Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift. Show all posts

Monday, November 2, 2015

Works in Progress

So many projects going on! The number of WIP's (Works in Progress) around here is getting a little excessive.

1. The adoption! (Longest. WIP. Ever.) We're still waiting (waiting, waiting ...) to be matched with a child, but we have made a little progress recently. I sent off our I800-A packet today, which is a stack of forms and documentation that goes to U. S. Citizen and Immigration Services. The next thing on the to-do list is assembling the dossier. (DOSS-ee-ay) Many forms, much paperwork. Actually, there are 24 separate forms or documents that we have to fill out/acquire for the dossier. 2-4. 24. Some of which have to be notarized.

2.
These are 4 long-sleeve t-shirts for Munchkin and Twinkle that I've cut out but not sewn together yet. I cut these out from some hand-me-down t-shirts from my brother. I love making clothes out of clothes. Not only do I often get to reuse the hems (definitely not my favorite part of sewing), but it's an awesome way to recycle clothes that still have life in them. They are baseball style t-shirts, so all the shirts, so all the shirts except the white print t-shirt are two colors, with the sleeves and body cut from different t-shirts, so I'm actually reducing the number of t-shirts in the world!

3.

These are the fabrics for a project I'm super excited about. Ikat Bag, one of my favorite sewing blogs, has a fabulous stuffed animal pattern for sale. It's called Menagerie, and it is one pattern that lets you do many many different animals by switching out the ears, noses, tails, etc. The plan is to transform this little stack into a fox, a blue jay, a penguin, a cat, and a blue raccoon (Twinkle's request). I've cut out the many many paper pattern pieces, but that's as far as I've gotten.

4.

This is a sweater that I'm copy-catting. (I checked, there is a free pattern, but it's adult size and in Norwegian.) I'm aiming for a child's size 5. What's that? You in the back? Yes. Yes, the sleeves do not match. Let me explain. The vision for this sweater is that it is a dark gray sweater with a light blue round yoke that will be patterned in a way so that it seems to fade from blue to gray, even though you're only using two colors. I had 2 skeins of gray and one of blue, which seemed sufficient. I'm not sure what I was thinking. I knit the body and the first sleeve, and a wee prickle of concern began to make itself known. There was definitely not going to be enough gray. So, I went back to the drawing board, and designed a little cuff that would echo the idea of the yoke, and would take up some of the gray. A full cuff, plus several rows more. Surely that would be enough, yes? I would knit this sleeve, then I would take out a chunk of the bottom of the all-gray sleeve, and knit the blue pattern in reverse, (going top-down instead of cuff-up) and I would unravel the chunk and add it to my gray ball to knit the yoke.

Awesome plan. Except. I ran out of gray before I even finished the second sleeve. Which meant that one chunk of a sleeve was definitely not going to be long enough to finish the other sleeve and do the yoke. Which means I now have to find another ball of Cascade 220 Superwash 900 Charcoal dye lot 150158. Should be a walk in the park.


Monday, October 26, 2015

A Bundle of Baby Things

One of my dear friends just had a baby, and of course he needed some woolies.

Let us pause for a moment to revel in the wonderfulness of babies in general and knitting for babies in general. The startling smallness of the little humans. The tiny little sweaters and hats. So many soft lovely things. Squee!

And this baby in particular is so adorable, just a little morsel of cuteness. But in the interest of privacy and good decisions, he won't be making his internet debut just yet, so it's just pictures of knitting today.

So much knitting!
I'm really happy with this layette. My friend has wonderful taste and is always dressed beautifully and fashionably. Which makes her a little intimidating to knit for, because my idea of high fashion is putting a necklace on with my t-shirt and jeans. But we cruised around the internet together and came up with a lineup that was simple and classic and also a touch sophisticated. Just a touch, because my friend and I decided that babies do not lend themselves to sophistication. Babies are about round and cuddly and not about standing tall and being sleek and elegant. But we tried, and I like it.

So here's what I did.

Title: a complete knock-off of this hat. It's a free pattern, so I don't know why I copied it instead of just following the pattern. 
Design: a garter stitch hat knit vertically, with a paper-bag top, gathered with a twisted rope of yarn, size small
Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1910 Summer Sky Heather (I think? I can't find any of my labels.)
Finished: October 2015


Title: a total knock-off of this hat. Again, no idea why I copied a pattern that was available for free. So much unnecessary effort.
Design: a toboggon-style hat with a garter stitch brim and ear-muffs. The body of the hat is ribs of stockinette with garter stitch in between, topped with a pom-pom. Size large (for a baby)
Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove
Finished: October 2015

A hat with a pom-pom on top is ideal for a baby that still is going to spend a lot of time lying on his back or in a car seat. And ear-muffs are both adorable and practical on a baby. 


Title: First Outing (designed by me!)
Design: a stockinette vest with garter stitch trim and buttons on the side and straps, size Newborn
Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove
Finished: October 2015


Title: baby pants in the method of Elizabeth Zimmermann
Design: stockinette pants with ribbed cuffs and waistband, gathered with an i-cord tie, size 0-3 months
Materials: Berocco Vintage, in Dove
Finished: October 2015



Title: On the Go-veralls, by Heidi Lehman
Design: stockinette overalls with garter stitch trim and buttoned straps, size 0-6
Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1926 Doeskin Heather
Finished: October 2015

This was a really fun knit, and I love the idea of knitted overalls. However if I make them for a older child in the future, I'll use a chunky wool instead of the worsted that the pattern calls for. The fabric that the worsted yarn makes is a little thin for something that a child would be crawling around in on their hands and knees. Also, the pattern calls for 200 yards for the smallest size, but it used all but a smidge of my 220 yards of Cascade 220.


Title: Pull Gaspard, by Christine Rouville
Design: a stockinette pullover with garter stitch cuffs, sailor collar and kangaroo pocket, size 0-6 months
Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash, in 1910 Summer Sky Heather
Finished: October 2015

I very rarely buy patterns because there are so many great free patterns on the internet, but I bought this one and I'm very glad I did. It's such a clever, stylish design, and it would not have been easy to reverse-engineer from the pictures. 

I finished off the layette with a wee little gnome. I'm slightly obsessed with gnomes, peg dolls and other simple dolls with blank faces. I think they lend themselves to imaginative play very well and they're so iconic. 


Title: garter stitch gnome. I used a pattern once but now it's just in my head and I have no idea whose pattern it was
Design: stuffed gnome with garter stitch body and stockinette face and hat, 6" tall 
Materials: Cascade 220 Superwash in 1910 Summer Sky, white cotton
Finished: October 2015



Ta-da! I hope you enjoy your woolies, little one; it's starting to get cold! 






While I was taking these pictures, Munchkin wanted me to take a picture of him digging ... 

Munchkin's favorite outdoor play right now is digging in his dirt hole.

And then Twinkle had to get in on the action, too ... 


That smile! The dimples!