Spring Charity Knit Scarves during Isolation

I am stash busting during our isolation, in the hopes of getting rid of the old to buy NEW yarn when we can safely shop again!

METHOD:
Done in whatever suits my fancy. 

The pink fringed one is leftover Lionbrand Homespun from Jen's Poncho, done in a repeat called "Purse Stitch" which gave it a neat lace look. 

The blue chenille is a skein of Lionbrand Chenille Thick and Quick in garter stitch. I started to crochet a scarf in this, but it's a nightmare no matter how you try to work with it.

The taupe is a basketweave stitch alternating garter and stockinette, extra wide but short enough to tie around your neck, probably wide enough for a man.

The unicorn puke color is a child's scarf done in Bernat boa. 
(I actually intended to make three of these, but Little Bear said he loved the color and the feel and wanted an extra long one for himself. I think I am raising a fabric-oholic.)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Marie Kondo all your yarn. Seriously. It sparks joy, getting rid of it. 

Charity Knit Scarves - Sashay

Okay, this is one of those "seemed like a good idea at the time" kinds of things. While I was in grad school, I ended up getting drunk one Friday and insisted my husband take me over to Michaels, where they had a bunch of this ribbon yarn on clearance. I picked up about 10 balls for 15 dollars and was real proud of myself until I realized I had no idea what to do with the stuff. My first thought was to make scarves out of it and sell them on Etsy. Then I made the scarves. There is nothing about these scarves that makes me think I'd have any luck for selling them at anything over $1 online. People at the craft shows can't even give these things away.

So now that they're all made, I'm thinking I will just give most of them away, unless I can find something else to do with the yarn. I made my mom a blue one, which she likes, and Little Bear cabbaged onto the Christmas red one, so I guess the others will be Christmas charity donations or gifts for the unsuspecting.

METHOD:

This one got frogged.

Done in the pattern on the label, with Red Heart Boutique Sashay multicolor lace yarn. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Never buy yarn when you're drunk!

Slouchy Beanie 1: Taupe Hat

I tried the Lemongrass Slouchy hat pattern again, in a more pleasing color, but I put this aside for a bit while I worked on my son's acorn hat. I wanted a slouchy beanie, and this suffices, but the decreases still throw me, and the top looks just "off" somehow. Still, it slouches and it's warm so it's great for bad hair days. Still Little Bear won't give up the acorn hat, I'm keeping this one. 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wook Ease Thick and Quick yarn in taupe, one skein. From the pattern "Lemongrass Slouchy Hat" on Ravely. Did it on circulars this time instead of dpns, and it's still weird. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a good pattern for stash busting this particular yarn, but I'm not uber crazy about the look of the hat, even if I love the texture.

2. When I read "slouchy," this is not the look I really picture. 

Acorn Costume and Hat

"Make me an acorn costume for Halloween, Mommy!" 

Who can say no to that? I mean, how cute, right? An acorn costume. Now how to go about it...

After three hours wandering around in Joann Fabric, trying to find a way to achieve the "roundness" needed for an acorn but still allow movement and play, I came up with the idea of the sandwich board. It's not perfect, and I'm not sure it's exactly what he had in mind, but after he won "Most Original" at the library costume contest, he was sold. 

The hat actually came first (or the idea for it) since I had been eyeing the Lemongrass hat and wondering what it would look like in the other stash colors I had. I made a taupe one, but that wasn't brown enough (although the texture was perfect for an acorn cap) so I picked up a couple of skeins of a browner variety, knitted an i-cord "stem" and voila. (Little Bear has refused to remove the cap and surrender the hat, so I guess it's his now for good.) 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wool Ease Thick and Quick, from the Lemongrass Slouchy Hat pattern on Ravelry, in a dark brown tweed colorway. One skein. Used it all. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Kids are cute. 

2. Eleventh hour Halloween costumes are the best. 

3. The entire costume came together with fabric glue, and no sewing machine. I'm amazed. 

Lemongrass Hat and Cowl (Bluprint Class)

The Hat was a project I sort of randomly came across on Ravelry as I was pondering getting back to knitting. (Actually what spawned the renewed interest was cleaning out the fabric closet and realizing I had a lot of yarn I needed to get rid of.) I had purchased a lot of this Wool Ease Thick and Quick, imagining I might someday make these little cardigans, but with that fantasy over, I had to figure out something else to do with them. 

Enter the Lemongrass hat. 

Now to be fair, the color of this yarn alternates between being a rather stylish off-green, like a lightly grilled spear of asparagus, to a true baby-shit green that nobody looks good in. Under store lighting, it's pretty. At home .... yeah, baby poop. 

So I found the pattern and thought why not. The instructions for the decreases are very confusing, and I should have been alerted to the weirdness by the fact that other people were commenting with questions, but I pushed on, thinking I'd figure it out. The main fabric is I think seed stitch, which gives this yarn a great texture, but the decreases at the top look weird and the color is just ... blech. 

So of course I had to make a cowl to match.

Now to be fair, the cowl was the second project from the Bluprint class, and I wanted to at least try it. I had two skeins left of the nasty Lemongrass color, so I made the cowl and it was pretty but gave me claustrophobia when I tried to wear it. So I frogged it, and made one twice as wide, which didn't really work either. Probably one that is about 1.5 skeins would work properly.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wool Ease Thick and Quick Lemongrass (aka Babyshit Green)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a horrendous color.

2. Frog what doesn't work, but you can only do it a few times before the yarn becomes worn. 

3. Don't stash yarn. Only buy what you actually have a legit plan for using. 

Practice Mitts (Bluprint Class)

The Great Courses Plus offers other lectures in conjunction with Craftsy/Bluprint, and I thought it was about time to maybe try knitting again, since I really hadn't done anything for a couple of years. 

This was the first project in the Startup Library Knitting class, taught by Susan B. Anderson, "Practice Mitts" which was a good re-immersion.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Vanna's Choice leftover yarn from the Traffic Set, worked flat on #7 needles and seamed together. I made the fingers extra long so they could either flip up over the knuckles or be folded back for more access.

1. These were fun, and they ended up being warm enough for me to wear to my crosswalk a few times.

2. I love knitting things for winter while we're still in the middle of summer.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?

Yoga Mat Carrier

I started June out beautifully, getting up early to go to a Yoga class on the riverfront. It was a gorgeous day and a great way to start the summer. Everyone around me had snazzy little holders for their yoga mats, so of course I needed one. 

After searching around, I found this pattern, which looked cute:

https://gina-michele.com/2017/05/yoga-mat-strap-free-knitting-pattern-2.html

METHOD:
Using stashed yarn, the LionBrand Suede Ecru color, which I LOVE the feel of, this was simple garter stitch, and I did most of it while Little Bear was at the BioBots programming camp. It was easy, but turned out a little weird, and probably should not have been quite so wide. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
It's an easy and fun project, but the mesh "bag" style would probably be more useful. Still, I feel very fashionable when I wrap and unwrap my yoga mat at the Y.

Victorian Lace Scarf

I had leftover yarn from the Knitted Lace Edge T-shirt and the Teddy Bear and thought this would be a good way to use it up.

METHOD:
I found the pattern on Ravelry, called "Victorian Scarf." Knit on the recommended, with the KnitPicks "Crayon" yarn in Periwinkle.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The thing about lace knitting is that you really have to pay attention to what you're doing on each row. I didn't, so this thing is weirdly off the pattern repeats. I'm still happy with it. 

2. I probably should have scalloped the final finished edge, but I was just so done with it and so ready to get it out of the WIPS bag that I took shortcuts.  3. I'm still confused about something that happened on a slip, k2, passo. I'm never really sure which strand to pass over. Need to look into that. 4. There is no way this cotton yarn will block or keep itself from curling. This pattern could have benefited from a stiffer yarn.

Teddy Bear toy

This little guy was just something I thought I would make to help use up the leftover Crayon yarn from Knitpicks.  I made this for my son and presented to him as a gift. He played with it for about 8 seconds and then threw it down. I guess this one is going on the shelf for me, instead. 

METHOD:
The pattern is called "Teddy" and I got it from Ravelry. (All these patterns are linked on my Ravelry account, if anyone wants them.) 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Trying to wrangle three stitches on three dpns is nuts. Just approach it like you're making i-cord.

2. This knit up pretty quick although it was weird sewing it together, as connecting tubes to a sphere was difficult. 

3. This could make a cute penguin doll as well. 

Coming Home Birthday Gift Poncho

I didn't get a picture of this because it was a gift, and I forgot. Suffice it to say it looks just like the purple one, only in the milk of magnesia pink color. I actually started this the summer of 2010 and intended to have it for Jen's birthday, but life (and a new baby!!!) got in the way. I ended up finishing it January 12, 2012

METHOD:
Martha Stewart's "Coming Home Plus Size" poncho, knit as per Homespun, "Cotton Candy" colorway.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Keep the extra skeins handy. Somewhere I lost a skein of this and ended up having to buy a skein off a Ravelry member to finish the thing.
2. WTF is up with the seaming? Apparently it left a flat area and odd seam lines.
3. Jen suggested running sequins through it. I think that would make a cool border.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Baby Blanket for Morgan

The best laid plans... I originally intended to give this to Morgan for her baby shower, but I didn't get it finished in time, so I gave it to her for Christmas. I'm going to call this a Christmas finish, since I didn't write down the actual completion date.

METHOD:
The yarn is called Heaven (and it's oh so heavenly soft) made by Plymouth and I picked it up on sale at KnitWitts. It's done on size 15 needles because the yarn is so fat. The pattern was a free pattern by Plymouth, but it's garter stitch and nothing fancy.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Those huge needles HURT! I don't care for that size.
2. Take a picture of stuff before you give it away! This is the sample photo from the pattern, but the actual looks exactly like it.

Plum Cardigan

I absolutely LOVE this thing, It's so soft and cuddly. I put off finishing it once I'd made the pieces because I was afraid of sewing in the sleeves, but that part was actually easy! I started it on March 3, 2007 (!!) but ended up losing the yarn when I went to back to finishing, so it got put aside for another year. When I finally found the yarn, I did the neckband and button band in one day.

METHOD:
This is a Moda Dea pattern, and this is done in Moda Dea "Dream" in colorway "Plum." It was done entirely on size 6 needles. I added Swarovski buttons and cut out the fringe. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. So it's more like a cropped sweater, since the fringe was probably supposed to add length, but as it is it makes a great cover up for dance class.
2. I ended up having a lot left over so I'm drooling over maybe making a beret or something to match.
3. The bottom wants to flare out and makes my waistline look bigger than it is, but it's so soft and fluffy I really don't care!

Lace Amore Scarf

I made this for a lark, out of the leftover "Amore" yarn from the Bow Ponchette. The lace pattern was just one of the samples from the Knitting for Dummies book.

METHOD:
Just done in whatever needles happened to be handy, from a lace repeat pattern in the For Dummies book. Nothing complicated. I think I finished this around June 24, 2009, but I didn't get around to taking pictures until later. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Have fun and play with your yarn! Also, for acrylic yarn, this is really soft.

Knitting Workshop: Color Pattern Hat

Destashing and learning at the same time. This is another project from the Knitting Workshop book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The white key pattern I took from the book "Here There Be Wyverns," and its a Swedish border design from the 11th-14th century. 

METHOD:
Done on size 10 circulars, with leftover Brown Cascade 220 and leftover Cashmerino from the Nautical Hats.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a fun and easy hat.
2. I probably should have made the ribbing white. Oh well.