Recently completed projects.

I've been pretty lax on my posting, but here's what I've gotten done recently.

This first one is a shirt I knit for my 7-year-old daughter. I used about 1 1/2 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease; what was left over from the Steggie jacket for my older daughter. I used a top-down raglan recipe and used a simple eyelet diamond stitch pattern for the bottom section. I made it tunic length so it will fit her for at least a couple years. She likes it, and I'm pleased with how it turned out!

The next project is a bit similar. I used the same raglan recipe and number of stitches, but used a larger needle and bulky weight Lion Brand Homespun yarn (color Baroque). This was all yarn that was frogged (previously was an adult sweater and a small child's dress). I used an eyelet flower stitch pattern for the skirt with increases running down the sides for shaping. Again, I made this on the large side so it will fit for longer. My eldest is a big fan of dresses, and is really pleased with this long and flowy one.

I also finished the orange socks, but don't have a picture currently. I am working on a pair of cabled socks on teeny tiny needles that is taking forever (but they will last forever because of the tight knit (that is the theory anyway)).

The weather is perfect for knitting, cold and snowy, but I have been so busy with other things I haven't had much time for knitting. I don't have any plans for new projects for awhile, at least not knit. I have a few boxes of old jeans waiting to be made up into blankets. The idea is that I'll make one for each of my children, though it seems ambitious enough to get through one, lol

Steggie - Finished!

Here it is, finished! My daughter is modeling it for me. I do like how it turned out, and I think my nephew will like it as well (both my daughters want one now!).

I have a bunch if pictures I took along the way, but didn't get around to posting. I won't put up all of them, just the relevant ones. I apologize for the size and quality of the pictures, I uploaded these with my phone since my computer was having issues these past couple days.

I have to admit, making the sleeves was the most interesting part of making this project. I've only done intarsia once before, but it is a fun technique to use. I did not use yarn over increases on the spikes. Many people on Ravelry complained that it didn't look nice and suggested to use make one increases instead, which I did. I had no issues sewing up the sleeves.

 This is a close up of the sleeve seam between the spikes.

Because I made chain edges on the pieces of the body, it seamed up easily and looks like this on the inside

and like this on the outside.

All done except weaving in the ends and sewing in the zipper.

A shot showing the hood when down.

Sewing in the zipper went okay. It certainly wasn't my favorite part of making the jacket, but it wasn't as horrible as expected. I found an excellent tutorial which made the process much more painless than how I was going to do it. I used a tutorial from chicknits.com. While sewing it on, the foot of the machine pushed the zipper out a bit more than I was expecting. It would have went better if I owned a special zipper pressure foot, maybe I'll buy one down the road (my daughters are expecting Steggie jackets of their own and the Scarlow jacket for my husband also calls for a zipper). The zipper teeth show while it's zipped up, but I'd say it looks decent for my first time. The black zipper looks fine, my husband admitted it didn't look as bad as he expected.

Just showing the inside of the zipper here.

This was a really fun project and worked up fairly quickly. It took me  around 22 days to make it, but there were several days where I barely worked on it. My oldest has a birthday in less than a month, and she wants a Steggie for her birthday. I have some red Wool Ease that I had bought back when Joann Craft's was having a sale, I plan to use that (hopefully there is enough!).

Baby bib.

I just finished making this baby bib today. I used the pattern "I-Love-Stockinette Baby Bib" by Laura Treadway (downloaded free from Ravelry.com), size 6 needles ('cause that's what was on my cable from the last project) and Sugar 'N Cream yarn. I've never used this yarn before. My mom uses it all the time for dish rags, but I kinda hated knitting with it. It just sort of felt cheap in hand and didn't move very easily on my needles which really slowed down my knitting. The price was good though and it's just going to be catching baby spit, so no biggy. I have another skein, so all in all, I will most likely end up with 3 bibs in this color. If I were to buy yarn for this again, I would get a blend that was softer (not that I could find such a thing locally).

Update: 10/11/2013

I was correct on getting 3 bibs out of the two skeins of yarn. They soak up a good amount of drool, and bub enjoys chewing on them. I'm happy :)