hearth-Craft

The only reason why I’m posting this is because I know my lil sis doesn’t check this blog - plus, it’s been far too long since I’ve given you anything to look at.

So here it is, the chevron scarf I’m making for my lil sis’ Christmas present.

lil sis' chevron scarf

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Well, I’ve finished!

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The Pinwheel blanket is a little over 30″ in diameter plus a 1.5″ ruffle border.

I have to admit, I love the ruffle border.  I did it by kfb and then k1p1 for several rows, knitting the purls and purling the knits. That was Very tedious and took a long, long time to finish a given round. Worth it, I think. But you have to know what you’re getting into before you do it.

Needle: US 10½ / 6.5 mm
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Encore Colorspun Worsted
3 skeins = 600 yards
Colorway 7065

The needle size was perfect for a nice drape with this yarn weight. I have to admit that I didn’t realize the blanket was going to come out so…girl color schemed - because the balls when I picked themm up showed mostly the yellow and purple colors.

I think to be fair, I’m going to do another in more of a boy color scheme sometime in the near future.

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Well, I’m moving along with the baby’s blanket. I only have another inch or two before I’ll have to decide on a border.  The one I like best is a sort of ruffle border, but as Ami told me how to do it…it’ll be super tedious.  Still, it’s not like I don’t have the time. I’ll just have to be sure I have the yarn.

This little conversation may also be amusing for you:

Me: Do you think it’s big enough?

Hubby: Not yet.

Me: How big do you think it should be?

Hubby: Well, it needs to be big enough for a kid, so is it big enough yet for a baby to fit in there?

Me: This is not a bag.

Hubby: Works out the same. Baby in a bag means baby’ll fit in the blankie.

-_- His logic actually kinda makes sense, which is the craziest part of it all.

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There’s some back story to this one.

I was at one of my favorite yarn shops with Ami. We didn’t have anything particularly specific in mind, so we weren’t on a mission. But I kept walking past this collection of yarn - the colors were luminescet without being overly bright and I hadn’t seen color combinations like that in baby yarns before, so I kept walking by over and over again.  I was even groping the yarn a bit. It wasn’t as silky as the Simply Soft I usually use, but it had a loft and softness that were still up to my standards for baby blankets.

The trouble? Usually I have a baby in mind when I start a baby blanket.  Usually one of my friends is expecting and I pick a pattern or make up a pattern that reflects their personality just a little bit. I pick colors that the parents enjoy - which can be the traditional colors for baby boys and girls but sometimes are unique color schemes.

This time I was looking at the yarn and wanting it…for me. Because those were colors and color combinations that I wanted for a baby I didn’t have yet.

This was symptomatic of the way I’ve been since March.  Ever since the latest baby shower, I’ve had baby on the brain. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking I need to feed the baby. I hear a baby cry and jerk around to find it.  I go all melty soft when I see babies out in public (moreso than usual). I even have nasty nightmares of a difficult pregnancy as a result of my stubborness when it comes to the health issues I have that might make a pregnancy difficult.

Yep folks, the biologic clock is ticking.

Ami pointed out that I obviuosly wanted the yarn, so I did buy it.  I came home and had a talk with the hubby, another in a series of talks we’ve been having.

The plans are beginning to fall into place, the budgeting has started. We’re both wrapping up school and will graduate next year, me with my Masters and he with his Bachelor of Science. My mommy retires next year and has expressed a very enthusiastic desire to be childcare for any future children while I maintain my career, which means I’d have free day care with a person I trust who is not only experienced with children but a registered nurse who also has my shared judgement as what constitutes a boo boo versus an emergency room trip.

So what’s a girl to do while waiting for the pieces to fall into place? Knit a baby blanket…for my own baby, that we’re thinking about trying to have sometime next year or the year after. Hubby wants a boy, btw, and I told him genetically speaking that’s all him. He does after all determine the X or Y aspect. ^_^

So here is the beginning pic of the WIP:

I decided I wanted to knit the Pinwheel Baby Blanket.  Ever since Ami did a couple, I’ve been wanting that design and the yarn is perfect for it.  You can already see the slow changes from color to color - they will progress from orange sherbert to lemon yellow to soft lavender to a touch of petal pink before repeating.

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Started way back in March, this sleeveless tube vest was and is still the first sweater I’ve attempted to knit on my very own. As it turns out, I’m very close to finishing.  As it also turns out the knit 3, purl 3 ribbing at the end is taking me forever and I find I can only add a few rows every day before I get seriously bored.

I’ve got about another three inches of the ribbing pattern to go and then it should be ready for blocking - but here’s what it looks like now:

 

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I made the Last Minute Knitted Gifts soft drawstring pouch for my best friend’s birthday and gifted it to her this past Saturday while we were in Seattle for a birthday bash weekend with our friend Alexd00 (who was also celebrating his birthday).

I made it using Caron Simply Soft in Mint Green and stuffed it full of her favorite chocolates.

…and I forgot to take a picture of it.

Hopefully I can get her to take a pic for me or bring it over so that I can take a pic. Ah well, she liked it…

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Here’s my Montego Bay Scarf, a breezy simple pattern from Interweave Knits done in Handmaiden Sea Silk (70% silk, 30% Seacell - a derivative of seaweed) in the Glacier colorway. I knit with size 8 straight bamboo needles.

It was a simple pattern, not so mindnumbing as nothing but stockinette stitch but just mindless enough to be able to knit while watching movies or in the waiting room.  I could pretty much put it down at any time and be able to find where I was when I picked the project back up again. the pattern includes a 6″ fringe on each end of the scarf but I left them off since I’m not big into fringes. I think it looks nice without the fringe anyway.

The yarn is insanely luxurious.  The silk felt marvelous sliding through the fingers  and and the scarf feels light thrown about the shoulders. It’s a great spring/summer scarf.  I think the SeaCell aspect is nifty cool as well - it’s supposed to seep nutrients as you wear it that are very good for the skin.  It’s kind of odd and quirky in concept, but the yarn is oh so yummy.

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Ok - so I’m casting on for a simple tunic pattern that looks like a good learning experience for me.

Complication - the pattern recommends DK/Sport weight yarn. I’m using a fine fingering weight yarn.  To compensate, I’m using a size down in needles to knit (size 5 instead of the originally called for size 6) and I’ve cast on for the largest size possible for the pattern which is for a 45″ bust.  I’m hoping that will compensate for the smaller stitches created by the yarn and needles and result in a smaller sized tunic that won’t be so airy that I’d need a tank inside the tunic.

For those of you who have experience knitting, I know it should be shame on me that I didn’t do the math to appropriately alter the guage and all that.  Honestly, I’m lazy and have never wanted to do the math to adjust for guage. Am I a bad knitter for that? I dunno. I guess I’ll find out with this tunic - hopefully it will still turn out nicely.

I’ll have plenty of time to worry about it - it’s almost all stockinette stitch in the round.  Very boring.  But the simplicity of the way it looks is what I’m going for and I’m using Spritely Goods Sylph yarn in the Marble colorway.  The handpainted yarn should give the tunic character where the pattern is so simple.

So i guess I’ll take a deep breath and hope it works out.

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Here was my selfish project during the holiday season. My office building at work gets insanely cold regardless of the time of year.  Especially in the summer when I tend to wear lighter business clothes, I can slip these on when I’m in my office and not in meetings and at least be cozy.

The yarn is Artyarns Silk Rhapsody - an insanely wonderful combination of silk yarn and finely spun mohair that gives it a silky soft halo when worn.  This is some luxurious stuff, trust me. The yarn is expensive but sooooo worth it as a spoil-me item.

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Here’s the lacy cowl I made for my mother for Christmas. It was done in Colinette Yarns’ Jitterbug, incidentally using the Marble colorway. I didn’t plan for there to be any similarity between this gift and the other cowl I did - it just happened to be the yarn I picked because I knew my mother would like the colors. Hopefully, if my mom reads this blog she’ll know that I made this gift independently specifically with her in mind despite whatever conicidences there were.

In any case, the pattern is a lacy cowl pattern done by the same designer that did Last Minute Knitted Gifts, although this pattern was actually featured in Knit Simple Magazine instead as part of an article on the designer. I really enjoyed this lace type pattern and it is the most difficult one I’ve done to date. I figured mommy was worth the effort and she did seem to like the cowl.

Since it was Christmas Day when I took the pic and mommy doesn’t like pics too much - my little sister modeled the garment for me so I could have a happy dance pic.

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