Hello!

Hi! How are you all doing? I'm doing well myself. Sorry gals but I lost my knitting and knitting blogging mojo for a while. I don't knit as fast as some of you, and I always felt I had to blog a novella every time. But Suzy Girl was kind enough to point out, that a few words here and there are all that is needed. A weekly hello would suffice. And she is so right.

So without further ado, here are two little book marks I knitted up recently:

First one was for a book blogger friend of mine Marcia from The Printed Page.

And the second is for me:

Not sure how well these will work, but I had this beautiful left over sock yarn I wanted to use. What else could I have done with it? That sock yarn log cabin blanket is never going to get made. Lets face it.

So that's it for now. I'll see you all next week. Happy Knitting!

P.S.

Barbara, I know I said Sunday for my post, but since Susan posted I decided to wait until Monday. Thanks for giving me another friendly kick.

Buttons!!

Well, I tackled a long overdue chore yesterday and got my button sewing done so I finally have some projects that are now officially OTN and FO. I don't know why I procrastinated so long on getting these buttons sewn on. Once I got started it didn't take that long. But in my defense, I had a hard time finding really cute buttons. Who knew cute buttons were so hard to find.

So anyway, here's how I spent Saturday afternoon.....

Sewing on plain, tiny blue buttons for the Little Boy Blue Sweater for my grandbaby.

Pattern: DROPS b17-23 (used this for the sweater and hat)
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun - Superwash Sock Yarn
Needles:Size 1, 3, 4, us
I couldn't find a top down pattern for the sock weight yarn so I ended up using this pattern from Drops Design. This was knit from the bottom up, a first for me. Drops has a ton of free patterns on their website.. a great resource but I didn't like the decrease technique in the yoke area. It's a newborn size so I don't expect he'll get to wear it too often. His next sweater will be a top down and I will find cute buttons.

Still sewing... this time little pink buttons for a coworker who is expecting a baby girl.

Pattern: Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy (the Knitting Pure and Simple lady)
Yarn: Berrocco Comfort
Needles:Size 7us
This is a really nice quick and easy pattern. The buttons are little flower shapes but you can't really tell that from the picture.

And finally... buttons for a collection of bibs knit for my daughter. I started these early in her pregnancy. I was itching to knit for the baby but at that point we hadn't found out the baby was a boy. The colors are awfully bright and I probably wouldn't have chosen them if I had waited and known "he" was a "he". But if they catch food dribbles then I guess they've served their purpose.

Pattern: Baby Bib O' Love by Kay Gardiner and Anne Shayne from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Lion Cotton-Ease
Needles: Size us 6

And to complete my baby knitting... the sheep hat is done. In fact, I made two. I had enough yarn to make little thumb-less mittens and a second hat for a friend of my daughter's who is also having a baby boy.

Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Superwash Merino DK Weight dyed with Wilton's food colorings.
Needles: Size 6 us
The original pattern was made with 64 stitches, which seemed a bit small, so I reworked the hat a couple of times and finally settled on adding 20 stitches to the original chart, keeping the same number of sheep, for a final cast on of 84 stitches and used a 2x2 rib rather than the rolled brim.

Now we just have to wait for baby to make his arrival.

Happy Knitting!

Rock Star in the House

Today I drove out to Lancaster County with my son and grandson to take a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas could probably take over the world if he wanted to. He's the best thing since sliced bread. He is a rock star. Kids love him, parents love him.. even Grandmom loves Thomas.

My grandson is a huge train enthusiast. He loves them all... steam engines, diesels, passenger, freight... you name it. He's fascinated by all things trains. And he's a big Thomas fan.

So when we found out that the Strasburg Railroad was hosting a "Day Out with Thomas" event we couldn't pass up the opportunity even though the weather forecast for today was a bit hit or miss. We got rained on once and had to take cover in one of the food tents, but all in all it was a terrific day.

Lancaster is an interesting area, known best I guess, for it's large Amish population. It had been several years since I had been out that way and I'd forgotten how pretty it is in the summer. Thomas pulled beautiful restored railway cars through some picturesque farmland (that's tobacco growing) and some interesting crossroads (buggy rides by an enterprising Amish gentleman).






So I don't expect to get too much knitting done this weekend but the little guy had fun so there's always tomorrow.
Now, if I can just find the time to sew on some buttons I may have a few FO's to share next time.

Happy Knitting!

Hey Baby!!

Hello and "Happy End of May" from Winston Cooper and me. June 1st tomorrow! I can't believe the time has just slipped away. Hopefully Jenny Girl and I will be blogging more often soon. But in the meantime I thought I'd do a quick update.

It's been a busy spring, we've both been busy with work and life in general, but there has been knitting. And I know Jen is enjoying her book blog, so if you like to read as well, go visit her over there.

My main knitting focus this spring has been baby knits. I have a new grandbaby on the way so it's been all baby all the time for me.

Every baby needs a blanket.



Pattern: Baby Blocks by Ann Norling (it's from one of the Debbie Macomber books)
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Superwash Merino Worsted Weight
Amount: 6 skeins
Needles: Size 8 us

And a warm sweater, hat and socks... even one born in August??




Pattern: DROPS b17-23 (used this for the sweater and hat)
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun - Superwash Sock Yarn
Needles:Size 1, 3, 4, us
I picked this sock yarn up last year at MDSW and assumed it would become socks but I decided to use it for the baby. The soon to be parents had some fun times kicking around Brooklyn with friends while dating and engaged so it seemed like it was meant to be their baby boy's sweater.

And of course, a baby sheep hat! I love this pattern and was so glad DD did too.



Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Superwash Merino DK Weight dyed with Wilton's and the black will be Knit Picks Swish DK in coal.
Needles: Size 6 us

Now, SIL, he hasn't seen it yet. He might not want his son running around in a baby sheep hat but he does like the Converse booties, so I'm planning on making those as well.

And on a personal knitting note, sadly, Vienne has been finished but will never be worn. I'll be frogging it and re-purposing the yarn. After blocking, the V is much too deep and wide for me. It slips off my shoulders!! Ughhh!!


Happy Knitting!!

Jenny's pink Mr Greenjeans

I fell in love with Susan's version (Rav link) of Mr. Greenjeans , so being the copycat that I am, I just had to make one for myself. This baby has been percolating on the needles since the beginning of December. Here is a close up of the cable section:

The yarn is Moda Dea Silk-n-Wool blend (Rav link) and size 8 needles. The yarn is very nice to work with, and the pattern is super easy to follow. Top down construction and no seams. Yea! I did not change needle sizes on the bottom cable section as per the pattern. The cables pull in enough, without using a smaller needle. All I have left is both sleeves and the ribbing, which I'm doing now. Obviously this picture was taken a while ago.

Now if only I didn't have to work for a living and could knit all day.....

TTFN!

Bonsoir Mes Amis

I know, it's corny but I couldn't think of another way to start this post about my current WIP. It's Vienne, a free sweater pattern by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes which is available on the Knitting Daily site. Kristeen has a new book out, called French Girl Knits. So it seemed appropriate to dust off my high school french.

This started out as a KAL, but I'm not going to point fingers (or knitting needles) at any fellow knitters who left me knitting all by myself. I don't mind being abandoned. But now our plan for the three of us to wear our matching, spring sweaters on the same day and parade around the Drexel campus will never be.

I'm using Plymouth Royal Silk Merino in a kind of pale robin's egg blue. It's a really nice yarn. I got it on sale at Webs. Very nice to knit with.


This sweater uses an interesting technique, new to me. It's knit from the top down but starts out with a provisional cast. The left shoulder is knit from the top of the shoulder down, (front and back) and then the right shoulder is done the same way, with stitches for the sleeve cap picked up. There's a nice little lace pattern to keep it interesting. The two sides are then joined and it's knit in the round for the lower body.

I've made a little bit more progress since this photo was taken (by moi). The body is just about done and I'm ready to start the sleeves.


And as much as I want to sit and knit sleeves, I just got back from Borders. I bought Kristeen's book. It's a very pretty book, lot's of very pretty, french girl patterns. I also bought Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits. I'll be curled up on the sofa in 'new knitting book' heaven. The sleeves might have to wait for tomorrow. That is, if I can get Winston to move over and share the sofa.

Knitting my way toward Spring

Even though we got dumped on earlier in the week, it's March, and that means thoughts are turning toward Spring. After all, the Philadelphia Flower Show is in town this week and that's a sure sign of Spring. And this weekend, the weather forecast... 60's Saturday and Sunday!!! See ya' later snow!

So before winter slinks away (I hope I'm not putting a jinx on us Philly for one last blast) I thought I'd share a couple of recent cold weather FO's. I really enjoy knitting winter paraphernalia. I made several hats, some mittens, cowls and gloves and still have some projects in my queue that I'd like to knit but they'll have to wait for next year.

I knit two and half pair of gloves this winter. The last pair I finished are the Knotty Gloves (ravelry link). It's a well written pattern with some nice cable work at the wrist. My photo of the finished gloves doesn't really capture the detail as well as the second photo of them in progress.




Needle: US 2
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks 4 Ply
Amount: A little less than 2 skeins
Colorway: Flax

I'm determined to knit more gloves for next winter. A small portable project - great for train knitting. And I like the various possibilities of patterns and colors. Like socks for your hands. This pair isn't exactly perfect but I enjoy wearing them.

My recently finished Cozy Cropped Cardi...
Pattern: Cropped Raglan Sweater by Lion (ravelry link)
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia in the Blue Nile colorway
Amount: 5 skeins - 870 yds. down to the last couple of yards
Needles: US 8



I love the Peruvia... it blocked really nice and soft. It's a very cozy little cardi and I'm going to wear it often until the weather forces me to put it away.

So what kind of projects will Spring bring? I've got a "springy" sweater on the needles. I'll try to get a real honest to goodness WIP post up about that next time. I'm planning on a lace KAL for some summer knitting. And socks are always good for warm weather knitting. You don't think I'm getting ahead of myself do you?? It is March after all.