FO: Just My Size Basketweave Preemie Blanket

Jason and I have made a deal about how and when I can buy new yarn – I have to use some first.  Ha ha ha.  So I’ve been trying to do some stashbusting and make some projects that I’ve had in my queue on Ravelry for a while.  On Christmas Day, I started the Just My Size Basketweave Preemie Baby Blanket – which I was able to finish today.

This is such a quick knit!  I am definitely going to be making more of these as I have several random skeins of Caron Simply Soft.  For this blanket I used 1.8 skeins of Bernat Satin Solids in Flamingo on needle sizes 8 and 10 – as the pattern directed.

I haven’t decided if I am going to donate this blanket to charity, or if I am going to give it as a baby gift.  I think that it is a great size for a child to have as their ‘blankie’ as it measures 20″ x 24″.  Perfect for cuddling and it is so soft!!

Baby Items

I have so many things that I need to blog about since all the gifts have been given, but I can’t decide if I want to do 1 massive post or break it up.  I’m not sure it really matters, but while I am trying to decide I am going to post the 2 baby items that I’ve finished recently.

My mother asked me to make a baby blanket for a friend of hers who is expecting a granddaughter in January, so I went with another Tiramisu Baby Blanket.  (Her friend saw the previous one I made and liked it.)

This photo shows the color of the blanket best, which is Caron Simply Soft in Soft Green.

I really love this pattern.  The middle part is SO BORING to work on, but the finished product is just so precious.

The grandmother also requested some booties.  I’ve only made one other pair of booties, so I was anxious to try a new pattern.  I decided to go with Ruth’s Perfect Baby Booties.

I really liked this pattern.  I found it to be very straightforward, even if it did include seaming – which we all know I hate! ha ha.  There is something I find nice about knitting patterns at a smaller gauge than the yarn calls for.  For these booties I used Bernat Satin Solids in Silk, which I had left over from another project.  I am all about stash-busting recently.

I worked very diligently on finishing these 2 projects before heading home for Christmas.  I didn’t have to have them completed until January, but I was ready to get them crossed of my to-do list.  I was having to work on the last bootie on Christmas Eve when I really wanted to be playing with our new Wii!! 🙂  😀

Maria’s Scrunchable Hat

Slowly but surely I am getting things crossed off of my list.  Thank goodness I have this week off from work (and next week too!) so I can finish up some items without totally stressing myself out.

Yesterday while watching TNT (nothing good comes on TV in the daytime I have learned) I finished up Maria’s knitted gift.

The pattern is the Scrunchable Hat, which is a free download on Ravelry.  It is the companion hat to the designers matching scarf, the Scrunchable Scarf.  I made Maria a hat last year, but she either didn’t like that one, or loves for me to give her hats because she requested another hat this year.  Well, the Lord says “Ask and you shall receive.”  (Although I am not sure this is entirely the correct context, it works nonetheless.)

I used Lion Brand Wool Ease in Grey Heather.  I’ve had this yarn in my stash for a while, so I was glad to be able to give it a good purpose.  I’ve never used Wool Ease for anything other than amigurumi or cat toys so this was a differnet experience for me.  I found it to be quite desirable yarn for a hat.  I had some gauge issues with this beast, and while I won’t go into them at length, either I can’t use a tape measure (entirely possible) or the designer can’t (also plausible).  Either way, the FO fits the intended recipient, and also managed to fit over my melon head for the photo shoot.  I like this hat enough to make one for myself actually, I would just have to make it a tad longer to cover up all of my ears.

This picture is better for the color.  The bathroom lighting is not great.

It is possible that I will have another blog post tomorrow, but I am not counting on it!  I have been working diligently on a baby gift set that my mother asked me to make and I hope to get that all finished up today – we shall see.  I am ready for Christmas knitting to be over so I can get back to doing what I want to do AND Jason is ready for me to be done too so I can help him finish up his bag.

Another Bunny

I’ve made another Bunny for a little girl at our church at home in Corinth.  I just couldn’t resist.

It has finally stopped raining, after about a week, so I was able to get a ‘decent’ picture – it’s not like any of my pictures are very good anyway.  ha ha ha ha

I am really trying to use up some of my stash yarns, so that is what I used for this bunny – Bernat Satin in Flamingo.

I’ve tentitavely named her Pinky.  If I get a name update, I”ll be sure and let all of you know. 😀

I am lucky enough to be off of work until January 5 – today I’ve been doing laundry and finishing up some Christmas projects – I’ll probably have another post tomorrow!  I don’t have that much left to do, but it is still hanging over my head and I am ready to be finished with these deadline projects!

A Gift Given

I was able to give a handknit today at our office Christmas party to my friend (& our student worker), Thomas:

I used the Boyfriend Hat pattern (even though Thomas is not my boyfriend) and about 60 yards of Vanna’s Choice in the color Olive. Thomas has VERY CURLY hair so I didn’t know how big his hat needed to be. It ended up being 8.5″ in length, and I think that worked out well.

First hand-knit Christmas item GIVEN. More to come!

Sick Days

Thanks to all of the crazy 60 degree weather one day, then 30 degree weather the next, I have been home sick since Wednesday.  I did go into work this morning, but came home at lunchtime. Wednesday I spent most of the day sleeping but after flopping about on Wednesday night, I decided that Thursday I had better stay awake a while.  So I spent most of yesterday fighting with this slipper pattern.  I don’t know if it was me, the cold medicine or the pattern, but I just could not get it to work out when I got to the top.  So after ripping it out about 5 times, I just gave up.  I am sort of at a loss because my grandfather has asked me to make him some slippers!!!  All of the “men” patterns I’ve found are felting patterns and the yarn that I have to use is not feltable.  UGH.  I am still searching even though I think I’ve found a pattern that might work.

After the frustration of yesterday’s failed project, I decided that today I needed something that would work out easily.  I decided to go with another toy for my grandmother’s cat, his Christmas present.

I used this pattern from Lion Brand.  Since I had some Wool-Ease like the pattern calls for in my stash, I just went ahead and used that.  I lightly stuffed the ball and put in a bell – since I have like 23 left…This is a very quick project!  I didn’t work on it non-stop but I would say that it took less than an hour total from start to finish.  Perfect for any last minute gifts for all of those special cats on your list.

New Knitter on the Block

I’ve taught Jason how to knit so that he can make himself a grocery bag out of recycled plastic bags. He’s been wanting this for a while, but I told him that if he waited on me it would be a while longer. So, he finally let me teach him – He was a very quick learner and I am so proud of him!! Last night he was giving me some pretty good blogging ammo, but I am going to have to conduct a survey before I can crown him the ‘fastest guy knitter ever.’ 😀

As of last night, he’s made it through all of the Kroger bags (which are brown) so next up will be the white Wal-Mart bags.

We are using Hakucho’s Big Bag pattern. So far all I’ve done to help him is cast on (initially) and pick up stitches around the square that would be the bottom. Of course I am also available for troubleshooting which arises from time to time, but mostly he just *thinks* that he’s messed up because he is not really used to how knitting should look.

Now that he is working in the round, his progress is much faster. He’ll have his first FO in no time! 🙂