My good friend Kate is expecting a baby boy at the end of April, so naturally I wanted to knit something for him. I started the garter stitch cardigan from Knitting For Baby, but didn't have time to knit the sleeves before her baby shower last week. After debating whether or not to bring the unfinished cardigan to the shower, I decided to do so, and, after seeing her reaction, I'm glad I did. Now I have more time to complete the cardi, and I may even make a hat to go with it. Here it is, unblocked and buttonless:

We took a trip up to the homeland last week so I finally gave my sister her almost 2 month belated birthday gift. And here she is in her skinny Midwest Moonlight scarf with matching cap. I wasn't sure if the cap was going to work until I saw it on her - it is amazing how much better she looks in that color than I do. Happy Belated Birthday Meredith!

My son's school has a fundraiser in April and parents are asked to donate arts and crafts to be sold by silent auction. Last year I donated a felted purse and a pet bed (which had started out as a felted purse). The purse sold for $25 and the pet bed for $10. I was happy that the pet bed sold at all, but I was a little disappointed that the purse only brought in $25 after the hours of work that I had put into it. So, for the auction this year, I wanted to make something unique that would be very quick to knit, and for which I could use yarn that I already had in my stash. I went to the local library for some ideas and came out with One Skein by Leigh Radford, which has a great pattern for felted bowls.

I cheated on the using yarn from my stash part of the deal since AC Moore was having a sale on Patons SWS, and I had been wanting to try it out for a while. Here is what I made from one skein of it.

For my next bowl attempt I used one skein of variegated Patons Classic Merino from stash. I made the larger bowl first, and then started a new one where I had ended the last one. I like how the pattern of the yarn changed for the smaller size.

I have a lot of feltable wool in my stash, so I plan to make a bunch of these for April's auction. I'm tempted to see if I could make a set of three nesting bowls, although I may not have enough yarn if I stick to stash.

Train hat becomes simple stripe hat. My 4-year-old loves trains, so I set out to design a hat for him that would match his winter coat and also have a picture of a locomotive on it. I brought his coat to the Knitter's Cottage, and after looking around unsuccessfully, the shop owner brought out the Dale of Norway Falk color card, and the colors were perfect. I ordered the colors that were not in stock, and went home to design the train for the hat. Using a chart made in Pages, I used x's to draw a locomotive. By the time the yarn arrived, I had the chart ready, I had swatched with the Falk, and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Well, the best laid plans....

I based the structure of the hat on the Luggy Bonnet from Weekend Knitting. Somehow, even though my gauge was smack on for the swatch, the hat grew immensely during the knitting process, and ended up being way too large for my 4-year-old, and large enough for my husband's huge head. Unfortunately he is past the age of someone who would desire a train hat. If it were made of non-superwash wool, I would probably try to felt it and see what happened, but it will most likely be frogged and made into a mitten. I may reuse the train design for a sweater, so not all is lost.

Here it is.
Since that didn't work, and I needed to finish a number of projects for Christmas, the hat ended up being put on hold. Now that Christmas is over, I have a little more time, but the weather is suddenly freezing, so I figured it would be better to make him a simple hat so he has something to keep his head warm. This one was based on the Fish Hat from
Animal Knits, except I made earflaps for the largest size and the body of the hat in the smallest size, so I didn't end up with gargantuan hat again.

Here it is on the silly recipient.

I just got my invitation to join Ravelry. I added my name to the waiting list on December 18, so the wait wasn't too bad. I haven't had much time to look around yet, but I put in a search for Tilted Duster, and 383 versions come up - very cool! I'm going to go look around some more before quiet time is over.

Here is my FIL wearing his new vest.












And this was his beautiful gift to us.












And here is my MIL in her Tailored Scallops.












And my GIL in her Flower Basket Shawl.












I started Bristow for my mother in royal blue Cascade 220 superwash. I thought about adding cables to the back, but decided that simple stockinette would be better for travel.

Here is the Classic Camel Vest for my FIL, all blocked and ready to be wrapped. I'm still not 100% satisfied with how the buttons look, but after 4 tries, enough is enough. I plan to bring along my blocking pins and iron when we visit in case it is a little small for him. He gave me measurements, but they were based on a suede vest, not a knitted piece, so we'll see. The trusty Cascade worked beautifully for the project, and although I would look like walking vomit in this color, I think it will look good on my FIL. The pattern only took about 4 and a half skeins of yarn, so I have one and a half left to use for another project. The gold would make a nice accent color.

Also newly finished is this Flower Basket Shawl for my Grandmother-in-law.
I used 4 and a half skeins of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK and long size 8 Addis. The superwash was sometimes a little slippery on the needles at the beginning of a row, but otherwise the combo worked well. I did 11 repeats of the lower basket chart. I probably could have done at least 13 considering the amount of yarn I have left, but I have limited time, and was anxious to finish everything for the Christmas deadline. Unblocked, the shawl measured 50" x 24", and after a Eucalan bath and blocking, it measures 66" x 36", which will hopefully be a good size for my GIL. If not, I'd be more than happy to keep it for myself!

This is a great pattern, one that would be good for a first lace project. I didn't feel the need to use any lifelines and could even pay attention to a movie (not subtitled) while working on it. I had started this just after getting into lace knitting, but then put it aside for over a year. It was nice to pick this project up again and discover that it felt much quicker and easier than it did when I started it.

Blocking this was much simpler than the Swallowtail Shawl I did a while back because I used the Yarn Harlot method instead of trying to keep the top edge straight with a million pins.

Here is a close-up of the yarn threaded through the top.
It also helped to have a new blocking board, a.k.a. our old bed that we recently replaced and put in the guest room. I had been blocking everything on a towel on my bedroom carpet, and this always prompted my DH to complain that he might get up in the night and impale his foot. I always said I thought it would be unlikely since the T part of the t-pin is the part he would step on, not the point, but he never believed me.

I hope to get pics of all gifts, including the Tailored Scallops, being modeled by their recipients.

Instead of having our typical Tuesday knitting night last night, my group had a holiday hors d'oeuvres party/ornament exchange. Lucky me also received my birthday gifts from Kim. She gave me

this sassy little bag













with this gorgeous knitted bracelet inside.













It even has a Clever Clasp which makes it a cinch to put on and take off. Kim said she wanted to make me something that I had never made before, and since I have never knitted with wire or beads, it was a perfect choice. I am definitely interested in having her show me how it is done.

This was the final gift from the 2007 secret birthday gift exchange. It was a lot of fun to see what everyone decided to make, and it is always fun to knit for people you know will appreciate the work. We chose names for next year's secret holiday gift exchange last night, and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out next year.

Here is the fifth gift from our secret birthday gift swap, and it was made by Sheila and given to Maureen. It is cool that it worked out so that Maureen and Sheila were each other's secret gifters.

This was Sheila's first felting project, and it turned out to be really cute. The pattern is from Felted Knits. She had a bit of an adventure though. Here is her story:

"The pocket saga . . . I thought that the yarn I used for the pocket was the same as the yarn for the rest of the purse. I had used it for a teddy bear sweater and it was fine. However, when I went to felt the bag, the main part of it felted great, but the pocket didn't seem to felt at all. I gave it more time (hence the smaller size of the bag) but nothing. When I took it out of the machine, my cute bag had this big wet mess of yarn hanging off it. I had to cut the pocket off and make a new one. I felted it by hand in my sink and it looked okay. Problem two . . . it was really hard to sew it all the way around after it was felted. I went out and bought a metal thimble, but there was no way. The woman in JoAnn's suggested that I try liquid stitches so I did. As far as I know the pocket is still on the bag!"

The group decided that for 2008 we would do a secret holiday gift swap instead of birthday. That will give all of us an equal amount of time, and almost an entire year to create something special.

Scarf show. Here are pics of the finished gift scarves for 2007. There is another Misty Garden which I posted about a few weeks ago that is also part of the group. Surprisingly, I have not sworn off scarf knitting after completing this run of gift scarves. I do look forward to getting started on something different though, once the remaining gift knits are done. Maybe some socks...

Bad blogger, good knitter. The blog has taken a back seat for a few weeks while I have been getting all of my gift knitting done for the holidays, plus dealing with everyday life and all that jazz. At least I have a bevy of FO's to show now that the hiatus is over. I don't have photos just yet, and the vest and shawl still need to be finished, but here is the list of gifts for Holiday 2007:

Tailored Scallops for MIL
Classic Camel Vest for FIL (still needs to finish blocking and get buttons)
Ruffles scarf
Skinny Here and There Cables
Midwest Moonlight in red
Midwest Moonlight in magenta
2 Cable scarf (my own simple design)
Misty Garden purple/pink/brown variegated
Misty Garden pink/red/orange/brown
Flower Basket Shawl (still needs 1-3 repeats of lower baskets, plus edging and blocking)

I wasn't sure how much I would use Scarf Style when I got it. It has now proven its value in my knitting library. Many of the projects are the type that look difficult to the recipient, but can be easily executed by the average knitter - a great thing when you need an impressive gift fast.

I also continue to be amazed by the power of wet blocking a lacy wool scarf from 40" to 69", (even longer if using superwash) a practice which enabled me to make some of the scarves with only one skein of Patons Classic Merino, which I bought on sale at Michaels for $3.50!

I am hoping to sit down tomorrow and crank out at least one repeat of the FBS. There are already 235 sts (9 repeats) on the needle, and I just know that it is going to be tempting to end it at 10 repeats unless I want to be knitting during every free moment I get this week. And those moments are not coming as often, especially now that my 4-year-old is no longer napping.

Here is the finished Tailored Scallops. The color in the picture looks like hot pink, but the true color is more purplish-pink, like magenta. I'll need to block the seams again before I gift it to my MIL for Christmas, but since my trusty iron just died, I figured I would go ahead and post a photo. The knitting part of this probably took a week and half or so, but I left it for a while before blocking and sewing it, so all together it was 2 months from starting time to finishing time. The pattern was enjoyable and easy to memorize, and went very quickly on size 9 and 10 needles. I still have about 2 and a half skeins of Cascade 220 leftover from the 8 I had purchased to make this sweater. It is great to be done with a big Christmas gift so early, but I am anxious to see how it fits her.
Next on the list to be worked is my FIL's Classic Camel Vest. I finished the back a while ago, but when I started a front the other day, I realized that I must have decided to use a bigger needle for the ribbing than the pattern calls for, because the ribbing on the front looked much smaller than what I had done on the back. So I need to figure out what I did. It is amazing how much more crucial it is than ever before that I keep notes for myself. Is it having children or just getting older?

Here is Tiana wearing the Midwest Moonlight I made her for the secret birthday gift exchange. It is fun to knit things for people, particularly when (a) they appreciate the work, and (b) the work actually looks good on them. I wondered if the 7 foot length might be a little long, even for someone tall like Tiana, but seeing it on her, I am happy with the way it turned out.

And here is another beautiful secret birthday gift, knitted by Tiana and given to Erica, who is happily modeling it. I need to find out where she got the pattern. There are still two more gifts to be given before the end of the year. I am excited to see what they are, especially because I am one of the recipients!

After weeks of ignoring them, I finally took out the finished pieces of Tailored Scallops today with the intent of pinning them out and steam blocking them. To my horror, I discovered 2 mysterious unattached loops in the middle of the left front. I have no idea how this happened.

I wove the loops in as well as possible, and then took a strand of the yarn and tacked them down so they won't pop out again. The two fronts, the back and the sleeves are now drying on my bedroom rug. I can still see where the loop fixes were made on the left front, but hopefully the holes that are supposed to be there will disguise them to the unknowing eye.

In more relaxed news, I had some leftover yarn from the first Midwest Moonlight, so I decided to make a skinnier version, casting on only 17 sts instead of 33. It looks more like an accessory now, as opposed to a useable warm scarf like the wider version. The super-stretch of the Cascade superwash when wet made it easy to create an 80" scarf with 52" of knitting on the needles. I haven't tried this yarn for a sweater yet, and will definitely swatch and block before I make anything that needs to stay a certain size. I still have about 2 skeins left in this color, which may become a February Baby Sweater for my son's teacher, who is expecting a baby girl in January.

The holiday gift knitting/destashing is in full swing. Here is the first of the smaller projects. It is Misty Garden from Scarf Style. Made with one skein of variegated Patons Merino, it is not much like the fuzzy version in the book. But the pattern is a snap, especially since I just finished working on the feather and fan sea of Tailored Scallops. I'm not sure who the recipient will be yet, but I have learned that during this time of year it is not a bad thing to have random FO's on hand and ready to be gifted at any moment.

Here is my finished Midwest Moonlight, the third item created for the secret birthday gift exchange that my knitting group started back in January. I hope to get a photo of the recipient wearing it. The gifts should be coming more frequently now since the last 3 recipients have birthdays in October, November and December.

I used about a skein and a half of Cascade 220 superwash, and cast on 33 stitches instead of 49, since the Cascade is thicker than the Green Mountain Spinnery Cotton Comfort called for in the pattern, and I didn't want the scarf to be too wide. The scarf was about 59" before blocking, and after a nice Eucalan bath and a stretch to open up the lace, it measured around 84". I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and am happy with the way it turned out. I'll definitely be making more of these!

Thomas the Tank Engine is visiting Strasburg PA this week, and since our 4-year-old is train obsessed, we decided to make the trek up there to check it out. My DH and I wanted to make the trip fun for the boys, but also as relaxing as possible for us. That means a peaceful atmosphere (i.e. not loads of other families with children, and a separate place for us to hang out after the boys go to sleep so we don't have to go to bed at 8 pm or sit in the dark and whisper to each other). After looking online and rejecting many outrageously priced suites, we ended up staying in the guest house at Penn's Valley Farm, which was reasonably priced, and suited our needs quite well.

The B&B is surrounded by farmland, and has a lovely porch with rocking chairs that looks out over cornfields. There is also a playset, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. The guest house also had some toys and books to entertain the boys, which was great for us, since we had neglected to bring these very important items. The guest house has two floors, one with a sleeper sofa, a kitchen and eating area, and a television with a vhs/dvd player, and some videos and movies, mostly suited to children. There were homemade blueberry and chocolate chip muffins waiting in the kitchen when we arrived, and an array of cereals in the cupboard.

A winding staircase takes you up to the sleeping area which has farm animals stenciled on the walls. There is a twin bed, 2 double beds and a small crib, and a bathroom with a shower. There is a gate at the top of the stairs - a very good thing for small children, since the stairs are quite steep. Gladys, the baker of the muffins, also offers an optional full breakfast for an addition $4 per person. We decided to partake on our last morning, and are glad we did. She made sticky buns, scrambled eggs and bacon, and some other delicious looking baked goods that we were too stuffed to sample. She and her husband Melvin, the owners of the farm, joined us for the breakfast, and they were good company. The cottage cost us $80 per night ($70 base + $5 each for the boys), plus $16 for the full breakfast. We though it was a great deal.

And I got some knitting time in on the porch.

Nice view to knit by!

Tailored Scallops' sleeves are finished. Now all I have to do is knit the back, block it all and sew it together. If I were making this for someone who didn't have difficulty with her hands, I would probably gift a brooch of some sort to go with the sweater. I have thought about buying a Clever Clasp and seeing if I could somehow attach some beads and make a nifty, easy to close fastener for the sweater. Maybe I'll be compelled if the finished product is crying out for closure. Otherwise, it would probably be best to make the sweater as easy as possible for my MIL to put on herself.

Along the same lines, there seem to be so few products on the market that cater to elderly and handicapped people. iPods are a great size for those who are able to press the tiny buttons and see the small screen, but it would be great if there were some sort of a larger version so that those with failing eyesight and clumsy fingers could also carry some entertainment along for the ride.

I finished the left front of Tailored Scallops last night, and wound two hanks of Cascade into balls in preparation for the next part. I originally wanted to make this sweater as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law, but if all keeps chugging along as quickly as it has been, I may give it to her as a birthday gift at the end of the month. My father-in-law is in the hospital with Guillain-Barré syndrome, and therefore my mother-in-law needs to live in an assisted living facility for a few weeks. She had a rough time last time she needed to stay in a respite care facility, so she may have even more appreciation now for a colorful, hand knit, lacy cardigan made just for her.

Here is the right front of Tailored Scallops. It has been very enjoyable knitting so far, and miraculously, the Cascade seems to be working to gauge. To try and keep it interesting, I am planning to do the left front next, then the sleeves, and finish with the back. The one front did not even take an entire skein of Cascade, so I'll be interested to see how much of the 8 skeins I have left over at the end of the project.