A Non-Ugly Baby Sweater

You may recall the hideous sweater I knit for Tomato & Train Brain's baby. That went into the charity bag. I just finished up the replacement one...now this is an acceptable baby sweater.

I really like this pattern. Lots of lovely cable details, varying textures, and a nice seed stitch shawl collar. I think this will work well for a boy or a girl. And I had enough yarn let to knock out a pair of booties as well.

The pattern is Trellis, from Knitty, my favorite knitting website, and the yarn is a nice cotton-acrylic blend from KnitPicks. It's machine washable/dryable - perfect for kids' stuff. Hope they like it!

Knitting Update

I've completed several projects over the past couple of months. In descending order of awesomeness:

LaBorgia Gloves:
Love these. Love the color, love the intricate cable pattern, love how warm and comfy they are. Pattern from Allison Green Will Knits.

Urchin Beret:
This is made from a blend of some sparkly clearance yarn I bought over the summer, and a chunky varigated wool to provide needed warmth and thickness. I'm super pleased with how the two blended together. Looks great with my gloves, too. I also made a black sparkly version as a Christmas gift for a friend. Pattern from Knitty.

Pirate Dog Coat:
I made this awesome coat for my brother's dog Pete for Christmas, and I made my brother a hat to match. Sadly, I neglected to take any pictures of Pete wearing it on Christmas Day (this pic is from the pattern). You'll have to take my word for it that it was super, in spite of not quite fitting properly. I also made my brother a matching hat. Pattern from Bernat.

Felted Flowers:
Only two shown below, but I cranked out a bunch of these in various colors for Christmas gifts for several friends and co-workers. Nothing terribly exciting, but cute enough. Devised these on my own.

Calluna Sweater:
This one looks much nicer off me than on. It's knit according to specs, but it doesn't hang quite right, and the buttons wound up in a weird spot. I've decided it's not worth unraveling and re-knitting. It's good enough to wear around the house, run errands, etc. Still, I'd hoped for a better result. Bummer. Pattern from Knit Picks.

Ugly Baby Sweater:
Nice pattern, but I must have been drunk when I picked these colors. I was aiming for a gender-neutral sweater that wasn't pastel, and wound up with this hideous Mexican clown look. Totally unacceptable for Tomato and Train Brain's baby, due in May. This one's going in the Goodwill bag. Pattern from Crystal Palace Yarns.

Currently, I've got a pair of socks on my needles, and I've selected a different pattern and bought new yarn for a 2nd attempt at an acceptable baby sweater. I got a kit as a Christmas gift to make a pretty pair of Nordic mittens and a matching hat, and Santa also left some lovely sock yarn in my stocking. I'll get rolling on those soon.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I've checked in - I've just been really busy with all the holiday shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, parties, etc...in addition to my ongoing piano lessons and volunteer commitments. Not to mention holding down a full-time job. No complaints, just not a lot of free time lately.

So what's been up? Several knitting projects completed, about 2 dozen cheesecakes baked, and the Steelers are circling the drain. I've also deployed my new snowblower with some success. Updates on everything that's been going on will be forthcoming now that I've got a bit of time to waste. Until then, Happy Holidays!

Finished Projects!

I finally finished the mystery afghan - now officially a wedding gift. The pattern is Bernat's Lace and Cable Afghan. I'm pleased with the finished product, but it took a lot longer than I anticipated and I came to regret starting it in the first place. The last couple of months I was referring to it as the "Wretched Afghan," and had to force myself to work on it. But it's finished, and now I can move on to other projects. I've got a nice long list going!

Whenever I needed a break from the Wretched Afghan, I knit a few rows on this little guy:


Sheldon the Turtle - isn't he cute? I couldn't resist, and it was a surprisingly quick knit. He's now at work, making my office more cheerful.

I've already got a couple new projects going - a beautiful pair of cabled gloves and a pretty wool cardigan, both for me. I also have plans in the works for a beret-style hat with some dark green sparkly yarn I got on sale a while back, a recycled silk bag, and some sort of Steelers scarf of my own design, which is yet to be fully imagined.

I'm so excited to be knitting some fun new projects!

Quick Baby Sweater

I spent the past week cranking this out.


It's for my friend Sinkerbeam's new baby, due in about a week. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The pattern uses mock cables, not traditional cable-needle cables, so it knit up pleasingly quickly.

This also clears up the disposition of the mystery afghan, since this is the baby I was also considering that project as a gift for.

What Is It?

This is one of my current knitting projects - a very pretty lace and shell design afghan. My original intent was that this would be for a wedding gift, and I bought some off-white yarn that I thought would give it a nice heirloom look.


As I started to knit it up, the yarn started to look more pale yellow than off-white to me, and I wasn't getting the effect I wanted. It was starting to look like a baby blanket. No big deal, I figured, I know a couple expecting a baby in a few months and would be quite happy to make this as a gift for them instead.

Now as I'm getting further along, I'm leaning the other way, and I think this might be ok as a wedding gift.

So what is it? A wedding afghan or a baby blanket? At the moment, it's a mystery.

Mother's Day Socks

These are the socks I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. It's another Knitty pattern, one which I attempted last fall (intending them to be a Christmas gift) without success. I took another run at them this spring and finally cracked the code.


The pattern reminded me of quilt squares, which is why I wanted to make them for Mom - she's a quilter. I'm so pleased with how they turned out. Perhaps I'll make some for myself one day - hopefully it wouldn't take me 7 months to complete a second pair.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Harry Potter and the Self-Striping Socks

I love to knit, and I love Harry Potter. So when I learned of the existence of Harry Potter-branded sock yarn? Yeah, had to have some. I am a big sucker that way.

Finally finished up both pairs this weekend, and I'm very pleased with them.

These are the Dumbledore socks. The pattern is Froot Loop from Knitty.com. You kind of lose the pattern in the changing colors, but overall I'm very happy with them.

And these are the Ron Weasley socks. The pattern is Slippery, also from Knitty. This pair was a more successful combination of color and pattern, I think. It's still a bit difficult to see the pattern, but in this case it's mostly due to my feeble photographic skills.