Socks, socks, socks...

Sockies!!  I made this pair of ankle socks for MaryVance.  I just love how the yarn made such neat patterns!

Last week we made a trip to Hobby Lobby and each of the poikas picked out yarn for socks.  Elijah was first up... I love varigated yarn, you never know where it's going to take you. ;)

Elijah's

Isaac's socks

Isaac picked out the same yarn but asked if I could "please make my socks match" LOL...

Joseph's

and Nehemiah's!

Bitten by the Knitting Bug

When Joseph was a baby I learned to knit longies (wool diaper covers) and really enjoyed it.  However, I didn't see a need or have a desire to learn to knit anything else since we never wore knitted things in Florida.  When we moved to SC it dawned on me *hey, I could pick up knitting again and make things we would actually use!* and thus began my Knitting Journey Part 2.  LOL.
I didn't really remember a lot about knitting and I was not confident in my abilities at all... all of this just happened to coincide with a visit with two knitting friends!  We were blessed to spend time with Kirky (of Knit One, Blog Two and Kirky Yarns).  She is a dear and really encouraged me so much.  I appreciate her more than words can say.  She gave me what I needed to really pick up the needles again.  We also spent time with our dear friends in WI and Cathy showed me the basics again.
On the way home from WI I stopped at a local store and picked up some yarn and needles.  I needed something to do on the trip home and I *needed* to knit again.  I started working on a scarf for Molly.  This is what I had accomplished by the time we got home.

And the beautiful and gracious Molly with her new scarf...

Next I made the logical progression to hats, caps, toboggans, whatever you want to call them.  Don't you just love my model?

Caleb asked for a wool cap that was long enough to cover all of his head and his ears...to use for running and doing outside chores...

Then (if you know me this will not surprise you...) I was bored with plain knitting and wanted to do something different... so I created this for myself :)

I made several other hats, I will spare you the photos... lol...
Then I wanted to make a sweater vest for the poikas (you know, my term for the younger boys... it's Swedish for little boy)  .... and, oh dear, what a process that was.  I used wool that I already had to make sure I could figure out what I was doing and came up with this one:

No, no, the fit is not quite right so I tried another pattern...

which looks okay until you see it on the child it was supposed to fit... lol

Um.. yeah... I'm obviously having sizing issues... roflol... but not one to be easily thwarted I tried again... this time I ended up about ten inches into the pattern that was supposed to fit Isaac with one that would fit Luke and I quit.  LOL. It will be pretty when/if I ever finish it...
So on to pattern number three and this is the result... a little 'roomier' than I would have liked but the fit is better...

Somewhere in there I made this for myself... a felted bag...

Now, I do want to attempt a sweater for the girls some day but I also really, really wanted to learn to knit socks.  A sweet friend had given me a pattern booklet for socks years ago but I never attempted them.  Socks are overwhelming.  Feet are weird critters to sew for... but, at last, I dug the book out and made my first pair of socks.  Before I started I watched a wonderful youtube tutorial on sock knitting and that is what pushed me over the edge to give it a try.

I followed the pattern (well, for the most part...lol) and they are looser than I like socks to fit.  Again, me and the fit issue... So I tried again with a pair of anklets for Molly.  This time I made them according to the smallest measurements given.  They are still looser than we prefer so I went on to a third pair with a different pattern, but I am getting ahead of myself.  Here is Molly's pair.

Okay, where was I?  Oh, yes, the third pair.  Kirky recommended a book (The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns) so I read the instructions, knit yet another gauge swatch, and commenced to make Sam a pair of socks!  Whew... what an undertaking... his feet are way huge... lol

So... they are too big for him... really?  They fit "okay" but not as snugly as he would prefer.  Before I attempt a pair for Caleb I am going to see counsel from The Amazing Kirky ;)
I hope you are not bored with my knitting journey... be glad I spared you pictures of everything... lol.
Thank you again to Kirky and Cathy!  I am loving this knitting thing!

Shorties Number One

These were gonna be longies but as I was knitting away Tony mentioned that they would make neat looking shorts for summer (and if I want to add to them to make them longies this fall then I can ;-) )

I'm going to make him a cute tee shirt with fireworks for this summer!

Finally! Something that fits well!!!

My first wool longies!! -woohoo- These are made from the longies pattern from Little Turtle Knits. Look at the neat pooling! The legs are the same width, I promise, but the pooling makes them look different in size. Here's the front.

Here's the back. They are kinda catty-wumpus looking because they've been worn already!

I'm so excited to have made something Joseph can actually wear!!

First soaker...felted

Remember the 'marine blue' soaker? It was too big so I decided to felt it... and Boy Did I Felt It! It doesn't even begin to fit Joseph now. Sigh. I'm counting it as learning experience... -rolling eyes-

Soaker Finished

Here's the 'denim' soaker finished!

Second Soaker... on my needles now

Started these Monday 12/17.... Paton's Classic Wool in 'denim'... Same pattern as the other soaker but I'm reducing the ribbing by 10 and adding 10 to the body and adding a few garter stitched stripes... you can't really see them in the pic though... This is also a thinner yarn and I'm using a 4.25 instead of a 5.0 so they will be smaller and tighter. -grin-

Joseph in his new soaker

He's so silly! The Junglebook movie was on and he was dancing around and being silly. Sam says little boys always act silly when they are only wearing their underwear!! (Cathy, ya may wanna take a note of that...)

...hears the movie going...
...playing with his belly button while watching JungleBook...
Silly. SiLlY. SILLY!!!

I love him so much!!!

My First Soaker

I finished my first item in wool! This is the soaker pattern from Ottobre. I haven't made the I cord yet for the waist yet. I'll get that done soon and get a picture of Joseph sportin' his new soaker! I started these Wednesday evening and finished them Monday evening.

Last Week... in Review...

Sew... wanna see what I was up to last week??

Sewing.... Yep! Sarah is getting married and I offered to "help in any way" with her wedding and she asked me to make her flower girl dresses and dresses for two of her sisters.

Sew... I made two of these dresses... this is Hannah's but Emily's looks just like it only bigger.

And I made two flowergirl dresses... like this one... (the hem is straight - I promise - it's just hanging wierd on the hanger!)

We can't forget little Stephen... he needed a bowtie!

I also made a skirt for Molly and a dress for MaryVance. I'll get pics of those up soon!

It was a Fun and Busy Sewing Week! I do love to sew!! :-)

And we musn't forget the knitting ... I finished the pair of longies I started the day after Thanksgiving this week. I do most all of my knitting while we are traveling -- I was so Happy to get these done!! I finished them Wednesday evening.

As soon as these were done I immediately cast on my next project! A soaker in marine blue wool... I'm about 28 rows into them now. Pics to follow soon.

Yep, it's been a busy, fun and productive week!

What's on my needles now?

I know you are just *dying* of curiosity... LOL...

I am working on a pair of longies for Joseph. I'm working this pair in acrylic to make sure I understand the pattern before I use wool yarn. I'm using the freebie longie pattern from http://www.tinybirdorganics.com/ . I started these Friday evening. In case you can't tell they are upside down. The brown ribbing is the waist. These are knit flat so there will be two legs and then I'll sew them together. Make sense? Have I mentioned how much I like varigated yarn? lol

I'm also working on a shawl (or something...) for MaryVance. This is my mindless knitting... I need something mindless for knitting while traveling (not while driving, mind you!) I was knitting on the longies in the van this weekend and it was dark and the next morning I realized I had knit three rows wrong and had to pull them out. ugh.

I'm loving Knitting! Have I said that about a thousand times already?!!

My First Completed Knitting Project

A washcloth... It measures 9x10. I thought it was a square but I guess I should have done one more row of squares. Oh well.

I'm pleased with it. There are still a few bobbles but my stitching is getting smoother finally!

Now do I dare start those longies!? Or should I do that shawl for MaryVance first? hhmmm.... decisions, decisions, decisions!!

I'm Learning to KNIT

woohoo!!!

I've wanted to learn to knit for years and years but thought it would be too hard to learn.

One of the ladies on HearthKeepers suggested buying a 'teach a child to knit' book and going from there. So I did! I bought a 'learn to knit this purse' kit geared for ages 8+. I figured if it could teach a child to knit then Surely I could learn, right? I have a very hard time learning from written directions.

We left Tallahassee heading to Jacksonville two Fridays ago. It took me almost the entire time (over two hours) to figure out how to 'cast on' and 'knit'. I don't know how many times I pulled everything out and started over but I finally got it!!!

I had some camo yarn with me and that's what I was using to practice. I made a long rectangular piece and stitched it together and told Sam it was an ear warmer for him. He's such a dear. He said he loved it and he would ear it every day :-). I told him he didn't have to do that and he (inwardly) sighed... hahahaha

So I got some more varigated yarn -- I have a real thing for varigated yarn... and practiced some more! When I bought the yarn (and that would be at a WalMart on our way Home from Jacksonville...snicker) I bought a book about knitting... oh and I got some yummy bamboo needles.





I started with knitting each row. Then I knit a row and purled a row to create a 'stockinette' stitch. After I got the hang of that I decided to try ribbing. See what I REALLY want to learn to knit is longies and longies need ribbing so I had to practice ribbing, right? After the ribbing I did a few more rows of knit then purl.

Then I decided to play with cotton yarn. I think my needles were too small because it was too tight and I didn't like using cotton at all.

But I figured that Everyone uses cotton so it must just be me and I tried again. Bigger needles this time and I was conscious to keep it a little loose on the cast on.

I guess this would be a Sampler Washcloth... I knitted some stockinette to get the feel for cotton ...

There are still some bobbles but I'm getting the hang of it. But it was kinda boring (I think I have Crafters ADD...) so I thought 'what would happen if I knit five, purl five back and forth?

It made a soft of 'checkerboard' pattern. Isn't that cool!

Then I looked in my handy '26 Stitches to Knit' booklet (that I bought at yet another WalMart --snicker--) and thought I'd try the 'cluster rib' stitch. I did something wrong because it doesn't look like the book :rolling eyes:

And let's not forget the beginnings of a sock that I have cast on size 3 aluminum needles. No pic of that one. I don't like it. Of course it's in varigated yarn (red/white/blue). I don't like the long needles. And I can't really see the pattern well enough with the colors of the yarn. But the biggest issue is that the needles are too long. I went to WalMart (do you see a trend here) but they don't have short #3s. Sigh.

I did fail to mention a trip to Hancocks in there. They had yarn 50% off so I got some wool to use for my first longies attempt. All of their knitting supplies were 30% off so I got a few more pairs of bamboo needles, two different sizes of wooden circulars, some little cap things that keep the yard from falling off the needles when you sit it down to rush to the bathroom, some markers and I forget what else.

I think I'm addicted.

Oh and I never did make the purse....giggle.