Ravelry is having a Mitten Knit Along. Why mittens? Well, January is one of the coldest months of the year and mittens are much warmer than gloves. They are also relatively quick to knit. Since I need a pair of mittens to wear while playing with my new camera outside – too cold to go without, too hard to shot with normal ones on – I decided to join in and knit myself a pair of Photographer Mittens! Any one care to join? What mittens will you work on?

I thought I’d show off some of the gifts that I crafted this year for the holidays. The majority of them are knitting projects, however I did also sew aprons with matching oven mitts for Ashley and Roz. I also made one for Shawn’s grandmother, but didn’t get a picture of her in it.

I truly enjoyed making these gifts instead of just purchasing them. I did learn a few lessons, mainly start WAY earlier in the year and to plan out a list of what projects are for what people. I think that if was a bit more organized, it wouldn’t have been so hectic or confusing on who was getting what.

Hope you enjoy!

Sorry for the break in postings, but I have been in overdrive working on projects for Christmas: sewing, knitting, baking, etc. Many of them have to remain secret until after the holidays, but I can mention at least this one: the Midnight Hike Neckwarmer. It is for Heather, the girl that cuts my hair. I based it off of the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern that I found on Ravelry. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in a midnight blue color and doubled it so it would give me a chunkier knit. What do you think of my cables? I was nervous about them, but found them super easy! I hope that she likes it.

Well, I need to get back to my to do list. I promise to post more details on the projects I’ve been working on once they are all gifted.

Shawn requested that I knit something for a co-worker’s baby shower a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t have the time (or the energy) to make a baby blanket, so I decided to attempt the “Child’s Placket Neck Pullover” from Joelle Hoverson’s Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I’ve been wanting to work this pattern for a while now, so this was just the opportunity. I went out and purchased some Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK Solid in orange and magenta. I wanted to do something more colorful than pastel pink. (They knew they were having a girl.) So I went with more of an Oilily color palette.

The pattern was not the most clearly written, but I was able to work it out after reading it over a few times. The actual knitting was pretty easy. I was nervous about joining the raglan sleeves, but it was pretty simple. I think that knitting a few pairs of socks helped because they use a similar stitch for the gusset shaping.

I had to make a few modifications to the pattern in order to use the two colors. Mostly in the placket area. The original calls for seed stitching on either side of the placket that joins with the collar. I couldn’t figure out how to switch yarns while still having it attach correctly, so I just used stockinette instead. I also decided to do an asymetrical placket to give it a little modern feel. Instead of doing buttons, I sewed in snaps on the placket and then stitched on some buttons in the front for decoration. Snaps are easier to deal with for squirmy babies, plus I think that button-hole knitting skills leave something to be desired.

All in all, I am pretty impressed with myself on how well it turned out. Yeah for me!!!

PS. I had a lot of leftover yarn, so I made a matching hat and booties. (Please forgive the atrocious photos!)

I just finished up a pair of leg warmers that I’ve been working on for a Christmas gift. I’m not going to post a completed picture of them, so they can still be a surprise for the recipient. I chose to use JoAnn’s Sensations It’s A Wrap yarn. Its color-wrapped plies with a touch of wool, so it has a slight fuzziness to it. I thought that the color way is great and would reference the original ones we wore in the 80’s. I just cast on 60 stitches onto size 6 DPNs and worked a 2×2 rib for 2 inches to create the cuff. The I switched to stockinette, working for 26 inches, then back to 2×2 rib for cuffing opposite end. Easy peasey. It was actually a little too easy, read boring, so I think that if I make another pair, I might try to add more pattern or even attempt to do some cabling. That’s something I haven’t tackled yet.

I knit up some socks for my nephew. I used Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in the Rock & Roll colorway. It had a little pooling of colors here and there, but overall I like the way it had an almost tie-dye effect when knit.

I used good old Silver’s Simple Sock pattern again. The same that I used for Shawn’s pair. They are a little big on him, but I think that is okay, since he is growing like a weed. Maybe they’ll last a bit longer this way.

Anyways, my favorite little rocknrolla seems to enjoy them, which is what really counts!

I decided to knit up a hat for Shawn. I wanted to make it fairly simple, he’s not really into cables or stripes, but soft and warm for this blustery fall that we are having. I decided to go with a fisherman’s watchcap style. I picked out some black Lion’s Brand Mircro-Spun and doubled it so it would be a thicker knit. It’s really great yarn to work with – soft and squishy but not fuzzy or too stretchy- I’ll definitely pick up some more for future projects. I did about three inches in a 2×2 rib stitch so he’d be able to fold up the brim then proceeded with a basic stockinette stitch. I think it turned out great, and more importantly, the hubby is happy!

My friend Dawn is going to be having a little boy on October 12th. (No name picked out as of yet.) She already has an adorable little girl, Gabrielle, so she will not be having another baby shower. I still wanted to make something for her to welcome Baby Elkins into the family, so I decided to knit another version of Stitch’N’Bitch’s Big Bad Baby Blanket. This is the same pattern I used for Kaci. I decided to make this one a little thicker, so I used two strands of yarn. I had a bunch of Lion’s Brand Wool-Ease in Avocado, so went with it. I must admit that I am really pleased on how well it turned out. Plus, it took much less time to complete. I think that this shall be my go to gift for babies from now on.

So, among the million things that I have been doing this week to prepare for Shawn’s family upcoming invasion, umm . . . I mean visit, one of them has been getting the spare bedrooms in order. Something that I have been meaning to do is get a chair to go with the vanity. I haven’t been able to find one that I like, that isn’t a ton of money. (Can I help it if I have expensive taste?) I have the old chair that my mom bought for me when she gave it for me. I think it must have been a kitchen chair or something. It’s based off of a bentwood chair, but done it white metal tubing. Not the most attractive thing out there. But it fit the vanity and is fairly comfortable. . . so I decided find a slip cover to make it more presentable. Unfortunately, the only ones I found were pretty awful looking. Either that or they cost an arm and a leg. After looking at the construction of a couple in the store, I decided to attempt to make a slip cover for it myself. Ambitious, considering that I’ve never made a slip cover before in my life and have only been sewing for a little over three months. Well, I have to say that it turned out pretty darn good. I got a yard of navy blue canvas from Walmart ($4!) and just kind of figured things out by trial and error. I finished off the bottom with a a little red fabric that I had in my stash to give it a little pop. I’m pretty amazed that I could pull this off, it’s given me the confidence to try my hand at some more ambitious sewing projects. . . curtains anyone?

I had some leftover yarn from the blanket, so I decided to make some booties. Tiny feet!