Baby items - FO with pics

Finally some knitting to show.

These were gifted at the baby shower for my co-worker.

First was a crocheted blanket made pre-sex id'd... and I used this as my "tissue" in the gift bag to wrap the other gifts.

I used some orange & white acrylic (for easy wash & dry) boucle for the center section. Then a matching white boucle for the ends. If I were to do it again, I would probably have saved the orange for the ends.

Then for the baby sweater. I had bought the self-striping blue & white yarn with matching blue yarn for a project specifically for this baby. But could not decide on a pattern... or how I was going to do it. I was about to give up and simply do stripes of blue with the self-striping blue with the same hoodie sweater pattern I had made previously in pink/white/blue stripes. .... when I had a 'brainstorm' -- I was watching a knitting show on tv and decided I wanted to "frame" boxes of the colors within the other plain color -- and found a pattern to adapt ... and used that to adjust the hoodie sweater pattern. I liked it while I was doing it, although in the back of my mind I kept thinking that I would probably have preferred it if the "frame" was a contrasting color instead of a coordinating color - to make the color pop. If I had ONLY known how beautiful the self-striping was on its own... I would have simply used the self-striping yarn in a simple stitch for the whole sweater.

I'd already finished the sweater - before I started the booties. AND it was the booties where the heel and foot was made entirely with the self-striping yarn... and I almost wanted to undo the sweater and start it over. The yarn really pops on it's own, and the complicated stitch pattern I used for the sweater didn't really show it off to it's full potential.


But, after the booties, I still had almost a full skein of the self-striping yarn left, and a half-skein of the coordinating blue... so I had to make more... so, along came the hat... and then I had to think for a bit, and found an awesome pants pattern. I didn't like the self-striping quite as well in the pants. And it's a bit much with the sweater - almost like they shouldn't be worn together. If I had to do it over again, I would have NOT used the blue to try to do the complicated stitch pattern on the sweater - which would have saved me enough of the coordinating blue color to have done simple blue pants.

Live & learn - right?

I've been knitting away...

but not posting about it - sorry.

I'm 90% finished with a very special blanket I'm making for my son... and have about a half-dozen posts semi-prepared for posting about it... so that I can share my inspiration, my mistakes, and my patterns (the couple I made up from scratch)... so - you just have to wait a bit longer.

However, I have reached a point in the process where I have to make a final decision about something. The back of the blanket is not going to look pretty. There will be a very definite "right" side to it. I've put in probably over 20 extra hours being extra careful to weave in ends "just-so" and without making it too much of a mess.

AND? I'm thinking I want to put a back on the blanket. (which means I could have tied knots in the yarn & cut it off without all that extra work) sigh

BUT, honestly? Has anyone ever seen a blanket (knit or crochet) that was backed with fabric? I'm thinking a nice super-soft fleece on the back would make it 1) warmer 2) more cuddly and 3) more likely to get used longer.

I'm thinking I'd treat it a bit like a quilt and tie the front & back together with yarn... of course, I'd have to baste all the way around the edges... I would love some feedback - is it too weird? too impractical?

Project in the works

OK - so I'm still stalling on the sweater. And I've crocheted a baby blanket - pic to come... done while we still didn't know if it was going to be a boy/girl for a co-worker. (so it's orange).

I've got some blue yarn selected for a baby sweater -still digging through patterns for her (as yes, it's now known to be a boy).

So, I had to come up with something I could work on at work - as we sit together at lunch at least once a week to knit together. And I can't very well knit a gift for her in front of her and still surprise her!

AND... "a" decided he needed a blanket for himself. As he liked the baby blanket I had made. We talked and talked - and I wasn't able to convince him he wanted a green sweater (as I had already bought the yarn to make him a green sweater - sigh).

Nope - he wants a blue star wars blanket. And nothing else. sigh. But, I had something I wanted to. His eyes have been bothering him. I'm not really sure if it's itching or burning from possibly allergies (I have this, not impossible to believe he might as well)... or if actually it's related to the fact that he's having to deal with his vision issues more so than in the past now that he's really trying to learn his letters. I do know that they bother him more at night or morning - and that's kind of typical with his vision issues which do get worse when he's overly tired. So, I suspect the latter. About all he confesses is that "he can't see" and "my eyes hurt" and he closes his eyes. His "bad habit" is that he wants to lick his hand & wipe his eyes with his hands. NOT GOOD. So, my bargain is that he's to STOP doing this and he can wipe his eyes with a clean, wet washcloth or paper towel instead. It's a hard habit to break already, but I figure that it's going to take me months to knit up a blanket ... and if he sees me working on the blanket, I have a good reason to apply pressure to get him out of his bad habit.

So - stay tuned. I'm a knitting fiend and have several blocks completed already - will post pics shortly. In fact, I also have several graphics. I figure I'm going to write a series of posts as to how my idea evolved from my first plan - to finish product.

A few finished items to share

OK, I'm struggling with motivation on the sweater. I have a mistake that I've been trying to ignore for six rows, and every time I picked it up - the mistake would bug me. Keeping going hasn't helped. sigh. I have to undo back to the mistake and redo or it will drive me nuts. Normally, I'm not this much of a perfectionist, but since the more I do the more obvious the mistake becomes, and the more it's bugging me, I guess I better do the right thing or every time I wear it - the mistake will still bug me. But, it's just as slow (if not more so) to unkit each and every stitch as it was to knit it in the first place. If it wasn't the inexpensive yarn, I could probably just take the needles out and pull the yarn (very fast) to undo it. BUT, this yarn (guess I should call it cheap instead of inexpensive) doesn't take well to such harsh treatment. As such, I've set it aside for a while until I get "more motivated".

That said, I had two other projects that were virtually finished, but just needed a few minutes to call them done. They had sat for over six weeks for the one, and over three months for the other. The other night, I got a wild hair and finished them both in less than 30 minutes. Sigh... guess I had to be in the mood? All the first one needed was six buttons sewed on... and the other needed a couple pieces of velcro sewed on.

But at least they are done now.

Also finished (pics to come later) - a hat & scarf made with "won" yarn from a giveaway. These are going to be held onto until next fall and then given to a charity that provides these to the homeless. I've found a charity in Ohio -- but I may just try to find a local one instead. We'll see, got a few months before someone will want them.

First a baby sweater (unfortunately said baby is now a year old and it will not fit)


Next a doggy sweater (more feminine):

Finally a pic

As you can see from the pic, there are cables (lines) that do some shaping of the garmet... I'm about "boob-high" working from the waist to the shoulders... so some ways to go yet. I messed up a little about two rows back, didn't notice it right away, and just about skipped going back and fixing it, but it's bugging me and my perfectionism is showing. So, I'm re-working the last couple of rows to fix it. sigh

Lot's of progress - still no camera

I still haven't gotten my refund from Amazon for the camera I got for Christmas that died within 24 hours... but hope to shop for the replacement really soon... can't wait to post pics.

The sweater is not-quite 50% done... good news is that I can try it on as we go, and it fits great. Knitting from the bottom hem up - and all the way "around" -- I've finished the hip, the waist (it's fitted) and am increasing now and am starting the bust section. I'm probably about two inches short of the underarm. So, we're chugging right along.

Starting over

A year ago - January... I finished the first ever sweater for little "a". He LOVES it still (good thing). I made it a size larger intentionally - intending it for this winter, and it's still a little big on him. But, he's wearing it & it will probably still fit him next winter.

And, I decided I could handle a more complicated pattern, and started a "spring" short-sleeved v-neck pullover with cables - for me. I had the pattern, the yarn I'm using is Simply Soft from Caron... I managed to get the back done last year - and pick it up & put it back down again & again ever since. I had (notice, the word had) about eight inches along the bottom of the front finished. Wonder why I was working so slowly? I wasn't really happy with it. I had it almost half done & it wasn't quite working out for me. A couple of reasons - the bottom was always going to roll up. The finished pics in the pattern didn't show a roll, which meant that since I didn't like the roll, I was probably ALWAYS going to fight that "curling" along the bottom. Secondly, it so was not going to fit me. My knitting was to gauge, and I'd picked the size I wanted... when I took the measuring tape to one piece, it seemed to come out right, but when you held the two pieces together? Enormous... and unfortunately, traditional knitting requires that you knit the sweater in separate pieces, which means, that often, you won't know how well it's really going to fit until it's done.

I also messed up the cables pretty well, at the top & bottom - the cables switch directions every two cables - in the middle part, every other cable switches direction. I switched directions pretty randomly & it looked ok, but as I was getting better at following directions for the front, the front wasn't going to match the back anymore. I told myself to ignore it, who cares if I mess up the back, not like I'll see it that often. I messed up a little on the front, but wasn't going to undo several hours of knitting to fix one little mistake.

Wasn't - being the key word. I just couldn't see investing 30 to 40 more hours of knitting time for a "mess" - which is exactly what the sweater would end up being. Who spends that kind of time for something that won't fit properly? I sure was going to. But, last night I decided enough was enough. I RIPPED it ALL OUT. ALL of it, even the back - which was finished. I'm starting over, this time - I'm altering the pattern.

I started with a rib knit around the bottom edge (so it won't roll) - I'll probably cap off the sleeves the same way. Second, I'm making it smaller (although - tonight is the test - I have 1/2 inch done - If it's too big, I'm ripping it out again, and making it smaller yet). And, third? So, I can try it on - I'm knitting it all in one piece... knitting in the round is SO the way to knit clothes. So, I now have a half inch done on a sweater that I might actually wear someday. :-)

Pics to come!