On Beginnings

This post is part of the Love Your Blog series sponsored by A Playful Day.

When I started this blog over 5 years ago my goal was to just share my excitement about knitting. I had only been knitting for a couple of months and everything was so new and exciting. As I continued through the last several years, my posts have changed quite a bit. 

First off, my level of availability for blogging has decreased drastically! When I started I was a full time post-baccalaureate student, I worked part-time, and had no littles at home. I snapped pictures of my knitting constantly and shared a lot of dog/yarn pics. 

In the past two years I became a mom, began working full time, and began designing my own knitting patterns. All the free time for blogging had to be redirected to other areas of my life. While I wouldn't change anything, I do miss getting in touch with my blog and try to redirect some energy in its direction from time to time. 

In other news, since I've finished the big project I was working on I've had just a smidgen more time for personal knitting. Like, really, only a smidgen. How does that even happen? I think I lined up a few too many new design projects to make sure I wouldn't be in a dry spell afterward. Anyway, with that small amount of personal knitting time I've finished a new vest for D!

This is currently a test knit and the pattern is not released yet. The design is from Ashley Yousling of Woolful. It will be available in children's and adult sizes. I got to use some left over Jill Draper Makes Stuff Rockwell in the color Pumpkin. I was just chatting with my friend and LYS owner Cyndi and I mentioned how I'd bet that she hasn't sold much of this yarn. She agreed and let me tell you, that is a terrible shame! This yarn is so rich and wooly. It comes smelling very sheepy still but yet, when knitting with it I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of vegetable matter in the yarn. And the colors work up gloriously. I think the marling make it difficult for people to imagine what that yarn will look like, but I really love the marling! 

I have a few more beginnings going on and while I can't share them just yet, I will very soon. There's still a lot left for me to do before I can start sharing but I'm very excited about this new project and hope you'll enjoy it too!

Tiny Toes

About a month ago I decided I wanted to knit D a pair of socks. I grabbed leftover Cephalopod Yarns Bugga! in I don't know what colorway (Gorgeous? Awesome?) and cast on for some toe-uppers.

I figured with the toe-up method I could get a more custom fit for D's socks rather than just guessing and potentially having to rip and reknit. 

I used the round toe method from Cat Bordhi's book Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. I also paired the Bugga! with some leftover yarn from my Audrey in Unst that I knit what seems like one hundred years ago.

These socks turned out to be just the cutest things ever and slippery as heck in our house. I don't know if it's just the heel thing (like, having one) but D's socks never stay in place on his foot. I'm tempted to try some boring (brilliant?) tube socks but am not yet convinced they will fit any better. 

Now that his socks are done, I picked up some yarn to knit myself a matching pair.

The yarn is a set of Three Irish Girls Adorn mini-skeins in colorways that are custom to my knitting group (Akron Stitch n' Bitch). The colors are (from bottom to top) Canal Park, Cascade Valley, Furnace Run, and Autumn Buckeye. I also have a sweater's worth of the Autumn Buckeye and the Canal Park colors that may grow up to be more than socks!

 Little Socks 2

Yarn: Cephalopod Bugga! and Becoming Art Suave Sport in Cranberry (red)

Needles: US 2.5 (3 mm)

Began: September 17

Completed: October 6

Abate Again

I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. We didn't really make a big deal out of it when I was a kid. After I moved to Ohio we happened to live in a neighborhood that doesn't get a lot of kids. Additionally, Akron does their trick-or-treat night on a night other than Halloween which had me fairly well confused for about 4 years. 

Now that I have a son, I will use just about any excuse to make something for him. For this reason, I decided the Abate pattern was the perfect sweater to use for a gnome costume!

There wasn't too much involved. We had the boots and pants, Mary (ever the gracious and giving friend!) knit and felted the amazing hat, and I just cut out a few felt circles to stitch to his sweater. There was a beard too but he didn't like wearing it (and you really have to pick your battles with a 2 year old). 

I love that the Abate pattern is such a quick knit. It took a total of 2 weeks with me working on about a thousand other things for work and The Book at the same time. I used less than two skeins of Stonehedge Shepherd's Wool Worsted. Last year's Abate was knit in a size 2 and this year a size 4! I did shorten the length by about a half inch and the sleeves by about an inch. I still need to add the drawstring. Maybe tonight...

Pattern: Abate by Alicia Plummer

Yarn: Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool Worsted

Needles: US 8

Began: October 10

Completed: October 24

Ravelry Link

Christmas Sweater 2014

Last week we met up with my friend Marianne to take our yearly family photo. I managed to finish D's Christmas Sweater just in time (like, that morning). While he won't wear it again "officially" until Christmas, I like him to be able to wear in for the photo as that's what I use for Christmas cards. 

Photo copyright Marianne Barta

This year's sweater (you can see the first two sweaters here) is knit in a sport weight alpaca. The color work  is relatively simple with only a couple rows that use 3 colors. I'm super excited about this design and think he looks just so handsome in it :) The pattern is off with the tech editor and will be available soon!

There's also still time to enter the Eucalan giveaway!

Why Toddlers Don't Knit

Besides the fact that most toddlers don't have strong fine motor control, there is one other reason why toddlers don't knit. Now, don't get me wrong, after spending his entire life before he could walk connected to me, and now acting as my shadow, my now 2 year old (how did that happen?!) is a yarn lover.

He's been to yarn shops where he walks around saying "Yarn. Yarn ball. Mama yarn." He picks up skeins and gently rubs them on his face saying, "Awww." If one of my projects is laying on the couch he will very helpfully carry it to me (with the yarn ball trailing behind). Recently he's even been caught knitting.

According to the weekly emails I get from What to Expect, toddlers are controlled by their emotions (duh). This is perhaps their knitting downfall. I recently received back my Beech Street Vest sample from Allyson. When samples come home it's like an old friend returning. Of course I put it on to model for my mother who was visiting. In talking about my vest, I managed to ignore my child for 30 whole seconds. He calmly walked up to me, stuck his finger in the vest and pulled.

Baby brain means when you're overcome you act like a banshee. A quiet, unsuspecting banshee in this case. Can you imagine what an actual knitting toddler would do if they dropped a stitch?

I think it's fixable, but still.

By the way, I'm on Facebook now. So pop over, join up and say hi!

Mountain Meadow Wool

Recently I had a great opportunity to try out some yarn by Mountain Meadow Wool. The yarn I was working with is their Laramie yarn in the colorway Fern. This yarn is a 2ply worsted weight yarn. When I first wound it up I was struck by how rustic the yarn looked yet it was still so soft! I swatched it up on size 7 needles to see what it wanted to become. Given the great stitch definition this yarn produces I decided on the Pembroke Hat by Kristen Kapur.

With one skein of this yarn I was able to make the smallest size (with mods) and still have some leftover! Laramie comes in 100 gram skeins with 196 yards. Even though I had swatched I wasn't getting row gauge and therefore had to modify the crown of the smallest size. I knit the chart as written until I reached the crown shaping. At this point I did 3 decrease rows then used Kitchener stitch to seam the top of the hat shut.

Either way, I'm glad I used this yarn for this hat pattern. This yarn is rustic and natural looking while maintaining a beautiful softness that you don't often find in rustic yarns (I'm attributing this to the fact that it is semi-worsted spun). This yarn really showed off the cables in the Pembroke. You can check out my project page here.

I have one extra skein of this yarn to share with a lucky reader! Leave a comment below you have the opportunity to win one skein of Mountain Meadow Wool's Laramie in the colorway Brick. I'll choose a winner using the Random Number Generator on Saturday, April 12th. Good luck and thank you to Mountain Meadow Wool for sharing!

Where Does the Time Go?

Working full time this year has really made me reevaluate my priorities. It's also made me realize I can no longer be a doer of all things. I love my blog. When I started this 4 years ago (eek!) I had just started knitting and had finally found a creative outlet that fit. My knitting has come a long way in this time. I even have a new pattern out:

Welcome Weekender! A simple pullover with a few pops of garter stitch detail on the sides and back neckline. Around the beginning of December I was looking for a pullover to make D that would be casual but still interesting. I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I designed it. 

After we got these pics done last weekend, I was looking back at the first sweater I designed, Little Fisher, and I am amazed at how quickly this little boy is growing. Time is flying and now that he's a toddler, walking, running, jumping, and talking, I'm so excited for him but also missing that baby time. 

As always, this pattern is available in sizes 6 months to 12 years for all the little and bigger kiddos in your life. 

I'm going to keep blogging, because I do love sharing my knitting with you, but if I'm not around as much know it's because being with this kid as he grows up is so important to me. 

Happy knitting!

(I also wanted to mention this sweater is knit in Malabrigo Rios. I used less than 2 skeins for the 2 year size.)

Mustill

I've been meaning to share this new pattern with you but things have just been getting away from me lately. Allow me to introduce a new children's pullover, Mustill. 

I designed this sweater to be D's Christmas Sweater this year. It a couple extra inches of positive ease built in for a relaxed fit that is easy to wear. D is modeling the size 2 which has a finished chest circumference of 24" (61 cm). 

The yarn used was Manos del Uruguay Serena. At my LYS it was listed as a dk weight, which it definitely is not. The gauge on this project is 28 sts = 4" on size 3 (3.25mm) needles. I'd call that more of a fingering weight. But I still love it. It's an alpaca/cotton blend which make the yarn smoother, less alpaca-y tidbits floating up to itch your nose. And the alpaca keeps the yarn soft and easy to work with. 

If you're worried about a crew neck with little ones, fear not. There's a button flap worked into the the last third of the yoke to make getting this gem on and off a breeze. 

The pattern is written for sizes 6 months to 12 so make one for every kiddo in your family! 

 You can get this pattern in my Ravelry store for $5.00.

Happy knitting!

Whooo?

I'm a little behind on announcing a winner for my Saltwater Knits giveaway but the winner of the collection and yarn is 

Holly

Congratulations! please email me with your address and Ravelry name and I will get your winnings headed out to you. 

While I was wrapping up some sample knitting this last month, I've also been planning for Halloween. Now that I have a little dude to dress up I was feeling the itch to make something fun. After much brainstorming, and time lost to Pinterest, I settled on a great owl costume from the Martha Stewart website. No sewing was required which is right up my alley. A lot of brown felt was purchased, and even more in shades of brown.

I was starting to think how coat-effective is it really to make a costume but with the magic of coupons and sales I got all the felt for around $12. Plus some elastic and fabric glue, and the grand total was around $16. I will say, I ditched the fabric glue and opted for hot glue instead which worked like magic.

Whooo is that?

May Happenings

Last month flew by far to quickly. I've been doing a TON of knitting but only a little that I can share right now. It's unfortunate that you'll have to wait because I'm SO excited about this new design!

 

In addition to all the crazy deadline knitting that's been going on, D is about to be 9 months old! I'm trying to hang on to every second of this little guy's first year but boy is it going fast.

 

 

The older he gets, the more like Adam he looks. Which is fine, except that I did all the hard work! I keep teasing Adam that I grew D from scratch. No easy feat I tell you.

 

Now that the weather is warming up, we're back to our weekend walks on the Ohio towpath. D loves to ride in his stroller which makes taking him out super easy and enjoyable. The worst part is that we have to load up the dogs, stroller, baby, and ourselves into tiny cars.

 

 

And, just to make the summer weather offical, the peonies in my yard bloomed!