schmath Knits

The Real Reason I'm Excited About My New Phone...

2012-02-01T20:32:00.001-07:00

Don't get me wrong. The iPhone 4 is awesome. But it's way awesomer with cross stitch on the back!

Choosing Colors

2012-01-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

If we want to have stockings next Christmas, I'd better start now. I'm starting with the left of these for Hanne:

I don't trust myself to choose colors, so I'm trying to match the ones the designer used, but I'm not sure about the dark green behind the birds. I'm using Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks, and I think Aurora Heather is closest, but it's not my favorite shade of dark green.

Which of those greens on the bottom row would you choose to go with those seven colors on top?

They had it!

2012-01-11T10:42:00.001-07:00

I called the yarn store, and they had the same dyelot! I can't stop smiling. It's the little things. Although this kinda feels like a big thing.

Progress

2012-01-11T00:47:00.001-07:00

I've made some progress on the sweater, and the good news is it's not too big!

The bad news is that I'm not going to have enough yarn. So the question is do I make the sleeves 3/4 length or do I use a different dye lot on the button band? Is there any chance the store where I bought it will still have the same dye lot in stock? I'm going to call the minute they open tomorrow morning.

Recent Projects

2012-01-01T16:27:00.001-07:00

New blankie for Hanne

A dishcloth for my mom. I made one for my grandma too, but I forgot to snap a picture.

Mandy requested an envelope for part of a Christmas present for her husband. I haven't seen the finished project yet, so this sad picture is all I have.

The start of my Paulie sweater! I'm kinda worried it's gonna be too big, but it took me more than a month to get this far, and there's no way I'm starting over. I'll just have to start eating more!

Ribbed Socks

2011-12-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

The one and only knitted gift this Christmas. Last Christmas was super stressful. I'm not sure why I thought I'd have time to knit with a new baby keeping me up all night and a toddler not letting me knit by day. Plus, I was already sacrificing sleep to learn the hymns for church every week and the music for the Christmas program. I felt like a drowning zombie last year.

I learned my lesson, and that's why there is only one knitted gift this year. This Christmas has been awesome because my baby sleeps 12 uninterrupted hours most nights, and I don't have to play in the Christmas program. I even ordered some crocheted stuff from etsy rather than making it myself because Christmas is about peace, not about stress.

I've been working on these socks for several months. It's not that it was a lot of knitting, it was just so boring to knit all that ribbing. From now on, I'm only going to knit socks with more interesting patterns, like the ones from Cookie A's book, Knit. Sock. Love. I really want to knit these Twisted Flower socks. But first, I'm going to take a little break from knitting socks and finish my sweater and make some fair isle stockings so that we wont go another Christmas with nothing but good intentions hanging from our mantle.

Depressed

2011-12-04T13:35:00.001-07:00

Can you tell he's got a knitter who loves him? (Although not enough to knit him some pants, apparently. But at least I put a blanket over those bare knees before taking him out in the snow.) He's not mad about all the knitwear; he's just sick, and he sucked the heck out of his thumb last night, so now it has a blister, and he can't suck it anymore. I'd be depressed too.

Ryan's been leaving town a lot. He just got back from an overnight trip to San Francisco to attend a My Morning Jacket concert. At first I was kinda bummed and thinking jealous thoughts.

But then he came home with this:

The variegated one is called Anime, and the colors are inspired by a Japanese Anime movie. The blue is called Starring, and it's a little more dark and sparkly in real life. What are the chances that Ryan would find not just a knitting shop, but one with unique, San Francisan-made yarn?

So I changed my mind. Ryan can travel as much as he wants, as long as he brings back yarn from everywhere he goes.

Noble Cowl

2011-11-20T18:05:00.001-07:00

I finished my Noble Cowl. It was fast and easy, and best of all, it practically kept me from noticing that Ryan was in Mexico all week. I finished it on Friday night, blocked it, and then all of a sudden, for the first time all week, I was bummed that Ryan was gone, and I wondered what on earth I was going to do for the next two days without him. He's back now, and he keeps talking about how great the tacos were, so I'm jealous. But he'll never understand how good the knitting was, so we're even.

Robin's Egg

2011-11-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

I went to Blazing Needles in search of some Shepherd's Wool in Misty Blue to use on my Blue Daisy sweater, but they didn't have it in stock. While I was there, I spotted this skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in Robin's Egg. It was $20, which I thought was too expensive, but I picked it up and walked around the store with it anyway, and when it was time to go, I just couldn't leave without it, so I splurged. I think I'm going to make a Noble Cowl out of it while I wait for my sweater yarn.

Noble Cowl

I'm excited to find the right shawl pin to go with it. Anyone know where to buy shawl pins?

Sweater Weather

2011-11-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Now that it's fall, I've realized I have no sweaters. And even if I did, I want some hand-knit ones! So I've got the itch to knit myself a sweater. Here are some of the patterns I'm trying to choose from.

1. Blue Daisy by Hilary Smith Callis:

I knew the moment I saw it that I needed to knit this. The problem is that the girl in the photo is tall and skinny, and I'm short and squatty, so I don't know how flattering it would be. Also, I'm a 38" bust, and the pattern sizes are 36" and 40", so I really don't know which to knit. Maybe the 40" since I plan on either being pregnant or breastfeeding for most of the next several years. But I want it to fit me right now too. I love that it uses worsted weight yarn because there is a chance I could finish it before it warms up again.

2. Paulie by Isabell Kraemer

So cute. And I think I could pull off the shape. But I thought wide people weren't supposed to wear horizontal stripes? So maybe it's not for me. The stripes are my favorite part. This one is in fingering weight yarn, so it would take forever.

3. Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

It'd be really cute with a dress, and I could wear it year round. And one of the sizes is 38". It's knit with lace weight yarn, but on bigger needles, so it's airy. So maybe it wouldn't take as long to knit as it looks like it would.

4. Featherweight cardigan by Hannah Fettig

This is a lot like the one above, but I love the collar.

5. Wispy Cardi by Hannah Fettig

This one is a lot like the Whisper Cardigan too. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with those flaps on the side. Maybe put a button on one and it will close?

Anyway, if you were me, which one would you choose? Maybe someday I will knit them all, but for now, I have to choose just one. I'm leaning towards that first one because every time I see it, my heart skips a beat. But it would be so sad to knit it and not have it look good on me, so that's the hold-up.

Minion Hat

2011-10-27T10:29:00.000-06:00

I'm not so sure about this one. First of all, the hair looks like a tarantula. And I think the eyes would have been cuter if I made them out of felt. Do I try to fix it? It was going to be his winter hat, but maybe we'll just use it for Halloween then put it away. I didn't have a pattern, so here's what I used.

How Do I Start?

2011-10-17T21:18:00.001-06:00

I just got my Sharp Crochet Hook in the mail, and I bought two yards of flannel from Joann's. Now what? Do I need to wash the fabric? Do I need to finish the edges somehow or sew the two pieces together before I can start crocheting the edging?

More Little Loafers

2011-10-15T11:56:00.000-06:00

Pattern

Big Knitting

2011-10-01T21:15:00.002-06:00

Ryan made me these beautiful size 50 circular needles. They're a whopping one inch in diameter! He also plans to make 1 1/4 inch needles, which is going to be almost ridiculous but so, so awesome. Anyway, I cut up a t-shirt to make yarn to try on my new needles. I've also been experimenting with Lion Brand Thick and Quick held double, but I don't love any of the colors enough to make an afghan out of it. I wish I could afford this Big Stitch Alpaca Yarn. Anyone know of any ridiculously thick yarn that's affordable?

Diaper Cover

2011-09-17T11:13:00.000-06:00

This almost makes me want to use cloth diapers. Wouldn't it be cute to have a baby hanging out in one of these all the time?

The pattern

Little Envelope

2011-08-07T23:59:00.000-06:00

I wanted to embroider Ryan a love note for our anniversary, and I thought it would be cute to knit an envelope for it, but I underestimated the size of folded fabric. Somehow, I was picturing it folding up like paper. So instead, I pinned the note into a shadow box that was hanging above our toilet, and I cut a real card (where I could write a more elaborate note) to fit inside the envelope. These pictures don't do it justice because I'm not sure what to do about the bathroom lighting and glare of the glass, but it turned out cute in real life.

Here's where I found the pattern.

Bow

2011-06-26T21:40:00.000-06:00

The owl hat is for a girl, and I really liked the way the pattern modeled it, with bows on the ears:

But Ryan is taking the hat early tomorrow to gift it, and I didn't feel like it was worth breaking the Sabbath today to shop for bows. So this owl only gets one bow that I swiped from Hanne's drawer:

Is it cute, or should I leave off the bow altogether?

Owlet

2011-06-26T16:55:00.000-06:00

This is a baby gift for one of Ryan's clients. I love that I have my own baby model!

Ryan's Father's Day Beanie

2011-06-23T23:40:00.000-06:00

Poor Ryan. I knit this in front of him and made him try it on as I knit, then finished two hours before Father's Day was over. There wasn't even a hint of surprise.

I tried the German twisted cast-on, which came out too loose, almost ruffly and not manly, so when I finished, I tried blocking it. Every time I walked through the kitchen, where the wet hat was blocking, I got a whiff of wet wool and thought the house was on fire. Does anyone else think wet wool smells like campfire?

Yarn Baby

2011-06-23T10:19:00.000-06:00

Hanne is the proud, new mother of a yarn baby.

My First Socks

2011-06-06T22:19:00.002-06:00

I've been anxiously waiting to post these, but the person I made them for reads my knitting blog, so I had to lay low until I gifted them, but now they are on the feet of their new owner, so here they are in all their glory:

My first socks!

I absolutely loved making these. I think sock-making is going to be my new hobby for a while. It's just so easy to carry around half a sock in my purse rather than half a sweater. And it's exciting to try on the sock after every few rounds and watch it grow. Plus, the lace pattern is monotonous enough to knit while watching the kids or the TV, yet tricky enough to keep it interesting.

Things That Start With S

2011-06-02T22:16:00.006-06:00

Shoes for someone's fetus:

My new spindle:

I'm trying to spin my own wool. It's not going well so far.

Slouchy Pink Hat

2011-04-29T13:04:00.002-06:00

I can't decide how to accessorize it, but it doesn't matter because she won't wear it for more than two minutes anyway.

Paci Leash Bling

2011-04-13T17:12:00.004-06:00

Lacy Ribbon Hat

2011-04-12T23:23:00.000-06:00

This is the first time I've ever wished he were a girl. I didn't want to take it off! Here are some interchangeable flower clips to go with it:

Flower Clip

2011-04-08T15:02:00.002-06:00

I made a flower for the hat. I opted for a clip, rather than sewing it on. Now the baby can wear the hat with other flowers and bows and whatnot. And she can wear the flower without the hat. Win-win!

The cute button is from Jo-Ann.

Man, Sully really can't pull off the girly hat. Good thing he's a dude! It's pretty cruel of me to make him wear it. He's just the only one in the family with the right size of head. I'd better take these pics down before he gets old enough to be bullied!

Here's where I got the pattern.

Found Some!

2011-04-06T09:01:00.002-06:00

I decided to just make a blue bow and be done with it, but then as I was looking for the right hook to make the bow, I came across a small bundle of the creme yarn! Lucky!

Color?

2011-04-05T22:26:00.002-06:00

I decided to hunker down and whip up some baby gifts today. I ran out of yarn one row from the end of this hat, so I used blue for the brim. The problem is that this hat is for a girl. What baby girl has anything to wear with a blue hat? They probably don't even make blue baby girl clothes. I guess I'll just have to buy more creme yarn, unless anyone out there has a baby girl who wears blue? It's too lacy for a boy. I still have to add a flower or a bow, but for now, I don't like it. Maybe because it's a boy modeling it? Or maybe because the color change is weird? Here's what it's supposed to look like.

Sully's Blessing Outfit

2011-03-14T00:05:00.003-06:00

pattern

Tatting and a hole

2011-02-22T21:23:00.003-07:00

First of all, I was really excited about all that thread Ryan got me, so I made my first tatting motif:

I'm not sure if I'm doing everything right, but hey, it's my first one. Here's where I found the pattern. I'm going to enter the 25 Motif Challenge to see if I can tat 25 motifs in a year. I probably won't make it, but I need a goal to keep me going.

In other news, I found this mysterious hole in my knitting:

Anyone know what I did to make that hole and how to fix it without unraveling all the way back to it? I keep making these holes where I start a new round. If they weren't right in the center of the garment, I might leave them. But they're pretty obvious. I wish I knew how to prevent them.

Roses

2011-02-15T16:25:00.002-07:00

My sister-in-law and I have a good thing going. I knit the roses, and she embellishes them. But since I give them to her after I knit them, I keep forgetting to get pictures. So every time I see someone wearing one of them, I snap a picture with my phone. Here are a couple of them:

Here's the pattern.

Ryan's Hat

2011-02-15T16:19:00.001-07:00

I made Ryan a hat for his birthday. It's ridiculously soft and made of baby alpaca.

Here's the pattern.

Way Better Than Roses

2011-02-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

Ryan got me a bowl of vintage tatting thread for Valentine's Day. Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Half-Done Stuff

2011-02-11T17:28:00.004-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I did a google image search for tatting, just to make sure it wasn't something I wanted to learn. I thought it was an old lady art and that I wouldn't like it. At first, I didn't see anything I wanted to make. But the more I looked at the photos, the more I wanted to try. But I didn't have time because I was frantically trying to finish Sully's blessing outfit:

Yesterday, I found out we're going to wait a month to bless Sully, so I took a break to learn how to tat:

Two petals into the flower, and the drive to learn tatting is out of my system. Not that I'm going to quit on my first day, I'm just going to finish a few other projects first. Anyone want to learn tatting with me? I think this website has a good tutorial, and there are a bunch of youtube videos. It's really not that hard.

Knit-A-Long

2011-02-01T22:41:00.003-07:00

I always have a million things I want to knit and a million people I need to knit for. Ok, not a million. But a lot. So I figure charity knitting will have to wait until my kids are too old to knit for and my friends stop having babies. (And someday I really want to make something for myself. I feel so selfish, but how can a knitter wear store-bought hats?) It's just not my season for charity knitting. But I read on this girl's blog about this charity knitting knit-a-long. It ends February 28th, so I'm gonna try to squeeze a baby hat in there along with all the other knitting. We'll see. Or maybe I'll just send the one I made when Sully was born that he has since grown out of.

Sweater Fail

2011-01-25T16:32:00.006-07:00

For some reason, I've been feeling like I wasn't a true knitter because real knitters make sweaters, and I'd never made one. I came across this little gem on ravelry:

Any little boy with a preppy name like Sullivan deserves a professor sweater, right? Well, mine didn't exactly turn out like the picture. First of all, I'd been practicing speed knitting and English knitting, which really messed with my gauge, so when I started this, I knitted ridiculously loosely the first day, so the chest and top of the arms are much bigger than the stomach and sleeves. Second of all, it's huge:

So I'm trying to decide if I should put pink buttons on it and let Hanne wear it for a while, or if I should go with the original leather buttons and elbow patches and let it sit in the closet for a year until Sully grows into it. It's a little small for Hanne, especially in the stomach, so it'd be kind of a waste to put buttons on it. Maybe a flower brooch instead?

I'm pretty bummed about the bulky top part. I should have redid it back when I had the chance. Now I will be forever ashamed to take my kids anywhere in it. So since my first sweater was a failure, I guess I'm still not a true knitter. Sigh.

I'm going to try to redeem myself by knitting Sully's blessing outfit. I'm going to make one of these in white:

Hopefully it comes out the right size this time, cuz what would I do with a giant, white, blessing outfit?

Million Dollar Baby Booties

2011-01-21T13:56:00.004-07:00

Ryan has been working on a house that's worth 12 million bucks. So, when the the owners had a new baby, Ryan figured a hand-made gift was the only way to go. Cuz what on earth can you buy for someone with that kind of cash? So they got these booties.

Felted Rosette Ring

2010-12-26T17:38:00.003-07:00

It's a little hefty. I'd like to try again with finer yarn. One thing's for sure: I wasn't born to be a hand model.

The Last of the Christmas Knitting

2010-12-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Fair Isle

2010-12-21T12:48:00.004-07:00

I want to learn Fair Isle knitting so I can make stuff with fishies:

And houndstooth:

And damask:

I normally knit Continental, but the video on knittinghelp.com says the easiest way to do Fair Isle knitting is to combine Continental and English knitting. So I've been learning English, and in my search on youtube for English knitting I found this:

I always thought Continental seemed faster and more natural, but after trying English and watching this video, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. Anyone out there have a preference?

Another one of these

2010-12-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

Owl Purse

2010-12-19T23:23:00.003-07:00

Ryan had to help me with the lining. I was gonna use iron-on adhesive, but he insisted on using the sewing machine. He just really loves machines. It makes me wonder why more men don't sew. Here's the pattern.

Update: The magnets were ripping out and my sewing looked like crap, so I redid the lining. Much better:

Red Sox Golf Club Cover

2010-12-11T14:20:00.003-07:00

For Red Sox fans that play golf! Here's the pattern.

Bluebell Bookmarks

2010-12-06T13:45:00.001-07:00

I don't get out much now that I have two kids. The doctor told me not to expose Sully to any disease until April, which is when RSV season ends. But I really wanted to make these bookmarks, so I loaded the kids into the car and took them to Michael's to find the right yarn. Michael's has mini-carts, which are great for navigating a crowded store, but impossible for mothers like me who use them as restraining devices for their kids. I balanced the baby carrier on top of the cart, making sure to keep Sully covered and away from germy people, but there was no room for Hanne, so I held her hand and we made our way to the yarn aisle. Once we got there, I let go of Hanne's hand, keeping her in my peripheral vision. I had only been browsing for about 30 seconds when Hanne came to me whining. I ignored her for a few more seconds, and when I finally looked down, I saw her mouth and chin dripping purple goo. My first thought was, blood! What happened? Then I realized it was purple, and I saw the little bottle of acrylic paint in one hand and the lid in the other (with the plastic seal somehow still in tact,) and I thought, what if it's poisonous!? Where's the nearest water source? Then I thought some more and realized she probably didn't swallow, and even if she did, it wouldn't be enough to hurt her, so I wiped her mouth out with a baby wipe. It was all worth it though because these bookmarks turned out so pretty.

I found the bluebell pattern in Nicky Epstein's Crocheted Flowers, which I checked out at the library. Hooray for free patterns!

Another Hat

2010-12-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

Super Fast Hat

2010-11-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

I did most of this while my kids were taking their afternoon nap today. The yarn is super bulky, and I used 10 mm needles. I used this pattern, but only did two repeats of the cable pattern and added the scallops on the bottom. Hanne walked off with my cable needle, so I didn't use one, and instead tried this tutorial on cabling without a cable needle. I'm glad I did because I think it was simpler than scouring the house trying to find where Hanne had stashed the cable needle. I already had to keep track of a stitch marker that fell off and got lost in the couch every time I finished a round, and with the messy state of my house, finding a stitch marker is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Bookmark

2010-11-02T23:56:00.000-06:00

All the Gnomes

2010-10-31T21:33:00.001-06:00

Hanne the Gnome

2010-10-31T21:30:00.000-06:00

Sophie the Gnome

2010-10-31T21:29:00.000-06:00

Elsie the Gnome

2010-10-31T21:25:00.000-06:00

Elsie's Gnome Hat

2010-10-30T09:29:00.000-06:00

Sophie's Gnome Hat

2010-10-29T14:41:00.000-06:00

Sully the Sock Monkey

2010-10-11T21:27:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make Sully an entire sock monkey costume, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious, so I made him a hat and shoes instead. I'm pretty sure he hates them, what with that distressed look on his face.

Gnome Hat

2010-08-22T18:01:00.000-06:00

Here's a link to the super easy pattern. And here's a link to the rose pattern.

Newborn Hat

2010-08-17T16:14:00.001-06:00

My friend and I thought we'd try making cables, but we were at the cabin with no internet and no pattern, so we didn't realize that people usually purl in between cables. But I think it will still be cute on a newborn noggin because everything is cute on a newborn, right?

Another Headband

2010-05-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

Flower Headband

2010-05-05T15:01:00.000-06:00

The pattern

Diaper Cover

2010-04-23T10:44:00.000-06:00

The pattern

Abram's Loot

2010-03-20T16:51:00.000-06:00

The blessing shoes turned out way too small. So I made another pair:

It worked out well because I needed to make some for a baby shower anyway. So Baby Abram got the too small ones. I also knitted him a matching hat:

Baby's Blessing Shoes

2010-03-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

When my friend asked me to make her baby some blessing shoes, she left me to choose between blue trim or tan trim. I chose blue, and I looooooove them! But I bet tan would have been equally cute. These make me want a baby boy, so he can have them in every color and size. I'm sure going to miss having these little guys around the house.

The pattern

Eliza's Mitties

2010-02-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

I made these mitties because my niece is a thumb sucker, so I figured she needed some thumbless mitts:

I roped Hanne into modeling them for me. Hanne normally wears socks on her hands, if anything, when we go out in the cold. She was completely fascinated. First she checked them out:

Then she showed them to me:

Then she tried clasping her hands together:

Then she showed them off to Lando:

And finally, the test run wouldn't be complete if she didn't try walking in them:

Good thing she's not old enough to be mad that they're not hers!

Here's the pattern

Anybody Have an Orange Kitchen?

2010-01-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

I was too lazy to do laundry, so I knitted a new dishcloth instead of washing the dirty ones. But really, it doesn't match my kitchen. So if you have an apricot orange kitchen, let me know. Otherwise, I'm just gonna use it anyway.

Hanne doesn't know about dishes yet. She thinks it's a scarf:

Or maybe a hat:

Maybe it'll end up becoming her security blanket.

The pattern

Another Headband

2010-01-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

When I made Kim's headband, it seemed huge. So for my next one, I went down a needle size. But then when I was halfway through, I realized I was using two different size needles. Oops. Once I finished, this one seemed even bigger than the last one, so I set it aside, thinking it was hopeless. Then my friend, Liz, came over. She liked the headband, so I gave it to her. She'd had some hair trauma, so she needed things to cover her hair. Maybe it will work on her head, since she's got lots of curly hair.

(It doesn't have a brim, she's just wearing it over her hat.)

I'm so glad it found a home! I thought it was doomed to live out its lonely life in the bottom of my knitting bag.

Small Paul's Boat Shoes

2010-01-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

Here's another pair of shoes I've been procrastinating. I just can't get these shoe patterns to come out right, so I always have to change them as I go, which is just stressful enough to make me procrastinate. I think the shoes turned out cute though.

On a brighter note, this is the first time that all my soles came out the exact same size, and it was on the first try!

Also, I love the yarn I used on these. It's soft, but not fuzzy. It's cottony, but not stiff. And it's machine washable. I want to make everything out of it. I wish it came in more colors and bigger packages.

The pattern

Baby A's Booties

2010-01-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've been procrastinating these. I hope they still fit! Here's where I found the pattern.

Yuki's Hat

2010-01-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

I already blogged about this hat back here. It was originally going to be for Hanne, but it was too big. I just had to post it again because Yuki looks so cute in it. I made the flower into a clip so that it can come off.

Kim's Headwarmer

2010-01-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

Looks like a hat, right?

Wrong!

It's so people with pony tails can still have warm heads.

The pattern

Masaru's Piggies

2010-01-07T23:33:00.001-07:00

This is a game called Pass the Piggies. Players toss the piggies, and depending on how they land, the players win points. It's pretty much Yatzee, only with pigs.

My piggies didn't come out the same size. I made one of them two months ago, and one today. My memory isn't sharp enough to remember what size hook I used two months ago. I guess the little one is the runt.

The big one has some junk in the trunk because I sewed his legs on too far forward. Sorry piggy!

They store neatly in their own little case, along with the instructions:

Here's the free pattern.

Takeshi's Elephant

2010-01-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Here's where I got the pattern.

iPouch

2010-01-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here's where I got the pattern.

Connor's Shoes

2009-12-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

The pattern link

Connor's Hat

2009-11-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's cute, but next time I'll lower the yellow stripe. And hopefully I'll learn how to avoid this mess:

The pattern didn't give instructions for stripes, so I guessed, and I was wrong.

Here's where I found the free pattern.

Crossover Mary Janes

2009-11-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

The pattern link

Little Button Loafers

2009-11-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here's where I got the pattern.

Fixed 'Em

2009-11-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

I wish Hanne had little feet sooooo bad because I'm dying to see these on a real foot.

pattern link

Ryan Needed a Coaster

2009-11-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

He wanted it to match his diet coke can:

Olivia's Birthday Cupcake

2009-11-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

click here for the free the pattern

I'm Ashamed of These Shoes

2009-11-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the left shoe is a half inch longer and a quarter inch skinnier than the right shoe. The main reason these turned out to be different sizes is that I started in the wrong place after I finished the sole on the left one. That's also why the toe is messy. But I also don't consistently crochet my stitches the same size. I'm not sure how to be more consistent, and I don't know why I didn't have this problem on the hat. Maybe I need to make a gauge swatch and continually check against it. I wonder how the real crocheters do it.

pattern link

Sawyer's Teeny Tiny Birthday Cupcake

2009-11-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

click here for the free pattern

My First Crochet Hat

2009-11-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

I couldn't believe how easy this was to make. It's too big though. (Not that Hanne would keep it on her head anyway.) I need to figure out how to make a bigger flower.

The pattern link (it's free!)

My First Knit Hat

2009-11-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with some pink and yellow yarn. So I knitted a hat:

Since we're going to New York this winter, the hat needed to be warm. So I added earmuffs:

The earmuffs make the hat look bottom heavy, so I made a giant pom pom (whose size I am having second thoughts about)

After all that work, this is what Hanne does every time I try to get her to wear the hat:

I was going to line it with fleece, but if Hanne won't even wear it, what's the point?

Hat Loom

2009-10-29T10:25:00.000-06:00

I've been cranking out hats on the hat loom. This one was for Angela's baby, but I also made some for Hanne and her cousin's Halloween costumes.

I know it's not real knitting, but hey, it's made of yarn, so I'm putting it on the knitting blog.

My First Scarves

2009-10-29T10:23:00.000-06:00

It turns out it only takes a couple hours to knit a scarf with fatso, 15 mm needles. At least that's what the instructions say. It probably took me five hours. But hey, it's my first project!

Poor Renee happened to come over the day I finished it, so she got stuck with my first scarf. It has a ton of mistakes. I kept accidentally adding stitches, and then I ran out of yarn at the end so I just had to tie a knot rather than thread the yarn through the work.

Then I made one for my mom's birthday. It went much smoother this time, but still took way longer than two hours.

Inspiration

2009-09-28T17:11:00.000-06:00

I never dreamed I'd become a knitter. As a kid, I thought it was an old lady sport, and I didn't know anyone who knitted. My mom had some scratchy, brown, knitted blankets in the cupboard, and I never stopped to think that all knit might not be as horrible as those itchy blankets. But then, upon the birth of my baby girl, my friend Kathleen sent me some soft and beautiful creations:

I just couldn't get over how cute my baby looked in knit. I started coveting other babies' knitted caps and wishing my baby had more cute, knitted clothing, like jumpers, and shoes to go with every outfit.

I couldn't resist it any longer: I had to learn to knit. At first it was frustrating, and made my hands cramp up, but Kathleen told me to keep at it, and now, one week later, it's one of my favorite hobbies. It's relaxing, and I love the feel of the soft yarn, and it's fulfilling seeing my fabric grow. Plus, it makes TV watching seem like less of a waste of time.

So, this blog is dedicated to my inspiration, Kathleen. I'm so happy to be a knitter!