Mama Loves Knitting

Sweater Progress & Stole Pattern

This time I can say with confidence I WILL be finishing my sweater! I am so excited about it. I’ve got the back all knit up and I’ve started up the front. I’m hoping to have it complete before I go off to Mexico, on Cinco de Mayo, but we’ll see.

It may not look like that much at this point, but I’m pretty darn proud of it. The pattern I’m using is converted to knitting in the round. Since I’ve started this project I’ve learned a lot! I didn’t realize it was so simple to convert a pattern to knit in the round. Most of the sweater patterns I looked over instructed the knitter to knit the back panel, followed by the front panel, and then sew two pieces together. That just didn’t make sense…so I sought out some aid and Terry (the Knitting Jedi) helped me convert this pattern. I’m knitting in the round and actually even after the split I’m still using my circular needles. It is a bit much to wrap your head around, as I mentioned in a previous post how patterns completely change when you knit in the round.

Ooh and another cool trick is this stitch holder – who needs a real stitch holder – you can just use a piece of yarn. This cream colored yarn is holding the entire front of my sweater together, while I start knitting up the back.

My pattern doesn’t look too complicated, and it actually isn’t, but when I end up knitting in the pattern from the wrong side (WS) it gets a bit tricky. I find myself flipping my garment over often to make sure I’m staying in pattern. That gets old. I wouldn’t do it that way the next time around. I’d make sure that I was on the RS so I could k1 and p3 and see what I’d done the row before, etc. Anyway that is boring…so here are a few more pictures (with plenty more to come) and the pattern of the week (or two weeks).

I heart my yarn. Cascade Lana Bambu Yarn. Now I need to order more because I didn’t get enough…bummer! And of course the dye lot in the yarn shop isn’t the same anymore. Argh.

That’s it for the weekend hoodie (at least for this week).

The pattern of the week can be found here. It is a cool site with free vintage patterns, and I just happened to choose this stole because I love the pocket.

Happy Spring Knitting!

Easter Pattern of the Week

You still have plenty of time to get “crackin'” on some Easter knits. You can always look back and use our sweet little hen pattern, or you could knit some soft eggs using this pattern. I’m plugging away on my sweater and feel really focused on that at the moment but I hope to get some Easter Knits in before I need to stuff baskets.

Ooh or maybe I’ll knit some of these sweet teeny tiny bunnies.

Happy Spring Knits!

Yarn Graffiti – Giveaway

I came across some info, maybe in Craft Magazine, a while back about Urban Knitting – basically knitting and “tagging” urban fixtures eg. light posts, signposts, door handles, chain links, fire hydrants etc. The reason I’m motivated to post about this is as I was driving down Brooks Street in Missoula, MT yesterday I spied a couple of adorned light posts. I wasn’t able to shoot a photo, as I was driving down the street, but I plan to go back and snap a couple of shots of what I saw. This wiki page has an awesome explanation and info on a group called knitta that started doing this in Houston, TX (wiki page is where my photo came from). It looks to me, from the tiny bit of research I did, that this started way back in 2005 – back in the day – heh. The motivation was unfinished projects, I’m pretty sure all of you knitters have a handful of those. Anyway I plan to yarn bomb something in my town, yo. And I think you should too. If you do happen to do so and email me a photo and leave a comment I will choose one lucky winner to receive a hank/skein of yarn. I’m giving away a skein of one of my favorites, a light green (color number A031) Sheep Number Two. The catch…I need at least 10 photos to conduct my giveaway so start knitting or crocheting whatever you fancy. Contest ends March 31st and the giveaway will take place on April Fool’s Day – as long as I have 10 photos…and I’ll share the photos (along with links to your blogs) in a post on/near the 1st.

Ooh, and this blog post has some amazing photos of a tree, or several.

Get your creative juices flowing and cozy up some urban fixtures where you live. I can’t wait to see what you all have to share.

Hoodie Pattern

This isn’t my pattern, but I couldn’t resist this choice for the ‘pattern of the week’ after talking about how much this Mama loves a good hoodie. I love hoodie’s so much I’m knitting one right now…but this would be an awesome simple (shorter) option if you didn’t want to knit the entire sweater to go along with the hood. I love the patterns on Purl’s blog and Whit must be a genius! This Hoodie Pattern is officially on my list. Plus I’m pretty into making pom poms and there is a wicked cute one on this little number.

New Sweater – Knit in the Round

I’m starting another sweater, I tore out the sweater for my sweet husband – that will be a project for later…

I started my sweater a few days ago and pulled the entire thing out last night. I decided on a hoodie of sorts. I didn’t want to deal with a zipper though, so I’m knitting a pullover hoodie. The pattern I picked I found on Ravelry. The sweater is called the Weekend Hoodie, unfortunately not a free pattern, but one that looked pretty much spot on. I love having a hood on my sweaters, it is a definite bonus on windy/chilly spring days. I decided to start with a sweater for myself, maybe that is selfish, but I haven’t made a single thing for myself yet so I suppose it is high time!

I ran into problems right from the get-go, you’d think after all of the knitting in the round I do, I would have it figured out, but I definitely didn’t! The second row was the reason for pulling my entire sweater apart. When I say entire sweater – I was on row 12 ish…so not really that far, but when you cast on 220 stitches it feels like a LOT. I started over after figuring this out….

Flat Knitting:

garter: knit every row
stockinette: knit 1 row, purl 1 row
reverse stockinette: purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Round Knitting:

garter: knit 1 round, purl 1 round – this is where I went wrong. I was just knitting, knitting, knitting…not making a very appealing bottom to my sweater.
stockinette: knit knit knit every row
reverse stockinette: purl purl purl

I mean, it makes perfect sense when you think really hard about it, problem is I wasn’t thinking very hard about it.

Before I sign off I should tell you about my delicious yarn choice. I keep going back and forth between whether or not I like it enough to wear that sweater as much as I ought to once it is complete. I think today I’m pretty into it. It is a Cascade Yarn – Lana Bambu. It is 79% Wool and 21% Viscose from Bamboo.

I’m taking a sweater class to complete this project. I cast on 220 stitches on my brand spankin’ new Addi needles (size 6) and I’ve moved onto the Addi lace needles (sharper points) in size 7 and I’m going for it. The pattern is knit rows 1-3, p3, k1 on row 4 and start over knitting again. I think the pattern will be pretty fun when it gets taller, I’ll keep you posted.

Oh and I’m going to make a video of how to switch to a new ball of yarn as soon as I need to do so. If you missed the ball winder and swift video and you feel like throwing up, you should check it out.

Happy Knitting!

Ladybug/Ladybird Pattern

My project to show off for the week is the birthday garland. If you want to see how we made it you can check our crafty blog. It was a kid-friendly project and we had a lot of fun spending our day, stuck inside, doing something creative to pass the time.

Now onto the pattern: This is ADORABLE! I’m kind of on a toy kick right now so I think I’ll knit up one of these sweet little ladybugs to stuff in a spring Easter Basket.

Happy Knitting!

Ball Winder and Swift Video

Today we decided to embark upon our very first video adventure on Mama Loves Knitting. I had a request way back in the day, when I showed off my new swift and ball winder, upon its much anticipated arrival in the mail, to make a video of how to use them. I make cakes quite frequently and am happy to be able to do it without having to make a trip to the yarn shop with two little boys. I think you’ll see why it is much easier for my “assistants” to “assist” at home as opposed to in a cramped yarn shop when you watch our video.

Making Yarn Cake

I hope it doesn’t make you vomit.

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Sick Day Amigurumi Carrot

What is Amigurumi? If you ask me it is a pretty pleasing way to fill an Easter basket or give your kiddos something to play with that is safe. I mean of course you could always shop at a store like this one to accomplish the same thing, but making something for someone you love is so gratifying. You might remember the chickens that filled the baskets last Easter or the Sock Monkey that I just finished up for my little Valentine’s. Those are both examples of Amigurumi. Knit toys.

I happen to be spending the day on the couch, just as I have been for a week, one kid gets sick, then my husband, then the other kid and leaving their sides isn’t really an option.

Instead of making yet another ribbed hat…oh wait I did start one last night…

It just seemed like the easiest thing to knit with a kid on my lap. This yarn is Raven Ridge handpainted worsted weight yarn made by the woman that taught me to knit. And, yet another ribbed hat…boring…so onto today’s project.

To pass the time I’m attempting to knit a carrot from this book.

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It was a gift and I haven’t attempted to make a thing from it yet and of course I’m on the first row of the carrot and ‘wrapping and turning’ (w&t) is in the pattern. There is a pretty great description of how to wrap and turn right in the book, but I’m not sure if I wrap and turn this whole lot of stitches that is left or just wrap and turn one of them? I just need a little bit more explanation. So I turn to You Tube. You pretty much never need to take another knitting class in your life these days. Funny thing is I’m signed up for one that starts on Tuesday to make that god forsaken sweater I started a coon’s age ago. I’m most likely going to be tearing apart everything I’ve accomplished so far, but it actually makes way more sense to me to knit on circular needles so I’m hoping that is what I will be instructed to do.

Back to that carrot. This w&t video seemed to be the most useful one I found. I’m hoping by the end of this sick day I’ll have a carrot to show off. I figured out that I just do one wrap and turn, not the stretch of remaining stitches. At least based on how my carrot is coming together that seems to be the right solution.

I chose this leftover Shepard’s Wool Yarn that I have, since I have a plethora of colors. Orange and Green (looks like a carrot to me).

The carrot in progress didn’t look anything like a carrot – and really when it was complete (sans the fronds) it looks more like Gwing (which is the name courtesy of my good friends Syd/Chris) that they named some mutant carrots a while back. We had carrots that looked like THIS and worse in our harvest 2010.

Mutants

So I thought it fitting that the carrot I knit up looked really similar. The encouraging family surrounding me the night I grafted it together reassured me it looked like a *real* carrot. Indeed.

Oh before I show you the finished product – well nearly finished product I thought this was pretty brilliant. I went to bed one evening and since I have plenty of things to remember I took a photo of the row # (#5) I left off on. Gwing won’t be missing any rows, she’s just got some tiny holes where we (me and Gwing) did the w&t. Still mastering that whole thing. That is Sloane’s Blanket (still in progress) and Gwing sitting atop before I called it a night.

And TA DA! Here she is…Gwing sans her greens (I think those will really make her beauty shine).

Gus thinks Gwing is good enough to eat – and he feels better – that’s all that is important to this Mama.

Happy Knitting!

Crochet a Heart – Knit one too!

I realize the title of my blog is Mama Loves Knitting…but she also can dig on some crocheting every now and again. For the pattern of the week I’ll share a little love: both a knit heart and a sweet little crochet heart pattern. I’ve heard rumor there are videos on You Tube (approx. 4 minutes long) for you to learn how to do this in no time flat! I found this one that I’m trying the second I get home.

I’m pretty sure Sloaney Baloney’s blanket will have some crochet hearts upon it…due to the knitting mishaps that occurred during Lexie’s labor – I had ‘work fall off needles’ more than a handful of times so we have a couple of holes. Whoops. Nothing that can’t be patched/covered right up though. Oh and that blanket is purt darn near complete.

Happy Valentine’s Day! My little Simon loved his cozy sock monkey and homemade gifties at dawn. I’m one lucky loved Mama.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Knit a Tit Bit

If you happen to find yourself with some yarn to spare, and you are looking for a way to craft for someone in need….of course you can always knit up a hat to donate to your local homeless shelter. You can knit caps for your local hospital, it certainly isn’t hard to find someone in need of warmth in the midst of an arctic winter.

Maybe you are like me and find it really hard to make enough hats for the people in your life as it is, but you love making things for people in need, and donating your time and energy (whatever you might have to spare). It feels good to make other people happy, make them feel good or make their lives just a little bit easier.

Here is an idea my lovely friend shared on her blog that I’d like to share with all of you. Why not knit a breast prosthesis for a breast cancer survivor in need? It is sadly/nearly impossible these days to live in a community/family and not know someone that has breast cancer, has a family member with breast cancer, has lost someone to breast cancer or is a breast cancer survivor. In my life alone I could share many stories. My Grandma is a breast cancer survivor, my aunt was just diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer and a sweet friend just lost her Mom to breast cancer a little over a year ago, and the list goes on.

From what I’ve read it isn’t easy to track down a good post mastectomy bra, and those breast prosthesis are heavy, floppy and horrid. I mean what do I know, maybe they are amazing for some women?, but wouldn’t it be nice to have some soft cotton yarn to fill your bra instead? Some bamboo, or hemp, or chenille, something that feels good and soft against your skin surely would be much more appealing. So I am going to knit some tit bits – at least one. And, I would love to donate more than one or two knit tit bits with the help of you!

You can find the pattern on Knitty‘s blog if you’d like join the cause. The project looks simple enough and February is cold, foggy, and dreary so motivation to knit should be rockin’ yer wool socks off.

I’m going to be collecting knit breasts to donate at the beginning of March. If you are interested in sharing your yarn, your time, & your skills please leave a comment and/or contact me. If you live in Missoula you can just drop your finished products off at Walking Stick Toys – 829 S Higgins. Let’s try and get these boobs made by March 1st friends.