The Sweater Girl....

It's done!! I'm thrilled with it. All my math worked out beautifully. I convinced Charlotte that she wanted 3/4 length sleeves. They will be better when she grows and it meant I only needed 2 balls of yarn! I picked up the buttons this morning and sewed them on. Now she won't take it off!


(Sorry the pictures are so cruddy. Like I said, she won't take it off.)

Since I enjoyed knitting this one so much, I started another one for myself! The math was *much* easier this time around!! I'm making it out of Lion Brand Fishermens Wool.Not my first choice, but I already had the yarn and I do like the color. It's coming along nicely, but not nearly as fast as the kid sized one! (Pattern here.)


(Again, not a great picture - but you get the idea.)

Knit on!

Sweater for Charlotte

I've wanted to knit a sweater for my nearly 5 year old daughter for awhile. I just couldn't find the right pattern so I finally decided to adapt an adult sized pattern to fit. The pattern I chose is the February Lady Sweater. It's a tremendously popular pattern on Ravelry, so there were tons of good hints there.

(Odd note about this pattern: It was originally designed as a baby sweater by the brilliant Elizabeth Zimmerman.)

I'm making it to be roughly a size 5T. I took Charlotte's chest measurement, added 3 inches so it will fit a bit longer, and then worked the math. I was VERY pleased that the math worked out easily and the fit seems to be perfect.

So here is the lovely Charlotte modeling the sweater still on the needles:


The lace pattern is really very simple, but I kept screwing it up. After several froggings (which didn't go very well), I decided to put a stitch marker every 7 stitches for the lace repeat. At first I felt a bit defeated, but then I decided that if it works, why not! (For the record, my track record with lace it not good.)


I'm trying to make very copious notes about all the modifications I'm making. If I decide to knit this again it will be much easier. Details on my Rav projects page for anyone interested. If you're not on Rav (and you should be, it's free!!), leave me a comment.

I'm nearly finished with the second kid proto-type mitten. I think I'll show it to Michelle before felting, then we can discuss any mods we would like to make. I should have some pictures of the completed pair soon.

Knit on!

Kid Mitten Proto-type

My friend Michelle and I are trying to develop a kid mitten pattern for felting. When you live in Minnesota, warm mittens are a must. And felted mittens have the added advantage of being mostly water-proof. (Perfect for snowball fights in case you were wondering *wink*)

So here is my first attempt - pre-felting. I based the size on my sons hand. His hand is about 2/3's the size of mine. And since items tend to shrink approximately 1/3 in felting, it was a great place to start! Here is the right mitten:

And here it is on my hand......fits perfectly.

Now if it felts the way I am expecting, it should be a great fit. I have a few problems with my design, but I plan on knitting the left mitten mostly the same (one minor tweak.) I will modify the design after I've felted these. I think I'm on the right track, just some minor modifications. And then I need to determine how to make larger ones as my kids get older.

Knit on!

I'm not late.....really!!

My sisters birthday is tomorrow. This is the card I made her yesterday, I just didn't manage to get it in the mail. Sorry Linda! I think it turned out beautiful, so does that make up for it?


Happy Birthday big sister!

Mothers Day Fun!!

My friend Kimberly gave me a stack of magnets a few months ago. (They had they 2008 calendar on them.....not too useful in 2009!) I wasn't sure what to do with them.....then I came up with these:




They are for the Grandma's from the kiddos for Mothers Day. They are an odd size - 4 x 7 - so pictures have to be cropped strangely to fit, but I think they look cute! And they are perfect for using up some of my TSR scraps.

Have a great day!

Cashmere Gloves

I asked my sister awhile back if she would like a hand knit pair of gloves. Like any appreciative sister, she said yes! So I started a pair of Knotty gloves for her using some recycled cashmere. These are gorgeous, I'm not sure if I'll be able to give them up! Thankfully I have enough yarn to make at least one more pair. This yarn is a bit thicker than the pattern lists, but it seems to be working out just fine. The glove is just a bit heavier than originally intended, but my sister lives in CO and warmer won't be a bad thing!


This is the third pair of Knotty's I've made and I just LOVE this pattern. It's fun to knit and it looks just lovely.

I'm also working on a cute top-down summer top. I'm using some Knit Picks Shine Sport in Hydrangea and Black. I finished the top section and am working on the bottom. It's a modified rib so it's pretty slow going. I actually knit short rows into the pattern! I'm pretty proud of myself - except for when I had to frog it down to the short rows because I had too much length. That pretty much screwed up the right hand side, but I'm moving forward anyway.

I've got a few other things in the works, but nothing else that I'm really working on right now. So until later, knit on!

Mothers Day

Mothers Day is coming up!! Here is the card I made for my MIL. The patterned paper piece is from a TSR kit from January. It's a lovely flocked damask from Making Memories. I hadn't used the paper yet, but I love it. You can't really feel the fuzzy on a scrapbook page since it's in page protectors, so I decided this paper would be best for cards.


Stamps are still from the $5 set I got at Jo-Ann's last week. Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Enjoy!