For our sweet pea

This is the first hat I've made with our baby specifically in mind...what do you think? I have been wanting to try Susan B. Anderson's sweet pea pattern, but wasn't sure which colors I should use...I thought about making it entirely green, but I wanted the pea pod to really stand out. Susan B. Anderson's pattern is pictured with a blue hat and green pea pod with blue peas--

I wasn't wild about the blue peas. Jim suggested brown for the contrasting color since it was more earthy, like a pea pod growing in nature!

I'm so lucky to have a husband that not only likes my crafts, but takes interest in them and gives me good suggestions throughout the whole process!

Just in time for Valentine's Day

I knit these hats following Susan B. Anderson's free pattern, Heart on a String. They knit up so quickly because you hold two strands of yarn together (or you can use a super bulky yarn one-stranded). I made the little red one in about 2 hours! I knit the largest one in Spud and Chloe Outer yarn (super bulky). It feels delicious!

I made the two smallest hats with plans to give them to Kathy, the woman who gave me all her wonderful maternity clothes. She has a 4 year old daughter and a 5 month old daughter. The largest hat was orginally intended for the 4 year old, but it came out too big, so I made another smaller one and am going to keep the largest one for me (secretly I am glad!!).

Mom bought me custom-made labels to sew into my knitted creations...I love them! Don't they look so professional? Thanks, Mom!

Cowl with a twist

Mom and I saw this yarn and pattern for a "Marian Cowl" at a yarn shop in Chicago. We bought yarn to make a cowl for her and for me--here is Mom's cowl! It was a really fast and easy project. It's knit in seed stitch. The first row is Knit 1, Purl 1, and then every row after that you just knit the purls and purl the knits!

I look a little more Mary than Marian in the below picture...

Maybe I should have posed like the model lol: I haven't had a chance to give Mom her cowl yet, but once I do, I'll post a pic of her modeling it!

Sipp-A-Roo

I knit this water bottle cozy for Erica. We have a store up the street called "Healthy Green Goods" that sells all environmentally friendly products. I bought the water bottle there. It's all glass, which is supposedly better for the environment, and cute, too!

I knit the cozy with a wool yarn and then felted it in the washing machine. Here is a before picture:

It shrunk quite a bit after just one short hot cycle--I nearly cried when I saw how small it got! We stretched it out though and it got to be the size I was hoping for. :)

The handle is short because it's meant to put over your bike handlebar (probably with a plastic bottle inside though instead of the glass).

I love how this came out! I still have almost a full skein left of the yarn I used...maybe I'll make one for me next!

Christmas gifts continued...

I knit Michael a gray beanie--que guapo se ve con este gorro nuevo!

It fits perfectly--phew! I never know exactly how those decreases at the top are going to work out, although Jim is a perfect hat model for me throughout the evolution of each hat. :)
I knit Dad a hat, too. I liked this yarn--it's a soft merino and self-striped. The colors look great on Dad!

Do you remember the first scarf that Becky made when I taught her how to knit?

I found the same yarn and made her a pair of mittens! Becky sent me a photo of herself modeling her scarf and mittens (while giving her nephew, Toph, a squeeze!). They look great on you! Hope you enjoy them. :)

I Wish Knit You a Merry Christmas!

This has been my busiest pre-Christmas knitting year yet! I've had much more fun knitting gifts than going out searching for the "perfect gift" among all the other shoppers. (Knitting was also the only way I stayed awake past 8pm during my first trimester!) I knit the neckwarmers pictured below for my friends Maria Fernanda and Sarah, who work with me at Oak Terrace.

I got the pattern for these neckwarmers at my local knit shop. The cabling made it a challenging and fun project. The yarn is what really makes these neckwarmers stylish, though. It's boutique-y!
I like putting one of my friend Judy's handmade gift tags on each of my knitted gifts.

Here's Maria Fernanda modeling her neckwarmer in my classroom.
And below is Sarah! They both wore their neckwarmers last week at school and got a ton of compliments. :)Next on my Christmas gift list was a hat for Jim. He picked this yarn out himself! It's a bamboo/merino/silk blend--he has good taste! We planned the hat together--I ended up doing a Knit2Purl2 rib. I knit for about 9 inches so it would be long enough to have a roll up cuff. Because the yarn was pretty thin, I held two strands together while knitting to make it a heavier weight hat. It turned out great and is Jim's new favorite hat! It looks kind of camo, doesn't it?

Decreasing was tricky on this hat because I didn't want to interrupt the rib pattern. After ripping it out once, I found some advice on ravelry.com that worked perfectly!

Inbetween gifts, I finished the below hat for myself. It's called the "Sideways Grande Cloche Hat." I got the pattern out of a new book I bought called Boutique Knits. I had to stop working on this hat a few times because I was getting frustrated. The hat is knit flat, which felt awkward since I am used to knitting hats in the round. The cable was a challenge, but I am happy overall with the way it turned out--and glad to be done with it!

So those are my completed pre-Christmas projects so far! Still a few more in progress...this post to be continued...

She-Knits Felted Purse

My purse is finally finished! I started it back in June...here's an evolution of the purse in photos:

First project with intarsia...I was holding the yarn in the back with too much tension at first, giving it a puckered look.
So, I had to rip it out, or "frog" it, as they say, and begin again! This is the second time around--much better!

I kept the yarn a lot looser in the back.
After finishing the main part of the bag, I had to embroider around the flower. I was having a hard time getting the embroidery to look right, so Mom did it for me! It turned out great! Here I am modeling the finished bag (and my baby bump :)).

Time to felt! I had never felted anything before. We put the bag in a zippered pillowcase and then threw it in the washing machine with a pair of jeans. Then we put it on a short, hot cycle. We looked at it after one cycle and it was just the right size! We stuffed some plastic bags in it to dry and....voila!

Mom found a fabric that matched the flower perfectly and made lining, complete with pockets and a zippered pouch. She added a magnetic clasp, too. I'm lucky to have such a crafty, talented Mom! Thanks!