Sister Tops Done

Last summer I knit a top for A. K was with me when I bought the yarn and at that time I also bought yarn to make a companion top for K. Well, I finally got around to making K's version of the top. She wore it to her Kindergarten promotion celebration.

K likes halter tops so hers is a halter top. She likes sparkley things so hers also has beads. There are pink beads on the hem and green beads on the green bands. I had such fun knitting this top and it went very quickly. The top took about 9 days from cast on to wearing. I think K looks like a piece of watermelon when she wears this!

Yarn: Butterfly Super-10 DK weight 100% cotton (vari. pink) and Queensland Collection Cotolino 60% Cotton/40% linen (green)
Needles: size 6 circular
size 5 dpns for the I-cord ties
Beads: Pink and Green size 5 triangle beads from Twisted Sistah Beads
Pattern: my own

Summer Knitting

With temperatures in the 60s it certainly doesn't feel like the dead of winter. What better conditions than a January thaw to show you my summer knitting. This is a top I made for A last summer. I put together a submission package and sent it off to a magazine to see if they would publish it. Since they declined I can comfortably post the photos. Here is A modelling. I think she looks so grown up. A found the varigated yarn in my stash and asked if I would make a top for her. I didn't have enough for a whole top so I bought some solid blue to go with it. The design of this top evolved along the way.

The bottom is K1P1 rib. I used short rows to form the peak and then knit the pointed waistband in garter stitch. The neck line was also formed with short rows. The front neckband, straps and back neckband are all knit in garter stitch as one circle.

It was a fun project and I have pink yarn to make a similar top for K. Maybe next summer the girls can wear their tops together.

FO (sort of) and Stringy Goodness

FO?

J's socks are finished, done, kaput. Here's what they looked like two days ago. Here's what they look like now...
They're done alright. Just not completed. I finally got J to try them on and they are way too tight. He couldn't get them on. K tried them on and they would have been okay if I ripped back an inch or so of the foot but she has very sensative skin and only wears ankle socks. So I ripped and re-wound them. I'll try again someday.

The String's the Thing

I needed some instant gratification so I started the string bag. I got the yarn and pattern on the yarn crawl to the Mannings a couple of weeks ago. I'm zipping right along on this bag. I might even finish tonight. It takes two balls of Tahki Cotton Classic. I had to join the two balls together part way through. I have always found it difficult to join a new ball of yarn when knitting lace. The join is always very visible and the ends always work their way out. For this bag i decided to sew the ends of the yarn together. I didn't do a great job of stitching the ends and I didn't have the right color thread. Even so, I think the join is acceptable. (This is just a string bag, after all.) Here is how the ends are joined together.

Here's a look at the join knitted into the bag. It's definitely visible but not terribly obvious. If I had thread to match the color the join would be almost invisible. Here is a close up of the join. What do you think?

FO! and How ya been?

Okay, it's been another two months since I posted. What's up with that? I don't have much to show for those two months either. Here's the sum total of what I've been doing...
I've been working on these socks for what feels like forever. I worked on them almost every day but they were slow going. This is the first time I've knit both at the same time on two cirular needles. Although progress seemed to go at half speed I didn't have to worry about second sock syndrome.

These socks will be shipped out tomorrow. They are going to a secret recipient. I'll let you know who it is in a couple of days.

I don't know which side of the stitch pattern I like the best. I was randomly polling people as I knit the cuff. I think either side could work as the right side. I'll let the recipient decide which one is inside out. Did I knit a traditional foot or a princess foot?

See that little tiny ball of yarn above the socks? That's the sum total of my leftovers. I'll send them with the socks but the only thing they'll be good for is possible repairs.

Some of the specifics are:

Yarn - 450 yds. cotton/elastic hand dyed (by moi)
Needles - 2 size 1 circular
Number of stitches in cuff - 72
gauge - 9 st/in after 1 trip through the washer and dryer
Heel - classic heel flap
Toe - short rows
Cuff and instep stitch patter - three stitches rib, three stitches moss
Started - around April 27
Finished - June 25
Recipient - TBA

Heart Flower Sweater is Done!

I finished K's Heart Flower sweater in the wee hours of this morning. I am so happy to have finished. I started this sweater almost a year ago! It was fun to knit even though I took a nice long break in the middle of it. Here are two pictures of K modeling it. She was annoyed that I took her away from play time on such a beautiful spring day so she doesn't look very happy but she wore the sweater all afternoon in spite of the warm weather.

As always click on the images for a closer view:

The only changes I made to the original plan were that I used a picot hem instead of knitting a scalloped border and I used the same picot hem for the button band instead of a ribbed band. I also added the picot hem to the sleeves.

Mittens X 2 and a Contest too!

As promised, I have pictures of mittens today. I took them yesterday while the A and J were at school so I only have one pair being modeled. Here they are...

The top two pictures are K modeling her mittens. She is not a snow baby and only wore them to go to and from the car in the cold weather. But she likes them which is the important thing.

The bottom left picture is a close up of K's mittens. A quick recap of the details are
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in Lilac (purple), Petal (pink), Grass (green) and Lemon (yellow). I used less than 1 ball of each.
Needles: two size 0 cirular

The stitch pattern is a combination of several motifs from A Shetland Pattern Book by Mary Smith and Maggie Liddle.

The bottom right picture is a close up of J's mittens. He selected colors of Knitpicks Merino Style yarn. I wanted to try this yarn but I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to use it for a pair of mittens for an 8 yo BOY! I was disappointed (but not surprised) to see them start to fuzz up and pill almost as soon as he put them on. Oh well, he likes them and he wears them and that's what counts!

Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style in Storm (navy), Frost (aqua), Maple Leaf (red) and Asparagus (green). I used one ball of each except for Storm. I needed two balls of that.
Needles: set of 5 size 2 dpns.
Stitch pattern is basic salt and pepper. I used navy in every row and rotated through the other three colors for the contrasting color. (Yeah, I know that's as clear as mud. I think if you look at the picture you'll see what I mean.)

Contest!

Just for fun I purposefully made J's left and right mittens differnt in three ways. All three are visible in the photo. Can you find them? Email me at lousendscontest@comcast.net with your answer and "blog contest" in the subject and I'll send a prize to one winner. The winner will be selected randomly from all correct entries. Contest closes on Monday (3/13) at midnight eastern time. I don't know what the prize is yet but it will be yarny (I'm in a perpetual state of de-stashing) .


Enjoy your weekend!