Just a bit of catch up...

The last couple weeks have been crazy busy. But I have found that I am never too busy to find time to knit a few rows. It is grounding for me. Whenever I get a little bit stressed or upset about something I am able to pick up one of the many projects that I am working on and make myself feel much better.

So Simple Silk Garden Sock

Last week I was working on one of Aeryn's striped socks at school and FORGOT it! We had a snow day the following day and I was very upset. I was not sure if I had definitely forgotten it at work or what had happened. And I was only about four rows from completing it. In a hurry to have something to work on I threw a completely different yarn and set of needles in my bag so that I would have something to knit while I visited my mother on the snow day.

A Nice Ribbed Sock

 This is the sock that I started that day. These are the So Simple Silk Garden Socks that I downloaded from the Knitting to Stay Sane blog that I read. This is the second pair of socks that I have downloaded from this site. The first pair, A Nice Ribbed Sock, is the first pair that I am making for Aeryn. I used a wonderful Kroy Stretch yarn on this sock. I will post the colorway as soon as I figure out where my knitting journal went to. I have started to keep a knitting journal to keep track of patterns, yarn and materials that I used throughout the year. It will be nice to look back on in December. As I often give so much away as gifts I never get to know how much I actually create throught the year. 

On the snow day I was able to start and complete the first Garden Sock. I used a beautiful yarn that I bought on a whim that is made of silk and bamboo. The sock came out think and warm and soft. My favorites aspects of homemade socks. Unfortunately I have not taken any pictures of the finished product yet, but I will do that soon.

The following day at school I was stopped by the teacher whose classroom I had been in the day before our snow day. He said that I had forgotten both my knitting and my sweater. I was very pleased to get both back because I was able to finish this beautiful sock. Aeryn wanted to wear both this sock and the Garden sock at the same time and was very disappointed when I explained to her that she needed to wait until I finished the mates to wear the socks. 

A Banana?

My nephew Paul is one of the biggest fans of my knitting and crochet work. He loves to open presents and find some new interesting thing. And he always asks me for something weird. This year was no different. As I was looking through knitting patterns the other day on my favorite  Knitting Pattern Site he saw a really cool word. Amigurumi. To humor him I clicked on the link and the first thing he sees is a pattern for a banana. Ever since out trip to Washington DC two years ago he has been obsessed with bananas.

So I have started to make Paul a banana that I will give to him along with his birthday present. I certainly hope he likes it. In order to get it done I had to put down my other projects for a day. So far it is looking like it will be really cute. I can not wait to post pictures later.

Getting a bit ahead of myself....

The problem with going to the store to purchase yarn is that they usually have these free patterns hanging about. I always try to take them so that I can tuck them away but lately the patterns have all been really awesome and I just want to knit everything. I keep reminding myself that I have to pace myself. But sometimes the excitement is overwhelming. So here is what I have going on.

This is the hat that I made for Alex on the knitting loom a couple of days ago. These knitting looms make making hats quick easy and painless. It was amazing. While at Michael's the other day I picked up a small book that is going to show me more things that I can do with the knitting looms. I started to teach MaeMae how to use hers this week. If she lets me I will post pictures of her awesome hat as well.

Like I said lots of cool patterns at the yarn store...and this is my personal take on one of them. 

 The pattern shows this afghan in very soft, muted floral tones. Well, when I am yarn shopping with my nine year old daughter I do not get to buy many muted floral tones. So instead I get hot pink, black, turquoise and purple. Yes, I know that there seems to be a quarter of the square missing, however these "tetris block" style pieces fit together to form a beautiful afghan. Aeryn immediately laid claim but I think this one is cool enough for the back of the couch. I think it will clash very nicely with the pattern of the couch. Which you can see pictured here. Though I have to admit, I think just about anything will clash with this couch. There are very few things that I could but that would actually go well. I guess I will have to invest in a couch cover so that my couch displays my knitting and crocheting well.

The following picture is a picture of what I would like the special blanket that I am making an expecting friend of mine to look like when it is finished. I absolutely love this pattern and I was able to find some of the softest blue yarn . Every time I knit another row I just want to cuddle it.

You can see the first set of trees developing in the following pictures. At this point I am about halfway up the first set of trees. The pattern is knitting a bit quicker than I had at first expected. So I estimate completion time to be within the next couple of weeks. Which makes me happy because it means that I can get it packed up and shipped to my friend in time for the arrival of her son. So when you read this Erin, please do not have Adin early. He has to wait for his super cool snugly blanket!

Blankets and Babies...

Yesterday, as I was spending some quiet time in the one place that they can be alone after they have children I stumbled upon a picture of a beautiful baby blanket with interwoven tree branches. (If you are a mom, you will know the place I am talking about) The magazine I was looking at had been sent to me by Lion Brand Yarn as an advertisement to buy their product. Something that I already do in a large amount.

The blanket was absolutely stunning and made me think of a picture of a nursery that a friend from high school had painted for her son, who is due to arrive in a couple of months. I immediately got the urge to create this beautiful work of art. For me, with each of my babies, there was nothing better than wrapping them in a soft blanket and cuddling. I know that this young woman is going to be a great mother. And can picture her with her child, rocking gently in the rocking chair, singing him to sleep. 

I have also made a new years resolution. I was reading a post by a fellow blogger and she mentioned that a friend was attempting to make 12 sweaters in the year 2012. I thought that this was a really cool idea. I am not going to attempt sweaters, but among my normal knitting, I have decided to make twelve pairs of socks.  Let's see if I can stay away from the dreaded second sock curse for this year and have an entire basket full of beautiful hand made socks. 

There are so many things that I want to knit and crochet this year. Wish me luck. 

Happy KnittinG!

Happy New Year!

I have so many crafting plans for the new year. The first is to "catalog" all of my knitting and crocheting projects. I have decided that I am going to take the "scrap yarn" from all of my projects that I create this year and form them into a giant granny square afghan. I can not imagine that this will be the most beautiful piece I have ever made (at least not to anyone other than myself) but it will be the one filled with the most memories. I will be able to look at each section and remember the project that I used that yarn for and remember who the project was intended for and why.

I want to make a cook book for Aeryn. I have been thinking of doing this project for a couple of years now and had hoped to make it for her birthday last year. Unfortunately time just got away from me and it didn't happen. I plan to make a scrap book style cookbook filled with pictures of Aeryn and my mom and the recipes that they enjoy cooking together. I think she will love this keepsake. Cooking is something that she enjoys doing with my mom and I want her to have something that she can look back on when she is older.

I want  all of the gifts that I give people next year to be hand made. My nieces and nephew love it when I make them things for Christmas. Aeryn wants me to make her a different hat for every day of the year. Jay loved the blanket that I made him for Christmas....There is something about a hand made gift that tells someone that you really care about them and their friendship. I think I may have to start knitting tomorrow and just keep going for the rest of the year. That way I can hit all or the birthdays, and Christmas gifts that I would need for the year.

I started and finished my first project of the year tonight. Another hat for Alex. The second one that I made him fit him, but I would have liked it to be a little bit longer. I will post a picture of the new one in tomorrow's post. He is sleeping at the moment and I would like to post pictures of him IN it.

I also finished MaeMae's socks tonight. Another project of which I will post pictures of tomorrow. Though you will not be able to see pictures of MaeMae in them for a couple of weeks. They are going to be a birthday gift from my mother. She has requested that I make her a beret. So I am in the process of finding a cute enough pattern to fit her eccentric personality. I am open to suggestions if anyone has them.

For know....Happy New Year and Happy Crafting!

This weather makes me need a hat....

Lately the cold weather has been getting to me. There is no snow but boy is it frigid out there. So today I am in a hat mood. There is nothing like a hand made hat to keep your head and ears warm on a cold winter day. Hats a wonderful. I have hat patterns galore in both knit and crochet styles. The kids all love when I get into this mood because they always end up with something cute to wear on their heads.

Hats are so much fun to make. By just changing up colorway and yarn choices you can make one hat pattern look like a completely different hat. Aeryn has just started a hat for our friends Baby. Baby A was born a couple of weeks ago and Aeryn has been itching to make her something. She tried to crochet her a blanket but does not really have the patience needed to undertake that task just yet. Maybe in another year or so. At the moment she has decided to use the yarn that she had purchased for the blanket to make the hat. I can not wait to see it when it gets done. She has chosen to use the circular knitting loom. I have read that this is the best way to teach children to knit and I hope that it is right.

I made Alex a hat on the knitting loom. Well at least the hat was intended for Alex. However, with the loom that I chose, the hat came out to small for my big man's head. So I will tuck it away for a craft sale or gifting later on. I will have to make him a new one using the "toddler" size. Who knew that my little man would be considered a toddler already. Aeryn tried valiantly to fit this hat on his head but the result was ridiculous.



The hat that I started at my mom's house came out adorable. I ended up downsizing the pattern that I posted a bit in order for it to fit Aeryn's head but the result came out really cute. Her winter jacket this year is a beautiful light blue green color. She has really deviated from her normal pink color scheme. So I figured this had would go well with it. I reduced the number of cast on stitches to 64 instead of 84, worked rib stitch pattern for 8 rows and then knitted in stockinette stitch for twenty rows. When I started the decrease I started at K6 K2tog, purling wrong sided rows and decreasing from there. It worked up really quickly and within a couple of hours Aeryn had a new hat. My lovely little girl loved it. Hand made hats are just so much nicer than the ones that she can get in the store.

I hope all my reader can get into this hat knitting mood. I wish there were a knitting group around here that met on a day and time that I was not working. I would so be up to joining. Unfortunately that is not so. So until later people.

Happy Knitting

Back to the basics....

As I finish one project and look to finish up another I start to think ahead to what I am about to knit next. My choices are limited as I am sitting at my mom's house and my sock is sitting at home on my couch. But I still have the urge to knit. So, I borrowed a skein of yarn from Robert (I must remind myself to buy him one to replace it), and looked around the apartment for a set of knitting needles. 

The yarn is your basic Red Heart Acrylic yarn, worsted weight yarn. The same thing that I used the first time I picked up a crochet hook and then later a set of knitting needles. I let the strand of yarn run through my fingers as I searched the web for a fancy pattern or two and think to myself "I want to make a hat". So I chose the very first knitting pattern I ever tried, other than a basic scarf of course. It is a tried and true pattern that I do not even need to read anymore. A simple stocking cap with a ribbed border. 

Sometimes, you just need to get back to the basics of your craft. After every complicated crocheting project I complete I like to work out a couple of granny squares, just because it feels good. So why did I think that it should be anything different when I am knitting? I enjoy keeping things fresh and new. But sometimes I just have to go with tried and true. 

So I figured I would share this pattern:

Size 6 Knitting Needles (Though I know I have used different  ones, and I am never sure of the gauge)

Worsted Weight yarn of your choice

Cast on 84 stitches

Knit K1P1 Pattern for 8 rows

Knit Stockinette Stitch for 40 rows

Decrease as follows:

(k10, k2tog)* Repeat 7 times to end

Next Purl

(k9, k2tog)*

Purl

(k8, k2tog)*

Purl

(k7, k2tog)*

Purl

(k6, k2tog)*

Purl

(k5, k2tog)*

Purl

(k4, k2tog)*

Purl

(k3, k2tog)*

Purl

(k2, k2tog)*

Purl

(k1, k2tog)*

Purl

(k2tog)*

Fasten off by weaving the strand of yarn through the remaining stitches and tighten. Tie off and weave in end. 

I can not take credit for creating this pattern. Nor can I give credit to the person that did. I have been using this pattern for close to ten years now. I have no idea where I first found it. Please enjoy it, but do not sell it for profit. 

Happy Knitting!