Silas Robin Hood Jacket

Can you imagine how excited Silas and I both were last Monday when the snow began to fall? Silas was into it, because he's a kid and loves the snow: Me, because I knew I'd be able to get some pictures of him wearing his new cabled sweater in the falling snow!

This is the Robin Hood Jacket from Zoe Mellor's Adorable Knits for Tots. I've had this book for most of Silas' life and have wanted to make this jacket for several years now.

Posing for pics, before the storm:
Cables and seed stitch together: you can't really go wrong.
Things I did differently: First of all, this pattern calls for bulky yarn, but swatching in bulky yarn was a disaster. The sweater would have been big for me if I'd proceeded with the yarn type called for in the pattern. Instead, I went with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted. It ended up being the perfect yarn for this project.
I made the body of the jacket two inches longer than called for, and also lengthened the sleeves (he's inherited my monkey arms, so a little extra length is a good thing). It appears he'll be able to wear the jacket for several years. Woo-hoo!

Instead of binding off and then sewing the top of the hood, I kept the live stitches and used Kitchener stitch to create a much flatter seam.
Other than the issues with gauge, this is a wonderful pattern. Once you get the swing of it, it's quite simple. As is the case with cables, they really do most of the work for you.
I don't think I've seen the end of cabled jackets. My husband wants one now too. And I think I've been meaning to make one for myself for several years now...

December is usually a big crafting month, so I'm gearing up for that. I will be posting pictures of some felted fingerless mitts I made for my son's preschool auction. After that, I've got some super secret felted objects I'm working on for Silas. Stay tuned!

Hubbie Hoodie in action

I have yet to do a proper photo shoot of Drew wearing his hoodie. With all of the craziness of our upcoming move, I'm not sure when said photo shoot will take place. But the important thing is that he is wearing it. In fact, he's worn it quite a bit. I think he knows that if he doesn't wear this sweater, there will be no more hand knit sweaters for him ever, just as there certainly will be no more hats (made two, he never wears them). It does appear, however, that he genuinely like this sweater, which makes me breath a big sigh of relief. I believe I see a cardigan in his future...

My two boys, saying "cheers" over glasses of vitamin water. A not-so-great shot, but I couldn't resist a candid picture in which they both happen to be wearing the sweaters I knit for them.

Blocking

Silas thought all the hoodie needed to be complete was a bit of paint (pretend paint, thankfully).

Finally, we are at the last stage of the Hubbie Hoodie (aka the Hacky Sack Hoodie). Blocking is absolutely essential to the fit of this garment, as the gauge given in the pattern is post blocking, and quite in contrast to the pre-blocking gauge achieved when knitting. This stark difference in gauge is one of the only thing I don't like about this pattern, which is otherwise pretty cool.

I am still nervous to try it on Drew. But, it turns out that that moment will have to wait a bit longer. I forgot to cover it and the cat used if for a nap after coming in from the muddy wilds. Damn it. It will need to be cleaned and possibly re-blocked.

Pictures of the finished product, hopefully by this weekend.

The new year is old news...

...and I'm finally posting to this blog for the first time this decade. I'm in a wee bit of a knitting lull. Drew's Hubbie Hoodie (Hackie sack hoodie from Son of a Stitch n' Bitch) really could have been done by now. It's easy-peasy, mindless knitting. But even after the holiday knitting came and went along with my excuse for not hurrying the hell up on this project, I still haven't been giving it the time it deserves. Today, Sunday, I didn't knit at all. Not on the ferry to Seattle, not at Drew's poetry reading, not in the car on the way back. Not even while watching Julie & Julia this evening. What's wrong with me? This is the perfect project for me right now too because it uses next to no brain cells and is therefore an anxiety-buster, rather than the headache-inducer a more complex project might be.

That's not to say that I haven't made any progress. I'm almost to the front pocket, and mind you, this is a top-down project so the hood is already completed. There is really no reason not to finish this project post-haste. I will let you know when that occurs, hopefully before another decade draws to a close.

As you can see, a certain toddler is my biggest (and best!) excuse for my knitting lull, though he does occasionally indulge me by letting me get a few rows in during cuddle time :)

Big Digger, or Halloween, here we come!

Like many toddlers, Silas thinks that big construction vehicles like diggers and bulldozers are the coolest things ever. He is pretty excited for the costume I've got planned for Halloween 09. This sweater, from the fabulous Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids, is perfect for what Silas and I are envisioning! Silas can't wait for this sweater to be completed. He keeps opening the book and asking for the bulldozer page. He’ll then spend a good deal of time staring at the picture. He has asked me several times if he could help me make it because he wanted it to be done right away, and one day he even grabbed the needles while I was working on it and said "I want to help."

I started making this at the end of August. I wanted to give myself a big cushion of time in order to avoid scrambling to finish in time. Not necessary. It's knitting up so quickly, and now that I'm past the digger motif, it will be easy breezy from here on out. Not looking forward to the seaming, but I'll live.

Something for the April (or May) baby

It seems that when the economy tanks, people stay home and make babies. Maybe that explains why I've got four babies to knit for this year. Three of them, including my sister's, are due in September, but my friend Anna's baby is up first, and is due this spring. The baby shower is on Saturday, and I just finished the above pictured hat and sweater set.

Silas is modeling the (way too small for him but isn't it still cute) Baby's cabled milk-silk cap from Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders. Instead of the milk yarn, I chose a luscious cotton/Tensel yarn from my stash. It is wonderfully soft and I'm so happy with the f/o. Cables. Gotta love 'em.


Below is the finished Baby's Pure and Simple Pullover from Weekend Knitting. This is a garter stitch sweater, but is constructed from side to side. In order to create the rolled edges, the pattern switches to a smaller needle and the last 4 stitches on the rs are purled. I found it a bit awkward to switch to the smaller needle every single row. I often forgot and damned if I could keep the smaller needle from sliding out all of the time. The effort was worth it though, as the effect is quite nice. Unfortunately, there is seaming involved in this sweater, but I really enjoyed the design otherwise, so I will overlook it. Oh, and lest I forget to mention it, the yarn used in the sweater is from my birthday gift stash. I almost went with the Hemp for Knitting yarn called for in the pattern. I had it in my hands and it was a lovely blue similar to the yarn I ended up with. Alas, it just didn't feel right. I know from all of those macrame hemp bracelets and necklaces I used to make "back in the day" that hemp gets much softer after repeated washes. And I wanted to use hemp, really I did. But I'm not going to wash this sweater 20 times before I give it as a gift this Saturday. I just can't imagine knitting something as a gift for someone else's baby that doesn't feel soft. So, regrettably, I put the hemp yarn down and found instead Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK, which is a cotton bamboo blend. It's a good color, knit up nicely, and most importantly, feels soft to the touch.

Hopefully, once Anna's baby makes his way into the world, and grows a bit, I'll be able to post a picture of him wearing this outfit.

One baby down...three more to go!

The Prepster (Fall/Winter fashion shoot #2)

Here's another sweater I made for Silas while I was pregnant with him, and which finally fits him. This basic v-neck pullover is "The Prepster" from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits by Julia Carles and Jordana Jacobs. It certainly lives up to it's name! I feel like I should be enrolling him in Ivy League Pre-school. It was a perfect show-off outfit for Thankgiving.

I used Cascade 220, which is an incredibly reliable yarn, in my opinion, and works well to give this sweater a consistent and polished appearance. I remember being very pleased when I finished this project, ever so long ago (though that's about all I remember about it). I'm glad it finally fits!