Happy 2015!

Wow, it has been far too long since our last post. There are still a few things from last year that we never got around to posting on here, so we'll be catching up for the next several posts. As usual! We weren't very good about posting on here last year. I need to finish the final post about my trip to Poland. I also need to post some photos I took during trips to Washington, DC and Denver, CO.

December was pretty eventful for us. We joined a local church, where we have been getting involved in some ministries. We finally traded in the car I bought in college and drove for 13 years. We got a used VW Passat, and it's really nice. I think I got so used to the other car falling apart cosmetically that I wasn't prepared for a car so nice. It feels too nice for me. We also celebrated our tenth anniversary by going on a cruise to the Caribbean for a week, so we'll post some photos from that, too. And, of course, there were Christmas celebrations.

Speaking of Christmas, I knitted a toy monkey for our nephew's gift, to go with the ones we gave him for his birthday.

This month, we've been getting back into our usual routine. And now it's almost February!

P.S.--Did you notice the new Travel tab up at the top of the page? Check it out!

Knitted Toys

Our nephew is already a year old! We went to his first birthday party in early August, and our gift to him was a set of knitted toys. They're quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

I knitted the cat above in the round with double-pointed needles. I found the pattern on Ravelry (it's called "Beans the Cat" and the designer is Linda Dawkins), but it's also available on her web site here. It was a good project for my first attempt, because it was small and quick. It was also my first try knitting an i-cord (for the tail). So now I can officially check off #2 on my list of knitting goals with this cat and the beret (the cat and the hat!).

I knitted the cat because it was just too cute not to knit, and then I saw some patterns on Ravelry for some other animals that I had to make. These were actually knitted flat (not in the round), so I got some practice with seaming, which I had mostly managed to avoid until now.

These patterns were designed by Aine Marriott and are called "Mini Elephant," "Mini Lion," and "Mini Hippo."

I knitted all of these toys with cotton yarn, so they are washable (hand washing is probably best).

He seemed to like them. We noticed when looking through the photos Ed took from the party that he held onto the cat through the opening of several gifts.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

I'm not implying that he wasn't interested in those other gifts, but I think it's sufficient proof that he liked the cat I knitted for him...at least for about five minutes.

Some adults enjoyed playing with them, too:

My dad is saying he has the cat by the tail (and the others are forming a cheerleader-style pyramid in the background)

My dad juggling the toys and displaying classic concentration face

Uncle Brandon victoriously completes a feat of balance (it lasted approximately 0.5 seconds)

It was a good party. Lots of people came, and we got to see family and friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's nice to be a few hours' drive away again so we can do stuff like this.

First Knitted Hat!

Well, I meant to post this at least six months ago, and I've already worn it through a harsh Midwest winter, but I finally knitted something in the round! So I can technically check off #2 on my list of knitting goals. I say "technically" because I didn't use double-pointed needles, but I've got another post coming up about that.

I used circular needles and followed this cabled beret pattern. It was pretty straightforward for the most part, since I figured out the whole cabling thing on my previous project. By the way, this is the same yarn I used for the orange coffee/mug sleeve, and I just barely had enough to make that and this beret from the one skein. I did run into a couple of challenges, but I always find that if I put it down for a while and go back to it, I can figure out what went wrong and correct it.

Once I had decreased to about 60 stitches, things started to get a little tight and uncomfortable on the needle, which I expected to happen. I really didn't like stretching out my stitches, so I looked up a how-to video on YouTube and used the "magic loop" method to finish. The pattern didn't mention anything about that, but it seemed to be the best solution.

I'm pretty sure I did something wrong, because for some reason, I had to knit it inside out, which resulted in probably the most awkward way anyone has attempted the magic loop method for the first time. I did put it down for almost a week, so maybe things got turned around in that time. Anyway, it all worked out in the end, once I figured out what was going on.

This orange complements my dark purple wool coat rather well. Now I just need to knit a scarf to match before winter rolls around again.

This was a good, portable project to take on a trip. I got a lot of it done on the drive to and from Florida over Christmas break.

See my Ravelry project notes here.

Cabled Coffee/Mug Sleeve

I can now check off #3 on my list of knitting goals. I knitted a cabled coffee sleeve, or mug sleeve. Cabling is actually pretty easy, but it looks like it could be difficult. This was also my first attempt at knitting buttonholes.

I used a pattern called Pumpkin Spice (available for download on the right sidebar here). Once I got to the buttonholes, whatever I did didn't look right, so I found this video on YouTube. The girl in the video actually knits the very same pattern, so you can see how to do it and follow along. She has the most helpful knitting videos I've found so far.

For the green one, I used a cotton yarn and followed the pattern exactly. Then I noticed that it was kind of a tight fit or didn't fit on some mugs. I checked other people's comments on Ravelry and found that they also had the same issue, so they did an extra cable or two to lengthen it. So, on the orange one, I added an extra cable. The orange one is acrylic yarn, so it's also a bit stretchier than the green one. They're kind of like two sizes, so hopefully with the two buttonholes on each and two lengths, they'll fit almost any cup or mug.

I gave these to my coffee-addicted BFF (Alexis) for Christmas, so I'm thinking they'll get a lot of use!

Knitted Baby Booties

My sister-in-law is expecting a boy, so I knitted these baby booties and gave them to her at a baby shower this past weekend. My mom told me about the pattern (they're called Saartje's Bootees) a while ago, and I found it on Ravelry and was pleasantly surprised to find that they're knitted flat (instead of in the round) and then seamed together, so I figured I could do it.

It took me a while to figure out how to do a couple of things it calls for, but I think they turned out pretty well. It was my first attempt at seaming and making button loops. I used US size 2 straight needles, brown fingering weight sock yarn (Patons Kroy Socks 4-ply in Flax colorway), and some dark brown buttons from a stash my mom gave me (thanks, Mom!).

These are quite possibly the cutest things ever. I'm going to have to figure out how to make an adult-sized pair.

Knitting Goals

In August, it'll be two years since I taught myself to knit. Since then, I've completed 12 washcloths (some are duplicates of ones I've posted about) and four scarves, and I've learned a few techniques and tried new stitch patterns along the way. So, I've gotten pretty good at knitting things shaped like squares and rectangles, but circles, triangles, and various polygons are calling my name. I'd also like to get a little less 2D, if you will. Here are five things I hope to learn/try in order of increasing perceived difficulty (to me). I'll call them goals, but I'm not going to put a time limit on them.

1. Using different yarn colors in the same project. I don't know why this seems difficult to me, but it's probably just a pain to have to keep switching colors and having to weave in a million ends when you get done. I couldn't find any good photos of small projects that I liked, but I'm thinking maybe a pot holder or fingerless gloves.

2. Knitting "in the round" (pretty much knitting in circles). This is useful (and often required) for hats and some garments. I think a good way to start would be a basic beanie-type hat in a bulky yarn, like this one:

That Favorite Toddler & Baby Winter Hat (Photo credit: A Crafty House blog)

Then maybe I can try to make this adorable stuffed hedgehog:

Knit Hedgehog (Photo credit: The Purl Bee, Purl Soho)

3. Cables. Maybe I could start small with a reusable coffee cup sleeve:

Woven Cable Coffee Cup Sleeve (Photo credit: Purl Avenue)

4. Sweaters/cardigans (garments in general, really), preferably from vintage (mostly 1930s-1950s) or vintage-inspired patterns. I really can't wait to start knitting tops for myself and sweaters for Ed.

Cardigan knitted from 1940s pattern (Photo credit: Elegant Musings)

Sweater knitted from 1930s pattern (Photo credit: Elegant Musings)

5. Socks. I'd like to knit some wool socks for Ed (and for me, too), because they're surprisingly hard to find around here for a decent price.

Sporty Striped Peds (Photo credit: The Purl Bee, Purl Soho)

Homespun Boot Socks (Photo credit: The Purl Bee, Purl Soho)

I'll let you know if/when I successfully knit any of these things. (That means less washcloth posts!)

More Washcloths

Are you getting tired of washcloth posts? Sorry, I guess washcloths are my favorite thing to knit right now. I think it's because:

1. Each one takes less than one ball of yarn.
2. They don't take very long (unless you procrastinate or get sidetracked, like me).
3. You can try a bunch of different patterns and colors.
4. They're useful. 
5. They're easy to take along and work on when you know you have some time to kill.

Anyway, I diverted for a little while from the book of dishcloths I'm working through so I could make the washcloths in the Chicks with Sticks Guide to Knitting.

(image source)

That's the book I used to make my dad's scarf last Christmas. The book calls these "Dirty Girl Washcloths". They were quick and easy for me; no new techniques to figure out. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn for all three.

One of them is just knit (garter) stitch, which I surpirisingly hadn't done a washcloth in yet. I used US size 7 needles for this one.

Garter stitch washcloth closeup

Another was stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border (to keep its shape). I used US size 6 needles, which is what the book called for (actually it called for size 6 for all three), but it ended up really wide and not long enough when I followed the pattern, so I added about 10 rows to make it longer.

Stockinette stitch washcloth closeup

The last one was a basket weave pattern (pretty much the same pattern I used on my dad's scarf). I used US size 5 needles for this one, and it came out about the right size (10" square).

 

Basket weave washcloth closeup

I'm working on some vacation posts, so those should be coming shortly.

Knitted Washcloth #4

Sorry for the long absence. I'm still plugging away, off and on, at the washcloths. I took a little break from knitting, but I got motivated again and finished the next one. So, the next one I completed from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths is from the pattern called Neapolitan. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream yellow cotton yarn and US size 7 knitting needles. This one didn't involve any techniques I didn't already know--just knitting and purling.

I don't know how obvious it is, but this yarn actually had some stains on it (My hands weren't THAT dirty when I was knitting!). I didn't let that stop me from using it, though.

Lessons learned:

1. Vitamin Water will stain yarn.
2. Make sure your drink bottle cap is properly threaded and tightened before putting it in the same bag as the yarn you intend to knit with (This will also help you avoid having to use an insane amount of paper towels to try to dry out your backpack in the airport bathroom and getting strange looks from people while you're doing it.). Maybe it'll come out in the wash.

Anyway, moving on....

I like the kind of zigzag pattern. The book called for a multi-colored yarn (Guess which colors. Hint: The pattern is called Neapolitan.), but it's more difficult to see the pattern with all of the different colors distracting you, so I went with a solid color instead.

 My collection is slowly growing!

P.S.--My Vanilla washcloth is featured on the pattern page in Ravelry! (I think it's because I used the "right" color of yarn for that one.) If you know what that means, go check it out!

Knitted Washcloth #3

The next washcloth I completed from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths is from the pattern called Vanilla. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream white cotton yarn and US size 7 knitting needles. I had my first try at increasing and decreasing with this one. There was only one row that included increasing and one row that included decreasing, so I'm slowly working my way into those. It was pretty easy, though.

See the little loopy things? That's really the new technique I learned while making this one. The yarnover. Thanks again to http://www.knittinghelp.com/, I was able to decipher the pattern instructions and get the hang of it quickly.

From top to bottom: Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate patterns

Now I have a nice little set of coordinating washcloths. Only 13 more to go!

Knitted Washcloth #2

The next washcloth I knitted from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths (you can read about the first one here) is the pattern called Strawberry. There are alternating columns of knit and purl stitches, as you can see. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream Twists cotton yarn in Green Twists with US size 7 needles (every pattern in the book calls for size 7 needles). Here's how it turned out: