Best friends and a Debbie Bliss cardigan

Do you still remember your best friend from childhood? Do you still keep in touch? How special are these memories to you?

As a mother, I find it fascinating to see my son forge relationships. There’s his best friend from daycare, his partner in crime, whom he plans on taking along for a ride when he gets his own motorcycle and his girlfriend, whom he wears his Super-man T-shirt for. And then there are the friends he sees on weekends, the ones he goes on vacation with and meets at activities.

I am a little obsessive about capturing little special moments for him to remember. I love this picture of A. and one of his buddies. Don’t they look like they’re up to no good?

What does this have to do with knitting you ask? Well, I wanted to show off a new FO. It’s another Debbie Bliss Pattern from “Baby knits for beginners”, specifically the raglan cardigan. I chose a bright-red cotton acrylic mix yarn for durability, and I am really happy with how this turned out.

As this was made for a 3 year old, I enlarged the pattern a bit, and it looks like I’m getting better at adjusting knitting patterns. Now I just have to knit a matching one for A. so they can go out and charm the ladies.

Summer Sweater knit along

Can you believe that I have never tackled an adult sized knitting project? I mean, ok , I’ve “only” been knitting for 3 years, but I’ve always focused on small, fast projects, mainly baby clothes and accessories. But now that I have gathered some experience, I figured I am ready for a new challenge.

Then I saw this post on Luvinthemommyhood, and it was the push I needed to make a commitment. I’ve wanted to knit Hannah Fettig’s Featherweight Cardigan for a while now, and I had even purchased the yarn. The color is this intense red-orange-y-pink/fuchsia. Not my usual color, but something about it just made me think it’d be perfect.

I have never joined a KAL, I simply have no time, but since this is on-line, it’s the perfect alternative. So get ready to hear about this project and its progress, I am myself curious to see how it will turn out.

Kindle love

I am a bit of a bookworm, I love reading, and because I take public transportation to and from work, I do get a lot of time to do it. This quiet hour in the morning helps me prepare for work, and relax after, on my way home. I consider it “me” time, and I look forward to it every day.

This is why, a while back, I bought a Kindle and I have to say that I love it. Because it is one of my most prized possessions I want to take good care of it, but keeping it in my purse can easily lead to it being scratched or damaged. It needs a sleeve. I got one on Etsy a while back, and it’s really cute, but I thought I would “marry” my two passions, reading and knitting and make my own sleeve.

I had leftover yarn from this project, so I set to work. I tried a few different stitch combinations, but ultimately what showed off this yarn best was a simple stockinette stitch. I made a moss stitch border and a matching button flap. The lining is made from matching-color felt fabric.

Quick, simple and stylish, I think!

If anyone feels like making something similar here are the details:

CO 36 sts.

1st Row: *K1, P1* repeat to end.

2nd Row: *P1,K1* repeat to end.

Repeat these 2 rows forming the moss stitch 5 more times.

Beginning with a knit row, work in stockinette until the piece measures 14 inches.

Knit another 12 row border in moss stitch as indicated above.

Bind off.

FINISHING

For the lining, cut a piece of fabric (preferably felt) to be about 5.25 inches wide and 16 inches long and sew the sides together. Join the sides of the knitted case as well and insert the fabric into the kintted piece. Sew together in several places to secure.

For the flap:

CO 42 stitches. Work 5 rows in moss stitch.

6th Row: knit the first 5 stitches in moss stich, k2tog, yf,(this creates a buttonhole) seed stitch to the end.

Rows 7-11: continue in moss stitch.

Bind off.

Sew flap onto the case, positioning it in the middle at the beginning of the border. Choose a cute botton and sew on.

Voila, finished Kindle case!

P.S. Tanis fiber Arts is hosting a great give-away. Head on over for a chance to win. You can find it at http://tanisfiberarts.blogspot.com/2011/05/super-duper-double-giveaway.html

I'm late, I'm late

In February my sister asked me to make a hat for my niece, something light, for spring.  With the help of Ravelry, we chose “Swirl hat” by Sheepy time knits. It’s a playful looking pattern.

We’re now almost in June, and the hat is finished. I realize this is rather late, but I prefer looking at it as being prepared for fall, and not as being incredibly late for spring!

This little project was an exercise in patience. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun knit, but I got to this point where I had to re-knit the same row, and I am not kidding, about twelve times.  You know when you read something over and over again, and it does not sink in? And I kept making mistakes, and did not manage to get the correct number of stitches….I am not the only one this kind of thing happens to, right?

In the end I got it, but I came close to calling it quits a few times. Also I had to make a rather significant adjustment in my knitting habits. I have always knit through the back of the stitch when working on a stockinette stitch project. It’s just a habit, I’ve always found it easier. But when you are working on a project such as this, with decreases, the direction of the stitch matters, so I had to keep reminding myself. Does anyone else out there have funny knitting habits?

When it came to the presentation, I was going to take photos today, we were all having a picnic with the kids, so the lighting would have been great. But alas….. no it did not rain…. I simply forgot the hat at home. A perfect ending for this project I think.

All in all I am happy to be done, and moving on to other projects. I am soon starting on something for myself that I am very excited about.

More girly accessories

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my knitting projects.  I’ve been working on some orders and they seem to be taking me forever. You know, those knits that you’ve done a few times, and at this point kind of bore you. ..but I am almost done.

I did make time however to make a little something for my adorable niece, a headband. Doesn’t she look adorable wearing it?

It’s my first step towards designing my own patterns. I realize I still have a long way to go, but you gotta start somewhere right? I used 100% cotton yarn by Phildar. The band itself is a basic garter-stitch, about 8 rows of it, which makes it a bit elastic, enough to fit snugly around her head.  I sewed the ends together, but I am wondering if it is not smarter to make it a bit longer, add about 20 more stitches, and add snaps to accommodate different size heads. What do you think?  The little flower you see is an adapted pattern by Debbie Bliss, from her book “The Knitter’s Year”. She actually describes how to make a pin. I think it looks adorable, and I am planning to make some for the shop. I have already had a request from a friend to make several of these as she is planning to give them as gifts at her daughter’s birthday party.

So what's the verdict?

Happy Mother's Day

Today, a quote on motherhood that I really like:

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."   --Elizabeth Stone

Hope you are all being spoiled and made to feel special......I am!

Easter Recap

I hope your Easter celebration was merry, filled with happy moments and good food.

I thought for today’s post I would share how I prepared for my family’s Easter. I find that with each passing year I am more and more inclined to include hand-made gifts and decorations in our holiday celebrations. There are so many inspiring ideas out there, so many great tutorials that I have to at least try.

I wanted to do something special for everyone coming over. Last year I had baked sugar cookies and gave everyone their own tin, so this year, when I saw this idea, I knew it was the perfect thing. I mean a pie baked in a jar? How perfectly cute is that? As I am a collector at heart I had enough jars gathered to bake a pie for everyone. The pies were super-easy to prepare and if I do say so myself delicious! I think everyone who sampled it agrees.

For the wrapping I followed a tutorial found on Creature Comforts (a great resource), that shows you how to make your own greeting cards with wasi tape, but I made tags instead of cards. I loved how they came out, and it’s such a great idea that I think I may just make my own Christmas cards too (it’s all about planning ahead, right?).

As for the Easter eggs, I had promised myself I was going to use natural dyes, first because I am trying to make our household as “green” as possible, and second it was Earth day after all. I followed this tutorial and the results were great.

I am constantly wishing for more time, and if next year I have it, I want to try the egg-o-gram, it’s adorable!

That’s it for me, on to more knitting!