Where's Katie?

Felted hat b4
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

Katie is modeling a hat from the knit baby Heads & Toes book. This is the 2-3 year old size. Looks a little big. Luckily I still have to throw it into the wash and felt it. I used Cascade 220 yarn. Like the colors? It's for a little husky fan that we know. Hopefully it will fit her better than it fits Katie.

Not Katie's size

felted hat after
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

Sorry Katie, this hat is meant for a 2 year old. Amazing how much felting changes a project. It's like magic. I start out with this big floppy (and ugly) thing that looks like a bag. Then into the washing machine and viola' out comes a very cool hat.

Still not a sweater

red stocking cap
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

OK, I got really motivated by this knit baby Heads & Toes book. Now that I am being stalked by all of these babies, I thought that knitting "quick" baby projects would be fun (and a nice break from this sweater that takes forever). Of course, "quick" would mean that I am suppose to do more knitting than unknitting. I knitted & unknitted some of these stripes over and over again making this project take up most of my weekend. WARNING: The size on this pattern is waaaaaay off. I made the 0-3 month size which would fit a preschooler nicely. So I had to unknit, yet again, and eliminate the last increase. I would definately reccommend stopping at 80 stitches for an infant. 90 stitches makes a child size & I am just guessing but I bet 100 stitches which the pattern calls 1 year would fit an adult. Let me know if you knit this pattern how yours works out. Now I have it down, so I can make more.

I knitted the 0 to 3 month size out of Tahki Cotton Classic. I have never been a fan of Cotton Classic because it is so danged slippery. I must be evolving into a better knitter, despite my love of making numerous mistakes, because knitting with Cotton Classic, not so bad. Which is lucky because I have plans to make at least 2 more of these stocking caps.

Gotta go, there is another hat in this book calling my name ... wait til you see the cute booties too.

Baby Week

This past week has been a baby week for sure. Friends expecting, twin cousins to meet and yesterday we visited Miss Maegen Michelle, 6 1/2 months old, sportin' her first tooth and very cranky. Not listening at all to Mom's instructions. So all of this motivated me to pick up a book on baby hats and booties at my Thursday night knitting group. I also got some yarn and started a hat last night but I am not telling for whom. I also decided on some munchkin Christmas gifts, but I am not blabbin' that idea either.

I have been very anti-knitted-baby gifts. Mostly because I am such a slow knitter. I refuse to knit something that takes longer to knit than the amount of time a baby would fit into it. (Grandchildren may totally blow that rule out of the water). So what to do? Since I am plodding along on this green sweater, that will probably never end, I am treating myself to a quick project with every row that I finish. With this concept, I should be done with the sweater around Christmas & have 30 baby hats knitted, well maybe that is an exageration.

Just wanted to give everyone fair warning, if you want a knitted Christmas gift out of me this year, your best shot is to have a baby. Maybe I'll knit Aran Sweaters for everyone on my list next year.

It doesn't look like a sweater.

wash cloth
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

Well, it's not. But I needed a break from green mitered squares for a kit quickie. Something brainless that I can finish in an evening. I was inspired by a knitting prodigy named Sarah who knitted her first scarf and wash cloth on our trip to a conference in Yakima.

I found some great Cotton Twist multi pastel yarn and viola' - wash cloth. I know, not as impressive as a sweater, but it works. Now back to the sweater, maybe.

A good read!

Debbie Macomber Novels
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

No more quickie knitting projects for me any time soon. I'm back to working on my green sweater and am committed to make some major progress on it. So I thought I would share some knitting books that I have really enjoyed. Both are quick, entertaining summer reads.

I thought they were very fun because they are both set in Seattle and I get a kick out of reading the descriptions of places that I know. They are set around a ficticious yarn store & remind me a bit of every yarn store that I have been to around Puget Sound. The characters start out in a knitting class and you follow the changes in their lives. Since knitting is a life altering experience, don't I know it.

The author, Debbie Macomber, is a local and uses quotes in her books by some local knitters. I am looking forward to meeting her next Saturday at a book signing that she is doing in Gig Harbor at the Yarn Garden.

Another Felted bag???

green felted bag b4
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

Ok, Ok, I am done with felted bags for a while, I promise. I had this yarn just sitting in my closet waiting for me to get around with it. In my pursuit of being a more efficient continental knitter, I decided that another felted bag would do the trick and perfect my skills. And it was quick & fun. And I am avoiding my mitered square sweater that has been languishing in my closet for more than a month without any activity whatsoever. Oh well. Next week is a conference in Yakima, the Palm Springs of Washington, or so the sign says. I will be taking my sweater to knit on and nothing else, I promise. So hopefully there will be lots of progress by the end of the week. My goal is to get the back completed and if I do I will post a picture to prove it.

Fast & Felted

green felted bag after
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

A quick bag to knit is the "Pris"tine Shoulder Bag. I knitted this in a few hours over 2 evenings. The Burly Spun yarn that I used is very fast to knit with and see great results. I love how this felts up after only one wash in my front loading machine. It's easy but very impressive, at least to people who don't knit.

Vintage Bubble Bag

bubble bag before
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

This looks like a very tacky toilet seat cover to me. Hopefully, after I send it through the wash to felt it, it will look like a purse. This bag took less than a week for me to knit & I knit the whole thing continental style, carrying the yarn in my left hand. I must admit that I felt like a total uncoordinated mess throughout the process. Not a master of continental knitting yet, but I'll keep practicing.

The pattern for this purse is from the book Pursenalities by Eva Wiechmann. For yarn, I used 3 skeins of Cascade 220 and 2 skeins of Smash.

Finished Bag

Finished Bag
Originally uploaded by sfarewell.

Ta Da! Knitted, felted, & now its a purse!!! All that is left is to find 3 buttons to top it off! Oh, did I mention that I made my first knitted button holes? Well I did & they even ended up in the right place.

This was a very fun project and the Pursenalities book has a lot more cool purses left to knit. Of course, this book is now in the care of Jewel. Jewel is an ol' bud who is new to knitting. After 2 scarves, this would be project # 3 for her. She is using the same Cascade 220, but she chose a very different accent yarn. When hers is complete I will post a picture of it next to this one to show the contrast.