WiP Wednesday - Chunky Trapper Hat

When I applied to graduate school, I needed references.  One of my references had a newborn baby at the time.  I said to him that I'd like to knit his little girl something as a thank you.  That was nearly 2 years ago - but, I haven't forgotten (he, on the other hand, likely has!).  Lately I've been trying to focus on things that are weighing on my shoulders - doing them and lightening the load (in all areas of my life).  This is one of those things that was constantly in the back of my mind.  Now, he was a grad student at one point too.  I'm sure he will understand how busy I have been.  I'm also sure that I care about this 1000 times more than he does.

Last week, I found a project that would be fast, but super cute - the Baby Big Bobble Superfast Cable Trapper Hat by Mad Monkey Knits.  I'm loving chunky knits lately and I'm loving cables, so this hat was a perfect choice; not to mention that I think it will be adorable on a toddler!

I'm using Loops & Threads Charisma.  It's 100% acrylic but its soft (bonus) and it's washable/dryable (double bonus).

I'm loving how it's knitting up so far:

I did run into a bit of trouble understanding the pattern when I had to add in the second ear flap, but I emailed the pattern designer and she emailed back with a clarification within minutes.  I've purchased and knit a couple of her patterns before and the customer service has been great!

Will post the FO on a future Friday post.  Head on over to Tami's Amis to see what everyone else is working on!

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FO Friday - Two Things to Share!

I have two FOs this Friday (yay!).  I've previewed them both in previous WiP Wednesday posts.

I'll start off with my "Hat Full of Friends" (the pattern is Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat).  I love how this turned out and I'm contemplating making more with the same yarn.  I gave it to my friend at her baby shower last Saturday and she ended up having her beautiful baby boy on Monday (a little early but everything is good).

The Bandana Cowl is also complete!  I'm going to block it to see what happens and then hopefully snap of couple pictures me wearing this to show how it drapes (very nicely!).

Share your FO with everyone over at Tami's Amis!

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FO Friday - Isabella Bonnet

Thank you to tamisamis for hosting FO Friday!  Hop on over and check out what everyone else has to show off!

This is my first FO in a while and I can't wait to give it to the recipient.  For Ava's first birthday, I knit her the cupcake hat - over a year later, she's still wearing it.  It's so nice to knit for people who actually wear and use what you knit!  (Ok, at 1 and 2 years old, maybe the decision on what to wear lays more with the parents, but still, she's wearing it a lot!)  Anyways, I wanted to knit Ava a new hat for her second birthday (which was back in November).  I think the Isabella Bonnet will really suit her - especially in the hot pink color.

This was a really easy knit - it only took me so long to complete because I didn't have the time to work on it.  This is definitely one I'd knit again as a gift for a little girl (would even be great in a 'big girl' size). The instructions weren't always completely clear but it was easy enough to figure it out.

I like working with this yarn - not only is the color great but it feels nice.  It's acrylic but it is a micro-fiber yarn and it's nice and soft.  It reminds me of some of the bamboo yarns I've worked with.  It's machine washable which is nice for kids' clothing and accessories.  It's part of the 'collection' I picked up from the massive Dressew sale last year.

Now I have to determine what I will work on next.  I have a few projects 'hibernating' but I think I might just knit up some simple baby hats and do a bit of stash busting.  I know a couple people with new ones or that are expecting so I won't be at a loss for babies to give them to.  Baby hats are good too since I can make reasonable progress on them  by knitting during my study breaks!

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WiP Wednesday - The Hat Full of Friends

I'm excited to have a WiP today to share!  I have a couple of friends expecting baby boys so I decided to work on some hats as I do my reading for school.

A while ago my boss was clearing out some of her stash and gave each of us who knits some yarn.  I received a beautiful skein of hand-dyed sock yarn in shades of blue (I'll have to ask her again what the fibre content is).  It seemed like the perfect yarn for the Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat.  Since most of this hat is just straight stockinette stitch, it's a project I can work on without having to constantly look at it (hence why it is a good project to do while reading).

One of the most exciting things is that I got to use my new skein holder/swift!  A friend's girlfriend found out that I knit (as does she) and gave it to me for my birthday (amazing!).   Using my coworkers ball-winder that she doesn't use, I was able to set this up:

I had some issues finding surfaces which I could clamp the skein holder and ball winder to but I think this worked quite well in the end.  No more putting my skein around the back of a chair and winding it onto my thumb!  YAY!  I think my cat had as much fun with it as I did :)

I ended up with three balls of this beautiful yarn.

I started working on the first hat (I should have enough yarn for 3 of these hats) and also finally got to use one of the beautiful stitch markers a friend gave me as part of my bridal shower present.

In one day, I almost finished the whole hat (I guess that is one benefit of having so much reading to do!) (I am not the fastest knitter around so almost finishing something in one day is an accomplishment!).  I'll share it in an upcoming FO Friday post.

I love that this hat is 'full of friends' - my boss/friend who gave me the yarn, the swift that was a gift from a friend, the ball winder who came from a coworker/friend, the stitch markers from a friend, the final product for a friend.  Having friends who knit rock!

Be sure to hop on over to Tamis Amis and check out what everyone else is working on!

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Knitting More Quickly

Well, as you can see, since school started in September I had to take a break from blogging and have also had less time for knitting (which I really miss).  Sometimes you really just can't do it all!  But I hope to be able to fill my work and study breaks with some knitting and blogging now that I'm starting to get better at the work/school/life balance.

I've been working on the Isabella Bonnet for my friend's daughter, Ava.  Now, Miss Ava's birthday was in November and that is when I intended to have it done by.  But, September was my first month of graduate school AND working full-time (plus the post-wedding hangover) so needless to say, if I got dinner made a couple nights a week, that was an accomplishment!  I'm finally working on the bow for the hat so I should have it done soon (will take pics and post when I do!).

I have come to realize that if I'm going to fit knitting into my crazy life, then I'm going to have to knit more quickly.  I've been watching some videos on YouTube that have helped a bit.  However, it's going to take a while to adjust my style and get used to keeping tension.  In making the bow for the hat, I've been testing out a few different techniques and I can definitely see where I stopped one and started the other.  I don't think it's going to be noticeable (other than to other knitters) once it's on the hat though.

I also think that it's good to have a variety of techniques in my bag of tricks so that I can vary it up to prevent overuse injuries.  I notice when I knit a lot that I do sometimes get aches and pains.

Here are a couple videos on YouTube that I've found useful:

1.  The sound could be better on this video but I found that holding the needle in my right hand like a pencil does help a bit with speed and is quite comfortable.  I am totally one of those knitters she talks about who sometimes drops the needle in my right hand when throwing the yarn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezH4qpn3org&feature=related

2. I picked up a couple useful tips in this KnitPicks video with Miriam Tegels (world's fastest knitter) but I wish that there would have been more close-ups and they would have also showed a clip of her technique slowed down instead of just at full-speed.

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FO Friday: Newborn Photo Props

I finally have some FOs to post!  My schedule lately has not allowed for much, if any, knitting most weeks.  However, a family member had a photo session scheduled for her newborn and was wanting some knitted props.  Everything she found online would take 2 weeks to get to her, and she had less than a week until the session.  So, I agreed to help out.  She  bought most of the yarn, and I knit it up.  Although I was time pressured, I enjoyed the knitting.  Most of it was bulky yarn on big needles so it didn't take too long - but I still had to knit in any spare moment I had!

The first was a 'bowl' or 'pod'.  It's nice and stretchy so the baby easily fit in it.  The yarn used is Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Thick & Quick.  I liked this yarn - nice and soft and the specks of color look great when knit up.

This next project was a 'cocoon'.  I love the loose knit with lots of holes; I think it's so cute when the baby's fingers or toes poke through.



I think this pom pom hat is adorable!  I made the preemie size since the baby was just over 6 lbs when born and it fit perfectly.  I held two yarns together to get the effect.

Another hat that was requested, and that is popular in newborn photos, is this hat with a long tail and a pom pom on the end.  Because Luca is small (with a small head), I cast on 40 stitches instead of the 44 the pattern called for.  The yarn (Bernat Soft Boucle) looked really neat when all knit up.  The pom pom on the end definitely makes this hat.

Finally, I knit up this chunky little diaper cover.  The yarn is Red Heart Zoomy (super bulky).  This was REALLY quick to knit up.  It might be wise to knit this with a stretchy cast on/bind off to allow for more stretch in the waist, if needed.  This one just fit Luca.   

I have lots of projects in the queue so I hope to be making more FO Friday posts this month!

WiP Wednesday - Better Late Than Never!

I was all ready to get this post up first thing this morning when I got into work.  Unfortunately, my computer has been having difficulties all day so I'm finally getting around to hitting the post button!  Better late than never though!

So, I'm almost finished the "hat with the duck part", and I've run out of yarn.  As you can see from the picture, there isn't enough left to finish the remaining 10 rows or so, then stitch the brim up :(  I thought I might have just enough, but no :(  I've contacted a couple people on Ravelry about selling me a skein.  One got back to me and it will cost 5 times as much as what I paid for a skein to get me hers, but I might have to suck it up and do it.  I'm soooo close!

A friend, who appreciates my knitting, has asked me to knit a pair of leg warmers for her baby as she is crawling now.  I said yes, even though I have so many projects needing to be finished by Christmas.  I told her that I couldn't guarantee when they'd be done and she said it would be fine - I'm worrying that she'll be done crawling by the time they are knit up!  I don't know if my friend realizes the time it takes to knit - especially with little needles and thin yarn!

Anyways, I picked out some yarn and started to knit the leg warmers; I figure they are a good 'before bed' project - quite straightforward so go to knit when I'm tired.  I chose to use Regia Stretch Crazy Color yarn.  I checked out some projects on Ravelry that use this yarn and I really liked the colors.

I started the 12 month size but I think I'm going to restart and do the 18-24 month size since the yarn I'm using is a bit more thin than the yarn the pattern calls for.  I would hate to get these done just to find out that they won't fit around her little legs.

I used the tubular cast on as it gives a nice edge and a good stretch.  For a cast on that gave me a bit of a headache the first time I tried it, I'm actually starting to like it and this is the third project I will be using it on.

As always, thanks to Tami for hosting the WiP Wednesday on her blog!

Those are my WiPs for this week.  I'm hoping in the next week or two to have some new ones to share.  I'm going to attempt cables!  Wish me luck ;)

Cupcake Hat!

I couldn't wait to blog about this project.  I love it!

A friend is having her daughter's first birthday party in a couple of weeks - the theme is cupcakes.  I wanted to knit something for the birthday girl since, when she was born, I knit her a hat and booties set that she wore all the time.  I figured this was the perfect chance to knit the cupcake hat from Itty-Bitty Nursery Knits.

I started with the tubular cast-on.  Despite the challenges I had trying to learn this cast-on a couple weeks ago, I like the way it looks and it is stretchy so I decided to give it another try.  I'm happy to report that this time it all went smoothly!  I found this video really helpful.

The result of the tubular cast-on.

After you finish knitting the hat, you go back and add a crochet picot edge.  Since I don't know how to crochet, this posed a bit of a challenge!  I used a couple youtube videos to learn to do this.  Susan B. Anderson has a video that shows how to do the picot edge with a crochet hook but, not knowing how to crochet, her video wasn't enough.  The explanation was useful, once I sort of knew what I was doing.  I used this video to learn how to do the stitches.  The only thing that threw me for a loop was that all the videos I could find were showing the picot edging, well, on an edge!  The one I needed to add was in the middle of my project!  I figured the only way to do this was to pull the crochet loops through the individual stitches on my hat - I think I was right because it seemed to work.

Picot edge using a crochet hook.

Then, I needed to learn to crochet the cherry.  Again, thanks to youtube, it wasn't too difficult.  I used WireMySoul's video for this.

Crochet cherry.

I know that it may sound like watching all these videos to learn to crochet was more work than it was worth, but it wasn't.  Plus, I'm sure I'll use the skills I learned on future projects!

The finished product!