Laura Shawl

When I saw this pattern on Ravelry, I knew my daughter would love it.  She has been listening to Little House in the Big Woods on cd and looooves to hear about Laura & Mary.  I wanted to use some Plymouth Sockotta I've had laying around for ages, which didn't give me quite enough yardage, so I did fewer rows between decrease rows.  With hindsight, I should have reduced the lace edging and had more of the body.  Oh well!  She does indeed love it.

Baby C in Her Lacy Dress

Go ahead and ignore me*, focus if you will on the adorable babe in my arms. Baby C is wearing her lacy dress! She looks obscenely cute in it, doesn't she? I could honestly stare at her in this dress for thirty minutes straight. Seeing my little baby in a dress I knit for her is extremely satisfying.

*Yo, I'm dressed. I hope you weren't expecting more than that. I have been (not) rocking the ponytail look quite often lately...oh since Baby C was born. That would be three months now. Someday I might actually get to curl my hair again...

Bandana Cowl

Here I am sporting the fabulous Bandana Cowl that I made for luvinthemommyhood's Cowl KAL. Sorry you get absolutely no links tonight, I just don't feel like it. This picture was taken the other night when I had literally just finished the cowl and wove in the ends. It was like 11 pm. The hubs was home so I had to act fast. He is working swing right now and I hate it. That is why I look rawther tired. The cowl is verrry warm. I wore it today out and about, it looked incredibly cute with a long sleeve white tee and a dark gray cami underneath. And my black suede boots, natch. It kept me toasty warm, and was only a little scratchy. Really my neck is ridiculously sensitive to things. This cowl is super soft! It is made out of Cascade Eco Duo in Storm.




Here you see the cowl in progress. Anytime I take a picture of something, my 3-year-old son likes to stick his hand in the frame. I try to be fast, but he is faster. Hahaha

Also you can see the lovely stitch markers my mom made for me. Before she came out to help me after Baby C's birth, I asked her what kind of stuff she makes aside from jewelry (she has a home business). She mentioned stitch markers and I about fell off my chair. I told her I had been about to buy some off etsy! She nixed that idea and whipped up a bunch for me before she came, and some more after she arrived. Now I have about 15 beautiful stitch markers.

Updates

• The Pinkerton Shawl is done! I just need to block it. I love it. It was boring, but now that it's done, I love it. And it's small enough to wrap around my neck as a scarfy little thing. Though...I don't know what happened...the pattern said 800 yds of yarn. So I bought two skeins of Malabrigo Sock for a total of 880 yds. But I only used one skein! I even had a teensy bit left over from the first skein. My shawl is a little smaller than the measurements (I mean, why on earth would I ever check gauge?! Ha ha) but it's not that much smaller! But hey, whatev. Now I have a pretty purple skein of Malabrigo Sock to find something to do with.
• I've joined two KALs: the luvinthemommyhood Cozy Cowl knitalong and the Anthropologie Cables Crazy KAL. For the Cozy Cowl, I'm making the Bandana Cowl, and for the Cables Crazy, I'm making the Shadow Tuque.
• I finished my first cowl. I made the Darkside Cowl using some Mericash I picked up at the LYS on clearance. I like it. I'm going to make a bunch of cowls, some that are looser than this one. It's fairly close fitting.

Soft, pretty & warm.

Pinkerton Shawl

So, I had a baby a couple of months ago. Before I had her, I picked out a pattern that looked nice & easy. I figured I wouldn't be able to spare much brain power for a complicated pattern. I chose the Pinkerton Shawl and some lovely Malabrigo Sock in Violeta Africana. It looks really blue on my laptop; I think the colors are off on this laptop. It's a beautiful purple with touches of lilac.


New skill for this project: wrapped stitches, which are really easy. I cast on about a week after the baby was born. I used my new Addi Turbo circulars, size 3. Which, can I just interrupt myself to say Wow! I totally thought the knitters of the Internet were exaggerating when talking about the Addis. But they. were. not. So slippy! I love them.



So anyway, the problem is, this pattern is way too easy. I'm bored out of my gourd. I started another project, the Darkside Cowl, just for a little brain use.




I will finish this. But it might take a while.

Lacy Baby Dress

I love to pet this dress. It's so soft and squeezable. Can't wait to snuggle my baby in it!

Chinook Shawlette

Knitting Update

My husband has the camera and won't be back til late tomorrow, so no pics for you. But here's what I've been working on:

• This dress. I even knit it in a very similar color. I used Babyboo from my LYS. I absolutely adore this little dress and I can't wait to put it on my baby!! It's so soft and cute. I used almost 3 skeins of Babyboo and knit it on size 2 needles.
  
• This shawlette in KnitPicks Gloss DK in Fairytale, which is a gorgeous raspberry color. I love this thing too. I blocked it Tuesday night and it is fabulous. My 5-year-old daughter says she wants one too. She says that about everything I make for myself. I just tell her, When you're older. This took 2 skeins of Gloss DK and was knit on size 7 needles. Btw, Gloss DK seems more like a light worsted to me. Who's with me?
  
• Various washcloths. I made a couple for my friend of yarn that she bought for that purpose. Now I'm working on one for baby.
  

I'm debating whether to buy this pattern and whip up a couple tunics, one for baby & one for my cousin's baby who is due 3 days after mine. Of course, I wouldn't be embroidering precious sheep on mine. That's just not going to happen.

I'm also planning on making at least a couple pairs of booties before baby arrives. Unfortunately I still have five weeks. Should be enough for all of this.

Spring Beret

Here is the link for this beret. My friend said she could see me in a slouchy beret, so I decided to make one and see how it felt on. I've worn it all day and it's definitely grown on me. I quite like it now and plan to make another of Natalie Larson's berets!

I used Cotton Ease in white and size 7 circular needles. Now I wish I'd had some 6s for the ribbing. In fact I might have gone down to 6s for the whole thing. I don't know. But definitely the ribbing.

Here I am with the princess. I'm a bit over 6 months pregnant. Feeling huuuge yet knowing I'm going to get a lot bigger!

Crafting It Up

I've discovered the appeal of making accessories - quick payoff, don't have time to get bored, and cute stuff to wear! I made a hat for each of my three children, a hat for my friends' baby, and am making a slouchy beret for myself. I'm also making this ridiculously easy tea scarf in a gorgeous blue-black yarn I bought at my local yarn store last week. Last night I found this pattern and I think I'm making them next! Yay for gorgeous little things to wear!

Hats for My Girls

Here is one of the quick projects I wanted to make. I'm having a baby in August, so I wanted to make something for her! I already have all the clothes because I have a girl already, but I wanted to make something that would be just hers! I had this yarn laying around in my stash - Little Grins - which is apparently discontinued. I got in on clearance ages ago. It's really soft but mostly cotton so not too hot for little heads.

I am starting the third hat, actually. This pattern (oh go find it on my Ravelry page) comes in four sizes: infant, toddler, child & adult. I made the infant size in white (above) for Baby Girl, a purple hat in the child size for my 4-year-old and am now making a purple one in the infant size for my friend's 4-month-old. These are so easy and cute that I might even be making more for some pending arrivals of other friends!

Winter Flame Scarf

Hello again little neglected craft blog. Here I am to report that I am back. May I present the Winter Flame Scarf:

I started this in November and worked diligently for about two months...until morning sickness kicked in after Christmas. I didn't feel like doing a blessed thing then. This is my first lace pattern (or at least, this is my first lace pattern where I knitted more than 10 inches before getting bored and frogging ha ha). I worked on it off and on once the nausea faded. Finally a few weeks ago I realized that I was nearly done. That inspired me and I knit quite a bit so I could get it off the needles. I had some little quick projects I wanted to try out so I made myself finish this one first! I finished it on the 6th and then blocked it while my husband was out of town this past week (read: not around to be irritated that a 6-foot scarf was taking up the floor of our bedroom). I love how it turned out - the color, the pattern, the soft yarn. I used Comfy Fingering yarn from KnitPicks and the color is such a rich dark blue. It will look fab against my pale winter skin in several months! ha ha