cafe coffee baby pullover progress

As I'm sure many of you experience, some weeks are crazy, filled with errands, long hours of working multiple jobs, running from one place to another, traveling to visit friends and family, etc. Last week was like that for me, but this week has been very restful. And it's only Monday! :) 

I'm sitting at home on my couch listening to knitting podcasts from Never Not Knitting and admiring other knitters' projects and working on my Cafe Coffee Baby Pullover. I will posting a pattern once it is finished. This was one of those projects that I had all intentions of following a pattern for, but in the end, I only really used the pattern I found to figure out how many stitches I needed to cast on and how to establish raglan sleeves. In the end, I actually created my own way to make sleeves because when I reread the pattern, I wasn't remotely following it. So, out of that mistake, I'm getting design my own baby sweater. 

But in all reality, it's more like a toddler sweater. Maybe a really big baby could fit in it, but it will probably be more suitable for a 1-2 year old. Its relaxed fit, machine washability, loose neck, and soft fabric will be perfect for a messy, adventurous toddler who has more opinions about his clothes than a non-verbal infant would. It could be worn with a t-shirt and toddler jeans (why is anything in a small version instantly so much cuter?) or with khakis and a button-up shirt for a fancy day :) or whenever toddlers have "fancy" days. 

Cafe coffee baby sweater

Yesterday I finally unpacked and organized my yarn. I decided I really wanted to make a top-down raglan baby pullover. I wanted it to have stripes. I only had two yarns that were the same weight, so I decided to take the plunge and stripe beige and gray. As I worked on it today in the library, I was pleasantly surprised about how everything was coming together. I made a mistake with the increasing for the sleeves, so I just redesigned them. Also, for being a fingering weight yarn, this project has gone by very quickly. When I finish it, I'll post an outline of my pattern with a link to the original I based it off of for reference. :)

For whatever reason, this sweater reminds me of quiet afternoons in a cafe drinking coffee. Maybe it's the warmth of the beige from the wood floors and the cool gray of the metal stools. 

The contrast of the beige and gray has made the gray look like a dusty blue. It really shows how color context changes how we perceive the warmth or coolness of a color. Do you have any favorite baby projects or gifts?

gray cabled hat (finished)

I finished the gray cabled hat about five days after I started it. It is so rewarding to be able to start a project and not have it drag on forever. I loved working with the Quince and Co yarn, which helped keep me motivated.

It turned out beautifully and my friend, Alyssa, loves it. It will help keep her warm over Christmas break in New York. :)

How are your Christmas projects going? Happy Christmas!

the beginning of the gray cabled hat

A few weeks ago, while going through my winter hand knits, my roommate requested a gray hat. I sent her a few different patterns that I found on some lovely knitting blogs. She picked the 3am blue cable hat from Smariek Knits. 

On Black Friday, I went to Warm N' Fuzzy and purchased a light gray skein of Quince and Co. Osprey yarn. It was the best Black Friday ever, going through a yarn shop with very obliging knitters chatting about their Christmas projects. 

Osprey is 170 yards of worsted weight, three-ply 100% American wool. It's a blend of Merino, Roulette, and Columbia wool. It's durable, soft, and squishy. Look at Quince and Co.'s website! It's beautiful! It's like a woodland walk in rows of squishy hand knits and gorgeous trees. All of their yarns are named after different birds. Their thicker yarns are named for bigger birds and their thinner yarns are named for the littlest of songbirds. Among the yarns are Owl, Puffin, and Chickadee. All of their yarns are produced entirely in the United States in a mill in New England. The story of how the company is very sweet and definitely worth reading.

Pictures of the finished hat will follow soon. Happy Knitting! I hope all of your Christmas crafting is going well. Merry Christmas!

Finished In Threes Baby Cardigan

I wove in my ends and sewed the buttons on the In Threes Baby Cardigan that I posted about here and here. The pictures don't do the buttons justice. They are pale mother of pearl buttons, white and pearly pink. 

It can now go in my completed pile of baby sweaters for my aunt. 

Happy Knitting!

Progress on Baby Sophisticate

I have made progress on Baby Sophisticate. I need to go get my size 7 double pointed needles in order to knit the sleeves, so it is temporarily waiting. 

I only have the collar and sleeves! I need to go find some little gentleman buttons. The buttons I have just don't seem boyish enough to me. Besides, a shawl collar baby sweater seems to need some old fashioned leather buttons. 

Happy Knitting!

Almost Finished In Threes Baby Cardigan

After church and a donation drive today and being outside hauling stuff in the heat for a few hours, I got to sit for a few minutes in the air conditioning, drink my favorite ginger tea, and work on knitting my In Threes Baby Cardigan. I have only a few rows left! 

The wood from the table that I took these pictures on is over two hundred years old. You can see the grooves of the old time of wood mill on the boards. And the peaches are ripening. :)

I am continuing to investigate other patterns, mainly for boys, but also something new for the girls. Here are a few of my favorites (pictures courtesy of Ravelry). 

These two sweaters are both knit from the Puerperium Cardigan from Kelly Brooker (free in the newborn size). Aren't they darling? It is a top-down constructions and it is designed to be easy to get on and off baby so that you don't have to wiggle a squirmy baby into a sweater over his head. 

The second sweater I've been seriously considering is Baby Sophisticate by Linden Heflin (free in the smallest two sizes.)Baby Sophisticate looks perfect for any little man, so I think I will definitely be making this one.  

Here is one more pattern I'm looking at, the Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss (free download from Ravelry). 

What are the easiest handmade things to receive or make for your babies? Favorite low-maintenance baby gifts to give? Please comment below with your go-to baby projects.

I hope you all are keeping cool in this heat. Happy Sunday!

Crafting Alphabet: A

A is for the autumn light filtering through the changing trees.

Grayness has descended on ECU's campus, with a light, cold drizzle. The autumn colors are not as brilliant as they were in the sunshine from a few days ago, but they're comforting splashes of color against a white sky and the gray cement. 

Below is the view from my window. I've really enjoyed watching this huge tree change colors. 

A is for apples in season.

My apple, my favorite fingerless mitts, and my view. 

I hand-dyed the yarn for these mitts in a dyeing class. I couldn't decide between the colors silver, brown, beige, pink, and blue, so my instructor let me use them all, even though I was supposed to pick three. 

The pattern was a simple, fun pattern from One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet by Leigh Radford. It's become one of my easy go-to pattern for gift knitting because they fit almost anyone's hands easily and they are fun to make. 

What are you doing this gray, autumn day?

In Threes Baby Cardigan and Rabbit: More Baby Gifts

I have started another “In Threes Baby Cardigan” by Kelly Herdrich. It is knit with a 100% bamboo yarn in the same aqua-green as the baby hat. As with the blue multi sweater knit (almost to completion yesterday), it is made in the 0-3 month size. I’m just going to finish them and then find some willing babies and mothers to see what size mine are really turning out.

I finished a bunny rabbit a month ago, knit from the rabbit pattern from “Last-Minute Knitted Gifts” by Joelle Hoverson. It is one of the best gift-knitting book I own and very possibly my favorite pattern book. Its photos are artistic and beautifully portrayed and the directions are clear.

The inner ears and scarf were knit with the yarn I hand-dyed. I really loved how the Kool-Aid dye project turned out when worked into the rabbit. The body was knit with a skein of very soft 100% acrylic from Joanne’s.

Happy Knitting!

Another Baby Bonnet

Here are several pictures of my favorite baby wearing hand knits I’ve given to her. I gave this bonnet to her mother at her baby shower. She so quickly filled this lavender bonnet, so it was a little difficult squeezing her back into her it. She’s at the wonderful stage of babyhood when she’s learning how to clap and wave. She posed beautifully and giggled the whole time. 

In the background of the photos of Baby Cutie in her bonnet, there's a beautiful hand knit blanket knit in the feather and fan stitch. I didn't make it, but the mother of Cutie wanted to use it as a background. I might try to get more focused pictures (with one hand knit per picture) but I really love seeing them together. Cutie put on a great performance during the photo shoot, smiling, clapping, and waving. She's probably the most kissable baby ever. . . but I digress. 

The bonnet was knit with 50% silk, 50% Merino wool from an Australian yarn called Dawn, I think. This bonnet was another one of those lace and leaves bonnets. I purchased the pattern at Great Yarns in Raleigh. I definitely have gotten good use out of this pattern. I have made four of them. They are cute as buttons, but attaching the cord to tie the bonnet is a pain. 

Occasionally, the ends work themselves loose and I just have to reattach them. There has to be a better way for a bonnet to tie. I have an unfinished bonnet that I believe I will use a white ribbon with instead of the obnoxious twisted yarn cords I've made for all the others. Although I'm kind of tired of making the bonnets, seeing them of Cutie makes me love them enough to make more. 

But probably not for a while.

More Take It or Leaf It Cowl

I made this cowl in the “Take It or Leaf It” for a friend of mine from school. She lives in West Virginia, so I’m assuming hand knits could come in handy in the winter. Unfortunately, I mailed it as a Christmas gift before getting any detailed close ups, but these modeled shots are good. I've included the photo from the pattern website to show the pattern. Once you get the hang of those K3tog, it's really fun. Because the yarn I used for this green cowl is a fingering weight bamboo/wool/nylon mixture, it’s much lighter than the pattern called for and drapes beautifully. I have made two of these “Take It or Leaf It” cowls and absolutely love them. The pattern is easy to understand and (bonus) a free Ravelry download. The link to it’s Ravelry page is here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/take-it-or-leaf-it-cowl

Unfortunately, it’s not on this lady’s blog, so unless you have a Ravelry account, I don’t think you can view it. The picture from the pattern is below (in pink). I felt that pink leaves were a little much, but I’ve done a red one (for autumn leaves) and a green one. I hope to make more of these cowls in the future. It’s a great, quick project.  

More Fingerless Mitts

Fingerless mitts have been much requested this year. Here is a green pair knit from Gloss DK (from KnitPicks) from my garter stitch fingerless mitts pattern. I highly recommend Gloss. It’s a 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk  yarn that’s very soft and bouncy. This colorway is called “Grass.” At first, I thought Grass was a little too bright, but I listened to the advice of my knitting group to go ahead and knit something with it. I loved these mitts. The grass green was wonderful and had a bit of sparkle because the silk and wool absorbed the dye differently, similar to the way real grass has so many shades of green in it. 

My sister is modeling them in these pictures. I mailed these mitts off as a Christmas gift last week. I didn’t insure the knitted gifts I mailed last week, but I really hope they all made it to their new homes. I knit them with love. I hope they keep their wearers warm. 

Merry Christmas!

Gift knits

I was trying to make up the increases for a top down hat. As I knit, I realized my proportions were horribly wrong. I cast off, wanting to know what exactly it looked like. It immediately looked like a flower. I knew I had to knit a headband for it. It’s little big for a normal-sized headband, but I made a wide headband and sewed it on securely so it shouldn’t flop around. Also, this isn’t so much a headband as a head-warmer or ear-warmer. I made it to fit the flower. This is made from the same yarn as the XO’s hat and will be given to the same sister for Christmas. 

I knit the headband from Capra, and absolutely love it! It’s so gloriously soft. I really need to get some more. It’s truly the best cashmere/merino blend I could dream of purchasing. The others, well, they’re just out of my price range.

These photos (with the brick background) were taken in downtown Cary, with my amazing photography friend, Emma. Her photography business is here: http://www.auburnrosephotography.com/#!

I knit this little baby cap from tiny balls of DK and worsted weight wool, mostly merino wool from Knit Picks. This was a very satisfying quick little knit. I’ll have to wait to see what genders my friends’ babies are. None of them are finding out so I’m just filling up my “give-away” box with boy and girl gifts. I realized I had a real dearth of boy gifts, so this is to fill that need.

I gave it to a knitting friend at church for her newborn son. I didn’t think a non-knitter, non-fiber person could remember or appreciate a gentle, hand-wash baby item. I should get lessons from this knitter, though. Her own hand knits for her baby are stunning: beautiful stitch work and tiny, tiny stitches, too! 

Cupcake Beret

I found Alice Starmore’s book about Aran knitting at the library. This is such a beautiful book, filled with complex sweaters and some of the history behind the Aran knitting history. I used the stitch dictionary in the beginning of the book to make this hat. I used a plait and a honeycomb cable stitch. I’m going to write up this pattern shortly.

I originally designed this to fit a 10 year old girl, but I guess my math was off. I realized that I need to have many, many more stitches than a normal hat in order to have the “poof” of a cupcake beret. It’s perfect for a 2 year old. I added the I-cord knot at the top to finish off the quaint “little girl” look to it. It really looks like a cupcake.

I used a soft acrylic yarn called “Marble” that I purchased from my local yarn store, Great Yarns (in Raleigh), that slowly transitions between pinks, purples, and white plied with another gray ply. This two-ply yarn has the look of a hand-spun.

Happy Knitting!