I haven't been knitting very much lately, with all of the warm weather and the correlating work and play to be done outside, but this project got me back into knitting all over again! My original intent was to save the set for his Christmas gift (or at least for Halloween), but he saw me knitting it, knew what it was and wanted to wear it immediately! What can I say... I have a soft spot for my little dino!
I love this photo of Esme' in her newly knitted tank top!! She looks so mischievous, yet beautiful. For any of you who are interested in knitting details, they can be found at Ravelry (have I said how much I LOVE Ravelry?!!).
This post serves the double purpose of showing the mittens that I recently knit to match Asher's birthday hat and showing the (until now) unseen hat. The mittens were so easy to knit; in fact, I will probably knit him another, slightly bigger pair with the leftover yarn because they were that easy and fun (and it's always good to have a spare pair of mittens).
The hat, on the other hand, resembled something closer to painstaking tedium than it did to fun. I had to knit the darn thing three times before I ended up with a working hat. I suppose that if I had followed the pattern and actually used circular needles instead of double pointed needles, I wouldn't have been dropping sttches left and right. Sorry to my non-knitting readers for the knitting jargon. I am glad that this hat is so roomy (it even fits me!) because I don't want to knit him another one anytime in the near future.
I am a happy mama seeing him loving his hat!
This is how I have spent most of my quiet moments for the past two weeks. It is from the pattern Llani that I stumbled upon on Ravelry. This pattern called for the most uses of a cable needle that I have ever used! I'd say, offhand, that I used it at least 600 times! I know, it doesn't even look like a cable needle was needed- tricky little trim! I really enjoy the patterns by Katya Frankel and intend to make a couple more before summer. I used Louisa Harding Grace yarn- so soft!!
Ok, I will admit right up front that my main reason for joining the Yarn-along is because I want to enter this wonderful yarn giveaway! But I do love reading and I do love knitting, so it seems natural that I would join in on the fun.
I am currently knitting myself (yes, myself!) a pair of fingerless gloves from the pattern Fetching. I am done with the left glove and halfway done with the right. I just started reading this book last night, and would have loved to have known about it when I first became a mom. It's so full of wise words.
What are you reading and/or knitting?
Today I bring you my first giveaway!!
I started knitting these fingerless gloves (from the pattern Dashing, by Cheryl Niamath) with no particular recipient in mind. A few people came to mind during and after the knitting process, but when I came across this website this morning, I decided to take part (sorry Rowan, but you can still enter!).
I had been wanting to do a giveaway for a while, and am so happy to combine my love of knitting with something to help a community in need.
Here are the rules for the giveaway:
1) Donate $5 (AUD) to the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal or to the Red Cross Victorian Flood Appeal. You receive one entry for each $5 donation. If you donate $20, you get 4 entries.
2) Leave a comment on this post with your receipt number.
3) This giveaway is open to everyone no matter where you live. I will cover all postage costs.
4) A random number generator will choose the winner of the giveaway on a to-be-announced date. I need to do more research on the website and then will post the date by tomorrow (1/21/11). Comments will close on January 25th at 9pm (EST). Good luck!
The winner is Adrienne: "Beautiful job knitting and yummy yarn!"
Congratuations!! And thanks for participating everyone. We raised $75!!!
For those of you who might be interested, the gloves are knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino chunky yarn- a combination of merino wool, microfibre and cashmere!
Happy donating!!
I recently came across this doll sweater at the Living Crafts blog. I printed it out and put it in my knitting binder, along with the hundreds of other patterns. Usually, patterns sit lonely and untouched in my binder for many long months and/or years because I simply print out too many! This time was different, though. Esme's friend was having a birthday party and I decided to make this one for her. As soon as I finished it, I decided to make one for Esme's birthday as well. I couldn't resist giving it to her early, though, so I have another one made for her birthday (which I will show when the buttons are sewn on)!
The above sweater (yes, that is my original Cabbage Patch doll, Octavia Libby... we can't ever let go of them can we? I mean, we adopted them!) is the first one I made, for Esme's friend. I followed the pattern exactly and it fits this doll perfectly. I had to rework the pattern quite a bit to come up with the sweater for Esme's Corolle doll. I may even tweak the pattern and offer it as my first knitting tutorial, along with the bloomers pattern that I came up with all by myself.
It is very important for me to reiterate that I designed a pattern without any help from anyone! I didn't know if this day would ever come (although some of the scarves I made way-back-when were, I guess, my own designs as well... they just didn't require much math or creativity as far as I am concerned). Look out world, I might just end up with a book of knitting patterns on my hands!!
Hello again everybody! We had a wonderful time in Wisconsin over the holidays and I wanted to share some (OK, a ton of) photos with you all.
First, our baby boy turned 3!! Here he is on his birthday morning with his new crown, made by Mama. I will be making one for Esme' soon too. Here is the pattern if you are interested.
He started the day out perfectly with his favorite breakfast from Grandma- pancakes with whipped cream!! For some reason, the photo is being cut off so you can't see that he is holding up three fingers.
Then his party started! We had lots of family, which is one of the nice things about his birthday being so close to Christmas. In the future we may have to have early birthday parties for his friends, but so far it has worked out really great. One of his favorite gifts this year was his first guitar!
Rex was a big hit too! He received so many great gifts (and so much love)- thanks everyone! And Happy Birthday dear Asher!
Next... Esme' lost her first tooth!! On Christmas morning! Here is the little darling with her beautiful 5 year old smile. Glad I had her tooth pillow ready (and that I remembered to pack it!).
We saw lots of family...
Asher with Auntie Angela.
Esme' with Aunt Bethany.
All the cousins together!
Four generations!
Megan, Me, Chelsea.
Can you guess whose spouse is whose?!
Esme' was thrilled to do her hair like Olivia and Lexie!!
And now for some random cute photos of our kids. I hope you all had a warm and safe holiday season and that your new year is bringing so much love and beauty.
I didn't think I'd be knitting this until she was 6 or 7, but here we are with a loose tooth on our hands at 5 (& 3/4!) years old. Esme' calls her tooth friend Rosie, but it is from the Mervin the Molar pattern at Kat's Scratch Pad.
I made the pocket a little larger than the pattern called for, to allow room for a small treasure.
I remember a certain amount of stress attached to a loose tooth from my childhood (somehow, pliers come to my attention), but Esme' is taking this all in stride. I would even say she is a little joyful about the whole process.
I have the fortune of being able to knit some items for Esme's Waldorf school. My first project was to knit some fruit finger puppets (they can also be used in the play kitchen). I got the patterns from this book.
Here are a couple of photos. I forgot to get a shot of the puppet part, but you can imagine!
I have some yarn left over, so if anyone out there wants an apple or pear or both, just let me know!! The grapes were not very fun to make, so I don't think I'll be offering my time for that project again.
Recent Comments