Stars and Moon Baby Blanket

After quite a hiatus, I have FINALLY finished my most recent project! From start to finish, I easily invested 80+ hours into making this blanket and am thrilled with the results.  I will be getting a new “godson” in just a few weeks and wanted something special to welcome him into the world!   

PATTERN:

This is by far the largest knitting project I’ve yet undertaken, and this was also the first time I’ve worked from a grid design. I found the pattern online and thought it looked to be within my skill set. I followed most of it exactly and I think mine looks very similar to the yellow sample.

Pattern can be found at:  http://knittingonthenet.com/patterns/babyafmoonstars.htm

YARN:

For my yarn, I chose this wonderful Italian variety by Berlini. Appropriately, as I will be a dentist in two years’ time, it is called “Smile”. I recently discovered a wonderful website (http://www.numei.com/) where you can order discounted balls of yarn and save even more if you buy in quantities of 10. As this project ended up taking 16 balls total, that was certainly helpful for my wallet! The “Smile” yarn is a 50/50 blend of cotton and acrylic and, most importantly for kid projects, is machine washable! The yarn is sturdy but soft, and is DK weight. The color is called “Amparo Blue” and exactly matches the blue of the elephants on Jacob’s crib bedding. I’m very pleased with my choice! 

ALTERATIONS:

Despite adhering to most all of this pattern, I did make a few changes:

• So that this could be a full sized crib blanket, I chose to add another row of 3 panels from the original design.
• If you compare the original pattern grid with mine above, you'll see I filled in each side of the star with an extra stitch because I thought it looked better.
• When completing the border, I used 5 stitches for each side and 4 stitches + the cast-on or bind-off rows for the top and bottom. If I were to do this blanket again, I would change those 4 stitches to 5 or even 6, as the sides ended up being wider than the top and bottom borders.
• Finally, I added another 2 rows of straight knit or purl at both the top and bottom of each panel, as I thought the moons looked too close together in the original sample.

CHALLENGES:

Overall I thought this was a fairly simple project, albeit very time consuming. Probably my biggest challenge, however, was knitting in two balls of yarn simultaneously (pattern decreed I should knit the entire blanket with“two strands held tog"). This made it very easy for the yarns to get tangled or twisted. I solved this problem holding the strands together with my thumb and first two fingers, but splitting them apart below that, with one strand on either side of my pinky finger. I also flipped my work in progress around after each row to straighten out the two strands. This kept the yarn from twisting up quite well!

Another challenge I faced was working a design from a grid. As I take my knitting bag from class to class and back and forth between school and home, simply covering lines on the grid with a ruler and sliding it along the rows as I worked wasn’t a very viable option. I chose to print out 3 copies of the grid and highlight each row as it was completed. It worked perfectly and was a very portable method   :)

I can’t wait for my new godson, JACOB ELIJAH BALENTINE, to join us in the world next month! I’m praying for a healthy, happy baby and am looking so forward to meeting him in July when I go home to Alabama. Once Jacob is home from the hospital, I will be sure to post a photo!!!

UPDATE: BABY PHOTOS! JACOB IS HERE AND HEALTHY :)

Quick and Easy Baby Hat

So during a short break from studying MOD2, I decided to flip through some photos of my "godchildren," Joshua and Lauren, which always puts me in a brighter mood. I came across an adorable picture of Lauren in a little hat I'd made her while she was still lagging a bit behind in the hair-growing department, and thought I share!

Pattern:

Cast 88 sts onto size 5 round needles (68 is about right for a newborn, so adjust accordingly for age/ head size of child). Just straight knit in the round. Simple, right? The brim will begin to roll up as you get longer and let it! This is actually very useful in kids' hats, because it allows you to roll the hat down a bit to make it larger as they grow.

When you reach a length of about 4-4.5 inches from the bottom of the roll, place 4 makers spaced equally. Here with 88 sts, I placed them every 22 sts. Now, k2tog before and after every marker every other row. When you get too tight on the round needles, switch to size 5 double pointed needles and continue decreasing in pattern.

When you have about a dozen stiches left, cut a long tail and use a tapestry needle to run the yarn through the remaining stiches. Cinch the top and tie off inside the hat.

Make a pom-pom by wrapping yarn around about 3 fingers over and over until you have enough, and tie the loops together in the middle with a separate piece of yarn. Leave these ends long. Cut all the loops and then trim into a ball shape. Thread the long tails of the yarn you tied in the middle through the top of the hat, and attach.

Funky and Flirty Dog Sweater

So while I was home for the holidays, my grandmother gave me a bit of really cool accent yarn she had left over from one of her projects. I decided to make Lacey another sweater with it, but went a bit more girly and funky this time. The pattern can be found here: http://mysavannahcottage.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/lbd-pdf1.pdf

Model dog from original pattern and yarn used

BACK: I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in “Real Teal” and paired it with the accent yarn for the collar and ruffle. I definitely made some modifications to the pattern as well. Firstly, I cast on 42 sts, as Lacey likes her sweaters loose and is a bit bigger than the 6 lb dog the pattern was originally created for. I added a multi-colored collar by doing 4 rows of k1p1 ribbing and then switched back to following the pattern, knitting with only the teal yarn. I knit in stockinette for 9.5 inches past the collar, increasing as directed until reaching 52 sts. Instead of binding off at the end, I just started right into the ruffle. It didn’t make any sense to me to bind off and then just pick those stitches right back up again… as you can see I re-incorporated the accent yarn at this point.

RUFFLE:I am for some reason a massive failure at the K1, M1 method of increasing, so had to revert to my k1 in front, k1 in back technique. After the increasing rows, I knit 6 rows in stockinette instead of the 4 called for since I made my sweater larger than the original pattern calls for. I found out the hard way that you want LONG needles for this pattern! I started on a pair of 8’s that were about 10 inches long, but it was basically impossible to fit everything on them after increasing for the ruffle. I luckily have another pair that is 13.5 inches long, so was able to switch off to these. I would suggest using needles at least this long when you get to this point in the pattern. After doing one of the two ruffles, I decided I liked the way it looked as is, and chose to omit the second.

FRONT:Having measured one of Lacey’s store-bought sweaters, I realized the space between the leg openings needed to be smaller than the pattern calls for. So, I cast on only 14 sts to begin with and then after doing the 4 rows of ribbing for the collar, I increased like I did with the back piece until reaching 20 sts. I extended the plain teal in stockinette to 8 inches past the collar before binding off.

FINISHING: Turning the two halves purl side out, I stitched them together to form the sweater. I left holes for Lacey’s front legs that were 2.5 inches long and began 2.5 inches past the end of the collar. I then tied off all loose yarn ends and wove them back into the pattern. Finally, I soaked the whole thing in hot water (as I thought it could use a tiny bit of shrinking) and blocked it. Ta-da! Now, off to the post office on Wednesday to mail it to my precious pooch!

Photos from my parents with Lacey wearing it:

 

Red Striped Hat with Flower Accent

The other day while on facebook, a picture of a friend from college popped up on my newsfeed, and she was wearing the cutest hat! It looked striped and had a big flower on the side. After examining it more closely, I realized it was actually crocheted, but I thought I would try and make something similar that was knitted. So, I made up my own pattern and gave it a go!

I used Bernat Satin Sport yarn in “Wine”. I began by casting on 80 sts onto size 8 round needles and then placing a marker. I then purled 3 rows, knit 3 rows and repeated this another 6 times (for a totally of 7 sets of 6 rows).

I then placed 4 markers spaced every 20  stitches. I knit or purled (depending on where I was in the pattern) before and after each marker every other row until I had about a dozen stitches left. At that point, I cut a long tail and used a tapestry needle to pull the yarn through the remaining stitches and cinch the top of the hat.

For the side flower, I used a pattern I found online for a 6 petaled pin. You can view the pattern here:http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/hannele/hannele.html
I followed it pretty much exactly and had no trouble. I did change the "K1, M1" increases into "K1 in front, K1 in back" though, since I'm more comfortable with that method. The pattern doesn’t mention this, but in the photo (and on my hat), the petals should be joined alternating RS, WS facing you.

This is probably my favorite hat I’ve made and it SO comfy! I definitely plan to make something like this again and perhaps experiment with different floral patterns and designs

Hermione's Beret

Jen decided to make the beret we saw Hermione wearing in the graveyard scene of the new Harry Potter movie, so I thought I’d give it a try along with her. If you want to check out Jen’s attempt, click here: http://twoneedleninja.blogspot.com/

Mine definitely looks a little different from the one in the movie, but I’m still pretty happy with it!

I chose to use "Alpaca Love" yarn by Stitch Nation in "Dusk" and followed the pattern that can be found here: http://dontcallmedora7.livejournal.com/3480.html

There are a few things I would do differently if I tried this hat again, and I changed a few things in the pattern right off the bat. Firstly, it didn’t make any sense to me to end up with 122 stitches after increasing, since that is not a multiple of 4 which works for the pattern… So I cast on 80 for the brim and then increased to 120 which did work out correctly. I think I would probably do 72 and increase to 108 next time, because I found the hat to be just a tad looser on my forehead than I would like, but it still worked. Another change I would make next time would be knitting the hat a bit longer before beginning to decrease. Probably just 1-1.5 inches more would have been perfect. Other than that, I think the project went quite well and I would definitely be up for trying this hat again in the future!

My First Cabled Hat

Since I just learned how to do cables (thanks Jen!) and had tried them out on a doggie sweater, I thought I was ready to try a full hat of them for myself J I completely made this up with no pattern, and think it turned out quite well!

BODY:
I cast on 90 sts using size 8 round needles, and worked in a k2p2 ribbing for 1.5 inches. I then placed a marker and began my cables. I worked in a k6p3 for 5 rows, and the on the 6^th row, crossed my cables. When I began the “k6”, I used a cable needle to pull the first 3 knit stitches to the front, knit the next three, and then knit the first 3 stitches I pulled out off of the cable needle. I did the same for each “k6” in this row. I repeated this pattern (of working 5 rows in k6p3 and then crossing my cables on the 6^th row) until I had 5 inches past the ribbing.

DECREASING:
I then began to decrease. I’ll admit, I did this kind of “willy-nilly” since I wasn’t working from an actual pattern, so here is what I did:
1^st row: p2tog in each “purl” section of the pattern
2^nd row: knit/purl in pattern
3^rd row: p2tog in each “purl” section of the pattern
4^th row: knit/purl in pattern
5^th row: k2tog at the beginning of each “knit” section
6^th row: knit/purl in pattern
7^th row: k2tog at the end of each “knit” section
8^th row: knit/purl in pattern
9^th row: k2tog at the beginning of each “knit” section
10^th row: knit/purl in pattern
11^th row: k2tog at the end of each “knit” section
12^th row: knit/purl in pattern
13^th row: k2tog at each “knit” section
14^th row: knit/purl in pattern

Now, I had 20 stitches left. I cut a long tail, took a tapestry needle, and ran the yarn through all my remaining stitches, and cinched the top. I then made a large pom-pom for the top of the hat and attached it.

Sweaters for the Sophisticated Pet

Dog Sweater:

I made this little number for my toy poodle, Lacey. She turned 15 on Christmas Eve, and as you can see, she is very proud of her birthday gift. I just learned how to do cables, and thought this project would be a great way to perfect them (before moving onto items for more judgemental humans). Next time, I will probably make the collar a little tighter by switching to needles several sizes smaller at that point, or do a bit more decreasing.

Oh yes. That is one sophisticated, high-class poodle!

(Pattern to be added when it isn't 9:45 pm and I still have dinner to eat and class notes to condense...)