Austin's Bunny

My parents are visiting from WI this week and my mom brought the book Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding as a little gift. She especially loved the stuffed rabbit pattern. While she's here, I thought I’d quick knit one up for her to take back to WI to give to my sister, who is expecting a new baby around September 1st. This is an extremely easy pattern, but it is knit flat and then sewn up, which seems kind of unnecessary to me. I chose to knit it in the round instead. That’s a time-saver! There's no increasing or decreasing, and this results in a less-than-elegant bunny. But it is a sweet little toy, none-the-less. I hope my new nephew will like it :)

Wrenna

Wrenna, Wrenna, how do I love thee?
Enough to post a gazillion pictures, apparently.
I really am in love with this fo. Misti Alpaca is soft as soft can be. And would you believe it, it took less than 250 yards to knit this sweater! That's the magic of chunky yarn and size 17 needles. If I wasn't the working mom of a 2 year old, this would have been an easy weekend project. But even with my hustle and bustle life, it still only took a week. That's as close to instant gratification in the knitting realm as I get these days. I'll take it! I'm making a hat with the remaining alpaca yarn, as I barely broke into the third skein for Wrenna. Then, it's on to 2 socks on 2 circs for dh. That'll be quite a switch after working in such a large gauge!

Here's one of my Mother's day shots with Silas, and another bonus Wrenna picture ends the post...

Satisfaction

Satisfaction is a finished 14 point tee that turned out just the way I wanted it to. Strictly speaking, this isn't really a tee anymore. I lengthened the arms and the body from what the pattern dictated and it's made of wool rather than cotton. But I've been calling it the 14 point tee for a month and a half, so I'm sticking with it.

The weather was perfect for our photo shoot this afternoon. The outside shots are from right outside our house, where I've been doing a lot of gardening the past several weeks. The inside shots were taken in our greenhouse.

I love this sweater. I love this sweater. I love this sweater. I also love the fact that there was so little finishing work...just a few ends to weave in really, and no blocking was necessary. I finished it at 11 pm last night and wore it to work today! This will be a well worn and well beloved wardrobe item, hopefully for years to come.

Barb's hat

I can take no credit for this hat. Barb, a friend from work, made it for another kiddo, and asked me to try it on Silas to see how it fit. I'd call it a success, Barb!
I just got Barb set up with a Ravelry account, where you can find her as grandmax, so this hat may just be the first project she posts...

Divide and Conquer

A few posts back, I was working on this sweater, the 14 point tee, and you may recall that I was uncertain about how the ruffled yoke would look once I divided for the sleeves and body. Well, see for yourself:

Personally, I am pleased with it and am very much looking forward to finishing and wearing it (just in time for summer, naturally). I decided to alter the pattern just a bit for the body. First of all, it was meant to be a straight body, with no shaping. I thought that would make the garment too boxy for me, so I decided to decrease after the bust line. In order to keep the continuity of the knit 4/purl 4 pattern, it was necessary to decrease 8 stitches on each side, for a total of 16 stitches decreased.
There's definitely some shape to it, and so I'm glad I did it. I have enough yarn, so I will also make the body longer than the 10 inches called for. It's about 11 inches as pictured above, and I will go at least 2 more. I know cropped is "in," but I hate having my midriff freeze during the winter months. I have a long torso, so adding some length will be a good thing.

Tonight, after the gardening is done for the day and the boy has been put to bed, I'll start on the sleeves. I'm hoping to have this completed soon, though I'm not sure what I mean by "soon." In my head, I think it may be defined as "Amber really wants to start on about 5 other projects and is really sick of basket weave, so let's get a move on."

Choo-Choo Cap

Thus named because I think it resembles a conductor's hat. This is the way-cute "Kiddie Cadet Cap" available free through Ravelry. I used Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a denim-like colorway. This was yarn from my stash, left over from the Eyelet Skirt I made about 4 years ago. The All Season's Cotton is perfect for Pacific Northwest weather. He literally can wear this all year round, but really, I made it so that he'd have something hand-knit to wear during the summer months. It will be a great hiking hat. I made the toddler size, which, surprise surprise, since he is a toddler, fits him very nicely. I was convinced it would be too small, however. Then, when I was just a few inches in, I thought it would be too big. I did take a gauge. I did, I really did! But it wasn't until I could plunk the partially finished hat on Si's head that I realized my fears were groundless and I could stop doubting both my gauge and the pattern. The garter stitch rim is a bit wider than the stockinette portion and were I to do this again, I'd go down a needle size for that part.

Other than that one minor thing, this was a great quick project. I love the short rows and the doubled over brim, and the overall look is great. He'll be a stylish young chap this summer.
Oh yes, and Silas also loves his Choo-Choo Cap. He even insisted on wearing it at the breakfast table this morning. (Man I love that misty-eyed, tousled-hair, just woke up look).
You know, I always feared that since I love to knit, I'd have the kind of kid who refused to wear what I made for him, especially hats. Another ungrounded fear, as you can see :)

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!

16 point 14 point tee

Although I've temporarily set this project aside in order to whip out a couple of baby items in time for a fast approaching shower, I thought I'd write up a quick blog post about this sweater, which is about 15 % completed. As soon as I saw this design, the 16 point tee by Cathy Carron, in the winter/spring 2009 issue of Knitscene, I knew I wanted to use the Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed I'd been squirreling away for a rainy day. Unfortunately, the gauge was totally different from the suggested yarn, which means that I was forced to use my rudimentary math skills to adapt the pattern (casting on 72 stitches instead of 96, for instance).
This pattern is meant to have 16 increases in a round for the yoke; hense it's name. However, due to my alterations, I only need 14 increases a round.

I am uncertain as to how my slightly thicker yarn will affect the ruffle look that is inherent in the pattern. Will it be too much? Will it look too bulky, or just off a bit? There's really no way to tell until I am far enough along and can divide for the sleeves and start on the body. I am cautiously optimistic at this point. If it doesn't look right though, I will say a big fat thank-you to the top-down sweater gods that I only waisted several weeks, rather than a whole month on this. How bad would it suck to make the whole thing, only to have it look awful, because I wasn't able to try it on as I went along.

This yarn is really special to me. Tweed is my favorite, first of all, and this yarn is so very lovely. I also used some of it for my kiddo's farmland (the pasture area) and it creates the feeling of being in a warm meadow with a spring flower here and there. So, if it doesn't work out for this sweater, you can bet I'll be spending an evening ripping it out and re-balling it. Let us hope it doesn't come to that!

They know me so well

I'm really easy to please in the gift-giving department. Just stick with a knitting theme and all will be well. My birthday this year, was a particularly good one for many reasons, including the fact that I got 2 knitting books, a long coveted EZ knitting DVD, and a very generous gift certificate to my lys.

Here's how it all went down...

Drew headed to said lys, Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on my birthday. The minute he walked in there, it was apparent that he was shopping for someone else, and he was as he puts it "set upon by every woman in the store." He looked and looked for the perfect book for me. He was given advice and was very particular, finally settling on the book French Girl Knits. Good choice, Drew. This is a book that I probably wouldn't have thought to buy for myself, but I'm SOOO glad that he did. It has many beautiful, classic patterns, 3 of which I've already queued on Ravelry. He was also advised to buy Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac, but he thought if he bought that one as well, I would complain that he spent too much money. This is probably due to the fact that he has to constantly keep his book collecting habits in check in order to avoid bankruptcy, and he knows I give him "the look" every time he's eyeing a new purchase. But two books for ME, I can handle that!

So, I was frightfully close to not getting my EZ book, when our friend Patrick saved the day and offered to buy it for me instead. Yea! I've been reading through the Knitter's Almanac, and well, I probably don't have to convince any of you knitters out there about how wonderful it is. We all know EZ rocks.

And, sticking with the EZ theme, when my mom called and asked what she could order for me through Amazon.com for my birthday, the first thing that came to mind was Ez's Knitting Workshop on DVD. Again, because I'm fairly frugal, especially right now, this isn't something I would have spent my own money on. Oh, but how I've wanted it! I've heard knitters on several podcasts go on and on about how great it is and now that it's in my possession, I cannot wait to watch it. In fact, as soon as I post this, my plan is to pop it into the computer and watch it until my son wakes up from his nap. Perhaps I'll have more to say about it after I've watched the whole thing.

Lastly, if you'll look up again at my photo, you'll see some very lovely yarn. This yarn is courtesy of an incredibly generous gift certificate to Churchmouse that my Mother-in-law sent to me. Wow, and thank you, Carrie! I took in my project list this morning, sent my son off to wander around downtown with Drew so I could shop at my leisure, and bought yarn for 3 projects. I would name the yarn and the project they are intended for, but time's a waisting and EZ is calling. As the projects hit the needles, I'll get more specific, but till then: Two of the yarns are for French Girl Knits sweaters (Wrenna and Paloma) and one is for the Pure and Simple Baby Pullover from Weekend knitting. That last one will be the first up, since I've got to finish it in time for a baby shower in exactly two weeks. Gotta go cast on now...

Sheep Sheering '09

For all of you sheep enthusiasts, here are some pictures and a video from the sheep sheering that took place yesterday (my birthday!).

Blu is the sheep getting sheered in the first 2 pictures. That's our house right behind Silas, so you can see, we were right in the middle of the action.

This is Bart. All of the sheep, including Bart, seem to dislike laying on their sides, which takes place towards the end of the process, much more so than being flipped into a sitting position. When sitting upright, they more or less go limp.This is Azure, pre-sheering, in all his woolly glory:

And the after shot:Last but not least, here's a video detailing much of the process (as well as the voice of my neighbor's son trying in vein to get my kiddo to play with him).

Silas' Knitted Farmland: the big reveal!

I finished the Farmland...finally! And just in time for Silas' birthday, which is today, in fact. In the end, I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's not perfect, mind you. The many different yarns of varying textures, gauges, etc., were not always easy to piece together. And I'm still planning on adding a flannel background to make it more durable (it's holding up well so far, but it's only day 1). But, I love it, and more importantly, as you can see below, Silas loves it.
This pattern was inspired by another knitting, blogging mama, who had started a farmland of her own a while back (which, sadly, has since been frogged). Once I had the idea, I just sort of ran with it, making things up as I went along, and trying to incorporate as many stitch patterns as possible, in order to keep things interesting.

As much as I love this play blanket, I'm oh so glad to be done with it. It's time to move on to my next project, which is already on the needles. So, if you've been bored stiff reading farmland postings and not much else on this blog for the past several months, never fear; there'll be something new to write about soon enough!

"Making farm"

I was surprised to discover that Silas actually knows all of those squares can be put together to make a farm. I'm glad he's already having fun playing with his knitted farmland!

Only 2 more squares to go!

I've been too afraid to count my farmland squares this past week because I thought I was really far behind. But no! I've got 62 squares completed, which means I can easily finish the remaining 2 by tomorrow's self-appointed deadline. That way, I'll have the full week to piece it all together and do the border. Hopefully, I won't be rushing or burning the midnight oil to finish this project.

And hopefully, I won't hate how it looks when it's completed.

Yes, that is a fear of mine. I've been so close to this project. I've worked on nothing else for 3 months. To be honest, I am getting tired of it. Sure, each square is different, and I've improvised and made things up as I went along, which has kept me from becoming utterly bored. At the same time, other projects are beckoning to me. I have patterns, I have project yarn. All I have to do to start on them is finish the Farmland. But because I live and breath the farmland, I'm afraid I can't give it the distance it needs to see it for what it really is. Right now, I'm looking at it as something that needs to be done by my kiddo's birthday, instead of as a unique project that I'm really in love with. I'm hoping that I have an "aha moment" when it's all pieced together, rather than an "ohhhh moment," if that makes any sense. It will be quite unpleasant if I end up hating something I invested so much time and energy into.

Chances are, though, it will be just fine, and I'll be glad I did it, and even gladder that I finished it!

Almost, but not quite

I haven't actually counted, but I don't think I quite made my goal of completing 60 squares for the Farmland by the end of February. I've gotta say, the Wisconsin trip set me back a bit. And shifting back to west coast time has taken the kiddo and me the better part of a week. Therefore, my knitting pace was way slower in February. But I'm so close to the finish line! I'm in the final push...

Tomorrow, I'll take stock of the squares that I have and figure out exactly how many more I need to knit, then figure out the pace at which I'll have to make each one in order to finish on time. I'd like to give myself at least a week to put it all together and crochet the trim. This means, I'll need to have all of the squares completed in a little over a week. Zoinks!

At least one post during my WI trip...

Despite promising to post several times during my trip to WI, it didn't quite happen (you can see a bunch of pictures on my family blog, though). As often happens, I knit, but not as much as I had planned for. That's okay. Visiting with family and friends to keep me very busy. And I did bring along the knitted farmland to show to people as well. I knit a few squares and even seamed the pond squares together while I was here.

I'm heading back to Washington State in the morning with husband and toddler in tow...wish us an easy and uneventful flight :)