10.13.09
Kiddie Cadet
For the most part, I am still churning away on Christmas gifts (and other gifts) but I did manage to squeeze in one baby knit last week.
This is the Kiddie Cadet, a free download on Ravelry. I made this for my friend’s little 3 month old daughter. It really turned out precious I think.
I used size 5 needles and a very small amount of Rowan Calmer (less than 1/2 skein) to produce a VERY STRETCHY hat. This was my first time using Calmer and I was not disappointed! I’ve had this brown in my stash for several years now so I was happy to get to use it for this project. I am now definitely a Calmer fan.
I am most impressed with the little brim of this hat – I messed up the count somewhere along the way but everything turned out fine. I am very pleased with the outcome!
For the little flower I used a pattern I found on ravelry for a 2-layered crochet flower (right now I cannot seem to locate it) and only did the first round. I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Lake. This yarn is so splitty!! I think this is just a bad skein b/c it is very faded and just all around unpleasant in comparison to the other skeins of cotton ease I have used. (In fact, my most favorite amigurumi to date is made from Lion Brand cotton ease in almond and it is the softest thing ever.)
09.29.09
FO: School Cloths
I am getting a jump start on Christmas gifts this year, as I alluded to in one of my previous posts. My mother’s side of the family is easy enough to knit for – she has 2 sisters and they both like to receive knit items. This year it is going to be dishcloth sets.
For Tracy, a 1st Grade teacher, she is going to receive the School Cloths Set.
yarns used:
ABC – Peaches & Cream Light Blue (23 g)
123- Sugar N Cream Soft Teal (23 g)
Apple – Peaches & Cream Red (24 g)
Book – Sugar N Cream Hot Orange (23 g)
School Bus – Sugar N Cream Yellow (22 g)
Pencil – Sugar N Cream Jute (23 g)
Globe – Sugar N Cream Sage Green (24 g)
Scissors – Sugar N Cream Hot Purple (24 g)
These were so fun, and just like the halloween set, very quick! I can complete 1 cloth in just over an hour, so it makes for great TV watching knitting.
I am really enjoying choosing the colors for each cloth and then seeing the completed sets. I have already gotten started on the next set (fruit), for Mother’s youngest sister. I do admit to being tired of working on dishcloths, but the instant gratification is a nice payback.
09.24.09
Juniper Feather & Fan Baby Bonnet
It should be no secret that I like to knit for babies, and while I don’t like for people to ask me to make many things, I never can resist when my mother asks me to knit her a baby gift. Baby knits are cute, quick, and cute. What’s not to love?
So when she asked me to make a baby girl gift, I consulted my ravelry queue (there is a reason why I have 857 items queued) and chose the Juniper Feather & Fan Baby Bonnet. All of the projects on ravelry are adorable, so it seemed like a good choice. (I would also be able to use stash yarn!)
The directions really leave the sizing up to you depending mostly on your yarn and needle choice. I wanted a small-ish size so I chose Elann Sonata in Nougat from my stash (bought AGES ago and never even touched – I have about 40 skeins of Elann sonata in perfectly un-usable colors), Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton DK in pink – also from stash, and size 4 needles. Hopefully I’ve ended up with a bonnet that won’t fit a toddler.
This was a super quick project. I started it on Saturday night while we were watching the football game, and finished it up on Tuesday night while watching TV. This could EASILY be completed in 1 sitting, it just did not work out like that for me since I am also working on Christmas gift dishcloths. I have been alternating projects in order to keep everything fresh and still feel like I was accomplishing something.
09.21.09
Getting Ready for Halloween
Every year I *want* to make some decorative dishcloths for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter and Christmas. Usually I do not plan far enough in advance to actually get to use anything that I make for the intended holiday, but this year I am on top of things. The first set I’ve finished is the Halloween Creepy Cloth set. (I love all of Kristen’s patterns! You’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the weeks to come.)
Yarns used were:
Frankenstein – Sugar n Cream Hot Green (24 g)
Pumpkin – Sugar n Cream Pumpkin (25 g)
Bat Cloth – Sugar n Cream Hot Purple (24 g)
Grave Cloth – Sugar n Cream Warm Brown (25 g)
Witch Cloth – Sugar n Cream Wine (24 g)
Ghostly Cloth – Peaches & Cream Ecru (26 g)
These were so fun and QUICK to make. I used size 4 needles and got cloths that are approximately 6 1/2 ” x 7 “. I really do prefer these smaller cloth sizes despite the fact that they will shrink up some in the dryer. Huge cloths are just that, HUGE! I ended up ripping out a bunch of the other dishcloths that I’ve made and never used to in order to make room for these cloths (and cloths to come) and have some more solid colors to choose from. For whatever reason, my cotton yarn stash is full of variegated and ombre yarns!
09.19.09
Yarn Sale
I dipped into my Rhinebeck money stash just a bit to head over to the yarn close-out sale of my former LYS today:
For $40 – it was worth it!! 
09.16.09
Ramblings & FO: Anne
I have not fallen off of the face of the blogging world! I am back!! Since most of my activities seem to come (and go) in spurts, my knitting/crocheting has gone by the wayside lately – I’ve been reading on several of my book series and just not keeping up with crafting. Thankfully, the weather is *threatening* to cool down and I have a somewhat renewed spirit for my yarn.
With that being said, I have several upcoming projects, some seasonal and some not. I am knitting very limited Christmas gifts this year. Some people are just easier to knit for than they are to buy for, so those few will receive a knitted gift (read: dishcloths).
My only recent FO is this scarf, Anne, using some hand-spun yarn that I purchased from a seller on Etsy. When I saw this pattern, I knew that it was perfect for this yarn.
I started this scarf before Jason and I went to Seattle thinking it would be good for working on during the flights. The pattern is super easy and very straight forward. I am (always) nervous when I try new things, but this proved to be much easier than I had anticipated. I did not, however, work on it very much at all. Maria and I have started reading all of the Danielle Steel books from the beginning so I will admit to doing more reading than crocheting. Thusly, that is why it took me so long to finish – from July 17 to August 16.
If anyone is interested in my thoughts and opinions about Danielle Steel’s earliest novels, feel free to ask in the comments and I will get back to you. I would hate to ruin her good name simply due to her earliest efforts. 
07.27.09
Ribbons
This is definitely my new ‘go to’ baby girl hat: Ribbons (Rav link) from Itty Bitty Hats. There are so many cute hats in this book, but for some reason Ribbons is my absolute fave!!!! So far I’ve made 3 – and somehow managed to not blog about any of them???
The first one I made was back in March, for my friend Amanda to give to her new baby cousin. They are St. Louis Cardinals fans and she wanted something that reflected that.
I don’t keep a lot of red yarn around, so I used some Vanna’s Choice that I had for other purposes. I tried to choose some ribbons that would incorporate colors from the Cardinals’ Logo – I think this turned out really cute.
2nd hat was for the Ribbons Hat swap on Ravelry
Since this one was ‘just for fun’ I used some stash Bernat Cottontots in Lemon Berry. I love the ribbons on this one!!! Unfortunately I do not have a good place to buy ribbon around here, but I think that these are just adorable together.
Hat #3 was for a baby girl at church. She is so precious and I thought she needed a precious hat.
For this hat I used Classic Elite Yarns Summer Set. I LOVE THIS YARN!! I’ve never used it before and now I’m really wishing that I’d bought more when I got the few skeins I did buy in Florida this year. LOVE IT. So soft and the color is really great. I have 2 more of this color left over and I am contemplating more baby hats. A great yarn! (I really like pink and brown together.)
07.13.09
Wisp
I decided not too long ago that I don’t really enjoy knitting socks – after buying A LOT of sock yarn. Therefore I need some projects that use sock yarn, but don’t make socks. The current trend seems to be SCARVES!!! So, in the next couple of months, don’t be surprised if you are bamboozled with tons of fingering weight scarf projects from me. I have about 20 in my ravelry queue. I am also ready to try my first lacy shawl. I am all about scarves/shawls at the moment.
My first fingering weight scarf off the list is Wisp from Knitty.
I used 1.7 skeins of Koigu KPPPM – my first time using Koigu!! I like it. I am going to be giving this to my piano teacher, Donna. (I am a budding musician currently on hiatus in case you didn’t know!) I forgot to measure it but if I recall correctly it was 12.5″ wide and about 55″-60″ long. (My row gauge is always bigger.) This is a great pattern and I might consider making one for myself or for my mother, she also likes this kind of thing. (Although, I prefer this as a scrunched up scarf as opposed to a head wrap/poncho/wrap.)
Another first – it was my first real experience with blocking out a lacy design. I did not take any pictures, but I ran string through all 4 sides since I don’t have any blocking wires. I tried to find another wire alternative, but didn’t have much luck. However, the strings worked just fine, so I will be using this method for the time being.
06.30.09
HOT HOT Summer
It is HOT here in northwest MS —— that usually means that my productivity level hovers around ‘zilch’ but I am trying to combat my general summer laziness. When it is too hot to breathe, it’s too hot.
One of my latest projects is this Go Green Market Bag that I made for my friend Amber. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I have a lot of Sugar N Cream cotton yarn. I am making strides to use some of it – This bag used about 1.5 skeins of Hot Lime and .5 skein of Summer Splash. This is my favorite market bag to crochet BUT I have to admit that at this point, after 4 of them, I am tired of it. So, I am retiring this pattern for a while. I’m sure it will make a comeback.
