Update

Just a quick post to show a recent picture of NB in his Tomten jacket.





He was not in the mood to stay still.

More FO or Catch Up Part II

So after I posted the finished socks last week, I thought I should update my side bar with the information that I was currently working on. I realized that those three items listed as my WIP were finished and I didn't even mention they were done, they had been done for so long.
First up,
Tomten Jacket by EZ.

This jacket is part of what made EZ such a great designer. I finished this jacket back in April, it fit NB then and here it is the October and it still fits him - although differently.
This was the first time I had used Shelridge Farms yarn (the blue) and I loved it, it was soft on the hands and holds up great to the washing machine. The black is Merino et Soie and is also a great DK weight yarn. This sweater has gotten lots of wear and will continue to get more wear during the fall.

Next up was the decision to finish the Bianca jacket. I went with the dark brown buttons with flex of gold. I have worn this jacket a few times and I think I will wear it some more know that fall is here.







The Celtic Vest barely got started in the last blog session and now it is done and has been worn. I couldn't figure out the cast on - which turned out to be the long tail cast on but using two balls of yarn instead of a long tail. Easy to figure out once I got past that. This was a quick knit but I wish that I had knit it longer - hard to judge with a sideways knit when the instructions state it will grow with blocking.

Always be closing

I have two items that can almost be crossed off the WIP list - except that they need some sort of closure.
The Bianca jacket has not had anything done to it in the last month except some flirtations with buttons.

While I was knitting this project I was thinking some nice wood buttons. When the time came to pick out the buttons though - wood looked out of place. Pewter and mother of pearl buttons were out as well. I didn't want anything that was too flashy, to take away from the lace. I narrowed it down to two choices.



The button on the left is made from a shell and this is the wrong side of the button. I am worried that this button may be too fragile - more as a decoration than a button. The button on the left is more substantial, but I think will be too dark overall. I guess it can sit for a few more days.

The second item in the almost FO pile is the Tomten jacket

(Those last few ends have been woven in). I thought this jacket was going to be huge on NB. The sleeves are long, but that is about it. I think the stretchiness in the garter stitch will allow this sweater to be worn for awhile. (At least I hope). I switched the hood to a fold over collar, and picked up one row of stitches along the fronts to give it a more finished look.






A black zipper and this jacket is done.

Silk, Silk and more silk

I was thinking about my knitting projects yesterday and it turns out that I am in a silk mood. I never thought that when I started knitting that I would have four projects utilizing silk being worked on at once (well almost at once) .

1. Bianca jacket - Just to give a quick update on this project. I thought I didn't have enough yarn (again!), but with some calculations I found out the swatch (14 g) had just enough yarn to finish the project. It is now waiting for buttons to be completed.
   
2. Slip stitch ribbed socks - these were recently complete. Nothing more to say.
3. Tomten jacket- This is a classic design by EZ, and I am using the same Merino et Soie that the slip stitch ribbed socks used as well as Shelridge Farms DK weight. I am loving both these yarns, and combining it with garter stitch is giving a very smooshy fabric. I don't think Ninja baby will fit until fall though
   


4. Celtic vest - This is a kit from Fleece Artist. The yarn is their Scotian Silk (35% silk, 65% wool. I just started this project and now that I am past the cast on it should go quickly.
   

All 3 silk yarns are very different, but all feel nice on the hands. There is still a ball of Lang Jawoll Silk sock yarn in the stash...

Knits in the wild

An almost too small Baby Surprise Jacket on a one month old
and a sock puppet.

Details:
Yarn: Leftovers of Soy wool stripes and Patons Kroy sock yarn
Pattern: Skacel Collection Sock Puppet - Bird 1
Needles: 3.5 mm and 4.5 mm

What you can't see in the above photo is the tail (located on the heel). These puppets are for babies not yet walking.
This pattern pamphlet has a bunch of cute puppets to make. I think more will be popping up on the blog.

A baby blanket

I am going to try and get caught up with posting some FO and progress shots this week. We will see how that goes, it is great to have goals, it is another to finish them.

Back in June I started a baby blanket out of Rowan Cotton Rope. It went with me on the trip to the Dominican, where the modular nature made it great for beach knitting. In September I put a push on to get the squares done. I started the seaming using a crochet seam and I was not happy with how it looked. I wasn't sure on how best to seam it so I continues on till the blanket was 1/2 done. At that point I tried the whip stitch seam and immediately liked it better so I ripped what I had already done and reseamed the blanket. Hundreds of stitches were picked up around the edges, and the border was picked up and knitted. The octagon shape was chosen as I would not have enough yellow to make the enough squares for a square blanket.

The idea came after going to the Woolly Thoughts workshop hosted by Shall We Knit in May.
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Rope
Needles: 4.5 mm /US 7
Pattern: My own

Some baby sweaters

Before the weeks get away from me I thought I would show you two completed baby sweaters.
First up is the soft cardi which I mentioned in this post that I couldn't find the buttons. The buttons were found in a random drawer and have been attached. I don't like where I put the button holes, and decided to improvise them.
There does seem to be a problem with how the front lines up though. I have had counted the rows on both fronts and it should be fine. I am just putting it down as some random wonkiness. I realized when I was half done seaming that I should take the plies apart from the yarn and just seam with 1 of the three plies to get smaller seams. We will see what this sweater looks like on the baby.
Details:
Pattern: Soft Cardi in a Knitters Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes
Needles: Size 4.5 mm
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Rope

Next up is the top down raglan that I introduced here. This yarn started off as a kimono that turned out too weird so it got reknitted in this raglan. This is my first raglan sweater and I can see why people love to knit them.
It needs some blocking but overall I am happy with how this sweater turned out.
Details:
Pattern: Top Down Raglan by Carole Barenys
Needles: 3.5mm US 4
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK - 2 skeins

Another post - shocking I know

Way back when I talked about the would be ill fitting baby Kimono. I partially took it apart in the hopes to fix it. I then left it in my knitting basket until about a week ago and decided that I really should get it done for this fall. I pulled it out and started noticing areas that needed to be fixed and quickly came up with a long list including:
Ripping out one of the fronts to the arm shaping, and starting it earlier
Ripping out the other front to the wrap shaping - the bind off looks too tight
Adding some width to the top of the sleeves

- I think the back was fine.
This was not at all guarantee to make the sweater fit.
So I decided to do the more radical approach and make a different sweater.

Since seaming has been an issue with me lately, a top down seamless raglan was in order.

The second sleeve is done and I have a few more inches done along the bottom. This sweater, even though I followed the 6 mo size, looks in my eyes to fit a 1 yo. But that doesn't bother me since babies grow and it will fit at some point.

The one problem I have found for with this sweater construction is trying to get it to lay in a nice fashion for a WIP photo shoot.

Missing buttons

This soft cardi has had the knitting done since May, however, for reasons unexplained I did not seam it together until quite recently. While I was seaming, I was also looking for the white buttons that I got to go with it. Buttons... Can't seem to find them anywhere.

I have tossed my stash, which has grown quite a lot this pass year. I really need to work on that as it is getting out of hand.

I have checked all the other assorted baskets around the house and knitting bags that I would put the buttons in.

I can't seem to find them

So I figure this leads me with a couple of options. A) go buy new buttons now, B) wait a couple of more months - I am thinking of October in the hopes that the buttons are found.

Project specs:
Pattern: Soft Cardi in a Knitters Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes
Needles: Size 4.5 mm
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Rope

Show and tell

A week ago I got to spend the Saturday with the Yarn Harlot, while she examined hundreds of items of knitted items for the KW Knitters Guild Adjudicated show. The items were all knitted by members of the Guild. Since I am the official photographer for the Adjudicated Show I can show you a sneak peak of some of the winning items. Ready..


Well there are winning entries in those baskets - along with a selection of other items. I can't show you the items themselves because what then would be the purpose of the Adjudicated Show - it would become an Adjudicated Blog. You can see all the items with commentary by Stephanie on June 10 at 7 pm in Hilliard Hall, First United Church, Waterloo (if you are in the area and need more info just let me know). Following the show, photos of the winning entries (I have more specific photos) will be posted on the guild website in the galleries.

I had hoped to submit two baby sweaters, however, the fates were not with me. The first item the Harvey Kimono from Natural Knits - needed some serious reworking.

I kept thinking that once the sleeves were in, once the neck band was on. Okay I was in some serious denial about this sweater. The baby would have to have a neck the size of a toothpick or the front halves would not overlap. This sweater has now had most of the seams and edgings torn out and is in a time out. Just to give you an idea about this sweater - blogger is insisting on rotating the photo. The original is not rotated - WTF?

The next item was the soft cardi - this sweater's downfall is that this is what it looked like - except still damp the morning of adjudication.
That is cotton - I am not seaming heavy weight cotton while it is wet. Recipe for disaster. While looking at these photos, the one piece doesn't seem right. They looked fine when I was pinning them out. I haven't seamed this sweater yet so I can't comment on how it will look once put together. Maybe I should stay away from baby items...

Although I did just get the pattern for the BSJ by EZ. I am thinking of making it from some Baby Ull (I have a little of that in my stash). However, before I can start that I do need to finish some other items I have on my needles.

Some baby knits

After taking about 6 weeks off from not knitting (you guys couldn't tell could you) and very little blogging, I have some works in progress to show to you.

First up is the Harvey Kimono from Natural Knits for Baby and Mom by Louisa Harding.
I am in the process of seaming, afterwards I need to add a garter stitch neck edging and sew on the buttons.
Pattern Specs so far:
Yarn : Sirdar Snuggly DK
Needles: 2.75 mm and 3.25 mm - note this is 3 sizes smaller than the pattern suggests.

Next project on the needles is the Baby Soft Cardigan in the Knitters Book of Yarn
I am using Rowan Cotton Rope in turquoise and white.
I am enjoying this cotton yarn, but it is hard to make neat increases. There is one increase that is really bugging me, and I think I will have to fix it. I kept denying it to myself, but I think I will be happier once it is fixed.

The advantages of a fall baby - I know that these will fit sometime in the winter (for how long though is a different matter).