March 21, 2012
Winter knits
Although I didn’t post during the winter, I was busy making stuff. I knit a few winter things for Isaac . Sadly (?) it looks like winter might already be over, so he may not have many more opportunities to wear them.
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate (ravelry)
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Jeans
Modifications: I cast on 44 stitches. Row 1: sl1, k5, pm, k7, pm, k18, pm, k7, pm, k6
Pattern: Toddler t-shirt vest (ravelry)
Yarn: Malabrigo cotton
I know I made some modifications to the pattern, but I forgot to take notes. I think this will fit him again in the fall. Maybe.
Pattern: Baby owl vest (ravelry)
Yarn: S. R. Kertzer Down to Earth Cotton
Again, I made some modifications and I forgot to write them down. This will definitely not fit again in the fall. I might have to make a larger one.
For next winter, I’m planning some hats with earflaps and ties, more vests, and at least one cardigan.
June 8, 2011
Baby pea coat
I found a pattern for a hooded jacket for Isaac, and I bought yarn to make it last fall. I should’ve bought one more ball of yarn… I did not have enough to finish the hood. So Isaac got a pea coat instead of a hooded jacket. I also should’ve started the jacket sooner… I finished it in late May and the little guy wore it once. I’m packing it away for the fall, hopefully it will still fit in September.
Pattern: Lino’s coat (ravelry)
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky
Needles: US10
May 31, 2011
Good bye, winter!
I think we can safely put away our winter hats in Minneapolis. Finally.
There’s one hat that I made for Isaac that’s getting packed away in the attic. It fit him perfectly this winter, but I’m sure it will be much too small next winter:
Pattern: Penguin Pal Hat (ravelry)
Yarn: Single ply wool
Needles: US6
There are a couple other hats I made that will (hopefully) fit this fall.
Pattern: helix hat, from Peggy Lexau’s colorwork class at the Yarnery
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK
Needles: US6
Pattern: Heirloom hat from the Purl Bee
Yarn: sock yarn mill ends
Needles: US3
May 1, 2011
More owls…
I finished making Isaac a little vest, it probably won’t fit him until summer or fall. My grandma made me a pink vest with the same owl pattern near the hem, only those owls had googly eyes.
Pattern: Owl Baby Vest (ravelry)
Yarn: S. R. Kertzer Down to Earth Cotton
Needles: US3 and US4 circs
I recently mailed off this box pouch for a friend’s birthday. It’s made from a really nice cotton (with owls!) imported from Japan and linen. It has a layer of cotton quilt batting plus some iron-on interfacing to help it keep its shape. Sewing the corners was tricky with quilt batting because it would stretch and shift a little, next time I think I will use an iron-on fleece interfacing instead of quilt batting.
Pattern: Fully lined box pouch
March 12, 2011
More play food
I’ve continued working on Isaac’s set of play food.
Pattern: baby eggplant (ravelry)
This turned out really cute, but putting the i-cord stem on and tacking each leaf in place was a huge pain.
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US5
Pattern: poptart cell phone pocket (ravelry), with a few modifications. I knit the front and back as 2 pieces, sandwiched two rectangles of timtex interfacing in the middle, and then seamed the knitted front and back pieces together on all 4 sides. Also, I cast on 18sts for the front and 20 sts for the back. No wonder I had a hard time lining the pieces up for seaming! Each piece is 36 rows long.
Yarn: Cascade 220 (pink and white) and Knitpicks Swish worsted (tan).
Needles: US5
February 20, 2011
What begins with O?
Big O, little o what begins with O? OpArt blanket and an owl. O. o. O.
I’ve been reading a lot of Dr. Seuss lately. I’ve also been working on a little package for my cousin’s baby.
Some pre-blocking pictures of the OpArt blanket: 
All bumpy.
With so many ends to weave in.
The finished blanket. It ended up taking 4 blue skeins and 5 brown skeins of Knitpicks CotLin. The adorable owl pattern is from Retro-Mama.
All folded up and ready to go!
February 7, 2011
Mosaic knitting
One of my goals last year was to get better at knitting colorwork. I took a great class at the Yarnery where we learned intarsia, helix knitting, shadow knitting, brioche stitch, and mosaic knitting. For mosaic knitting I made a set of coasters:
I like the high contrast and the stitch definition of mosaic knitting, but they seemed a little too big and floppy for coasters. And, being coasters, they were going to get washed sooner or later. So I washed them sooner.
The felted fabric is a little furrier than I hoped, but it is nice and dense and the shrunk to a good size for coasters. The yarn here is Brown Sheep wool (blue) and Lopi Light (orange). The pattern is from a Barbara Walker book.
January 30, 2011
Baby sweaters
I was busy knitting baby sweaters last fall!
Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket
Needles: US 4
Yarn: Trekking with bamboo
Pattern: Garter Stitch baby kimono
Needles: US 4
Yarn: A Berocco nylon / acrylic blend
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate sweater, with this squirrel chart. The acorn was my own design. The sweater also has 2 squirrels across the back of the sweater.
Needles: US 8
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease, 1skein green and 1 skein white
The first and last sweaters are for my kiddo. The middle one is for my cousin’s baby, who was born last December. Isaac is still too small to fit the sweaters I made him, but I’m sure he’ll grow into them by the end of the winter.
January 15, 2011
Fruit bowl
I want to put together a little set of knitted play food. I was inspired by all the fancy schmancy play kitchens I’ve seen lately and some adorable knitting patterns I found on ravelry. I’ve started with the fruit bowl:
Figure 1. Still life with fruit
I used this pattern from Peachcake Knits for the lemon and lime. (ravelry link) The (so simple it may not be worth writing up) orange pattern is my own, below. Yarn is Cascade 220 for all fruits.
Orange (ravelry link)
With US5 DPNs, cast on 6 stitches and join in round.
Row 1: Kfb all sts
Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: knit
Row 3: K1, Kfb. Repeat 6 times
Row 5: K2, Kfb. Repeat 6 times
Row 7: K3, Kfb. Repeat 6 times
Row 9: K4, Kfb. Repeat 6 times
Row 11: K5, Kfb. Repeat 6 times
Row 12-15: knit
Row 16: K5, K2tog. Repeat 6 times
Rows 17, 19, 21, 23: knit
Row 18: K4, K2tog. Repeat 6 times
Row 20: K3, K2tog. Repeat 6 times
Row 22: K2, K2tog. Repeat 6 times. At this point, you should start stuffing your orange with fiberfill.
Row 24: K1, K2tog. Repeat 6 times
Row 25: K2tog. Repeat 6 times. Finish stuffing your orange with fiberfill.
Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining 6 stitches. Embroider a green asterisk
(*) on the top. Weave in all ends. Play with your food 
