My co-worker Maeve has two lovely boys, but she always wanted a girl. So she was delighted to find out that this latest pregnancy held a girl. And I, though I avoid gender stereotyping as much as I can, felt duty-bound to knit this little girl the pinkest laciest sweater ever pinked. Er, knit.

The pattern is the Jasmine Lace-edged Cardigan from Natural Knits for Moms and Babies. I used Butterfly mercerized cotton, which was smooth and shiny & soft. It was quick to knit (except for the long lace panel, which dragged on through all of 'Ray' and the special features) and although it took a rather long time to seam up, the seams were so short that I could always move on to something new before my brain entirely rotted away.

thanks to the photogenic logs at the humber arboretum!

Plus, the buttons are just Too Much Fun.

Extra Knitting Fun!

Here's a picture of my Punk Lolitas on Pixie:

the things you can find on flickr

Labels: baby, bat masterson, fo

One of my co-workers wanted to get back into knitting by making a simple toy. I showed her Knitty and she was off. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite get the hang of the pattern she picked: Bubby. So she bequeathed me the yarn and her pattern print out. Three months later, Bubby was born.

I'm not sure I like him - he's kind of floppy and awkward - but the Boy has taken to him as a stuffed bear representation of himself, so there's that. And I get to give him away - there's that too.

Bonus craftiness:

Today my mom was asking me when I was going to get a new lunchbag for my son, who started full-day school this year. I've been pretty frustrated with the ones I find at the various stores - so I decided to take my courage in my hands and make one.

The pattern is the tote bag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I like the result, but I found the instructions a bit complex for a total newbie like myself, and I had to pick out the lining seams twice. Also, there's a misprint in the fabric requirements, which caused me to cut out more for the straps than I needed. Still, it's an awesome bag. It even has his name tag in it, so no other fashionable kid can walk off with it. I'm happy.

Labels: baby, blake, fo, sew, toy

I bought my house; thus I bought Mason-Dixon Knitting; thus I bought Cotton-Ease yarn in two colours & cast on for a baby kimono. I hear these things happen. I farmed out the second one to Mason and got the extra joy of double finishing! Hurray!

These will go to Poppy's twins, sort of as a consolation prize for not getting to work with us anymore. Sigh. Where's our consolation?

Labels: baby, bat masterson, fo, mdk

finished: June 11

More booties, because Poppy's twins aren't going to be able to knit for a while. I finished the blue pair by raiding every left-over scrap from every skein of Koigu I've ever bought, including the wee bit leftover from when Annie Modesitt came to Drunken Knitters without yarn or needles.

(Nota Bene: They are blue and orange because I like those colours, hear? I will not hear any bullshit about gender colour coding, thankyouVERYmuch. Mama don't play that.)

These were done for a long time, awaiting for notions and finishing. Once they were done, I popped them in a brown paper bag and took them to school. "Hey, Poppy," I said, barging into her office first thing in the morning, "I made some extra lunch, ya want it??"

"You're so sweet, I --oooohhhh."

Quite possibly the best reaction ever.

now to get them on the twins...

Labels: baby, fo, repeats

A hat for Hestia! I clearly like knitting for this family. This is made out of yarn given to me by her mother and with inspiration from Vogue Quick Knits & a d6. The Vogue hat was alternating bands of purls & knits, so I decided to geek out and use a die to determine the number of rows. The picot hem on the brim didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, but that's ok. At least Hestia likes it.

she loves wearing hats, she's just not into being held in place

Despite swatching beforehand, it's a bit looser than I wanted it, which really makes it look like a flapper lid. Neat!

I love how the decreases and alternating bands turn the crown into a rosette

Labels: baby, fo, kal, stash

...it could be bunnies.

Waddaya know, it's a baby present that isn't booties! It's a bunny from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, knit out of super-great Blue Sky Alpaca that I picked up from Gaspereau Valley Fibres in Wolfvegas last summer. I couldn't get two skeins of the shade I wanted, so after much soul searching, I bought two adjoining colours. The result was a lovely subtle mottled look. This is my first time knitting alpaca and I was/am in love. I'm not quite as happy with the acrylic blend pink fuzzy ear lining; the yarn may be called Candy Floss, but it doesn't knit up too sweetly.

This took me about a week in November to knit up, but lacking a deadline, the pieces just sat about until now. The only real snag was the finishing; once I'd started it, I was reacquainted with my limits in the field of embroidery. The eyes started out as French knots, then became Continental knots, then Forbidden Knots, then I threw up my hands and did the damn satin stitch. And the second arm placement was murder - when I arrived at LK last night, the bunny had only one arm because I'd given up after two unsuccessful attempts. I finally got it right, thanks to a lot of painstaking checking and rechecking (and some liberal use of the Queen's English). And then I didn't get to give it away after all, so s/he came home with me.

I figured out something cool with this pattern, and I post it here because I haven't seen it written up anywhere: when one is to join two or more pieces in the round, one can avoid that sloppy first join by knitting the stitches out of order (do a mini-cable for one round, in other words). The result is a strong, non-sloppy join. I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring this out, although I'm certain about a thousand knitters have done this before me.

p.s. there were a lot of bunnies out at the LK sn'b last night...

Labels: baby, birthday, embroidery, fo, lmkg, toy

For a co-worker. Whom I will miss, even thought I've only known her for 7 weeks.

These are exactly the same as the ones I knit for Nigel & Stacey; the only notable feature of these booties is the speed at which they were completed (I knit one last Saturday at the TTC Knitalong and the other the next day, when I should have been doing work).

Booties: boring but big returns on your investment.

knit protection program

Labels: baby, fo, repeats