Anna's Fantastic Flower Smock

This was the Christmas present that almost didn't happen--at least, not in time for Christmas. I finished it on December 23rd and gave it to my niece the next day. It fits! This was my first experience with Intarsia. I really disliked the countless ends that I had to weave in, but it was worth it! Although I'm enjoying working on projects right now that do not involve intarsia, I'll gladly do it again. It is so fun to see the motifs form row by row. I am hoping that this dress fits my niece for a while (thankfully, the sizes in Lucinda Guy's book Handknits for Kids, run large), and that nothing she spills on it stains permanently. I learned a lot while knitting this project, including how to let go of something you really love, and which took countless hours to make :)

Vestee for Silee

Oh, I love how this sweater turned out! It is a nice stretchy pattern, so thankfully, it will fit him for a while. The pattern, Vestee, is from the Spring 07 issue of Knitty.com. After having Silas, this project, completed when he was maybe 2 months old or so, got me back in the knitting saddle as I perfected what I like to call the knit 'n' nurse. Alas, the knit 'n' nurse was short lived as now the baby has grown too active and interested in yarn. If he is absorbed in play (does happen but not for long stretches) or asleep (does happen, sometimes for long stretches), I jump to my needles/hook and get stitching! Time for crafting in precious now!

Liam's Little Green Blankie

This blanket almost ended in tears. After starting a pattern, which I absolutely loved, I realized it was taking me far too long to finish. I didn't think I'd ever finish before the recipient's birth. I am happy to report that as of today, the blankie is finished and is in the hands of the expectant parents! I decided to create a crocheted boarder around the knitted checkerboard pattern to speed things along. As anyone who both knits and crochets can tell you, crochet is about 1o bazillion times faster than knitting. It also allowed me to do a fun and creative boarder. Crochet saved the day!
The end result is still smaller than I originally intended, but I don't see that as a bad thing. I threw
it on top of my sleeping babe and realized it was the perfect size for a newborn. I decided to be happy with it the size that it ended up as, rather than order more yarn and continuing to add on. In fact, this would have killed the project at some point, as two of the edges are self ruffling, and the ruffles would have just gotten larger and more unruly had I continued to add rows.
But enough already. I am very happy with the result. Hope little Liam likes it too!

Blossom Baby Sweater

I made this sweater for two other babies before knitting it for my own. Such an easy pattern and the yarn is so beautiful and forgiving. You can barely see where I sewed the pieces together. Although you can't really tell from the pictures, it's just about the softest yarn ever, too!

Bunny Button Bunting

This is the bunting pattern from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits, which I knit for the babe while I was pregnant. I believe I referred to this pattern during one of the last entries I made before temporarily abandoning this blog. So, as promised, long ago, here is the finished piece. You can see a few more shots of it on Planet Silas. Here's what I wrote about this project on Ravelry: Although the size on this says 0-6 months, and I have a fairly big baby, this always seemed big on him till recently. I must admit that this bunting never looked quite right to me after I made it--until I put it on Silas. He sold it for sure. One of the things I loved about the original pattern was the hole for the car seat buckle to go through. However, I didn't like the hole in the front of the pattern, so I created a pocket to cover it. Had I put Silas in this bunting when he was littler, this would have worked great in his infant car seat. However, we've had to move our tall child to a convertible seat with a different harness. This harness doesn't work with the new seat, so we missed our window for that. I've pictured him in his old seat, for demo purposes...

Felted Irish Tea Cozy

As promised, I'm posting an actual project, completed and everything! I found out about a week and a half ago that our new local tea shop was having a cozy contest. I couldn't resist entering, despite the time constraint. This cozy is made much like my felted hats: The body is knit and then machine felted, and the embellishments are needle felted later. I've never done three-dimensional embellishments before and was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. I may do a similar design for the hats I create this winter (If I have the time, that is).

Resurrection

Am I crazy? Despite 2 full-time jobs (mom and librarian), and hence, not a lot of down time, I've decided to resurrect this blog. My main reason: I've joined Ravelry, the new online knitting and crochet community. It is really truly the coolest thing, but being part of this great endeavor does make me feel compelled to get my act together, blog-wise, and start posting at least every now and then. I am also busy with our family blog, Planet Silas. This blog does include many images of my hand knits, at least those that I've made for the wee one. Feel free to visit Planet Silas and have a look around. I promise to post a project or two to this blog before the week is done. To see some images right away, go to my Flickr page.