New Chicks with Sticks

Check out these chicks with sticks--yarned and dangerous! ;) Molly and Dawn were both interested in learning to knit, so they came over tonight for dinner and a little knitting lesson. They are such fast learners! They know all the basics now and they both learned how to purl, too! We practiced doing the garter stitch (knit all rows), the stockinette stitch (K1 row, P1 row) and the rib (K2P2). It was fun! I love having friends nearby to knit with (wish you could join us, too, Erica!).

Bootie-licious!

I MADE THESE BOOTIES! Can you believe it? I am so proud of these little booties. I followed a pattern I found online called "Ruth's Perfect Baby Booties." The yarn is Sirdar Snuggly bamboo yarn (DK weight). I made one modification. Instead of following Ruth's directions for the cuff, I made one extra stitch (bringing the stitch count to an even # of 38), and did a K2P2 rib for 18 rows. For the tie, I did a 2 stitch i-cord.

I also made my first baby hat, following the Umbilical Cord Hat pattern from my Stitch 'n Bitch book. No modifications to the pattern. The yarn was Crystal Palace Merino Wool.
Both gifts were for my sister-in-law Amber, who's expecting her first baby with Jim's brother, Paul, in April.

Guapo's Sweater

I'm working on a doggie sweater for my friend Judy's tiny little Yorkie named Guapo. She requested orange--I found the yarn at Michael's. I have been trying to follow the "Bone-i-fied Dog Sweater" from my book "Chicks with Sticks." I've had to modify it a lot though since he is so tiny. I want the length of the sweater to be about 10 inches when done. Here are my notes (but I don't recommend using them as instructions to make your own doggie sweater until I figure out the kinks...):

Collar:

Cast on 32.

K1 P1 rib for 5 rows.

Switch to Stockinette Stitch (K1 row, P1 row) for 2 more rows.

Body:
Make1 at beginning and end of row.

Continue knitting in St st, repeating M1 at beginning and end of row every 4th row 4 more times.

Knit in St st for 22 more rows.

Bind off 9 st at beginning of next 2 rows.

Knit in St st for 2 more rows.

Decrease 1 stitch (K2together) at beginning and end of next row and every other row 4 times.

Knit in St st until desired length.

I have gotten this far, and now am stuck!! There is nowhere for the legs to come out up by the collar. It actually looks like the sweater was knit backwards because the two "wings" are near the bottom of the body of the sweater instead of up near the collar. I really think I followed the pattern correctly so I don't know what happened! I am wondering if I can just knit a rib at the end here and make that the collar of the sweater. Otherwise I may have to start all over...