Being Beata

I’m going on a baby knitting spree in the next few months. My friend wanted some sweaters for her baby for this coming winter, so I agreed to knit her some. Here’s the first finished project:

It’s currently being modeled by my teddy bear since I haven’t given it to mom and baby yet, but when I do, I’ll try to snap a better picture of it being modeled.

Pattern: Mossy Jacket
Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun and Tiffany, double-stranded
Needles: KP Options size 10
Size: approximately 20″ around the chest
Gauge: 3.5 sts / inch

I really like the way it turned out, especially the fur trim around the edge. It was a super quick knit since I double-stranded the yarn. It’s really soft too. I’m not sure how warm it is, but I guess we’ll find out. I used Tiffany to trim the cuffs, collar, and the bottom edge. The button band is knit in the main yarn so I could get the button holes cleanly.

I had some small troubles with the armpit section. I think there is either an error in the pattern or I’m just stupid. I didn’t get the right number of stitches in the sleeves, so that probably contributed to why the sleeve and the body didn’t join quite right in that area. I went in after the sweater was done and just sewed it up. It’s not completely smooth but looks OK. It feels fine too, just not quite as seamless and smooth as it could have been.

I went to my first Fiber Festival on Saturday. It was quite an experience! I had never been around so many people who love all things fiber related. There was so much yarn and fiber and various equipments that I couldn’t take me eyes off of. I was quite overwhelmed by it all.

I went with m a friend I met at SnB. We drove down to Asheville very early in the morning and got there at about 10 am. We walked into the main arena and this was what we saw:

Major yarn-yummy-goodness!

We spent about 6 hours just walking around looking at things that we wanted. There were so much awesome yarn and roving and various fiber-goodness. I couldn’t help but touch everything. There were people spinning and felting and weaving. I was vary intrigued by the weaving looms. They get pretty big!

I also played with some spindles and got to try a couple of louet and ashford spinning wheels. I didn’t end up getting one though, since I still wanted to try out the Fricke S-160DT, which looks to be the one that I might like to get.

I also bought a bunch of amazing yarn & fiber. Here’s a showcase of my purchases:

Silk Hankies. I read a tutorial on Knitty about spinning silk hankies when I first started spinning and was intrigued. I haven’t really had a chance to buy one until now. I tried spinning a couple this morning and it’s pretty hard work! Maybe I’m not quite doing it correctly, but the drafting took a long time and was much harder than usual. Maybe I’m one of the odd ones that just prefer slippery silk top to this catchy hanky. It spins up beautifully though! I’m going to spin it all eventually and hopefully have enough to make at least a lacy scarf. I only bought a 1/2 ounce.

1 pound of hand-dyed merino roving. Super yummy softness. Amazing colors. It’s mainly green with some orange and blue mixed in. I bought it for a scarf, hat, and mitten set, since I don’t have a whole set that matches, but now that I put it up against my main big winter jacket, I’m not so sure it matches the jacket. Maybe I’ll still do it because I can still wear it with my other jackets, but I can’t decide yet. Either way, I won’t be spinning it until I get a spinning wheel.

1.5 pounds of 70/30 merino/alpaca roving. Ridiculously soft. Naturally variegated colors. I absolutely love it. I bought enough for a sweater, but don’t have any definite plans for it. When I got home though, I realized that it would make a pretty good Tilted Duster from the Fall Interweave Knits. I calculated the weight from the pattern, and it’s just enough. I’m not sure if I should spin it and hope for the best, or not risk it and plan something else for it. I guess I can always spin it and see if there’s enough yardage. I also dont’ know if I can be trusted to spin consistently enough to make an entire sweater! Guess I’ll figure it out when I get my wheel

I bought the above roving from Rivers Edge Weaving Studio and I just have to give a shout-out to them. The ladies were super nice and helpful.

320 yards of worsted superwash wool. The softest yarn I have ever touched! I originally wasn’t going to buy it, but my friend did and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I just bit the bullet and took it home, even though I have absolutely no plans for it. I was thinking some comfy house socks, but I’m not sure I want to risk ruining it and wearing it out. Maybe I’ll just have to find some reinforcing thread to make myself feel better. For now though, I’m keeping the skein next to my laptop on my desk. Whenever I feel stressed, I just pet it. It makes me feel much better. oh so soft!

The yarn came from Brooks Farm. They have an amazing booth! Their yarns are all super soft and are all in amazing colors. Next time I go, I will have to plan better so I can buy more from them. The owner was super nice too.

That’s it for purchases. I did pretty well considering. The only thing I didn’t buy that I’m slightly regretting is a skein of 600 yds of alpaca for something like $20. What a super price. I just hit my budget though, so it’s probably better that way. Besides, I already have way more than I can spin/knit.

While we were there, we also some some llamas. Look at these cuties!

That’s it for my SAFF adventures!  I’ll report back when I’ve made something from all my loot.

I have a Starbucks Memory Tumbler, and I absolutely love it!  It has a very secure lid which allows me to safely transport my coffee as I’m driving to school. 

 I’ve had one of the generic pictures that Starbucks supply in the mug for a while.  I decided today that it wasn’t good enough – I needed to show off my knitting-love with my coffee mug.  I found some pictures on flickr under the creative commons license and created the following:

If you click on the picture, you can download a PDF file and print it out to put in your tumbler as well to show your yarn love.  The original picture credits are included in the PDF. 

Anouk is finally done!  I started this as a gift for my best friend’s baby girl.  I was going to have it done when she was born in March, but it didn’t happen.  When she was born though, she was premature and only weighed 4 pounds.  Since there was no way she could wear a 6-month size for a while anyway, I started knitting some preemie stuff that would fit her.  She’s getting close to being 6-month size now, so this is done just in time.

Pattern: Anouk
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn
Needles: Denise size 9 & 10 (one on each side – it was accidental)
Size: 6-month
Gauge: 18 sts = 4″ in stockinette
Ravelry Link

The only modification I did was the pockets.  I didn’t really like the flowers so I opted to knit her initials.  It was my first time doing any kind of colorwork, so it is a bit wonky.  I’m still pretty proud of it though. 

One of my friends who is also a huge football fan found out recently that I knit. He has always wanted a orange and white checkered toboggan (for those who aren’t from the south – it’s a hat, not a sled), so he asked me to make him one. Of course, I obliged. It’s a great excuse for me to learn colorwork in a basically non-intimidating setting.

I went to pick up the yarn about two weeks ago. Originally, I wanted to get some good superwash wool so he can wash it safely. However, even in this big orange country, I couldn’t find anything in the official orange! If you live around here, you probably know. There’s Auburn orange, and then there’s Florida orange. There’s even University of Texas orange. But none of that is the same as UT orange. The closest I found was in Red Heart Super Saver. I vowed to never knit with that stuff again, but oh well. Guess I had to make an exception. I also got a “I Love this Yarn” from Hobby Lobby. It’s a much nicer Acrylic than Red Heart Super Saver, but I’m not sure if “I Love this Yarn.” It’s still acrylic, even if it’s softer.

Pattern: Chessboard Hat
Yarn: 1/4 ball of Red Heart Super Saver in Pumpkin & 1/4 ball of “I Love this Yarn” from Hobby Lobby in White
Needles: Denise size 8
Size: M (cast on 104), 8-swirl decrease
Gauge: 20 sts = 4″ in stockinette
Ravelry Link

The hat turned out great! The ribbing on the bottom is a little larger than I want. I probably should have used an even smaller needle to do that part. I’m really happy about how the colorwork turned out. The front has wonky spots, but mostly it’s pretty even. The back, however, is amazing. I’m totally impressed with myself. Check this out:

Neat carrys, no dangling strings.  I’m quite happy.  I might have erred on the side of too tight, but it works.  While doing this colorwork, I learned the 2-handed method of color-stranding.  Knit Picks has a great tutorial here that I followed.

This hat only took me 2 weeks to knit.  That’s amazingly fast since it wasn’t a project I could do while studying (colorwork required too much visual attention for me to read and knit it at the same time.)  Since those acrylic yarns come in such gigantic packages, I’m thinking of making one for myself.  It’s quite festive and would be great for football games (although I don’t want to wear an identical hat with my friend for now.  Maybe I’ll just make one for his wife so they can match… hmm…)

Go Vols!

Last week, we started a Stitch n Bitch near my university. We had our second meeting today, and it was so much fun! I definitely look forward to it. We’ve grown a couple of members, and someone else asked us if they could come while we were there. I’m so excited.

Anyhow, the whole point of saying all that is because I acquired a bunch of roving tonight from someone I met last week at the Stitch n Bitch. I told her about how I’m trying to teach myself to spin on a drop spindle and all that. I had a little trouble with the first bit of roving I spun, since I picked a merino silk which is apparently harder to spin. She spins as well, and to encourage me, she brought me this big bag of all the different fibers that she has. I now have this pile of alpaca, wool, silk, cotton, and even soy silk! I’m so excited. Like I told her – if I fail my classes this semester, I know who to blame!

Just to share my excitement:

and there are several reasons for that.

1. I’m working full-time right now which means I have little time to knit
2. I’m sick of having 10 WIPs so I’m working on finishing them all, but it’s taking forever, which means I have no exciting new knitting to share.
3. I’m absolutely addicted to Ravelry and spend too much of my time there.

Isabella is almost done – I finished seaming it last night and just have to knit up the armhole edgings. As soon as it’s done, I’ll share pictures!

Or so I’d like to think.

It is a lot closer to being done though, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m up to the neckline in the front now, and is probably about 75% done with that piece. There’s still armhole and neck edges to pick up and knit, and sewing it together is going to suck, but otherwise, I almost have a new snazzy tank!

My friend who recently had a baby girl, the same one that I made the Baby Kimono & Bonnet and Baby Hat for, commissioned some baby socks. I happily obliged, since I’ve been dying to knit socks anyway. I used some Lion Brand Wool-Ease leftover from the Vestee that I made, plus some variegated vintage yarn that I stole from said friend’s basement (her mother bought her such a huge stash of yarn when she learned that her daughter had taken up knitting and crocheting, but most of the yarn is acrylic and from random garage sales). Anyhow, this is what I ended up with

Pattern: Super Quick Baby Socks
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease & Caron Wintuk 4
Needles: Susan Bates Size 4
Gauge: Didn’t really check

As you can see, I had some issues with the first one that made it not look much like a sock. I’m proud though, that my first socks at least came out looking sock-like. The second pair is much better. I also really liked how the yarn self-striped.

Hopefully, these didn’t get lost in the mail. I had mailed them a week ago, and the mom still hasn’t received them yet.

Pattern: Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting, Top-Down Bonnet from Hello Yarn
Yarn: Sugar ‘n’ Cream in Cornflower Blue, 2.5 oz/120 yd balls, 2 balls
Needles: Denise size 5
Gauge: 20 sts/4 in. in stockinette
Notes: Used stockinette stitch instead of garter. Outlined all edges in garter stitch, which created a nice rib on the cuffs. Used yo increase for neckline. Chained a long string instead of using ribbon as the tie to secure the sides of the kimono.

I made this for one for the same baby girl that I made the baby hat and sweater set for. She was born premature, and even now at almost 3 months, she’s still teeny tiny. It’s hard to find clothes for her that fit, so I made a sweater and a bonnet.

These two things are just so cute! I love them both. The yarn was really rough to work with, and I had to yank at the hard and go down many needles sizes to get gauge. After a while, my fingers got really tired.  The yarn is made for utility things like dishcloths and rugs, but I really liked how it turned out.  It definitely feels a little bit like a dishcloth, but for a baby, I’m not convinced that’s bad.  It’ll be absorbent for the times that she decides to leak out of her diaper .

The pattern is written very flexibly, so I got my first chance at “designing” a sweater. Truthfully, adding a garter stitch edge to a stockinette piece isn’t much designing, but making it up and changing it as it went was really quite fun.