Friday, January 16, 2009

KAL: 12 in 12

So I stared a little KAL over on Ravelry--we're calling it "12 in 12"-- 12 kid sweaters in 12 months.  Totally doable right?  And imagine, my kids will be so well-clothed by this time next year.  My friends with new babies will be so grateful and think I am a knitting genius... etc...  

A rule for this KAL that applies only to me is that I must knit as many items for my daughter as I do for my son.  The 6yo has very strong opinions about pattern, color, and texture.  The 2yo just wants some more goldfish crackers.   Guess who usually gets more sweaters?

Want to join?  Check it out here.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Making Progress


The hoodie of a thousand tiny cables is coming along nicely. The back is done and I'm about halfway up the front. But even with the slick addis, it's still not something I can do full-time. I still need a mindless stockinette project or an instant gratification hat/mitten project.

I find I work on it during the week--when I take a break at lunchtime, or for an hour or so in the evening. And is is looking yummy. The Rowan All-Season Cotton has just enough stretch and softness to make knitting tiny cables with cotton bearable. And it has has a nice almost-rustic texture that makes me think ahead to evenings by the water in the summer months ahead--a nice visual in the dead of winter.

Monday, January 5, 2009

It's not easy being this green

It was an impulse buy, I'll admit it. I saw Hello Knitty's fantastic version of the February Lady Sweater and decided I had to make the exact same thing. I was sure that as soon as I got the yarn, I would tear into it, cast on immediately, work on it until the wee hours of the morning until it was done. So I googled and ordered up 4 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool and when I opened the package.... it was GREEN.
And then reality set in. I don't wear a lot of green and when I do, it's of the forest or mossy variety, for good reason. I held it up to my face and it was not pretty. Instantly, I turned a strange shade of yellow. It's a stunning color--just not on me.

I tried to entice 6yo daughter--wouldn't she love a sweater in green?

No. Blue.

She said "I don't want to be disappointed, so can you please make it blue?"

So, down the pecking order it goes.... to little brother.

I would love to re-jigger Anny Purl's Cardigan for Merry--it seems like the perfect color for such a project--and I wonder if, by making it out of worsted instead of sport-weight yarn, I would end up with a 2-3yo size jacket. I'm off to the Ravelry forums to seek advice.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Second Hat Down

The kids are now officially ready for winter.  In the second-to-last -day of Christmas Break, I whipped up a quick hat for the little guy yesterday--loosely based on Tiennie's "Norwegian Star Earflap Hat"--except without the earflaps.  I'm not a big fan of how the earflaps look on his giant noggin so I did some ribbing instead.  

This was a fun, quick one and I have to say, I loved they yarn--soft, warm, and slightly fuzzy thanks to a bit of alpaca.    

I made the ribbing extra wide to serve almost like an earwarmer headband and I eliminated all the knit rounds at the top to give the hat a more squared-off shape--kind of like the kid's head.

Unlike my picky daughter, the little guy will wear anything I knit up--hats, scarves, mittens and sweater of any color or material.  

However, also unlike the 6yo, at 2.5, it is impossible to get a
 picture of him unless he's asleep.  So here is a more accurate depiction of the hat at work.

January, bring it on.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Light Bright

There are some color combinations that only a 6 year old girl can love.  Here is one of them. Because I was letting her pick out her own colors, I picked a pattern that I could knock off in a day or so--also, it's cold and the kid needs a hat.  A while ago, I had queued up Knitty's "Center Square" and after a little gauge math, I was off the the races.

I started by knitting it on two circulars, but the tangle of 
cables and yarn started to really annoy me so I just wrestled them onto one 24" circular until I got to the crown decreases.  I have to say, I wouldn't really recommend that--it made for unpleasant tight knitting that never felt fun--I just wanted to get to the end.  It was a little small after I finished, but I'm hoping blocking might help with that.

Though I like the colors she picked out, I'm not crazy about how they look together in this pattern, and in the process of knitting it, my addled brain figured out why.  Artists and other color experts will instantly tell me where I went wrong, but it took me a while to see that though the blue and pink are very different colors, they are very similar in color value.  That means they have a similar amount of white in them and therefore, next to each other, they don't really create much contrast.   Interesting lesson learned and filed away in noggin.  After a break from the colors, I'll whip up some matching mittens, per her request.

Center Square, Knitty.com
One skein each Cascade 128 in Powder Blue and Cotton Candy
US size 10 needles