A hat

I know that anything I make right now it completely trumped by what Kristen made.


And what Kristen made is remarkably adorable and I'm totally in love with her even if I've never met her and I'm horribly jealous of Patti right now. And if more pictures of this sweet little girl were to be sent to me, I wouldn't complain one bit.

Can I just take a moment to say how strange it is to see another baby in our carseat? I can't quite explain it, but it's STRANGE. Because Z was NEVER that small. Even if he was the exact same size as Caroline when he was born. Ahem.

But I'll post my meager little creation anyway. I made a hat for another baby that was born recently, Ella, who is the daughter of Rob's biological brother. Ella (and her parents) live in New Hampshire, so I thought she'd probably need something to keep her ears warm.

I tried to get a modeled shot, but, well, you can see that the model was being temperamental.


So here's a still.


It's Knitty.com's Toasty Topper, in Berocco's Ultra Alpaca. I've made this before and it's just a great hat. Zack's still fits him from last year, it stays on, it's not too itchy. And the best part? Only one end to weave in. Woo hoo!

I knit a sweater. And it fits.

This really is something of a miracle, as none of the baby sweaters I've knit have ever fit. Neither of the ones that I've made for Zack did. I made one for the daughter of a friend of mine and it was closer to fitting my friend than her daughter. I have gauge and choice-of-yarn issues.

So this year when we were on vacation and went to the lovely little yarn store in Mystic and Rob said "Hey, this yarn would make a great sweater for Zack", I think I cringed because we'd done the same song and dance the previous year and got one of the aforementioned poorly fitting sweaters. But I like to encourage Rob in his aiding and abetting of buying wool, so I sighed and resigned myself. He was right--it was beautiful yarn, a great color for Zack. So I asked one of the helpful ladies at the store what pattern would be good for the yarn, something simple, no bells and whistles. And she pulled out a pattern that I never would have given a second thought, but is, in fact, brilliant and perfect for me. It's knit all in one piece from the top down--so no seaming. I cast on Monday morning while I waiting at the hospital for Rob to have some tests done and finished it Friday night. And yes, it is a merino sweater for a 19 month old. But I had such fun knitting it I can't wait to knit another one!

Most importantly (and amazingly!), it fits. And may fit him next year (though I may have to extend the sleeves). While (dare I say) the choice of model helps with the presentation, I think it turned out pretty well.

The nursery

Here's some pictures of the little outlaw's room -- its finally coming together after a missed furniture delivery, a crib skirt sewing meltdown, and a serious tussle with some oversized curtains. What do you think? Note all the special treats that make the room gorgeous -- mom's "coming home from the hospital" outfits sitting on the changing pad -- ready to go!, auntie amy's quilt at the foot of the bed, and auntie erica's quilt over the back of E's grandmother's rocker. Not to mention the bookshelf made for me by Poppa almost 10 years ago and her Atlanta Braves mobile! Its very cozy, and it gets wonderful afternoon sunshine. What you can't see is raggedy ann, sitting in the crib and making me cry everytime I get a glimpse of her. Thanks mom! :)


At the bottom you'll see a picture of the new house -- mom's been asking what it looks like so I snapped a photo this morning. Note the grey skies, heavy with another 5 days of rain that's coming this afternoon!

Let me know what you think. The only things left to do are to hang the artwork, put her clothes in the drawers, and spend some quality time with the goo gone, getting the warning stickers off the wood crib. Who does that??!

'Round and 'round and 'round she goes....

I've been going around in circles lately.

First I made the Hemlock Ring Shawl. I think his photos are what did me in--I'd want to knit a toilet paper cozy if he photographed it.

My pictures aren't nearly so lovely, but I hope you get the idea. It's knit in this absolutely yummy alpaca that we'd bought in Santa Fe, originally intended for a sweater for Rob. Until we realized that he'd die of heat exhaustion if he were to wear it. Instead he became concerned that I was going to start knitting doilies, not an entirely unfounded concern since this is a doily pattern just knit in heavier yarn.


Hemlock Ring ended up being very small, but I loved knitting in circles. So I started on Shipwreck.

This is also out of alpaca that I'd gotten at Maryland Sheep and Wool a couple years ago for something else entirely. This went very, very quickly and is a lot bigger.

It's big enough and airy enough that I could double it and wear it as a shawl, albeit a shawl that will shed white fibers all over everything.

Shipwreck is based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi shawl from Knitter's Almanac. Being somewhat obsessed at this point, and having a gift certificate to my LYS courtesy of my brother (thanks, DB!), I went and got the book. It's a very cool pattern that you can modify in countless ways, but I kept it simple. I used Churro wool that I bought at Tierra Wools the first time I went to New Mexico in 1998. Rob and I drove our rented Seabring over the mountains through a snow storm to the miniscule town of Los Ojos to go to this hand weaving store that I'd read about on the internet. I'm quite certain he thought I was insane. We picked out this yarn with the intention of it becoming a blanket some day. It only took 11 years. But I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it.

It's really wide--about 5 feet. And wow, is it warm!

Can I just go on a minute about how I've become a complete convert to blocking? Washing the wool and stretching it out just makes such a difference in how the blanket looks and feels. Particularly this last one. It's now so drapy and soft, and the pattern pops out so much more than it did unblocked.

The morals of the story:
1. Knitting in circles is a lot of fun--no purling! I'm working on another top secret one now.
2. Go ahead and buy that yarn--you'll use it eventually.
3. Blocking rocks!

More from Quincy

happy belated 4th.
here is the crayon bag that i made for my friend brandi's little girl, addie.  it's for her birthday which was in april.  oops!  better late than never, right?  the draw string bag is for brandi's birthday which was last week.  i'll be seeing her on wednesday so i hope she doesn't follow this blog or i've ruined the surprise.  i hope you all had a nice 4th.  

summah? it's almost wintah!

here are some projects i've been working on over the past-i'd rather not say how long. this hat was my first done on circular needles, which i still hate them.

this is a scarf knitted with fabric.  the knitting was really quick but the cutting and tying the strips together was the time consuming part.  
these are some wall hangings i made for my mom and myself.  so i made 8 altogether 2 of each design.  i had quite the assembly line going.  




these were also my first attempt at machine quilting.  i didn't use a template or anything.  i pretty much just closed my eyes and did it.  
this extra long skinny scarf is cool because i got the yarn at the east aurora dollar store.  so it's a $2.00 scarf.  

As requested..

Trying some new techniques. It is a mix of old and a little new. I will need to scour the flea markets if I want to make more. Keep your eyes open for junky old stuff that can be taken apart.

A New Baby Gift

A gift for a little baby named Henry who is due to make his appearance any day now. I knitted his big sister a blanket when she was born but didn't want to knit another so I did this simpler and faster blanket. Of course, I had to knit something and fell back on the old reliable umbilical cord hat. I just love this pattern. I realize this seems like a heavy gift for a spring baby but after all he does live in OR.

Anyone else making anything? I need some inspiration. Finally a nice weekend here-in the 70s so maybe I'll do some gardening? Patti

I'm still here and I'm still crafting

i've been gone awhile (i guess that's what happens when you have a baby). Erica, you amaze me with all your crafting. i don't know how you do it. i thought i would share some of my most recent crafty projects. first, i made oliver an alphabet book/scrapbook. i had the cardstock letters and decided i could make a cool book about the alphabet and oliver. i don't know why the pictures are turned. i tried it twice but i think you can still get the idea.

next, i made this fabric book, again for oliver. this was so easy. i bought the fabric in east aurora.

front cover

Finally, this project was inspired by the choo,choo blanket (AKA thomas the train blanket) that nonna made oliver. we were in joann fabrics getting nonna a gift card for her birthday and oliver found the Nemo fleece. how could i say no to that cute little boy? so one side is Nemo and the other is cookie monster (another favorite right now). this fleece tie blanket was so easy, i couldn't believe it. i made it in less than an hour. crazy.

i hope you enjoyed my return to our fabulous blog. i'll try not to be such a stranger.

Parts!

This is what I did yesterday. The watch is an old Bulova given to me by a red headed high school boyfriend. The chain is a flea market find and the dangles are from necklaces I already had . Is it wrong to use my diamond neclaces like this instead of wearing them on seperate chains? I quess I can undo this and return them to their proper places where they will probably get stuck in the back of my jewelry box and be forgotten.

How is everyone? Me, I'm longing for spring. In other news I joined a real gym and am questioning the sanity of my decisions. Maybe the second week will be easier?

Miss You~Patti

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

I made some hearts for the little sweeties in my life (Kayla, Haley, and Zack).

I conveniently got sick before Valentine's Day and this was the perfect project for recuperating. I used absurdly expensive wool felt from PurlSoho. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to use craft felt again. I'm not a huge fan of hand stitching, but these were small and simple enough that they were fun to make.

Stuff!

I made a mouse for one of my wall boxes. It took me back to my folk art days when I was doing shows. I REALLY enjoyed only having to do one instead of a dozen. Made me wonder how I ever got all that stuff done. Do I miss it, you ask? Not one little bit. I am concerned about myself tho as I find I have named the mouse and am making up stories about his adventures. Stay alert! I may need an intervention.

These are Oliver's Valentine present. Made out of polar fleece. Don't worry, they are not as long as this photo makes them appear.

This project was done at Christmas time and makes me smile whenever I catch a glimpse of her sparkling in the sunlight, which hasn't been all that often in EA this winter. I got to use some stuff from my stash. The idea came from a magazine, maybe Cloth Paper Scissors...

That's all I've got for now. Oh wait! I made a pair of cropped pants out of brown knit and they seem to have turned out OK. Will let you know after I get to wear them.

Love~Patti

Christmas has come...and gone

As most of you know, I've now got a "helper" in the crafts department.

Like a moth to a flame, as soon as I start knitting he's there, doing his best to unravel the ball of yarn or impale himself on knitting needles.

This cuts back on productivity.

But I did manage to make a few things for Christmas that I thought I'd share. Most were for my friend Deb's daughters, Kayla and Haley.

They both got splat mats, made from laminated cotton. (You can see the one I made for Zack in the picture above--it's the polka-dotted thing). (Edited to add: The tutorial I based these on is here, though I made some mods.)

I also made them hats, like the one that I made for Zack.
It's the Knitty pattern Toasty Topper, in the yarn called for. I made Kayla's (the purple one) a little bigger by knitting a little looser and adding a few rows, but I don't think I would have needed to.

I also made a cowl for K, which I suppose I should let her blog about, but she's busy with that new company of hers, so I'll post for her.
It's Anne Hanson's Spiraluscious pattern. I used Koigu KPPPM, which I'd heard people rave about before, and now I can understand why. It's really nice to knit with and I loved watching the colors change as I knit. The pattern was lots of fun, too. Except for the part where I realized that I was knitting the trim on the bottom completely backwards. Not only was I on the wrong side, but I'd been systematically reading the pattern backwards--brilliant. So I had to rip out about 1/3 of the trim and redo it.

Now K can post action shots.