12.01.09
Happy December!!
I can’t believe that it is already December – but I have been doing my best, along with the help of “The General“, to be prepared with all of my Christmas knitting this year. Fortunately, I have been able to significantly shorten the recipient list due to lack of ideas – I have already made most everybody in my family all of the gifts that I can think to make for them! Therefore, only a very few are getting that last “I want to make this for you and here it is” gift. Takes a LOT of the pressure off of me!! I say it every year and this year I really mean it, next year the only people getting knitted gifts will be my husband and my mother!! 
I did manage to squeeze in a little Thanksgiving project while working on my other commitments, the Tiny November knit-a-long at the Spud & Chloe blog. I love everything by Susan B. Anderson, so this was a fun project even tho I didn’t actually get to knit along with her – I was a few days behind getting started and then a LOT of days behind getting finished. Nevertheless, Franklin is completed:
I used Lily Sugar n Cream in Warm Brown, Wine, Yellow, Jute, and Sage Green. All from my stash – so this was a really fun way to use some stash yarns.
I have recently discovered how loose of a knitter I am, so I had to use size 3 needles in order for my fabric to be tight and my stuffing not show thru. That can be a little rough on my hands and that is why I had to go a little slower on knitting this. But I had him finished for Thanksgiving and took him to show off at my grandmother’s. He was very well received and now sits by the TV waiting for next year!!
11.24.09
Busy, but No Blogging
I cannot believe that I’ve almost let the entire month of November slip by without 1 single blog post!!! I have really been busy with various projects over the past month – so instead of bombarding this post with photos and information, I will just show them off one at a time over time – at this rate I will have a huge back-log of blogging.
Here is a spur of the moment project that I mostly completed on a Friday night, a free pattern from Crochet Today, Floral Cloche.
I used 1 skein of Cascade 220 (doubled) with a size K hook for the hat and then Lion Brand Wool in Lemongrass, Teal and Rose with a size I hook for the flower.
I haven’t gotten a chance to wear it out yet since it really hasn’t been cold enough and I really haven’t had an opportunity – but I am looking forward to it. This was my first crocheted hat – in an adult size – so I was really proud of myself. And it was so quick!!! I finished the hat in one evening and then finished the flower the next day. I did not have to do any modifications and it fits my head great! YAY! 
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.)
