2013 Washcloths - January Edition

First washcloth of the year was knit January 23-25.  The pattern, from Jan. 23 on my Pattern-a-Day perpetual calendar is called "Organ Pipes."  I no longer have a local source for Sugar 'n Cream yarn*, so I'm trying to find a new go-to cotton for washcloths.  This is in Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton, color CFCT0037.  I knit this on size 5 needles instead of the 8s I was using with Sugar 'n Cream.  I think it'll work just fine, but I don't know yet if it'll be my go-to washcloth yarn.  I bought four colors of this from the LYS clearance bins, so the next several months of washcloths will likely be this same yarn.
One down, fifteen to go.


*I don't shop at Hobby Lobby anymore.  Employers may not make medical decisions for employees.

Little Sweaters

I know so many people expecting babies (or who have just had them) between December and April, that I've had to start a list to keep track of them all.  Fifteen babies.  Fifteen.  Not all of them are close enough to receive knits, but many are.  So I've been making a lot of Baby Surprise Jackets.  These are all being knit from my stash of the much-lamented Reynolds' Wash-Day Wool (except for two of the shades of blue in the first picture below).

First there were these two, for Alisha's identical twin boys (born early January):

Shades of blue - one sweater dark-to-light, the other light-to-dark.  With adorable navy blue car buttons from my LYS.

Then there was a Neapolitan ice-cream-striped sweater for one of the few girl babies in the bunch (born late December):

And early in the new year I started the next batch of sweaters.  I'll have two new nephews, both probably arriving in February, so their sweaters were at the top of my list for the new year.  Here is the first sweater, with my lovely new yarn bowl hard at work:

I really like making three-color striped BSJs.  I got the idea from Alisha a while back.  Three colors, each stripe is three rows wide, and the next yarn you need is always ready right where you need it.  One little modification on the BSJ - 18 rows instead of 20 on the section to make the back longer - and the stripe pattern is continuous throughout.  It also keeps me entertained through all the garter stitch, and helps me keep track of how many rows I've knitted.

I finished the brown-green-blue sweater January 18.  Here are some before and after folding pictures:

 I realized that with all of the BSJs I've made, I'd never taken any "before folding" pictures.

 Ready for sewing up and buttons.  I ran out of blue in the middle of its last row, but I just started the brown stripe a bit early.  I was impressed it lasted that long.  These babies don't know how lucky they are, getting the last of my Wash Day Wool stash.

I started the next BSJ right away, but have run into a problem.

I was knitting in the car, and when I pulled the project out of my bag after getting home, one of the interchangeable needle tips was missing.  Not to be found in the bag or anywhere near it.  I still have to do a thorough search of the car, but I fear I have lost one of my size 3 tips.  I don't think I even have any other size 3 needles.  NOT GOOD.  I'm not sure what I'll do -- order replacement tips, buy one size 3 circular the right length for BSJs, or long straight 3s -- but babies are coming, and I can't get behind on their sweaters!

Yarn Along - Tall Socks

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along a day late, but hey the linky widget hasn't expired, so it's not really late, right?
Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? 
Check out Ginny's blog for more knitting and reading.

The first thing I cast on after recuperating from the last surge of Christmas knitting was the first of a pair of long-promised socks for my mother-in-law.  The yarn is Plymouth's Happy Feet, a 90/10 Superwash Merino/Nylon sock yarn in mottled purple and black.  If the cuff in the picture looks awfully large to be a normal sock cuff, it should.  These are going to be thigh-high socks to wear with her witchy and/or Renaissance Fair outfits.  I'm using Deborah Newton's Thigh-High Stripes pattern in Sock Knitting Master Class (edited by Ann Budd) as a guide, modifying for MIL's measurements.  I expect these to be my mobile/mindless knitting for a long while.

The computer in the picture is a stand-in for my reading.  The husband and I have just started listening to A Memory of Light the final book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series (14 or 15 in all).  It'll be very strange to finish this saga.

New Year, New Knitting

One thing I try to avoid with this blog is apologizing for not blogging.  But after such a long lapse, I want to make an exception:  Yikes that was a long time without blogging.
Late fall seems to be a difficult time of year for me.  I haven't figured it out yet, but at least now I've noticed the pattern.

2012 Recap and 2013 Goals:
I met my washcloth goals for the year - one each month plus one more each quarter, total of 16.  November's was late, but other than that I did well, and I had enough for all my gifting needs.  I will renew this goal for 2013.

There were only four Christmas stockings to make this year, all done on time.  Two of them were a for-pay job.   So far I know of four needed in 2013.  My stocking goal is to do one per quarter.

In the second half of 2012 I was quite into the Harry Potter Knitting & Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry.  It was lots of fun, but somehow seemed to sap my blogging mojo and then my knitting mojo (although it may have simply been whatever-it-was in November that sapped most of that).  I completely missed the sign-ups for winter term (January through March), so I'm sitting out a semester and will see if I want to re-join starting in May.  I don't seem to have the mental energy to categorize my knitting so I can do all I want to in that game.

My main Christmas knitting projects were hats for one of the nieces-and-nephews groups:

(Swirled Ski Caps from the book Knitting for Peace.  Fun and appreciated, but a bit down to the wire, and my homemade cardboard pom-pom maker is now completely worn out)

and a hot water bottle cozy for my mom.

I'm pretty proud of this one.  I used a basic cozy pattern and a snowflake chart pattern and adapted them to fit both each other and the water bottle I bought.

Also coming up in 2013:
I know many people expecting babies in the first part of this year.  So many that I have had to write a list to keep track of them all. So there will be lots of baby-sweater knitting in my immediate future.

I will be going to Rhinebeck!  In October I'll be having a knitting weekend away!  A group of us have rented a house for the weekend of the New York Sheep & Wool Festival.  My goal is to finish the sweater I started for myself on New Year's 2010 in time to wear it to Rhinebeck.

Other big projects include at least three baby blankets for late 2013/early 2014, so I better get an early start on those.

One final note to close out 2012:  My brother knows how to shop for a knitter.  He gave me "socks; some assembly required" (yarn, pattern book, and needles), yarn for socks for him, a yarn bowl (!), another set of needles, a yarn travel book, and a "Keep Calm and Carry Yarn" tote bag.

I'm looking forward to a new year of knitting, and of sharing it with this blog!

Frog-Turtle or Finally a Toy for Lil One

I just finished yet another project from itty-bitty toys.  One chapter of this book has five reversible toys.  I knit the one that is both a frog:

 and a turtle:

Knit with my go-to toy yarn of Plymouth Encore Worsted in Greenhouse and Light Greenhouse.  I made this for Lil One for her birthday next week.  Finally, a toy for my own kiddo!  Sometimes she'll pick up one of her toys, hug it, look at me and say, "It not for [name of another kid I've made a toy]."  So it's about time for her to get a knitted toy.  She loves both turtles and frogs, so this seems like the perfect toy for her.

The base of these toys is basically two infant-sized hats with decorations sewn on, then the bases are sewn together.  Here's a better look at the applique turtle shell.

 And here you can see the turtle inside the frog.

I am still loving this book.  I really appreciate how it includes the piecing together and "finishing" steps as you go, so I'm not left with a bunch of pieces and the prospect of a lot of seams and stuffing all at the end.  I may end up knitting every single pattern in this book before I'm done.  I borrowed itty-bitty hats from the library yesterday, and I look forward to going through that one, too.  I know at least ten people who are pregnant right now, so I'll be needing more than a few quick baby knits next January through April.

Yarn Along - Ducks and Thrones

Joining Ginny's Yarn Along again this week!  Only a little late.

From Ginny:

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

There are always lots of interesting projects and reads linked to Ginny's blog, so have a look!

I've been re-reading George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones.  The husband and I got back into it after my dad showed us the TV series while on vacation this summer.  Husband jumped back in reading the most recently published book, but I thought I'd better start over at the beginning again, or I'd never remember who everyone was and what had happened to them already.  It's so hard for me to not get attached to the characters, even though I know they are ALL going to die (not really a spoiler -- as soon as you think, "But surely he won't kill this character," that one is as good as dead).  I'm doing better at that this time through.

I've been knitting ducks.  This is another project from Susan B. Anderson's itty-bitty toys.  Lil One loves the ducks, although they are not for her.  The knitting is all done on this project, but there's some assembly still to do that will really make the toy.  I am still in love with this book, and have already started yet another project from it.  This one will finally be for the Lil One.

In other knitting news I tried to go to my first- and third-Thursday knitting group at the library today.  Yeah, the 23rd day of the month would be the fourth Thursday.  Oh well.  This summer has been so crazy that I haven't been to knit with them since early June.  Hopefully I can make it work next week.

Olympic Report

My Lil One loves owls; her first favorite clothes were all ones with owls on them.  I love Kate Davies' Owl Sweater pattern - what a great idea to make a cable pattern into characters on a sweater!  Whimsical yet understated.  So I decided back in the spring that I should make the Owlet version of the sweater for Lil One.  Still being somewhat new at this parenting gig I said so in her hearing.  For the next two months every time she came to Knit Night with me, she'd point at the wall of Liberty Wool yarn, look at me, and say "Owl sweater."  So to be certain it would happen, I made the Owlet sweater my Olympic Project.

(It's the project I knit while watching the Olympics, so I'm calling it my Olympic Project.  Valid use of the language.)

The pattern calls for aran yarn, but I got gauge on the first try in the worsted weight Liberty Wool on size 8 needles.  I knit the 24-month size, the largest of the "baby" sizes, and although Lil One turns two in a few weeks, I believe this will fit her all through this coming winter and spring.

I must have been in the zone during the Opening Ceremonies party at my LYS, because I managed to knit more than one whole ball and got nearly to the underarms.  I knit the sleeves at the same time on one long circular needle (which wasn't quite long enough for comfort), then the adorable and easy owl pattern, decreases, ribbing, and Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off.

I think I like the matte buttons with shanks better than the shiny buttons with holes, but my local giant-craft-store didn't have enough of them, so I just used them for the center(ish) owls on the front and back.  Finished sewing on the buttons on Wednesday, August 8, comfortably ahead of schedule.  I submitted the sweater to the Ravellenic Games, earning three medals -- Baby Dressage, Cable Steeplechase, and Sweater Triathlon.  Also submitted to Quiddich in the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup, but not for real points as I'm still a Not-Quite-First-Year.  I did complete my sorting form this month, so I hope to have a House and start playing "for real" in September.

Overall I'm very happy with this project, and am really looking forward to giving it to the Lil One for her birthday.