Time Flies...

As the old saying goes, "Time flies when you are having fun." It has been a great holiday season for us but also very busy. We have spent time with family and friends, helped a daughter move, rejoiced about a new baby in the family, mourned for relatives and good friends who are gone from us now, wrapped presents and opened them, played games, and laughed and had lots of fun together. I hope you had a great holiday season as well!

I also got some knitting done during this time. When I get stressed, knitting really helps calm and center me.The charity knitting is always on the needles. I have used up a lot of leftovers for these. Here are some of the hats and mittens that I delivered to the church for the Mitten Tree. There were trips to physical therapy for Amy's tendinitis in her wrist. Of course, I took knitting to work on while we were there. The therapist was always interested in what I was knitting. It always seemed to surprise her when I would pull out a different project. "It's a different color! That's not the hat you were working on last time!"


I did a lot of knitting on this sweater for Carl during those appointments too. The therapist really enjoyed seeing the progress that I made on it. This is the second Wallaby sweater that I have made for Carl. He outgrew the first one and had been telling me that he needed a new sweater. He chose the colors and their placement. It is his favorite sweater now. It is always so nice to get such appreciation for my knitting!


Carl needed a new pair of mittens this year. These are my basic mitten pattern. I knit them nice and tight to keep out the wind and cold. This winter has been so cold that we needed all the warmth we could get!
I had started these glittens for my daughter, Lisa, some time last spring. I finally finished them and she loves them! These are made in Rauma Vamsegarn 100%wool, aran weight yarn. It was a little heavy for the stranding and the extra glove inside, but that has made them extra warm. A good thing when temperatures are below zero!

I used Kathy Cochran's pattern. It was very easy to follow with all of the pictures she has posted. I would like to make a pair of these for myself as well.

I have been working on some other stranded projects too. I will put them in another post.

A bit of crochet

I love to create things in crochet! I find it easy to "see" how to get the shapes I want in crochet. I am not sure why I don't do more of it? Too many other things to do I supppose, like taking care of my family, homeschooling, running kids to activities, working with Arnhild and running my own business. I guess you would say that my days are a little busy! HA!

I made up this little purse before the TNNA trade show last summer. I wanted something that would hold just the necessities but be small enough to tuck into my knitting bag when I needed to carry it too. The strap is long enough to put over my head to the opposite shoulder. I don't have to worry about it falling off the shoulder or giving me a crick in the neck.

I used River Jeans yarn, a cotton yarn with a denim look. It is beautiful, soft yarn for a cotton. Other cottons make my hands hurt when I work with it but not this one. Lovely stuff! I lined it with white so you can see the lace rows better.

As you maybe can see here, I have been using it lately to carry the Bunad stocking that I am working on. It makes a great sock project bag too!

If I can find the time I will try to write up the pattern! I have so many patterns which are only notes or worse yet, just in my head yet!

Wallaby is finished and loved!

As soon as the last threads were clipped Carl put his Wallaby on and he hasn't taken it off. I think it might be hard to get him to take it off even for bedtime! This one is certainly a winner.

Photo shoots with Carl are interesting right now. He is always talking and moving. I have a great photo of the side of the house where I thought he was! LOL

He didn't like the sun either so I got lots of funny faces.

I used TLC Wiggles yarn for this sweater on size 8 needles. I started with 2-3.5 oz skeins of blue and one each of the yellow and red. Carl had chosen the placement of the colors and I was off.

I knitted the sleeves first and when I got just above the pocket I realized I only had about half a skein or so of the blue so I started adding in random stripes of the yellow. I thought about doing some red ones too but I am glad that I didn't because the hood took most of that color. I still have a small amount of the blue and yellow. Maybe I should make him a hat from the leftovers?

The Wonderful Wallaby is a Cottage Creations pattern available from my LYS, The Rose Tree Fiber Shop, and others.

I used the size 6 for the stitch counts because Carl is so slim but I think most of the lengths were closer to the size 8. It gave him just the right amount of growing room I think.

This is the stockinette hood. Doesn't it fit nicely with the ribbing around the neck and the garter stitch border around the face?

Definitely a pattern that I will consider using again. I could use one for myself. Isn't that pouch pocket great? I could put my ball of yarn in there when I am outside with Carl. I often am knitting a small project when we are out. The weather is getting nicer though so we may not need sweaters much longer.

Wonderful Wiggles Wallaby

It is getting closer to being finished and it is so cute! Carl, my 4yo who helped me design this one for himself, is very pleased with it. He is anxious to try it on.

It is made on size 8 needles from TLC Wiggles yarn in red, yellow and blue. (Love those simple color names!) I am making the size 6 width but I think the lengths will be closer to the 8 because Carl is tall and thin. I just hope he doesn't decide that the little wiggley bits are to itchy.

I started adding random stripes of the yellow because I wasn't sure I would have enough blue. We had only planned on the yellow for the pocket but we both decided that the stripes look great.

I think I will be starting the placket in the next row or so, then it is on to the hood which will be red!

Little sweaters

I finished the knitting on the first of the preemie baby surprise sweaters. It is really cute! I need to find buttons for it yet. I am thinking I might crochet the sleeve seam shut across the top so it will be on the outside. With preemies they always seem to suggest that you make seams as flat as possible. I may continue the crochet around the neckline to give it a more finished look. The second sweater is started on a 10 inch needle above the finished one. They will not be exactly the same color arrangement, as you can see. I enjoy mixing it up with the stripes on this pattern.


As I was sorting through yarn one day, my 4 year old decided that he needed me to make a sweater for him. I had been planning to make the Wonderful Wallaby for some time but just hadn't gotten to it yet. We found 3 colors of this TLC Wiggles yarn. I have finished one sleeve and I am almost done with the second. Then it is on to the body. The main body will be blue to match the sleeves with the pouch pocket in yellow and the hood in red. Carl chose where he wanted to place the different colors. I hope I have enough of the blue or we may have to add some stripes to the yoke.

The Wonderful Wallaby is a Cottage Creations pattern. It is a seamless raglan with a knit on pouch pocket sized for tiny baby to large adults. If you do a search you can find lots of helpful information about knitting this sweater. It has been a popular one at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop where I teach. Two of the other teachers have taught it as a class several times now. This sweater is the dress up version of a sweatshirt. Hmmm, maybe I should make one for myself too....