Traffic Hat and Scarf

I found this on LionBrand's website and the pattern looked so cute! I made both of them for Little Bear and he said he wanted the matching sweater! He's very into "transportation" right now, but I'm afraid he'll be in college by the time I get a sweater finished. 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Vanna's Choice, in the recommended colors, with the recommended needles. I did change the garter stitch road to stockinette because it looked weird in garter stitch. Bear wanted a red pom pom for the hat, which looked great until the dog ate it. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This was my first experience with Intarsia, and it was a mess. When they say use spools, do it! Don't leave the strings hanging.

2. The scarf is a bit shorter than I like and it curls like mad, but Bear seems to like the "tube" shape it wants to take. 

3. I have the coolest kid.

Baby Hats - Oh My Stars!

We are loading up on hats! Although I'm not super crazy about the envelope look. I started these on September 20, 2011 but didn't finish them until after DS was born. 

METHOD:
Done in extra stash yarn and from a pattern in Knit It! Spring 2007 magazine.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The patterns overestimated how many stars each hat needed.
2. These are impractical, and the jersey hats that come with the onesies are much better.
3. I sort of learned how to make French knots, I guess?

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.

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!