From the Knitting Needles

I've been posting so many cards lately that you probably think that I haven't been doing any knitting, well there has been lots of knitting going on around here too. A girl has to have something to do while watching TV in the evenings.

Warning: there are lots of pictures in this post.

This little baby top (knit for a cutie named Rebecca) was quite a challenge. The pattern is The Dolphin Bay Eyelet Baby Top. It was quite a challenge to knit for several reasons, but I learned some new things and I really like the way the top turned out. The yarn is Ultra Pima by Cascade, it is a really soft cotton yarn and I'll be making using to make something for me soon.

I don't know why, but it seems like most of the things I've been knitting lately have been really challenging for me.

This is Ishbel from the book Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda Teague. (There are two pictures because I can't seem to take a really good picture of this shawl.) The pattern is a relatively simple one, but for some reason I had a lot of problems with it. The yarn is from Creatively Dyed and the colorway is called Crazy. I loved the finished shawl and I'm sure it will get lots of use this winter.

I think these are going to be my favorite socks. The pattern is Air Raid Socks by Emily B. Miller and it is a free pattern on her blog. The yarn is Ranco by Araucania. The colorway is mostly blue, with little bits of purple and periwinkle. Melissa calls this "the evil yarn". It belonged to her and she tried to knit several different things with it, but had no luck so she gave it to me. I'm so glad she did, because I love these socks. I did pay her back with a skein of blue yarn, so we are good.

Next up in the challenge to knit category is this lovely sweater. It is called Katydid (the yarn is also called Katydid) and is from the Classic Elite Picnic booklet. It was for a knit along that was held at Fuzzy Wuzzy yarns this summer. The challenging part of this one was sewing the bottom panel together. It is kind of hard to sew something together and have it look good when there are drop stitches. All in all the seam looks pretty good and I love the way it fits. I'm sure once the weather cools off I will wear it a lot.

In the fun to knit category (if there is a challenging category, then there must be a fun to knit one too, right?) is this little baby sweater. It is the Five Hour Baby sweater, which took this slow knitter more than five hours to knit. The yarn is a self-striping yarn from Bernat. It is fun to watch the stripes form as you kit. This sweater was knit for charity which provides sweaters and blankets to needy moms and babies.

I don't remember if I posted this one before, but it is a baby blanket that I made for one of Steve's co-workers son. The pattern is from the Creative Knitting Magazine and is called Cables and Lace. I used Caron Simply Soft in brown and teal (two of my favorite colors together).

This last project is from the "what was she thinking?!" category and I'm knitting it just because it is crazy and fun. Behold... two socks knit one inside the other. From the article in Interweave Knits Knitting Traditions magazine, this was the way socks were knit in the 1800's. So I thought why not give it a try, it can't be that hard. Its not and I'm up to the heel, which is about twice a long as this picture shows. I'm using two different yarns just to keep track of my stitches for the first time through the pattern. The next pair will be done in one color of yarn.

I'm trying to figure out an easy way to do the heel. The way the article describes it seems more complicated to me. There has to be an easier way to do it, maybe an afterthought heel, which has the added benefit of teaching me something new. Anyway these have been put on hold for awhile while I finish a baby blanket for an auction and another sweater for a knit a long. I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, back to card making.