Tiny shorts

Just my basic set up. :) The yarn is Cascade 220 and fisherman's yarn. That yarn was donated to me and is the leftovers of the skein. The funny thing is that was my sister's yarn. She kool-aid dyed it one night (I was visiting and helped!) and then she ended up selling it. I have no idea how many people it went through but it ended up at my house. There is some blue streaks in there but they are pretty light. The yarn does dye your hands when you're knitting with it.

These are so soft and flexible! The yarn has more spring to it, for lack of a better term, than my other pairs. In comparison to these the others are stiff. There are soe wonky spots on the cuffs but more because I am a space cadet and don't know how to pay attention. :)

A couple more things knocked off!

Not off the list but at least they are off the needles. :)

First up is a play crown. The other day I was reading through my many blogs and saw mention of Knitting Daily so I went and checked it out and saw patterns I had forgotten about. One of which was this crown. I knew the wee lass would love it and I was right. :)

MODS/STATS:

size 8 needles (the pattern calls for 3's and 4's! )

recycled wool hand-dyed by me with Koolaid

i-cord bind off

When it came time to connect the points (I did the 1 large and 2 small as recommended for the girl version) and cast on the remaining stitches for the band I used this calculator to get an evenly spaced increase set up. The pattern says to do a knitted cast on for the first side and then the backward loop cast on for the second. I didn't like either of them especially since my yarn is soooo thick. So I joined the round and then increased. I also did fewer band rounds than the pattern said to. I probably should have done a couple more since it seems a tad short and the points don't stick up when she has it on. It's slightly snug but only because I chose the smallest band. it fits great though and she can get it on and off easily. I also did a small section of the band in stockinette. I like the look a lot. I do think I should have done it using the numbers for the girls band so that she could use it more. It went sooo fast though (a couple hours) that if the tot wants another it wouldn't be a big deal to do it again.

Up next is my version of Knitty. It was originally just some bedtime knitting. The husband has been gone for 10 days and as a result neither me or the gal have really slept very well. So once bedtime hit we'd turn on a movie in the bedroom and while she watched it and mellowed out for the evening I'd knit. Yesterday I decided she NEEDED to wear it today to the playgroup. So I started hauling ass and finished it up this morning at 2:36 (I know the exact time since I was telling myself knit solidly for x amount of minutes before checking my progess on my bind off) and when I was done weaving in ends it was 2:45. This morning I reinforced the ties and snipped ends and it was done! Definitely worth the lack of sleep finishing it up. :)

Stats:

Tatamy Tweed in Oatmeal and Lime (cotton/acrylic blend)

Size 2 (the smallest listed)

Mods:

Size 5 needles (called for 6)

Worked in the round

Ruffle is per the directions in my Picky Pants patternRuffle is attached via picked up stitches. I changed to my second color, did a purl round, knit one round, and then continued per the pattern (my decreases are different to take into account the 4 stitches minused when converted). Once everything was bound off I piccked up stitches using my purl row as my marker. I screwed up and was knitting the wrong direction so ended up with another row of purl. I turned around and knit 3 rounds before beginning the ruffle.Bind off is I-Cord bind off (it took me 2.5 hours!)Straps are crochet ties to allow for soem growth and to keep the fit. The chest on this sat really low when I used the straps recommended in the pattern. I think the girlie is just short torsoed so even though everything is the right length it's still long on her. Plus it helps keep her clothes on if she can't untie it. :)

I do have a more frontal shot but the bottom started curling. Here you can see more of the details though they aren't as up close as the ones on my camera. Vista is no longer compatible with my camera and until I can retrieve the pictures on there this is what you get. :) Once I get them off though I will post since I did get one of the top portion. I am very much in love with this and very very proud of it. My sister has asked for one for her wee little gal. :)

TWO fo's

Yeah, I know. A miracle in and of itself. :)

The first is a soap sack I made to match the balband washrag for my sister. Someone on MDC posted a free link to one and I actally have made two. The first one I followed the directions and after seaming decided it sucked. The pattern has dropped stitches which is fine and dandy but seeing as they are an entire row seaming looks sloppy. The pattern says to seam starting a stitch in from the edge but due to the nature of dropped stitches it just pulls funky. Disappointed in it I quickly cast on for the second. They don't take long at all and were great for using up the little bit of yarn leftover from the skein. The second one I tweaked a tad. Ok maybe more than a tad. I used all the numbers for the pattern and did it in the round. Each side (when done flat) was 15 stitches so I cast on my 30 and off I went. I did use some solid red to add some contrast. The first one I didn't use any red and it looked....off. This is where I started tweaing. The pattern said to knit 4 rows stockinette, the set up row for the dropped stitches, a purl (or knit since it was in the round) row, and then do it all over again. The flat version I ended up with 6 sections of the dropped stitches. While it didn't look bad I wanted something more solid looking. So in my tweaked version I did 8 rows of stockinette between the first and second set of dropped stitches and only 6 after the second set. I do think I should have gone for one more since only two sets look off but all in all it's cute. My sister likes it. I frogged the first one and am redoing it. Once it's all done and ends are woven in I just need to add drawstrings and off they go! I am hoping I will have a tiny bit of the original yarn to make the drawstrings with since I will be using the solid red on this one as well. I doubt it but it would be nice.

It's funny how changing your stitch count and stitch pattern results in a different look for the yarn. This is not nearly as patriotic as the washrag which makes me happy. Not that it matters. :)

The second FO is my first every Curly Purly soaker. Not sure I like the pattern. It's written as if parts of a conversation are missing...you know how you feel lost coming into a conversation and while you can pick up whats going on all those details from the beginning would make it less vauge? That's what this was like for me. Add in that I have never done a soaker and I had a hard time. I frogged the back three times before getting it right and the front ended up being WAY too long despite following directions. Luckily between the brain power of a friend and myself we were able to figure it out and get things squared away. It still looks crazy insanely small to me but when i compared it to my Picky Pants that are newborn sized as well it all matches up. I asked a gal I know to bring hers to the next playgroup though so I can compare. The friend who helped me last night (I started this days ago but she was unable to come over and help me out until tonight so it sat until late yesterday evening) couldn't remember what hers looked like at various points during the knitting of one she did so it was a big guessing game. I think we got it though.

This picture does not do it justice. Looks very uneven for some reason. I used 5's, 6's, and 8's. The solid is dark brown Cascade 220 and the body is Classic Elite Yarns Beatrice in color 3253. I love this yarn. The wee one has a pilot cap in the same combo. Nice and thick even if it is spun poorly/loosely. Newborn size with 1x1 ribbing on size 5's for the cuffs with an I-cord bind off/finish. I think I'll make more but am unsure at this point. I like the soaker and can't wait to see what it looks like a real person but I'm a bit put off at the trouble I had making it. The pattern itself is not hard, I think it had more to do with my lack of soaker making. Pants and shorts are easier on my brain for some reason. :)

And because I needed to see how it fit here it is being modeled. :) The doll has a pull tail that activates a music unit in his gut. It has some junk in its trunk and it seems to fit fine which is a relief. But dolls are built different than humans so we shall see. :)

I do wish I had started the bodyyarn sooner though. I wasn't sure how much the pattern would use and since the yarn is thick but the ball is small I was unsure of how much I actually had. I like the solids of my wasitbands longer to begin with it but it's a slight dissapointment that I don't have more of the lovely body yarn to show off.

Nothing major

Just a list.

* finish purple socks
* frog back and restart blue socks
* make 2 more longies/shorties and begin the 4 soakers/wraps
* begin kimono tops
* finish second ballband washrag

There are so many more things I want to work on right now and will likely start since I'm a bad knitter. However, this is my main list for now. I really need to get a move on. I've been feeling so motivated and actually felt like I was making progress. Yet when I do a quick inventory of it all I'm not that much further ahead. I am really wanting to get started on some things for the wee one, like the kaftan in my Debbie Bliss book. I have a hard time with knitting time management. :)

Another knitting deadline avoidance FO

In true fashion I cast on for something in order to avoid the knitting glaring at me. I have been wanting to do a washrag but misplaced a pattern I was wanting to try. So the other night I grabbed some cotton my sister gave me with the intent of actually making her washrag(s) she asked for. Oh almost a year ago. Yup. True slacker. I decided to get over my initial lack of desire to try the ball band washrag and make it. I have this habit of avoiding (sometimes very aggressivly) anything that is picked up by general masses as great. Whether that be a clothing style, movie, music, food. I'd rather come to the love of the item myself without being part of the herd. Silly, yes I know.

Stats:

size 8 needles (instead of the size 7's listed)

Peaches and Cream (?) cotton yarn- my sister grabbed a bunch of skeins of this from her tiny little "dollar store" wanna be in her tiny town. I no longer have the band for the yarn so I can't be for sure.

Mods: I only completed 11 of the 13 strips. I am not a fan of long/larger washrags and I know my sister is the same way. This is the perfect size.

I only used one yarn. Not a big fan of the multicolored ones (though they are lovely and they do inspire me to knit washrags), plus the yarn is multicolored and I was worried about the visual assault.

I have a tiny bit left over and despite what I said above the picture will use two colors. I split the remaining yarn into two smalls balls and will use them for the ends. I'll use a solid red in the center. In the skein the yarn looked less patriotic and more nautical. Once knit though that changed. She says she doesn't care since she is jsut a fan of knit washrags period. My grandma used to make her them all year round. Since getting older though she isn't able to and my sister is feeling a lack of washrag love. Hopefully these do it for her.

Another FO! Oh my!

Are you totally amazed? :)

These actually have been waiting to be finished for days now. Just wasn't feeling the love and therefore didn't want to finish them.

Stats:

Waist is 1x1 ribbing

Black yarn is Cascade 220

Backside increases only

Body yarn....ummmm...it's supposed to be Punk Rock Girl but it's very unlike the other versions of the colorway I've seen. It was donated and only a bit of it was used since the giftee needed something she could switch around with one girland two boys. Not sure what kind of yarn.

Cuffs are garter stitch with I-Cord bind off.

The stitch counts are newborn but the lengths of things are closer to smalls.

A finished sock..

that I'm actually happy with! After much battling with another yarn and other patterns I decided to go it alone. I grabbed some lovely Art yarns superwash from the stash and decided to make up my own pattern. Is it revolutionary? No. Is it fabulous much like Cookie's? Nope. Is it simple and lovely all the same? Absolutely.

I won't give specifics yet since these are not for me. Sadly this is the best picture I could get. VERY hard to even see the pattern up top and the color is washed out in a bizzare way. Off the foot....well it leaves much to be desired. :) I hope the giftee likes it (them). Her foot is slightly larger than mine and I hope it fits her as well as it did me. I'm worried it might be a tad snug. I've had so many issues fit wise that I really hope that's not the case. Must not think about it!