stash, knit, repeat

You know what we’ve been missing around here? Baby pictures, that’s what.

Pattern: “Nessie”, from Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh

Yarn: Berroco Vintage Wool, in, uh, green and blue colors. *cough*

Time Elapsed: Mere days

Notes/Modifications: I didn’t really modify anything. The instructions for these toys are fiddly, but the results are worth it. The entire book is adorable and Jacob immediately demanded that I knit him “One of everything, starting with the praying mantis. No, spider. No, ant. No, spider. No, praying mantis. No, spider.”

Nessie is a gift for Ronan, our dear friends Stacy and Neil’s new baby. They live in San Jose, and since I knew Ronan would get all of older brother Asher’s old sweaters (including this one, by the way), a toy seemed more climate-appropriate. There was never any question that Ronan would receive a hand-knit: the whole family is a knitter’s dream in terms of hand-knit recipients.

Anyway, back to Nessie. Really, she’s adorable. As are all of the other patterns in the book.

The Vintage is great, as well. Very soft, nice halo, acts just like wool… but is machine-washable. Geniuses over there at Berroco, I tell you.

Since I don’t seem to have much more to say, how about a baby picture in closing?

That’s what we are around here, anyway. The same old stuff, just a different month.

I’m excited about my knitting, though. I’ve been obsessed with it since taking the hobby back up nearly 8 (!) years ago now, but the fiber arts have rarely been as fulfilling as in this last year. It’s so soul-renewing and rewarding to be truly creative in this way. Lots has been said, by those more eloquent than I, at the wonder and beauty of this particular online community. But I wanted to take a moment to say thank you, for being here, for your incredibly inspiring creative pursuits, for your comments, for your reception of Arm Candy.

I’m in the midst of my next (few) design(s), but when a baby came early recently a toy needed to be immediately produced. Since it’s still en route to the recipient, I won’t share details yet, but it’s pretty adorable. Since I can’t show you the toy, how about a peek at February’s design? The test knitters are nearing completion, and I hope to release the pattern in a couple of weeks.

Happy knitting!

Hi! Can we just pretend that it hasn’t been nearly a month since I last posted? That my knitting time hasn’t actually been eaten up by two adorable, variably-drooly little boys? Because I need your advice.

The knitting on tomten is finally finished, and it just needs a zipper to be truly jaunty. Photoshoot to come soon, I’m sure. With the knitting done, though, it was time for something else on the needles.

Enter the Chunky Cabled Sweater by Zoe Mellor, from “Adorable Knits for Tots”. It looks cute as pie in the book, and I had some Sublime Cashmerino Silk Aran in the stash that was suitable. Here’s the progress so far:

I like it, but here’s my question: Sometimes when I look at this sweater, it seems sort of busy. The back, front, and sleeves are all done in this cable and moss stitch motif. Is it too much? Should I make the back and/or sleeves simpler? If so, how? Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions?

Things may be looking up for the EZ knits, around here.

Pattern: Baby sweater on two needles, or the “February Baby Sweater”, Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock, “Gracious” colorway (from the first run of Magnolia Society)

Time Elapsed: This version of the sweater and booties set were knit in under a week.

Notes/Modifications: This is a sweater with a saga. In short: Since the pattern calls for dk-weight yarn, and gives no schematics, I was worried that a sweater knit in sock yarn would be too small. So I upped the sizing, and ran out of yarn.

I then ripped it out and re-knit as written, figuring it’d all work out. And it did–the sweater measures 18″ around, which is a fine size for your average 3-month-old girl. Knit as written, I had enough yarn left over for a pair of garter-stitch booties, too. While I may not have enjoyed getting to know my inner process knitter, I will admit it turned out okay in the end.

Now let’s just hope the wee one this is for stays “indoors” for another week or two!

Since neither of these projects took a full week to complete, it feels a little strange to do two separate FO posts. Thus!

Pattern: “Beret and Socks” from Debbie Bliss’ Baby Cashmerino 3 booklet

Yarn: Baby Cashmerino, in the recommended colors.

Time Elapsed: Something like 5 days? Ridiculously little.

Notes/Modifications: I wrote about the completely bizarre construction of these socks here, so I won’t repeat the whole saga for you. The conclusion is that unless you’re deathly afraid of dpns, I’d strongly recommend just knitting these socks in the usual way. Either way, the end product is likely to be darling.

I think I would recommend knitting the beret flat as written, just because the whole darn thing is garter stitch, which I find easier flat, and if you knit it flat you get to choose which side to make the RS. I preferred the subtler stripes of the “WS” of the work, but others may like their color changes more bold. Any way you do it, this is a super-quick, super-cute gift set. Four thumbs up!

*****

Of course, the entire time I was knitting the baby socks, Jacob asked if they were for him. It’s not like the kid has been shy about his love for hand-knit socks–he always gets a day or two with any pair I knit myself. What kind of a bad mother am I, not to have realized he wanted his own?

Pattern: Generic sock construction over 48 stitches.

Yarn: Leftover Lorna’s Laces from some socks I knit one of my mother-in-laws. I think the color was called Ravens-something-or-other?

Time Elapsed: Far too little for this to be my first pair for him

Notes/Modifications: Not much to say, here, since I wasn’t exactly following a pattern. I did 1×1 rib at the top, then 3×1 rib for most of the body of the sock.

I knit the heel until it looked right, and decreased the toe until it looked right, too. They’re a smidge long for him, maybe 1/8″, but since his feet are growing at such a crazy pace I decided to just leave it instead of ripping out and re-doing the toe shorter. Not that I’d be able to get them off his feet anyway–he’s worn them non-stop since I finished them. He even demanded that he wear them again today, to show his pre-school teacher. “With sandals, Mommy, so Miss Auburn can see them.”

You’d think, with all of that wearing, I’d have some good FO shots. Sadly, a toddler in motion remains in motion, so most of them are a variation on this:

(At least his feet are warm?)

Concluding the short parade of sweet little girl knits, I finished the baby beret/socks set for my colorist’s new little girl recently. I’ll do a separate FO post to keep my notes in one place, but I had to tell you about the way these little socks are constructed. Strangest. Things. Ever.

When finished, they look like normal socks. But they’re knit flat. (Recommendation to anyone doing these in the future? Just do them in the round. But my visualization skills are poor enough that I couldn’t get that from the pattern.)

After knitting down to where one would usually begin the heel flap, you begin half of the heel flap, and then turn half of the heel.

Knit back, and do the other half of the heel.

Pick up the gusset stitches as you usually would, except, you know, not in the round.

Knit flat, decreasing those gusset stitches, until you get to the toe decreases.

Weave the yarn through the remaining stitches and then seam up the back.

Now, these are for a 3-month old, so the seam inside isn’t as huge a deal, I guess, but I had to wonder while I was going through this little puzzle: Why on earth wouldn’t one just knit the sock in the round? It’s not like size 3 dpns are that unweidly. It’s a mystery, like picking up the picot cast-off stitches on the matinee coat. Next time, though, I’d just knit the socks in the usual way and save the seaming.

Of course, the whole 2 days I was knitting these socks Jacob was constantly asking if they were for him. I realized that while I’ve done sweaters and that one scarf for him and some booties when he was totally wee, I’ve never knit the kid a pair of socks. How terrible is that?!

Well, needless to say we went right up to the sock yarn leftovers bag and he picked something out that he really liked. Hence, April’s installment in the year of socks will be a much-overdue pair for a very impatient 2-year-old.

I still feel like I’m so behind, but now that our houseguests are gone and Passover is over and there’s no business travel on the horizon, I should be able to catch up!

…at least until we move (in mid-to-late June). Riiiight.

Anyway, some of the secret knitting has been gifted so now I can share with you all. One of the ladies in our knitting group just had her second child, so 5 of us got together and all knit strips of a baby blanket for her. I seamed them all together and edged them:

We knit the blanket out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, in the lovely purple color you see. I was worried about gauge issues until the end, but it all worked out just fine. I wrote the care instructions on a little card, wrapped it up, and it was all ready for C.!

She really seemed to love it, which was a huge sigh of relief.

Also, while the past month has been extremely busy and not always fun, today the mailman brought me something almost special enough to make me forget all of it:

The final installment of my current Seasons Club subscription. Yum, yum, and yum.

I’ll spare you any more stream-of-consciousness posting and go knit on my very first socks for Jacob, now. (!) Next up: A completed baby beret/sock set, and the weirdest sock construction ever.

Well, am I behind. Ahem.

Pattern: The Cable Tank Top by Debbie Bliss, from the Baby Cashmerino 3 pamphlet

Yarn: Baby Cashmerino, 2 balls indigo and 1 ball cream for the smallest size

Time Elapsed: Around a week? Each of the main pieces took only a day to knit.

Notes/Modifications: The only thing I changed was to shorten the armholes. The pattern calls for them to be knit in the same thick/thin stripe pattern as the neck and hem, and I thought that would be too bulky.

As usual, I find the boy patterns slightly less adorable than the girl patterns, but this is still pretty darn cute. It doesn’t seem to be as ridiculously over-sized as many of the baby patterns out there, so beware of that.

Not much to say about it, I guess. A cute, quick knit for a special little boy.

I have some secret knitting going on right now, but lucky for me I’ve also got a small backlog of FOs to share with you. In the “It’s kind of cruel that a knitter should have two boys” department, I present the matinee coat:

Pattern: Debbie Bliss’ Matinee Coat, from the first Baby Cashmerino pamphlet

Yarn: Baby Cashmerino, dusty rose, just over 3 balls for the smallest size

Time Elapsed: The knitting took less than a week, but it waited at least 2 for blocking and finishing.

Notes/Modifications: I changed nothing about this pattern. Given my track record with stupid knitting mistakes lately, that’s probably a good thing. Although now that I’ve done it, I should say that I think casting on in moss stitch and picking up the picot edge later seems a bit silly.

(Amelia did the sensible thing and just used a picot cast-on, and it looks great.)

The sweater has the usual collection of sweet-but-not-saccharine Debbie Bliss details, including the picot, the moss stitch, and the adorable little ribbon.

I made the coat for our babysitter’s daughter, but we haven’t seen her since the birth so I guess there’s a chance it will be gifted to the next person around me to have a girl! Jacob will admit that it’s cute, although he’s very excited to be getting a brother this summer.

Next up: A proper baby boy knit!

Business and super-secret life planning are likely to keep me super-busy for the next week, so please forgive me until I can sit in front of the computer for more than 10 minutes.

But until then:

Something just needs a ribbon, and

the postman is currently my favorite stranger, and

You should absolutely go make yourself some funny-shaped gingersnaps.

Hope you’re all well!