Waldorf Fleece Balls

I got the idea for making these simple fleece balls in a Waldorf-inspired book called "Creative Play for Your Baby" by Christopher Clouder and Janni Nicol. They were very easy to make and my son loves them. I used some of the wool batting that survived the awful moth infestation we had earlier this spring.

To make these balls, all you have to do is wind the batting round and round until it's a bit bigger than the size you want the finished ball to be. Then, take scrap yarn comprised of feltable wool and wrap it around, or needle felt it onto the ball in various patterns. Wash in the washer on hot till it's the desired size. Needle felt to tidy up any loose segments, or add additional embellishments, dry, and give to baby.

Just Some Socks (not too intersting, but finished!)

I'm not a huge sock enthusiast, but I got Ann Budd's "Getting Started With Socks" in January and decided I'd check out what the sock-making madness was all about. I've only made one other pair of socks and that was 3 or 4 years ago, so doing this pair was basically like starting from scratch, knowledge-wise. This project also filled an obligation to knit something for my husband, who's been neglected in the hand knits in favor of making a gazillion hats and sweaters for our son. Socks are actually something I can make for him which he'll wear (unlike the scarves and hats I've knit for him).

I'll admit, turning the heal is really fun. I love making something that forms so well around such an oddly shaped body part. And the self-striping yarn always impresses people who don't know what self-striping yarn is. I made these on dps and I LOVE my dps. Still. Since I hear the magic loop method makes sock knitting faster, I've gotta try it out. I also heard on the Knit Picks podcast a while back about a double knitting method in which 2 socks are knit simultaneously, one inside the other. I've GOT to try that. But I'll probably take a wee break before I knit another pair. I've got a soaker on the needles right now and it's so fast and gratifying. I'll be done with several pairs before I know it.
I'm not complaining too much about the fact that it took me 4 months to finish these very basic socks. Why? Because Drew's been wearing them a lot. He loves them. woo-hoo!

Death By Moth

I have a fear of moths. Irrational though it may be, it is very real. It began with a childhood experience which I will briefly recount and hope that you are not too grossed out. When I was about 8 years old, I was on vacation with my family. I remember that we had stopped at a visitor's center at a western national park. The center was in a small trailer-like structure. While my parents talked to a ranger, I wandered aimlessly around the trailer, and a movement around a light caught my eye. Ironically, I felt drawn to the light bulb, just as the moths who were fluttering around it had been. I got close. Too close. Several of the moths flew up my nose. I have no idea why. I then proceeded to sneezed them out. Ever since then, I've been afraid of the fluttering little bastards. I cover my nose whenever they come close, afraid of a repeat of that traumatic childhood experience.

Now that you know that story, you will understand when I say the following, I say it with horror: My wool has been infested with moths.

Yep, we have an all out moth invasion on our hands. I keep a good bit of my stash downstairs in the living room, and that has survived just fine, thank the gods. But all of the wool I was storing upstairs, well, that's a different matter. You can imagine what it's like for me, going up there and having moths swarm around me. They might as well be bats, though truth be told, I'd love to have a few bats right now as long as they favored a diet heavy in moths. I did have cedar amongst my wool to ward off the moths, but apparently, it wasn't nearly enough.

Onto the specifics of the loss, as well as the clean up: I was too grossed out and sad to take pictures of the worst of it. In fact, my husband cleaned up a lot of it for me, bless his heart. There were bags and bags of wool batting from our four sheep waiting to be spun or felted. Most of it was filled with eggs and larvae (I shutter just writing that) and most was not salvageable. They even burrowed into the wicker baskets the wool was stored in. Oh, and apparently, moths love alpaca as well. Fortunately only two skeins of my hand-dyed Atacama alpaca yarn were eaten through:

Here's the thing. I can't bring myself to kill them. As a rule, I try not to kill anything. Maybe it's the years of Buddhist practice, I don't know, but I hate to kill anything, including insects. Instead, I let my man incur the karma and kill them for me. Mostly, we brought everything outside and released them to the elements. They few that are lingering inside, get the smack down whenever my husband sees them.

Here are two of our sheep, Bart and Blu, whose wool was (partially) lost to the moths. Thankfully, wool is a renewable resource.

Frog and Frog are Friends

This is a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarns. My first Amigurumi! Very quick and easy. I made one for a friend's baby shower, then whipped up a second one for Silas. So the frog friends had fun together for a few short days. Perhaps the new baby will bring her froggie over to play with Silas, and they will have a frog friend reunion some day.

Crocheted Coasters For Our New Table

When we bought a new wooden table, I realized we needed to protect it's surface, so I whipped up some coasters using Medina Bouton d'Or, a linen/viscose blend variegated yarn. I'm very happy with how they look. Now I need to find some matching dark blue yarn to make some accompanying place mats.

Catching up -- Someone Else's Sweater

Here's what I wrote in Ravelry about this project:

I didn’t knit this sweater. I don’t know who did, but as a tribute to that anonymous crafter, I’m including this project with my finished objects.
Here’s the story:
We have a great Rotary auction here that is like a huge rummage sale. The yarn is cheap and plentiful, so naturally, I am always drooling when Rotary time comes around. In 06 I attended the auction and I’d just discovered I was pregnant. I got a bunch of yarn including this bag of white yarn with a bit of silver sparkle to it. When I got the bag home, I took the yarn out and discovered amidst the yarn a baby cardigan, completely knitted, but still needing to be seamed. I kept wondering what the story was behind that sweater. Why had the knitter stopped when she was so close to having a finished project? Did something happen to her? Or to the baby? Did something less traumatic come up that simply made her abandon or forget this project? Did she just hate finishing work? We’ll never know the answer, but I felt compelled to finish what the woman had started. The yarn is acrylic and not the best, truth be told, but the workmanship is very fine and the finished sweater is beautiful.

My son wore it on Easter and looked very cute, but the silver sparkle does make it a bit feminine, so we will probably give this away to a friend’s baby girl. It is lovely and deserves to be worn a lot!

Whoever made this sweater, Thank-you.

Catching Up --Baby Cargo Pants

This week my goal is to post a couple of projects that have been finished for a while now but that I just recently got around to posting on Ravelry. This blog will probably never include the body of finished objects that my Ravelry site has. No time for that! Such is life.In the pics, Silas is sporting his cool but casual baby cargo pants. The pattern can be found HERE on Knitty.com.
As you can see, they look pretty good in action!
I knit these late last summer and they now fit Silas pretty well (they are the 18 mo. size). Overall, I am happy with how they turned out. I had a little trouble with the elastic band. It just didn't seem to look right. Don't ask me why. Chalk it up to my complete lack of sewing skills (though the sewing involved was very minimal).
They've got a bit of stretch and are made from an all cotton yarn. Should be a nice fit for a while to come.

The Everyone's Doing It Shrug (so I did it too)

I needed a quick project to get me out of a knitting slump. The pattern in linked in Ravelry and is also available here. This was quick fun and easy (begun April 2nd, finished April 5th). Just what I needed!
I used Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton yarn. It took less than 1 skein. Only one word will due to describe this yarn: YUMMY! I adored working with it. Thankfully, I have more of it in my stash. I may just make another shrug with it...

If it's good enough for Bugs Bunny...

I finally sewed on the buttons and finished the Anouk pinafore for our neighbor's new baby girl, Izadora. But I couldn't relinquish the dress without taking pictures for the blog and for Ravelry. I really feel strongly that while looking at a knitted garment laid out is nice, seeing it on a real person is much more telling. I made Anouk in a 12 month size, and seeing as though I have a 12 month old... Silas was kind enough to model:
He hated every minute it was on and tried to take it off. Imagine it's a girl baby underneath that hat.
The picture below shows the side straps, which have two openings so that this item can continue to be worn well into toddlerhood. It can eventually be more of a smock-type shirt rather than a pinafore-type dress.
Since I've done intarsia now in several projects, the flower pockets were a snap. This may be a good project for someone who wants to do intarsia, but is a bit intimidated, since the skill required is minimal, but the effect is rather nice. This project makes a lovely gift!

The Knitted Garden

I just had to share this, as it is really an awesome feat.
This is a project in England accomplished by 300 knitters. The whole garden, from flowers, birds, vegetables, and mushrooms to a pitch fork and lawn chair, has been hand knit. More detail pictures can be seen here.

Handsome Happy B-Day Hound

What a sweet little gift this ended up being for Silas' first birthday. My fear though is that the Handsome Hound may not hold up for long in the hands of a toddler. I've already had to replace an eye.
I'm pretty lousy at sewing and there were a lot of pieces to put together with this project. Of course, it was worth it in the end. That being said, I think the next time I make a toy, I'll choose something with less finishing work, and most likely, it will be crocheted.
I worked on Handsome Hound for just over a month previous to Si's birthday, and I finished him in the knick of time--just one day to spare!
He's very squishy and lovable (at least, to me). Another great pattern from Lucinda Guy!

Obligatory Posting O' the Month

Thanks to the extra day we have in February, am actually going to post an entry for this blog this month. Because I post my projects, both finished and unfinished, on Ravelry, for me this blog feels a bit unnecessary...fun to post to every once in a while, but somewhat redundant as well. But at the same time, I somehow find the idea of taking another multi-month hiatus from The Knitbook too sad. So here I am. I have 4 WIPs at the moment: 3 knitting, 1 crochet. All are gifts for others. Once they are all finished, you'll see pictures, I promise. For now, a short listing of the WIPs and 1 little picture preview:

Anouk: This is a pinafore, an adorable pattern from Knitty.com. I'm making it for our neighbor's forthcoming baby, but in a 12 month size. Do click on the hyperlink if you haven't seen this pattern before. It is the cutest!

Motif Web Shawl: This is from 2007 Winter Interweave Crochet. It's a gift for my mom and my goal is to have it done by her birthday, or there abouts. Love this pattern, but it takes concentration, so it's going sloooowwww. So mom, that's why I didn't have it done for you in January. There you are.

Socks for Drew: I've got Ann Budd's book "Getting Started Knitting Socks." This is a great book for beginning sock knitters. Drew's been bugging me to knit something for him for a long time and I am making good progress, having finally overcome second sock syndrome. The needles are tiny though, so I don't like to work on this for too long of a stretch. Hard on the hands.

And finally:
Handsome Happy B-Day Hound: For Silas' birthday. I'm focusing on this one right now so that I finish it by the 16th. This is from Lucinda Guy's book "Handknits for Kids." (same book as Anna's Flower Frock). It's going well, but there's intarsia, row shaping, and I'm not looking forward to piecing it all together. Just hope the little guy likes it! Here's a preview of what it will look like:

Bruiser

My husband said Silas looked like a little Bruiser in this sweater--hence the name. We are not implying that he is the fightin' sort. He's a, um, pacifistic bruiser.

Anyways, this is one of the sweaters I knit while waiting for the peace-loving baby to arrive on planet Earth. The pattern is from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits. I'll have to search in Ravelry for the exact name of the yarn as I've forgotten. It's a bulky tweed (all wool)--possibly Rowan. Lovely, lovely yarn. Pictures don't do it justice. I shot a bunch inside but was dissatisfied. The outside pictures are closer, but none of them fully convey the texture and yumminess of this yarn.

I put Silas in this sweater for the first time on Saturday and then decided he needed a hat to match, so I knit the hat Saturday night (pictures were taken Sunday when we had a bit of sunshine). The hat is of my own invention, but is just basic. I wanted to be able to tie it on since Silas likes to pull off hats and he's been stretching them out that way. The earflaps are attached on the inside and the hat brim can then roll up and down to adjust for a growing head. I can sew the flaps down farther if necessary as well. I want this hat to fit next winter as well (and I think it will) because I made another slightly larger sweater using the same yarn.

Mr. Monk's Monday Makeover

Before:
After:
This morning Silas choose Mr. Monk off of the shelf of stuffed toys to play with and I noticed how ragged he was looking, with his original threadbare scarf. So, while Silas played, I grabbed a hook and whipped up a new scarf using some cotton yarn leftover from Anna's Dress. I must say, Mr. Monk looks quite dashing now!

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 :)