My Knitting Projects | Mama Loves Knitting

At Long Last….

I did it! I finished my sweater – in one year – but it is finished none-the-less. I will probably wear it every single day for a year now. It is cozy and warm. It isn’t without a flaw here and there, like the entire hood is completely inside out, but with the addition of a pom-pom it looks perfectly adorable, in my opinion, and then no do-overs required.

Before I forget there is a link I’ve been meaning to share. Picking up stitches can be tricky and each time I have to do it I realize I’ve completely forgotten how to do it, this video perfectly lays it out (for me). The photos above are when I was working on picking up stitches for my sleeves. I had to do it again when I was working on my hood and finishing up the collar. I am not going to lie to you, I’m pretty into the finished product.

So I did end up finishing the hood later with a pom-pom and I love it so much more, but I love the elf effect it has on me.

I couldn’t comfortably stand in the yard while Shane took some pictures of me, I’m far to shy for that, so I grabbed my chicken to keep me company. Meet Octopus Pie – named after Gussy’s pronunciation of Optimus Prime as a tyke.

So the hood, I flipped it so you could see the side that is (I think) actually supposed to be the visible part. I honestly like the way it looks though. Others may not be into the “character” (that is what I’ll be calling it from here on out).

The pattern for this sweater I found on Ravelry and it is called the Weekend Hoodie. You can see my progress if you look back at this post and this post. And I don’t honestly think there is much else to say. I’m beaming – and now for a few more photos…and I’m out (wearing my sweater of course).

Happy Knits!

Yarn Bombing in Missoula

This morning our local paper featured a yarn bombing project that I was fortunate enough to partake in yesterday. If you’d like to see the article to hear more about Keep Missoula Warm you can check it here.

This fascination I have with tagging something in town was finally met but not on the secretive level that I’d hoped for…so that is my next goal. I have the perfect piece to share – now I just need an occasion. It will come to me soon enough I’m sure. I took a handful of photos of the handiwork yesterday so I’ll post those as soon as I weed through my pictures. I barely squeezed this post out before I turned into a pumpkin. Nighty Night.

Baby Evelyn Mae’s Hat

I got to be at another birth and it was an awfully special one, especially close to my heart. This little nugget joined our family almost a week ago and I was present for her first breath of Montana air. She was born right in her Mama and Papa’s peaceful bedroom, and she’s my niece Evelyn Mae. I am working on a blanket similar to the one I made for Baby Bill Jeff but with a different color scheme. I knit a bit during the labor, but I wasn’t working on the hat, that was complete and I had gifted it to Sarah that night, at our house, right after her water broke at our kitchen counter. We were having a bit of a surprise party for her because her birthday was only a few days later and we figured the weekend would be the best time. We were about an hour into the party when ~ “blammo” drenched drawers. We surprised her baby out! Or maybe Evelyn thought the party was for her.

We headed to her house, and I went along for the ride, as I’d planned to be her birth doula. Her midwife visited just to check heart rate, blood pressure and dilation. All looked well. Contractions hadn’t started just yet, so I headed back home for an hour, when Bryan texted me things were getting more serious. That didn’t take long.

Sarah labored through the night with mighty gusto. Bryan was by her side the entire time and things went perfectly. Mama might still beg to differ, but I’m sure not for long. Sandhano (her midwife (and mine 4.5 years ago)) came back around 5:30 AM and Sarah was ready to push. 1.5 hours later she pushed her sweet baby out right before the light of the morn on October 22nd.

Not sure how many stitches I cast on but I know that I just looked back at another ribbed hat for a babe I’d made before. I suppose I probably did somewhere near 60, of course some multiple of 4 as that is a requirement to make this pattern work. k2, p2 all the way around using size 6 circular needles. The variegated yarn I used was wool from Skyline Yarns purchased a couple of years ago, her Etsy shop has been empty for a while now, but I save it (hoard it) for special occasions…such as this one. I am promised the yarn shop will be back someday. The yarn pictured is sock yarn (fingering yarn) but just because it is “sock yarn” doesn’t mean it has to be used for socks only. In fact I’ve never completed a pair of socks…but I’m always on the lookout for pretty sock yarn.

This little hat is so tiny that I was asked if it was made for a hamster. Uncool. Hamsters don’t even wear hats.

I promise to share more photos and love just as soon as I complete the blanket. I’m 1/2 way there. Here is a snip of what it looks like (a bit before the 1/2 way mark) and Thanksgiving felt project my sister (Sloane’s Mama) and I are working on.

Welcome to the world sweet Evelyn. We all adore you!

Yarn Scraps

It all came to me one afternoon. I was wondering what on earth to do with my yarn scraps, they aren’t all just scraps – I’ll use them again. I used some bits to tie a quilt just this past week. I use all kinds of bits for projects I’ve got going in other realms of my world.

I love glass, I love canning, I love yarn and if you put it all together in a pretty window sill you get the perfect element of storage/eye candy.

I might be a dork, but it is the little things that make my heart sing.

Plus someday I want to make some scrappy leg warmers, and I will make use of this pretty canned yarn.

Double Pom Pom Hat

Baby William really digs his new blanket.

The hat on the other hand…well that is another story. He looks really peaceful in these photos. This was another project I started this past summer for my baby nephew. I told my sister I could finish it up before I left the Midwest on our summer vacation.

I didn’t end up finishing while we were still there, but it was really shortly after and it gave me something fun to knit when I had some down time while we played at the lake. On the pontoon boat one foggy morn I made a bit of progress.

When I wasn’t too busy adoring these lovebugs.

Tired Bugs

They were a little bit tired this foggy morn.

The hat was similar to most of my other ribbed hats. I used some Amy Butler yarn (didn’t know she made yarn until our trip to Crafty Planet). It was simple to knit with. I think I used size 5 or 6 circular needles. I decided to just wing the color changes between the blue and brown color. The yarn is a mix of organic wool and organic cotton, so perfect for a brand spankin’ new little baby head.

I got the idea to do a double pom pom up top from a hat that my kids had when they were a bit smaller.

Not a knit hat but a fleece number we got as a gift that I loved. I think I liked the idea of a challenge too, needed to vary my predictable hat just a smidge. I guess my sweater gave me some confidence. I used one of my handy stitch holders while I finished one side and then went back and did all of my decreasing for the other point. I am glad I was putting pom poms on there because I did have some little bits that needed covering. I’m generally quite the perfectionist but when you get right down to it, it just needs to keep the baby head warm.

Don’t you love my creepy model?

The Back

There was a bit of a gap in the middle (between the pom poms) so I ended up sewing that center up just a titch as well, with some yarn of course and it came together just fine. After all of the loose ends were tucked in you couldn’t even tell I’d done anything. I think I also realized how I can make it better the next time I attempt a double pom pom on a ribbed hat.

And Baby William, once again, I cannot wait to snuggle you. Hopefully before you are a month old, if all goes as I wish for it to.

Baby En Route

I convinced my sister at 41 weeks (today) to drink some castor oil (in hind sight I don’t think it took much convincing). She is probably checked into the hospital right now. I got a text about an hour ago saying they were on their way. I texted her 2 hours ago and said “Sup?” and she replied with “Not good” about 5 minutes later. I wasn’t sure what that meant but I found out 15 minutes later they were heading to the hospital.

The hugest part of me wishes I wasn’t 1300 miles away right now. I get the amazing experience of being present for many births in Montana but seriously debated trying to doula for my sister in spite of our distance. I tried to be there for Clara’s birth and that didn’t pan out quite as I’d hoped, so I think I learned my lesson. The catch(es) is/are that I have another sister (in-law) in Missoula that is due the 25th of October and I have 2 little boys in school and a husband with a sporadic work schedule. I couldn’t really leave my world for an undetermined amount of time to go to my sister’s world to be at her birth, even though at this hour after a few glasses of wine my heart is telling me that was a bad decision. I realize she is in good hands and she is made up of the same bits I am so she’ll be just fine and probably can feel my love from afar? I hope.

To tie it all in – I’ve spent the last month dreaming about baby William’s arrival and wondering how his story will unfold whilst knitting and knitting and knitting him a precious blanket. Back in the summer Melissa picked out the yarn and held it in her sweet pregnant lap. That lap is not the same size it was then, and that baby is not probably quite as cozy as he was this afternoon. Hopefully his blanket can keep him warm as the fall creeps in.

I used a pattern I found called the Forever Baby Blanket and I found out as I neared completion that another Mama I am doula(ing) for is knitting the exact same blanket for her baby due in February. I used Spud and Chloe sweater yarn in place of the yarn the pattern recommended. This particular yarn is a wool/cotton blend and delicious to work with. I used size 8 needles a bit different than the pattern but good for my yarn selection and circular needles as the pattern calls for. I got one skein of yarn that was a different brand (without knowing) and had to order more – this time I chose to order from Jimmy Bean’s Wool and I love the outcome of that decision. I loved my experience and would recommend it to anyone that might be wondering where to order yarn from. I got a free pattern when I ordered and got free shipping on my next order.

Back to that blanket…

I love how simple the pattern is:

Row 1: K3, *sl 1 wyif, k3, repeat from * to end of row.

Row 2: K1, *sl 1 wyif, k3, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, sl 1 wyif, k1.

And that is basically it. Over the course of the last month I took this blanket with me to Simon’s second grade orientation, watched/helped Gus learn to ride a two-wheel bike, sat on the front porch swinging chair and watched fall come, watched storms roll in, watched the wind blow, went to prenatals, watched about 8 horror movies (it is horror movie month at our house), hung out with baby Sloane, spent hours talking to family on our regular Friday night family night, knit on the beach in the sunshine, all the while wondering about William (Baby Bill).

William Jeffery is here! He came while I puttered away on the keys. I will probably just post some photos and call it a night.

Just got this photo to ‘send out to the world’.

Happy Birthday Baby Will – born on the sweetest Great Grandma’s birthday on earth. That will make Grandma Eleanor smile!

The kicker is the blanket arrived today on their doorstep. Maybe he really was waiting for his blanket from his Auntie.

Edie’s Birthday Hat

I have another special special person in my life that was the recipient of a knit birthday hat, and don’t you worry I stuck to that ‘oh so familiar ribbed pattern’ that I so do love. I couldn’t ever tell you the exactness of it, I pretty much wing it every time, but I find myself looking back on this here blog to remember how many stitches to cast on. This time for a 4 year old I cast on 60 stitches. The requirement is that the number of stitches be a multiple of 4 for the pattern to work. I’ve finally come to this conclusion after a year 1/2 of knitting pretty much the same hat 25 times.

I decided tiny Beeser needed a pom pom atop the knit goodness. This is the perfect way to use up the last little bit of your skein of yarn. Sometimes these particular hats are hard for me to give away, but it is usually just because of the yarn I use and how cozy it is. I just want to wear it, I probably ought to make one for myself. Edie chose this yarn out of my stash a year ago, and it is right at the very top of my list. I heart it! I could make this hat a billion times and never get tired of making it, especially with a good movie in my face, or this time – an airplane ride to New Orleans from Montana. I finished it up by the time we arrived, with the exception of the finishing work because I didn’t have a needle or a crochet hook to hide my ends.

I used Sheep Shop Yarn (100% wool) which I need to stock up on because I LOVE it. Another thing I was without was a pair of scissors. Anyone have tips for that on the plane? Here is what I did, and do fairly frequently…

I just fray the yarn until I can snap it off. It doesn’t make for very pretty pieces hanging off but it gets the job done. You hide those pieces anyway…so what difference does it make. My husband suggested on our last flight that I use the seatbelt – he’s so smart.

One thing that did surprise me about knitting on a plane is you can bring whatever knitting needles you want to – no problem. I was surprised when I brought my gigantic size 13 metal needles, no probs. Just in case I tend to bring the whole lot of them. Thanks to my sister I have a handy place to keep them all and roll them up for transport.

Here is one more sweet photo of Edie that I took only a couple of weeks ago – she is my littlest son’s bestest friend. Two peas they are.

Her Mama promised me photos of her wearing her new hat so just as soon as I get my mitts on those I will put them up on our facebook page.

Hi Knitting Blog

I’ve been away from you, but definitely not away from my knitting. I’ve got a handful of projects for new babes coming into the world and for sweet babes already in the world. I have my sweater in a good place, just awaiting the assistance of the Knitting Jedi to finish up the hood. She is this woman that is probably in her 60s and she’s been knitting since she was 3 years old. I’m pretty sure she might know every single thing there is to know about knitting. My sweater has sleeves now though…I could conceivably wear it without the hood…but I kind of had my heart set on a hood.

Soon soon – the air is chilling – it is harder and harder to get out of my nice warm bed every morning. Pretty soon I’ll be all snuggled up in a nice warm sweater of my own creation.

I had a fun and very full summer. Each of the places I visit, in addition to checking out the local toy store, I’ve now found I need to find the local yarn shop. I made it back to the midwest for a visit and my sister and I had a couple of days sans our kiddos while Grandma and Grandpa spent some quality time with them. We found a couple of magical yarn shops that I hadn’t ever been to.

The first was Crafty Planet in Minneapolis. We decided since we had time we’d find the yarn I would use to make her baby a blanket and hat. Both will be featured in future posts. The blanket yarns are upon her shrinking lap (courtesy of Spud & Chloe). They had several yarns to choose from so it was pretty fun to look without distractions, they also had some pretty great fabric so we spent a LOT of time at Crafty Planet.

Then we got hungry and there was a tiny little restaurant that happened to be right around the corner. We actually did a GPS search for restaurants (pulled over on the side of the street) and we decided on our destination and we were about 20 feet from the parking lot. Probably didn’t really need the GPS to help us get there, actually, who am I kidding?, we did. This was my delicious lunch at Chimborazo.

Now back to the yarn. The next stop was pretty much my dream come true. The only bad part about this entire place was the temperature and that was simply because it was 100+ degrees outside in the muggy muggy midwest. Borealis was the shop we sought out in St. Paul, MN. This was outside the front door and I think it ought to be their home page photo…just sayin’.

I’m pretty into the idea of tagging things these days. My tags will unfortunately never be this awesome.

Now for the yummy inside of the store. I will mention this place is HUGE, it has 3 separate yarn rooms – an entire room for just sock yarn. If sock yarn is your ‘thing’ you will probably want to put it on your list of places to visit before you run out of yarn. Which poses the question does any knitter/crocheter ever run out of yarn? I recently told Jan that I hope I live long enough to use up all of my fabric and my yarn. She told me I would just buy more, so that was probably impossible.

There is something about cubes full of yarn that makes my heart sing. I’m so happy they didn’t care that I was taking photos.

Don’t you just want to stick your entire arm right in the middle of this rainbow?

Just do it!

4 Months Old

And her auntie FINALLY got her blankie done. Sheesh.

I suppose this post will be more a photo gallery than anything else. This is what Sloane looks like today, she’s not much of a newbie anymore, but at least she’s not 5.

So the time line goes a little something like this…

Sloane came into our big world on January 3rd and this is about where I was in the garter stitch process when her Mama Lexie went into labor. You’ll notice in the final product there are a couple of crocheted hearts in the purple section that has some special meaning. You see, I had the very special privilege of being Lexie and Colin’s birth doula and of course I brought my knitting along. I always do, and good thing I did, it was a long one.

I dropped my stitches a few times during Lexie’s labor. A couple of them got flipped over and unfortunately my yarn selection isn’t terribly forgiving. I used 100% Superwash Wool made by Cascade Yarns. If you want to see the very beginning of this process (only the blue yarn and a sweet pregnant belly) feel free to go back in time.

This was our first Ladies night (with our newest lady) at Sloane’s abode. New Mama Lexie, Auntie Sarah, Sloane, Mia (the big sister) and I. We did some knitting, crocheting, baby snuggling/smelling and celebrated with a bottle of wine.

I think I did something like 140+ stitches across each and every row and it wasn’t a quick knit. It was definitely worth it though for the sweetest little peach.

I drank a lot of martinis and watched a lot of movies during the long winter while working on this project.

I knit while I babysat my sweet little 2 month old niece. She spent a lot of time around her ‘work in progress’.

Some of it awake, much of it asleep.

Getting bigger by the day. Both of them.

Shiny needles, must get them.

Until we just had the finishing touches. The finishing touches were no quick task. I crocheted 4 hearts and stitched them on both sides of the blanket to cover the contraction bumps. The knitting would fall off of my needles every once in a while when I was needed to hold hair back, massage Lexie’s back or legs or cover her with a blanket or cool her with a damp cloth, or sway back and forth in the living room. Or lay on the bed in the bedroom beside her. I couldn’t predict when the timing was good to start another row of purple. I ‘purpled’ through the entire labor. And I lost my work a lot! It showed the most in these two spots, so I decided how fitting to put some hearts there. To make those flaws have a bit more meaning, well, and to hide them.

I think Sloane likes her blanket and it is nice and big and I envision her on it in the backyard on the grass…so spring better start heating up! Mama Lexie took some sweet photos of the wee one and her big puppy sister Mia and her new blankie, and holy smokes, it is all adorable.

Getting Closer and Cup Cozy

I’m pretty into a nice hot cup of Tipu’s Chai on my way to drop my boys off at school in the morning. I decided a few days ago that I can’t seem to live without it anymore. I am a changed woman in the morning after that cup of chai. I can climb a mountain (pretty easily – Seriously), I can chat with anyone I encounter (oftentimes I’m a bit shy/reserved) and I feel so rejuvenated. I’m not sure if this is good or bad? I love to have that hot drink in the morning though, but I don’t like to burn my hands. Here is the solution.

And the ‘Getting Closer’ part of this post is in regards to my sweater. I’m not going to be done by Cinco de Mayo – I just cannot fathom that happening, but I am nearing completion.

I wasn’t sure which one I liked the most…so hopefully you can get a general sense of what is happening here from these quick shots.

It is getting closer!

Vacation is heavy on my mind.