking sooooffffft. It’s called Cotsoy. I feel hot and cold about this shirt though. First of all, it is a yarn eating monster. It pretty much takes all I have to give and then doesn’t call me back the next day. Jerk. Then there was something weird about the pattern and I was like, wait that’s not right, so I went and checked the pattern and it had been edited. I don’t know if I have feelings about that or not but it did make me think…

It covers the important parts, so I think I’m done.

Then, for my birthday I went out with my dad and he helped me pick out some yarn for a shrug, saying that the color would translate to Spring/Fall.

What do you think? I think it looks kind of Wintery myself. However he does a lot more with color than I do, so I’m inclined to just go with it.

Our birthdays are a day apart, so we usually do something every year. It almost always involves me dragging him into some sort of craft place and making him look at everything. My dad’s a good guy who at least pretends to be interested. I like that about him.

Besides all of that though, I’m convinced that little demons are sneaking in at night and stealing my memories about what I’ve been doing. For real. All I know is that I’ve been losing track of time, hours even. Which makes me worry that I have an alternate personality wandering around. Hopefully they’re like a hot Brad Pitt version of myself. Although, it helps when there are pictures to document the time. Here I am sitting in a big metal/mesh chair:

See, that’s got to account for at least… five seconds of my life.

The other morning I woke up next to this:

Yeesh.

I realized that I am bad at knit blogging because even though I don’t post that often, I usually don’t make too much progress. So you see every step of my knitting process. Here’s a picture of a sleeve. Here’s a picture of the sleeve hole. Now my turtle is stuffed- oh but now he has eyes! Hahaha, I’m a mess. Either way, I am already thinking about the next thing I want to start on and it’s between these two:

Drawstring Chemise

and

Ribs and Lace Tank
(Both pictures belong to Interweave.)

(Ravelry links) What do you think?