Bootie-wootie-cuties

My year has been incredibly busy: a wedding, more classes, and now a baby shower. I made these booties and this hat for a preemie. He's not even home yet, but he should be soon. I just cast on some yarn and out these came. No pattern, no swatch, and all love. I love the outcome. Here they are in my mom's hands. They're soooo tiny!

Perfect socks

This is pair nine for the 52PP, and they are beautiful. They are EXACTLY the same size and my first pair knit with more than 48 sts (64 actually) and knit on five needles. I used 2.25 mm bamboo needles from Clover and Regia Crazy colors yarn. I love the colorway and can't wait for winter so I can wear them more often.




This is Sylvanus from anticraft.com. Sylvanus was the Roman god of the forest, and from where we get the word 'sylvan' meaning 'woods' or 'forest.' I started to make this bag, but I stopped because it was creeping me out. The eyes were so piercing. It was to be felted, but instead I knit a triangular felted bag from the yarn.


And here's the bag with some lovely fresh herbs in it.


I had to include the picture of Sylvanus though because I did such a great job on it even though I ripped it out. I like my triangular herb-gathering bag better.

After a posting hiatus...lots of photos

Here are some of the things I've been working on:

A make your own rhagdoll named Anwyn (gift maiden in Tolkien languages). The shop owner at the ren fest gave me some benadryl and saved my day. She's sitting on a baby blanket I made, and I knitted her shawl.

Socks, socks, and more socks.

Baby socks:

Monkey socks of different sizes. The short ones have a spare yarn toe because I ran out. The long ones are knit on 48 stitches instead of the required 64; I call them "Neanderthal" because they are 'evolved.' Get it.

Some feather and fan on 64 sts on the left (one of my favorite patterns); and a gansey sock (on 52 sts) pattern that I'm trying out with the blue yarn on the right. I took it from a student's knitting pattern a day calendar. She said, "I guarantee that I'll never make it. You can make it, show us, and tell us how easy it was, and we won't believe you." Thanks, Beth.

And check out these really cute finger puppets I found in a shop in Fredericksburg. They were so cute, but I wasn't going to pay 12 bucks a piece for them. I thought I'd take a pic and steal the idea for myself and any little ones I know.

Uh-Oh

I forgot to add a pic of this lovely scarf (same as Jan 13 post, but without the fringe). Enjoy it, Brit!





And a pic of pair #2. (heeheehee, I'm on track...for now.)

Knitting along

Whenever I hit a lull in knitting, I'm always afraid that I'll give it up completely and never come back. Then, in 30 years I'll find UFOs from now, mothy yarn, and things that will make me scratch my head and ponder, "why did I do this?" But this KAL has fixed me up once again. I'm back to my knitting self, finishing wonderful items left and right. I stayed up late last night watching Stargate season 2 and finishing Mom's lovely lace scarf. Pics will be added after blocking has taken place. But, I must sleep at some point; I'm ahead of the 52 PP knitting curve now with pair three on the needles, planning a trip to LYS, but who knows when life will throw me a curve ball.
Lynn

My first KAL

Hooray! I've wanted to join a knit along for a while and I found one that happened to be opened when I was ready to join: the 52 Pair Plunge. I was having a hard time finishing a pair for me (why is it that I can make something really well for others, but anything for myself is crap?) so I made a small pair for a bookmark called Opal mini-socks. I'm excited, yet filled with dread over the fact that I have agree to this but have no idea if I can actually accomplish it. Here goes nothing....

It's...Surreal

IT SNOWED ON EASTER SATURDAY!!!!

Here's a snow bunny for Easter.

I love knitting lace! Here's a pic of "Print of the Wave" table runners that I'm doing for my set of antique bedside tables. It's not done yet, but I love the result so far.

Here are some socks from Christmas 2005. I just found the pics this week.

I have been inspired to make some more lace. I inherited some bedside tables from my great-grandmother's house and they are just SCREAMING for some custom lace runners. I'm going to modify a lovely pattern called Print o' the Wave. I found a great link to a lovely lace knitter here.
In the meantime, here are some photos of some work I did over the fall. I used Berroco for the sweater and the leftovers for the scarf.
I just threw in some yarn overs to make a kind of ladder and the threaded ribbon yarn through it. I love this sweater.

When it's warm, I wear it alone. When it gets cold I throw is on top of a long sleeved button up shirt. My boyfriend brags that it only took me 20 minutes to make. I actually had to start this about five times before I could decide on the size and pattern I wanted to use.

Here is some detail of the shoulder back. (My model is so easy to work with.)

Here are a few things I made around Christmas time. The blanket was made as a commission. Although the color isn't traditional, it's for a girl, and the cotton is so nice a cozy. I love the way the pattern came out.



The scarf and hat were made for the daughter of the same person who ordered the baby blanket. The girl likes red but her coat is pink, so it had to be just right.

The blue scarf was made from Lion Brand's Lion Wool. I got the pattern from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. The fringe was knit at the same time as the main cable pattern and unraveled at the end. I have to make another one without the fringe for a friend in Maryland. Hopefully it comes out as well.