Gifts for Little ones, Fall & Winter edition

Fall was a busy time for birthdays and birth days (I suppose it's that time of my life, when all the friends & coworkers are popping little ones out!), so here's a little round-up of five projects I managed to squeeze in between school obligations and house & yard chores. . . 

Small tote bag, with monogram, for the niece's 2nd birthday:

It was a big hit.

Pocket!

Gala Hats, 2015 edition

I've been terrible at finding the time to sit down on a (semi)regular basis to write here, let alone do any regular crafting. Summer felt hurried and full, and the school year, as always, has been in 5th gear since day one. Even when the kids were off on their fall training trips - Alpine in Chile, Nordie's in Italy - I was still occupied with things other than crafting. That being said, I have found some time to do a little knitting, and over a few days in early September, I knit up some hats to donate to the scholarship fundraiser the ski academy holds every fall to provide financial support to some of our families.

a family of hats

Two-Button Baby Cardi

I've had two skeins of bamboo sock yarn for ages, one white and one light green, and have gone back and forth about what to make with them. I've started a pair of socks for myself, a scarf, and even thought about a lacy tank, but none of the projects were what the yarn wanted to be (you knitters know what I'm talking about). So when a dear friend from my island days told me she was due this spring, I knew the yarn would finally find a home. My hope is that it will fit the little lady just as fall is setting in and the coastal air is beginning to cool.

Nate's Retro-inspired Hat

Sometimes you get lucky and get an inspired-one-of-a-kind-only-for-you knit hat from me. . . This winter, that was my friend Nate. While visiting him one night, we discovered that he has a late 80s/early 90s-era Patagonia fleece that has a pretty fantastic pattern in teal, grey, reddish, and black. The minute I saw the fleece I knew he needed a matching hat. It helped that he had seen the hats I had knit for Gala back in the fall (the big scholarship fundraiser at the ski academy where I work) and indicated he'd like one. The time had come to make that wish come true.

The fleece that started it all; it CLEARLY needs a matching hat.
Challenge accepted.
(not the best picture quality, but you get the idea)

Critter Cuteness: Knit Bunny

I saw this cuteness come across my pinterest feed the other day and decided it would make a fun Easter treat for my niece.

Short-row Half-circle Hearth Rug

I picked this handspun yarn from the local yarn shop a couple of years ago with the intention of knitting and felting a bag. It sat, and sat, and sat.

Braided Cowl/Infinity scarf

I finally finished the Braided Cowl that I had started back in November. The idea came from a cowl pattern my sister had seen through a friend of hers - the Challah Infinity Scarf. I liked the idea of a braid to add a level of dimension, and I liked the variety of stitches for the different braid strands. My yarn stash contains way too many orphans - among other reasons I have a habit of buying one skein from the sale bin when I happen upon a yarn store while traveling - so I decided this would be a good project to use a few up.

On my needles: Braided cowl

Three orphan/leftover balls of yarn, three different stitch patterns, one braided cowl. Stay tuned for the finished piece!

Because I need the challenge: three different stitches, simultaneously knit.

Oh, and I resurrected the Christmas light garland that I started a while ago (okay, okay, it was last summer's knitting project). It only has a few lights left - surely I can get it done for this holiday season?

Barely three lights left. Man, sometimes I'm such a procrastinator when it
comes to finishing projects!

(And no, I haven't quite finished the sunshine socks from the CO trip with the school - just a few rows to go on those!)

On my needles: Sunshine Socks

Remember the two skeins of yarn I dyed with mom on Mother's Day last year? I knit up a cowl with the skein that we dyed purple, blue, and green, but the yellow and orange sock yarn skein has been sitting, project-less for a while now. Since I've learned to always travel with something to knit (thanks, mom!), I figured I may as well get started on something small and quick, and what better to bring while traveling than a pair of socks. A three hour and a half flight from DC to Denver yesterday, and I'm already this far on the first sock:

They'll be a pair of simple crew socks, with a K1P1 rib cuff and a K3P1 rib throughout the body of the sock. The pattern is the Yankee Knitter Designs Classic Socks pattern, which is pretty much my go-to at this point. It's easy enough to remember most of the instructions for my size, and easy enough to modify with different stitch patterns and in how long I make them.

There is enough down time between proctoring study halls, wandering around the village, and (hopefully!) skiing a day or two, that I should be able to get most of the way through the pair.

{break}

We're in the midst of the annual September Ski Camps here at school. The Nordies are across the pond in Italy. The Alpine crew is down in Chile for some spring skiing. I went along to Chile as a studyhall proctor and injured-kid wrangler a couple of years ago. While it was a great experience - you can't beat skiing in the Andes above treeline - spending 15 or so days "landlocked" at a resort that is shutting down for the summer and that is a 2 hour bus ride from Santiago wears on you.

I certainly wouldn't turn the trip down again (hello, skiing in South America?!), but there's something appealing about staying home and having a quick break before the craziness sets in. And yes, it pretty much sets in from the moment the students all get back and doesn't let up until graduation in June. This year it was extra crazy as the Chile trip happened unexpectedly early (as in, the trip was moved up a week or so as we started the year. . . we spent the first week of school not knowing when they would actually head down!). The plus side is that we get an "extra" week in the fall before the November Colorado trip happens. The minus side is that I actually had the semester planned out before school started and the early departure threw a wrench in those plans. That's what I get for being prepared for the year! It's nothing I can't adjust for, but annoying nonetheless.

Crafted Exchange & Another Crafty Pay-it-forward

I love making/crafting things for other people, and as a crafty gift-giver, I also appreciate receiving crafted things from others. I bet Billy through some friends in town he was visiting earlier this winter and discovered he crochet's. I think we are kindred fiber-crafting spirits. Out at the bar one evening, he decided he really liked my argyle headband, and I decided I liked the bright pom-pomed hats that he's been making like crazy. So we decided on a craft exchange!

Knitting at the Olympics!

And why wouldn't you knit whilst waiting for your teammate/athlete to take their run?

TV screen shot courtesy of my friend B

Clearly a die-hard knitter who never passes up the opportunity to get one more row in. . .

Project Updates: Knit Edition

I've slowly been going through my project bags and baskets and bins in an effort to finish the various knitting projects I've started over the years, or to revise projects that have been finished but sit dormant. A little round up of things I've checked off the finish & fix list over the past few weeks, or that I've been motivated to make some progress on.

Entrelac Infinity Scarf 

This was a "regular" scarf that I had knit from two skeins of this colorway, plus a third skein of a close-but-not-close-enough colorway. The other skein had too much bright red and pink to really blend well, and I just wasn't happy with it. I completely ripped out the scarf and reknit it with the two matching skeins. I sewed the two ends together and viola! An infinity scarf - and just the right length (diameter?) for doubling over to create a cozy cowl. The pattern is an entrelac stitch, which creates a bit of a basketweave pattern. I'm digging it right now although it uses a bit more yarn because of how it is constructed. The yarn is variegated, which gives the blocks of different color but the pattern can be done with any number of colors for each square or triangle.

new cowl!

Little Lion Man - a Stuffed Friend

I meant to post this ages ago when I finished the project, but neglected to take a picture back then. I finally got a few pictures, so here it is!

Lions are kind of a "thing" for our family, so it was inevitable that I ended up knitting a little lion this past summer as a baby shower gift for the niece, who arrived this fall. She is pretty cool so far.

Tobaggan Sideways Cardi - ReKint project

ripping out the old sweater.
therapeutic, despite the gazillion
little balls of yarn I ended up with

A lot of people who know me know that I have a tendency to rip knitting projects out - both partially finished and fully finished - when I realize I don't like how something is turning (or has turned) out.

Yes, a ton of man-hours go into knitting something, especially a sweater, but in reality, I'd rather spend twice that time and really like something, then finish a project and feel "meh" about it. Sometimes I'll pass a sweater on to someone else, but often they sit rarely worn, or even unworn, for a year or two (or seven) before I decided I've had enough and am motivated to rip the sweater out and knit the yarn into a new sweater or other creation.

Mistake-Rib Knee Socks - Complete!

Remember the socks I mentioned in my summer projects post back in September? Well, I finally finished them this morning - just a few weeks later than predicted.

nearly knee socks!

I'm pleased with how they turned out. They're just the right length, and the elastic in the yarn should hold them up - my fingers are crossed. The only thing that could make them a little better is if I had found a similar elastic-y yarn with wool. These are mainly cotton, so will be great in the spring and fall, but slightly less warm for the winter - but I can always wear them over tights.

Summer Knitting Projects

I haven't done a ton of knitting this summer, but have been keeping busy with a few projects:

The string-of-lights is slowly growing. . . twenty-five lights are knit, five more are set up, and I have more than enough yarn to create more strand and lights. This will be done by Christmas for sure!

two yards and counting on the string of lights
(and a sneak-peak at the front porch and front yard)

One Fish Two Fish ~ a knitted blanket

I wrote this post earlier this summer when I completed this blanket, but wanted to wait to post it until the baby shower for my SIL a few weeks ago- I didn't want to ruin the surprise!

A number of years ago I stumbled upon a pattern (also found on ravelry as "A Recipe for Fish") for knitting fish that could be assembled into a blanket. The beauty of the pattern (as well as many others) is that you can really customize it based on what you use and how many fish you make. The more fish you knit, the bigger the blanket, and the larger the yarn and needles, the bigger the fish and blanket.

the growing school. sorry, gauge, they aren't real!

For my first go at it to test out the pattern, I used scrap yarn and orphans, and ended up with a very colorful little school. I think it's destined to become a cat blanket, if they'll have it (Gauge already approves, as you can see above). That finished piece is not very large, partly because I was trying to use up all the small bits, and partly because I lost steam as I was also working on other projects. And, who the heck wants to sew together a giant school of fish . . .

finished fish sampler. very colorful, not very large.

 

Slow day (month) at the office . . .

Not much crafting going on these days, unless you count packing to move, which it could be argued is a craft in itself.

"pantry" waiting to be packed.

Summer Project #1: String of Lights

Despite having a lot of my stuff packed in boxes in the storage unit in anticipation of moving out of the dorm apartment, I did leave out a few projects and miscellaneous craft stuff. One of the projects I decided to work on this summer is one that I'd seen a friend knitting several years ago, a string of lights. The pattern is part of a set of patterns from Knit Picks, called Winter Wonderful, which now comes as either the pattern alone, or with the yarn; when I bought it a couple of years ago, I bought it as a kit with the yarn included. Of course, I really only love a few of the patterns, and in retrospect probably could have figured out on my own how to make the lights. But I like the yarn colors that were included in the kit, and I already have some ideas for using them up down the road.

five lights done:
dark blue, light grey, light blue, white, blue.
repeat.

The pattern is essentially a long I-cord with the lights coming off at regular intervals. I started with the string itself and it's now just over two yards long (measured very accurately using the nose to fingertip method), with space for about 30 lights. You can see the loop at on end, and the stitch holder at the other end. The safety pins are holding the stitches that will start each light.