Radio Silence is Over

I have been conspicuously absent in my postings this summer, and it was all for good reason.  My son and DIL are expecting a baby in December, and I have been knitting away to present these items to them at the baby shower.  The shower was held last weekend, and attended by all of Ethan’s high school friends, some from college, and many of Dan and I’s friends.

It was a lot of fun, and they received many nice gifts which will go a long way in helping them to get their young family established.  It was nice to celebrate, as we never really had a large wedding celebration like there was for Sofia and Mark, where I knit her this beautiful shawl.

So, here goes, fair warning that there will be a lot of photos here.  Most made with Dale of Norway Baby Ull, which I had to stock up on.  For those of you still looking for the one place in the US that carries it, you need to go to Heart of the Mitten.  Not quite sure why they are limiting the sales just to this store, but at least it is still available for the time being.

First, a pattern that I have knit more times than I can count.  It is an old booklet that my mother had from the 50’s, and as a child I knit baby sweaters from this for my mother’s friends and family.  I used a variegated sock yarn, and Baby Ull of course.  This is a wonderful baby pattern, as the raglan sleeves work well for a newborn.

And a matching hat

This makes such a cute set.

Next, I believe that this is from the same booklet.  And, this also is a pattern that I have made in the past.

This sweater got matching booties and a hat.

Then, I needed to make an Elizabeth Zimmerman baby surprise jacket as well.  I had made one from some of my early handspun a few years ago for my niece, and my sister loved it.  So here it is with handspun yarn, and some funky square buttons. It is so incredibly soft and squishy.

And lastly, my favorite baby booties, Christine’s Baby Booties that really stay on.  A free pattern from Knitty.

And of course, they needed a hat to go along with them.  These were made after we knew that the baby is to be a girl.

More in the work now that are gender specific…

Pussyfooting Along

Last weekend when Sofia and Dan went to the Women’s March in DC, I sent along these socks for Sofia.

I love how they came out although the brown cat face on the pink cat seems to read better.

I really want to make a pair of these for myself.  Easy knit, what surprised me was how tedious the duplicate stitch was on these.  I knit them with my favorite sock yarn JaWoll (which also has a spool of reinforcing thread inside each skein), on size 1 needles.  This is a free pattern, YinYang Kitty Ankle Socks.

My Turn

The past several months I have been preoccupied with knitting for others, from fingerless mitts for girls weekend, Estonian shawl for Go Red auction, Christmas gifts and goodies for a few special people.  Even though I still have a few projects that are languishing and begging to be finished, I feel like rewarding myself and starting something new, but still using yarn from my stash.  I really had wanted to make this hat, the Baa-ble Hat, by Donna Smith from the cover of this year’s Wool Week magazine, which I purchased when it came out, but for everyone the hat pattern is free via the above link. It was one of the most popularly queued patterns on Ravelry this year, and I think for good reason.

Upon closer inspection, that hat calls for an Aran weight Jamieson’s yarn.  I know that the hat will kit up quickly, and I still want to make it, but I resisted the urge to drive out to a yarn store, or to purchase something online.  It will be coming up soon though…

In the meantime, I pulled out this stash of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift

and decided that it was the perfect time to cast on for the Sheepheid Tam by Kate Davies.

The pattern has been in my procession for a couple of years, and I do have some Shetland wool of several colors that I was intending to handspan just for this, but will be happy to make the hat out of the yarn that I have on hand.

Next I want to plan a new sweater from some stash yarns, I have a couple of options that I am mulling over.

Happy Easter

Some free knitting patterns from Rowan:

Transition Socks

I made these socks for my BIL.

If you remember, We had a small family gathering and I made knitted items for 8 people.  Steve and Dan got socks.  These were made with Jawool sock yarn, which has proven to be a winner for durability and wear.  My husband has some socks from this yarn that are just now wearing out after over 15 years!  This is a great staple yarn, it also comes with a matching reinforcing thread on the inside.  Great workhorse of a sock yarn.

I started these socks with a 1×1 twisted ribbing for 24 rows in black for the cuff, then when I transitioned to the leg of the sock, I did stockinette.

 

This would work beautifully with a yarn that transitions colors also.

Here is the pattern:

Transition Socks

 

Scrubbies

My mother always had a basket like this full of her crocheted scrubbies.  Whenever anyone visited she would gladly tell them to pick out a few scrubbies.

She would often take them with her to give to her doctors, many asked for another on the return visits.  They are essential cleanup tools in the kitchen, but have been used on the grill, in the workroom, cleaning up bathrooms, and even getting bugs off of windshields (one of her doctors).   Hers were so much better than the ones that we see at craft shows or the farmer’s market (I think that stuffing is a key), something that she loved to point out.  She knew the pattern by heart and could make them quickly without much thought.  It was what she loved to do while watching her favorite baseball team, the Detroit Tigers.

My last Annetta scribes are unfortunately not looking so great.  My sister Diane was making them at the lake this weekend and graciously made one for each of us.  She tried following Mom’s pattern, but missed something.

I think that these are ingenious, they sit in the palm of your hand and get into corners well.  Now, can she replicate this??!!

In memory of Annetta, her scrubby pattern for all of you.

Now I can show you!

Now I am able to brag blog about these gifts that I sent out to Ria.

The first was a Baby Surprise Jacket that I knit using some of my early handspun.  Mrs. Peterson was visiting and gave me the idea last summer, and I do think that it came out well.  Jill skyped with me when they were opening the presents, and it fits Ria perfectly.  She, however, was only interested in trying to eat the buttons.

Pattern: Baby Surprise jacket
Pattern Source: The Opinionated Knitter (book)
Yarn: Handspun from early spinning days
Needles: US 6
Date Started: 8/8/13
Date Finished: 8/19/13
Finished Dimensions: 58″ wide x 32″ deep

The second sweater was a Dale of Norway, my go-to for baby gifts, they are just so beautiful.  This is a bright pink and tangerine, with bright accents.  Will look beautiful with her gorgeous dark coloring.

Pattern: #14206 Dale of Norway Pattern
Pattern Source: Booklet #142
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull
Needles: US 1 & 2
Date Started: 8/8/13
Date Finished: 8/19/13
Finished Dimensions: 12-24 months

And lastly, this was an SOS from my sister Diane who was out the past couple of weeks taking care of Ria, a walk on a cool day necessitated some mittens for her hands.  Apparently, hard to come by in California.  I was hoping that these would fit, since I had no little models here to try them on, and they were the perfect size (she is 6 months old).  These were so fun to make, it is a free pattern from Knituition.  I changed the pattern on the back of the mitts to match the edge on the front, and to avoid long float carries every other row.  These will definitely be on my “to knit for new babies” list.

Pattern: Nordic Baby Mitts
Pattern Source: Free from Knituition
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull, blue and mint green
Needles: US 2
Date Started: 8/8/13
Date Finished: 8/19/13
Finished Dimensions: baby 6-9 months

My extra special knitted wrapping paper held the 2 sweaters, I save this only for special hand knit goods.  It was a birthday gift from a friend a couple of years ago, I wish that I could find more…

All blocked

I finished washing and blocking my handspun shawl.   I love the colors, just need to find someone to model it for me so that I have some better photos.

Project Specs
Pattern: Spring Thaw Shawl
Pattern Source: free from Ravelry link
Yarn: Handspun 2-ply Superwash Merino, Peacock color from Fiber Optic
Needles: US 6 & 7 circulars
Date Started: 9/27/11
Date Finished: 10/30/11
Finished Dimensions: 72″ wingspan, 38″ back depth

Baby Booties & Spinning

I finished up these baby booties last Saturday while driving to and from the Milwaukee Art Museum.  We went for the day to see the China exhibit, which friends had raved about.  It was good, but I wish that I had not made a special trip – did not live up to the hype, and I thought that the curation could have used some help.  The informative placards were not well-lit, and often in hard to reach or obscure places.  The exhibit did not do a good job of explaining the entire history behind the gardens that were on display.  Perhaps we would have enjoyed it more if we had taken an audio tour.  Oh well, at least I finished these:

Project Specs
Pattern: Saartje’s Booties
Pattern Source: free from Saartje Knits
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ul, dark pink and lt green
Needles: US 1 DPN’s
Date Started: 9/3/11
Date Finished: 9/3/11
Finished Dimensions: Size Newborn large

I promised the parents a sweater also, but am waiting to see if the sex is correct.  They had an ultrasound, and think that it is a girl, but those are not known to be a perfect indicator.  So, when the baby is born, I will make an appropriate sweater, but felt I needed to gift something in the meantime.

I also am in a desperate race to clear up some spinning bobbins to take with me to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival, which is this weekend.  This yarn was plyed together yesterday, Jade from Fiber Optic, 85% BFL and 15% silk.  475 yards of 2-ply.

This was the braid, which I had shown previously:

JuDee, JuDee, JuDee

I gave this shawl that name, as I started working on it on the train to Michigan to visit Judy, and finished on our drive back from Mackinac Island.  This pattern, Haruni,  has been in my queue for quite some time.  I loved knitting it, and the end result.  I added one set of repeats onto the pattern.  As you may know, I am not a fan of the “Shawlette”.  I wish that I had enough yarn to add more, but I weighed the yarn out to make sure that I had roughly 1/2 the skein to finish the border.  I even put in a lifeline to assure that if I had to rip back, it would not be a problem, and I ended up with very little yarn left.   I used Anne Yarn by Shaefer, which has a bit of mohair in it and gives a nice halo effect to the shawl.  I really liked this yarn, so much that I bought another skein while in Michigan.

Even my husband commented last night on how beautiful this was.  While I was making it, I swear that every person told me that this color was one of their favorites.  Apparently it is a universal color that looks good on many people.

In progress:

And blocked, I am always amazed at what blocking can do.  I really wish that I had a mannequin, and a foot mannequin, to model my projects.  My family thinks that it is a joke when I ask for that for my birthday and Holidays.

Project Specs
Pattern: Haruni Shawl
Pattern Source: Free pattern on Ravelry from Emily Ross
Yarn: Shaefer’s Anne; Color Bluebell, 560 yards
Needles: US 4 circular
Date Started: 6/3/11
Date Finished: 6/10/11
Finished Dimensions: 40″ wingspan, Nape of neck to back 23″

My next Anne yarn waiting for a shawl pattern:

And, I swear, the last of the Mackinac Island photos.  If you have never been there, make a point of visiting one day, and staying overnight.