#Louder!!!

Posted on July 10, 2016 by cpeezers

I just finished knitting a great pattern written by my friend Ann. It’s a hat called #Louder, and it’s a Seahawks hat (this probably goes without saying). The back design represents the seismograph from the “Beastquake” which results from the fan phenomenon known as “Beastmode”. I am really not all up and comfortable with the Seahawks terminology, but I have a lot of friends around these parts who definitely are.

As Ann wrote in her pattern, the Beast Quake occurs when the fans are:

There’s a hashtag in front of the Louder too. I had trouble getting photos which showed everything just right. My hashtag is a little wonky too.

I’d love to make another one of these hats. I loved the yarn too. It’s HiKoo by skacel, and I’d not knit with it before. Really nice to knit with. I did block it on my little mannequin head thing. It smoothed out my decreasing at the top a whole lot. It is a roomy hat, and I wonder if I might not go down a needle size if I did it again. It’s a nice fitting and keep your head warm hat though. Here’s my little spaghetti-sauced faced Davey modeling it for me (I was doing good to get him to cheerfully pose for me; I didn’t want to push my luck by requiring a clean face as well!). This is a great pattern for which to practice stranded knitting. It’s clearly written and very fun!

Knitting for Babies

Posted on February 1, 2015 by cpeezers

This week a friend asked me if I would knit her some baby booties for a friend of hers who is expecting a baby. She gave me the yarn she wanted me to knit with, and I said sure!

I wasn’t sure what pattern I wanted to use, so I started looking around on ravelry and pinterest. This had led to a fun week of knitting. I keep coming across little baby patterns that I want to try out. For the booties, I found a pattern called “Easiest and Fastest Baby Booties Ever!”. These were definitely very quick to knit up. I decided to add some of my own yarn and give them stripes.

I took the picture the other day when it was sunny, so I especially like looking at it since we are under gray skies once again.

These booties are knit flat and seamed up. They are garter stitch and have just a little bit of increasing and decreasing. They would be a great first project. The seaming can be done with just a whip stitch with the right sides facing. Some people don’t like seaming, but it doesn’t bother me. I prefer it to working with dpns with small numbers of stitches. That’s a little fiddly for me.

In the process of looking for this pattern, I found another sweet little shoe that I just had to make. The idea here is to use up yarn that I already have. I am diligently trying to knit away at my stash. I had some silver metallic yarn and some pink which I thought would be pretty together. The pattern is called “Bows before Bros” and it’s a free one too.

This was also a quick and easy knit. I knit the shoe and then made the bow separately and attached it.

This is another great beginner pattern!

Davey was sick a couple of days this week so I had some downtime with him. We did lots of resting which means I had time for some extra knitting. I came across another pattern that I was fascinated by mainly because it included an interesting schematic.

It was a pattern for an elephant knit all in one piece (except for the ears and tail). It looked tricky to me, so I wanted to try it out. It was a little tricky, but I realized that I needed to just follow the written instructions and not over think it. It was actually all really easy going except the trunk confused me a little.

Here’s a not very great picture of how it looked flat.

This also requires seaming up. I used mattress stitch though and it went quickly.

I think he’s the cutest. If I had it to do again, I’d stuff the trunk a little more to give it a little more curve. I made him with some leftover Kraemer cotton tweed. He was really very fun to knit. I’d happily make him again.

Back to baby knitting!

Sunday Knitting

Posted on March 24, 2013 by cpeezers

We had another nice snow yesterday. Snow in March still surprises me given that I rarely saw it in Oklahoma or Texas, but it’s a fairly common occurrence here. So when David headed out to the store yesterday, he put on his hat that I’d made him about a year and a half ago.

I had made the hat out of Cascade Duo which is a wool/alpaca blend. It felt really soft and knitted up so pretty. The problem is that about a year and a half later, it has stretched out a ton and has become really floppy. Even the ribbing has lost almost all elasticity. I’m learning a lot about yarn as I learn more about knitting. This yarn is not ideal for hats. Is it because of the alpaca? I’d guess this was the case, but I am not sure.

Here is the old hat in process back in October 2010. I loved it because the colors were neutral, but still really pretty (handsome?).

So after realizing, how much the hat had stretched out, David asked me to “whip him up a new hat”.

I checked my yarn stash, and I had some heavy worsted from Knit Picks. It is called Gloss and is 70% wool and 30% silk. I just checked the website, and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s been discontinued already? I’m not sure it will hold up for the long term either, but we shall see. Worst case – I’ll have to knit another hat. Not so bad!

I’m knitting an easy but fun pattern that I’ve not tried out before. The ribbing is a 5×5, and then just knitting straight, decreasing and done.

Picture of hat in snow. Although, it’s pretty much impossible to tell that this is snow in the background (beyond the general whiteness).

Since it is a bulky weight, it’s knitting up really fast. It’s a nice yarn to work with too. I have made two Gaptastic Cowls and test knitted a shawl with this yarn, and I loved it every time! Although, I don’t know why I’m singing its praises, as it looks to be unavailable now.

Time for some knitting. Happy Sunday!

Cabling without a Needle

Posted on March 11, 2011 by cpeezers

I needed a little project today to take with me to story hour. It’s 25 minutes of good knitting time! So I have this somewhat lofty goal to knit up all my yarn this year. I have a bunch of cotton that needs knitting, so I thought I’d make some dishcloths.

I remembered my friend Ronnie from Arkadelphia telling me that the best way to learn new stitches is to practice them in dishcloths. She was speaking more specifically about lace at the time. I am still scared of lace though, so I am not taking that on yet.

But I found a simple pattern that called for an easy cable. The pattern suggested doing the cable without a cable hook. It’s easier to practice if you are just trying to cable two stitches at a time as is done in this pattern. The person who wrote the pattern directed me to a great video which demonstrates how to do this.

I was always a little nervous about cabling without a needle. I had visions of loose stitches flopping everywhere. This video gave me new confidence.

So I am practicing on this pretty dishcloth. Green is my favorite color, but I sure like this sunny yellow too. The color doesn’t look quite as light and sunny in the photo. I am enjoying this pattern.

And that’s a post about a dishcloth.

Do You Know the Muffin Kid?

Posted on January 29, 2011 by cpeezers

I have always liked that song except I think that Drury is one of the harder words in the world to pronounce. “Do you know the muffin man? the muffin man, the muffin man…who lives on Drury Lane.”

Davey helped me make muffins this morning. I have acknowledged him as a little stirring master, but today he wanted to put the mix into the muffin tin. I was a little hesitant, but I let him have at it. As expected, things got a little messy, but really he did great.

He filled them all up.

Guess how many he ate? We even called them cupcakes and so he hesitated, but he still declined to try them. I don’t really blame him. They were poppyseed muffins, and I think the poppyseeds freaked him out a little bit.

Last night I started putting one side of my sweater together. I just had to get started so that I could get an idea of how it will all fit together.

I have had my youtube videos up on my monitor to help me. Those Berroco videos are great. I really learn best by watching something like that.

I seamed the shoulder. I still need to press it, but I think it went ok.

I am now working on setting and sewing in the sleeve. That’s kind of like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but vice versa. (I am sure that made a lot of sense, but that is what it is like!)

I am keeping my fingers crossed, but so far so good. We will see.

The Mystery of The Sweater

Posted on January 20, 2011 by cpeezers

I am working on the left front of The Sweater still. It’s requiring more ciphering and research. It’s such a mish mash of patterns now. At this point, I am just looking to different patterns for guidance and then trying to figure out how best to do it on my sweater.

Like the neck on the front. I looked at ravelry patterns today. I ciphered. I used fractions. It has become all very mathematical which actually I find pretty fun. It’s like “The Mystery of The Sweater.” I don’t know how it is all going to turn out, but I sure am going to know a heck of a lot more about the construction of a sweater when I am done.

A smarter person might have read about sweater construction prior to beginning. I know there are books that give you percentages and helpful guidelines to building a sweater pattern. But I ain’t that bright. I like the mysterious route.

I hope to finish the left front tonight.

And now in the world of Davey. More mysteries. Lucy, his imaginary dog, became a cat today. “Mommy, I put fur on her. Black and white. I put her in my room so that you won’t sneeze.” (I am pretty allergic to cats – even imaginary ones apparently.) He’s very thoughtful. By bedtime tonight, Lucy had transformed back into a dog. Lucy also has a new friend named Fred. Fred was at the store though. Not sure what he was up to there. But we are happy to have Fred join our family. I think Koko and Timber are relieved that Lucy is a dog again. They do not like cats at all.

Autumny and Raindroppy!

Posted on September 22, 2010 by cpeezers

Today Davey played at the playground, and he told David that it looked very “autumny” outside. It did cool off quite abit today, and we had rain this afternoon. That is when he peered out the sliding glass door and commented that it looked very “raindroppy” outside.

He got a haircut today. So did David. Here he is modeling the wonderful job they did:

Ok not really. He’s turning his head the other way to get away from the camera. I did finally get a face shot.

The pink under his nose is an icing remnant. He got a cupcake today with Daddy – part of the potty training initiative.

I’ve almost finished the heel flap of sock number 1. I have settled in on the twining, and while it is tedious, it is not too bad. For some reason, I am doing something now that results in my yarn not getting quite as twisted. Not sure what I did, but it makes life easier.

So I should be starting the gusset tonight. It may require more twining now that I think about it. hmmm. Better go check it out.

“Breckin – Bridge!”

Posted on September 18, 2010 by cpeezers

We are headed out exploring today. Davey is feeling better. He’s got a bad cold. The doctor listened to him and looked at him and said he looked good. We are just not used to hearing him a little hoarse and with so much congestion! We’ve got a humidifier going full force now. It should help all of us.

Anyway, it’s a little over an hour to Breckinridge from here (or Breckin-bridge as Davey calls it). It will be our first foray into the mountains since we moved here. David and I went to Breckinridge several (lots of) years ago. We rode some giant ski lift (David was petrified. He doesn’t like man made heights. Mountain heights don’t bother him. Or driving along and hugging the edge of a gravel switchback road as I sat in the passenger seat and looked in horror at the bottomless drop-off beside me.) Anyway, we also rode some alpine slide thing where we drove a small cart down some big tall track thing. He still likes to mention how I backed up traffic for miles behind me. Small children were yelling at me to “SPEED UP!” To hear David tell it, I was quite a petrified cautious chicken. He’d be quite correct I think.

So anyway, we’re going to take Davey out there. I guess he’s probably not old enough yet to show Momma up on the slide. Which leads me to another story. The other day we found another park not too far from here. There was this big slide which David and Davey loved. I’d never seen a slide quite like it. When I sat at the top and got ready to go down, I really had second thoughts. I am a big chicken. But as Davey had just flown down it 20 times, I didn’t have much choice. So down I went. It was fast! But I have to try to keep up with the almost 3 year old!

This is a phone pic, so it’s not great. It really is a neat slide. You can go down on two different sides.

Jumping to another subject – I worked on my sock last night. It’s fun. It makes me think of spring. Lots of different colors and patterns going on.

I finished the faux rib cuff, and now I am into the chart. Before I went to bed I was working on the center of the flower. It’s 2 colors, but the second color is only used about once every 15 stitches, so I am so thankful to have learned my weave along behind technique. I think it’s working great. I just pick up that yarn about every 3 stitches and weave it in. I need to thank the lady again from ravelry for sharing this technique. It’s been invaluable.

You can kind of see what I mean here on this round. Most of the stitches are kind of orangey red, but every 15 stitches or so you see a hot pink stitch. That’s the center of the flower.

So, so far so good on this sock. I am definitely a fair isle fan.

Happy Saturday!

Puny Davey and Casting on

Posted on September 17, 2010 by cpeezers

Davey and I are hanging out this morning. He’s kinda puny. His cold has really settled into his chest. We don’t like how it sounds, so he’s going to visit the doctor for the first time in Colorado today. We’ve been watching a little tv this morning and making cards. He likes playing with the scraps and tools more than anything. He did that for quite awhile, and now he’s resting again. Trying to keep him somewhat still or he gets to coughing. However, he’s 2, so keeping him still is pretty much impossible.

I tried to take some pictures of him, but as usual “poop” was the word of the day. When he is saying “poop” over and over, it’s hard to capture anything but an “O” shaped mouth.

Or some variation there of:

I finally got a good grin though. (he looks pretty healthy here!)

I also cast on my new socks last night. I had to cast on 144 stitches onto 3 needles which is kind of a lot. Then I had to purl around. Then purl 2 together all the way around. Kind of neat – it created this pretty ruffle.

Now I am working the “faux” rib. It’s called that because you do a k2 p2 rib, but you use two colors. So K2 is with color a, and P2 is with color b. Changing colors results in a less elastic rib which is where the term “faux rib” comes in. And there you have it. Everything I know about “faux ribbing”. Maybe more than you ever wanted to know, but I love anything new!

Ok, time to watch some Little Einsteins with Davey. He’s back hard at work at his little craft table.

Boyfriend Socks: Complete!

Posted on September 16, 2010 by cpeezers

Yay. I finished these socks last night.

I wore them this morning for awhile. Not because of cold temperatures. I just wanted to test their fit. Surprisingly, they are about the best fitting socks that I have made. I am looking forward to colder weather so that I can wear them.

It was not easy negotiating with my photography assistant this morning. (the little davey.) He wanted no part of photographing my feet and his. He was watching Mickey Mouse. So I promoted him to Photography Director. I quickly learned that the going rate for an almost 3 year old photography director is 1 dum dum lollipop. After we negotiated the terms, everything went smoothly.

So today – I will get started on the the Breakfast socks. There are some new things for me to learn with these socks. Something called twining? I think I do that in the heel. Then a “faux rib”. Going to be fun!

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn

Tag Archives: Knitting