Another Baby, Another Blanket

When Michelle, who is like a daughter to me, announced that she was having a baby in September, 2011 the search began again for the perfect baby blanket. When she asked me for a blanket, I was more than happy to do it. 

 I found this blanket on ravelry.com and thought it would be an easy project that I could just "whip up."  The pattern had 35 bares that make a nice patchwork design. 

However, when I printed up the pattern, I discovered that it was to be knitted all in one piece -- YIKES!!!!  Apparently the designer had the same love of sewing together squares as I did. She didn't, however have the same feeling for intarsia design. I pondered which was the worst of two dislikes, then decided to plunge in and just follow the pattern. 

 It called for Bernat Softee Chunky Yarn, letting the "mom to be" choose the colors.  There was some difficulty in keeping the yarn untangled. I then learned the "Continental for one color, English for the other" method and it got easier. I would definitely love to do this project again, but use natural fibers. The yarn, while nice did split and was a little "fluffy." The blanket for Jaidey, was a big hit at the baby shower. Can't wait to see a picture of him and his blanket.

Alexandria's Blanket

If you saw my earlier post, I had an inspiration from four sharpie markers; orange, green, blue and rosy pink. These were the closest colors I could come up with. When I found out that my niece, Morgan was having baby Alexandria, this inspiration turned into this project. 

This is my second Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket. I like to make the blankets extra large, so that it can be used well into to preschool. I loved the rich colors from Paton's Classic 100% Wool. I also loved using natural fibers. The yarn was so wonderful to work with and knitted up beautifully. The blanket was a big hit with Mom Morgan and MeMe Robin.

Cozy Klean Kanteen

I love my Klean Kanteen, but it can get slippery from the moisture formed when it's filled with cold drinks. I got the idea from someone in a yarn shop that had a cozy for her Klean Kanteen. I knitted up some nice merino and decided to make myself my own cozy. The design was my attempt at a Fibonacci Sequence. Not only does it keep my beverage colder longer. It keep the Kanteen from slipping out of my hand.

Debbie Does Dyeing..........

Once upon a time, a young woman wanted to learn to spin. She bought lots of nice fiber, one of which was not dyed. It was her hope one day that she would learn to dye and create something beautiful.

Here is the story:

 

First I placed the beloved merino/mohair fiber into a vinegar and water soak for 30 minutes. The directions called for one cup of vinegar to one quart of water.

While the soak was processing, I then took these extremely expensive, hard to get ingredients, along with the same sophisticated equipment and mixed up these lovely dyes (aka grape, lime, and orange kool-aid). (one packet of kool-aid mixed with 2/3 cup of vinegar)

Once the soak was done, I drained as much water out of the pot until the water just covered the fiber and placed it on the stove until just under a boil, using a meat thermometer to get the water to about 135-140 degrees farenheit.

Using a serving spoon I carefully added the dye from the darkest to lightest in the pot; remember, a little goes a long way (about half the prepared dye mixture). Once the dye was added,I then put the heat down to medium, covered then simmered for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes was up, I used this sophisticated tool to drain some water out of the mixture. As you can see, the water is clear which means the fiber has completely soaked up the dye.

And here is the progress so far. It is now in the cooling stage. In about 2-3 hours, it will be rinsed out and laid flat to dry.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my friend, Mary, for giving me the inspiration to dye

and for youtube.com for providing me with the videos for instruction.

California Here It Comes

My cousin's daughter, Railey (or should I say my second cousin) has always wanted to be a mommy. I was thrilled to hear that she was pregnant with her first child. 

I had been admiring this baby blanket on knitpicks.com and had been waiting for an excuse to make it. I made the blanket with knitpicks "comfy" pima cotton. It is a really soft yarn, and turned out nice and thick. I used a mattress stitch to sew it together. I even have yarn left over in order to make a few handtowels (hopefully). The pima cotton makes this a soft, machine-washable blanket. Since little Peyton lives in California (her daddy is a marine), the lightweight cotton is perfect for her.

I also love the quilted design of the piece. It made for easy knitting and was able to finish the blocks quickly. There was, however, one snag in the pattern. The "peony arrows" were not correct in the pattern. There was nothing in any notes about pattern errors, but when I made the arrow a complete 10 ridge rows, the block turned out way to big. I had to stop and play with it for awhile until I got it right. I ended up doing seven garter ridges so that the block wouldn't be too big and the rest of the pattern of the block didn't pull. With regard to the borders of each block, they want two garter ridges, but I did three. This way I was able to pick up stitches for the next round of color without too much pulling.

Now it is to be packaged up and sent off to Oceanside, California. Hopefully Railey will send a picture of Peyton and her new blanket for this blog entry.

Moderne Blanket for Moderne Baby

When I found out that my niece, Morgan was expecting her first baby, I couldn't wait to start brainstorming on a baby blanket for her. I loved the design and simplicity of the Modern Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting and wanted to do it again. For some reason, the last three blankets I have done have been completely void of the pastel baby colors. I find that you have a much more creatively finished product when your not bound by pink, blue, yellow and green (just yellow and green when you don't know the sex of the baby).

It's funny what gives you inspiration when it comes to colors. I had been sitting at my desk looking at my sharpie markers and suddenly I had it. This is one of my favorite color combinations and Morgan liked it also. Trying to find these colors, however was a chore. I was always finding three colors, but lacking the last one, or the color scheme didn't suit my taste.

Last week, I found this Paton's wool yarn in the perfect color combination. I immediately sent a picture to Morgan and she gave me the thumbs up. I immediately filled my basket with three balls each of the colors. What was even better, the yarn was on sale!!!!! The day couldn't have been any better. Now time to cast on and make another Moderne Baby Blanket for little baby Alexandria Lea, born January 7 at 11:17 p.m.

Christmas Warmth

My neice, Morgan finally lives closer to us and I wanted to make her something nice. Her mother said she really liked the ear warmers and fingerless mittens. 

Off to the Ravelry pattern finder. I made some nice easy to work up fingerless mittens and a Calorimetry in some Plymouth Galway that I had left over from another project. 

I finished just in time. The gift was a big hit, since they now live in the greater Syracuse, New York area. My future sister inlaw, Brenda wants me to make a Calorimetry for her daughter Elizabeth. Can't wait to get started.

Hats Off

My son is always commenting on my knitting to one person or another. This time he volunteered me to make a hat for his best friend, Vicki. The name of the pattern is "Blackberry Surprise," but it turned out just as well in this nice light sage color from Paton's Softee Chunky yarn.

It worked up very nice and quick on US #8 circular and dpn needles. What make this project really unique was the smocking that was done to the end project. It really make the pattern pop. Vicki loved the hat and was all to happy to model for the blog.

Stashdown, The Beginning

My upcoming goal for 2011 is to knit down my stash and to also knit strictly for charity. As a practice run, I knit up this Earflap Hat for the Kyle, who lives down the hall. I was afraid that it would be too big at first, but it turned out just right.

I used Lion Brand "Jiffy" which worked up quite nicely. It's almost too bad that I can't find any more. The hat turned out very nice and warm. As you can see, it was widely received by the recipient and model.

The stripes are a little off and jog some. I guess I'll have to learn how to keep them uniform when knitting in the round. Hey, another goal for 2011.

Crazy for Miters

What do you do when you have a ton of left over yarn and the book "Mason Dixon Knitting." You make the Mitered Square Blanket! 

I absolutely love mitered squares and when I saw this pattern, I immediately wanted to make it. I had plenty of left over yarn from making the "Modern Log Cabin Blanket" and the Modern Log Cabin Baby Blanket." 

Halfway through the project I wanted to have every square be a different color combination and I was able to do it. Not one of the 80 squares are the same. I did, however, have to purchase a few more colors of Vanna's Choice in order to accomplish the task.

I had finished this project months ago, but didn't have the space do to the blocking. After my son left for college, I was provided the room (his room actually) to do the blocking. What you see if not how the blanket will be laid out. That is going to take some more careful and artistic consideration. At least I have most of it done for now. Then comes the "fun" part of sewing all these blocks together. Yeah, right!!!!!

Absorba the Great!!!

Ever since I opened the pages of Mason Dixon Knitting, I wanted to do this project. I just recently moved and wanted some zip to an almost all white bathroom. 

This was made with three strands of Peaches and Cream Double Worsted cotton yarn on Size 15 needles. I used my Denise Circulars and it made it very easy to maneuver. It worked up very quickly and I have already received comments during the working up. 

Because it was a "log cabin design," you don't have a lot of ends to weave in. I will warn you, though, that it can be hard on your fingers during the cast on of the next strip. I considered using a large crochet needle, but didn't want to have to "finagle" the loops from one needle to another. I can definitely see myself doing another, but not for a while. I know that when my friends see this, they will definitely want one.

Fancy, Fancy

Moving into the new place gives a lot of opportunity to knit lots of new stuff. This is the "Moss Grid Towel" from Mason Dixon Knitting. 

I used some DK weight cotton yarn from Takhi Stacy Charles. My goal was to keet the color scheme of sage, blue, and yellow from our shower curtain. I plan on knitting two more in that theme. 

The pattern was easy to follow and eventually memorize and I love knitting it up. It makes a great addition to our new bathroom. The Mason Dixon Knitting series of books also gives a lot of ideas for the new home. There will be more postings to this blog from this series of books. Can't wait to show you.

Mystic Meadow KAL

I finally got around to working on the Mystic Meadow KAL which I signed up for last year. This is my first attempt at lace knitting and knitting from a chart. Needless to say, I had to do alot of frogging. I think I have the hang of it now. This is the progress up to row 100. In order to keep from getting lost, I use a lot of colored pencils, stitch markers, sharpies, notes and the ever so important lifeline.

The photo doesn't show the colors well. The yarn is a beautiful sport weight silk blend yarn in a periwinkle colorway. I imagined wearing it with a nice sundress on Easter Sunday.

This by far has been my most challenging project yet, but it's not going to deter me from doing another lace knitting project.

Summer of Sock Innovation

I have absolutely fallen in love with Cookie A's Sock Innovation book. Because I haven't been able to decide which sock to do first, I have decided to do all the patterns from the beginning. I will blog about the progress of each sock. This is also a great way to "stash bust" my sock yarn.

The first sock I'm starting with is "Glynis." It's a very easy to follow lace pattern. I'm confident that I can do these with no difficulty. I plan on using some nice green, white and black Opal yarn. I think the tweedy look will highlight the lace pattern. I'm also going to be knitting two socks on one needle which raises the "swear factor" up a few points. Will be highlighting progress so stay tuned.

Monkey Socks

I have always wanted to knit up some "Monkey Socks" from knitty.com. I have fallen in love with all of the patterns designed by Cookie A. I also wanted to knit up something with Noro Sock Yarn. This is the best of both worlds. 

I found the colorway was perfect for the recipient of these socks. I loved working with the Noro, but beware of certain disadvantages. First of all, the yarn can be very tangling. Be careful when you are balling it up. 

Secondly, the yarn has thick and thin slubby spots. Some people like this, but I don't, especially when some of the thin spots were in the heel. The thick slubby spots also showed up when I was finishing up the toe. While sewing up using the Kitchener Stitch, the thick, underspun part came undone. I had to take out the entire toe and start all over again. 

All in all, the project was a success. I love the colors, and the color graduation. The yarn was a little coarse when I started knitting up the socks, but I hear that the more you wash these socks, the softer they get. Even with the thick and thin spots, the yarn made a sturdy fabric. I hope that my friend likes her gift.