Catching up!

Sometimes I am great at starting things... but like many people get lost somewhere in the middle. I have spent the past few months focusing on finishing these projects. Of course, there are always a few small projects that I throw in for a break.

BUNNIES

I was grateful to spend a couple nights with at my girlfriends this past spring, and brought a few fun bunnies for her girls to play with (there was a white one that I made up shortly after taking these photos- as I thought three of these could make for fun juggling toys).

This was a fun crochet pattern by Josephine Wu- she is so talented! She made this pattern available for free on Ravelry.com. I will see if I can upload the pdf to my patterns list on the right.

BOOTIES

Shortly after this I was commissioned to knit up a pair of cute little booties for a friend of a friend. This was my first attempt at any type of sock, and I can see how they can become addictive, especially these little ones :-)

TUNIC

So, onto the projects that have been piling up in my basket. I started this shot sleeve tunic probably over a year ago... it was posted on the Rowan website, although I can no longer find it there. Amazingly I found it amongst my printed patterns, so I was able to pick up where I had left off and finish it. The pattern is called Grace, and was designed by Grace Melville. After re-starting this sweater I remembered my frustration. The yarn was purchased online (Debbie Bliss Cashmarino) and there was a lot of damage to the skeins, where the yarn was frayes/cut in multiple places in each skein. This left me with far too many ends to weave in than is to my liking (who really likes to weave in ends?).  I also had to tweak the collar of the pattern due to not having enough yarn.  Overall I think this is a fun little piece for fall :-)

INFINITY SCARF

Colormatic by Michell Hunter is another free pattern on Ravelry.com. This was a really fun pattern that works up looking like fairisle, but is worked only one yarn at a time. I only used two colors for this, but the pattern calls for 4. I think it still looks great! Can't wait for cooler weather!

 

SHELDON (again!)

I was asked by the son of a friend to make him a turtle after he saw the Sheldon that I had here. He specified colors, and it took me about a year to get around to making this for him. Luckily I finished it just in time for his birthday, he got it and reportedly loves it!

 ADVENT SCARF

Fun Knit-a-long scarf for the 24 days of Christmas, although it took me a bit longer than that. There is a lace pattern for each day, and I ran out of yarn part way through this pattern. Luckily, I cam across one more skein when re-organizing my "yarn closet." I was able to get a few more days in, but still had to skip a few due to not having enough yarn.  This is a great pattern to get exposed to different lace and cable patterns. I believe that there are a few of these patterns available, I may have to try another, but I think that I would do it with more of a lace-weight yarn. This scarf still needs to be blocked, and ends woven in (remember how much I said I love to do this) which I think will make a world of difference and really bring out the lace patterns.

So now, since I have completed the above projects, there is so much room in my basket! I already have two more under-way...

Dragon

Dragon

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."

-J.R.R. Tolkien

After receiving the news of the arrival of a little boy into the family of a good friend, I decided to make him something. I have recently found the making of toys a lot of fun (size doesn't really matter, and the mistakes give each creations character).  This dragon pattern is a free Ravelry download by Ruth Bramley and can be found here (Raveley is a FANTASTIC free knitters and crocheters site with tons of free patterns and an excellent resource for inspiration).  I decided to start this project about a month ago while on vacation. I gathered all my materials before we left town, without thoroughly reading the pattern first... a faux pas for any knitter! I had not realized that this pattern was knit in the round- and only had straight needles with me. Well, I made the most of it-and translated the pattern to straight needled. This resulted in a few moments of disorientation and frustration since I couldn't remember if I was supposed to be reading backwards or forwards. But, as you can see, in the end it came together.

As usual I couldn't resist adding my own changes as I went along.  I first decided that the blanket needed to have a scale-like appearance, so decided to knit it with a honeycomb pattern that I first learned when knitting Sheldon. Secondly, The wings in the pattern were quite boring compared to the other parts of the dragon, so I changed that up as well...the remainder was pretty much as written. The eyes were a bit of a challenge, as I have not yet come up with a great pattern for eyes. These were just embroidered, with a little chain stitch added at the end for his eyebrows. I feel they give him a dragon-like appearance- without being too scary!

Mr Dragon will be off on his first adventure to the land of California this week as he is wrapped up and shipped to his new home. His job is to terrorize the newborn with love!

Gift for Eva Brown

Pond Friends Stacking Toy

Kristina is having another baby girl, a sister for Zoe, due this fall! I wan't up for another Alphabet blanket, and was looking for a project that would be fun and fairly quick. I discovered this pattern on Ravelry and knew it would be a fun project. (Also available here) I have not done many crochet projects, but when I searched for knit rings toys, I didn't really like what I found. This pattern was mostly single chains with increases and decreases, so I thought it was worth a try!

I loved giving each creature their personality. As you can see there is the Turtle (Base) Bumble Bee, Fish (I added him at the end because my turtle's neck was too long) Lady Bug, and Dragon Fly (my personal favorite). I made a few modifications on the wings of both the bee and dragon fly, but besides that I stuck pretty much to the pattern ~ imagine that!


Last week we had an informal get together where we gave a few small baby-shower gifts to Kristina (hence the rushed and fairly poor pictures of this project). I knew she would love the gift, but little did I know how funny it would be. We all had a fit of the giggles! What great memories

Still Knitting...

Spring Scarf

This has been a wonderful project from VogueSpring/Summer 2010 magazine (I would love a subscription if anyone wants to give as a gift). I was able to pick up this project here and there once I learned the patten. Interesting enough to keep me busy (easy to do), and a great piece to work a little at a time since the pattern repeats itself.

Worked in Katia Samba Yarn, a fun array of spring colors emerged... to go with just about anything!

This one is going to go to my sister- for her B-day a few weeks from now. She might even see this post before getting the gift! I hope she likes it :-)

I had a lot of fun photographing this piece, as you can see. It has the ability to go just about anywhere...

Halfway through 2010

GOLF CLUB COVERS

It has been a LONG time since I last posted to my blog. I can't believe that it is August of 2010 already! With the new position I took on at work last fall I have been quite busy- and not knitting as much. I do have a few fun completed projects to catch everyone up on though!

Most Recently I was commissioned ($$$) to make a set of personalized head covers for a member to give to her mother. They were to be all the same color with the same initials. I decided that in order to tell the clubs apart they needed different adornments on the top of each head cover. The gift was delivered last week- and it was relayed to me that she LOVED them! Another request was placed for more head covers for the member herself!

BLANKET FOR ZOE

I saw this pattern in the Debbie Bliss The Baby Knits Book. It was truly a fun pattern to knit, and after the first row of letters I started to grasp the concept behind the pattern, which made it much easier. Towards the end it was a bit heavy to work with, but definitely worth the time and energy. An educational an warming tool wrapped in one blanket!

A few months later I was blessed to have Miss Zoe visit the house, and she brought the blanket along for her afternoon nap!