Busy, busy, busy

I've been working on a number of baby items to use up stash. I took lots of yarn on vacation with me and started one project after another. I've finished a few and am continuing to work on others. It's been very gratifying.

The first completed sweater was my version of Fawn Pea's Super Natural Stripes. Mine is not natural in color or in yarn. It's three shades of Caron Simply Soft. I finished it while we were in the Adirondacks and donated it to the auction for the Adirondack Scholarship Foundation. I'm told the final bid was $25. I hope someone's baby enjoys it.


Next I used more Caron Simply Soft (can you tell I have a lot of it in my stash?) to make my third version of Reynolds Cardigan for Baby. This is a lovely little pattern, knit from the bottom up all in one piece so there is very little seaming. I love the lacy detail around the yoke.


I made another soaker out of left over yarn from the Oriental Lily Dress. I love the color combination. I plan to use it as a sample at the 15th Annual NJ Sheep and Fiber Festival on September 12 and 13. A knitting friend has reserved a booth and invited other group members to display their work. I've put together a portfolio of soaker and skirty photos and will see if there is any demand for custom work.

This is another Fawn Pea pattern called Mossy Jacket. I've made it with Lockhart yarn and accented it with Cascade Ecological Wool. This was another easy knit, from the top down. It's a heavier weight than the other sweaters and would make a nice gift for a baby to wear in the winter.

This one is from the pattern, Kindred Knits Yoked Cardi. I made some modifications including knitting the button band right into the jacket rather than adding it later and turned the finished jacket in side out. I decided the handpainted yarn looked too busy with the ribs on the right side. I also shortened the sleeves for two reasons. I was concerned I would run out of yarn and in the six month size I think the sleeves are too wide the way the pattern is written. I think it would look very cute over a little long sleeve turtleneck, don't you?

I've got three others in process. Two are knit in sock yarn which makes for slower going and the third is Fawn Pea's Organic Guernsey made in very old worsted wool that was gifted to me by a fellow member of FUSP. I'll post photos of them as soon as they are finished.

Package for Perry

Camo Longies Finished
Originally uploaded by rallaronson

Perry has grown and needs longer longies. Another member of my UCNJ Crafts group had some hand dyed yarn she no longer wanted. I was grateful to have it. I combined it with a skein and a half of Waterlily by Classic Elite in the leaf colorway (left over from the February Lady Sweater project) and created a pair of longies for Perry.

They are a bit more purple and bit less blue than the photo depicts. I don't know why the camera has such a hard time making the blues and purples true.

In the package I also included a pair of shorties, also made from stash yarn. I had some hand painted yarn and some Shepherd's Wool, both in blue. I just had enough to make a pair of extra large shorties using the Pimp my Longies pattern by Jenny NZ.



Now I'll need to make a few things for Linny...

Things I learned at summer camp

I've been doing a lot of knitting over the past few weeks and actually have quite a few finished objects. What's been interesting is how I've been able to use a number of the techniques I learned at knitting camp in New Hampshire. I concentrated on courses about finishing because it's something I find quite challenging. And, there is nothing more frustrating that working on a project for weeks and then not have it come together properly.


February Lady Sweater

This was a long slog. I made two attempts at this project with a yarn called Marco Polo but the gauge was not right. While I was at knitting camp, my sister and I made a side trip to Patternworks and I saw this yarn, Waterlily by Classic Elite, on sale. I bought nine skeins thinking it would be enough. Well...I ran out of yarn. A call to Patternworks revealed they had no skeins left in Leaf. I finally tracked some down at WEBS but it wasn't the same dye lot. I was nearly finished with the second sleeve so I knit one row of the old yarn and two rows of the new for a few pattern repeats. I can see that one sleeve is slightly, and I mean slightly, different, but if I don't point it out to anyone... Now it's a matter of waiting for weather cool enough to wear it.

Soakers

While I was out in California visiting the twins, my DIL asked me if I could make some soakers for the babies. She and my son are committed to using cloth diapers as well as recycling and reducing their carbon footprint. Apparently knitted diaper covers made with wool are very absorbant and much better for babies' skin than plastic pants.

I did some research on ravelry and found a really cute pattern by Heather Johnson for a soaker and what she calls a skirty. It was with this project that I had to call on the skills I learned at camp including the crochet cast on, life lines, I-cord, Lily Chin's improved yarn over buttonholes, picking up stitches and the picot bind off. It was a real feeling of accomplishment to take on and finish projects I would have rejected in the past because they called for a complicated knitting skill.

I'm almost finished with a skirty for Linny and will post photos soon.