Striped Longies, Complete!

I got distracted by baby patterns on Ravelry, else this would have been posted an hour ago!

So, I finished the striped pair of baby longies. I can't really say that I followed a pattern for these really. I kind of Frankensteined it using techniques from a few patterns, and inserted my own touches here and there. I am tired, so not much detail about this project. Here are the pictures!

Go-Veralls, Completed!

I completed the "On the Go-Veralls" pants last night. Over all I really like the finished product. The pattern was fine to work up, though I did not use the suggested gusset moderation, but just did my own instead. I haven't put buttons on yet, and the straps are a bit short. I ran out of yarn while knitting up the straps, so they are 4 inches long instead of 6. I am hoping they will stretch enough so it will still fit (fully stretched they are close to 6.5 inches long). It would be very easy to attach more yarn and make the straps longer, though I've no idea when my next yarn order will be. The pattern called for 200 yards worsted weight for the 0-6 month size, and I used 220 yards (with exact gauge). I would have had enough if I'd left the gusset increases out, but I don't want to frog and redo that much of the project.

Finally, pictures that show how pretty this yarn is! The legs don't look bad here, and I am glad that I decided to make them a bit narrower. The final project looks pretty big for 0-6 month size. I plan to make this again, and will go down a needle size or two.

 The bib portion here looks a bit small to me. I am interested to see how it looks on.

 Here is the back. You can see that I added three rows of short rows for extra diaper room. The pattern didn't call for it (another area I used too much yarn).

 The suggested gusset mod looked strange to me. It had a row of purl stitches running between the gusset increases and the legs, and just looked kinda out of place to me. I just did my favorite left and right leaning increases for sock toes, and am pleased with how clean it looks. Please excuse my sloppy kitchener stitches, I straightened them up a bit after taking the picture.

I started a pair of longies last night after finishing the above project. I am nearly done with it, so should be posting pictures of it either tonight or tomorrow morning. It is the crazy black and orange striped pair. I was thinking something along the lines of construction signs, but working on it just makes me think of bees. Anyway, there will be no losing the boy wearing those things, lol

Hopefully I'll get around to washing and blocking the bee baby blanket later today. It has been sitting, all folded up, mocking me for days now.

Go-Veralls redo.

I did frog and start over on the legs. I just couldn't stand how wide they were. I cast on the smaller size on the leg instead of the called for cuff size, 46 stitches instead of 52. It isn't that many stitches, but looks much better and takes an inch off the width.

This morning I spent about the same amount of time on the legs as I did last night, but have much more progress thanks to the fewer number of stitches. In fact, I am nearly done with the legs. All I have left is a couple rows, then to make the gusset before I get started on the rise.

A little note about the yarn - I love this color! The yarn is the same Wool of the Andes worsted, but the "Sapphire Heather" color is just beautiful! I hope at some point the variations within the blue shows up in a picture.

On The Go-Veralls, started.

I just started this pattern today, and I'm having doubts. My gauge is spot on for both stitches and rows, but the legs look huge! I am pretty sure my little boy would be swimming in the pants with just how wide the legs are. I'm making the 0-6 month size, and the legs are 5.5 inches wide! I'm pretty sure that would fit my 8-year-old daughter's leg comfortably.

The problem is that I've spent about 4 hours working on the pattern so far, and I would hate to start over from scratch. I am torn on whether to start over or not. Also I am having reservations as to how wide the body will be. I guess this calls for some research to see what other people chose to do and if theirs turned out so wide as well.

Here's my progress so far.

Little Girl Leg-warmers, Completed!

My 6-year-old's leg-warmers are done! I didn't use a pattern, just cast on enough stitches to fit around her leg and knit until they were the length she wanted. I made them two-at-time, so despite the picture, they are exactly the same length. She shouldn't grow out of them anytime soon either. When she first put them on, she pulled them up around her thighs, lol

I used most of the free skein of Knit Picks Brava worsted yarn. It is nice for an acrylic yarn, and the color Freesia is pretty.

Braided Longies, Complete!

I just got my yarn for the baby pants today, and I already completed a pair! I'd say I worked for approximately 7 hours throughout the school day and the evening. I used the "Braided Longies" pattern by Raya Budrevich of www.blissfulknits.com (I got the pattern off Ravelry.com of course). Mine didn't turn out exactly like the ones pictured on Ravelry, but I'm fine with that. I do believe the yarn I used was a little lighter, and my gauge was a little on the small side where rows are concerned (next time I make this pattern with this yarn, I will go up to a size 8 needle instead of the size 7 I used this time). The pants still look nice, and I've no complaints about the pattern.

I made the newborn sized ones, and have over half a skein leftover. I used the dark green Wool of the Andes Worsted, called "Aurora Heather." It is a beautiful heathered green, and the pictures just don't do it justice. I am pretty pleased with the amount of yarn used. I guesstimated that I would need almost 2 skeins for newborn longies, but had a tiny bit of a panic moment when I saw just how small the skeins looked!

 The 3 rows of short rows did add a little bit of extra room in the tush. I'm not sure they were needed, the cable along the sides adds a ton of stretch (though I have yet to have experience with the famous cloth "fluff butt" that is supposedly so difficult to fit pants over).

 I choose the braided cable pattern along the side.

 They look pretty long, and I did make the legs half an inch longer than the pattern called for. I do think they will look quite a bit wider and not so stick-thin and tall once I get them lanolized and blocked (or actually on a baby ;).

I suppose that's about all there is to say about my first knit longies. I have a few other projects to get finished before I start another pair. My 6-year-old has been waiting patiently for me to finish her leg-warmers, and I have the bee baby blanket to block still. There is of course that jacket for my husband, and socks for me, but those aren't going to get touched while there is baby stuff to knit, lol

Yarn Haul!

My yarn order came a day early! Most of the pictures show color pretty accurately, except the orange which totally looks like yellow, lol You can click on the photos for a close up to be able to read the yarn color on the label. I used flash on some and not on others. Mainly flash was only used when the color just wasn't showing very well.

Just a comparison, showing they really aren't the same color ;)

Yarn order for woolies.

I ordered a bunch of yarn from Knit Picks today. I got some of their Valentines sale yarn (good on pinks and reds only). I was able to get a couple skeins of the "Andes del Campo" since it was cheaper, but mostly just stuck with "Wool of the Andes" worsted. For about $52 I got enough yarn for 8 wool pants that will double as diaper covers. That works out to only $6.55 each! Those will last the baby through his 1st year, and if I frog and reuse the yarn even longer than that.

Since I was getting cheaper yarn, I didn't stick with just the sale yarn. I don't think I could stand for him to only have red pants, lol I really wanted to get some Full Circle in worsted weight, but they were out of the red : ( That's okay though, because I got a pretty good variety of colors. I should have some leftovers to make a funky stripped pair of pants too, so I may even get 9 pairs out of it.

I saved a picture from my checkout so I don't have to try to list all the colors, so here's that.

I figured two skeins, or 220 yards, should be enough to make 0-6 month sized pants (according to several longies patterns I looked at for reference) and 3 skeins for 6-12 month sizes. I got single skeins of the orange and black, because I plan on those being a super loud pair of striped longies ; )

I'll post a yarn haul with pictures when my order gets here. I should have my order by the end of next week : )

Snapdragon Soaker Completed!

I started a wool soaker over the weekend and just finished it today. I used the "Snapdragon Soaker" pattern I found on Ravelry.com It was an okay pattern and I don't really have any complaints about it. I do prefer the pattern I used previously though, simply because of the ribbing that allows more stretch. I will have to use both on a baby to know which one actually functions better though (if either one is actually superior at all).

This was my first time working with Knit Pick's "Full Circle" 100% wool, and I am quite happy with it. It feels nice in hand and makes a soft finished product. The only complaint is pretty minor, and that is that it tends to untwist a bit as I work with it. I am not too surprised though, as it is single ply. I am a little sad that this yarn is limited edition, because I would love to work with it again. Knit Picks offers this yarn in both bulky and worsted weights, and I would imagine longies knit up in "Full Circle" worsted weight would turn out quite nicely.

I made a few alterations to the pattern, like usual :) I knit this up in size small. I cast on 8 fewer stitches than called for, then increased those 8 stitches back into the soaker once the waist was complete. I've found that using smaller needles for the waist isn't enough, and they always tend to be a bit too stretchy and loose. I am hoping that the little bit of a decrease will eliminate the need for a drawstring or elastic. It is still quite stretchy though, and shouldn't cut in at all. I chose rolled cuffs for this soaker. I thought it would look cleaner with the body of the soaker being all stockinette stitch. I am happy with my choice and think it looks better than ribbed cuffs would have. I also didn't make the raise quite as long as the pattern called for. It seemed like the leg holes were oftly large, and both my other babies have been tall (in the back) and skinny. I took a chance and made this to fit better on a skinny baby; now watch him come out super chunky, lol

The balls of yarn are 100g and 110 yards. I have a little left over after making the size small soaker. I have one more ball of this yarn, and will be making another soaker with it. Maybe I'll have just enough yarn left over to make a little hat for him too : )

Now for the pictures!

Front

Back

Side

Comparison with newborn sized soaker made previously

Buzzy Bee Baby Blanket.

I just started this blanket Sunday afternoon, and have 7 hours of work put into so far. I am using the Buzzy Bee Baby Blanket pattern from Knit Picks, and their Swish Worsted yarn in the colors "Honey" and "Black."

This is the first full pattern repeat finished, and the start of the next striped section.

Do these look like bees? My daughter thought they were birds :/

I gotta say, working with this bright yellow yarn is fun and kinda uplifting. The pattern is really simple so far, though I have run into one small issue so far. On the chart, it lists to do the cable stitches again on the reverse side. It doesn't specify on the written pattern at all. It says to purl for the yarn overs and decreases, but for some reason doesn't include the back sides of the cables. I thought it seemed pretty weird, so went and looked at the designer's blog. Another knitter had asked for this to be clarified, and the designer stated it was to be purled, like I assumed it should.

I have four more repeats of the pattern to make, then knit the border on the sides. I think it is a cool looking blanket so far, and I can't wait to see how the finished product turns out! Hopefully baby boy likes it!

Baby leggings!

I finished two pairs of baby leggings a couple days ago. This was my first time using Knit Picks Felici Sport stripping yarn. I got the color Depths. I like it well enough. It is pretty soft and pleasant to work with, but I see what others say about weird little flecks of color where they don't belong and the occasional light spot between colors. I am making these for a little boy to crawl around in though, so I don't really mind the imperfections that much. Besides I paid less than $6 for two skeins which made two pairs, with some scrap yarn left over. I don't think I would use this yarn for making a gift, but is awesome for my own kiddos. In fact, both of my daughters were begging that I make striped socks for them, lol

This is the first pair I made. They turned out well, though I kinda don't like that thin strip of dark blue on the top cuff. I am all about symmetry, so it kinda bugs my inner ocd.

Here are the two pairs next to each other, as you can see, I made the second pair on the left longer than the first pair. There isn't anything in the picture for size reference (totally spaced it out!) but the shorter pair measures about 8 1/2 inches.

I sort of used a pattern for these, as in I looked to see how many to cast on and about how long to make them (the first anyways). I might make some later with different yarn and maybe incorporate some cables. This was just my first attempt at making simple leggings, and I'm pleased with them. I knit both of these over the weekend after I finished the Larkin baby blanket, so I think they are a pretty quick little project. Some super bright stripped green ones would be cute next time!

Larkin baby blanket

I finished the Larkin baby blanket a couple days ago, and think it turned out pretty nice.

Here it is, unblocked.

Blocked, but still wet (why it looks blotchy).

Close up of the edging, which took forever!

All folded and ready to be wrapped up!

Of all the pictures, this one is the most accurate color-wise.

I really enjoyed working the leaf pattern. It was simple but still interesting and fun. It took a couple pattern repeats to memorize the lace pattern, and I could still manage it while multitasking. I really liked the yarn as well, but that was no surprise. I really enjoyed working with Knit Pick's Comfy in fingering weight, so it makes sense that I really liked it in sport weight as well. The Sea Foam color isn't quite what I was going for, but I like the finished product quite well anyways.

I tracked hours spent working on it for fun (blocking not included, or course). I put in a total of 63 hours over the course of about 4-5 days (they kinda blurred together, so I'm not sure which it is!). I pretty much worked all day long on this blanket during the days I worked on it. I spent as much time as I could during bookwork hours in home school, and all my free time in the evenings working on it as well. I started watching Bones on Netflix (love that show despite the yuck factor!) and am now on season 8, lol. My weekend was spent relaxing with my feet up, watching Bones, and knitting like a mad woman! lol Not all of that time was spent working on this blanket, but a good chunk of it was. I don't think the number of hours is too bad honestly. I've made socks that took upwards of 100 hours (they were beautiful too, lol), so 63 for a pretty little baby blanket is a nice number :)

MoH dress.

So this dress has been done for what seems like forever. My issue was finding some way to block it, and yes, it seriously needed to be blocked. My husband finally found me something that would work, and not cost us an arm and a leg. He found workout mats at Big Lots (the grey mats in the picture below). 4 of them for $12! I honestly could have used another set, but the dress did fit on the mats plus the ones I already had. Who knew floor mats were either so hard to find or so stinking expensive?

Here it is, all blocked out :)