Owen's Nursery Has a Forest Friends Theme

When I saw a picture of the set that Allison and Mike are buying for Owen's room, I immediately thought of one of the blankets made for one of the Rocksusto girls.   In one of my many, many boxes of yarn there was, waiting, just the right yarn to make another Leafy Baby Blanket. 

The yarn was originally purchased to do an afghan for me.   After a time, I decided that I did not want to do that afghan and allowed the yarn to languish in the stash waiting for the right time to do something with it.

Owen's blanket....begun and growing......

The time is now.   Saturday, after finishing the Elf Sweater late Friday, I cast on for the Leafy Baby Blanket using my stash of soft mossy green Willow Burrow Bulky.    I will admit I did not do a swatch.   This is a sin.   Swatches are important.   In my defense, I had just done another blanket (for Owen) using the same yarn in a different color.

The blanket is moving along.  As the yarn is bulky weight this round, it is moving quickly.  While I think I really like the pattern better in a smaller weight yarn, this is looking nice and will be cuddly for the baby.

The "holes" in the pattern may not be the greatest for little fingers and toes....but it is pretty and fits with the theme.  

Next in queue for Owen is a short series of stuffed animals.  Three are (more or less) forest creatures for his themed room.   One is just because I think it will be funny.

Baby Bredeson will arrive next month.  Until I know who this baby is, I am not planning the project(s) to greet the new family member.  Henry, who will be an excellent big brother, will be getting mittens and a hat at the same time.   The mittens will be the vintage Safety Mittens pattern which his cousin Mike loved when he was a little older than Henry.  The hat will be a coordinating pattern that I need to design.

The Elf Set

The Elf Hat with the Elf Sweater

The Elf Set is done.   One thing I would change is to have the stripes match.   In the long run, it does not matter.

The buttons have deer on them and are perfect for this project.   As JoAnn's does not do a good job with buttons anymore and I did not want to expose myself to the temptation of a brick and mortar yarn store, I shopped for these buttons at Knitpicks.   What a find!

The yarn is Willow Burrow worsted.  Plymouth Encore and Willow Burrow are very similar.  I love them both for projects that need to go through the washer and the dryer safely.   The hat and the sweater went through the washer and dryer last weekend and emerged must softer.

On to the next project!

Still knitting...knitting...knitting

The needles have been working too much to slow down and take pictures.   

This weekend I hope to finish the Elf Sweater that matches the Elf Hat that is done.   Baby knitting has been a really fun adventure.

After the Elf Sweater, I will be doing more stuffed animals and a baby blanket.  Pictures will come.

My travel project is Raggi socks for Christmas.  Raggi, I am deeply sad to hear, is not going to be available as the distributors in this country are retiring.   I bought some up for me.  I have no Raggi socks out of the many pair I have knit.

In my quest to knit more interesting socks, I have decided to take on the pair of Raggi socks that were just published in Interweave Knits.   Those will be for me so they will be knit....later....sometime later.

September is nearly done.....knit faster!  Knit faster!!!!

Knitting through the Madness

The past month has been crazy.   Fortunately, I had my knitting.   Knitting, even troublesome knitting, is calming.

I just finished leg warmers for Piper.  Sharon, a.k.a. Grandma, knew exactly what Piper needed.  She and I conferred on the patterns and choose the best one.   The color had to be black for Piper's skating costume.  The result looks narrow but it is a one by one rib.  VEEEEEEEEEERY stretchy.

Piper's Legwarmers

Ravelry makes choosing projects so much simpler than that process used to be.  Seeing a lot of patterns quickly gives a good idea of what can and can't be done easily.   This gives me a better shot at knowing the project will work for the person the project is for....

Sometimes, I just take an idea and run with it.  I think I have previously talked about my love of seed stitch.  As this is not the most exciting stitch in the world to do a lot of, even I find this puzzling.   Some skeins of True Blue burrow bulky wanted to be knit into seed stitch.  Really.  They told me.   That is how Owen's baby blanket came to be.  It is nice and squishy..and launders well.

The Garden Bunny has overalls that match the blanket.   This bunny was a weird pattern in many ways.   While I learned a lot, I am not sure I would do this again.  The head is oddly small.   I accidentally sewed the head on as a foot.  Cursing ensued.   A lot of cursing.

The bunny is cute.  Not what I had hoped.....but cute.   The picture has the second attempt at a face.  The first go made the bunny look a bit psycho.  That had to change.  

More knitting for Owen is in the works.  Hope life calms down.

The Horse Hat!

The horse hat is finished!

Thank heavens for Pinterest and Knitbird without whom this could not have been accomplished.

I am happy enough with it.

Grandma Sharon thinks Mal will like it.

Hope she does.   On to the next project!

The Horse Hat

The pattern for Mallorie's horse hat ......no matter what I did I could not get the gauge.

Thinking carefully, I hit the internet for a new horse graph.  There are a surprising number of graphs out there.   After finding one that works, I drafted a pattern.  I am knitting it now.  If the pattern works as I think it will, I will post the hat.  If I really like it, I will post the pattern.

All the stockings are done and delivered.....NEXT!

Last weekend, the last of the stocking were delivered.   Not a moment too soon was the last stocking finished and all three sent through the washer and dryer.

Stockings for Mike, Owen, and Allison

Mike's stocking, with the bear, was a bit of a challenge.   After FINALLY getting through the chart in the original design, I held the stocking up and looked at it carefully.   I looked again.  The "bear" looked like a giant tail-less rat.  That would not do.  Not at all.

Annie's Woolens has a stocking with a great bear chart.  Using the Knitbird software, I adapted the chart to the pattern for this stocking.  The results were pleasing.   I am happy to say Mike's mother liked it too.

Now I have moved on to other things for Christmas....as the wedding throw is too large and too warm to knit right now.   Four of the grands will get knitting offerings this year.   In consultation with Grandma, the projects will be three hats and a pair of legwarmers.  

My original plan for Elle's hat got kicked to the curb when I saw the Love-ly Cap knitting pattern.  What a cute hat!  Even better, the yarn could come out of the stash...the edges of the stash...and was easy to find.    While is is not my best work...I still like it.

Elle's Love-ly Cap

The yarn for the stockings and for Elle's hat is the ever useful Willow Burrow worsted.   Their colors are lovely.   Burrow has the same fiber content as Plymouth Encore.  Both launder like a dream and are pleasant to knit.   These are my workhorse yarn for kid projects and toys.

One morning in Ravelry, I spotted the combat booties.   What a hoot!  When I showed the pattern to my sister as a prospective project for Owen, she asked for a pair for the new baby a friend just had.  The friend is a marine and she knew he would love the booties for his son.  As I wanted these to be worn a bit, I used the biggest size.  The project was fun to do and is already passed off.

All of this yarn came from leftovers from other projects.   It was a fun way to use the bits and pieces that were in the stash.  No new yarn was purchased for this project.

As I was looking through the stash for yarn for Mallorie's hat, I realized that I have not knit for me in a long time.   Someday.

Mallorie's hat features horses which she is still mad about.   Swatching is our friend.  I do feel like the Goldilocks of swatching as the first two yarns swatched too big.  There was no way I could get gauge without the hat being stiff as a board.  The third yarn was too small.  I went deep into the stash and will swatch a fourth yarn.  I hope that will be just right.