Bright baby block

This block is great for people who are beginning any multiple color work in knitting. It's small, cute and very quick to knit up. Instead of using a foam block, I instead used just normal polyfil. This makes it squishy enough for little hands to grab and hold onto. At young ages (like 4 months) their motor skills are developing and they tend to have a little challenge when grabbing anything.


Needles: #5

Yarn: Sport weight

Gauge: 6sts = 1"

Dimensions: 3" X 3"

C.O. 20 stitch.

Knit in pattern until swatch measures 3".

(Sounds easy? Well, it is. :) )

Below here are the charts I used for the block.


(This red and pink chart is actually a repeat of 3 blocks on the chart. Two red blocks and one pink block, then repeated. I wanted to give you a good idea of what the block looks like after it's been knitted a little. )












This triangle is 12 stitches wide. When knitting this swatch, knit 4 rows in green and then begin the triangle row. Knit 4 stitches of green and begin triangle pattern.


Now, here is a diagram for the construction of the block itself. Using a mattress stitch sew the pieces together. Make sure that blocks of the same color do NOT touch each other. When sewing the block together sew the insides together until only one slit is open. You don't need a lot of room in order to stuff the block, and this way, there's only one edge to sew close. Using a mattress stitch sew the seem together.

This is a very simple, easy and straight forward pattern. You're only making 6 different color swatches and sewing them together in a block. With the bright contrasting colors, babies LOVE them since it adds to visual stimulation and all around good fun.

Knitting brings out the inner demons!

See this swatch? Isn't it just adorable? It's not mine. That's right..a swatch of yarn was knitted in my house...and not by me. Who then could have knitted this swatch? Well, my husband..that's who. After finding out about my mathematic perils, he said something that would make any woman fall over. "Teach me how to knit so I can help you."

Ok, now I thought that teaching him would be quite hard. It wasn't. He's actually a quick learner and seemed to be enjoying it.

Now we all knit for our own reasons. I do it because I love it and it helps me to relax. Actually most people love it cause it helps us to relax. My husband on the other hand has discovered that knitting actually helps your inner demons come out. Or at least the swearing kind.

"Now..bring the yarn around the back of the needle. Bring it through the stitch.."

"@#%@"

"Ok..now pull the stitch off the needle.."

"#$%&%!"

"..And just repeat that!"

"#&*@#! Is it supposed to look like THAT!"

"Um..I don't think so. I think the stitch is a little twisted. That's ok, you can just..."

"%^#*@! I'll just start over!...#%@#$!! How do I cast on again? NO! Don't tell me..I got this...Ha! This is easy. $%@#!"

Yep. And he popped the most unusual comment on my last night. I decided to put some of the math I ..*ahem*..learned to work and make a camisole. "I really liked knitting." Now, I think he's just telling me this to make me feel better about it. Maybe he felt that if he told me he didn't like it, I would be hurt. "It's ok hun, you don't have to tell me this to make me feel better."

"I'm not. I actually liked doing it. Maybe tomorrow night I could do it again..and this time make something?"

"Really?!"

"yeah..like fuzzy dice for my car or something."

"Really?!"

"You seem surprised."

"......."

You betcha! He even said good bye this morning and talked about the pattern he wants to make! Wow. I'm actually quite happy about it. And the neatest thing is..he seems quite proud about it. Most men would shy away with a "That's stupid man!". Him? He puffs his chest out and holds his pointy sticks of virtue and proudly proclaims his pleasure for his newfound talent.

New sweater idea

Well..like I said. Math and I do not get along. I got along just fine in high school, so smug..so confident that I ..an artist..would not need it. Specially when that jerk of a math teacher I had was just as smug that I would.
Who knew he'd be right. Now..I have so many beautiful patterns I want to make..and then the math comes. My head begins to collapse in on itself and I become a vegetable completely gapped out and staring at the piece of paper wondering when the math will do itself.
To the left is a picture I doodled last night of an idea I have for a sweater/tunic I want to do. I think maybe a burgundy with black borders. I'm thinking making the borders a seed stitch..that way they don't curl but they are flat. I don't need a ribbing on it since it's supposed to be open a bit.
I think the laces on the bottom, sleeves and collar is quite sexy. I see this being worn over a pair of jeans..just casual looking but a little formal all the same.

Knit Out 2007

I got some awesome pictures from the Knit Out at the Mall of America! It was pretty impressive..but really crowded. I went with my friend Julie (she's new to the knitting scene, so this was a great introduction to it.)
They even had cameras there! This was the "knit off". You know..where you sit for 3 minutes and knit as fast as you can and see how much you can knit. That was an awesome competition.
Lion brand booth. We got some awesome stuff. Except that lady looked really tired. She kept downing her coffee like it was nothing. Must have been a LOONNNGG plane ride LOL!


They were giving away bunches of stuff at these booths. This is the bernat booth. I think we just got patterns here..I'm not sure...we got a lot of stuff, that I do know.
...and I wanted to take a picture of the lines that were there. They were huge! I think the lady in the poncho thought I was taking a picture of her and her handy work. LOL..oh well, I won't tell her otherwise :).



This is all the stuff I got free from the booths. My cat LOVES the boa yarn. He keeps grabbing it and rubbing his face into it. My daughter has already proclaimed that the boa yarn is to be made into a dress and pair of shoes for her Ariel doll. I'll have to make a cat toy as well. Oh! And fill it with cat nip...wow..my cat would keel over from pleasure overload!

Ugly

Ok, I'm not sure what to call this exactly. It's a teddy bear/piggy/cat thing. I just wanted to call it fugly...cause it is. It's great for babies..(exclude the buttons and just embroider the eyes). This one is just sort of a memory piece for my son. I call him Oogie bear, and I made this so he can forever remember the silly name I called him. LOL!

Also, this is the first pattern I've ever put out into the "public", so forgive me if it isn't up to par.


Gauge: 4 stitches = 1"

Needles: #8 (or size to obtain the gauge)

Yarn: Worsted weight yarn

Finished size: 7 1/2" X 9 1/2"

Other Materials: Polyfill
Darning needle
Other color yarn for sewing

Body

Cast On (C.O.) 30 stitches. Knit in stockinette stitch (St st) for a total of 1".

At the beginning of the next two rows bind off (B.O.) 6 stitches. There will be a total of 18 stitches after this.

Now this is the tricky part. You have to do an immediate increase. So the very next row you knit (or purl) one stitch and knit (or purl) increase one stitch. Knit (or purl) to the last stitch and increase one more. This is a two stitch increase in one row. Now..turn your work and do it one more time. (22 stitches)

Knit in St st. until the piece measures 4 1/2" over all.

Then you do a two stitch decrease (two stitches in one row). Basically this is like above, but reverse. You knit (or purl) one stitch and then slip two stitches from left hand needle (one at a time) as if to knit and then knit both together. This is called a slip slip knit or ssk. (If you are purling you do a slp 1, p1, psso. Slip one stitch from the left hand needle to the right. Purl on stitch and then Pass slipped stitch over (psso) the purl one.) Then knit (or purl) to the last 3 stitches and knit (or purl) 2 stitches together (K2 Tog.) (18 stitches)

Turn work and repeat.

Knit decrease on the knit side and purl decrease on the purl side. I usually say knit or purl because you might end up on a wrong side (the purl side) or Right side (the knit side) when you begin to decrease.

Now here's another tricky part. At the beginning of the next row perform a knitted cast on by knitting into the first stitch. Instead of slipping the stitch off the needle you put it on the left hand needle in front of the stitch you just knitted. Do this 6 times. Another words using knitted cast on, C.O. 6 stitches. (24 stitches)

Now, knit this row and at the end of the row C.O. 6 stitches via backward loop. This is simple, you simply loop the yarn over the needle. Make sure you twist the yarn a bit before putting it on the needle. Turn work and knit the arms until the measure 1".

Now you B.O. 8 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows. (14 stitches).

Now turn work and repeat the increase as above.

Knit/purl one, increase 1 stitch. Knit/purl to last stitch, increase 1. Turn work and repeat. (18 stitches)

Knit in St. st. until piece measures 9".

Decrease as before.

Knit/purl one stitch, ssk/psso. Knit/purl to end, knit/purl 2 together. Turn work and repeat. (14 stitches)

B.O. all stitches.

Make 2

Nose: C.O. 10 Stitches and knit until piece measures 1 1/2". B.O.

Finishing:
Now..before you sew the two pieces together, use a blanket stitch and a different color yarn and stitch the nose onto the right side of one of the body pieces. This will be the front.

Before you close the piece, stuff it with polyfill (only a little) and then finishing sewing.

Remember to sew on the eyes and nose before any of the pieces are sewn together, otherwise it is difficult and you might not get the desired look you want.

Using the blank stitch sew the front and back together. Remember to leave at least a 2" opening so you can lightly stuff the piece. (If you over stuff the piece, it might look odd and not be "cuddly"). Then, finish sewing and viola! You have a pig, bear, cat thing. Congrats!

X-treme Knitting

Ok...One thing you should know about me is that I'm an artist and I love to knit. So...here's one of my cartoons I did. Knitting Granny..The X-treme Knitter!!! Yeah..did this on the computer. I love it though. I guess what started it was the Knit-Out 2007 advertisement located at the Mall of America. Knitting competitions were wo/men compete to knit as much as possible in 3 minutes. One woman knitted 123 stitches!!! I think I knitted that much ONLY when I gave up smoking. LOL..I stopped smoking but my needles started.

Oogie's Hat

AWWW...isn't he just cute. This is my 4 month old Donovan. I hardly ever call him that..I usually call him Oogie. LOL.

The hat I made from some left over yarn I had tucked into my knitting shelf. (Which has become a disaster area by the way.) I think it's a red heart or mainstay brand..believe me..if it's going to end up full of slobber and drool I really didn't want it to be a wool hat.


Hmm..NOTE: Idea for baby hat...make one with chewy toys on it.

I also used Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns for the pattern. I'm happy with it..but, I find that the decreasing for the crown is a little too sudden for me and gives it a rather puffy look that I'm not fond of. But, all in all it's a great pattern. I'm just picky, LOL.

I thought he was just adorable in the hat. His head was so big when he was born that the newborn hat I made for him didn't even fit! Poor little baby swaddled in his receiving blankets with a hat that just sat on top of his head and wouldn't even stretch over his ears. LOL..he looked like a little elf. This hat was actually a 6-9 month hat. (Yeah..he's a big baby)

I'm in the process of making him a teddy bear with "Oogie" embroidered on it. I think that it'll be a great token of his name when he's far too old for me to call him my Oogie.

The yarn that lied

I made these wrist warmers (the pattern originally from garnstudio.com...good luck trying to load it.) from what I thought was wool. I had gotten 4 large skeins from my step-father's mother (I guess that would make her my step-grandmother). She had been moving from a larger home into an assisted living apartment and needed to get rid of a lot of misc. crap that accumulated in her home. She's a shopaholic and loves a good bargain, so needless to say some things became buried beneath maelstrom of cheap knick knacks. Out popped these 4 off white/cream colored skeins of yarn that she gave me.

I thought for sure that these were wool.

Now...I'm not so sure. Whatever I had knit with them either lost their shape fast from the sweat from my hands (a sure sign of wool) or didn't block well..(a sure sign of acrylic). So, I'm baffled. These wrist warmers itch like a sheep allergic to lanolin ( I thought that was funny..I just came up with that one.) but they didn't block well at all. I had done a scarf out of the same "wool" for my mother for Christmas. It didn't block well at all! I laid it out and pinned it so precisely, and when I picked it up, nothing. It bounced back into the shape it was before. So...needless to say I'm a little miffed. Now, I hardly wear these and every time I put them on I see how skewed the shape has become and throw them back into the mitten box.

I know..I should reblock them, but I'm still too disgusted to look at them. Another good clue about their true fiber content is that my cat wants nothing to do with them. I made a bunch of coasters from lamb's pride and nature spun wool and he LOOOVVVEED them. It didn't matter if they were wet or not, he laid on them while they dried after felting. These wrist warmers? Nothing.

Kitty hat

I couldn't control myself. I saw this kitty hat and I HAD to make it for my daughter. This is her second year with this hat and I'm afraid she's not willing to retire it for something a little bigger. Aww...doesn't she just look absolutely adorable? Yeah, she's really pushing that smile.

I tried actually making it a little bigger, but it just didn't turn out like that. I used Encore worsted weight to knit it up, so it had a nice soft feel to it and would keep out some of the cold. But, I could wash it too when it got dirty (and believe me, when knitting for a child...or husband...everything they wear tends to get dirty really fast).

First posting.

Isn't it interesting that every first posting on a blog usually titles itself with a.."first posting" or "my first blog" or even "I have no idea what I'm doing and my husband is afraid I'm going to blow up the computer, but hello anyways." I'm in between the first and third. Yeah, I have to confess, this isn't my first attempt at a blog. I've had...other blogs before this one, sorry this isn't my first. But, you'll still love me anyways...right?
Anywho. I have a love for knitting. I'm 23 and find myself desperately seeking out elusive yarn stores so I can fondle their great big balls of hair and fiber. My husband has so lovingly deemed my passion my "porn". Yep, that's right, I said it. Porn. I think it started when I would wait for him to get off the computer (which ended up being late into the night..him being a website designer after all) and me then sneaking onto the computer in the dark to sneak peaks at patterns for sale and free.
Now, I have such a deep love for knitting. I used to look at it in wonder, "How do those women make such beautiful garments from two skewers? It looks so deadly yet..intriguing." Now that I myself am a knitter, I have one more thing to conquer. Designing. I've got great ideas and have scribbled hundreds of them in notebooks, on the computer, my sketchbooks (my other assumed identity I'm an artist) and even backs of receipts. The only thing that I find hard is the math.
Math makes my head hurt, cramp and even go into convulsion. I spend more time trying to understand WHY than knowing that it JUST DOES. I drove my math teacher bonkers. Fractions were something beyond me. So, if anyone out there has a good tip on how to come up with working out the math..let me know. :)