Irene's Dress

I finished the Perfect Sundress from Lion Brand Yarn for Irene. I made the size 4 dress since she has a long torso and needs a size larger in dresses. I used three balls of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. The main color is Seaspray and the accent color is Terracotta.

She loves the pockets! She wore the dress to school and the teacher complimented her on it.

I found cute butterfly tights that had colors from the dress. I like making dresses and sweaters for the kids. I need to find some more patterns :-)

Felted Little Black Clutch

For my sister-in-law's birthday I decided to make her the Little Black Clutch from Pretty Little Knit Stitches. I've never knitted and then felted a piece before and wasn't sure what to expect. The actual knitting of the piece was fun and I loved how it looked like a purse. Plus, I used the Kitchener stitch to seam it and I've never done that before either. I used a black worsted weight wool yarn from Plymouth Yarn and used two strands held together.

My husband was kind enough to help me felt it. I think he was kind of excited to see what would happen. It did take longer for it to felt then what the pattern said, but I think that no matter what, with felting, your time will vary.

I added a bee to the purse for a little extra flair. It has black and clear crystals. With this purse you can add just about anything to it. One example and a blue ribbon around it which made a very cute bag. Oh! Almost forgot, the Little Black Clutch pattern is available in two sizes. I made the wider but shorter version. There is also a longer, narrower version. I am thinking of making that for myself, possibly in a grey wool.

This pattern is also available on Ravelry and is a free download!

A closer view of the bee. I love it! It took me awhile to find something I liked and that I thought my sis-in-law would like too.

Thanksgiving

Dutch Girls Knitting

(free picture from Internet)

I love old pictures of people. I just want to know who they were and what their lives were like. I wish there was a way to find out about them. Unfortunately, I suspect most pictures will have a story made up by myself.

I have not been knitting much in the last two weeks. I've been knocked down by a cold with a nasty cough and on Sunday I got hit with a nasty stomach bug. Today I am feeling better but still not great. We are leaving tomorrow to go to my older brother's for Thanksgiving. I'm taking some knitting with me but my plan to have all three kids wearing their Seed Stitch Cardigans will not happen. Henry's and Irene's still need buttons and I've only just started the sleeves on Gavin's. Oh well, not much I can do.

I joined a swap group on Ravelry. The group is called Speedy Swappers. They have multiple swaps going on. I joined the Holiday Card swap. It is a less expensive swap since money is pretty much non-existent around here. We get assigned a person and we make up a box for them. In this swap we are to include a holiday card, holiday recipe, ornament, and notions (measuring tape, stitch markers, etc). The total amount to spend is between $15-$20. We can add more to our boxes if we choose. I have some ideas for a couple of extra things I'd like to include. I'm actually excited about the swap and I hope that my box pleases my partner. Can't wait to see what I get ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!!

Knitting Away My Stress

I knitted winter hats for Henry and Irene. It was a simple pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website. It calls for Hometown USA yarn which is what I used for Irene's hat. The color is New Orleans French Berry. I love it and it matches her winter jacket quite nicely.Henry hat is the same pattern but I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky in grass green. The color matches the color of the inside of the hood and jacket.

I also made a birthday present for my brother, Matt. A simple scarf in a knit 2, purl 2 rib. I used Country Looms Loops and Threads yarn from Michael's. The yarn is very soft and I liked it. I just wish they had a website that had patterns for the yarn.
I am also working on a birthday gift for my sister-in-law. It involves felting, which I have not done before. The piece is knitted and I am quite pleased with it....I just haven't done the felting bit yet. I am also working on what I call an endless shawl. It was suppose to use two balls of Lion Brand Homespun. Of course, I used a different Lion Brand yarn and ended up running out of yarn two rows before then end. I bought another ball and then decided to lengthen the shawl. To do this I had to make sure the total stitch count was divisible by 3 which meant adding and additional 21 rows. Yes, 21 rows. That is because the pattern is 7 rows long. Yeah....I thought I was going to be done only to discover I don't have enough yarn again. I'm debating getting more. At this point I may frog it all and knit my husband a hat and scarf from the yarn.

As always, I am missing my mother like crazy. I feel very, very tired all the time. Life is rather messed up here right now. Keep calm and knit on.

Two Down, One To Go

I finished Henry's cardigan. It is the same pattern as Irene's. The pattern is the seed stitch cardigan from Lion Brand Yarn. It is knit using cotton-ease yarn.

The seaming I had to do myself without help from my mom :-( The shoulders seems are pretty good but the rest of the seems are not that great.

I am proud of it though. I'm pleased to have it done. Next up will be the cardigan for Gavin. Right now I am working on a scarf for my older brother (his birthday gift) and a jumper/dress for Irene.

A Lone Sock

My wonderful mother passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly on August 15th. Since then life has been...well, it's just been. My mother was my knitting guide. My grandma first taught me to knit but it was my mother that got my projects finished. She helped pick up stitches and she helped sew together the pieces. Without her I'm learning how to do these things without help. Basically, without her, I am learning to go on...alone. I miss her desperately. Awhile ago I wanted to knit socks. I had a simple pattern. My mom got me started on double pointed needles. Then she kind of took over the project. She ended up knitting the sock herself, not because I couldn't but she wanted to try the pattern. Great...except the finished sock was about 2 1/2 inches too long! Oh the laughs we had over that! She was going to shorten it as well as make the match. Unfortunately, she never got to.

So, now I have a lone sock. And a great memory that makes me smile. I'll keep this darn sock forever.

Summertime Knitting

I finished Gavin's blanket back in June (I think!). It turned out beautifully and Henry and Irene want one now. They are easy to do but kinda tedious. Irene covered up with it one day while on the chair. It is super soft and made using 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun. The color of this one is waterfall.

My current project is making cardigans for all three kids. I am using the pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website called the Seed Stitch Cardigan. It is easy and fast and looks great! I finished Irene's except for the buttons. We are going to go button shopping for special buttons soon. The cardigans are made with Lion Brand Cotton Ease yarn. Soft and smooth and also lightweight enough for fall/spring. I have the back finished on Henry's and working the sleeves.

Lion Brand also have a jumper that is made with the same yarn that I'd like to make for Irene. It looks fairly easy and fast. I just need to get motivated...and find another 10-15 hours per day!