A Whole Lotta Knittin' Not Goin' On...

Ok, well I've been doing some knitting but not a whole heck of a lot. I have the booties done for Wendy's outfit for her grandbaby but one of them is two or three rows too long/short (it's all sewn up), so I'll have to make another one. That's ok though because they don't take too long. I've also got one of the mittens done (they go very quickly) so I have the other mitten and the hat to do. I have decided to go with yellow buttons on the sweater and I am going to put them on so they are big enough for the parent/adult who has to button it, but they aren't overly large I don't think.

I've also got the second of sock of the child's pair nearly done and it shouldn't take long to finish it (I might work at it more tonight).

At work, on breaks, I was working on a scarf but I ended up making it too wide. When I cast on for it I never thought about it stretching and beoming wider. The result is fine, it's just that I am going to have to see if I can find another ball/skein of the same yarn, and chances are it is not going to be the same dye lot since I got this ball earlier in the spring/summer to make a scarf with. And I refuse to frog it it too! Oh well, something will work...I hope.

I am hoping to get the baby outfit and the sock done this weekend or early next week. I will definately get the sock done before the 31st though so that I can count it as my July Sock of the Month. I am hoping to have pics of these completed items as well to share.

In other news, for those of you who are aware of my writing blog Ink Scrawls, I have changed the template there this evening. I'm still trying to attempt my hand and tweeking it (like making the sidebar font and size a little smaller and different and I am thinking the background of the post itself is too white...maybe a pale pink would suffice?). Anyway, if you don't mind taking a moment to head over and let me know what you think, I would appreciate it.

There isn't much else in the line of news. I start flute lessons on Monday and I'm excited for that. I will probably be posting about it on my Confirm The Work of Our Hands blog that evening or within the next day or so and you can read all about it - or what I share about it - when it happens.

Until then, happy knitting!

An FO...Sorta!

Ok, well I finally have something finished - sorta. I just have 3 buttons to sew on the baby sweater that I made for the lady at work. Here's a pic of before I put it together.

It's crocheted though, and not knitted. The colour is white with tiny flecks of yellow, green, blue and mauve throughout, and it is acrylic yarn (I think Bernat).

Wendy wanted it to be neutral so that her grandbaby could wear it no matter if it is a boy or a girl. The pattern she chose from one of my baby sweater pattern books looked too girly so I adjusted it some. I didn't put the lacy part around the edges, nor did I tie it with a bow that has pom poms on it. To me, that screamed GIRL! Now, if she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt if the baby was going to be a girl, then I would have gone ahead and made it the way it was in the book.
Here is a close up of the pattern (single crochet, chain 1) and you can see the colour better too, though it doesn't really look white on my screen. That's probably because I took the pic outside in the shade about half an hour ago.

I added the bands for the buttons because in the pattern it is just tied up near the collar. I crocheted along the front sides and stopped a few inches from the top so that the collar could fold down a bit. It's not cooperating in the pic, so you can't really tell.

Now all I have left is to do the hat, booties and mittens to match using the same kind/colourway yarn. The only thing is, of which Wendy is aware, is that the patterns shoe chose for these items are knitted so they won't be a total match pattern wise. She didn't mind. She is just too excited that she is finally going to be a grandmother!

So, tada! Here is the sweater minus the buttons:

Pattern from: Gifts from Heaven Baby Sweaters (American School of Needlework, booklet 2201)
Yarn: Bernat (one of the baby yarns)
Crochet Hook: size H/3 - 5.00 mm
Pattern size: 3 months

In other yarny news, I finished one of the children's socks that I had been working on and have about half a dozen rows of the cuff on the second one done. Now, to get some more FO's completed...

I also want to get started on the Reid pattern from Knitty soon so that it can be done for the fall. Hopefully they've adjusted things so that the size 6 isn't huge anymore. I've tried to contact the author of the pattern (left a couple of comments on her blog and I think I might have emailed her at one point), but she hasn't responded. Oh well, if it is still too big, maybe my friend's daughter will just grow into it. She's a petite girl though and by then she might not like the colours I chose anymore...oh well, we'll see.

Happy knitting!

Back In The Saddle Again

Well, not technically in the saddle since there are no horses around here. However, I have been getting a little knitting in.

Remember the Haiku sweater I started sometime back, though not too long ago? I've done a little on that - about 3 inches. I've also done some more on the crocheted baby sweater for the lady at work. I'm going to pull it out again in a little while and work on it some more. Haven't done any on the socks yet, though I hear them calling my name!

This past Monday was a holiday up here in Canada and a group of us from church got together at the cottage of one of the older couples from church. It was actually one of the lady's Sunday school classes that was getting together, and the cottage belongs to the co-teacher and her husband. I used to attend the class a few years ago before I started teaching the kids, and have been invited every year since. It's nice to be included.

Anyway, while there I - being the knitter that I am - brought some knitting along. Didn't know what I'd feel like working on, so I brought the sweater for the lady at work, a pair of socks (ok, it wasn't really a pair but the first sock that I've been working on with the Knit Picks Memories in Easter), and I brought a ball of the yarn I dyed with purple koolaid. I felt like doing some mindless knitting so that I could engage in conversations at the same time, so I started working on a new scarf. It's the Irish Hiking scarf pattern that I used back in February for the knitting olympics.

I got some nice compliments on my knitting, and they liked the colour of yarn so I explained that I dyed it with koolaid (though this particular ball was done with a no name brand) and vinegar. The pastor's wife was amazed at this and thought it was a cool idea and got me to tell a few of the ladies who wasn't around for the conversation, about the kool aid. They were amazed!
Remember this picture? It's the one I took of the yarn that I had dyed way back when (I think it was during the knitting olympics). The yarn I am using for the second of my Irish Hiking scarves is the purple one on the far right. It is knitting up nicely and the colour looks great. I am noticing a few odd spots so far of areas that didn't quite soak up enough of the mixture, but oh well, it adds character!

I am thinking that I will either make another scarf out of the other purple one on the left, or a hat - probably sized for a child since I only have one ball of it.

Well, I'm going to head out now and work on the baby sweater for the lady at work, and might get some other knitting on Haiku done as well. I also want to work some more at my writing, which I also did for two or three hours this afternoon.

Happy knitting!

Canada Day, Friday Feast, Frapper

Happy 139th Birthday Canada!!

Yes, today is Canada Day and many celebrations are taking place across this great nation. For those who don't know what Canada Day is, it's our birthday - this great nation consisting of 10 provinces and 2 territories (though Northwest Territories divided up and there is another 'territory' I guess you would call it. It's called...ummm, I don't know how to spell or pronounce it but it starts with the letter "I". You could always do a search in Google if ya want to find out ;o). Canada Day is our 'version' of the American's 4th of July.

I have started taking part in the Friday's Feast meme that was created some time ago - 100 weeks/feasts ago to be exact. If you are interested in mine, feel free to check out my writing blog, Ink Scrawls, to read my answers. I've taken part in two of these feasts so far (there is only one post separating them - I don't have much on that blog yet, nor do I get much traffic. How sad for me!), so please take pity and leave a comment hehehe.

I've also added a link on the sidebar to my Frapper (which stands for Friends Mapper or something like that). Lots of people have those on their blogs, and I had it on my Confirm The Work of Our Hands blog for awhile. Only 15 people (including myself) are listed so far...take pity on me and add your marker with your name and a little message :o). I have been trying to figure out how to create a separate map for each of my blogs, but I couldn't; so I decided to put the link to the same map on all.

I hope you are all having a "knittacular" weekend! I'm going to try to get some work done on the socks and hopefully do some crocheting on the little sweater for the woman at work. Happy knitting!