Oodles of Knit Hats...

One of my biggest knit cravings throughout this pregnancy has been hats.  This baby is going to have a rediculous number of hats.

Logically, I know knitting a million hats is a little silly, but I haven't really been able to help myself.  They are quick and cute and well, impossible to resist!

Here's what I've finished up lately:

Rainbow Marley.
Pattern by Susan B. Anderson from Itty Bitty Hats.  Knit with Spud & Chloe
Ravelry page here.

Bunny Tail.
Pattern by Susan B. Anderson from Itty Bitty Hats.  Knit with Spud & Chloe
Ravelry page here.  I sized this one for baby to wear next Easter.

Upside Down Daisy.
Pattern by Susan B. Anderson from Itty Bitty Hats.  Knit with Spud & Chloe
Ravelry page here.  This hat is super tiny.  Baby will likely wear this one right away.

Strawberry Hat using the Upside Down Daisy pattern by Susan B. Anderson from Itty Bitty Hats. 
Knit with Berroco Vintage
Ravelry page here.

Sun Hat
Pattern by Kristi Pyatt (Free on Ravelry). 
Knit with Patons Bamboo Baby.
Ravelry page here.

Pretty in Pink Prop hat
Pattern based on  Uptown Babe by Rae Lynne Chase (Free on Ravelry).
Knit with Malabrigo Worsted (white) and Universal Yarn Tides (pink).
Ravelry page here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberries and Chocolate Cocoon

Using the Photography Cocoon with Matching Hat pattern by Cara Einwechter ($4.00)

Knit with Berroco Vintage (Chocolate, Butter Cream and Emerald) and Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash (Pale Pink).

Ravelry page here.

 

 

 

 

Not a Brown Bag...

I finished this project up for a while, but for whatever reason, never got around to sharing it on the blog.

Ever since I have been pregnant, I have been a big snacker.  I've always been a big snacker really, but now that I am pregnant, when I need to eat, I need to eat.  I got tired of carrying around all these snacks, usually things like fruit bars, granola bars, apple sauce, juice boxes, dried fruit and nuts.  I have enough clunking around in my purse without adding all that extra stuff. 

I have been getting yarn as part of the Pancake and Lulu Yarn Club all year (my membership is sadly about to run out) and I wanted a great way to be able to showcase a lot of the colours, and use up a lot of bits I had left from other projects.  This yarn is 100% Merino, and is Organic too.  It is super yummy and Amy has kept me looking forward to my yarn all year long.

I decided to make myself a snack bag, using the popular Brown Bag pattern from Knitty a few years ago.

This ended up being a much bigger project than I'd imagined.  The bag is felted, so you knit it big and then shrink it.  It turned out to be a lot of knitting and a lot of ends to sew in.  It was also a really great stash buster.

I made my bag slighly larger than the pattern, casting on 35 instead of the recommended 25.  The finished bag is sizable, but it's something I'm sure I will continue to use for a long time.  Did you know that wool has great insulating properties?  Always a bonus when storing food!

My project page is here.

Busy Bee...

I haven't been updating the blog much lately, but I have been so busy behind the scenes.

The painting continues, but I have secured my husband as a painting partner for the weekend, so I'm hoping we can get to priming the library as I finish up that darn trim.  I know it will only take me a few hours to finish up the trim in the craft studio, yet I haven't managed to get it done yet. I would like to blame my current size for the slowness.  I have no work clothes that I can wear anymore.  I'm not really sture what I will do now that gardening season is upon us....

I have been doing some knitting lately, and a lot more sewing.  I have a whole slew of baby sweaters that I have yet to share on the blog, so without further ado, here we go:

I finally got around to finishing my Blue Stripes Sweater.  It was sitting around for a long while, just waiting for me to finish one arm.  I went off of this project because I didn't like the way it was knitting up in terms of its proportions.  The arms seem too narrow, as does the neck.  I'm not sure I will be able to get a big baby head in there at all!  Ah well, we'll see I guess.  It does look a lot better now that it has been blocked.

I am in love with my Malabrigo Mossy .  It knit up really quickly and is super cute.  I want to make another one in a cardigan version.  This is from the pattern Mossy by Jolene Lye.  It's free.  You should check it out!

I also adore how this Butterfly Baby Sweater turned out.  It is made from Patons Bamboo Baby.  I got a lot of this at a factory sale last year, and this is the first project I have used it for.  It's super squishy and light.  It really has a cotton feel to it, but it's not cotton, which is great, because cotton really hurts my hands.

The pattern was quick and easy but is only available in newborn size.  I'd love to see bigger sizes!  It's free too.

I love the yarn I used in my Violet Sophisticate but I wish the sweater had turned out a little longer.  I blocked it pretty heavily to get it this long, and it still looks a little short to me.  I used way less than the 255 yards suggested in the pattern.  I sort of hate it when that happens.  I ordered enough yarn based on the pattern, and it was way too much.  I know I can make a hat or something, but I patterns had more accurate yarn amounts.  Maybe I could have used stash yarn for this project?

Finally, is my That's Just Plummy Sweater, using the Snug Pattern (also free).  I added a zip, because I'm crazy like that.  This pattern was really unique to knit.  It kept me guessing, that's for sure.  Again, I wish it were longer.  I think this one still needs a good block too.

That was a bit of sweater overload for me.  So I've been working on some other stuff lately.  I do need to make some larger sizes if baby is going to be outfitted all year long though!

Second Trimester Pregnancy Journal: Week 21

My baby girl knitting yarn has arrived!

As soon as we found out we were having a baby girl, I made a large(ish) order from WEBs to make a whole bunch of girly sweaters and assessories.  I was fully expecting to have to pay duty, since the order was over the $70 they usually let slip by, but lucky me, no duty!

Here are some of my spoils:

I am going to use this Nashua Creative Focus Superwash for a Hello Baby Cardigan.  I actually got a bunch of colours of this yarn, since it was on sale for $5.00 a ball and is superwash (good yardage too).  I haven't used it before, but the colours are nice and it feels soft enough.

This Nature Wool Chunky by Araucania knit up wonderfully into a Baby Sophisticate sweater. I love the colour variation in each skein (be sure to knit from both skeins since they do not have dye lots!)  My project page is here although it still needs to be updated.  I wished that the button hole row was more clearly labelled in the pattern, it didn't end up working out for me at all, and although I added extra length, my sweater ended up quite short.  I am blocking it to be longer right now, so hopefully it'll be okay.  Of course, I didn't really pay attention to gauge, so the problems are probably my fault.  Also, the pattern recommends 255 yards, and I had 260 yards available yet I have a tonne of this left over somehow...  Watch for photos of the finished object soon!

Next up I am going to make Snug with this Cascade Eco +

I am hoping I will have enough left over for a Quinny hat for me although goodness knows I don't need it!

I have a whopping 14 baby sweaters worth of yarn to work through over the next little while.  I have recently finished 4 sweaters though, so I am well on my way.  I will be posting lots of finished objects in the near future.  Some are just waiting for buttons and such.

Sock Yarn Dying and Pregnancy Knitting Cravings

One interesting side effect of pregnancy has been the cravings.  Yes, there have been food cravings (home made macaroni and cheese, grapefruit, gummy bears), but mostly, I have had knitting cravings.

If you've seen my Ravelry project page recently, you will undoubtably notice trends in my knitting.  I blogged about my sweater cravings here and since then I have been very into baby leg warmers, althought the three sets I knit are not all to keep (two are for a friend who is expecting twins!).  As I got closer to finding out the gender of the baby, I started craving smaller projects, mostly booties and socks.

I didn't want to buy a whole bunch of different colours of sock yarn, only to have small amounts left over after a knit a pair of booties, so this weekend I picked up some white superwash sock yarn to dye.  I figured out how much yarn I would need for several specific projects and dyed the required amount for each project.

I used Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull for the first two mini-skeins and dyed up Green Apple and Turquoise Tempest.  I was definitely going for a blue with the turquoise skein, but sometimes dying yields unexpected results! 

Green Apple

Turqoise Tempest

I also dyed up some Spud & Chloë Fine that I had in my stash. 

I started knitting some booties with these yarns, but I seem to be having some pregnancy-brain induced knitting problems, and nothing was coming out right.  I've pushed the knittting bootie craving away for a little while in favour of some larger projects that can be done on bigger needles.

Family Day Weekend

This past weekend was Family Day Weekend in Ontario.  My parents came to visit us.  We enjoy this new holiday, not only because it gives us an extra day of work, but because it is a great excuse to visit with Family and take the extra time not always taken.

I ended up getting sick over the weekend, so our weekend included a trip to the ER (possibly a little over-dramatic, but you can never be too careful with a baby-on-board), but I tried to hang in there and make the weekend fun for everyone.

I went to the Fabric store with my Mom on Friday and we got to meet my sister for lunch (she was just passing through) on Saturday.  Sunday the men worked in the basement (more on those renos soon) and I got to dye yarn!  Yay!  We also did a long-ish hike in the woods behind our house and went out for dinner at one of my favourite restaurants.  Yum!

Yesterday was a big day of rest.  I just needed it.  I took several naps and went to bed early with a headache.  Not too much fun, but I am feeling better today.

I'll blog more about my dying fun soon, but for now, here is a sneak peek!

 

Malabrigo Sweaters

I've gotten hopelessly behind on blogging about my knitting. 

Here is a quick recap of some sweaters I have finished lately (all using Malabrigo Worsted).

Malabrigo Cardigan from Cascade by Raya Budrevich.  This is a free pattern from

Petite Purls, Issue 7 Winter 2010.  I didn't have enough brown, so I used green for the leaf trim.  I've included my mods on my project page, so be sure to check that out if you want to do a two colour version.

 

I haven't added the buttons to the sweater yet, nor have I blocked it.  It still looks pretty good I think though!

 

 

My baby Kimono uses a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn:  Nature Baby Kimono.
This turned out very cute, although a little bigger than I expected.  I've been knitting shortened arms on these sweaters since I'm pretty sure our baby will have very long limbs and I will never be able to knit the sleeves long enough anyways.  I think this sweater will look very cute layered with a long sleeve shirt underneith.
 
This sweater used less than a skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Pigeon.  I used Emerald to crochet chain stitch the trim.
 

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finally, I have one more sweater in progress.  I haven't worked on it for a while, because I'm pretty sure the neck is going to be way to small and the arms have been doing wonky things.  Also, the styling is a little feminine, but the colours are not.  I'm not sure what to do with this little sweater.  I'm sure I will finish it eventually.
 
Blue Stripes from the free pattern Organic Guernsey by Fawn Pea.  I'm sure it's not the pattern that is wonky.  It was definitely, probably, my knitting.  I modified the styling quite a bit and I'm afraid I may have ruined the sweater!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I went a little Malabrigo crazy a few weeks ago.  I know it pills, etc. but it just feels so good when I am knitting it.  I will have to find a good use for all this Malabrigo over the coming months.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Applewood (brown)
Pigeon (grey)
Moss (green - hiding)
Emerald (turquoise)
Indigo (navy)

Knit Picks

I had to place a Knit Picks order for a few specific items a few weeks ago.  The main item being sock blockers for the socks I am working on.  Of course, I threw in a bunch of other yummy things too.  Some yarn, some assessories, you know how it goes.

My order finally arrived yesterday.  The yarn is certainly yummy.

I got some sock yarn to nurture the budding sock knitter in me.  I can't wait to cast on with these yarns, but will have to finish my WIP socks first.

Stroll Tonal in Golden Glow

Felici Self Striping in Green Veggies

I also got some Wool of the Andes to make Blu.  That pattern is seriously cute.  It calls for Demin Cotton, but I'm subsituting wool and hoping I can use the pants over cloth diapers.

Wool of the Andes Wonderland Heathers (light blue), Solstice Heather (dark blue)