Baby Knitting

Just a little knitting lately - for babies.  Today I finished and gave away hats to a friend who has just had a daughter and already has a son.  The hats came out really well and were stash/scrap hats which is such a satisfying gift.  Sadly I didn't take pictures before gifting them.  One of them was my own design.  The other was the very, very cute Gooseberry Hat (Ravelry Link) by Suvi Simola.  I'll definitely make more of these.

A Picture Paints No Words

Cousins

We just got back from our Family Ski Trip.  It's an annual family reunion of 30-40 people who love to ski and hang out.  Each year there's a little something fun and quirky.  Sometimes there's a holiday like St. Patrick's Day or Easter and there's always something fun to do with that.  This year we knew the weather would be warm so one of the cousins brought lei's for everyone to wear skiing.  I've been croknitting those hats (see The Post with No Title) and they go very quickly so I got the harebrained idea that I should knit hats for everyone for next year's ski trip.  I figure I have a year to come up with 40 or so various hats for ages 5-75 and for both men and women.  I'm not under the false impression that everyone will wear a hat but I think it would be very fun to have a bunch of fun hats for people to choose from.  The lady cousins loved the croknitted hats so I'll do some of those and it will be lots of fun to come up with ideas.  40 hats in 52 weeks - am I nuts or is this fun!

 

Can't you see fun hats next year?

The 80º Scarf

I work with an amazing, level headed, fun, beautiful woman and I've wanted to knit something for her for some time.  I wanted to make her a scarf because she works out on the playground and we live in the northeast - it gets COLD.  But not this March!  Sometimes we get major snow storms in March and plenty of cold weather but when I finished this scarf last week it was 80º!  I gave it to her anyway figuring she can put it away for next year if it never gets cold enough during this school year.  The colors in this scarf will match her blue eyes and go great with her skin and hair.

The pattern is Chevron Scarf by Joelle Hoverson from Last Minute Knitted Gifts with a crocheted edging.

Bracelets

This weekend has been all about the wrap bracelets - out of braided ribbon yarn, i-cord cotton string and crocheted ribbon yarns.  Some have extra beading sewn on.  I love hand sewing almost as much as I love knitting.  It's very soothing and beautiful to watch the beads adorn the bracelets.

And also St. Patty's day.  Not that we're Irish but 29 years ago my husband met me for our first date.  It wasn't a blind date but it had been arranged.  He was wearing a green plastic hat and carrying a green carnation.   It was one of the best days in my life. 

Here's to 29 more!

Spring Homework

The kids are loving the spring weather.

Homework on the swingset.

I'm working away on an out of season scarf for a friend and a lightweight cardi out of sock yarn for myself.  Warm weather can't stop the knitting!

The Post With No Title

I've been knitting hats.
Lion Brand Homespun. Garter brims. Crocheted Crowns.
There's a third, plain blue hat, but my daughter wore it to bed so no pic.

Favorite Stitch

Do you have a favorite knitting or crochet stitch?  Do you have a go to stitch or one that you just love to create, design with, and wear?  Debbie Bliss seems to have a thing for seed stitch.  Elizabeth Zimmerman was a fan of garter stitch.  I'm no Debbie or Elizabeth but I do have a favorite stitch and it's this . . .

K1, yo, K2tog

It's sort of a ribbed faggot stitch although I think technically the faggot stitch is ssp but one of the reasons I love this stitch so much is that it's so soothing to actually knit it and k2tog is smoother than the purl.

And I love the product.  It's light an airy but has enough structure to hold up.  I use it for scarves mostly and to date have knit at least 10 projects using this stitch.

Do you have a favorite stitch?

The Yarn Speaks

That yarn that jumped out of my stash and spoke to me the other day spoke well, very well indeed.















I might be madly in love with this scarf.  It's very loosely based on a scrap yarn shawl I found on Pinterest.  I really love the single red stripe.  The shawl on pinterest had a small gauge but several row deep crocheted edging on it which was fabulous and I had planned to add an edging like that to this scarf but I like it enough now that I'm afraid if I mess with it I won't like it so much later.  I sort of want to keep it and I sort of want to give it to a friend of mine who found out this week that she's getting laid off at the end of the school year and it's going to be really, really tough for her and her family.  My heart goes out to her.  Lots of us are getting laid off but her situation is worse than some of the rest of us.  When things go badly for my friends I can give them hugs and kind words but so often I find that I give them knitting.  It's what I know how to do and it gives me comfort and I can only hope that it gives them comfort too.  I hope they know that when they wear something I've knit for them they're wearing my good wishes and love, my respect for them and my caring.  A scarf is a small thing but the intentions knit into it are large.

Derailed by the Stash

With a rather large number of WIPs right now I made the mistake, head cold and all, of looking at my stash tonight just before going to bed and all of a sudden 3 oddball skeins of black/grey yarn looked right back out at me and asked their friend red and black to join them and be knit into a lengthwise striped scarf.

Who am I to deny a yarn its destiny?
Here's a crappy picture of the yarn that couldn't wait any longer to be knit even though I have a dumb number of projects started right now anyway.

Check out the beautiful quilt the yarn is laying on. My Mom made it for us. She's amazing.