Sunday, December 30, 2012

Quilted Lattice Child's Sweater - Finished

I just finished this sweater for my six year old daughter. The idea was to use up some leftover yarn, and while I accomplished that, I also had to buy yarn to finish it :/ I think it turned out nice regardless though.

I had 2 1/2 hanks of Knit Picks Bulky Wool of the Andes yarn in the hand painted color "Juicy." I worked the body and the sleeves in a quilted lattice stitch pattern, which was quite simple though I had to do some stitch shifting at the beginning of some of the rows when worked in the round (body only). I like the stitch pattern. It looks nice, but is super easy to do. I had just enough yarn to finish the body and sleeves (which I worked flat for easier increasing, then sewed). Since I ran out of yarn, I tried to order more from Knit Picks, but they discontinued the hand painted colors for that yarn :( My little girl is a fan of black, so I substituted two strands of Vanna's Glamour yarn in black and one strand of Knit Picks Stroll in black. I worked the yoke portion in the black, decreasing evenly around.

The entire sweater took a handful of evenings to finish, estimated at around 15 hours of work or so. My daughter is very happy with her new sweater. I don't think it looks so bad for another one of my "just winging it" projects. Now to get back to working on my husband's jacket.







Friday, November 9, 2012

Man socks, FINISHED!

I finally finished those grey socks for my husband, hooray! I used Knit Picks comfy fingering yarn and kinda made up the pattern as I went along. He is pleased with them, so mission successful!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Homespun sweater, FINISHED!!

Hooray! The sweater for my seven-year-old daughter is done! I just finished it a couple hours ago, and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Oversized is an understatement, and it will likely fit her well into the teen years. It is nice and fluffy and warm and easily fits over a few layers of shirts. Overall it turned out just how I wanted, albeit a little wider than I imagined it would (didn't do a gauge swatch or any math before starting).

I used lion brand homespun yarn, on a size 10 circular needle. Seed stitch, without following a pattern, just a basic and simple sweater. Shoulders are seamed using 3 needle bind off, so the only sewing I did was to tack the inside of the collar down. I braided a cord to keep the collar pulled in until she grows into the shoulders.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Quick knitting update.

Just an update about my knitting. I have not been good with posting. I am currently 12 weeks and 3 days pregnant, and have been so tired it is a miracle when I get anything done. So my blogs and knitting have been suffering here lately.

I have been doing some knitting in the evenings when I can manage to stay awake, lol I scrapped that gray pair of socks for my husband and restarted with a much more stretchable stitch pattern. I am done with the foot and heel, and have a couple inches of progress on the legs. I think they are looking nice so far and hopefully I'll manage to have them done in a week or two.

I started an over sized sweater for my 7-year-old daughter recently. I think I talked a little about converting a poncho I didn't really care for into a sweater for her. I actually started on it! It is a pinkish hued (the color name is Parfait) LionBrand Homespun yarn, which will be good for a little girl who loves everything pink. I am almost done with the body and will split for the arm holes in a couple more rows. I am using size 10 needles so it will go a bit faster. I was going to use my size 11 needles, but the threaded part on the cable broke off inside of my needle (wasn't using anymore force than normal to tighten it) :( So much for that cable and set of needles :( Next time I make an order to Knit Picks I will buy a replacement. I was pretty upset over it, as I love my nickle plated Knit Picks needles. Thank goodness their needles aren't expensive.

The orange dress is done. I finished the knitting a while ago. I crocheted around the edges a couple days ago, and just finished weaving in all the ends last night. Feels great to have it finished! I think it turned out pretty nice. Now comes the hard part though, blocking it. The skirt is huge! I have no idea how I am going to block it unless I just do sections at a time. I'll post pictures after I get it blocked.

I have a ton of projects planned for the future. My baby is due in May, and I have a huge stack of patterns already. I have patterns for hats, blankets, leggings, pants, wool soakers, rompers, sleep sacks, bibs, washcloths, and anti-scratch mittens. Besides the stuff for my baby, I will need to find a pattern specially for my niece's baby that is due in March. I usually make blankets for expectant babies of family and friends, and I never make the same one twice. To make things harder (in the area of gift giving anyway), the couple is waiting until birth to find out the gender, so whatever I make will have to be gender neutral. It may be tricky finding a gender neutral pattern and yarn that is still unique and pretty. I will be doing a ton of knitting!

That's all for now. This is my 3rd blog post today, and frankly I am all blogged out, lol Hopefully I'll remember and post a picture of those socks later today. :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Knitters block.

This past month has not been good for knitting. I managed to get a set of placemats made for a wedding gift, but everything else I touch goes horribly wrong. Of course I forgot to snap a quick picture before wrapping it :( The socks I was making for my husband are a mess! The pattern just didn't have enough stretch to it to compensate for the cotton yarn. I don't even want to look at the orange dress anymore with all the problems I've had with it. I am having issues shaping the top :/ I have reknit that top at least 4 times. I am trying a very simple approach now, but it's looking like I may have to go an entirely different route with the top of the dress.

I have never really had problems shaping garments as I knit. I am a pretty good progress knitter and do most of my knitting this way. I just seem to be stuck in a bit of "knitters block" if such a thing even exists. This has been quite frustrating and is sucking the joy out of knitting. I may need to make something from a pattern just to feel like I can knit again.

I will be working on the orange dress again today, though I don't have much hope for it going well. Would it be too weird to knit the bodice from the top down, then join it to the skirt? If this attempt doesn't work any better than before, I may consider making the top separately. I will be so glad when the dress is finally finished. It is such a large project, so will be nice to have it complete. Obviously I won't be wearing it to a wedding (wedding was nearly 3 months ago) but will take some pictures.

Besides the orange dress I don't really have any projects going. I am done messing with the socks for my husband. I will reuse the yarn to make socks, but I am still too upset to do that now, lol I saw a really cute baby blanket on Knit Picks website, but can't spend the money on the yarn right now. I have random scraps of yarn that I should find a way to use up. I have an afghan stored away that needs finished still. It was a crochet afghan I had nearly finished several years ago. I really should finish that someday. Speaking of crocheting, maybe I should just crochet the top of that orange dress. It would be much easier to control the shaping and make a much more drastic increase without it looking bizarre. How sad I didn't think of this before, and frankly a bit embarrassing...

Wish me luck, I need it!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Kid's dress.

I completed this dress awhile ago, but didn't post it until now. I made this using Knit Picks Shine Worsted in the color "Sky." it looks a bit disheveled, but she has been wearing it a lot and being her usual high energy self (in other words, it is a miracle the dress is still in one piece).

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Yarn.

I ordered some yarn for my recent 28th Birthday, and it just came today! Funny thing about it is that nearly all the yarn is for things I plan to make for other people.


This is the cotton "Dishie" yarn. I am hoping to invent something double knit with this. I know in my head what I want to make and how I want it to look, so we'll see how it turns out ;)


 More "Dishie" but different colors.


 These skeins are all "Comfy" fingering weight for sock making. All of these colors were on sale.


 Lastly here is the last skein of "Shine" to complete the dress for my 7-year-old along with my promotional free skein of "Brava." I'm not sure what I'll use the "Brava" yarn for, as it is 100% acrylic and I buy from Knit Picks to get something besides the locally available acrylic yarn. How could I turn down a free skein of yarn though?

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Socks in progress #3

Today is day 7 of my sock knitting. I had planned to post my progress daily, however that didn't work out so well. I am done with the instep and will be starting the gusset increases tonight. I really like the socks so far and hope to make another pair in a different color later.


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Socks in progress #2

Just a quick photo of my progress :)

 Why can't I rotate my pic? Soooo annoying :(

Kid scarf.

My daughter completed her scarf several months ago, and I am just now getting around to posting about it.

The pink scarf is my 7-year-old's first crocheted project. You can see that the tension is a bit wonky in places, and the sides have some decreases and increases where there shouldn't be any, but I think it looks pretty good for a kids' first project. I helped her by making the flowers and the fringe, but the rest is all her work.

My daughter is currently working on another project, and I'll post on it when she is all finished.

Completed Project - kids shirt.

I recently finished the shirt for my younger daughter. I used the same Knit Picks CotLin yarn that I used for my eldest daughter's shirt, but this time I only used about 3 2/3 skeins of yarn. I used the "Lacy Heart Curtain" stitch allover for a fun and girly look. I continued the pattern up the straps and joined them using Kitchener stitch (grafting). I finished the shirt by crocheting a scalloped edge along the bottom. I think it turned out nice, and my daughter loves it, so mission accomplished!

I made the shirt long on purpose. The tunic-like length will hopefully allow her to get a couple years of wear out of it. In the pictures she has worn it all day and stretched the bottom quite a lot, but it seems to snap back and relax nicely after a whirl in the wash. I really do love that the yarn is so easy to care for. The more washes it goes through the nicer the drape and feel of the fabric become. Someday I may venture to make a shirt for myself out of the CotLin yarn, but not for a good long time ;)






Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Socks in progress.

Thought I'd follow my progress on a pair of socks for my husband. I cast on last night and am working on the toes today. I have included a picture of my progress around noon, then will have a second picture at the end of the day.

I am using size a 1 (2.50mm) 40" cable for magic loop method. The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in the color "Whisker." The yarn is 75% Pima Cotton and 25% Acrylic. The yarn is super soft in hand and has a really pretty sheen to it. I can't wait to feel the finished socks!

I am using my favorite sock construction techniques with the double lattice stitch for the instep and leg of the sock. Someone somewhere has no doubt used this stitch for socks before, but I am not following any pattern. If I feel so inclined, I may make a pattern for these socks as I go.

This is the method I used to cast on. The method is called a Turkish cast on (magic loop is the technique using one circular needle instead of two, it does not refer to the cast on method used). Anyway, I like this method because it is very easy to do, easy to remember, and has a seamless look (plus it is comfy on the toes).

I have a cup of coffee next to me and E3 coverage on the TV... this has got to be the perfect set up for power knitting :)




UPDATE @ midnight

Here is my progress at the end of the day. As you can see, the toe section is complete and I have a few rounds of the stitch pattern complete. The yarn really makes the stitches pop. I hope to have enough done by the end of tomorrow to really show the stitch pattern clearly. Also note that the color is off in this second picture. The yarn appears to be more of a green than a silvery gray.


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Completed Project - Kid's Summer Dress.

Here is another project that I just sort of sat down and started knitting. This is a summer dress I made using Knit Picks Shine Worsted yarn (60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal) in the color "Dandelion." I love using this yarn, it is soft, has a beautiful sheen, and washes up nicely in the washing machine.

I worked this dress in the round from the top down. I cast on enough stitches to go around my daughters chest, worked in stockinette until long enough then increased and started working in a very simple flower eyelet stitch until the dress was long enough. After casting off, I crocheted around the top edge of the dress and worked two straps to tie it with. I had originally wanted to knit real straps for the dress, but didn't have enough yarn so I settle with two simple ties instead. I used 9 skeins of yarn altogether so the total cost of the dress was just under $27.

My daughter loves this bright and fun dress and has been wearing it every chance she gets. I love that it is easy to care for and is so cheery and summery :)


Completed Project - Kid's Shirt.

I finished this shirt for my 7-year-old a little over a week ago. This was something I just sort of made up as I went along. The stitch pattern I used is called "open twisted rib." I worked the shirt from the bottom up in the round, made separate little sleeves then joined them and worked the top in yoke fashion, decreasing right before the collar. The shirt turned out very well and should grow with her.

The yarn I used was Knit Picks CotLin yarn (70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen) in the color "Conch." I used just under 5 skeins of yarn for the whole project putting the cost just under $15. I really like this yarn and am making a shirt for my younger daughter with the 3 1/4 skeins left over from this shirt. I will be buying more of this yarn in the future for sure.


 


My daughter really likes this shirt. It is soft (gets softer with each wash too!) and holds up nicely. We are thinking this shirt will look very cute with some peasant style skirts for summer. I like the way it turned out because it looks nice with just about anything. She can wear it around the house to play in, but can also pair it with a skirt and wear it to church. Not too shabby for just sitting down and knitting with no plan beforehand. Some day I would like to create a pattern for this shirt to share with others. I would like to make it in a couple other colors, and maybe in a couple different sizes. I will try to learn something about pattern making once my life settles down a bit.

Mermaidia socks complete.

I completed these socks quite a while ago, but due to recent events I was unable to post until now. Not really a Christmas present anymore, I guess they are a happy summer present instead. I think the socks turned out good and I hope the recipient likes them.

I am not too crazy about the yarn I used for this. I do not think I will be purchasing this yarn again. There is enough left over of this skein, that I'm going to make a pair of children's socks. If the yarn was really really bad to work with I would just toss it, but I am going to use it up.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Crafty kids.

My five-year-old is working on her scarf. We tried learning how to crochet before, but she just didn't have the patience for it then. This time she is doing very well and is learning the single crochet quickly. My older daughter just finished her scarf last week after over a year of working on it. I will post a picture of her scarf later. The crocheting is our "home economics" class for home school. When they get older I'll teach them knitting, embroidery, and sewing.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Quick update.

This is just a quick update to say that the needles came on Wednesday, and I been working pretty heavily on trying to catch up. I don't think it looks like I've made much progress on the dress, even though I have spent a ton of time on it. I figured that I have put approximately 22 hours into the dress since starting it (right now each round takes 45-50 minutes!). I will post a picture of my progress some time tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Christmas knit#8 "Apacolypse Scarf" complete!

I last posted about this scarf back in the beginning of December. I have had it finished for a couple weeks, but just now got it blocked. I am not very pleased with how the pictures turned out as they look very grey even though the scarf is a true deep black. I think it was just too bright where I was taking the picture, but meh, I'm over it.

For this scarf I used a pattern found on ravelry.com and used Knit Picks Swish worsted yarn. I did modify the pattern a touch by adding a chain edge to neaten up the edges some. I also made the scarf a little more "compact" by using a smaller needle than the pattern called for (an 8, and I used a size 6). Over all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I hope my Dad likes it and actually uses it.


Monday, March 12, 2012

Christmas knit#11 "Muscari" socks, completed.

Here are the blue socks finally completed and blocked. I had these finished quite awhile ago, but just now got around to blocking them and taking pictures. I figured since the MoH dress is at a stand still until the new needles come, I might as well get some other projects finished.


 Here is the entire sock. The pattern was okay and pretty simplistic in the lace design, and I like the way it looks. That blue yarn is stunning though isn't it? The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Hand Painted sock yarn in the colorway "Lullaby." I love this sock yarn :D

 Here I am showing the cuff and leg of the sock, plus it is easier to see the lace pattern here.

The heel of the sock is the only part I really didn't like. This was my first time doing a short row heel, and I hated it. I didn't enjoy doing it, and I especially don't care for how it looks or how loose it is. I hope it fits okay and the recipient doesn't dislike it as much as I do.

 And the toe of the sock, just for reference.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Needle catastrophe.

A picture is worth a thousand words indeed. As you can plainly see, I am in need of new knitting needles. I wasn't putting very much stress on the needle, just holding it and pulling the yarn along the cable so I had sufficient room to work. Guess I will be making a knit picks order. At least I ought to get good progress made on the socks now (trying really hard to find a silver lining, lol).


This picture is just to show my current progress, though I will obviously be taking a break from working on this until the replacement needles get here (I paid extra for faster shipping, so hopefully I can get back to work in a couple days).

I have never had a wooden Harmony needle break before, and honestly I was pretty surprised when it happened. I almost considered getting a nickle plated needle to replace it, but I got wood again and will try to be more careful from now on.


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

MoH dress progress pics.

Here are pictures as promised. I am currently on round 6 and just joined on the 4th skein of yarn. All 1,222 stitches are a tight fit on the new cable, but it is way better than having it split up between two cables. Isn't the knit picks shine worsted yarn lovely? It has left orange fuzz on my black pants, lol no biggy though.

Knit Picks order!

Hooray! My knit picks order just came! That means I can start working on MoH Mandarin dress again. Those 60" cables are going to make working on this project so much nicer. Hopefully I will get enough progress done this evening to post a picture.

The 24" cables and size 5 needles are for when I start working on the bodice of the dress, just so I don't end up doing a last minute order again.

Mermadia progress.

Just my progress on the socks :)

Friday, March 2, 2012

MoH Dress, please!

I have been slacking with my posting here of late. I am done with the blue sock, the pink tunic, and more than halfway through the foot portion of the green socks. I think I may scrap my old way of doing things, and use the blogger app more to upload pictures more frequently. Right now I feel "behind" and so dread doing the massive updating that is required. I am going to just not bother, and once I block the projects I will post directly onto this blog.

In other news, I started my big project for this year. I mentioned before that I am making my own gown to wear as the "Matron of Honor" for a friends wedding, and I just started it yesterday. I don't really have much progress to show yet (you can't even see the pattern) so I won't post pictures of it just yet. It is really big around (I am working bottom up) and I don't currently have a cable long enough to hold it (one is on the way from KnitPicks.com!). I have been using both of my 40" cables and swapping needle tips and end caps around so I can transfer stitches onto the "working" cable to knit. It isn't hard, but it takes forever and isn't exactly fun. I cast on 1,222 stitches and it took forever! I worked from late afternoon to a little after midnight, and only got 2 1/2 rounds completed (I am also on the second skein of yarn already).

I have been calling this project the MoH Dress, and it is sticking so that is probably what I will refer to it as in future posts. I am making the skirt pretty simple, and I hope to keep the top portion simple as well (though who knows what sort of shaping issues I will encounter). I am really hoping to have the skirt portion completely done before the end of this month, though I will need to wait until May before I knit up the top (so that it fits, as this whole changing weight deal throws a bit of a wrench into making this dress ahead of time). I am hoping to make notes along the way and have a working pattern by the end of the project, not that I am in a big rush to make a second large project.

That is all for now, hopefully pictures in a day or two :)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Knitting update.

I have been making progress on my knitting, believe it or not ;) In fact I am nearly done with two projects. The blue socks are at the finishing stage. I need to find a smaller needle for grafting the toes together, then I'll block and be done. I am also very nearly finished with the pinkish tunic. I have all the knitting done, just need to weave in the ends and block.

I have begun working on the black Apocalypse scarf again as well and made a couple inches of progress on it last night. I am very frustrated with all the orange kitty hair that always manages to find it's way onto the black yarn. Not sure how I am going to get it de-haired before mailing it to the recipient.

I hope to finish the socks and the tunic today or tomorrow. When I do get them finished, I will be starting on my last gift project. I have those green socks to make, and I am thinking they will knit up pretty quickly. I am looking forward to working with the cotton yarn.

Another project I hope to start soon is a gown to wear in a friend's wedding. The wedding isn't for 3 months, but I want to leave myself some slack in the timeline for comfort's sake. I was hoping to lose weight before then, but not sure how that will go. I am losing weight much slower than I had hoped this month. I want the dress to actually fit me, so I am planning on making the skirt during March, the bodice in April, and the finishing touches in May.

I will start on the salmon colored summer tunic after the dress is complete. Hopefully I get things done in a timely manner and stop with this knitter funk I have been in. I'm not sure why it happens, but sometimes I just can't force myself to knit. I love knitting, so it always confuses me when I don't feel like picking up the needles. I do seem to be coming out of it some (which is good, because I am way behind where I wanted to be).

I have not bought a book about knitwear design yet. There has been so much else going on lately that I just haven't had time to focus on it or think about it much. I figured I will forget about getting the book for a couple months. Once things settle down and there isn't so much going on I will pick up the book.

I hope to get pictures posted of the socks and the tunic tomorrow or the next day (it all depends on if I finish them today or tomorrow). I will watch a movie and work on the black scarf for now, then worry about finding yarn needles later.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Update.

I have not been updating regularly for awhile, so thought I would do a general update.

I have been sick recently, and am just now feeling almost healthy again. While sick I did not knit or work on anything really. Before getting sick and in these past two days I have been knitting some. I have been working on the tunic for myself. I have the body complete and the shoulder seems grafted together. I picked up stitches along the neck and have about three inches of double ribbing so far. Once I finish the ribbing around the neckline I will finish around the arm holes and be done with it. I think it is looking pretty good so far.

I need to start working on the blue socks again soon. I am behind on my knitting so badly, but I was getting pretty burned out emotionally and just didn't feel like knitting at all. I am starting to feel recuperated (some) and hope to get the blue socks finished by this next Sunday. I won't be working on them much today, since there is so much catch-up work to be done from when I was sick.

So basically my update is that I have been sick, lol. Hopefully I will have a more impressive update at the end of the week :)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Christmas knit #11 "Muscari" socks progress.

I ripped out the "Muscari" socks after deciding the medium size was going to be too big. They would have been okay for me, but I am making these socks for a petite woman and they would have been big and sloppy on her. Starting over set me back a bit, but not too bad. I have worked on it until I have the cuff and three repeats of the patterns. I am not going to make the leg portion very long because the recipient is petite, so I will only be doing 2-3 more repeats before starting the heel.


You can see that I am working off of one ball this time instead of two. I made a center pull ball and am using the inside end for one sock and the outside end for the other. This is not much different than working from two balls, only I have to make sure to keep the strands from wrapping around each other. This is probably how I will be doing it from now on, as it makes winding less of a pain.

I was trying to show the pattern here, but it isn't really showing up very well. The pattern shows up quite well in person. In fact the designer said creating a pattern that handles stripes and hand painted yarns was her goal when she designed the Muscari pattern. I would say she succeeded beautifully, even if my pictures don't do it justice.

I am still enjoying working on these socks. I m really enjoying this yarn and especially this colorway. The colors are beautiful and they really pop. I like this "Lullaby" color much better than either "Make Believe" or "Juice box" which I had recently used. I keep thinking that if this were in a sport or worsted weight it would make a handsome sweater. (I don't plan on making a sweater out of fingering weight yarn again anytime soon, lol).

I will post more pictures once I get the heel done :)

Personal knit/new design - Tunicus Maximus.

I started a new project late last night (after midnight). I don't know why, but I just really wanted to start something fun and different than my other projects. I had plans to make a long sweater tunic, so last night I cast on and work a bit of the bottom ribbing. I am making it up as I go, but writing down the steps as I make them. Hopefully in the end I will have a working pattern for my size, then just have to figure out how to change the pattern for other sizes.

I am using size 10 40" circulars and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky Hand Painted yarn in the color "Juicy." I wanted a hand painted yarn for some interest since I am going to keep the design very simple and clean looking. I measured around my hips to find the size I needed in inches then multiplied it by how many stitches per inch I got from my swatch. I cast on 168 stitches and started working in a 2x rib. I worked on it for a couple hours last night and have approximately 2 inches of length.

 I am really impressed with how the colors are working out. I think it looks very pretty. The yarn feels softer in hand than it did on the hank and has been nice to work with so far.

I plan to knit 5-6 inches of rib before I start working stockinette. I am making this out of chunky yarn and thought a bigger band at the bottom and around the neckline would help balance out the look.

I won't be working on this very much as I still have 3 projects to complete from Christmas. This is something that I will work on when I need a change from little needles to give my hands a break.

I don't know why I decided to name this "Tunicus Maximus" but I thought it was both fun and kinda cheesy.  It doesn't really have anything to do with the sweater tunic or the design I am going for, but I guess I was in a gladiator type mood when I started working on it. We'll see if I decide to keep the name or if I come up with something else later.

I don't really know what the protocol is when making a pattern similar to someone else's. I have been wanting to make a sweater tunic since about fall time, and have seen several patterns that I liked. I particularly liked "Diva Tunic"by Phoenix Bess. (I do believe you need to have a Ravelry account (it's free) to view the links). I am drawing most of my inspiration from this pattern, but I am not copying it exactly. I did not purchase her pattern and my tunic will look similar but not exactly like it. I will be making my tunic longer and will be fashioning the neckline and arm holes how I want. I will also be doing the shaping in a way to suit me. I am creating my tunic from the ground up while looking at other tunics for inspiration. I just wanted to say where I was getting my inspiration from and to give a nod to Phoenix Bess. I like many of her designs and think she makes beautiful clothing. I have one of her books in my wishlist on amazon that I hope to buy in a couple months. Her stuff is definitely worth checking out.