Sweater

FO and a Little Gift from a Friend :)

/ LDSVenus / 7 Comments

I finished the Flax baby sweater for a church friend. Her baby was about 2 weeks early and weighed a little over 6 lbs. The sweaters I knit in the 6 month to 1 years size, so about Feb he should be able to wear it if they roll the sleeves up a bit and it will fit him next fall into next winter. 🙂 I like to make them a little large so they can wear them longer than a couple of months because sweaters are a little more time consuming than a hat or booties.

The next picture is a gift I received from a friend, whom I help with her mail packages when they go on vacation in the summer. I love this, it is my favorite mug!!! Yes, it has hot chocolate with marshmallows in it, what else?

I’m dealing with getting well from a rather ugly cold, at least it’s a head cold and not a chest cold (which drags on for 6 to 8 weeks of coughing). People tell me everyone is getting this so I’ll be thankful it was enough time before Christmas that I can enjoy Christmas instead of staying home and being sick.

Looks like we might be minus temps at night next week with wind chills and a little snow but not much they said. Should just be glad we didn’t get all the lake effect feet of snow they got by the lakes a little farther east a week or two ago! Hope you all are staying well and warm!

Knitting Accountability

/ LDSVenus / 5 Comments

I haven’t done this in a while so I thought I would catch up my blog on my knitting.

I have knit 2 charity hats and one in progress. When I get 4 or 5 done I will take them to the shelter and start on the next batch. They are a simple 2X2 rib stitch with a fold over brim for extra warmth on the ears. They are easy to make and one of my mindless knits when I don’t have the head space for more complicated things and need the peace myself, and they are helping others.

The next 2 pictures are of a test knit that I did. I took a picture of the front and back because the darker front didn’t show the pattern as well as the lighter back (the yarn, Loops and Threads Impressions, is a bulky, slightly fuzzy yarn that fades from dark to light and back again), you might want to keep that in mind if you buy this pattern and make it ;). This is a headband for those that don’t like to wear hats but their ears get cold. The pattern is called Dandelion Headband. It was a fun pattern with an interesting stitch to make the dandelion flowers. You can find the pattern on Ribblr, the designer is Cloud9 Atelier . Ribbler is free but you need to make a account to use it. This is a paid pattern that you can buy, but they also have some free patterns and they have a very interesting online user-active pattern format that I like and my free patterns are on there too. This was a fun knit. I will definitely knit it again.

The last picture is another Tin Can Knits Flax baby sweater, a free pattern, you can find the needle sizes I use here on earlier post. I made a change in yarn because I didn’t want to have to mess with the color management of stripes and having to weave in all those ends lol. I’m using Hobby Lobby’s, Yarn Bee, Warm & Cozy, it’s very soft and in this size (6 months to 1 year) one skein might be all I need, but I bought 2 just in case, no sense inviting “Murphy’s Law”, he’s not our friend. It is acrylic, nylon and polyester, medium weight – worsted). I haven’t made one of these baby sweaters in a little bit an forgot how enjoyable they are to knit (the baby sweaters anyway because they don’t take forever :P).

Hope everyone is enjoying the little bit of a warm up before winter finally gets here. Farmer’s Almanac (see picture above) says it will be a hibernation zone about mid Jan & snow filled this year for my area, how about your area? Wonder if it will be right this year?

Knitting and Spinning Updates and a New Cria!

/ LDSVenus / 3 Comments

In the first picture are some of the things I am actively working on, a little girl baby sweater (yes the Flax :)), it’s in the Yarn Bee Soft & Sleek in Coral colorway. The larger item is a garter stitch comfort shawl in Lion Brand Homespun in the Waterfall Cascade colorway. The last item is the hat I will be knitting for my family member out of the lavender hand-spun (wool with a little alpaca blended in) that is showing in the next picture. I haven’t started the hat (Snowtracks Cap by Timothy Peters) yet, but I did get it wound into a ball. I actually enjoy the hand winding process, I find it a mindless and peaceful experience, well except when it is tangled as I wind, then it’s just an experience :P.

The next picture is all the yarn I’ve spun this year, (well except the orange skein it was a fractal spin I did last year, it’s just pretty :P).

The next two pictures are the alpaca cria (baby alpaca) roving I am spinning on my Rick Reeves double drive wheel. The alpaca fiber is butter soft as it goes through my fingers, and oh my it almost spins itself!! This roving was from a cria fleece that my daughter bought me a few years back that I had sent off to a mill in the east to turn into roving and they did a tremendous job!!

The last picture is one of my son’s alpaca, Summit, and her new cria, who was born this last Thursday, isn’t he a cutie, he’s white just like his mom! His dad was a beautiful fawn color from another herd. They have one more cria to be born in the next two weeks and that will make 4 new babies this year.

Flax Infant Sweater and SNOW

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

I am working on the Flax sweater for an infant for a friend (size 6 months to 1 year.)  The Flax pullover sweater is a free pattern by Tin Can Knits and it’s a really easy sweater to knit and goes from sizes newborn to 4XL.  I am at the bottom ribbing on the body, I will be starting the sleeves tomorrow :).  It’s done from the top down so there won’t be any sewing things together.  🙂  I am using I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby and size 5 (for the neck ribbing) 16″ circular Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles (I am loving the Karbonz they are mostly carbon fiber with brass tips so they are not super slippery like metal needles, I am not a fan of reg metal needles tho sometimes that is what I have) and size 7 16″ Knit Picks Radiant Wooden circular needles for the body  (wood needles are always my first choice), and a size 7 9″ Circular Chiagoo bamboo circular needles for the sleeves and size 5 9″metal Chiagoo circular needles for the sleeve ribbing..  All are fixed needles and not interchangeable, the interchangeables of the needles I like are pretty expensive :P.

You can also see from the pictures that we have had our first and 2nd snow for this winter, sigh.  The first snow was 3 inches on Monday night and the 2nd one was 2 more inches last night.  Monday nights snow mostly melted on Tuesday because it got up to 40F.  Last nights snow is still on the ground because it only got up to 34F.  Poor trick or treaters, it’s in the upper 20’s right now and is suppose to be 20 over night :(.   I am not ready for winter, fall isn’t even over yet!!!

If you live somewhere where it’s already getting cold, stay warm!