The Last of the 2013 Knitting

I have been such a slacker on keeping up with my blogs. My excuse is that I've been suffering from insomnia, or a version of it, since shortly after the kids started school. Everyday is like living through a fog. I'm tired, forgetful, and very sad. A lovey mix.

 

So, the knitting has been very slow going. I have almost no concentration and I easily forget what I'm doing. I've decided to put up the pictures of everything that did get done. My list of things that still need to be started is gigantic. I owe three different birthday gifts and two Christmas gifts. Yippee!

 First up is Gaskell. I love this pattern. Great for when your attention has to be divided by tv or children. I knit this back in April (?) and I believe it is knit from side to side with the ruffle knitted with short rows as you go. I want to make another one, but this time I would use a bulkier weight yarn. Plus, it can be made to any size. The yarn used was Fantasy by Dark Horse Yarns. 

 For Kaye's, my sister-in-law, birthday I made her Hermione's Everyday Socks. Very cute socks, although I think I messed up the heel and ended up using a different heel from another pattern. I won't swear to this since I made these back in May. Yarn used was CoBaSi by Hikoo by Skacel Collection.

 Ah, Betsey. I love this pattern and would make dozens more. However, I would NOT use this yarn again. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. Not a bad yarn exactly, but a terrible choice fort his pattern. And I HATE the colors together. Betsey is another pattern that I cannot wait to make again. Different yarn and color choices, obviously.

 Another pair of socks for me! Used the How I Make My Socks pattern again. Yarn is Happy Feet from Plymouth Yarn.

 Birthday socks for my brother, Peter. Pattern is Basic Ribbed Socks. He wears a size 15 shoe. These socks took a bit longer to make and I wanted the stripes to match up as much as possible. Yarn is Felici from Knit Picks in the colorway Building Blocks. I love the Felici yarn. I would buy every colorway. What can I say? I am charmed by self-striping yarn.

 These slippers have a sad story associated with them. They are the Options Slippers for Men. They were made for a family friend that passed away shortly after receiving them. I recommend the pattern. I used the suggested idea of putting the rubber goop on the bottoms.

 Hat time for the kids again! We have been big into The Avengers and Shield here. Henry wanted a hat with the Shield insignia on it. I used a basic hat pattern and added in the Shield Insignia.  

Irene got the Heart version of the Spider Boy-Lover Girl hat pattern.

 

Not pictured is the 6 placemats I made my Dad for Christmas. He asked for them to match the coasters I made him last year. I forgot to take a picture of those last year, too. Also missing a picture is Gavin's hat. Once again he wanted a Dinosaur hat. No problem, but the size I made is just a bit too small so I am going to make him another. And he wants a Captain America hat because Captain America is his favorite. I've also got an almost finished cardigan for me that is just waiting for sleeves. I really need to get on it. Oh, and I have a pair of not quite finished birthday socks for my dad. Yeah, I really need to get with it.

 

As for knitting goals for 2014, I would like to finish all the stuff I didn't get done in 2013. I also want to make an afghan from a beautiful circular shawl pattern. I'd also like to make Gaskell and Betsey again and do the projects that I already have yarn for. I am dreaming big!! 

Ice Cream Sundae

 The Ice Cream Sundae shrug by Dani Sunshine just became available on Ravelry. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make one for Irene. The pattern was made available for purchase on the 14th. I bought it and set about getting it started. Irene had school pictures being taken on the 23rd so I knew I had to get it finished and blocked before then.

 I used Cascade Yarns Sateen for this project. One skein of pink and one skein of yellow was all that was needed. I found two pretty flower shaped buttons at JoAnn's.

 The yarn likes to split a bit if you don't pay attention, otherwise it is a very soft yarn and knits up beautifully. The pattern is well written and was very easy to follow. It was a fast knit. The only thing I didn't like about it was the short rows in the front and that was only because I don't like how mine turned out. I can see them and it bothers me.

It is a very pretty project that is quick, easy and fun to knit. Irene wore hers for picture day. I can't wait to see how they turned out!

I Must Like Knitting Baby Things...

When I started to go crazy knitting all those butterflies for the yarn bombing project I took a few days off and knit this baby sweater. It is the Room to Grow Baby Sweater by Laura Marconi-Cox. Such a simple and quick knit with an end result that is cute and perfect for baby.

It is knitted flat starting at the end of the sleeve and worked across until the end of the second sleeve. All garter stitch with simple increasing and decreasing. The neck is extra wide which makes it easy to get on wiggly babies. A small chain of crochet is used to wrap around the buttons to close the neck.

I added two rows of yellow followed by a row each of pink and blue to the sleeves. All that garter stitch is stretchy and makes this sweater perfect for when the weather quickly gets cold and baby needs added warmth. The size is 0-3 months, but I think it would stretch to fit a larger baby.

A quick, cute, and pleasing project!

More Yarn Bombing

 The kids and I took a walk this afternoon and checked out the other yarn bombings. Here are just a small sample of what we saw.

 Cute butterflies and flowers. Even a lace ruffle at the bottom.

 I like this one, a mosaic tile or stain glass window effect.

 The kids said these looked liked cocoons.

 Granny squares!

 This one looks like water and has a fish on the side. Rather appropriate since this tree is on the bridge over the Flat River.

 The variety store got into the act with 'push' covers for the doors.

 These two trees were done by a church group. The clothesline has mittens and hats on it. Very cute!

 And a couple more pictures of my tree :-)

Yarn Bombing!

 A month and a half ago the LowellArts! group decided to host a yarn bombing of the trees on Main Street. You got to pick one of the 23 trees along Main and knit or crochet something to go on it. All projects had to be ready to go up on Tuesday night between 7 and 9pm.  The yarn bombing would be up and ready to go for the River Walk Festival that Lowell has every second week in July.

 I saw the announcement on Facebook and decided to participate. At first, I had a rather elaborate plan for my tree. Then I thought about what I would be able to carry off in that amount of time while dealing with 3 kids on summer break. Scaling back was needed. I went with the idea of butterflies. I could make them multiple colors and each one was small enough to be portable. Once I had enough butterflies I started on the background. Basically a large afghan knitted in super bulky weight yarn on size 17 needles. It went quite quickly! I spent two days sewing the butterflies onto it. I also managed to cut my finger rather deeply with my super sharp scissors.

 Once my mother-in-law found out what I was doing she wanted to lend a hand. I regret not asking her to join me in the original plan. She was excited about it. She asked her sister, Mary, to help. Tuesday night we gathered at the tree and Mary used her excellent sewing skills to attach the project to the tree. I am beyond grateful for their help. I admit that I wasn't feeling very pleased with my project and I wasn't sure how I was going to get it up. They both loved it and went right to work. It was such a relief and we had a lot of laughs. I enjoyed their company so much!

The LowellArts! people came around with laminated name tags for the trees. My tree now says that it has been Yarn Bombed by Nicole W. This morning as I drove down Main Street it was so cool to see all the different knitting and crochet on the trees. I am hoping to get some pictures of the other trees.

I know that my project is kinda crazy colors and a little bit out there. It does look really neat from the road. I've gotta admit that I am a little bit proud of myself. I stuck with it even though I thought I would lose my mind knitting butterfly after butterfly. I actually took a few days off and knitted a baby sweater just to save my sanity. My younger brother texted messaged me this morning to tell me that my tree is crazy, but cool. I think I may have cemented my reputation as the Crazy Knitting Lady.

Second Socks!

 I finished my second pair of socks! Simple and straightforward pattern. Made with Pattons Sock Yarn (Stretch, I think). I've lost the ball band. I know the color is Cherry Sour.

 The pattern is Susan B. Anderson's How I Make My Socks pattern.

I flew through the second sock. Took less than a week. The first sock took ages since it was constantly set aside for other projects.

I am so very proud of my simple socks. Such a gratifying knit since it can be finished fairly quickly and you have cool socks to wear!

SnarkyLlama Creations

 I decided to splurge the other day on some stitch markers. Although, splurge really isn't the correct word since these stitch markers are really well priced. It was just a little treat to myself and something in which I am always in need.

 What I got was 8 handmade stitch markers from SnarkyLlama Creations. They are about a half inch in size.They fit to a size 8 needle. In fact, I have them on my sweater project right now which is on size 8's. No problems with them going over the needle.
The design I picked was coffee set #2. There are a lot of other designs, really there is something to please everyone. They arrived with a cute little bag to keep them in.

They are small and need to be kept away from liquids. I like the way they are put together because so many times with beaded ones the connecting pieces catch on my yarn.

The shipping was very fast.They made their way to me in Michigan from Florida in three days. I felt like my order was well taken care of and important to the seller. This is really important to me because of a bad experience I had buying make-up from another online seller. So yes, I recommend these!