Baby Trellis

Happy New Year! I just realized that the photos links I uploaded weren't working, so here are the pictures again. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays, indulged in lots of good food and drink, and had merry reunions with your families.

Once again, here's Trellis:

The Trellis sweater was my nephew's Christmas present - he got it early though, because I figured he'd get some more wear out of it now, that boy grows so fast! Did I mention he started walking at 8 months?!


I really enjoyed knitting Trellis and was very pleased with how it turned out. It's a free pattern from Knitty, made with just under two skeins of Plymouth Encore (an acrylic/wool mix). Soft yarn, good stitch definition, and great for babywear since it gets washed so much. If I have time, I'm going to make JJ one too.

Notes: next time I'd knit this as one flat piece to avoid all the seaming - have you tried joining together garter stitch?! It's awful. I'd also attach the collar with k2tog onto the neckline as I went along, and avoid sewing it on after - not sure why the pattern is written like that. I thought I'd be thrown off by short rows later on, but it's just a straight stretchy piece of garter band, which curls into a shawl-collaresque thing.

So cute!!

Baby Crossover Top

Here's another baby sweater I made for JJ, which I started some time back in November and only just finished seaming this week. It's a Debbie Bliss pattern called the Crossover Top from the Essential Baby book.

Knitting a DB pattern always makes me crazy, but the projects look so beautiful it's hard to resist. For some reason, they never seem to put any diagrams in the pattern to show you how the project is assembled. Considering everything is knit in itty bitty pieces that require outrageous amounts of seaming and weaving in ends, you'd think they'd make your life easier by giving you a schematic. Nope. You get weird, awkward directions on how to set in a sleeve, or attach a button loop, with instructions like "starting 4 rows up and 3 inches over from the first point of decreases in the left underarm, attach the band". That's not much of an exaggeration. Ugh!!

I knit the newborn size but my gauge was much bigger, so the sweater is probably closer to a 3-6 month size. I put it off this long because it didn't turn out as nice as the model in the book...the edging seems a little uneven after picking up all the stitches, and the underarm seams seem a little awkward. I'm not sure if it's because I knitted this in cotton (with leftover Jaegar Aqua from my Cherry cardigan), or perhaps because the contrasting yarn was a little thinner that the main yarn, but there's just something a bit off about it.

It's still adorable though, and I made a matching hat to go with it. Doesn't everyone wear matching hats to their sweaters? :)

Anyhow, here's another super sweet knitted baby sweater that JJ received at the shower...I didn't knit it, but it's so cute that I have to show it off. It was made by my friend Courtney in the most beautiful Sundara Yarn. I have only ever oggled Sundara yarns online and in other people's stashes, and now I find myself petting this sweater every time I go into the nursery. It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's February baby sweater without the lace stitches.

And there are booties to match! Too cute. Thanks Courtney!

Almost Amelia

Amelia is nearly done! I can't believe I actually weaved in ends and did all the finishing. Now I just need to block her and sew some buttons on.


First impressions: it's warm, but very lumpy. The sleeves also seem a bit loose around the underarms and the collar doesn't sit in a round shape right now...blocking should help all of these problems. I'm a little scared to submerse this in water because I'm sure the dye is just going to bleed everywhere - gotta find a sink or bucket it that won't stain. Will let you know how it turns out. I think I'll be able to wear it for a couple months undone at the bottom, although my belly is protruding even more at this point.

Here are some growth pictures to entertain you with:


I still occasionally forget that there's a little person in there, but I'm starting to feel wiggles and gurgles. The other day I even felt some crazy purring, as if Gatsby were trapped in my tummy. It just occurred to me that the baby is arriving in February, and will need some warm winter things, so I am planning on making a couple more little hats, booties, and sweaters....so much fun!

Last Saturday we went to the Celtic Festival (surprisingly huge!) here in Bethlehem and saw hundreds of bagpipers, a haggis toss, and ate some fish and chips. Yesterday, we wandered along Third street during Friday First night in South Bethlehem. Today we are going to Babies R Us to scope out some nursery furniture and learn a thing or two about cribs, strollers and the like. It's shocking how much baby gear exists. See you soon!

Wee Update

The Knitticrafty household is seeing some big changes this year. First a house...

...and now Gatsby is getting a sibling!

I've been sitting on our happy news for a while, and now seems as good a time as any to share it. We'll get to meet the wee one in February, and in the meantime I've got lots of little baby projects in mind to keep me busy. I figure that once baby arrives, my crafting life will be put on hold indefinitely. Must fit in as much as possible between now and then!

Today was a good finishing morning - I finally sewed in loose ends, kitchener-stitched toes together, and blocked. Here is my first FO for baby, the placket neck pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I know, I've already made it four other times, but it's just so cute. And you can't beat the minimal seaming - it's all knit in the round! The yarn is Kraemer Tatamy Tweed DK, an acrylic cotton blend that should be easy to machine wash. It's made right here in Nazareth, PA too!

Yarn: Kraemer Tatamy Tweed DK in Birch
Needles: US 7 dpns and circulars
Pattern: Placket Neck Pullover (Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Hoverson)

Next up, my mom's socks are done!! Yippee! I don't think she'll mind the fact that one is slightly taller than the other - can you tell in the photo? I guess I over-enthusiastically added half a pattern repeat. Not sure how that happened since I was trying to follow the chart...

Yarn: 2 skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet (from Conversational Threads in Emmaus),
with enough leftover for a pair of baby socks
Needles: US2 dpns
Pattern: Pomotamus Socks

Amelia is coming along as well...I've got the sleeves pretty much done, minus a couple more increases on one arm, and I've got about 4 inches to go on the body. Sadly, this cardigan is not going to fit around the girth of my ever-expanding middle - I should be able to button it up at the top for now. I've made a few mods so far: cast on for size 34" sleeves, but for the body I cast on 191 stitches to get approximately a 36" size (the pattern jumps from 34" to 38") and I played around with the positioning of the stitch markers to get more or less the right ribbing placement. I'm a little worried about washing this yarn...I touched it with a wet hand a few weeks ago and ended up with deep teal streaks across my palm. There's probably something I can wash it with to help set the colour or remove the excess dye.



Have a great week! I'm off to knit night tonight for a piece of chocolate cake...mmm.

Knitting and Pottery

Spending a week in Deep River was not only very nice family time, but very productive crafting time. There was lots of knitting and pottery, along with some good beaching, kayaking and swimming. And some good butter tarts.

I started the worsted-weight Amelia cardigan by Laura Chau, using Valley Yarns Northampton in Ocean Heather. It'll be fall before you know it, and I'm getting a start to my cooler-weather knitting. One skein has so far gotten me through 1.5 sleeves, which is good because I only have four more skeins left. I think I'll make it.

We tagged along to the pottery studio and played with clay while D's mom worked on new pieces for her display at the Valley Artisan's Guild (click to see some of her work!). Inspired by a photo, D made this cute Trojan horsey donut on wheels:

I managed to throw two rice bowls in a row that looked decent, despite not having been near a wheel in a year! Those cylinders, I tell you...I think it was a plot to prevent us beginners from making too many pieces and crowding the kiln.


I asked D's mum for a brown glaze with ash spots that I think will look really cool, here's hoping they turn out!

Today is the first day of school at D's college, all the eager young kiddies coming to class, probably terrified and getting lost on campus left and right. It made driving a pain in the arse because they were all J-walking all over the place. I told D he should really give them a good scare and tell them how hard his class was going to be...hehe. Seeing as it's not first day of school for me, I am going to spend the afternoon knitting, cooking, shopping, and doing some general organizing. Salmon cakes are on the menu for tonight. No more liver for me!

Moss Placket Neck Sweater

From Last Minute Knitted Gifts, modeled by the lovely baby Kate:

This was done in Knitpicks DK superwash yarn, in a heathered green. It's been washed at least once, and it looks like it's holding up pretty well.

Last week we had visitors!! Margot, Janet and Kate...we wandered around historic Bethlehem, sat on the giant lawn in adirondack chairs at Lehigh, ate lunch at the Blue Sky cafe and of course, oggled the cutest, most well-behaved baby I know. I pinched those round pink cheeks so many times (it was probably very annoying, but she couldn't say so...hehe).

They were off to D.C. on the next leg of their trip...I was most jealous when I received a text that said "i just saw the obamas!!" Whaa!!!!

Hope you had a fun road trip and a safe drive the rest of the way home.

Ingenue in progress

Meet my red-orange Ingenue, the sweater I started at the end of December in a fit of knitting enthusiasm - I'd just discovered Wendy Bernard's (of Knit and Tonic) new book called Custom Knits, which seemed to answer all my questions about top-down knitting. I had no idea you could knit a set-in sleeve from the top down, or how you could make a big scoop neck from the top down. This pattern is actually really easy, and has a simple garter lace pattern to make it a bit more interesting. I haven't yet decided if I'll roll the neck down and stitch it in place, or leave it as a funnel. Did I mention that I *LOVE*LOVE*LOVE* how there is virtually no seaming, and being able to try it on as I knit?

After holding onto the book for as long as possible from the library, I decided this was worth ordering. Thanks to my brother for the exciting box of craft books that arrived in the mail yesterday: along with Custom Knits, I got the Well Decorated Cake, Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and Kitchen Confidential! Yippee!

It's almost done, but as usual, finishing is taking me forever. I gave it a good soak and blocked it last night since the bottom hem was creating this ballooning effect near the hip decreases. What's left is the sleeve cuffs...it's meant to have 3/4 sleeves, but since I am running out of yarn (what else is new) I am planning to knit the cuffs separately and join them on with a Kitchener stitch. I think the short sleeves will look cute.

I'll probably jinx it by saying promising when it'll be done. Let's just say it'll be done when it's done, and hopefully that doesn't mean next year!

Skully

Whew, I'm pooped! Today was full of errands - shoe repairs, dry cleaning, Christmas shopping, photo developing and Targeting. And I haven't even gotten around to my baking yet. Plus Gatsby's whining for his supper.

So, this will be a brief little post, but hopefully something that will amuse you. It's the first (and only) sweater I knit for D, about 2-3 years ago. It's Skully, from Stitch and Bitch, a simple rectangular sweater with sleeves knit straight out of the sides.

Pattern: Skully from Stitch and Bitch
Yarn: 8 skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, Charcoal, 1 skein in Cream
Needles: US10.5

The intarsia's not bad, eh? Let's not think about the mess on the inside. I was rather pleased with myself when I finished this bad boy, thinking that sweater knitting was sooo easy - that is, until I saw D model the finished product. It looked so...home-made. In an ugly-cute kind of way. As any sensitive and responsible husband should, he claimed to love the sweater and actually wore it out in public 2 times.

There are several things drastically wrong (but charming, as D likes to say) with this sweater:

• The gauge was too tight, hence using up a whole extra skein (that's 200 yards!) of wool
• The too-tight gauge resulted in a dense and overly warm rug-like sweater, which meant the wearer could only keep it on for an hour or so
• The arm holes were too small due to the gauge miscalculation, but I still squeezed in the pattern's pick-up stitches, which created this wide wide sleeve.
• The sleeve has some funny shaping at the bottom, where I decreased a few times in order to try to reduce the width of the sleeve - this was before I learned about calculating sleeve decreases evenly.
• The collar is super wide and gives this boat neck kind of look that is both feminine and just plain weird looking.

Now that I've reviewed the problems, I'm even more touched that D actually wore this beast out. Overall though, a fun beginner's project. I may rip this out one day and re-knit it, now that I've photographed it.

That's it for now, bye!

Khaki Jacket

My first knitting-related post! At some point I'm planning to get around to putting up a finished projects gallery, but taking relatively good pictures takes time (and practice as I'm learning). I tried taking some sock photos but it was way too hot today and I gave up after a while.

Right now I'm working on this cute sweater jacket (or so I hope, once it's completed). I'm not a big fan of sweaters knit in pieces because of all the seaming required, but I've screwed up many projects trying to take shortcuts that this time I'm actually following the pattern to avoid later headache (adjusting the pattern to knit in the round or fewer pieces isn't that difficult, but given my impatience it's probably not a good idea).

The pattern is Drops Design No. 103-1 by Garnstudio and I'm knitting it with some Misti Pima Cotton & Silk in khaki-olive that I bought in Columbus when I visited last year. The yarn is super soft and feels great against the skin.

The back piece is done and I'm working on the left front panel. The pattern offered instructions in two gauges, and I'm doing the smaller gauge version. Hopefully it looks as good as the grey model version. More knitting updates to come!