Duckies!

Not quite done yet, and certainly unblocked, but you get an idea of what they look like.  This is the bottom of the sleep sack front.  And one more:

The front tapers up in an a-line from the bottom and is split in the center for the zipper.

That's what I was up to this weekend.  Trying out my new EZ-Bobs, which work so well, I ordered more in a smaller size.  I didn't really need the larger ones, but I wasn't sure.  Color work is fun when you don't have skeins of yarn tangling in the back!  The EZ-Bobs are round so they slide off each other and don't tangle like the old-fashioned rectangular yarn holders.  I had to use both because I didn't have enough EZ-Bobs.  Soon that won't be a problem.

I have decided to line the sleep sack with some really cute cotton fabric, so baby's toes don't snag on the knitting.  Something washable and soft.  Should I consider fleece?  Or would that be to warm?  What about cotton jersey?  That would stretch like the knitting...What do you think?

Happy Knitting!

New Project

 I'd love to show you my new knitting project, but I don't have a picture until I finish it.  Above are the supplies for said project.  Some of the softest merino yarn I've ever felt, perfect for baby clothes!  And some E-Z Bobs, below:

E-Z Bobs are the perfect tool for intarsia.  I'll be knitting yellow duckies, so I'll wrap enough yellow for each ducky around an E-Z Bob and the plastic device helps keep me from swearing long and hard as I untangle my yarn with each row.  This way the yarn stays with the intarsia site and doesn't tangle-or so the theory goes.  We'll see if they work.  The duckies aren't huge, but they are about 4x4 inches, so I got the large ones. 

I can tell you this.  It's going to be a sleep sack for a baby, with a front zipper.  You'll just have to watch it grow.

Since this is rather boy-colored, I also have a girl project in the works, if I can find the right yarn.  I need several colors for the yoke of the sweater and beads too.  It's a beauty, but I didn't design it.  Debbie Bliss did.

And I think I may have found a good yarn for the Rowan Gansy.  We'll see if Andy likes the color.

Happy Knitting!

Wrangling the Dragon

I have finished the new Dragon Hat for Andy, all except sewing up the brim:

As usual, my pictures suck, but you get the idea.  I wish I was a better photographer, but people in Hell want ice water, too...

Moving on is the issue today.  What's next?  I don't have the yarn for the baby gift project yet, nor do I know what sex I'm knitting for until just before Spring Break.  I have a sock project on the needles, but I need to wait until after Sock Summit on Thursday night to know what I'm doing with those.  So I need a new project.

I thought about doing an entrelac beret.  I thought about doing the Rose Scarf Collar.  I'm leaning toward a pair of socks for me, me, me.  Something colorful and fun with some two color stranded knitting.  I'm going to have to do a template for the stranded knitting. Hmmm....

I also downloaded a gansy sweater from Rowan today that I think would look great on Andy.  Now if I can just find enough grey or orange soft yarn to make it with.  I'd like to do it in cotton/linen like the original sweater and KnitPicks has some nice CotLin that would work, I think.  It's DK weight, but very close to gauge.  Maybe I could go up a size...I'll have to do the math. (AACK!) I don't want to spend a fortune on this sweater, but 1980 yards is a lot of yarn.

Less than three weeks to go until I sojourn to the great state of Maryland for my spring Knit Out in the land of sheep and wool.  I hear Peter Lynn is sporting a naked face for the first time in thirty years....not to imply he's old or anything.  I'm sure the change has just revealed his natural youth and vigor.  Can't wait to see it!

Happy Knitting!

In stitches

I've just been blissfully knitting away on this:

It's the lower half of Andy's new dragon hat.  I did the dragons in black because I don't have a full skein of the black.  I have plenty of the red, so it made a better background color.  I love this kind of knitting.  Two color stranded knitting is easy and fun and produces such impressive looking results.  I do cheat and use a multi-strand guide (the purple thingie) on my throwing finger.  It makes wrapping the right color almost intuitive.  If you haven't done two color stranded knitting, consider it.

I also ordered the yarn for a new project.  I found a lovely, affordable extra fine merino wool in light worsted weight that is perfect for a baby gift I'm designing.  It has intarsia duckies on it.  I love duckies. Yellow duckies, too, with dusty purple beaks and eyes and feet.  I like using merino because it's washable and yet so soft.  Plus it has a the lovely to knit qualities of wool.  I thought about using a cotton yarn, but they don't wash as well.

I also thought about buying some sock blockers.  Sock blockers are a funny thing.  You can get away with not buying sock blockers, but they are great to dry your socks on, especially the ones with hanger tops.  Only problem is, I'm usually drying three or four pair at a time, and sock blockers start at $16 a pair.  They last forever, but...like I said, it doesn't really matter if you don't have them, unless you are taking pictures of your socks for a book or a blog.  I passed on the sock blockers.  I'd just rather spend the $16 on yarn, I guess.

Happy Knitting!

Finishing Weekend

Ever have one of those days when things all seem to come together?  I had a weekend like that, knitting wise.  I finished the LFC Baby sweater:

Complete with the cutest bear buttons you ever did see!

I also completed Meg's black gloves.  Knitting from a hand tracing totally worked!  They seem to fit fine.  I sent them to her Sunday morning, of course forgetting to take pictures.  They were just plain black gloves.  The only interesting thing about them was the fit.

I needed a new project, since Teryn hasn't told me what she and her significant other are having yet, so when Andy reminded me that his dragon hat was too small, I rummaged through the stash for some worsted weight yarn and started a new dragon hat for him.  That's what I worked on when BlondKnitter came over last night.  We watched Law and Order:SVU reruns and knitted for a while.

SO, I'm not done with red and black yet...but I'm thinking of a very colorful baby blanket for Teryn's baby.  Maybe a quilting motif, like a crazy quilt, only knitted and embroidered.  It could be a monster of a project, but it is only a baby blanket.  I have tons of sock yarn remnants that are very colorful...hmm.  Maybe worsted would be less of a chore, though.  I think I see a trip to the yarn store in my future.  Something in soft purples, blues, pinks, yellows, and greens.  Soft as in to the touch.  The colors should be primary or royal.  I wish I could just sew a quilt, but my eyes won't allow it.  All those little stitches have to be in just the right place.  It gives me a headache just thinking about it.  No, I'll stick to knitting.

Maybe I'll run the crazy pattern by the blog later on.

Happy Knitting!

It's working!

Meg was home last night and she tried on the first finished glove knit from a drawing of her hands.  I did the "difficult" right hand first, the one that's a little non-standard and gives her trouble buying gloves.  It fits!  I'm so happy!  This morning I started on the left glove cuff.

I also finished the collar of the LFC Baby sweater.  Now I have the duplicate stitching to do and the buttons to put on, and then I'll take pictures for the blog.  It's not bad.  Just a boring boy sweater, but not bad.

At the rate I'm going, I'll need to figure out what I'm knitting for Teryn's polywog, although they don't yet know what they're having, so I may wait on that project.  In that case, I need a new project waiting in the wings.  Something colorful, to beat the winter blahs. Ideas?  I am SO tired of red and black...

Happy Knitting!

Sweater in Progress

Here are some photos of the LFC Baby Sweater in progress.  I still have the neckline to do and the duplicate stitching on the front.  I decided to go with spelling out Lake Forest College, mainly because I have the room.

The pictures are horrible, but that is nothing new for this blog.  I will never be a great photographer.  When I'm rich, I'll hire the photos done.

I also haven't put on the buttons yet.  Still, it's getting there.  The sewing up was relatively painless, and I hate the sewing part. You have to be able to see for sewing.  And this project is, like too many I do, black in color and therefore hard to see.

In other knitting progress, I'm on the ring finger of Meg's gloves, but I realized about 3 am this morning that I had dropped a stitch down at the base of the finger, so I get to rrrrip it out and start over.  Other than the mistakes, like trying to knit the left hand pattern on the right hand glove (rrrrip!), it's going fairly well.  The proof will be in the trying on.  If I can do this and actually knit gloves that fit from a drawing of a hand, it'll be way cool.  If not, well, rrrrrrrip!

Happy Knitting!

Black Bear Buttons

They're here!  I got the buttons yesterday, about the same time as I finished the last piece of the LFC baby sweater, which desperately needs a better name.  Tonight I will block the sweater and then sew up the seams over the weekend.  I should have pics by Monday!

Today I am sans knitting.  I didn't have time to hunt up my next project, which is a pair of gloves for my daughter.  I took a tracing of her hands and will try to fit them to the drawing.  She has small hands with long fingers that begin in unusual places, so if I can do this, it will be great.  Right now I'm thinking black and another color, possible a silver grey, two color stranded knitting.  I have a pattern that I think might work.  I'd like to add a splash of color with a third color, something like red.  Something bright. Maybe blue.

Anyway, on Monday hopefully I'll have pics of the baby sweater and we can name it then.

Happy Knitting!