A Hat for Me

The color I love to wear currently is navy.  I made myself a navy hat, and just to keep it quirky, I added a stripe of some colorful, lumpy yarn in my stash.  I used this pattern, and it was not too hard, although the top got lumpier than I expected.  

When I cast on, I was worried that the hat would not be big enough and so get stretched out a lot when I put it on my head and let the cold and wind get in.  It's big enough, yes, but now I wished it hugged my ears more firmly!  

I started this hat at a worship leaders' retreat a few hours away.  There were some other knitters sprinkled through the audience; one of them was in front of me at the beginning of the weekend, also a few inches into a hat on her circular needles.  The next evening, I saw that very hat on her friend's head, complete with trees and beaver knitted in different colors on its crown!  I had only managed to add another inch of ribbing to my hat.  I was amazed at her speed and my slowness - I bet she was a continental knitter (I use the English technique - yarn in right hand).  

Another knitter, when I marveled at her speedy continental knitting, told me she manage to switch to continental from English in about a week of concentrated effort.  One of my main gripes with knitting is its slowness.  So maybe I should switch.

Also, in the outerwear line, I re-did the fabric scraps and stitching on my black mittens; I used blues and red perle cotton in geometric shapes to ditch the ragamuffin look I had done a few years ago. Navy is edging out the black in my wardrobe, and I love that.

All photos courtesy of Genevieve!

Now a Blue-Grey Vest

Here are lots of action shots of Phoebe in her vest.  I finished it just before Christmas and kept trying to get Phoebe to model it for the camera.  Silly me.

It's the same pattern as the red vest.

Phoebe is very interested in dressing and undressing these days.  Sometimes she tugs on the vest, trying to get it off and on, and it has stretched out a bit because of that.  Thank goodness it wasn't a terribly complicated pattern with fancy yarn!

Little Striped Socks

Now Phoebe has little socks from the same yarn as Genevieve's.

They were adorably fun to knit, they fit her, and she likes to wear them (it's hard to hit all three of those things, yes?).  I used this pattern on Ravelry. 

Next for the sock needles are knee socks for me, which will probably feel like an eternity after these wee little socks.

The Universe Wants Me to Knit

I started another vest for Phoebe, in a cloudy blue grey, but the needles were a half-size larger and it seemed that the vest was just getting too wide and I was running out of yarn.  I despaired.  Stopping by my favorite thrift store, I thought:  what if there was a pair of extra-long size 10.5 knitting needles?  What if?

And you see, there was!  And furthermore, they were 50% off for a total of two bucks.

I ripped the vest back to the beginning, and then I had a nice long knitting session when I accompanied my husband on a business trip to the far reaches of New York State.  I want to give a shout out to Pita Restaurant of Brockport, NY, where I talked falafel with the Lebanese chef.  The food was excellent, he approved of my recipe (what I could remember), and then gave me a small container of "falafel spice - but don't use too much or it will be bitter."

Even with all that driving, I am not quite done with the vest.  But I got the buttonholes on the same side this time!  And I had a lovely break from the kids and all their laundry, meals, and noise.

A Little Knitted Vest

As I explained last year, I do not enjoy shoving baby arms (todder arms now!) into sleeves.  Especially two sets of long sleeves.  So I prefer to keep Phoebe warm with vests over long-sleeved shirts.

I found a sweet vest pattern that is knitted on straight needles (easy) but has no seams to sew up afterwards (also easy).  I managed to mis-count my rows, however, so that I ended up with a buttonhole on each side of the yoke.  The yarn is too chunky to just shove a small button through a gap somewhere, so I puzzled and puzzled over what to do.  I'm quite pleased with my solution of a kilt pin through the yoke.

I knit this vest on regular-length knitting needles and constantly had to push push push to get the volume of stitches to stay on the needles.  So I bought a new, extra-long pair of needles, because, yes, I love this red vest so much that I have started another.  This one is a cloudy blue-grey which should make Phoebe's blue eyes even bluer.

For both vests, I bought two 90-yard skeins of Loops & Threads Cozy Wool which is 50% acrylic, 50% wool and comes cheap from Michael's with coupons.

 Again with the blurry photos.  Because she has work to do!  Lots of work taking apart this place and getting into things and getting things out and strewing things around!

Cinderella and Her Socks

Genevieve is currently a huge fan of Lily James and her Cinderella movie.  Let me tell you about her Cinderella get-up.  That's a thrift store bedspread I found for her for a dollar that has gone through several incarnations.  She loves it for its volume (look at it twirl!) and ruffle.  She begged me to trim the holes she cut for head and arms, which I did in pink bias tape.  She begged to go to the thrift store with me to look for Cinderella shoes.  All the heels were black and such except for this sparkly silver acrylic pair, which also happened to be on sale for $2.  We were thrilled together.

 My big beautiful girl.  We've had some good talks about style and "pretty" and makeup.  It's such a balancing act!

But Cinderella can also keep her feet warm when she's not dressed for a ball.

I finished these socks for Genevieve on a drive home from the beach, when the air conditioning in the car was making her cold and she was beyond happy to have toasty feet.

 I'm embarrassed to say that my Kitchener stitch at the toes was faulty on one sock, because it unraveled somehow after only a few wears.  I darned the toe.  I wish I had made the socks taller, but my lack of experience limits me to following the pattern.  Oh well - I think I have enough yarn left to make a wee pair of socks for Phoebe.  The sisters can go on matching!

I Made a Pair of Socks

I am deeply pleased and proud that I persevered with knitting socks.  I got the idea years ago, got nice green yarn and double-pointed needles, a good tutorial, and sank beneath the waves of confusion and tiny stitches that never seemed to make the sock bigger.

I got myself a live mentor (thanks, Christy!  hasta la vista, youtube) and started over with a new pattern for Ben.  His favorite color is green and his feet were cold back in January when I started up the socks for him.  He does really like the socks, but now that the weather is warming, I just hope the extra inch will be enough to keep him in these socks next winter.  If not, they will go into the box of special clothes to wait for Phoebe.

Now I want to get sock yarn for Genevieve.  My vision for knitting has enlarged enough for socks for my family, possibly a baby sweater, but nothing bigger than that.  Knitting is still too slow and I have too few minutes of sit-down-and-knit to satisfy my desire for results.

Sewing to Help My Knitting

 My knitting needles were stuffed in a bag, and now that I'm getting traction with my knitting, I was frequently trying to see what I had to see if it matched the projects I had in mind.  I finally realized I could, you know, organize them once and for all.

I borrowed some ideas from Auntie Leila, limited myself to my scrap bag with mostly blues and reds with a some sunshine yellow, and made this wrap thing.

 It works well and I love to look at it.  Ah, satisfaction!

Then I noticed a rip in the corner of my ancient knitting bag which was handed down to me from Grandma Weaver.  I thought I would mend it, but oh my, even my love for mending couldn't ignore the rotted fragile fabric.

So I made a new bag for the wooden handles.  I limited myself to blues and loosely organized the from dark to light.  I love looking for magic in my scrap bag!  Once I pieced the strips, I zig-zagged over each seam with a small yellow zig-zag, anchoring the pieced fabric to another piece of fabric.  Then I lined the whole thing with fine-wale corduroy left from this skirt.

It's been in steady use and I like it.  When I took these photos, I was still working on Ben's socks.  They're done now, and I'm off on a poncho for Genevieve.  Wheeee, knitting!

Legwarmers with Unpredictable Stripes

I have turned a corner with my knitting and am happily, confidently using double-pointed needles. I am knitting socks for Ben!  These legwarmers for Phoebe were key.

I used brown wool yarn that I had in my stash because I wasn't a confident knitter when I started.  I bought this yarn pre-kids when my husband and I took a lovely trip through a West Virginia state park; there were some local goods set up on a table in the hallway of the welcome center.  At that point, I was only laboriously knitting cotton dishcloths, but I bought that brown wool yarn because it was undyed and so satisfyingly nubby.

I actually knit it into a garter stitch scarf for my husband at one point, but it wasn't a success, so I ripped it out and wound it back up into a ball.  But these legwarmers are a success!

I measured Phoebe's legs and just made up the pattern as I went along, making them longer than necessary in the hopes that she can wear them next year.  I did an inch of 2x2 ribbing at the tops and bottoms with stockinette inbetween. The brown seemed too severe, so I added three fuschia stripes to each leg.  They are snuggly warm.

My dear sweet baby girl.

In Which I Steek

I knitted a pair a mittens for Phoebe and there were several problems with them (my fault, not the pattern).  First of all, the weather has been so warm that no one has been wearing winter coats, let alone mittens.

But the mittens were just too narrow for Phoebe's hands.  I was keeping the yarn tight as I knit to make the mittens more windproof, but alas, the mittens had little stretch for her hands and she fussed a lot when I tried to jam her fingers beyond the cuffs. If this was a sewing project, I could fix it any number of ways, but I was truly stumped and sad because I thought all my time had been in vain and the mittens would have to go (where?  who could appreciate my hours of labor and also knew a narrow-handed baby? ) and my baby would still have bare hands.

Fortunately, global warming kept the weather on my side as I walked the kids back and forth to school little or no wraps and suddenly, in walking, I hit upon a solution!

I steeked the mittens.

It was staggering to just cut them apart, but I did it because what did I have to lose? I cut off the narrow stockinette tops and then I used my sewing machine to zig-zag the scarily loose edges of the ribbed cuffs.  I attached new mittens made from a fuschia felted wool sweater.  It worked!  I was elated.

Phoebe wore her mittens on the chilly walk to school this morning,  Success!  Also, I really enjoyed knitting the i-cord that keeps the pair together.

A Wee Shawl for Phoebe

I was intrigued by the Larkrise to Candleford shawl I had seen on Soulemama and Ravelry. It looks like a warm hug!  I'm actually watching the Larkrise to Candleford miniseries right now, but I haven't seen anyone wearing the shawl yet.

There were some similar patterns on Ravelry, but they were all beyond my abilities or patience to increase said abilities. I boldly struck out on my own and I think it worked (and I wrote the details below in case you want to try, too)!  But Phoebe keeps growing, so I'm not sure how long it will work.

How I made the shawl - also called a "sontag" in the 1800s

(not a "pattern" - please, I am not at that level yet!)  I used size 7 needles and medium-weight  (is that called worsted? confusing) wool yarn that I got for a song at the creative reuse shop.

I started a dishcloth, which means I cast on 4 stitches.  Knit all 4.  Then slip one, knit one, yarn over, knit the rest of the row.  Then repeat this (which adds a stitch every row while creating a picot edge) until you have 75 stitches.

Knit 25.  Keep them on their needle and bind off the next 25.  Leave the last 25 on their needle.  With a third needle, work on one of the wings of 25 stitches.  To continue the picot edge without adding any stitches, slip one, knit one, yarn over, knit two together, knit rest of row. Only do this when you are starting a row with the picot trim, otherwise just knit the whole row across.  When the wing measures four inches, start decreasing: at the picot side, slip one, knit two together, yarn over, knit two together, knit rest of row.  On the plain side, knit two together, knit rest of row. When you get down to 4 stitches, bind off. Repeat process for other wing.  Weave in ends (there will be ends at the beginning of one wing, too, but I can't quite explain the details of how I got the yarn where I wanted it - trust me, it could not have been hard because as it must be obvious by now, I can't handle hard knitting).

Sew buttons on the wing tips.  Wrap around baby with the wings going under her arms, to button on the point of the vee at the back.  Adorable and warm.

A Little Tiny Knitted Vest

So now I am looking for ways to keep the baby warm with materials I have on hand.  And I have been slightly obsessed with knitting!  This may be due to a bout of  tendonitis in my thumb joint (less hand sewing), the relative speed of tiny baby knits, and the convenience of a friendly teacher to call on.

I used some yarn I had on hand that I hope has some wool in it to make this little vest.  The idea is to keep Phoebe's core warm without wrestling and shoving her arms into two sets of long sleeves.

 I used this tutorial, but I cast on 36 stitches and used 20 for the neckline and 8 for each shoulder.  I also did not use the fisherman's rib because I didn't recognize all the methods and I was too impatient to go to my teacher or You-tube; I did a knit-2, purl-2 rib.

I was pretty proud of myself for figuring how to segregate the groups of stitches to make the neckline!

However, when it was time to sew up the side seams, I realized that the vest was rather narrow for Phoebe's chub.  So I knitted two little panels (I think 12 stitches wide - maybe?  it took me a while to get photos of the vest in action, and I've knitted other things in the meantime) and then added one panel under each arm.  This is only obvious is you take your eyes off the sweet baby face above the vest.

More vests coming soon!