Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Favorite FO of 2008

Aren't you surprise that The Bug was my favorite thing about this year? It's been quite a year for us - we found out in mid-January that we were pregnant, and now we have this beautiful 3 1/2 month old angel. She is the sweetest thing I've ever seen, and I can't believe how big she is already. I'm sure she'll keep us on our toes in 2009!

Monday, December 29, 2008

More gifts


A few more gifts for your viewing pleasure.


Pattern: Generic - 20 stitches (i think) 
Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande - 1 skein
Needles: Sz 15 Clover bamboo 
Dates: ?
Mods: n/a
Thoughts: soft and squishy. A gift for Hubby's best friend's wife - her first knitted gift!


Pattern: Teddy Bear Hood from Kid's Knits for Heads Hands and Toes by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK - almost 1 skein
Needles: Sz 4 and 6 
Dates: December
Mods: no inner lining for ears. 
Thoughts: cute! 


Pattern: Football Hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Berroco Comfort and Sirdar Snuggly (football)
Needles: Sz 7 Clover bamboo
Dates: December
Mods: color change
Thoughts: Looks super cute on - will have to make this again. 

These two hats were made for our neighbor's boys and she told me today that the football hat has gotten several compliments - yay!

I also made three pairs of slippers (from Knit 2 together), but I don't have pictures of them - hopefully soon!

I finished seaming hubby's sweater last night - it needs a good blocking and a zipper. I'm off to seam Salina for me - the knitting has been finished since August - I had no motivation to seam it while I was still pregnant and no time after The Bug was born. It is sweater weather now, so I want to finish it!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas Knits

Well, I didn't make it, of course. I did wrap up hubby's sweater (I had all the pieces done) and told him that some assembly was required for it. I'm almost done seaming it now - hopefully will finish tonight. I also wrapped his two single socks that were finished and I'm hoping to finish the second socks this week. 

I did finish The Bug's outfit - weeks before Christmas, thankfully.


Pattern: #32 from Katia Bebe No 10
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool
Needles: Sz 8 Clover Bamboo
Dates: ?
Mods: Added buttonhole on straps, eliminated bias tape at bottom and fake pockets
Thoughts: Very cute!

Pattern: #31 from Katia Bebe No 10
Yarn: Filtes King Colors Baby 2 skeins
Needles: 3 mm Addi Turbos
Dates: ?
Mods: none
Thoughts: Looks teeny, but fit her fine. Very soft yarn, quick and easy knit

Pattern: Reindeer Booties from Family Circle Easy Knitting Holiday 2004
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly - .25 skeins
Needles: US 4 Susan Bates
Mods: no nostrils
Thoughts: Cute! Though I forgot to put them on her Christmas day. Gah.
 
Pattern: Snowman Hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK (white and orange), Lion Brand Microspun (black and red)
Needles: US 7 Clover Bamboo
Dates: ?
Mods: Duplicate stitched on the eyes
Thoughts: Cute! Little tight around the noggin due to the hem. 

There are more gift knits to share coming up soon!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

I'm not going to make it

I knew it was a little crazy to think I could get everything done. But I've done it in the past. I knew I had a baby - that's why I had a short list this year. But still, not going to happen. I have finished all of the gifts for anyone who is not my husband though, so that has to count for something. And he doesn't mind getting things on the 27th, or the 27th of December 2009. I might squeeze out the sweater and maybe the 1/2 sock left of one of the pairs. And one of the other socks is done, so I'll wrap it up and finish the pair this weekend. Again, my xmas sweater is not finished (the same one I had hoped to finish for last year). Perhaps it will be a priority in January. And it looks like  The Bug will not have a stocking this year, much to my dismay. Ah well, she's too little to know, and I have nothing for her stocking anyway. 
A sleeve cap, seaming, a zipper (agh!) and half a sock. I can do it. Right?

Friday, December 12, 2008

Winner! And Christmas Knitting!

Congrats to cthulhulovesme - winner of the sock contest. Email me your snail mail address and I'll get your goodies in the mail!

I still have finished knits to blog about, but I'm taking a break to talk about my Christmas knitting, 'cause let's face it, if I don't do it now, it'll be January that I'm showing you this stuff. Actually, I can't even show it to you today, since I haven't taken any pictures yet.....anyway...

I've got several things finished that I can't show you (nosy blog readers, ya know!), but there are a few we can talk about. 

Our lovely new neighbors moved down from Chicago last winter, and have two boys - I'm knitting the football hat from Itty Bitty Hats and the Teddy Bear Hood from Kid's Knits for Heads Hands and Toes - they'll both have bears hats! :) 

And I've got this nutzo idea that I can finish two pairs of socks and a sweater for hubby in less than two weeks. One pair of socks has 1 1/2 socks complete and one only has 1/2 sock done. The sweater has the back, two fronts and 1/2 a sleeve done - I think it's doable! 

And then there's my Bristow sweater that I would love to have done to wear on Christmas - we'll see.....

And they're not gifts, but I'm finishing up the Snowman hat from Itty Bitty hats for The Bug (bambino) and some Reindeer booties. I have her Christmas dress and sweater done, I'll show those next time.

And I've matched socks to patterns, and I'll talk more about them soon (hopefully). Off to knit!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Project Ideas and a contest!

I've got more FOs to post, but tonight I need your thoughts. I really, really, really want to do the whole knit a sweater a month for a year, but that's probably just a smidge unrealistic since I have a baby who might demand some attention. I may however, still try, 'cause I'm nothing if not a follower and I have the yarn for at least 40 sweaters in my stash. Yikes. 

But, to "console" myself, I'm going to take on two other projects. For the first project I'll be pulling single balls (or two) of yarn out of the stash, matching it with projects, and bagging up 12 projects, (one for each month) to open the first of the month and knit up. I have the yarns and projects chosen for this venture. 

The second nutzo project will be 12 months of socks. I'm narrowing down my list of sock yarn, but I have too many projects in my ravelry queue to choose. So I need your input.  The yarns I'm considering are listed below. Choose one yarn and pick a sock pattern to go with it. Leave your suggestions in the comments and I'll randomly choose a winner. And no plain old socks - I knit plenty of those. I want patterns, people! Contest closes at midnight CST Friday night. Thanks for your help!

Yarns: 
Socks that Rock Lightweight - varigated
Chewy Spaghetti - varigated
Cider Moon Icicle - varigated
Colinette Jitterbug - solid
Fleece Artist - varigated
Hazel Knits - solid
Knitterly Things Vesper - striping
Koigu - varigated
Madelinetosh - solid
Malabrigo sock - solid
ShibuiKnits - solid
Wollmeise - varigated
Yartini - varigated/striping
Zen Yarn Garden - varigated

Monday, December 01, 2008

Lots 'o knits

I'm sick of feeling like I have 10 tons of unblogged FOs to show you, and I miss blogging in "real time" so I'm going to play super catch up. Hold on....

Leftovers Hat
Pattern: Simple Baby Cap #2 from Itty Bitty Hats
Yarn: Sublime Organic Cotton
Needles US 7
Mods: Made it shorter (5") before crown decreases as all of bambino's hats are too tall and fall down in her eyes, which makes her scream.
Thoughts: Love it. Super soft, fits great, cute!
Pattern: Upside Down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Hats
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton
Needles US 7
Mods: none
Thoughts: This is the largest size (for a shop sample) and I think the petals would look better if they were bigger. 

Pattern: Bessie from Pick Up Sticks
Yarn: Lamb's Pride (white), Paton's Classic Merino (black)
Needles: US 10.5
Mods: none
Thoughts: This is super cute, and knit up super fast, even with the intarsia and the seaming. I knit it in two nights watching the Olympics back in August. Love it. 

Pattern: Jive Turkey Baby Hat
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK (brown), Berroco Comfort DK (white)
Needles: US 7
Mods: Knit with dk weight to size it down for bambino
Thoughts: Very Cute! Everyone loved it, so it was worth the knitting for something she barely wore. 

Pattern: Baby Kimono from Summer 2005 Interweave (the very first knitting magazine I ever bought!)
Yarn: Mirasol Yarns Samp'a 3.1 skeins
Needles: US 5
Mods: none
Thoughts: Love this. This is the knit bambino is wearing most these days. Goes with everything, fits great, love the sheepy ribbon. Apologies for the tiny picture again. Will be knitting this again for future babies. Garter stitch, yum.....

There are a few more FOs to catch up on, and then actual knitting content, that I'm knitting right now! Shocking!