The only things I finish are baby things

Well, would you look at that – how time has flown by.  Summer has come and gone, and all I have to show for it knitting-wise is 3 small baby items.  (Luckily completed 2 days before the babies were born – TWINS!)

Bibs:
Pattern: Petal Bib pattern out of the book One Skein.
Yarn: Lily Sugar n’ Cream cotton
Needles: US 5
Start and Finish dates: ?? to 10-4-11
Notes: Well, the petals don’t want to stay flat, so I had to iron them for pictures and gifting.

Blanket:
Pattern: I made it up, but I know there are a ton of the center out square blankets out there.
Yarn: Good old Lily Sugar n’ Cream, with a dash of Peaches n’ Creme as well
Needles: every single US 5 that I own
Start and Finish dates: 9-20-11 to 10-10-11
Notes: I started with 6 stitches, increased to 12 in the first row, and then increased (YO) 2 at each corner every other row, throwing in some purl rows here and there where I wanted them. I tried to stick to a 4-2-4-2 striping pattern, but I got thrown off when I ran out of a particular color of yarn. I tried a moss stitch border, but my purls are too loose and it didn’t work out – the attached I-Cord works perfectly, though. It’s really only car-seat blanket size, or will work well for a doll blanket when the girls are older.

Outside of knitting, life has been hectic.  July was not my own – we went on a week-long vacation, and when we got home, I had to work 3 weekends.  We had to replace the furnace and AC.  Ladybug started first grade, and Pigeon is now in a formal pre-school setting (but she still refuses to potty train.  Ah, joy.)  I’ve been reading when I can, watching movies and TV, and mostly working.  It’s not going to get any less busy, either!

Although I did score a pretty good yarn deal at Tuesday Morning sometime in that interim – 2 skeins each of Araucania Ranco Solid in Melon and Cactus, 3 skeins of Araucania Ulmo Pomaire also in Melon.  Less than $50 for all of it.

So that’s the past 6 months in a nut-shell.  I wonder what the next 6 will bring!

Free Willy!

He’s trapped in the cubicle farm!

Pattern: Oedipus the Orca by Ali Tong
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Merino for the Black, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted for the White
Needles: US 4 Susan Bates Silverlume DPN’s
Started: April 8, 2011
Finished: April 10, 2011
Mods: I had to reknit the white belly because the belly that followed the written directions was too big. The fins are all stockinette rounds instead of garter stitch.  Were I to knit him again, I would slow down the increases so that he doesn’t get so round so fast.

See my belleh!

Poor little chap is a bit cock-eyed, but I just call him special.

Widdle Itty Bitty

All together now, AWWWWW.

Pattern: Baby Argyle Vest (and hat), sans hat.
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, both colors leftover from the baby blanket that has no home.
Needles: US 3 for the ribbing, US 5 for the body
Started: March 10, 2011
Finished: March 26, 2011
Mods: No argyle! Also, I couldn’t get the tight gauge that is specified in the pattern, so I knit the larger size with my larger gauge to hit the 6-9 month size.

Progress in pictures:

Here you can see that instead of using a stitch marker to denote the beginning of the round, I just used the yarn tail.  I stuck it in between the needle tips every now and then.  It worked out great, and my stitches didn’t get distended because of a heavy metal loop.

And a close up of the puppy dog button:

I’m pretty darn happy.  I hope the recipient is happy too.  (What?  You didn’t think I was pregnant, did you?)

Arrrrr, Me head be too big

Or me hat be too small.

The first iteration certainly was:

Size 3 needles made a great, dense fabric. Too bad I couldn’t even squeeze my forehead into this thing.

So I ripped back to the cotton yarn provisional cast-on, and moved up to size 5′s and knit 3 repeats of the skull pattern. And then ripped the last one out because I would have been able to smuggle an extra melon under my hat.

Which made the hat too short.

Pardon the no make-up, bathroom mirror pic. Oh yeah, it’s a cell phone picture too. As are all of these.

But damn, isn’t it pretty? I think I’ll hand it down to my nephew who has taken up finger knitting.

Stats:

Pattern: We Call Them Pirates (Rav link)
Yarn: Paton’s Merino for the black and greenish yellow, Cascade Flash for the inside lining.
Needles: US 5, and then 4′s for the DPNs at the top.
Started: November 3, 2010
Finished: December 6, 2010
Mods: I cut out one chart repeat, so there are only 3 groups of skulls around, and there are only 2 vertically. Other than that and the gauge, I knit it to spec.

The obligatory innards (and printer) picture:

And throw me a party – this is my first stranded knitting, and I used the 2 hands technique.  I can’t imagine doing it any other way!