Catching Up

Whew, I thought I'd get back in the groove of posting once my boys were back in school, but no such luck! Here are some finished projects that I never got around to blogging about.

Princess Squares Blanket (for a Prince!)

Princess Squares Blanket was knit for a neighbor with a new baby boy, using ALL STASH yarn!   Yay!  And that is why the color pattern is not, um, uniform, because I ran out of the old discontinued cotton-ease baby blue color.  It's a design feature.  All the latest babys are rocking it.  Lol.  The pattern was published in Vogue Knitting Fall 2010.

Another Summerbelle

Another hockey mom who works for a bank in Dallas as their PR director asked if I would knit something for a charity auction they were holding.  So, I did some stash-diving and came up with enough of this yellow Plymouth Jeannee cotton yarn to make a Summerbelle in the 1-2 year old size range.  This is an absolutely lousy picture, it was a cloudy day and I had to drop it in the mail that day so I rushed.

Penguin Hat

In that same envelope went this penguin hat for her son.  The short version of the story is, the dad was transferred to OKC with his company, but their Dallas house hadn't sold, so the son and Dad moved to OKC while the mom stayed in Dallas waiting for the house to sell.  Then, the Dad gets offered an even better job in Dallas, and now the family is all under the same roof again.  The son is now playing for the Dallas Penguins, so I made this for him out of stash yarns in the Dallas Penguin team colors.  Those are iron-on letters from Hancock's.

I still have three other projects going, the Giraffe Jacket, which is getting ready for it's separating zipper, and the Laced Leaves cardigan, which is going to get it's buttons, and the aforementioned Comment top, which is being reknit in Caron Spa, a bamboo/acrylic blend, and is now out of season.  :(

Several FOs

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month! I have several finished objects to report. The one I am most proud of is Summerbelle, a pattern I have for sale on Ravelry and on my website.

I received a birth notice from a couple that we see only occasionally, but they are friends of family and we have helped them buy and sell their last two houses. I had completely forgotten that she was expecting. I searched and searched for something "girlie" to knit her, and couldn't find a pattern that matched what I envisioned. So, I made one. It took an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the decrease placements, so it was both an intellectual exercise and the chance to knit something pink and lacy, which doesn't happen often for a mother of two boys.



In between and among other projects, I knit another February sweater (aka Best Baby Sweater aka Sweater on Two Needles), this time in apple green Patons Silk Bamboo.
I make several modifications to mine:
1. Move buttonholes to 2 sts from edge (see my other version, “Baby Sweater on Two Needles”, to see why).
2. Used YO increases on first two increase rows to create eyelets: K4, K1, YO, K2, YO rep from * to * until 4 sts remain, K4.

3. Added matching eyelets on cuffs and hem: K 4 rows, eyelet row: K2, YO, K2tog, K1 rep from * to , end K3, K 3 rows, BO.
4. Lengthened sleeves: after the additional sts CO at underarm, work 9 pattern repeats then start cuffs.
Note: body length is usually 9 pattern repeats from underarm join.




Now, February Sweater needed a matching hat to complete the outfit. This time, instead of making my favorite Petal Hat, which I have rewritten for working in the round and make often for quick baby gifts for people I don't know as well, I decided that February Sweater needed a matching hat. So, I just took my Petal Hat pattern and substituted the February stitch pattern. Simple, right? Of course not. February Sweater is worked top down, Petal Hat worked bottom up. The pattern is just YOs and decreases, should be simple to reverse, right? Nope. No matter how I worked it, it did not match.
So, I designed another hat, top down, using the stitch pattern from February. The bindoff was a problem, I couldn't make it stretchy enough, then I remembered bookmarking Jeny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bindoff. Works wonderfully! I didn't want to worry about copyright infringement, so instead of publishing this hat pattern, I just posted the directions for the hat here and on Ravelry:



A Cap For February
(You have to own a copy of the February sweater pattern for the lace pattern.)

US #6 dpns or circs
US #4 dpns or circs

CO 3 sts. Join to knit in the round, Knit into the front and back (Kfb) of each stitch. 6sts.
Purl one round.
Kfb one round. 12 sts.
P one round.
(K1, YO) repeat inside brackets one round. 24 sts.
P one round.
Kfb one round. 48 sts.
P one round.
K3, YO, (K2, YO) repeat inside brackets to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1, YO. 70 sts. (make sure you have 70 stitches here, make any adjustments on last 3 sts of this round.)
Begin Row 1 of Gull Wing stitch pattern as described in the February Sweater Pattern.
Do 8 total repeats of the stitch pattern.
CHANGE TO SIZE US#4 NEEDLES.
Do 2 more repeats of the stitch pattern.
P one row.
K one row.
P one row.
(K1, YO, K2tog) one round, end K1.
P one row.
K one row.
P one row.
Bind off using Jeny's Suprisingly Stretchy Bindoff, modified by only using knit stitches (no purls).

Giraffe Jacket is languishing for want of a zipper, which isn't much fun to sew in. I started a baby blanket instead. My friends are reproducing at an alarming rate.

FO: Little Coffee Bean Cardigan

Well, in spite of the crazy spin that my life has taken recently, I've managed to finish a baby gift, the Little Coffee Bean Cardigan. It's a baby gift for a friend who just had her fourth boy (God help her). I used stash leftovers, Vanna's Choice in chocolate and linen. The buttons were even stash, found them in my mom's button jar. It was a quick and easy knit.
Made some modifications (of course):
1. Didn't do the eyelet increases at the raglan seams, just did regular paired increases for a boy's sweater.
2. Lengthened the sleeves to long sleeves: When sleeve measures 2-1/2” from armpit, dc one st each side of marker on every second round of the brown stripe until 24 stitches remain, continue until sleeve measures 6” from armpit.

I also used the jogless stripe method (which is why sleeve decreases must be on second round of color change, first round has the jog correction on the last stitch of the first round of the new color. There are several methods to do this, I wanted to hide the jog underneath the sleeve, so I knit the first round of the new color to the last stitch, then lifted the stitch below the last stitch onto the left needle and knit it together with the last stitch. It pulls the spiral up to look like the stripes are level.


Have decided that the debut of the Giraffe Jacket will have to wait until fall. I simply had zero time to work on it in the last month and everyone is now coming out with spring and summer patterns, so it will be ignored right now. The knitting is finished and it is washed and blocked. All it needs now are the zipper installed and the directions written up. Since this is Spring Break for my boys, I won't have the free time to do the write up until next week.

Now onto other knitting projects, I have on the needles the (Ravelry link) February Sweater or Best Baby Sweater or Sweater On Two Needles, whichever name you know. Have already knit this several times and it's a cute little girl gift for friends in Colorado expecting their first baby in May. Am using Patton's Silk Bamboo, it may be a little limp, but it will be soft for a baby.

Radiating Star Blanket

Cast on for the (Ravelry link) Radiating Star Blanket which I have absolutely no business doing given the other things I have on or planned for my needles. But it's nicely addictive, watching the pattern emerge. I do have a recipient in mind, our neighbors are expecting a new baby girl. I'm knitting on size 7 needles with 5 balls of Cotton Ease in apple green, which is my new favorite baby girl color. Pink gets old.

I've started my Giraffe Jacket design three times and have been unhappy with the results. So it's marinating in my mind, still.

I washed the John Anderson kilt hose, and, as promised in the pattern, they softened up beautifully. I was afraid they'd be stiff as a board. I may even have gotten a knitting job making kilt hose after a local pipe band member saw my hose at the Fair. We'll, see he hasn't called back.

John Anderson Kilt Hose

The kilt hose for my husband's Christmas present are coming along nicely. The pattern is John Anderson's Kilt Hose, a free pattern.I used the toe-up method from Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock Book, and the eye of partridge heel. Have just turned the heel and am now knitting the leg, which will be the long boring part, save for some increasing and shaping. And, of course, I still have to knit the second one. I attempted the two socks on one circ method, but got aggravated with all the manipulating, which is why I don't care for circularly-knit sweaters, too much wrasslin'!

Have done some more mental designing on the Giraffe sweater, I think I'm ready to dive in and start the sleeves to see how the charted pattern is going to turn out. I was supposed to enter this in the fair next weekend, I'm betting with everything else that I have going on that I don't make it. Sigh.