Baby Sweater for Joshua

I knit Joshua a baby sweater for Christmas. I started it right after he was born, put it down for a while, and picked it up again knowing the size I choose would fit when he was about one year old.  I finished it and it fit!

Pattern: Rufus Textured Cardigan by Kristen Rengren  (From the book Vintage Baby Knits)
Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in Celery Green
Needle size: US4 & US5

I altered the pattern a little so there would be less seaming at the end. I knit the button bands with the front panels instead of knitting them in two pieces and seaming. The pattern called for a whole lot of seaming at the end, which I did and groaned about... but the results were really great, so I shouldn't have complained.

Here are the pictures of Mr. Joshua in his new sweater.

You can go to my Ravelry page to see more info about this project.

Knit Camera Case

My camera has been living in a sock for many years. It became a pain in the butt as my first sock 'case' wore a hole, I got another lonely sock which was too big...   This is what turned out with a few knitting needles, some Malabrigo wool and my brain.

The hole at the top is for the lanyard that's on my camera. The flap tucks in and it's cozy in there!

Knitting Needle Case

Here is another Craft Report. Done on Saturday Feb 21.  I am using an e-mail I sent to my parents as the entry.

Todays olympic event was to make a knitting needle case.  I saw a rough pattern online and used it changing it slightly based on the needles I had.  It holds all of my needles except three large long circular needles for knitting sweaters, which have their own cases. Those are the needles I use least.  The needles in this case are used fairly regularly!

I picked a fun print, with giraffes all over. It made me think of the Raffi song Joshua Giraffe.  You will see in the picture, some how magically the print lined up so that the heads and feet matched.  I dont know how this happened  but it is a good mistake.  Pete mentioned that he remembered when he was a kid the wall paper was cut out to include whole animals where none were cut off. Unfortunately in a sewing project like this, that was not possible.

This has many pockets, and holds all my needles nicely with a few extra spaces for growing. If I get even more of a collection, I will have to make another case. 

Not bad for one afternoon, and not sewing in a long time. 

I've got a bit of extra fabric. I'll have to figure something out for that.  I'm thinking of making my first ever quilt, but we will see about that.

Aww, look they are all so cozy in there.

One nice tidy package. Before they were strewn around my craft dresser drawers in disarray.

Sock Monkeys!

While I was in Seattle visiting Peter's family this past December, Nancy, my mother in law was making a sock monkey. She happened to have an extra set of sock monkey socks, and gave them to me to make my own! This little monkey was going to be for my nephew Isaac.  I got plugging away with the sewing machine, sewing by hand and embellishing this little guy. Here are some photos of this fun project.

Slowly he began to take shape. Arm by arm, ear by ear.

This little guy even got a bow-tie before he got eyes. I knit it flat, then crocheted a circle and tied it in the middle to form the bow shape. It worked out well.

I gave him eyes, nostrils, a hat and a heart. 

 Now, that was a project I had fun with!!!

Before we left Seattle, Nancy brought us to her local sewing store. We picked up another set of socks, so I'd have some to make another monkey with when I got home. The socks came in a pack of 2 pairs, so Pete got the other pair to wear. These socks were bigger than the first, so it made a bigger monkey. 

This guy got fancy eyes. I felt like he should also have a bow-tie. I mean, when your head and your shoulders are actually defined by tying something around the toe of the sock, why not make it a bow-tie right? For this little fellow, I used the white toe as the hat. Knit an I-Cord for the brim, AND made a pom-pom for the top.  I gave him to a friend as a baby shower gift.

I'd never made a pom-pom before, but a friend had a blog post about them,  so I got inspired. I looked up 'how to make a pom-pom' on YouTube, and poof there was a video. You'd be surprised what you can find on YouTube when it comes to crafting! 

Yellow Cap

Here is a hat I knit for Peter. He picked this nice Malabrigo worsted wool yarn.  More about this on Ravelry.