Not a Brown Bag...

I finished this project up for a while, but for whatever reason, never got around to sharing it on the blog.

Ever since I have been pregnant, I have been a big snacker.  I've always been a big snacker really, but now that I am pregnant, when I need to eat, I need to eat.  I got tired of carrying around all these snacks, usually things like fruit bars, granola bars, apple sauce, juice boxes, dried fruit and nuts.  I have enough clunking around in my purse without adding all that extra stuff. 

I have been getting yarn as part of the Pancake and Lulu Yarn Club all year (my membership is sadly about to run out) and I wanted a great way to be able to showcase a lot of the colours, and use up a lot of bits I had left from other projects.  This yarn is 100% Merino, and is Organic too.  It is super yummy and Amy has kept me looking forward to my yarn all year long.

I decided to make myself a snack bag, using the popular Brown Bag pattern from Knitty a few years ago.

This ended up being a much bigger project than I'd imagined.  The bag is felted, so you knit it big and then shrink it.  It turned out to be a lot of knitting and a lot of ends to sew in.  It was also a really great stash buster.

I made my bag slighly larger than the pattern, casting on 35 instead of the recommended 25.  The finished bag is sizable, but it's something I'm sure I will continue to use for a long time.  Did you know that wool has great insulating properties?  Always a bonus when storing food!

My project page is here.

Busy Bee...

I haven't been updating the blog much lately, but I have been so busy behind the scenes.

The painting continues, but I have secured my husband as a painting partner for the weekend, so I'm hoping we can get to priming the library as I finish up that darn trim.  I know it will only take me a few hours to finish up the trim in the craft studio, yet I haven't managed to get it done yet. I would like to blame my current size for the slowness.  I have no work clothes that I can wear anymore.  I'm not really sture what I will do now that gardening season is upon us....

I have been doing some knitting lately, and a lot more sewing.  I have a whole slew of baby sweaters that I have yet to share on the blog, so without further ado, here we go:

I finally got around to finishing my Blue Stripes Sweater.  It was sitting around for a long while, just waiting for me to finish one arm.  I went off of this project because I didn't like the way it was knitting up in terms of its proportions.  The arms seem too narrow, as does the neck.  I'm not sure I will be able to get a big baby head in there at all!  Ah well, we'll see I guess.  It does look a lot better now that it has been blocked.

I am in love with my Malabrigo Mossy .  It knit up really quickly and is super cute.  I want to make another one in a cardigan version.  This is from the pattern Mossy by Jolene Lye.  It's free.  You should check it out!

I also adore how this Butterfly Baby Sweater turned out.  It is made from Patons Bamboo Baby.  I got a lot of this at a factory sale last year, and this is the first project I have used it for.  It's super squishy and light.  It really has a cotton feel to it, but it's not cotton, which is great, because cotton really hurts my hands.

The pattern was quick and easy but is only available in newborn size.  I'd love to see bigger sizes!  It's free too.

I love the yarn I used in my Violet Sophisticate but I wish the sweater had turned out a little longer.  I blocked it pretty heavily to get it this long, and it still looks a little short to me.  I used way less than the 255 yards suggested in the pattern.  I sort of hate it when that happens.  I ordered enough yarn based on the pattern, and it was way too much.  I know I can make a hat or something, but I patterns had more accurate yarn amounts.  Maybe I could have used stash yarn for this project?

Finally, is my That's Just Plummy Sweater, using the Snug Pattern (also free).  I added a zip, because I'm crazy like that.  This pattern was really unique to knit.  It kept me guessing, that's for sure.  Again, I wish it were longer.  I think this one still needs a good block too.

That was a bit of sweater overload for me.  So I've been working on some other stuff lately.  I do need to make some larger sizes if baby is going to be outfitted all year long though!

Second Trimester Pregnancy Journal: Week 21

My baby girl knitting yarn has arrived!

As soon as we found out we were having a baby girl, I made a large(ish) order from WEBs to make a whole bunch of girly sweaters and assessories.  I was fully expecting to have to pay duty, since the order was over the $70 they usually let slip by, but lucky me, no duty!

Here are some of my spoils:

I am going to use this Nashua Creative Focus Superwash for a Hello Baby Cardigan.  I actually got a bunch of colours of this yarn, since it was on sale for $5.00 a ball and is superwash (good yardage too).  I haven't used it before, but the colours are nice and it feels soft enough.

This Nature Wool Chunky by Araucania knit up wonderfully into a Baby Sophisticate sweater. I love the colour variation in each skein (be sure to knit from both skeins since they do not have dye lots!)  My project page is here although it still needs to be updated.  I wished that the button hole row was more clearly labelled in the pattern, it didn't end up working out for me at all, and although I added extra length, my sweater ended up quite short.  I am blocking it to be longer right now, so hopefully it'll be okay.  Of course, I didn't really pay attention to gauge, so the problems are probably my fault.  Also, the pattern recommends 255 yards, and I had 260 yards available yet I have a tonne of this left over somehow...  Watch for photos of the finished object soon!

Next up I am going to make Snug with this Cascade Eco +

I am hoping I will have enough left over for a Quinny hat for me although goodness knows I don't need it!

I have a whopping 14 baby sweaters worth of yarn to work through over the next little while.  I have recently finished 4 sweaters though, so I am well on my way.  I will be posting lots of finished objects in the near future.  Some are just waiting for buttons and such.

Swedish Fishy Leg Warmers

I recently finished another pair of baby leg warmers.  This pair was based on the Spilly Jane Swedish Fish pattern.  I used her fish chart and made up a pair of leg warmers!  The whole time I was knitting these I kept have cravings for the real Swedish Fish candies.  We bought a lot of Swedish fish during that time, and I kind of want more just thinking abou them.  Pregnancy makes me highly suggestable!

Here is my project page. 

Here are the finished leg warmers:

I used KnitPicks Palette for the project, and the only colour I don't love is the yellow.  It just doesn't pop quite enough on the background I chose.  Oh well!  I might do a hat in this same pattern eventually.... Once I get through the 14 sweaters I have in my queue.  haha

Lots of Leg Warmers

I have finally finished up the three pairs of leg warmers I have been working on.

I'm only ready to share two pairs with you now though.

I have this friend.  She is expecting twins soon.  A boy and a girl! 

I am slowly putting together a small package with a few fun things to welcome her babies.

These leg warmers use the free Baby Legs pattern and worked up super cute.  I didn't make the boy version quite as flaired as I think the flaired ones are quite feminine.

I used all Berroco Vintage from my stash.  It is still my favourite baby yarn and I fell in love with it all over again on this project.  I love how every colour ends up looking great with the next.

Malabrigo Sweaters

I've gotten hopelessly behind on blogging about my knitting. 

Here is a quick recap of some sweaters I have finished lately (all using Malabrigo Worsted).

Malabrigo Cardigan from Cascade by Raya Budrevich.  This is a free pattern from

Petite Purls, Issue 7 Winter 2010.  I didn't have enough brown, so I used green for the leaf trim.  I've included my mods on my project page, so be sure to check that out if you want to do a two colour version.

 

I haven't added the buttons to the sweater yet, nor have I blocked it.  It still looks pretty good I think though!

 

 

My baby Kimono uses a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn:  Nature Baby Kimono.
This turned out very cute, although a little bigger than I expected.  I've been knitting shortened arms on these sweaters since I'm pretty sure our baby will have very long limbs and I will never be able to knit the sleeves long enough anyways.  I think this sweater will look very cute layered with a long sleeve shirt underneith.
 
This sweater used less than a skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Pigeon.  I used Emerald to crochet chain stitch the trim.
 

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finally, I have one more sweater in progress.  I haven't worked on it for a while, because I'm pretty sure the neck is going to be way to small and the arms have been doing wonky things.  Also, the styling is a little feminine, but the colours are not.  I'm not sure what to do with this little sweater.  I'm sure I will finish it eventually.
 
Blue Stripes from the free pattern Organic Guernsey by Fawn Pea.  I'm sure it's not the pattern that is wonky.  It was definitely, probably, my knitting.  I modified the styling quite a bit and I'm afraid I may have ruined the sweater!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I went a little Malabrigo crazy a few weeks ago.  I know it pills, etc. but it just feels so good when I am knitting it.  I will have to find a good use for all this Malabrigo over the coming months.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Applewood (brown)
Pigeon (grey)
Moss (green - hiding)
Emerald (turquoise)
Indigo (navy)

New knits...

I am starting to get my knitting mojo back.  Thank goodness!  It made me incredibly sad when I just didn't feel like knitting.  That is so unlike me.

I have been addicted to Malabrigo Worsted these days.  It is just so cushy and soft, I can't wait to put it on the baby.  I don't care that it's handwash only, and that it will pill.  I've made mostly newborn size stuff, so I know it won't get worn for long before it is outgrown.

I am getting into knitting shorties and longies to cover our cloth diaper baby. I feel like I will need so many of of these for the diapering period. 

I decided to use up a bunch of little bits of malabrigo for a pair of shorties.  Our baby will be born in the heat of July and will need to keep cool.  I love the way these turned out.  I am very into the folded over waistband and ankles.  I think they make the shorties look very polished.

I love how all my scraps have become something great.  The colours just flowed together.  I know they are a little boyish, but oh well. 

Project page here

Merry Christmas from Ivy!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!

Ravelry Project Page here

Whose a Mama? Monster

I started knitting this monster a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant.  I love that she is a mama, and a baby carrying mama at that.  I can't wait to be a baby carrying mama.  It would be very convenient to have a built in pouch to carry around the baby (like a kangaroo).  I think I'll have to find myself a good carrier instead.

Anyways, the pattern is  Daphne and Delilah the Momma and Baby Monster by Rebecca Danger and I knit it using Spud & Chloe in Rootbeer and Grass.  It was a quick project, but took a long time for me to get around to photographing it.

I had had trouble with the mouths on my previous monsters Ivy and Ludwig so for this set I wanted to look for another option (last time I used fabric glue, it was messy and didn't work that well, especially on Ivy, who has a small mouth).  This time I found some doublesided fabric tape and used it to stick the felt mouth onto the monsters.  You set the tape by throwing the monsters into the dryer for a few minutes.  It seemed to work fine.  The doublestick tape also created a little bit of stability for the felt, which can be hard to work with if you are making a small mouth.  It tends to pull apart.

I'm really happy with how the pair turned out.

For the rest of this week and next, I am going to have a series of posts talking about my experiences with TTC (trying to conceive).  I will probably mix a few knitting posts in there too, but I think the whole TTC experience is a very important part of having a baby and I'd like to share my experience with all of you.  There are a lot of ups and downs, and I consider our experience fairly short (thank goodness).  The whole series is probably PG13, due to the nature of the discussion topic.  I'll be sure to put a bit of a disclaimer with each post.

Despicable Me

I'm posting this post for a few reasons.  First, it is despicable (of) me to not post on the blog for over a week.  Seriously. Unacceptable.  I swear I'll do better.

Second, we watched this movie over the weekend, and like any normal person (ya right...), it took me all of a millisecond before I noticed the knits throughout the movie.  Okay, there aren't that many, but enough.

Here is the main character Gru and his scarf.  He's a villian, or trying to be:

Do you like Gru's scarf?  I sure do!  Interested in knitting one of your own? Well, you can.  Check out Brigette Pini's pattern available for sale on Ravelry.  It's a mere $2.00.  Good deal.

Here is Edith.  This cutie loves knitwear too!

Brigette has also pattern for Edith's sweater.  It's super cute and cartoon-y.  A bit pricier at $5.00, but if your kids loved this movie, it'd probably be worth it.

I think I saw somewhere that Brigett is working on doing up a hat pattern for Edith's hat too.  There is already one available through Hilary Hunt.  It's called the Edith Hat and costs $1.99.

Do you fancy some Minions to call your own?  There is a free pattern for Minions available here.

What exactly is a Minion?  Who knows, but they sure are cute!  In the movie they help Gru with all his villian work.  I might have to make one of these for my husband for Christmas.  He definitely needs some Minions to help him get his work done!

I hope this post brings a smile to your day and makes me a little less despicable.

The movie was adorable, well worth watching, kid, adult and knit friendly.

A tale of four hats...

Earflap hats are hard!  I had two friends ask for some specific hats a while back.  I thought, no problem, that should be easy.  I hadn't seen their daughters in a long time, they had grown a lot and it's hard to make a hat when you can't see a kids head.  I'm used to making hats for little Mary, apparently she has a small head, apparently I do too.

The first hat I made was this penguin hat.  I used the Cozy Pattern by Alison Williams.  It was the first time I had used the pattern and I had no idea it would run small.  This hat fit Mary fine, but didn't fit the intended recipient.  Darn.  Back to the knitting needles.

I'll admit that the next version I made was not as nice.  I rarely ever knit the same pattern twice, I get bored, what can I sawy.  Also, there is a lot of little pieces for this hat, which makes it pretty fiddley (is that a word?).

The second time around I made the hat using Susan B. Anderson's Inca Snowflake pattern.  I obviously did not make the long pointed version, I just kept decreasing after her first set of decreases.  This hat was huge, it fit me, surely it would fit a one year old!  Thank goodness it did.  I did not want to make another hat like this!

In the meantime, I had made a Big flower hat for another friends daughter.  I CO 80 stitches using the Inca Snowflake pattern again.  The hat fit me before I sent it out, but it did not fit the 1 year old.  Gah... I made the next one really big (CO 90).  I also made one side longer than the other by picking up stitches across the front.  Apparently the bigger size is too big, but the normal size fits fine.

Original hat



Bigger Version, the larger side of the hat is on the right














I have no idea what I am going to do with the hats that didn't fit.  I don't have any real need to keep them, I suppose I will save them for gifts or donate them to a charity.

These hats really messed with my knitting mojo.  I really, truly, struggled with finishing the second versions.  As a result, I have decided not to knit anything for anyone any more, at least not for a while.  I have one baby gift I am doing before Christmas, because I want to.  I am not doing any Christmas gift knitting this year.

At least I am reminded that knitting, above all, has taught me patience.  I have become very good at seeing things through, even if I don't want to.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and blog readers!  I hope all your knitting projects fit perfectly!

Malabrigo Cargo Pants

It took a while, but I finally finished my Malabrigo Cargo pants.

I ran out of the Polar Morn and needed to do the waist and pockets in a contrast colour.  I like how they turned out still, the blue brings a nice pop to them.

The pants seem a little large for a size medium, but what do I know about baby sizes? 

I made the pockets functional and used an encased elastic waistband (my favourite).  I love the cuff on these pants too!

I really want to make a Newsboy Hat in the blue to match these pants.  I think that would be so cute!

Here are a few more pics:

Malabrigo is awesome, so squishy and soft.  I've had several people recommend soakers for smaller babies out of Malabrigo.  I think it would feel great against a babies senstive skin.  I'll have to add some to my queue.

Ravelry project page here

Since I'm blogging about Malabrigo, have you heard of MrYarn?  They sell Malabrigo supercheap (7.95 US for Malabrigo Worsted) and have flat shipping to (even to Canada!  yay!).  They also have a lot of colours and all different weights of Malabrigo.  I'm not sure how they do it (sell for so cheap that is), but I can't wait to order from them.

I will say, I haven't ordered from them yet so I can't speak to their customer service, etc.  I have just heard a growing buzz about them lately, and wanted to share!  Let me know if you order from them okay?

Catch Up and Scrappy Vintage Blanket

Sorry for my lack of posts lately.  There has been a lot going on behind the scenes here, you'll just have to trust me on that!

Lately I've felt a bit like I have been spinning my wheels, trying to get things done, without much success.  I had a day where I actually felt like sewing a few weeks ago, and then the bobbin case in my machine jammed and I had to quit.  Alain was away so I had to wait for him to fix it.  That has been done, but I have yet to return to my machine.

I've been working on a few projects that have been getting me down.  Between a project I was loathing (and then loved when I finally got down to it) and re-knitting several hats due to size issues, I have spent a lot of time knitting things I haven't really wanted to be knitting.  I often knit for friends, but I think that is going to stop, very soon.  There is so much I want to do for me these days.  I've decided it's okay to be a little selfish.

I'm looking forward to Monday.  Value Village is having another 50% off sale, so I can get some more sweaters to felt and make into stuff.  I'm planning on hitting two stores this time around!

For now, I'm going to leave you with a project that I haven't even posted on Ravelry yet (although I'm off to do that now!).  This one has been slow going, mostly because I don't have much time to work on it, and it is a big project.

I use a lot of Vintage Wool for the baby stuff I knit.  I love it and often end up with little bits of it.  I spent a long time saving these little bits, and have been working on a scrap blanket for a little while now.  There are so many ends to weave in it's scary, but I like how it is turning out.  It is certainly very colourful!

Ravelry Project Page here

Saturday Sweets

Occasionally I knit photography props for my photographer friend, Elizabeth Fulton.  You should check out her site and especially her blog for lots of cute photos.

Today Elizabeth posted a photo of her niece, Cara, wearing one of my hats.  So cute!  Love it!

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Fulton Photography

This is the same little girl who was featured on Susan B. Anderson's blog a few months ago, wearing the Bunny hat I knit her.  She is growing up so fast!

Single Skein Prop Hat Project page here.

Penguin Hat

This weekend I finished up the Penguin hat I had promised to my friend Julie.  She made a special request after finding this photo on etsy.

I have no idea where the photo came from, it's not my intent to steal it.  It was used as inspiration for my knit hat.

I'm pretty pleased with the final hat, but geeze, it took a while to get there.  I had to play with the circles for the eyes for a while before I was happy with the way they looked.

My Penguin hat is meant for an 18 month old, it's obviously a lot bigger than the inspiration hat!

Ravelry Project Page here.

Pre-Christmas Jitters

Christmas! I know! It's like Eons away right?  Well, why am I feeling jittery and overwhelmed about getting things done then?  I have no idea, I'm just like that.

All of a sudden it feels like I have an overwhelming number of projects to get done.  That is when knitting stops being fun.

I went ahead and made some project pages for each of the things I want / need to do over the next few months.  I've promised a few hats, that I should do soon since I know that I am starting to need a hat when I go out.

Big Flower Hat based on Thorpe but adding this big flower.

Penguin hat using the Cozy pattern by Alison Williams

Christmas hats for Gwen and Mary using Deer with Little Antlers.

Holland America Line Captain using Jean Greenhowe's Sailor pattern.  I really need to get working on this, who knows how long it will take!

 

There isn't much going on on these pages yet, but at least everything is laid out where I can see it.  I have all the yarn and I just need to get knitting!

 

Of course, there are always a few projects that I want to work on to keep too.

 

I want to finish off my Malabrigo Cargo's (free from Knitty).  I am halfway through the second leg right now.

 

I've also been wanting to knit Hey Jude by Amanda Kretchun. I really like what Sofiecat has done with the pattern.  Check out her boy version here.  My project page is here.

 

No photos today, just a lot of links! Enjoy!

Autumnal Fruits, Veggies and Nuts

This weekend my husband's family is coming over for a big Thanksgiving dinner.  It should be a good time with a tangle of puppies, children and good food.

I need to represent my knitting madness, what better way to do so than to make a cornucopia of knit fruit and veggies?

I started my obsession with knit fruit and veggies way back in February. I knit my way through a bunch during Ravelympics.  Remember these?

This week, I knit a few more that had a more Autumnal feel.  All are free patterns available on the web, or on Ravelry:

My Thanksgiving Apple is based on Peachcake knits Mrs. Saucy Apple.

My Thanksgiving Pear is also from Peachcake Knits: Mr. Pear

My Thanksgiving Squash is a pattern by Gerwerken

I started making a knit pumpkin  from the Great Pumpkin pattern by Julie Hunter.  This is a great pattern, I love how realistic the pumpkins look.  However, I ran out of yarn and had to frog and didn't really have a suitable substitute.

A few days later I was looking through some blogs and found this blog entry about making pumpkins from felted sweaters.  yay!  It got the wheels in my head churning (so to speak) and a few minutes later I had my own felted sweater pumpkin.  Since most of my readers are in the US, there is still plenty of pumpkin season left.  I think I will do a quick tutorial for this project in the future, but just don't have time to do it today.

Here is the felted sweater pumpkin as a sneak peek:

and finally, I made a few Thanksgiving Acorns from the Acorn Ornament pattern by Carmen Rigby. 

I recommend all of these patterns.  They all knit up very quickly and used only small amounts of yarn.  I mostly used Berroco Vintage which is washable. They will make great play food for a little one some day!

Squishies

Hello knitters!


I have been working on some Squishies in the past while. I just finished the biggest Squishie this weekend. I used my dip-dyed Cascade 220 Superwash for this project and it worked out perfectly!  I love how the colours knit up, almost in stripes.  I didn't really expect that!

The smallest Squishie is about the size of a ping pong ball.  It knit up really fast.  The medium squishie is smaller than a tennis ball, but not by much.  The largest Squishie fits well in my palm.  It took the longest, but still, not long at all.

I had fun with my new light box today.  I am still learning, please be patient!  I also need to pick up some different coloured backdrops.  White will just not cut it for me.  There are some shadows and the white isn't totally crisp.  I kind of like it that way though.  Somehow it just feels too stark if it is solid white with no shadows.  So far we are just using random lights I've grabbed from around the house.  We want to buy some new lights that we use specifically for the light box, but it hasn't happened yet.  Small, cheap desk lamps are hard to come by for some odd reason.

I still have plenty of the hand-dyed left over, even though I initially dyed mini skeins. I'll have to come up with something to use those for.

I stuffed one Squishy with cluster stuff and the rest with regular polyfill.  I ended up liking the polyfill stuffed Squishies better, they have a better heft to them.

The pattern for Squishies is by Susan B. Anderson. 

It is found in Itty Bitty Toys. 

Ravelry link here.

My project page here.

A few FOs

I have a few FOs to share.  All of these can be seen in my projects on Ravelry, but I realized that I haven't actually shared them here on the blog.

Here we go:

Pilot Hat

I liked this pattern a lot, although I would recommend placing markers to avoid counting.  The markers were especially helpful during the decreases.  The pattern is free.

I used Berroco Jasper (striping) and Malabrigo Worsted (navy).  Both were great.  I love the way the Jasper striped for this project.  I knit it on 3.75 mm needles, which is a little small for the aran yarn.  It will be very warm though.

I wish I had a baby to model the hat.  The coconut just isn't cutting it!

Blue Sky Bunny

I finished this guy last week and just never got around to sharing.  I love the bunny.  It's not his fault he is knit from cotton that makes my hands feel like they are bleeding.  It's nice cotton so I know it's not the yarn, sadly, it is me.  I can't do cotton.  I absolutely cannot do cotton toys!

I got bunny dirty during his photoshoot.  I need to be less ambitious with my photos I think!

Mom's French Press Slippers

These turned out okay.  They didn't felt as well as I'd hoped.  I might need to make other felting arrangements for future pairs of these.  I put them in my front loading washer for almost 6 hours!  Yikes!

They are a belated Mother's Day gift and will head off to her this weekend.

Turquoise Trail Hat

I purchased this pattern last week after a bit humming and haw-ing.  I could definitely knit this hat without the pattern.  I have the book 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield for the flower and butterfly.  It would have been fairly simple.  I ended up buying the pattern because I know that the designer Kate Oates is trying to make a moderate living with her designs.  She's a nice girl and I often see her chatting in the forums.  The idea is hers and although I could knit it without her specific instructions, I would still be stealing her idea.

I'm not always hardcore regarding patterns.  I borrow ideas and incorporate them into something new all the time. Mostly I try to support the designers that I can see actively on Raverly, that I can approach if I want to. 

Wow, that's a big blurb regarding this little hat.

I like the way it turned out.  The pattern was well written and easy too.

Caramilk Ruffled Soaker

The Caramilk Ruffled Soaker is from the Ruffled Skirted Soaker pattern.  It is so cute and free.

I used Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted Tones which has been discontinued.  I got it for $3.49 I think and still have a good bit left over.  I love this colourway.  I have lots of other colours that I am going to use to make other soakers I think.

This pattern was fairly easy but would benefit from a bit of an edit.  The way it is written is pretty conversational, which is okay, but a little distracting I found.

I think the finished soaker is super cute!