Baby projects

With a grandbaby on the way, I had to knit some things for this little one to wear!  They live in Las Vegas which is generally pretty warm to so hot you can't stand it! But they do have cool weather in the winter and especially at night or in the air conditioning. 

I just finished a cute sweater and hat in purple and greens which I hope they will feel they can use for either a boy or girl. I think I still have enough yarn to make some booties too. Here are some pictures of the set so far. 

They are made in sock yarns which are machine washable.  Important for a new mom! I was test knitting the sweater pattern for Rae Blackledge of Extravayarnza.  The pattern should be ready mid-July. It looks like it will have several options for variations. She has several other beautiful patterns as well.  I made up my own pattern for the hat and finished it off with a bit of I-cord tied in a knot at the top.

 

I have also made a fun cardigan sweater in multi-colored yarn.  I need to put buttons on it and then it will be finished.  

My younger kids all love this one because it is so bright and fun.  This is a self-striping sock yarn as well.  It is interesting to see how the colors worked out in different places on each side of the sweater. The pattern is an old one that is worked from the top down all in one piece. 

Next, I want to make up some booties that will go with the purple set.  I haven't found a pattern so might have to make up my own instead, as I did for the hat.  Baby things are so fast to knit and cute too!

Finishing out year and starting up the new one

I finished the White Clovers pullover. It went up and down several times as I tried to get the fit right in the shoulders and neck. Here it is finished as the designer has written the pattern, with a turtle neck:

Then I ripped it back again and finished it with a crew neck. I like the looks of the crew neck much better. The Vamsegarn has softened up nicely with wearing. I am really enjoying this sweater. I can see myself making more sweaters like this. It was fast to make in this worsted(almost aran) weight yarn and it fits beautifully.

I also finished knitting the Navy Felted Mittens from the book LVS 3, well they will be felted when I find time to put them in the washer. Our washer stays really busy with laundry around here because of our big family so finding time for felting can be difficult. Last weekend we were gone for four days. When all the suitcases were empty we had a pile the size of "Mount Washmore" as a friend calls it. I always feel like I should have more than one project to felt when I do it since it takes so much water. So maybe I should make some more mittens! Here they are before felting:


Lisa came home from Alaska for Christmas and was telling us about how cold it was up there. She has been buying extra clothes for layering to keep warm. I made her a pair of rag-wool socks while she was home. They are made with Raumaragg yarn, the yarn that the Norwegians use for ski socks. Lisa says that I can make more of these!


I also had picked out a nice sock weight yarn for her birthday in early January. I started knitting those just after her birthday and have one finished so far. Lisa has returned to Alaska so I will have to mail them when they are both finished.


It has been a productive knitting year. Now on to the next year!

White Clovers pullover sweater

I have been making a sweater for myself! Not for display in the shops but for me to wear! I had been looking at what I had to keep me warm this winter and found that I really didn't have much for warm sweaters. This will be a wonderfully warm, wool sweater for these cold, cold days.

As I was thinking about what to make I ran across a pattern that a designer wanted to have tested to make sure there weren't any errors. It is a simple design with lots of stockinette and a bit of stranding to spark it up. We have found a few places where she needed to make changes in the pattern. Good to get those fixed before some unsuspecting knitter tries to make it and can't understand why it isn't working.

I am using Rauma Vamsegarn in a very dark teal with white and a lighter blue-green for the accent bands. This is one of my favorites of the Rauma yarns.

I don't have a full picture of it yet but I took some pictures as I have worked so I will see if I can put them together to give you the idea of what it will look like.


The sleeves also have the small design border at the bottom like at the hem of the sweater. I ripped back to the wider top border last night because the neckline was going to be too high. I will start the decreases just above the border instead of knitting several rows first. It should be done soon. Then I can wear it! Ahhhhh, warm!!