In Celebration

Yes, I’m celebrating.

I’m celebrating one successful night (working on my second) of the Kids Clothes Week Challenge session last night. Have to say after looking at some of the other entries, I’m a bit—OK, a lot—intimidated, but I’m going to soldier on anyway. Sure, some people can sew four outfits for their kids in one hour, some of us take an hour to thread our needles. We all start somewhere. I have one new pair of little pants, and three more planned. Also a few embellished shirts that will all coordinate for four pairs of PJs. Pictures coming later.

I’m also celebrating my friend Cosy’s news! Not only has she released pattern, Orsolya, but she now has her own studio back in Pittsburgh where you can go to knit, spin, or buy some of her hand-dyed or hand-spun yarn, or look at smaples from some of her fabulous patterns including a few from her book. Yay Cosy!! I only wish I could be back in the ‘bugh to help you celebrate all your hard work!

You might remember Orsolya as that fabulous little test knit I whipped up super quick this summer. Well, I banged out two more right after I finished the first. This one was knit up with Autumn House Farm Shantung Silk and some Silky Merino from Malabrigo. I’ve been waiting to use that Autumn House Farm yarn for such a long time… I think there was no better way to show it off than this pattern.

And here’s the other, made with some of Cosy’s hand-dyed yarn and just a touch of Cascade 220.

Heaven is a worsted knit for kids… it goes super super fast, and boy those kids make it look pretty adorable. I’m so thankful they all still like wearing things I make.

And man… this was the shortest photo session ever, and I actually got a few I could use. So I pushed my luck, and tired to get a shot of both together. Fun times.

This is the closest I got.

What? You don’t let your kid suck on a sponge to get her to stand still enough to model a dress that you knit ever-so-lovingly for her? Well! You’re missing out!

 

OK, time for me to get back to sewing… or maybe I’ll just go to bed and count the extra hour I put in last night as credit for today.

I Wasn’t Kidding…

… I truly love this pattern of Cosy’s.

Here’s my second and third.

Yeah, I’m not one of those knitters who only knits things once.

A Lovely Little Knit

A few weeks ago, I cast on a test knit for my talented friend, Cosy, for her latest design, Orsolya.

To say I enjoyed it would be an understatement.

Not only did I finish this with lightening speed (after all, it’s knit with worsted weight)…

…I’ve already cast on for a second which is half way done, and I have a third going on directly after I’m done binding off. I’ve had some yarn sitting in the stash for at least five years waiting for the perfect project and this is it!

This dress is such a fabulous little knit; I can not begin to tell you how sweet it is.

The bit of eyelet trim, the teeny pockets…

The top down construction with no seaming.

It’s a great length for toddling around, although I believe Cosy also includes a shorter tunic length if you’d rather that.

For this knit I worked up the 18m size using some Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora, which sadly has been discontinued. It blocked out with an ever-so-slight halo (love!), and the stitches “fulled out” a bit, causing my gauge to go a little wide. That’s OK, she’ll get plenty of use out of this. This year as a dress… next year as a top.

Oh I can’t wait for Cosy to get this one published for you to try out! Make sure to check out her Ravelry shop or her book for a bunch of her other designs.

A Sweater For Me

A few weeks ago, I finished a sweater for myself.

You would think, with as much knitting as goes down in these parts that I would have a closet full (or at least a shelf?) of knits just lying around waiting for their chance to see the sun. But the truth of the matter is that I haven’t knit anything for myself since the first awful sweater I made about ten years ago. Ten years, sigh, how is that possible?

The majority of what I knit are gifts for others. That hasn’t meant I didn’t start a few things for myself, but I would lose the pattern, or the yarn, or frog it just to use the yarn for something else. As a matter of fact this yarn was a cardigan gone wrong before I ripped it all out and started over. Now it’s a mama-made sweater for me.

The yarn is fabulous. A lovely bland of silk and linen that I bought in New York at School Products Yarn recommended by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops. Yes, it’s a strange name for a yarn store, but the shop itself was nothing short of miraculous. The store itself is relatively stark, but the fiber blends? Oh! I didn’t even know some of the blends they had existed. I felt like I was touching silky strings from spun clouds.

The pattern is Heliotrope by Merceded Tarasovich-Clark and it was a gentle project that really didn’t take much attention, skill, or time to knit… well, shouldn’t unless you’re the mother of four. It took me longer than a year. To knit. The last. inch. Really.

I should note, there is a good reason to take photos right after you complete your project before you have a chance to snag it, or have babies pull on the little loops while she’s riding on your back. And don’t forget the drool and other various bodily fluids you’re likely to collect during a few minutes of wear.

So yeah, finish a project, take photos while the little ones are down. As quickly as possible. Words of wisdom from me to you.

A First Birthday :: The Mama Knit

Time to celebrate another birthday. It was a day of firsts and a lasts for us here: a first birthday that has come and gone; the last of our babies to do so; the first birthday of 2012; the final first birthday our closest clan will all celebrate together; the first time I have felt sure our family is complete; our last baby.

But lest I sound maudlin, let me assure you the occasion was most definitely celebratory, as any family with four children may be on such a special day. No need to invite friends to fill seats (although all are always welcome), our table is full and no corner of the house is quiet. We are a party unto ourselves most definitely!

Just one week shy of her birthday, I realized I had not yet started her mama made knit! Oh no! Not only had I not started it, but I hadn’t even thought about what I might make for her. So in the mad rush to pack and leave for a week back home in Pennsylvania, I grabbed three ball of Rowan Lima from my stash, my pack of needles, and hoped for the best.

Thanks to another lovely mama who has just started knitting not so long ago, Lisa from The Little House That Grew who just had her house grow a little bit more with the addition of a beautiful baby boy, provided the inspiration I needed just in the nick of time. Enter the Milo Sweater Vest.

Oh I can not say enough about my love for this pattern! Three days it took me people, THREE DAYS! And that was only during a few hours of movie time in the evening—the only time I get to watch movies is when I visit my parents’ homes. This pattern was lighting fast, easy to memorize, and incredibly well written. Even if you’ve never knit a cable before, this would not be a difficult project given the clear instruction. I love patterns that leave nothing to the imagination. Georgie Hallam, the designer, even provides several cable options, which you could easily swap out with your own preference should you like to try something new. I will be casting on for another very soon. THREE DAYS!

And boy oh boy, does it look adorable on my girl! But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself…

A Milo Vest, nice and snug for an on-the-move crawler with no sleeves to snag, knit with a fantastically soft beautifully heathered yarn and lots of lots of mama’s love. Every stitch slipped through my hands, little one, while memories of your first year wound through my thoughts and bound your heart every closer to mine.

Happy Birthday.

+++++++++
+++++++++
+++++++++
+++++++++

Linking to these fine sites ::

Progress, Slow But Steady

Hello Friends! It’s been a while since we’ve moved, it’s been five weeks actually. That is so hard to believe, yet here were are in June and I am still surrounded by boxes and chaos. When will it end I wonder? I see progress everyday, albeit much slower than that to which I’ve become accustomed–the three little ones definitely add to the complexity of it all–but I’ve heard that slow and steady wins the race.

During the re-settling, I have found a wonderful, meditative knit that I’m enjoying thoroughly, the Baby Drops cardigan. It has been in my queue for quite a while and it’s just the knit I need at this moment in time. Rows upon rows of garter, lovely short row shaping, all with very little counting or complexity. I was recently out in LA for my first visit for a dear friend’s baby shower and, heaven help me, I ran out of knitting. One emergency trip later, I cam back with three skein of mini moochi, a set of needles, a pattern, and an excellent traveling partner. I’m starting the second sleeve alongside my second cup of coffee directly after this is posted. I’m starting to feel a bit sad that the end is in sight. I just may need to begin another one to get me through this next month of unpacking and reorganizing, after all there is no shortage of babies arriving amongst our circle of friends, and a baby without a piece of hand knit is quite a tragedy, wouldn’t you agree?

Late Over Never, Right?

I am behind on my Christmas knitting. And just in case you considered, for a second, that I meant my preparations for December 2010, let me assure you, I meant this past Christmas, you know, the one in 2009. I don’t know how it happens, really; I plan, I make, I plan, I make, then I plan some more and then before I know it, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m madly knitting the day through skipping breakfast and lunch in attempt to finish up a baby sweater I completely forgot all about. Seriously? Who does that? Forgets about a sweater? Sure, maybe you run out of time or energy, but completely forget all about it even after packing up the yarn and instructions? Sheesh.

Regardless of how it happened, I once again found myself up against the Christmas deadline with absolutely no way to complete all the work. Remember this afghan? Begun in 2008 as a gift for Christmas ’08, completed in January ’10. And I wasn’t going to do anything until that baby was put to bed. And then the baby sweater. And then a sweater for one of my best friends, who went and got herself knocked up! Woo-hoo!! This particular friend, who married my husband and I, made me a gorgeous afghan several years ago (eh-hem!) as an exchange: She would make me the blanket, and I would make her a sweater. I did, in fact, complete a sweater  for her, but it was so hideously ugly that I couldn’t bring myself to gift it to her. I started two other sweaters for her, both of which got frogged before much progress was made. So I decided the time was long past due for her to receive her promised knit.

I wanted to knit something for her that she could use during the months she was gestating, then for nursing and maybe beyond. Quite a feat for one garment, but I was hoping I could find something to fit the bill. And thanks to Ravelry, I did indeed find a few that might work, one of which was Cormorant by Norah Gaughan. This is my second sweater from her, and I have to say both have been an absolute joy to knit. I’m so very close to being done. I have knit the main cardigan pieces, sewn them together, and woven in all the ends, and now I’m knitting up the yarn-over lace ruffle. I’m really hoping it will be as stunning on the soon-to-be mama as it is on the needles.

I’m knitting it up with some beautiful yarn from Sweet Georgia, an independent dyer working out of Vancouver. The color is phenomenal, and it’s the shade that my friend picked out for herself. I do have a few complaints about the yarn however, one being that it is super splitty due to the complete lack of twist in certain lengths of the fiber–I have spent way too much time dropping stitches in the middle of the knit to catch errant stray plies–and none of the skeins I’ve used have been without knots, with one skein having four or more. I have written to the shop owner last week, but still haven’t heard from her yet. We’ll see  how she responds, as I’d really like to try more of her yarn.

So, I’m hoping to finish it up any day now… I was hoping to have it done in March, err, make that December, um, OK a few years ago. But hey! Better late than never, right?

The Sweater in All Its Glory

Back In December, I completed knitting up this sweater. But I thought to myself that it needed something a bit “extra”. In my mind I pictured a beautiful bit of embroidery involving a cloud and swallow motif. And I tried to make it work, honestly, I did. I used DMC floss–too thin to stand out; I used silk yarn–couldn’t get the fine detail I was looking for; I tried needle felting–promising, but I’m too inexperienced to carry out my vision.

In the end, it needed none of that. It is a beautiful sweater, knit for my little baby girl, from a buttery soft yarn dyed and spun by an amazingly talented friend. She loves it, I love it, and sometimes simple is best. We wear this jacket almost daily and I have yet to tire of the joy it brings me to see her reaching milestones in this bit of mama made.

Isn’t that yarn something else?

Really, I just love the colors and how much visual texture they add. No wonder the embroidery didn’t work; the yarn is art enough.

Those buttons! I walked into my new LYS and they were the first thing I saw. I didn’t need to look any further.

Maybe we can even eek out another year of this. I think I have enough scrap yarn to lengthen the sleeves by a bit next year.

The sweater pattern itself was lovely to knit up, and Lisa was very responsive to a question I had, a rather boneheaded problem involving counting, so embarrassing once she helped me figure it out. It really knit up super fast, and it is a beautiful little knit. I think is absolutely perfect to show off hand spun.

Oh! It is such a meaningful knit to me! I hope you enjoy it!

What Do You Do with All That Yarn?

Why you make hats of course!

Introducing the Permafrost Hat by Cosy! It is currently being test knit and this is one of the examples.

Here’s a little tidbit from me to you… when you offer to test knit for someone, you should probably follow the directions as written, and not go off and do your own thing. See, when you’re test knitting, your testing the knit as written. So don’t go and get all fancy. For instance, when it says to knit in the round, why don’t you go ahead and do that instead of knitting it flat so you can get a funky orange intarsia stripe. Back and forth knitting is not the same as knitting in the round and if you’re trying to find potential problems with the pattern, it’s best to remove any possibility that your brilliant, err, interpretation of the pattern might have caused. Really, really sorry Cosy! I made it up to her by knitting another one that I can’t find!

Anyway, I have to say this pattern is brilliant! I absolutely loved knitting it. If you’re new to cables and find them intimidating, I suggest you try this one out. The cable is created with a slipped stitch (easy!) over several rows, then dropped and picked up, no cable needle needed which makes it the perfect introduction for cabling without a needle, in my humble opinion, the only way to do it.

I also have to add, using your own hand-dyed yarn is oh-so-fun! Not that I don’t love it when I knit something for someone with normal ‘ole yarn, but it’s that much more significant when you add your own touch to the color. Both of the hats I knit up went to my kids, and they totally love them, which makes me beam!

And one last parting shot…

Go grab this pattern as soon as it’s up. You won’t regret it!!

Sneak Peek

The birthday sweater, although was knit, buttoned, and all ends woven in, was not completed in time for the big day. It id get wrapped and presented, since it looks done except in my mind’s eye. There is some embroidery missing that I’m struggling to get “just right”. But the yarn and the pattern are so lovely, that I can’t resist sharing a peek… and those buttons!! Oh those buttons!!

Pattern: Baby Tiered Coat (ravelry link)
Designer: Lisa Chemery of Froginette
Yarn: CosySpins Hand-dyed Chunky Falkland Wool
Spinner: Cosette Cornelius-Bates of CosyMakes