Second Milo: Lazy Daisies

As I suspected, another Milo vest has been knit. This one has no cable but does have some daisies embroidered with some bulky-weight wool. The green yarn is Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Basil. The yarn is really more worsted than DK, but it's very nice to knit with.

Obviously someone is very happy with her new vest.

Little Cardigan for Little Miss

Now that our little girl is here (born August 30!), I can finally put some of my recent tiny knits into the laundry rotation. This cardigan, Vertebrae, is almost shrug-like in the sense that it wraps the arms and back but leaves the front of the chest open. I think the design is ingenious because when my daughter spits up, only her onesie is in the line of fire.

This was the newborn size, but my gauge was off a little and I still only used one skein of sock yarn. This gorgeous orange-pink-red is Knit Picks self-striping yarn, Felici, which is released in limited-time colorways. This colorway, Matador, had been sitting in my stash for about two years. I love having a little sweater for my daughter that isn't cotton candy pink.

First of Many Milos

I first saw the pattern for Milo about two years ago and instantly loved it. My son was 2 at the time and always runs hot, so I rarely knit anything for him that isn't a winter hat, and my daughter, who was born August 30 (was it only 16 days ago?!), wasn't even a thought at the back of my mind yet, so the pattern went un-purchased and un-knit. 

Finally buying the pattern this summer, I managed to knit one vest before my little girl was born. This one, knit in Berroco Vintage for ease of washing and its wonderful "squishiness," is the 6-month size. I used the heart cable motif, and look forward to knitting more Milos with other cables: my stash is calling me!

Milo, red hearts version

Heart cables (detail)

Preparation Knitting

Our baby girl is due two weeks from today (feel free to show up any time, little one!) and I have knit a few things for her this summer. Below is the Smocked Dress from 60 Quick Baby Knits. I used Cascade Yarn's Ultra Pima, which is a sport-weight yarn. The pattern calls for worsted weight, but I always knit larger than gauge, so this time I just went with it. 

The finished dress seems to be about the right size for a 6- to 9-month-old, so our little girl will most likely be sporting this in the spring over cute long-sleeved tees.

It's a Wrap

I've been working on smaller projects lately, things that don't get too hot on my lap in this ridiculous weather and don't take too long so I'll be ready for the Ravellenic Games, which begin July 27th. 

I finished this triangular shawl a few weeks ago. It's the Kumara Wrap, a free pattern from Classic Elite yarns. I used two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash. It blocked very well, and the shawl is squishy 1x1 rib. The fringe took a while but was very worth the effort. I really like this shawl, but I have a friend who just is this color blue, so I may gift it away.

Another free pattern, Grayson, used less than one skein in each color of Palette, which is a nice fingering-weight wool that comes in a staggering number of colorways. It uses a very ingenious method of casting on stitches at the edge (where the yellow is later knit), thus making it completely unnecessary to pick up stitches to knit the border. I'm not entirely in love with the yellow. I think a darker yellow, one with more brown or orange in it, would have looked more harmonious.

When working the stripes, I always brought the new color under the old color, and this made a very neat little spiral/spine up the edge of the knitting: very tidy looking!

Currently on the needles is another shawl, Quaking Aspen. . . 

Oh, it's been a while, hasn't it?

Not without good reason, though: I'm 33 weeks pregnant, expecting a girl, and have been working on a few projects for her. I've knit a little cardigan and a smocked dress, and yarn is on the way to knit another cardigan as my project for the Ravellenic Games. I also have a few summer-friendly projects on the needles right now: small shawls and cowls, AKA things that aren't so hot that I'll melt beneath them in this heat wave I'm suffering through.

Back soon, with pictures!

Spinning a Storm

The drop-spinning continues at my house. I bought a small stash of wool roving and have been slowly working my way through it. I'm still knitting, for sure, and am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on a cardigan I'm working on right now, but spinning is so easy to pick up for five or ten minutes throughout the day.

Working third shift, I am blessed to be home to help my husband start bedtime for our son, but around 8:00 or so, I say goodnight, leave my husband to read bedtime stories, and I get ready for work. Once the scrubs are on and the dinner is packed, I have 10 minutes before I have to leave in which to spin.

Undyed wool roving, my second attempt at handspun:

Two plies of pink and one ply of purple, which I spun more tightly:

And some hand-dyed wool, done on the stove with plain old liquid food coloring, tap water, and vinegar:

Spinning is great fun, but there's a little added excitement for me as I watch the colors change gradually, and then again as I wait to see what will happen when the individual strands are plied together.

New Adventures in Old Technology

I received a top-whorl spindle for Christmas from my awesome parents, and within three days had already spun through the wool roving that came with the spindle. Last night I wound my single into a center-pull ball, then took the "outside" end and the "inside" end and plied them together to create a 2-ply yarn:

It varies between worsted and bulky weight, and there are definitely some spots that are much thicker or thinner than others, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I have 1 oz (~28 grams) of wool that will probably never be knit into anything, but I've already bought more wool so I can keep practicing.

Chroma Chroma

When I saw the pattern for the Chroma Stocking Cap on Ravelry, I knew I would knit it. Furthermore, I knew I would knit it in Knit Picks Chroma. And, because I'm cheap, I knew I would knit it in whichever colors were on sale. 

So, here it is: Chroma in Pool Party (blue-green-yellow) and North Woods (green-yellow-orange-brown). Because both colorways rely heavily on a blueish green and a greenish yellow, I had to do a little "editing." If both skeins were coming up on the same color at the same time, I snipped out the offending color from one skein and rejoined my yarn.

This was a very well-written pattern with a good tutorial for jogless stripes. My only modifications were using a tubular cast-on method (beautiful!) and adding a tassel, because this hat was just begging to have one. Also, it was a great way to use up some of the yarn that I cut out earlier to make more eye-pleasing stripes.

Thick Stripes Cowl

Four skeins of clearance-priced Lion Brand Alpine Wool somehow jumped into my basket about six months ago. I thought about knitting hats and mittens with them, but during a Christmas-shopping trip I saw some great chunky, soft cowls and decided to see just how far those four skeins would take me:

This was super simple to knit, and made me especially glad that I had bought a 40-inch cable for my interchangeable needle set. More details on my Ravelry project page.

Orange You Glad I Knit You a Sweater?

A recent splurge has become this: 

A top-down raglan pullover for my son. I've used tubular cast-off on the cuffs and waist, and TECHknitting's post on the subject is really well done. After having my son try on the almost-finished product, I abandoned the idea of also using this bind-off at the neck and instead just picked up stitches and worked a few rows of stockinette stitch for a nice rolled edge. I used a suspended bind-off that I've used before.

Knit 1, *slip st back to LH needle, k2tog through the back loop; rep from * until one st remains and draw end of yarn through last st to secure.

I knit the sleeves straight until just before the cuff, where I did a few rounds of decreases before switching to 1x1 ribbing. In hindsight, I think I would have preferred using paired decreases from the elbow to the wrist: next time, right?

Man on the Moon

I love to knit for my husband: searching for the perfect Man Hat pattern, knitting it in something washable yet soft in a deep green, or navy, or the orange and brown of his beloved pro football team. In the past year or two, when I offer to knit for him, he says something like, "I have so many hats. Knit something for yourself."  

As one might imagine, it was a mark-the-calendar day at my house when my husband requested a hand-knit sweater this spring. He, of course, had something particular in mind:

Andy Kaufman, of Taxi and Saturday Night Live, not to mention his comedy specials.

Yes. I was being asked to custom-knit Andy Kaufman on a grown man's sweater. I did a little digging on the internet, just in case something was already available. There are plenty of bizarre, lovely patterns available, and since there was actually a Big Lebowski sweater pattern out there, I thought there might be something  for an Andy Kaufman sweater. 

I did not find a pattern, but someone had already done the hard work of rendering Andy Kaufman in intarsia. The chart is from DomiKNITrix. (If you were so inclined to knit a Bruce Lee sweater, she has that covered, too.)

I bought ten skeins of worsted wool in a natural color and one in black. I used a basic (very basic) men's sweater pattern that I used many years ago for the second sweater I ever knit for my husband and added the chart. In hindsight, I should have moved the portrait up about two inches, but overall the effect is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

My husband swears this is his new ski sweater, to be worn all the time. All. The. Time. All I can say is, after this much stockinette stitch, someone had better get some wear out of it.

Splurge

This past weekend was the annual fiber festival in my state, which meant three barns full of vendors. After some serious browsing, I bought this gorgeous yarn, Miss Babs "Yowza - Whatta Skein!", in a truly delicious and vibrant orange. The colorway is Bittersweet, and I lurve it. At 560 yards, it should definitely be enough to knit a sweater for my son, who is 3 years old.

This color makes me think of autumn leaves and jack-o-lanterns and sweet potato pie, maybe not in that order.

Simple Ribbed Cardigan

Another baby gift: Debbie Bliss's Ribbed Baby Jacket. I love the simplicity and sophistication of her designs, and while this particular pattern looked very feminine in the book, swapping purple wool/cashmere for off-white organic cotton and adding a chunky wooden button made the finished project very gender neutral. It would look equally adorable over a pink onesie or a blue plaid shirt.

I added the buttonhole using a 4-stitch buttonhole. I made no other modifications, but I do kind of wish I'd taken measures to keep the bottom hem from rolling. Other than a stiff blocking - which the recipients will probably not want to do each time it's washed - there really is nothing to be done, but I love the finished product, rolling hem and all.

Aestlight Again

It's not that common for me to knit the same pattern twice. A few baby patterns that have been made for multiple babies and the plain old sock pattern are a few exceptions. But sweaters, hats, and particularly shawls are not my typical repeat offenders.

However, a friend of mine complimented my Aestlight this spring, so while I found myself with some time off in May, I knit one just for her:

I used two skeins of Palette in the main color and one in the lace contrast color. Again, a very well-written pattern that makes a lovely shawl of a pretty good size.

Great Outdoors Socks

Happy Father's Day, all you dads out here on the internet. For my father, I knit a pair of sport-weight socks: another wonderful free pattern on Ravelry.

It was great to find a basic sock pattern for sport yarn, since I accidentally ordered four skeins of this a few months ago. I had meant to order two, but, well, accidents happen and online shoppers click "submit order" too many times. This is my favorite kind of sock pattern: top-down construction, heel flap, and paired decreases for the toe shaping. Maybe it's primacy, but I have tried toe-up socks, short-row heels, and spiraling decreases and they just leave me wanting.

Of course, I'm also the woman who will never give up double-pointed needles.

What knitting method, technique, or trick is first in your heart?

Little Mustard Seed

A friend of mine from my brief stint as a middle-school teacher is having her first baby in September. She and her husband decided to keep the gender a surprise, which I would never be able to do, so I decided to knit her a sweater in gender-neutral Golden Heather and Marshmallow Simply Cotton. I really like this yarn, particularly the worsted weight, because it's organic, machine wash- and dryable, and softer than your average cotton yarn. It does lose about 10% of length after machine washing and drying, by my estimates, but as long as you take that into account when knitting. . . no problem!

The pattern is Little Coffee Bean, yet another wonderful free download available from a Raveler. I really liked the pattern: clear, well written, and very easy for an intermediate to experienced knitter. If I was knitting this specifically for a boy, though, I would swap out the yarnover increases for M1L and M1R increases that didn't produce eyelets.

This just might be my new go-to baby gift pattern, since it only took 200 grams of worsted weight.

Charity Projects #2-5

Finally, a sunny day when I have time to take a few pictures! These projects have been off the needles for two weeks, but between blocking and waiting for them to dry, then days upon days of rain, I hadn't had a chance for photographs.

These fingerless mitts claim to use 75 yards of Malabrigo, and my pair came in at 73.8 yards of Capra: pretty good! The Hat Fit for a Boyfriend and mitts combined used about one and a half skeins of Capra in Caviar, which is the perfect stormy grey.




These fingerless gloves, knit with more of the mystery worsted from my stash, were super simple to knit. They are worked flat in ribbing and then sewn up one side. Remembering to leave a hole for the thumb is the only tricky part.

Below is the Very Braidy Cowl, which used about one and a half skeins of Capra. It is soft and cuddly and very warm.

I've been working a custom sweater for my husband, a shawl for a friend, and a cardigan for another friend's first baby, all currently in progress. I did finish a cardigan for me, but I can't seem to get sunny weather and someone else to take pictures. That would be pressing my luck.

Great Charity Stash-Down Update

Well, roughly two weeks later I have finished five projects: two hats, two pairs of fingerless mittens, and a cowl. I've made one hat/mitt set out of the mystery wool and another set in Capra, which is deee-licious. It feels pretty nice in the ball, even better knit, and amazing after blocking. And speaking of blocking, pictures will have to wait until said blocking is finished.

Knitting these small projects has been very rewarding, and on more than one level. First of all, I'm reducing my stash. Making way for new yarn, making room in my house: both are good news. Second, small projects give me a very real, very tangible sense of accomplishment. As beautiful as a me-sized stockinette cardigan in sport-weight wool is, months of knitting to achieve one garment is not always the most satisfying. Third, knitting for good people, especially people who've had some tough breaks, just makes a body feel good.

Charity Project #1

The first project in my Great Charity Stash-Down is complete. It's the Scathach hat, and I used about two and a half balls of the mystery worsted yarn.




I knit one extra repeat of the cable and picked up 12 stitches more than the pattern called for, and I ended up with a pretty cute (in my opinion), slouchy hat. Knitting some fingerless gloves to make a set has crossed my mind, but this yarn definitely is not soft enough for a scarf or cowl.