One fish, two fish, pink fish, blue fish…

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Recently my daughter and I went to a baby shower for one of her close friends, Alicia. Alicia is expecting twins sometime at the end of the year.

A girl, pink fish.

And a boy, blue fish.

The theme was Dr. Seuss.

We had Green (deviled) Eggs, Ham (sandwiches), red (Swedish) fish, along with pasta salad, fresh fruit and cake.

The favors were ice cream scoops and HErSHEy bars.

My daughter found some cute Dr. Seuss bags at a big box store (sorry, no pictures of those) so we filled them with some handmade and store-bought goodies: Burp cloths, Converse booties, box bags in Seuss fabric, books, toys, baby wipes, outfits, onesies, teething rings, pacifiers and clips, and lots more.

My daughter made “girl” burp cloths and I made “boy” burp cloths using my pattern.

I also sewed box bags using Dr. Seuss fabric.

The groom, ushers, and the rest of the men in Alicia’s wedding wore Converse shoes so I knit Converse booties, one in black and one in pink. I adapted three different patterns to suit my patience level and ended up doing a duplicate stitch for the toe part. I did not do laces as IMHO parents of newborns (let alone twins) don’t have time to mess with laces. I found some star button and sewed them on a white disk of iron-on batting. As usual, I ran out of time and was knitting in the car on the way to the shower. But I got them finished in time.

You can see a small part of the bright blue Cat in the Hat box bag behind the booties. And the blue and pink burp cloths jelly rolled around each other.

A year (almost) in the making

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

**I’ve had this post written for over a week but waited until this was in the recipient’s hands before I could show it here.**

A year ago I took my first knitting class and started my first felted project: the Garter Stitch Bag.

I finished the bag in time to take on a business trip to Vegas at the end of October 2011. On the plane I started the same bag for my sister.

Her bag was going to be larger than mine but not as large as the original. For my sister’s bag I cast on 21 stitches and made the squares 42 rows. Click here for my Ravelry notes for those interested in my bag.

I worked on her bag when ever I felt like it. I had no deadline so I could work at my leisure.

It got bigger and bigger and once summer and the hot temperatures arrived, I couldn’t work on it too much. A wool blanket + 90 degree temperatures = an unhappy and unproductive knitter.

Once the thing was assembled, there was still the i-cord border. I had forgotten how to do an attached i-cord border but managed to find some great instructions on the purl bee blog site.

The before felting measurements were 22 inches across and 36 inches from front tip to back tip. Each square was 5 1/2 inches square. The post felting measurements were 18 inches across and 29 inches from front tip to back tip. Each square was 4 inches after felting. (I think.) I could have felted it more and made it smaller but that was the perfect size for my sister.

Felting was a breeze.

Lining it was not.

I have a few suggestions for those who have made this bag and want to line it. Fill the bag with towels, yarn, whatever you have. This will give you a more sturdy surface and 3-D form to work with. I pinned the lining fabric, right side to the right side of the bag then used a fabric marker to outline the shape. I made sure to mark which side was which as my bag was not perfectly symmetrical. Trim the fabric leaving plenty of room for the seams, at least one inch. Sew on any pocket(s) before sewing the sides and darts. Trim any bulk and put it in your bag, lining up the top and sides. Pin the whole thing inside the bag. Fold the top edges under about an inch and hand-stitch in place. I did have to notch the lining around the “valley point” at the center. The last thing was to sew on the leather straps. My sister wants to put in a magnetic snap so I left the tops section of the lining open. She’ll have to finish that part herself.

Cascade 220 in Primavera (green) and Jet (charcoal heather). Size 8 US needles. Leather straps. Satin-type lining, matching thread, 1 1/2 inch piece of elastic, and a 7″ zipper.

21,084 stitches.

The finished product, inside and out.

Zippered pocket.

I added a piece of elastic inside and slipped a carabiner in it to attach keys. I also used iron on interfacing where I thought her magnetic snap would go.

A cabled mittlet

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

My LYS (local yarn shop) had a great sale at the beginning of the month to celebrate Labor Day in the US. I still had some of the gift certificate Mr. Aitch gave me for Christmas last year so I took advantage of the sale.

Enter one finished project:

The pattern is Shirl’s Mittlets done in a tonal worsted weight Araucania Natural Wool in color# 67 Powder Blue. The yarn was marked down by 60% and it was so soft and pretty and an obvious choice for these mittlets.

I gifted them to my friend, Pat, who just happened to be the 1,000th commenter on my blog.

The pattern is written for different weights of yarn from Aran to worsted, DK all the way to fingering weight. The varying needle sizes make it very versatile.

My modifications were to lengthen the thumb by knitting four more rows on the thumb section and four rows in k1, p1 ribbing.

This pattern uses a small amount of yarn. I think I can get at least two more pairs of these from the same hank of yarn.

The cable is a great intro for anyone afraid to try it. Shirl’s instructions are very clear and the pattern is very well written. I think I’ll be making a lot more of these in the future.

I’m finished

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I finished the Sheep Carousel by Kate Davies earlier in the week but just got around to uploading my photos tonight.

Love the well written pattern. I want to include Kate’s vikkel braid in my next project. The only thing I wanted to know was what teapot Kate is using.

Love the Jamieson and Smith yarn. It is sticky enough in colorwork for longer floats between colors.

Love my fully clothed teapot.