Two Toys

One of my friends from high school recently had her 2nd baby so I wanted to send her something for her new daughter – since she also has a son and I didn’t want to leave him out, this meant that I got to make 2 toys instead of just one!  I asked her what animals her son likes and she said Snakes! and that her daughter didn’t have any stuffed animals yet, but she thought kitties her good for little girls.  I was excited about both options b/c I meant that I got to knit 2 patterns that I’d never done before!

For the snake I knew exactly what pattern to use, Curly Snake from the book, Itty-Bitty Toys.  (I love everything Susan B. Anderson!)

This is from the section of toys using sock yarn, so I was able to use some stash yarn – Red Heart Heart & Sole in Green Envy – probably not something I’d want to wear on my feet, but it makes a pretty cute snake!! This little guy used about 1/2 skein on size 2 needles.  Susan recommends using size 3 in the book, and while my gauge was actually tighter than what was called for in the book, I actually prefer this fabric.  I am terrible at stuffing knit items and not having them stretch out all over the place, so I was interested in a stiffer fabric.  The good thing about toys is that gauge is not all that important – so that is perfect for me since my gauge is typically all over the place anyway!

For the kitty, I chose Greta the Captivating Cat – I did not immediately think to knit this cat, I was going to crochet one, but I did some browsing on Ravelry and saw this one.  I already had this pattern, so it was perfect!!

I used about 1.5 skeins of Patons Paradiso doubled with size 5 needles to produce a very thick fabric!  So think in fact that if I were to do this again I would go up to a size 6 needle just out of sympathy for my hands!  This was a struggle to finish due to hand cramping!  I have had this in my stash for AGES! Literally since I began knitting about 6 years ago.  I bought it on ebay from some lady that sent to me half made up into a sweater! I had to rip her sweater out to reclaim my new yarn. hahaha  This is great yarn for baby girl toys so I am already planning my next project with it – i have 6.5 skeins left!!  You’ll definitely be seeing it again.

One modification I made on Greta was that I did not choose to do the 3 needle bind off on the top and then stuff the entire kitty through the small opening at the bottom. I did not think that I would be able to stuff it properly or completely, so I chose to stuff the kitty from the top and kitchener stitch the top closed.  I was NOT trying to be fancy, I just did not want to get everything closed up and have to stuff poly-fill thru the tiny bottom opening all the way to the top of the kitty’s head. ;0)

Kitty and Snake – Ready to go to their new home and meet their new friends!!

Maria’s Birthday Beach Cloths

For Maria‘s birthday this year she got the Beach Cloths Set!  She loves to go to the beach, but doesn’t get to as often as she’d like (and let’s face it — Who does!?).  Now when she is doing dishes she can drift away to a tropical Oasis- LOL!

Colors Used:

Sailboat Cloth – Cornflower Blue
Seahorse Cloth – Tea Rose
Fish Cloth – Sunburst
Bikini Cloth – Rose
Palm Tree Cloth – Soft Teal
Pail & Shovel Cloth – Yellow
Sand Castle Cloth – Jute
Seashell Cloth – Ecru

Cold Weather Accessories

Two of my most recent FOs are the Boneyard Shawl for me, and the Pismo Hat for Jason.

For this project I used almost an entire skein of Chameleon Colorworks Twinkle Toes in Briar Rose – I believe that I procured this skein of yarn on our travels to Seattle last year, but I didn’t write down the name of the store where I purchased it – It is driving me crazy not being able to remember!!

I followed the modifications that several others on ravelry did – instead of M1R and M1L I opted for the YOs – and instead of the garter stitch edging I chose the Picot bind off – This was my first time to do a knit picot bind off so I was concerned the entire time that I would end up using up all of my yarn too early and therefore RUN OUT! I got about 1/4 of the way through the bind off  and was convinced that this very scenario was going to play out, so I endured the very frustrating task of ripping out my last section and carefully adding all of the stitches back onto my needle — only to end up with 10 grams of yarn left over!!!  I was not a happy camper as I had really wanted to use up every last inch of this yarn…However, I think we would all agree that having leftovers is much preferred to having not enough!!  (I later learned that the battery on my scale was in the process of going bad and all of my weights weren’t accurate!)

Another topic entirely is the seemingly never ending quest that Jason and I have to find him the perfect hat pattern – Jason has been blessed with a lot of brains and therefore a rather large head to accommodate all of them.    He is also rather picky about how his hats fit and doesn’t like it when after a lot of wear they begin to stretch out – even though that is the nature of the beast when dealing with knitted items.  Add in my rather loose gauge problems and there you have it!

This hat seems to mostly be a winner – I used Koigu so it is a nice warm hat that isn’t too bulky – However, it is VERY stretchy and my gauge is a lot looser than I wanted.   But on a happy note Jason says that of his knit hats this one is his favorite so that makes me happy.  I do however have to more patterns to try out for him in the future, another by Marnie MacLean called the Carlsbad Hat and then one by Pierrot, a Japanese company that I have discovered on Ravelry.  I’ll have to brush up on my chart reading for that one tho!!

The modifications on this hat were copied from other ravelers who found that the top of the hat was way too pointy, so I just followed what several others had done regarding the top decreases.  My goal for all of Jason’s hats are to make them 9″ long in order to cover his ears, so I had to write out every line of the decreases so I would know how long they were in order to know how long to make the hat BEFORE I started the decreases – that was a bit of a headache, but it turned out exactly 9″! so YAY!!! It did bloom once I blocked it – and that was really just soaking it in some wool wash and not doing anything but laying it out to dry.

Basil, The Monster

I have so much to share!!  I have been a really way-ward blogger in 2009 – so maybe my 2010 resolution should be to not neglect my blog so much!  I will try and do better about staying up to date b/c I have been doing a lot of knitting and crocheting!  Of course I have several projects to share that were secret for Christmas, but before I get to those I am going to share the ‘special’ project that I made for Jason’s student worker,Jennifer’s, graduation gift!

I used the pattern, Penelope the Empathetic Monster and I definitely recommend it!! In fact, I liked the finished product so well, I am going to have to make one for myself!  Even Lamby was impressed!

Since I have become such an incredibly LOOSE knitter in the recent past, I used size 4 needles in order to get a dense fabric with the Vanna’s Choice yarn (stash yarn).  Colors used are Dusty Blue and Dusty Green – a combo I thought looked pretty good!!

Jennifer named her monster, Basil, and you can read about Basil’s adventures here!  I was so excited to see that Jennifer loved Basil so much that she created a blog!  This is definitely one pattern/Finished object that was a PERFECT FIT for the recipient!!

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!!

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.)