FO FO FO! I finished something!

Woo hoo!

So Baby Girl will at least have a stocking this Christmas.  Hers turned out kind of big... I'm going to block them all and hopefully get them the same size. 

I can't say that I'm 100% thrilled with it, but if decide that I don't like it, I'll just make her a new one some other time. :)  It's not like we have to be married to all of our projects, right?

I'm still planning on putting the lines (stanza? bar?) in with the notes to fill some of the blue space.  Either that or some small snowflakes.

Silent Night

My first contribution to the knitting community!  I'm planning to use this chart for Baby Girl's stocking.

It's the first notes to Silent Night.  Fitting for a stocking, and a plea for a newborn! Ha!

The pattern is 60 stitches wide and 24 long, and fits the Cascade Christmas Stocking Pattern.

No FO

Well, it's been 2 months since I finished a knitting project. I have no real excuse... I've just had a hard time working on my current project outside of my knitting night. I think it's a combo of being tired of the pattern, having a million other things to think about (house, baby, move, packing, labor, delivery, etc...)

I always tell people how "easy" cables are, but they are doing me in. Not because they are hard, but because I'm finding this pattern tedious. Now all the lace-knitters are rolling their eyes, but that's how it is for me. Where's my stockinette?

Anyway, I finally sewed up the shoulders on Joseph's cable-knit hoodie, and started on the first sleeve. I'm modifying the pattern so it's knit in the round instead of in pieces, so hopefully it turns out!

I *really* need to crack down and get this done, so I can start a Christmas stocking for Baby Girl! If that's not enough of a reason, I don't know what is. I'd say I'm about 60% done with this.

FO: Baby Girl's Sweater

Note to self: stop making tiny things! They are just so tempting in their cuteness and quickness, though! I've done this pattern twice before and loved it, so I did it with another yarn but it knit up much smaller. My fault for not doing a gauge swatch. Hopefully it'll fit Baby Girl for a day or two!


I think next up is a sweater for Joseph.

FO: Newborn Cocoon

I think I'm getting my knitting mojo back! Woo hoo!

I started whipping up this newborn cocoon last night and finished it this afternoon during Joseph's nap. These are all the rage in photography right now, and I'm thinking we can use it for DomerBaby2's [diy] newborn photo shoot.

Hopefully this is the beginning of lots more baby stuff!

FO: Soakers, soakers everywhere

These were perfect knitting for my trip to Chicago - I've done enough of them that I don't have to worry too much about gauge and sizing, and it's a fantastic pattern. They also make great quick gifts. Alas, I still have a little of that blue and a ton of that red even after three of these! De-stash fail.

FO: Baby Blue Baby Vest

I whipped up this vest and hat for my friend Charlotte, who is due on Monday with her second son. Hopefully they will fit! I have to say that I was reticent to do another vest - all that back and forth stockinette at the top, but then I learned how to knit backwards in 2 minutes and it rocked my world! It's such a handy tool - and really easy to learn. Try it out next time you need to keep turning your work every few stitches!

FO: Rib-it Baby Sweater and Hat

Oh so cute! I was not a fan of the construction of this sweater, mostly because it was nearly impossible to do any modifications on it (I gave up trying). But the end result is so adorable, can I complain too loudly? Not really.

These were more "destash" yarns, but Surprise! I still have all 3 colors left. Such is my life with this whole destash task.

Here is the Rib-it Baby Sweater (and matching hat, of course!):

FO: Fast Track Black Bag

In the continued interest of destashing my yarn bins, I've been working on a couple of handbags. I finished one tonight (still needs to be lined... if I ever get to that!).

I think it turned out cute, but I don't know how everyone else seems to make grosgrain bows seem elegant and cute. Mine are just fumbly looking. Oh well.

Fast Track Black Handbag

FO: Baby Layette

Before I became a super knitter (I kid!) I used to mostly knit small items like... baby hats. Lots of baby hats. They take very little yarn, so I'd generally just buy one or maybe two skeins to use later for projects.

So now, I have a couple of bins full of 1- and 2-skein color lots. One of my knitting goals this year is to "destash" my yarn of such things, and in the future to buy yarn for specific projects as needed.

When I had to frog my tank top, I wanted to get knitting right away but lacked yarn and a plan for an adult sized project, so I reverted back to baby things. I managed to knit a sweater (needs buttons when I figure out if it'll be for a boy or girl), hat, booties AND a baby toy with 2 skeins of random yarn! Woo hoo! I do have a few pregnant friends, so I have plenty of choice for a good home for them.

Frog Pond

Although I'm used to posting beautiful FO's on my blog, every once in a while I knit a real dud. I've spent the last few days knitting a heavily modified Coachella tank top, but I tried it on today and it's not turning out the way I'd hoped at all. So, I'll be frogging it and reusing the yarn for something else. In knitting speak, frogs say "rrrrrip it", as in "rip it back", hence the post title.


Luckily, when it comes to knitting, there is no such thing as wasted yarn. Wasted time, well, that's a totally different issue! But, if you learn from your mistakes, it's not wasted, right? That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

Bye bye, Coachella!

Super FO: Great Lakes Cardigan

I present to you, dear readers, my first adult sweater!!! I feel like I've "arrived" as a knitter. Haha!

It's a Drops pattern, which means it has a super nice name like "113-17". I named it the Great Lakes Cardi, as the colorway of the yarn I used is called Great Lakes (it took about 3.5 skeins).

FO: Fetching Fingerless Gloves

I've been holding off posting these until they arrived in Japan and onto the arms of my dearest friend, Teresa. They arrived today, so without further adieu:

Fetching Fingerless Gloves - perfect for keeping your arms and hands warm while typing, knitting, writing, or, in Teresa's case, studying hard for the New York bar exam.

I didn't intend it, but it turned out to be a gratuitous ring shot.
Oh the days of wedding planning.
Now instead of paper crafts there are plastic toys in the background!

I did not care for the afterthought thumb - I think it's a bit wonky looking, especially when not on a hand. I think I'd prefer one that relies separating the thumb stitches and creating a cast on edge to reconnect to the main tube.

FO: Last baby gift

I am falling behind on my FO posts (I'm sure you all were sighing with relief!)

I made an identical eyelet sweater for my friend Sara's new baby, Lauren:

It seemed so tiny until I saw her! Now I'm hoping it fits by a year. ;)

FO: TYOKFM Capelet

I saw a sample of this pattern at Stitches South (yarn convention) last year, but at the booth the pattern was only sold along with some matching yarn that was too pricey for my wallet. I did call the store later on - turned out that it was a local yarn shop - and the man gave me the name of the designer.

Queue Ravelry.com - my knitting superhero website. It's awesome. If you knit or crochet, you should sign up. I was able to quickly find the pattern and buy it for a mere $5. Then it sat waiting patiently for me for roughly 8 months while I knitted baby stuff. Hehe.

At last, 4 days ago (can you believe it only took me 4 days?!?) I cast on for this project. It's an easy, beautiful, pattern. The yarn I used is soft and super warm. It'll go great over a tank or even a long sleeved shirt to keep me warm at night.

The finished object:

FO: TYOKFM Circular Shrug!

My first adult sized garment! I'm pretty excited about it. I made the Circular Shrug mostly because it was a small project, compared to something like a sweater. I'm glad I did, because it seemed to take forever!

I do like how it turned out, though. It took me a few weeks to get through it, but that's not too bad in the grand scheme.





Now to choose my next project...

FO: TYOKFM Noro Headband

I've declared that 2011 will be all about me and my family! This will mean lots of posts this year that reflect that goal. My first act is to institute The Year of Knitting for Myself (TYOKFM).

I started a bit early, finishing this in an afternoon in mid-December. I love wearing it now that my hair is *just* long enough to go in a pony tail, but still can end up with whispies without something holding it back. It's warm, too, for the 3 weeks of winter we have here in Atlanta!

Calorimetry

FO: Sock Monkey Pants!

I know I say it every time... but aren't these the cutest yet???

They are for my friend Whitney's 2nd baby boy, Max... who is now about 5 months old. Ooops!

Better late than never, eh? And I'm really hoping they fit right! They are 100% wool, so they can be used as a diaper cover, but they are so cute that they can hold their own with or without a cloth diaper underneath, I think!

Sock Monkey Pants

FO: Christmas Stocking #4

Auntie Debbie came to town for the holidays (more on that later), and even though I denied her request for a stocking of her own at first, I couldn't follow through on my grinchy ways. :) So she got her very own fair isle stocking! And ironically it's the only one that I finished 100% with lining... maybe that'll be next years' Christmas deadline project.

I was very sly and woke up at 5am to come out and put it on the mantle so that she wouldn't know and it'd be a surprise on Christmas morning. It worked - she was so sleepy that she didn't notice when I asked her to turn on the fire place, or for the first 20 minutes we were all out there! I had to ask her if she liked her surprise on the mantle before she realized!

Deb's stocking

The fantastic foursome!

FO: Knit-a-palooza

We had intended this weekend to be full of house projects, but since we did not close on time (grr) I turned my attention to more noble pursuits: finishing my baby-knit list.

Unless you are new to the blog or have short-term memory loss, you know that I had about 487 new babies to knit for this year. OK, slight exaggeration. But my excel spreadsheet (yes I know, nerd) shows 16 babies. Good grief!

I've spent nearly the entire year behind on baby knitting. Luckily I aim for larger sizes, so hopefully no one will receive a too-small item. (If you do, just jam it on them for 30 seconds and send me a photo! I'll never be the wiser!)

The good thing about these nature-imposed deadlines is that I really improved my knitting this year and had tons of fun with new friends. My knitting looks better than ever! The sad news is that I had to give it all away! So I'm declaring 2011 the year of knitting [mostly] for me (and my men)!

Without further adieu, here's all of my progress from this weekend!

Snug little sweater for Miss Shelby (needs buttons still)

Flirty Cloche for Clara

Still need to sew on the flower...

Cable pom hat for Baby Roberts

Baby Tate's faux cable hat

In the works... an eyelet sweater for Emma