Upside down daisy hat

4/27: I finished the hat! The petals came out really cute--I'm so happy with how it looks! The petals were easy to knit--it was sewing them onto the hat that took more time (about an hour total). I will definitely be making more of these upside down flower hats in different colors!


4/26: How cute is this already?!?! Just have to knit the petals and stitch them on top of the hat now... I don't want to go to work tomorrow--I just want to work on my hat!

Amazing website

Do you know about Ravelry.com? It is an AMAZING website for knitters and crocheters! I heard about it a few weeks ago from the lady who owns my local yarn store, but I've only recently started exploring it. You can type any key words, like "bunny blanket" into the search engine, and tons of free patterns come up. When you click on a pattern, you can see all the finished objects of the people who have tried that pattern. You might see 500 umbilical cord hats, for example! Then you can browse through them and see people's comments--if they thought the pattern was easy, if they changed it in any way or recommended a different yarn. It's so helpful!

I also love the personal projects function. You can upload your own projects onto the site with a really intuitive program. You select the needle size you used, the type of yarn, the pattern, etc, and as you're doing that, it automatically brings up options for what you typed in, like "Did you mean "Close Knit" in Evanston, IL? It's so cool! It's definitely a better alternative for my knitting journal than this blog, although I will keep posting my photos of my finished objects here for you non-knitters. Please leave a comment if you are stopping by this blog. I enjoy writing for me, but do wonder who else is reading (besides Jim and my loyal fans Mom and Erica of course :)).

Knit-Out of here!

Yesterday Northbrook Court hosted its first ever "Knit-Out Chicago" event. Mom and I went to check it out. I was excited to go because I had heard they've been great in other cities. It was smaller than I expected though. There were about 5 or 6 vendor tables and a stage on which they had people trying to out-knit each other to be the fastest knitter. I kid you not--people sat down in chairs to watch other people in chairs cast on with boring beige yarn and try to knit fast. It didn't hold our attention for very long, but it was fun people watching. A lot of people had brought their own projects and were knitting along while chatting. Some people were wearing their own creations. Stop me if I start wearing my own knitted tank tops. I know, it's a blurry line...hats: brilliant. scarves: stylish. bags: cool, you made that? tank tops--no. Throw said scarf over me and take me directly to Loehmann's. Do not pass go.


The cool thing about the vendors was that they had made up kits for you to buy with a pattern and all the skeins of yarn needed to make whatever it was. Mom treated me to this felted purse kit.

It has intartia which I haven't done a ton of yet, but I'm looking forward to the challenge! I've also never felted before. I guess when I am knitting the purse it will look pretty big but then once I put it in the washing machine, presto chango it'll be a little wrist bag! I'm thinking this will be my long-term summer project...I'll keep you posted on its progress!

Oh baby

These are my latest baby hats. I made them for the 2 girls at work who are expecting babies in May. The one below is for a baby girl. I used a cotton yarn for the first time, and am not sure I love how cotton knits up. I used size 7 needles and cast on 64 stitches. It is a little holey and doesn't retain its "hat shape" like wool does--not sure if cotton is always like that? Jim said it looks like cotton candy! Maybe they will enjoy using it in the summer. It seems light and comfortable.

The below hat is neutral and could be for a boy or a girl (I hope!). It's mostly yellows and greens, with a little bit of blue. I used size 7 needles and followed the Stitch n' Bitch Umbilical Cord Hat pattern again. Easy, stretchy, and cute!

Guapisimo!

New pics of Guapo modeling his sweater. Thanks, Judy!

I finished my first "commissioned" knitted project! My friend, Judy, asked me to make an orange dog sweater for her very adorable Yorkie, Guapo. Since he is so small (only 3 pounds!), it was tough finding a pattern that would fit him. After my attempt at the "Bone-i-fied Dog Sweater" from my "Chicks with Sticks" book resulted in a sweater with no leg holes for the poor perrito, I searched online for awhile. The pattern I ended up using can be found at this link:http://www.redlipstick.net/knit/chihswe.html. I used size 6 needles for the entire sweater. The only change I made was to knit the main body of the sweater in stockinette stitch, with the first four stitches of every row as knit stitches (garter). This gave the sweater more of a....well, sweater look!, not the bumpy look of all garter.

Judy has promised me a photo of Guapo in the sweater so I will post that when I get it.

What's next? I bought these neutral baby yarns to make hats for girls at my work who are expecting babies in the spring...I love baby hats because they knit up so quickly!

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.