Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Vacation!

I've been away from this space waiting for my camera which broke on me to be fixed.  At first I thought it was a faulty CF card but after receiving a new one last night it's actually much worse than that - the pins inside the camera where the memory card goes in somehow got slightly bent.  Sending it off to Canon to be fixed outside warranty was estimated to cost around 200-400 dollars.  A new one is about 1100.  So - hubby is going to be working his magic to see if he can bend them back into place.  I really hope so - I have a fancy lens rental coming my way from Camera Lens Rentals for the Christmas/New Year and I'm so disappointed if I won't get to use it.

Anyhow - so I'll be away from this space until the camera issues get worked out and doing a mini digital sabbatical to spend time with my family over the Christmas Holiday.

In the meantime I'll leave you with a photo of our Christmas card this year - Abby was so cute and I just wasn't feeling it being photo'd this year so she got to take center stage.  Photographing her was like trying to hit a moving target!  Every photo was so cute, I wish you could see them all!  
Merry Christmas!

Making :: A stocking

Well I finally got started on Abby's stocking I was talking about.  I pulled out a few inspirational books from my personal knitting library (Alice Starmore's amazing Book of Fair Isle Knitting and the über gorgeous Estonian mitten book) and a a few balls of shelter yarn.  I'm loving the picot edge and the interlocking stars pattern so far but I'm not sure if I like what's coming next (I have plans for a version of paper dolls) - we'll have to see if this one keeps going or gets ripped. 

Better hurry and make up my mind, this elf is running out of time!

Big Necked Baby Bib Pattern

I've been locked away in my craft room working on bib after bib trying to find the right fit for Abby.  I tried 4 patterns available online and sadly all of them were too small.  I hate too small - it makes me feel like she is going to be choked when she is wearing it.  So, in the spirit of making it yourself, I drafted my own "big-necked baby bib pattern" the name is a riff on Rae's Big butt baby pattern. :)

They are super easy to make and very fast too - I made these each in less than 30 minutes from cutting out to topstitching.  It's a great use of small pieces of fabric and has great coverage - lots of front and shoulder covering for all those messy foods.  Perfect shower gift! Isn't that hedgehog fabric adorable??  It was a gift from Valerie from a swap we did.

I'm drafting up the pattern file on my computer now and I'll make it available for free download sometime in the new year - life is too crazy with all the holiday crafting to do it any sooner.

And in the meantime, something else that wasn't on my to-do list but became a top priority -

My gorgeous ripple blanket has sprung a hole!  I love the fact that it's been used and loved so much that it's starting to wear out but this was a little soon!  I'm off to google every possible solution to repair it.  Anyone have any ideas??

Spiral Cowl Pattern Updated!

 
Hi All!  I finally got something off my to do list that's been sitting there for over a year - the free spiral cowl pattern has now been updated!  It's even better than before, with more pictures and a few word changes to clarify that pesky and confusing stitch marker slipping.

I just finished a new version in handspun!

You can get the latest version here (PDF file)
or queue it up on Ravelry here

Happy Knitting! =)

The first of the hand-mades

**First - my ball tutorial was featured on Elle Decor España! How exciting!)**

Well I'm nothing if not predictable (or is that unpredictable?)  -  as soon as I get a list together I get distracted by making some other pretty, shiny thing and go off on another craft tangent.

In this case I was distracted by the cold.  Abby really needed some warm pants and I can never seem to keep socks on that girl so I wanted to make them extra long to cover her toes and extra wide to cover her cloth diapers.  I picked up a few wool sweaters from my local goodwill and felted them.  The wool when felted creates a super warm material that keeps out most cold winds so she can stay snug and warm when outside on our walks.

The first sweater became two pairs of pants.  1 pair was made from the body of the sweater using Anna Maria Horner's super cute book - Handmade Beginnings.

I modified it slightly by only making a single layer instead of a double and cutting down on the seam allowance because of the thickness of the sweater and to increase the room for the cloth diapers. I also cut out the back contrasting part.  This is a great, very basic pants pattern.  I've already made about 5 pairs of pants from this pattern and I really like how fast they come together.

The second pair of pants was made out of the sleeves of the felted sweater.  I had been dying to try this super cute tutorial here and it actually was really easy.  I think once I got started it took less than 30 minutes for a pair of pants.  There is another super cute tutorial here that I'm going to try with my next sweater. 

Next I finished weaving in the ends of a pair of super warm stripey baby socks.  I knit them out of the BT shelter yarn and wanted to use it as a practice piece for doing jogless stripes in the round (link to youtube video)  These were a really basic sock.  I used 3.25mm DPN's and cast on 32 stitiches.  There is a K2P2 ribbing for an inch and a short row heel with regular sock toe like my plain vanilla pattern.  I hand-felted them slightly when I was finished for extra cosy-ness.

I also finished a set of plastic bag holders for a Christmas gift for my Grandma.  I'm not much of a plastic bag collecter myself, I try to use reusable bags as much as possible but she loves collecting them and had requested a holder. 

I thought these turned out cute.  If you'd like to make something similar there is a tutorial here.  I make mine slightly different.  I make them wider and shorter and add an extra row of stitching to the top to create a ruffled edge.  They are super cute and very very easy to sew.  If you're looking for something quick to create for someone on your list, this is it!

While I've been busy making things, Abby has been playing along with her new super cute set of handmade wool Matryoska dolls from Kathleen.  K actually designed the pattern herself and they are adorable.  They are perfect for baby grips and light for throwing.  You can see her pattern on ravelry here.  I have very fond memories of these types of dolls.  I used to have set when I was young from Russia I believe and it was one of my favorite things to play with.

Happy Making!  Hopefully I can get a lot knocked off my to do list this weekend! =)