I’ve been a knitting maniac lately. I’m currently working on two sweaters from Fitted Knits. I just finished a baby sweater for my new nephew who should be born soon (pics when it’s all polished). hmmm, what else. I’m working on some simple bibs for a friend’s baby who should be born soon too. And I’m one arm warmer down on this pattern.

Oh, I knit this baby blanket for Tangle out of a new amazing acrylic we recently got in, which reminds me, I have to write up the pattern today!

It’s fun to be swamped with knitting!

Can I just say, I HAVE to knit this.

(from the holiday 2007 issue of Vouge Knitting)

Ta da! Pics of the sock monster I sewed Honor for his birthday. Honor named him Scary Gary. He is pretty dern awesome, if I do say so myself.

one silly boy picture for good measure:

It occurs to me that I haven’t had much to say lately about what I’ve been knitting. (Pardon the bad photos.)

While we camped a few weeks back I worked on this sweater for Honor.

It’s just my old stand by Knitting Pure & Simple #214 pullover pattern. But the yarn was what made it so fun. We’ve been using Big Mexiko for socks, but one of my teachers had the idea to use it for a childs sweater. Didn’t it turn out great?

I also just finished a model for the class I’ll be teaching in Nov. This is a pattern I wrote, just a simple ribbon pullover.

I love when I can knit on big needles and come out with something that’s not bulky at all.

There are so many things I want to knit, I can’t decide what to do next. I just finished up a stocking for the store that still needs some tweaking. And next I’m casting on the Blue Sky Alpacas Arm Warmers.

What’s on your knit list?

I keep forgetting to post photos of the pink bolero I made for Eden. It started out as a model for the shop and when I realized that it was going to fit her (even though it was a size 2) I decided that she might as well wear it.

She was rather grumpy about being photographed (as if that comes as a shock).
Here’s the stats:
Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple #275 suggested to me by Sarah
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton in Lotus.
It knit up in just a couple days.
(more stats at Ravelry)

The wonderful and free! better than booties pattern from Interweaveknits.com.

And this started out as the daisy hat from Itty Bitty Hats, but the daisy’s looked so hokey and totally homemade (not handmade) and I tried to sew it all together the night before the shower so I didn’t have time to mess with the pattern and knit more petals. (And that was the longest sentence EVAR.)

Now all we need is the baby! Sarah, get on that ok?

Finally, I had the camera and Jim together at one time. I’ve got photos for you!

Here is my too big eyelet cardigan. It’s cute, I’ll still wear it, but I feel like it makes me look fat.

Details are going on ravelry, anyone else get an invite yet?

Also, another kids dress, this time to fit Eden (size 4). I did my modifications from before and also added a folded picot edge. This time I used Cascade Sierra. It’s pretty cute and she’ll be able to wear it for YEARS. A friend of mine who is pretty tiny tried it on and it fit her like a cute top! (Doesn’t Eden look like a little string bean?)

And from quite awhile ago, some knee socks. I knit these from the Socks that Rock that I scored at Stitches West a couple years ago. I did them toe up, two at a time in a k3, p1 rib. I incorporated increases up the back as needed.

And I think that’s all that I’ve knit that I haven’t posted photos of… I think… hmmm.

I woke up this morning to big, fat flakes of snow coming down. The weather here has been very bizarre… (that Al Gore, he know what he’s talking about it seems.) But I’m always happy for cold weather because it affords me the opportunity to wear my knitting!

In fact, I forced my children to wear my knitting today too.

So, because of my perfect opportunity to wear my Sweater Workshop sweater, I have photos for you! (Most of the photos are by Eden.)

I need to start off by saying that I’m not in love with the neck. After washing, blocking and wearing a couple times, it gets more and more stretched out. Something needs to be done with it, but I’m just contemplating how much I want to rip out and re-knit.

(Honor took this one.)

As far as the sweater workshop method goes, I’m not convinced that it’s my favorite. My sweater is WAY big on me – but comfy. Part of that is my fault for not calculating in negative ease. Part of it is the stretchy yarn. And part of that is because the book adds no shaping for the waist and has you increase after the ribbing (hello belly balloon). I added in my own waist shaping and just did a folded hem rather than ribbing. But still! I did, however learn a lot about how sweaters are built and how I would like to build them. (And I’m pretty convinced at this point that top down raglans are my fav.)

Stats:
Rowan Felted Tweed – 5 balls I think?
US size 8 addi turbos 32″ for body 40″ for sleeves 2 at a time.
Use: for me!

And a couple silly pics for your enjoyment.

I’ve finally got around to taking pictures of a few things I’ve finished (but not my sweater workshop sweater yet! I’m so lazy!)

A bunny hat from the book itty bitty hats. I love this book – I’d love to knit every single hat I think!

I used scraps of Pima Tencel, Cascade Sierra and GGH Samoa.

A baby bib.

This is a super simple knit, inpsired by the bibs in Mason Dixon Knitting. (1 Skein Peaches and Creme, size 7 needles about an hour, ta da!)

The Rutabaga bag

This is from the Spring issue of Knitscene. It’s super fun to knit and make a great re-useable shopping bag.

2 skeins of Cascade Sierra, size 10.5 24″ circs.

And Christina knitted this Rusted Root for a model for the store. I just happened to have her knit it in my size! (Don’t mind the hair, it’s crazy windy here today and the dog decided that he wanted to walk with me to the yarn store today, so I had to chase him down and take him back home.)

We found the sizing to be a little big and Christina ended up knitting the size Medium (36-39″ bust). It took 4 skeins of Cascade Sierra, and it’s SO super comfy!

And just one quick pic of my little photographer.

It’s finished!

I really love it. I would have passed up this yarn had I not seen the finished project. But I have to say, it’s one of my new favorite summer yarns.

(photo by Eden)

Stats:
Pattern: Split-Neckline cap-sleeved tee from the book Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel.
Yarn: Invito Multicolor in color Joan (pattern called for 8 balls, I used 5) and Pima Tencel (pattern called for 1, I used 2.)
Needles: Addi Turbos US 7 32″
Use: for me!!

Changes: I decreased the amount of stitches picked up around the keyhole, it seemed to lay better on me this way. I also found it necessary to pick up two stitches in the underarms to avoid holes. And there were a few wording issues for separating the sleeves. Anyone who’s ever knit a raglan sweater can easily fix this.

Now I’m just wondering if I can get away with knitting one in every color?