I don't think people read blogs anymore... do they?

So... Hey there... Hehhehheh

Who wants to hear the 888 reasons why I totally abandoned this blog?  Anyone? Well, of course you don't.  Who cares? And anyway, excuses are boring.  Let's just say- Life happens.  And I'll end up giving at least a few reasons why this blog went dormant along the way I'm sure, but for now I'll just say- Hey! I'm back! I don't know for how long, or how consistently, but for reasons I'm not even sure I can explain, I've decided to go ahead and revive this silly old blog that was supposed to be about whatever I wanted it to be about, but ended up being about knitting and crocheting and then ended up being about nothing because I stopped writing it. (heh)

So, first things first: That last post was a bit of a teaser so I'll finally show you what it was:

 It was blanket I made for a dear friend who had just adopted a baby boy. These photos aren't the greatest, but they'll have to do because I don't have the blanket anymore to take pictures of it. The recipient loved it, though, so that's all that matters.  This one was actually my own design and I think I had plans to write it out as a pattern and share it here, but well... oops.  I did take a lot of notes and made a graph for the heart and everything, but I lost the notes, found them, then lost them again. So if I find them again I promise I will write this up and post it here.  I was very proud of the fact that it was completely reversible- it didn't have a wrong or right side so it looked nice no matter which way it was laid out or used.

Okay. That's it for now.  I just realized I have to completely refigure out how to post photos and stuff. But I do have lots of new stuff that I'm excited to post here so once I figure all that out I'll be posting some new projects! Yay!

(Also- I'm not sure that anyone is even out there reading this blog, so if you're there and you do want to see a pattern for this, write me a comment and let me know because that will greatly increase my motivation to find those notes and write it up.)

Ravelry link here

Baby Blanket Madness

Oh dear!  Has it really been almost a month since my last blog post?  Well, but I have actually been busy. For real!

First I made this blanket for a friend who is expecting a boy in mid-October.

Can you tell this blanket is for a boy?  Haha! I usually try to be a little less obvious about using traditional gender colors because
1. I sort of hate pastels and
2. I just love doing the unexpected when it comes to baby stuff, it's just way more fun.

But for this one I decided to go super traditional. I'd been wanting to try the granny square thing with just a few colors and the same square repeated for awhile and I really loved it! I love the way it kind of looks like tiles and that it looks like something someone might have made back in 1950.

My favorite part of this particular blanket is the border.

It's very simple, just single crochet around and around but it makes it look very polished and elegant.  Almost serious.

I also knitted some booties.

Now, seriously, aren't booties just the cutest things ever in the history of ever?

Now I'm working on something else for another friend.  Here's a little peek...

(You can probably guess what it is.)
And I haven't forgotten about the Goodnight Moon blanket, but it's gonna have to be on the back burner for a little longer.  

Just a hint of what's coming and some questions answered.

A sore wrist from crocheting non-stop is keeping me from completely finishing the project I'm working on.  I can't wait to finish it and finally get the pics up.  Here's a hint...

But it's going to be a few more days until I can show you the FO.  Are you excited?

Andrea- To answer your questions:  The crocheted socks are maybe a bit thicker than knitted ones, but I wouldn't say they are quite as thick as hiking socks, though they could definitely be used for that, depending on the type of yarn and hook you use.  But I wear them with everyday shoes all the time with no problems.  They are fabulous and wonderful and I hope you make a pair because everyone should experience the fabulous wonder of crocheted socks.

Yes, I did finish that ripple blanket!  In fact it's one of my favorite FO's ever and I can't imagine why I only posted that one tiny picture of it.  I must have been thinking that I would post more later then totally forgot about it.  Here's some pics of Ian with the blanket when he was still a baby:

This blanket has actually become his favorite blanket ever.  (And by favorite I mean that if he sees me put it in the washing machine or dryer he cries and reaches out for it like his heart is breaking.) I actually made it before I had even conceived him, just because I wanted to try a ripple blanket and I had a bizarre amount of stashed mercerized cotton yarn. My plan was to make it and just have it around waiting for the next time I needed a baby shower gift, but once I finished it, I loved it so much I ended up keeping it.  Then I got pregnant myself not long after. 

Every time I see Ian grab it and hug it to himself or find him in the morning with it wrapped around his middle, (soaking up the pee from the leaking diaper) I feel such a rush of pride that he picked *my* blanket out of the truly unbelievable selection of blankets he has available to him to be his Favorite Blankie.  

(I actually made him 2 blankets.  The other one is knitted and it's pretty cool, but he doesn't care about it at all.)  

Glad you like the banner! I really loved it at first, but no one ever seemed all that impressed with it, so I was actually just the morning before seeing your comment thinking of changing it to be a collage of all my favorite FOs. (Kind of like your banner? heehee) But since you like it so much, maybe I'll keep it a little bit longer.  ;-)  

Why did this take so long?

So a friend of mine sent me an invitation to her little girl's 1st birthday party one day. It was sent a good 3 weeks before the actual party which should give me plenty of time, even with a rather rambunctious 2 year old on my hands, to make a simple baby sweater. Right? Suuuuure.....

Well let me just tell you right now, that's not how it happened. And the thing is, I still can't really explain why. I was so sure this would be a quick and easy project. So Sure. I read up about it on Ravelry, and almost universally the word on the street was that this baby could be worked up in a matter of days. Certainly 3 weeks should be plenty of time.

And how long did it actually take me? Well, I lost count, but I'd say it was a little over a month. Now there were some factors contributing to this.
1. Out of town husband for 2 weeks which means no one to relieve me and give me some knitting time.
2. Never really have knitted a baby sweater before. But how hard can it be? It's just a small sweater for God's sake.
3. Had to start over once because it was turning out way bigger than I expected according to what I thought was a "good enough" gauge estimation.

Still this was supposed to be easy, and it was NOT.

The pattern is from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts, (yet another reason why I thought it wouldn't take too long), but it's also available for free on-line. Maybe someone else will have better luck with it. Though I should say that it did turn out just as cute as it was supposed to turn out, it was just way more trouble than I wanted it to be.

I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease, which is a good substitute yarn, but it's a bit thicker than the recommended yarn. It's also a little harder to work with than wool would have been. The sleeves, which were done in the round, then attached to the body ended up being a bit of a stretch, also there were huge gaps to be sewn up under the arms aside from the kitchener attachment method in the pattern (which by the way, I totally ignored and did a three needle bind off instead). In retrospect, if I ever attempt this pattern again, I think I'll just go ahead and do the sleeves back and forth and seam them up the inside of the arm. Which will be just as much trouble as all the kitchener and sewing up gaps nonsense ended up being when I followed the pattern as written.

I also omitted putting buttons or beads on because I didn't feel like doing button holes by the time I got to that section and I didn't have any beads that would fit through the seed stitch without being too small or too big.

All I can say is... thank God, it's over.

Just in time for the warm weather.

Emergency Hats!

So lately my knitting has been all about hats, because if you haven't heard, it is cold. I mean like, seriously cold here in Houston these days. Well, actually today it's kind of nice. It's around 41 according to Yahoo weather anyway, but even the fact that I am calling 41 "kind of nice" should tell you just how cold it has been. Because usually 41 means that I stay inside and don't go out unless I have to. But after three (or was it four) staight days of highs of 35 or so and that was for about 2 hours during the warmest part of the day just before the sun sets, 41 at 9a.m. sounds pretty durn good. Now I know, I know, for those of you living in Antarctica or Fargo or Germany or hell, even Kansas, you're thinking, "Hell! That's not cold! Yesterday we had a high of -25 now that's cold!" But here in Houston, it just never really gets that cold. It hardly even freezes. Our green stuff stays green pretty much all year round , true it's kind of a sad brownish green in the winter, but it's green, and if it dips down below 32 we all get a little excited and start sanding down overpasses and covering pipes and whatnot. You want to call us weenies and make fun of us for it, well, all right. But come talk to me next time you have one of your sweltering heat waves of 90 degrees, cause 90 is a cool summer day in Houston.

I guess the point I'm making is that it's all pretty relative. And the other point I'm making is that I did not have one decent hat to see me through. I've said before that I don't have such good luck with the hats. I just have a hard time making one that fits my tiny pinhead and looks good and doesn't itch my forehead like the dickens. And after a few misguided and ridiculous attempts in my early knitting career, I finally pretty much gave up on hats altogether. I did manage to make one, just one, that I actually like and wear somewhat regularly, but it's cotton and it's only good for regular Houston winters. I've blogged about it here. But mostly, I just go without because hell, we live in Houston. I mean no one ever really needs a hat in Houston, right? Wrong.
I needed a hat.
The boy needed a hat.
A warm hat.

Voila! A warm hat!

The pattern is Simple Pleasures by Purlsoho and it is aptly named. It was an extremely simple and pleasurable knit, well, except for the 6 inches of ribbing. I'm not particularly fond of ribbing, but let me tell you, it is worth it because once you fold that double strand of ribbed knitted wool and it covers your ears, it is wonderfully, blissfully warm! I used Koigu instead of whatever the pattern calls for because that's what I had already in my stash. For the fuzzy part I used Anny Blatt's Fine Kid instead of Kidsilk Haze because, once again, that is what I had in my stash. Both yarns worked beautifully as substitutes. And the Kid mixed with the Koigu makes a beautiful and also very warm material. I would love to have an entire sweater out of that stuff.

Maybe someday.

The coolest thing about the pattern, in my opinion, is that it can be knit entirely on one size 6, 16" circular needle. Yes, my friends, one needle, no double points! Yes, the last couple of rows are a little tight, but as the pattern says, it can be done and I did it! Technically speaking, I was supposed to change to a bigger needle once I finished the ribbing, but I didn't because I didn't have a bigger 16" circular needle and I was not going to brave the frigid cold to go buy one. Nevertheless, it all worked out wonderfully in the end. I used a size 6 instead of the size 8 and 9 that the pattern calls for because, as I said, that's what I had, but also I have a strangely small head and I hate a too big hat. That sucker needs to be snug to keep out all the cold and wind. And the 2 by 2 rib has plenty of stretch.

The end result is pretty cute, too! If I do say so myself.

The boy also got an emergency hat:
Simple Hat by Debbie Bliss. The pattern can be found in her book, Baby Knits for Beginners. (From which I long ago checked out of the library and photocopied the patterns I liked.) This is the second one of these hats I've made for the boy. The first one fit him from the time he was tiny and actually still fits, but only stretched to it's limits and the yarn I used wasn't that warm. So I made him the next one using some stashed Lion Brand Wool Ease that I happened to have and I upped the needle size from a 4 to a 6 which made it perfect for his toddler head. I also left off the little nubby end this time. He's a toddler now. He should have the dignity of a nubless hat.

Though I don't use Wool Ease anymore because it pills too badly and starts looking like something your grandmother might drag out of the attic to show you how cute and tiny you once were after about 2 washes, I really like the way this hat turned out. The variegated navy/forest mixed with the solid blue looks much better than I thought it would. Though honestly I didn't really care. I just wanted to use up some stashed yarn and have a warm hat for the boy.

He actually likes and wears his hat which is more than I hoped for!