Wednesday, February 22, 2006

This hat's for My baby

I made my baby a hat because he was starting to outgrow the other one. I used my favorite pattern, just shortened! ;^)

I have some more pics of him in it, I'll add them to this post later. Let's just say that the blue really highlights his eyes when he's awake.


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My baby is a cutie!

Monday, February 20, 2006

Holy handmade soakers, Batman!

It came to me in a dream. (Never knit just before bedtime.) So with the help of this soaker pattern and Knitpro's web app, I designed the diaper cover of my dreams.

Here's a pic.

Knit geek details:

I knit the diaper cover in solid black in the round, and then added the yellow insignia in duplicate stitch. It's knit with wool-ease on #8 needles, and I used a modified ribbed waistband to eliminate the i-cord tie. (Lystessa gave me the pattern: K1P1 on #4's for 2", K3P1 on #6's for 1", then switch to stockinette on #8s) I picked up stitches around the leg openings and added a ribbed cuff, which I bound off with picots to keep it stretchy.

Next project: Spiderman! (My first intarsia.)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

My First Socks

I finally pestered my husband into asking me to knit something for him. Well, I was kind of pressuring him towards a hat but he was always like "No, I've got a hat. It works fine,...." Yes he has a hat and it works fine but it's nothing much to look at and he's had it for ages.

But he didn't ask me for a hat. Oh no, he asks me for something I've never made before: socks. Lucky for me he wanted house socks (simple, thick, warm). But I didn't have a favorite pattern and so I had to hunt.

I found Bigfoot Socks. And here are some pics, yay!


On our table:
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On his feet:
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Mmmmm, house socks. And I used wool-ease, so even though they used nearly two balls of yarn it only cost $3.00, they're warm and soft, and we can throw them through the wash. I really did want to use some more luxurious yarn but I figured he probably wouldn't have the patience to wash them by hand.

And now I only have one WIP left on my needles. I'm tempted to try to finish it before starting anything new... but that probably won't happen.


P.S.- I know I posted two days in a row. Don't get used to it. ;^)

Friday, February 17, 2006

Mmmmmm, More Hat (Updated)

I still can't get enough of this pattern or this yarn. Yummy.

How do you like those NCSU colors?

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Okay, I have to confess - this hat wasn't for my hubby. I just didn't want the intended recipient to catch on before he received it. He had wanted one of these hats for some time. Wanna see him in it (in Germany, hehe)? I really hope he doesn't mind me sharing his blog:
Apotropos.BlogSpot.Com

(Here's a direct link to the pic. I know, I know, I'm really naughty! Just the Hat).

Look at the entry for 3/18/06. If it tries to redirect you to a philogia site, you need to try to get it back to apotropos. I don't know what all kind of web tricks he has going on in that blog, but I had to use pop-up blocker to stay on the main site.

Want the pattern? Look for "That Chocolate's Gone Straight To Your Ribs Hat" in the Links sidebar.

Yarn is Peru DK Luxury from A.C.Moore. Except for the red.


Whee, done for now!
Lystessa

Hybrid Longies

When I was trying to sew diaper covers I came across this wonderful idea for making longies. You take a cheap consignment store sweater and shrink it in the wash. Then you cut off the arms, sew them together and put elastic in it. Voila! Longies for your baby.

Well... I did that once, before I ran out of time to really sew for long stretches (you know, when the baby arrived). Plus, the sweaters shrink in their own way and the arms that are left aren't always long enough to make legs and fold over the top for elastic.

So I got to thinking, why don't I just sew up the crotch seam on what I've got and then come back with a knitted waistband to backstitch on? And that is precisely what I did. (I mean, I could have picked up stitches from the shrunken sweater arms, but I figured it would have a stretchier waist if went top-down).


Here you can see most of the waist treatment.
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I did make them a little bit long, but they're easy to fold up at the bottom.
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It's the best of both worlds: fast sewing, quick knitting, and cuter than cute on top of it. Not all sweaters end up looking like tights (my boy's gonna be a dancer! hehe). But the variability is of course part of the fun.

My Very Own Pattern

I designed a pattern that doesn't lean heavily on someone else's pattern. I bet you'll never guess what it is...

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Yup, it's another diaper cover. But this one is different from any I've seen before.

I call it Baby Boxer Briefs. Check out my little monster modelling it.

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I like my design a lot, but I would definitely do the stripe differently (or not at all) in the future. I also realized the legs need to be a bit longer to work well. His diaper sometimes sticks out from the shorts when he's sitting, and this could become a problem if he really needed changing. But overall my design was a huge success, since it actually fit him on the first try. 8^)

Nostepinning....

....with a pestle. (That part is called the pestle, right?)


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I know, big deal. It's not knitting, it's just winding thread. Well it is kind of fun if you're not pressed for time. And it makes a nifty center-pull ball out of leftovers, which helps encourage me to use the leftovers.

But I wouldn't recommend using the pestle that, until now, was always used for grinding pepper. You know, like I did.