Christmas Baby Hat

Precious!! The perfect little Christmas Hat for my little guy :)

METHOD:
This was from "Little Snowflakes," a pattern in my 2011 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. I used Cascade 220 in Christmas Red, Green, and White.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. I sort of learned how to catch floats in the (fake) Fair Isle strands.
2. Elizabeth Zimmerman warns of fake Fair Isle that has more than 5 stitches between color changes. She's absolutely right. The extra floats make for weirdness inside the hat.
3. The decreases show up pretty obviously but I'm wondering if that's the nature of real wool, and can it be blasted out with a steam iron? Baby doesn't seem to care.

No Silk Garden Grows Tonight

Went to KnitWitts tonight because they were having a 15% off sale and I wanted 4 skeins of Noro Silk Garden for that entrelac scarf. Sadly, I hated the colorways on their small selection :( Now I'm thinking I might substitute a different, prettier yarn. Ended up grabbing a copy of "60 quick baby knits" and the skeins of red, green, and white Cascade 220 I needed for the baby's Christmas hat from the calendar pattern. Must remember to use 40% off coupon at Jo-Ann's for next year's pattern a day calendar. I thought this year's was pretty cool.

In other news:

Okay, so it's my fault for not being on top of my game and actually knitting the stuff right away, but seriously -- every project I've picked up lately either needs an additional skein of a colorway that has been discontinued, or I need a discontinued yarn/colorway to make a matching piece. Ebay and Amazon have failed me. Let us hope that Ravelry users will unstash and come to my rescue. ETA: YES! A Raveler came through and sent me a skein of that Homespun I needed for Jen's project. Woot!!

Baby Blanket for MY Baby!

I never thought I would be writing those words!

This is the softest combination of yarns. I had six skeins of the "Wild" that I didn't know what to do with, so this was a great way to use them to soften up the Pound of Love.

METHOD:
Used LionBrand Pound of Love and Moda Dea Wild, using size 15 needles and the pattern "Henry's Fuzzy Wuzzy Baby Blanket" from Ravelry.

The whole thing is just garter stitch, using the two yarns together, and since it's easy, I plan on toting it everywhere, to finish the blanket on time. It's going to be pretty big, to use up as much yarn and to snuggle as much as possible.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. I ended up using almost all four balls and it made for a great size. Kind of lapghan size.
2. This thing is HOT. I think the nylon seals the heat in. It's also pretty heavy, too heavy to be left in the crib, but it might be a good snuggle blanket for the toddler years. I'm leaving it over the edge of the bed as a decoration now, but I can imagine snuggling under it in winter!

What to do; what to do...

So I have a lot of "finishing" to do in the next few weeks, before baby is born. I figure I'd better do it now, or it may NEVER get done! LOL. I have to:

1. finish Jen's poncho
2. sew up my tunic sweater
3. piece together and line (groan) the tiger jacket (this one I may have to put off until I learn the skill of lining, or can get somebody local to help me with it.)
4. finish or decide what to do with the Homespun car coat
5. make the baby Christmas hat
6. make a least ONE set of booties for baby
7. finish the baby's silky blanket (which is basically just about 6 inches of garter stitch away from being done DONE!
8. And I really wanted to make him a panda hat. I hope I still have time.

sigh. I'm also considering some new year's resolutions for the Celtic new year, and for life post-baby.

1. I vow to never buy cheap LionBrand synthetic yarn again. I'm tired of how it squeaks on the needles, I don't like how it pills and comes apart, and I think my time is valuable enough that I should spend it knitting with yarn that feels good and is good quality.
2. I vow to never buy a bunch of yarn just because it's on sale. I have no more room for stashing.
3. I vow to finish the master knitter basics course in 2012.
4. I vow to learn some decent finishing techniques, and really work hard on being careful and patient when I am finishing garments.
5. I vow to learn how to do steeks without panic.
6. I vow to learn how socks can soar on 2 circular needles! (Which should take up a great deal of my sock yarn stash!)
7. I vow to learn how to do cabling and entrelac and ultimately intarsia.

I think I'd like to start at the bottom, and over Christmas work on that entrelac scarf/wrap in Noro Silk Garden. I need to spend my gift cert at KnitWitts, and they have a good variety of colors. (I think I actually dreamed about yarn shopping for that last night! But I was disappointed because all the colors were grey. weird.)

Baby Hat

Stash busting. Made a hat for baby to match Daddy's scarf!

METHOD:
I made this from leftover yarn from Daddy's Dr. Who scarf. I couldn't find dpns in the size I needed, so I sort of rigged up two circulars to do what I needed. It was not an elegant solution, but it worked.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Babies grow like crazy fast, so I don't think he got to wear this but once.

Magazines and Missing Issues - for my notes

Cast On

• Feb-Apr 2006
• missing May-July 2006
• Aug-Oct 2006
• Nov 06-Jan 07
• Feb-Apr 07
• May-July 07
• Aug-Oct 07
• Nov 07-Jan 08
• Feb-Apr 08
• May-Jul 08
• Aug-Oct 08
• Nov 08-Jan 09
• Feb-Apr 09
• May-Jul 09
• Aug-Oct 09
• Nov 09-Jan 10
• Feb-Apr 10
• May-Jul 10
• Aug-Oct 10
• Missing Nov 10-Jan 11
• Feb-Apr 11
• May0Jul 11
• Aug-Oct 11

Creative Knitting

• Jan 06
• Mar 06
• May 06
• July 06
• Sep 06
• Nov 06
• Jan 07
• Mar 07
• May 07
• Missing July 07
• Sep 07
• Missing Nov 07
• Jan 08
• Mar 08
• May 08
• Jul 08
• Sep 08
• Nov 08

Interweave Knits

• Spring 06
• Summer 06
• Fall 06
• Holiday 06
• Winter 06
• Spring 07
• Summer 07
• Fall 07
• Missing Holiday 07
• Winter 07
• Spring 08
• Summer 08
• Fall 08
• Missing Holiday 08
• Winter 08
• Spring 09
• Summer 09
• Fall 09
• Missing Holiday 09
• Winter 09
• Spring 10
• Summer 10
• Fall 10

Knit N Style

• June 06
• Aug 06
• Oct 06
• Dec 06
• Feb 07
• Missing April 07
• June 07
• Missing August 07
• Missing October 07
• Missing December 07
• February 08
• April 08
• June 08
• Aug 08
• Oct 08
• Dec 08
• Missing Feb 09
• Missing April 09
• Missing June 09
• Missing Aug 09
• Missing Oct 09
• Dec 09

Knit Simple

• Spring/Summer 06
• Fall 06
• Holiday 06
• Winter 06-07
• Spring/Summer 07
• Missing Fall 07
• Holiday 07
• Winter 07-08
• Spring/Summer 08
• Fall 08
• Holiday 08
• Winter 08-09
• Spring/Summer 09
• Fall 09

Knitters Magazine

• Issues 82-87

Vogue Knitting

• Winter 05-06
• Spring/Summer 06
• Fall 06
• Holiday 06
• Winter 06-07
• Spring/Summer 07
• Missing Fall 07
• Missing Holiday 07
• Missing Winter 07-08
• Missing Spring/Summer 08
• Fall 08
• Holiday 08
• Winter 08-09
• Spring/Summer 09
• Fall 09
• Holiday 09
• Winter 09-10
• Spring/Summer 10

Knit It Magazine

• Fall 2006
• Spring 2007

Knit Scene

• Spring 2007

Finally Organized my Stash!

OMG it took me like 5 hours, but I finally organized my stash and got it all listed in Ravelry. Now I have to find photos of everything. But that's for later -- next up is to make sure my pattern library is current with the library list I have in Ravelry, and to check the magazines for baby and toddler patterns I like. Eventually I'd like to actually do some knitting again...

Clearing out what was the "sewing room" and making it into a nursery meant that fabric and yarn were everywhere. Organizing it in the hall closet was the best thing I think I could ever accomplish, although I think this is a result of nesting, and I'm sure there were other things that needed doing. Still, it's done.

OMG I'M PREGNANT! Baby Jacket

OMG the cuteness!! I have a baby!!!

I started this project April 1, 2011 after finding out a couple of weeks prior that I was PREGNANT! No more making baby blankets as gifts - now I can knit for my own baby!! I joined all the "Expectant Knitters" groups on Ravelry and now I have a long list of projects to make, but this one was queued up first. My due date is November 10, so I'm planning some warm fuzzies for baby!

METHOD:
This project is called "Adorable Baby Hoodie" and it came from Creative Knitting, May 2008. The yarn is Sugar N Cream in Violet Veil Ombre and it was worked on size 8 needles. I added yellow buttons so as to not have blue overkill but either purple or yellow would have worked. Baby is a boy!

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. As usual, the hardest part was finishing the silly thing.
2. WTF is up with these Creative Knitting patterns? They have so much weirdness to them. What is up with the hood???
3. Working from a schematic is so much easier than just instructions. Remember that for your next project!

Tarot Bag for Jeff

I'm pretty sure we got the yarn for this around June of 2010, but I don't think I ended up actually finishing the bag until I think spring of 2011. I'm calling this one a March 1, 2011 finish, just because I have no idea. I'm fairly certain I finished it before I found out I was pregnant, but since I neglected to write anything down ... !!!! 

METHOD:
I found the pattern on Mary Greer's website, and since Jeff said he was looking for a cool tarot bag, I volunteered to make this one. He bought the yarn: Plymouth Yarn Kudo, in colorway #41. I have a ton of it left and would like to make something pretty with it. There's nearly a skein left.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. KEEP NOTES! I hate not knowing when things were made.