Yarn Along

I have almost finished the first Christmas stocking for this year. It's seamed and the ends are woven in, I only need to duplicate stitch the name. Three more stockings to make this year: My step-sister requested three for the grandparents who are at their house every year, and one for the new nephew.

I'm reading The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution by Keith Devlin. Turns out that Leonardo Pisano (Fibonacci) popularized the use of Hindo-Arabic numerals in Europe. It's a very interesting book, and is my current nursing reading.

So, I've been away from the blog for awhile, but I've still been knitting. I'm going to try to Yarn Along with Ginny every week to help me get back in the blogging habit.

2011 Washcloths - April Edition

Once again, the blog post is late, but the washcloth was done on time.

Last month for the April washcloth I improvised a pattern. I noticed while doing the dishes that the seed stitch border was the part I kept using. So I decided to make a washcloth that was mostly seed stitch. It came out a little smaller than the others I've made so far this year, but one of the nice things about making so many is that there is room for variety.

Pretty & Pink

Today we have another update on the topic of knitting for nieces and nephews.

This time the knitting was not for a new nephew, but a niece who has been around long enough to start making more specific requests. Niece S turned three last month and requested pink and pretty things for her birthday. I had just acquired some bright pink Sidar Snuggly Baby Bamboo from a sale rack, and thought it would be perfect. So I searched through my One-Skein Wonders book and found the Jamaica Pouch designed by Sandra Clockedile.

I modified the pattern just a bit to make the purse smaller. I just stopped each section (base and sides) when I thought it looked big enough rather than knitting to the dimensions in the pattern. I love the pattern made by the increases on the base of the purse.

I think it worked out really well. It was very fast and lots of fun to knit this pattern, and I hope I find an excuse to do it again fairly soon. If I make the full-size version, I'm going to need either much longer double pointed needles, or to use 2 circulars or magic loop. Even though it goes really quickly, there are a lot of stitches to a round.

It was a hit with the birthday girl. She packed all of her new doll clothes in it to carry them from the family room to her bedroom.

Tiny Hats

We recently got a new nephew! Little Nephew HH was born on my husband's (30th) birthday, and he is very excited to have a birthday buddy. This little guy surprised everyone because (1) best guess had been that he was going to be a she and more significantly (2) he got here three full months ahead of schedule. Weighing in at just over one pound, Little HH is really tiny. He's more than two weeks old now, and he and his mama are in a great hospital. We haven't gotten to see him yet except through Facebook pictures.

So what does a knitter do when she worries? Knit something, of course. In this case, I knit a couple of tiny hats.

I started with the Care Wear Preemie Jester Hat by Cathy Gilroy from the book Knitting for Peace, and worked that as written in some yellow Dalegarn Baby Ull that I had in my stash. It actually ended up a little smaller than the pattern called for -- just a few rows shorter and it used every scrap of the color I had left.

It fit one of my old baby dolls very well, and my Lil One has since been having lots of fun with the doll. Mr. HH's nursery is decorated in a Snoopy theme, and this hat in this color makes me think of the little bird Woodstock.

However, the "Preemie" size as written in this pattern is much too big for the little guy. So I used some blue of the same yarn and made one about 2/3 size -- cast on 40 instead of 60 stitches, and made 14 rows in each part of the pattern instead of 20. Then, because pom-poms would have been overwhelming on this smaller hat, I improvised some tassels instead.

His Grammy believes this one will fit him.

2011 Washcloths - March Edition

The blog update is late, but the washcloth was finished on schedule. Just barely.

After finishing the toys that had to be done in March there were only four days left, so I cast on my stand-by washcloth pattern, the Ballband Dishcloth from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book. For some reason this pattern seems to take no mental energy at all, and I cranked out a cloth in about two days. I modified the pattern slightly just to make the washcloth a bit smaller. Used the green yarn left over from January's washcloth along with a green-white-bluish variegated. I must have bought a half-pound of this variegated at some point, because I've had to re-roll it into a smaller ball and I still have quite a lot left. One quarter done, and I'm quite pleased with my washcloth project so far!

Rabbit Wrap-up

Well, I worked hard and finished the next toy just in time for the baby shower. Rather, just in time to decide that I was feeling too sick to go to the baby shower :( So I took some pictures and had him delivered later that day.

He's a little floppier than I had intended, but I can always stuff him some more if the parents want. Once again I have used Plymouth Encore Worsted Weight, my go-to yarn for toys. A wide range of colors and machine washable is a hard-to-beat combination for this purpose. It's also nice to knit with this yarn, and it's smooth enough to make a good surface for the toys. Worsted weight on a size 5 needle holds in the stuffing well. The vest here was knit on size 7 needles. Here's a side view so you can (kind of) see the pom-pom tail.

The pattern is Ricky Rabbit from Toys to Knit by Tracy Chapman. I've made several things out of this book, and I think the projects are all really cute. I don't think I'd recommend them to a beginner knitter, though. It's not that the knitting is extra difficult or tricky; although knitting shaped pieces for toys does require the use of many techniques, and that's one reason I enjoy it so much. In each of the patterns I've made from this book, there's been at least one point in the instructions where I've said, "Wait, what?" A point where I had to stop and decipher the intent of the instructions and couldn't simply follow the words step-by-step. It makes it a little more difficult, and a little more frustrating, but none of the challenges have been enough to make me stop knitting any particular toy, or to keep me from going back to this book.

I'm pretty pleased with Mr. Rabbit's bow tie. I have a pretty good ribbon stash. Mostly scraps and remnants, but not all, and so far I always seem to come up with the right ribbon for what I need.

Next up: Washcloth update, followed by more baby knitting.

Time out for toys

This month I have found that suddenly I am knitting only toys. I enjoy making toys, but they don't seem to inspire me to blog very much. People are always impressed with the finished objects, but while in process, they don't tend to look like much. Additionally, I've been dividing my attentions among three projects. This makes them all go more slowly, but helps keep me moving on them by having a small range of choices -- I can stuff or knit or sew up depending on available time and/or brainpower. But there doesn't seem to be many good picture opportunities throughout this process. For example, here is a picture of my current focus:

Not much to see yet. This project is due this weekend, so I'll tell more about after then.

I have finally finished one of the toys, and gifted it last weekend. Nephew R turned three, and is (of course) interested in dinosaurs.

So I made him a stegosaurus. The pattern is by Jacob Haller and can be found here on his blog, What Cheer, Netop? It's a straightforward and easy-to-use pattern, and there are more than 150 Ravelry projects using it. Ravelry is such a fantastic tool. I can think "Hey, I'll knit my nephew a dinosaur toy," and right away have more than 50 options at my fingertips.

I made this using Plymouth Encore Worsted Weight, in blue and red colors that I had in my stash. Using size 5 needles makes it tight enough to hold the stuffing well. Hopefully I can use the energy boost from finishing this project to help me finish the next two quickly.