Wednesday WIPs: Trellis

This tiny thing has given me no end of trouble. The pattern and the yarn and I cannot agree on sizing or gauge. Since I'm not making it with any specific baby in mind, that shouldn't matter, right? Nevertheless, I cast it on multiple times before I was satisfied that I knew what would result (and that I hadn't miscounted my stitches).

Also, the assumption on the designer's part that Kitchener stitch results in an invisible seam in a heavily patterned design is... suspect. The shoulders aren't too bad. I'm worried about the back of the neck - the collar is knit in two pieces and joined there with Kitchener stitch.

At least it was the easiest setting in of sleeves I've ever attempted, once I stopped trying to apply all the helpful tricks I've been taught. It was a pretty much one-to-one match of stitches.

There were lots of mods on Ravelry, none of which I used. I'm interested in seeing how the pattern turns out as written.

Second (pair of) socks

I made another pair of worsted weight wool socks, this time for Rod's emergency winter kit. I used leftover Paton's Wool from making felted clogs and mittens. Same pattern as before, but this time I had to alternate colors, which made for some odd heels..

She likes it!

It’s a little big, which is just right, since she’ll start wearing it next fall as the weather cools off.

And apparently I’m not the only one who thought the colors were scrumptious!

Button Day

Not that anybody’s been nagging me to post this project, ever since I finished it (I’m looking your way, Kansas). Except, I didn’t really finish it until today, because it needed buttons. Today was Button Day. I have sewed buttons on four projects, and now I’m setting in sleeves. I know, right? Get all the sewing done at once, that’s my motto.

Yarn: Hayfield Baby Blossom DK
Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm)
Pattern: Hayfield #4844, Dungarees & Pinafore
Mods: Stockinette rolls, so I picked out the cast-on edge and knit down for a picot-edged hem instead, which flares out a little, but I've been informed is charming. Yeah, I MEANT to do that.
And a shout out to the Yarn Barn of Kansas (still looking at you!) for carrying the yarn, pattern, and store sample that enabled all that.

The Orange Creamsicle Pinny happened when I discovered that Hayfield had picked up the banner of self-striping baby yarn, dropped by Bernat some time ago. I made a baby sweater from the Bernat yarn years ago, which I recently found in a bag, completely finished, except for - assembling? No... Buttons? Nope... All it needed was tucking in the ends. That’s not even sewing.

Yarn: Bernat Baby Jacquards Florals (discontinued)
Needles,  Pattern:  lost in the mists of time
Mods: I cut the yarn short and started the next stripe in the sleeves to match the stripe width of the body. Lots of ends to deal with!

I also sewed buttons on these two "finished" projects:

Can’t. Stop. Crocheting.

It’d perfectly reasonable to use up the scrap yarn before moving on to the waiting knitting projects, right?

Even if I don’t actually need any coasters. Right?

But then there’s this. Which is actually a terrific shade of red that is defying the ability of the camera to capture. And which will, probably, lie flat when it’s finished. But.

 

It’s a doily. A doily! What am I thinking???

Flower Cardigan

I don't always crochet, but when I do...

...I am generally pleased with the results.

Pattern: Vendula Maderska's Flower Cardigan

Yarn: Schachenmayr Catania Solids in Orchidee, Cyclam, Orange, Violett, Apple Green, Pfau and
Patons Grace in Ginger (to replace the Catania Birke, which is discontinued)

Hook: a very strange hook labeled 3.00-3.25 mm - doesn't it know which it is?

Mods:  The pattern called for red for the front edging; upon advice I used colors already in the stripes. I made up my own flowers, and made Willow Sway's Bird Applique. I kept running out of light pink, and wound up making the pink sleeve long enough by adding a dark pink stripe.

I hope the little one likes it. Her mom is pleased, which is what counts at this point.

I've just remembered that one of the first things I crocheted was the direct opposite of this, a baby dress with a plain crocheted skirt and a shell patterned top. It buttoned at the shoulder, and I'll bet it's in this house somewhere. I made it from leftover crochet cotton that my grandmother had used to make placemats, and I've got one of them around somewhere, too.

Wednesday WIPs: The Price of Colorful

I’ve been working on a really colorful project. This is just a sneak preview.

But there’s a price to pay - so many ends to finish off!

Stay tuned for the finished object on Monday! All it needs are buttons...

Emergency K(n)its

Ah, summer. The woolens get washed and stored, the cottons come out.* Among other things, I went through our winter emergency kits. Not the bag of flares and such that lives in the car year-round, but the one that gets tucked in over the winter months, in case of stranding.

I turned everything out and made some substitutions (more wool, less acrylic), keeping in mind that the contents of the bag are soon forgotten about and with luck never worn, so this is not the place for a knit item one is actually fond of.

I realized that the kit contained no socks. It seemed as though an extra pair of wool socks might come in really handy, particularly if one's feet got wet. I looked around and had nothing I wasn't fond of. So I dug some worsted weight wool out of the stash and made a pair of socks. I had scraps of green, so I threw them into the mix, which turned out fortunate as I needed the last bit of green to finish the second sock's bind off.

Pattern: my standard sock, with numbers adjusted for worsted weight
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) dpns
Yarn: 2 skeins of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Chestnut
Mods: I worked a thermal pattern over the instep and leg - knit rows alternating with k1/p1 ribbing rows

*We are going to ignore the fact that it was so chilly this morning that I put on wool low-cut socks.