Knitting for Baby

My first baby sweater is coming along! I worked on it while Becky was in town--we watched TV and chatted while working on our projects. Below is a picture of the back of the sweater which is complete now. The front will be knit in the same way, except I will create a collar and button holes.

Becky and I went to a knit shop called Nina in the city yesterday. They have such a great selection of yarn--Blue Sky Alpaca, Spud and Chloe, Twinkle...all these yarns I've always heard about but are not carried at my local yarn shops. I love browsing there!

Mom gave me these three books by Kristin Nicholas. We first found out about her books from Susan B. Anderson's blog. They are really beautiful books--the colors and patterns are so vibrant!

The best part about these books is that Mom asked Kristin to sign them for me! It's so neat to have books signed by the author!
After I finish my baby blue sweater, I want to make the cardigan pictured below.

I bought the yarn for the cardigan at the yarn shop yesterday. I really love the colors I chose--I think they will look so cute on a little boy!I taught Becky how to make a hat while she was in town. She also made the Marian cowl. She had never knit on circular or double pointed needles before--she learns so quickly! Her hat came out great--can't wait to see what she makes next! She's promised to start a blog too!

Monkey-ing around

What do you think? He still needs a face, but I need to figure out how I'm going to do that. I might do small buttons for the eyes, and then stitch nose holes and a smile on the lighter brown front of the face. I might also try to make the face a little smaller--we'll see. I think he is adorable, though! He's very soft and huggable. I love the hands with their little thumbs.

Itty Bitty Toys

Having time off from work is not as fun when you're actually sick and can't do anything! My week has consisted of Gatorade, popsicles, episodes of "A Baby Story" on TLC, and knitting. I've been working on some Itty Bitty Toys. They're both still works in progress. The one on the left is going to be a monkey and the one on the right is a lamb. Poor lamb, the yarn I used was a heavier weight than the pattern called for, so he is looking quite plump!

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!