The Veggie Sweater Gets Modeled

Yay! The veggie sweater fits Miss Penelope! I think she's the perfect little model for it. (Look at those toes. I just want to eat them up!)

6 Days to Go: A Thanksgiving Baby

My friend and co-worker, Miss Camela, is pregnant with her second baby. In addition to her day job, she and her husband also have their own farm. The baby is due November 30. In honor of a Thanksgiving baby and to pay homage to a new addition to the farm, I knit up this little sweater complete with funny felt carrot and tomato. Come to think of it, neither of those veggies will be on my Thanksgiving table, but they were cuter (and easier to make) than green beans and corn.

Here is a link to the Mossy sweater pattern. I changed the sweater so that there is no zigzag pattern. I just wanted something plain to be able to add the felt cuties to. The yarn is Lions Brand Organic Cotton in Olive. It is SOOO soft and cushy!

Girlknits RAK pattern #5

(If you didn't catch Day 1, go here first.)

Day 5 brings Ysolda Teague's Snow White. I love this sweater because the lines are so interesting. It looks like a camisole and a shrug were fused into one. And the body of the sweater is ribbed, but the directions change to flatter a woman's figure.

Last day of the RAK patterns is tomorrow!

Girlknits RAK pattern #3

(If you missed Day 1, go here.)

Day 3 brings us Sylvi by Mari Muinonen. This is another design featured in Twist Collective's Winter 2008 designs. I've probably been admiring this one for the longest time of any of the patterns I received from girlknits but have been too intimidated to actually give it a go. Now that I own the pattern, I guess I don't have much excuse left. Yikes! =)

I love a good sweater coat in the fall!

Cables and flower...yum!

Thankfully the detail is just on the back so that I get a bit of a break on the front.

Look at it how swings.

The detail is amazing.

Come back tomorrow for #4!

Remember That Lace?

So WAY back in February I told you I was working on some lace that would eventually become a top. Remember? (If not, go here.) What you see in the old pictures and what you see below are not the same pieces. Oh sure, they're the same pattern, same needles, and the same yarn, but they're not the same. Nope, no they're not. Know why? Because when you leave your knitting on the couch for weeks with no needle caps while you work on other projects, you subject you lace from falling off the needles. That's right--about 12 stitches fell off the needle. And with me being new to lace, I have no clue how to pick up all the dropped stitches and yarn overs. Hours of knitting (and yes, that only led to a few inches) gone...all gone.

But, I gained new focus (and a rubberband to stop slipage) and got back on the knitting horse. Below is where I'm at. Weeks it has taken me to get this far. And I have to make two of these...plus sleeves! I'll be lucky if I'm done with it by the end of summer. Oh well...it saves me from buying more yarn to do new projects (or does it?)

Deconstructed Sweater Reveal

Ta-dah! I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with my accidentally shrunken sweater, but just like the book said, the sweater just sort of turned into this. Read yesterday's post for the first-half of the story.

I'm going to be donating this purse to the United Way auction at my work....despite my strong dislike of the United Way. I'm focusing less on the organization and more on a chance to share my craft with others. (Which I guess goes against the whole idea of donating and giving, but whatever...)

I cut the top of my sweater and used the bottom ribbing for the top of the bag.

I already had the hoops from a previous purse that I tried to make that went awry. I just placed them on the sweater where I wanted them and used a white chalky pencil to cut out the shape.

I lined the inside of the bag with leftover Amy Butler fabric that I had from my living room pillows.

I forgot to take pictures of the sweater before I started cutting. But here's what was left. Notice how fuzzy it was. How did I fix that? A handy dandy disposable razor (new...not used...gross). That thing worked miracles!

Here's the cut piece.

The Owl Sweater

So here are the owls...all 20 of them (which means 40 eyes). I'm liking it a lot!


Oh, and my sweater has been spider approved. I found this scary guy sitting on my sweater while it was drying. RIP, Spidey. (And the color below is closer to the real color than above.)

Hoot! Hoot!

Just a quick owl sweater update. It's KNITTED! Yay! And in record time no less. I think it took me about four days. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's currently drying at the moment and waiting for me to sew their hootin eyes (which I don't have yet). But here's a sneak peek.

Here it is...all puckery and just knitted. It sort of reminds me of the unicorn sweater I had when I was 7.

And here she is in the soapy drink getting a bird bath.

A Big Fat Carrot

You may (or may not) have noticed the decrease in posting I was doing last week and the week before. Part of that was because I wasn't feeling great...stupid cold. The other part was that I was struggling with a project and could barely see straight. I think I'm out of the woods with it now (or I'm at least on a sunnier path out of those woods). To keep me motivated, I dangled a big fat carrot in front of me...in this case, yarn. I came across the cutest ever adult owl sweater pattern. As soon as I saw this, I wanted...no, needed!...to make this. My reward was getting to buy yarn with the sole purpose of knitting this lovely. Once the baby blanket is finished (another reason for a big carrot), this sweater is going on my needles...and then onto me.

My soon-to-be "hooters" sweater! =)

I was going to do a neutral color such as tan or grey, but it was 54 degrees out and sunny and wonderful when I went to the yarn shop. Spring took a hold of my soul, and I walked out instead with the most wonderful Cascade yarn in Baby Rose. Me likey a lot!

New Service Project

The Knitters for Obama decided on the next service knitting project. We will be knitting and crocheting a variety of items for the Mattaponi Native American tribe in Virginia. According to the KFO post: "There is a staggering amount of poverty and need among many Native American tribes. The Mattaponi tribe lives in Eastern Virginia, and for some unknown reason are not recognized as an official tribe and therefore do not receive federal funding. This is shocking considering that the tribe was here before the first European settlers arrived in the 1600s."

The nice thing about this project is that there is a wide range of projects that people can work on, because items for everyone from babies to adults are needed. I haven't started any projects yet, but I will be donating two baby sweaters that were in my Etsy store but never sold.



If you'd like to donate but aren't crafty, you still can! Contact me or leave a comment with your contact info when you post if you'd like to donate yarn to the group for knitting or a variety of essentials from Mattaponi Healing Eagle Clinic Wish List:

• Adult & Senior Multi -Vitamins/small bottles
• Children’s Vitamins/small bottles
• Glucosamine Coated Tablets 1000/500 mg strength only
• Vitamin E
• Calcium
• Omega 3 Fish oil in small bottles
• Tylenol (in small bottles only- urgently needed)
• Tylenol Arthritis
• Aspirin 81 (Baby Aspirin) Small bottles only
• Toothpaste
• Tooth brushes for adults and children
• Pill splitters
• Disposable underwear briefs: all sizes but especially, large, extra large size briefs
• Large kitchen trash bags
• Large green trash bags
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Cans of Ensure: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla; all flavors
• Cans of Boost, especially for Diabetics
• Urgent Needs: stamps (They use a roll a month.) and padded folding chairs so patients don’t have to stand in the waiting room. A donation of $17 buys one chair (monetary donations are tax deductible!)
  

Blackberry Beret...I Mean, Sweater

As I mentioned, the sweater is done. Yay! And this time I actually have pictures! I'd like to retake the photos outside, but it's been so freaking cold out that I'm unwilling to risk hypothermia just for some nice shots. It's hard to see the detail of the cabling and bobbles. But trust me, they're there. And I'll try to take some better pictures when it warms up...so plan on June-ish.

A Little Bit of Lace

My sweater is done...but I don't have pictures yet (I'm such a tease). And since I can't go more than ten minutes without something on my needles, I started up a new top that is all lace knit. We'll see if I actually finish this one. Why? Well, first, I'm supposed to be knitting for all of those babies that my friends will soon be birthing. Second, it's a whole lot of lace, and after knitting for hours and hours, I have only about two inches of just the back of the shirt. However, because this is just knitting the same pattern over and over again, maybe I can start it and stop it, even though that's not normally my thing. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, here's the start:

And here is the finished top that MizzBritta on Ravely knit. It's so beautiful. I hope mine can be even half as great as this one.

A Cardi for Carrie

I have an insane amount of stuff that needs to be knitted for other people and organizations (yes, a new KFO service project has been defined...more later). But at the same time, I had been planning on doing a sweater for myself. I don't usually like to do multiple projects all at once. I'm more of a start and finish one and then move onto the next kind of gal. So, with that said, the cardigan I picked out to knit is going to have to get done at lightening speed. So far, it's going pretty fast. The pattern is called Forecast and you can get it over at knitty.com. I'm using Knit Picks Comfy yarn, which is super soft, in Blackberry.

But before we get to the knitting, let's start with the fuel that'll keep my energy up: cocoa! I made this treat on Saturday night after hours and hours of knitting. It was too pretty to not take a picture of (but not too pretty not to consume).

Yum!

Forecast front (there are still button bands that have to be added to each side later)

Forecast back (the bobbles are there, but just hard to see)

Comfy yarn arrives...all 10 skeins!

Baby Gift

Another friend is having a wee one, so I knit this little hoodie for him or her. And I used the yarn that came from this RAK gift. The pattern is called the Easy Baby Cardigan, which I found on Ravelry (of course). It was supposed to be a tie front, but I added little wooden buttons instead. Ties just seemed too complicated for a new mom to deal with.

Welcome to the World, Cade

Mandy had her baby a few weeks ago, and the owl sweater I knit for him now has the perfect model. Welcome, Cade. It's a scary world you've entered, but at least you've got your looks!

Chilly Willie Sweater

I finished another baby sweater to add to my Etsy shop. This one is similar to the sweater I made for Mandy's baby (coming any day now!), but instead of an owl, I went with a penguin since winter is fast approaching (boo!). These sweaters knit up relatively quickly (in case you think I don't work during the days).

The Big Reveal

I'm happy to report that I finished knitting my first adult-sized sweater! Yay! It took about 3 weeks, but a lot of that is because I had to restart so many times. Once I put the spacers in place it went pretty quick--and at least when I did mess up, I knew where to go back and fix it. So that's that. Now I'm just awaiting the first "sweater" day of the fall season to start wearing it (but I can most certainly wait). I guess it's now on to my next project. =)




The buttons are actually stone beads that I found in the bead section of JoAnn's. I wanted big giant buttons that were unique, but those are hard to come by. I'm really pleased with how the beads worked out instead.