Levenwick Body Completed!

Woohoo!  I did it!  The body of the sweater is done, complete with decreases and increases to give the waist shape.  I'm really happy with it!  It is fitting great so far.  It looks kind of skimpy in the front, but that's because it is missing the two front bands.  Next up is the button band, which will have the same feather and fan stitch as the collar, and will be joined with the right front of the sweater.  I'm loving this project so far.  It's just challenging enough to keep it interesting, but not too hard to make me want to give up.

Wink

I knit this scarf up for Mom as a thank you for babysitting Drew.  It's a fast knit--it only took me about 45 minutes!  It looks lovely on her!

Wheeeee!

Drew played at the park in his new hat.

Levenwick Collar and Yoke Progress

Levenwick Collar and Start of Yoke

I finished the collar.  It came out really nice!  I am starting the yoke now and plan to alternate balls of yarn every other wrong side row to prevent any noticeable color changes between the two skeins of hand dyed yarn.

Drew's New Stocking Hat

I tried Drew's new hat on him today...it fit well!  I still need to weave in the ends and line it with fleece, but I think it will be cozy and warm for him this winter.

Finished Striped Stocking Hat

Will try it on Drew tomorrow before I weave in all the ends.

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My First Sweater (for me!)

For my 30th birthday, my parents gifted me a knitting class at my local yarn shop and the yarn to make my first sweater!  What a great gift, right??  I had my first class this past weekend.  I am making the Levenwick sweater by Gudron Johnston.

The photo above doesn't really show the true color of the yarn.  It's Miss Bab's Yowza Whatta Skein in the color "Ladybug," which is a dark pink/red.

I really enjoyed my first class with Daphne!  This is the first official knitting class I've ever taken (everything else I learned from Erica and books/internet!).  We learned a lot about the different techniques we'll use while knitting the sweater and practiced the lace edging for the collar/buttonband, as well as an invisible increase technique that I had never done before.  I was able to knit up a 4x4 gauge swatch in class (which I have never done--I usually only knit a 1 inch gauge swatch for hats!).  I washed it and let it dry at home to see if my gauge will be right for the sweater.  It looks like it is pretty close...I may need to wash it again and see if stretching it out a bit will do the trick.  It's important that my gauge is right so the measurements of my sweater are correct...I don't want to end up with a too narrow, too long sweater like my first version of Drew's green and blue striped sweater!

We have to have the collar and yoke completed by this Saturday...wish me luck... :)

Striped Stocking Hat for Drew

I'm working on a Striped Stocking hat (pattern by Susan B. Anderson) for Drew to go with his winter coat.  The dinosaur hat I made is already looking a little skimpy over the ears!  This hat is a bit of a tricky one in regards to sizing.  Remember how I struggled with it last time?  I knit up a small gauge swatch and did the math to make the hat fit Drew's 20.5 inch head--96 stitches.  Well, I had to frog it a few times because it kept coming out too big, despite the math being correct!  Stretchy yarn, perhaps??  I have now knit with 80 stitches cast on, and it seems like it fits ok, with a little room to grow.  I'm hoping it will fit Drew through the winter/spring.  I also want to line it with fleece.

I'll keep you posted...

Penelope

Maria Fernanda liked the "Mama and Baby" monsters that I knit for Drew, so she requested that I make a lovable monster for her baby girl (due in just 2 weeks!).  I knitted Rebecca Danger's (of DangerCraft) "Penelope the Empathetic Monster."  

It was a fun knit.  I decided to use worsted weight yarn and only hold the yarn single stranded so it wouldn't be quite as big (and take as long to knit!) as the pattern suggested.  Here's a close up of Penelope:

And a "before" picture before I stuffed with fiber fill and made the face and arms: