The Kid-Knit Catch Up Post

Both of my kids have outgrown their winter hats, and they both have tried to steal my fingerless gloves.  So I decided to make them each a full set of winter accessories - hat, fingerless gloves, and new scarves.  This whole concept evolved from the moment I started thinking about it.  What really happened is I saw this yarn on sale at Jo-Ann:

Deborah Norville Serenity Garden Yarn in "Gems".  I originally took this picture to prove to my friend Micki that it was in fact Deborah Norville that was working up so soft and amazing.

I happen to have a child (K) who loves everything rainbow, and I thought it would be perfect for a set for her.  Until I knit a test swatch.  The color changes didn't happen the way I expected, and from the first swatch it just didn't seem like her.  But it really looked like her sister.  (Isn't that funny, how a color palette can have personality?)  So I went back to Jo-Ann and found this yarn:

Still Deborah Norville Serenity Garden Yarn, in "Mountain Heather."

And the way it works up is sooooooo K.  But the pattern for the fingerless mitts I chose (Sojourn) was not her at all (but very H).  And this, my friends, is when Pinterest comes in handy.  I searched through my "Yarny Goodness" pinboard until I found this cable pattern on craftcookie.com, which just fits K's personality.  It's called Angel Wings!  I had to adapt the Sojourn pattern a little bit, but not much.

Pattern for this cable is here.  Image belongs to craftcookie.com

The next problem to tackle was that it gets cold in Idaho, and my little darlings can't walk around with exposed fingertips.  So I wanted to add a "hood" to the fingerless mitts - and it worked!  I'll do a tutorial on how I did this, it was kind of fun.

The hood actually comes down far enough that they can tuck their thumbs in if the weather turns cold.  These are great for fall and spring days, I make them wear real gloves when it snows! (Also she didn't do a great job of posing so you can see the cable, but it ended up right where I wanted it, on the outside of her hand/wrist.)

The final step in the evolution of this project was in the creation of the hat - they both said they wanted ear flaps.  H had a hat a couple of years ago that had flaps, and there was a buttonhole in one flap and a long string on the other, so she could secure it under her chin.  It took a bit of pattern adapting to get these right but finally:

The cable in K's hat is in the flaps - that made them a little longer.

There's also a tutorial coming on this.  I've sent my instructions to some brave volunteers to check that my math works for other people's kids!

H's Sojourn scarf in progress - it's ripply.

The scarves were the last thing I did.  H's Sojourn pattern worked so nicely, all I had to do was cast on a multiple of 6 (with a 3 stitch border on each side), and boom I had a scarf.  The Angel Wings made things a little more interesting - I actually had the main cable motif run up the center, and I had half the motif on each side, but offset, so when the cable pattern in the center twisted, the side motifs were ending/starting.  In short, there was more math happening in my house than I really wanted, but I'm so happy with the result:

H's hat actually has to be remade, because somebody (me) didn't measure anything correctly.  It was 1.5" to short, and I tried to guess how long her ear flaps should be.  But her scarf and mitts turned out perfect.  And the best part is, I finished everything before the snow arrived - the second week of November (and then we were in the 60s yesterday, in the second week of December).

Wordless Weekend - Reason #37 You Should Have Fingerless Gloves

Catch Up Post #2 - Summery Knitting

So, yes, I'm weird and I knit with worsted weight yarn in the summer.  Actually, in the picture that's sock weight, but it has wool in it.  And you can see beyond the chair my feet are resting on, the backyard swimming pool.  I think on this day I was pretending I was still in Vegas with my girlfriends (that will be the next post).  I spent a number of days in this spot after that vacation, focusing on the yarn and pretending things were normal when they were anything but.

Glad we have that out of the way, now on to pictures!

I think I've told you before, I have an obsession with entrelac.  Here comes the Grape Simply Soft again - I was determined to master entrelac so that I didn't have to keep referring to Planet Purl videos (awesome video tutorials, by the way).  So I ended up making a scarf.  I took this picture to post on Facebook and ask if anyone wanted a purple scarf - my friend (and fellow Vegas tripper) from Seattle had just gotten University of Washington season tickets and very quickly claimed this for herself.  I finished it for her poolside in Vegas (no shipping!) and she was thrilled with it.  I need to get her to send me a picture of her wearing it to a game, because once again I forgot to take a picture of the finish!

So in the picture at the top of this post you saw the sock yarn - and here's what the sock yarn became: fingerless gloves.  No.  Entrelac fingerless gloves (told you I was obsessed).  The complete pair is featured in my profile picture, too. :)  I'd originally planned to make these with souvenir yarn from Vegas, but I decided to practice on the cheap yarn first.  These are very cozy (and they were a lot of work!) so for now they're the only ones I have.  I originally made them because I remember my hands got very cold when I was working in my "office space" last winter.  But I'm not spending as much time downstairs - that's the beauty of having a laptop, you can kind of work anywhere.  Today I'm sitting in my stitching chair, with the fireplace DVD going on the TV and the sun streaming in the window.  I'm not cold.  But these are great to wear to the school bus stop on cold days because I can be on my phone unhindered.

You all know legwarmers are a huge trend, right?  My 9 year old likes to give her friends handmade gifts for their birthdays, and usually they're gifts made with her hands.  But this year she decided she wanted to give her fashionista friend legwarmers that I made.  We went through the Ravelry pattern database, and she picked these.  She picked the colors, too.  They're pretty simple cable-knit (my first cable project) with i-cord laces to keep them up.  Btw, that's one thing I remember hating about legwarmers in the 80s, they always slid down my calves, and it was really uncomfortable.  Both girls thought these legwarmers are super-cute, and they've requested them as Christmas gifts.  So the Christmas legwarmers are now in progress.

I did also finish my knitting bag before my trip to Vegas, but of course, I didn't take a good picture of it.  You'll see it in my Vegas vacay post, though!

A finish!

I know I didn't do MWIS this weekend.  I wanted to wait until after dh's birthday to post this pic, just in case he actually reads what I write.

Lion Brand Wool-Ease in "Denim Twist"

Click here for pattern

I finished his fingerless gloves!  I went with the half-finger style, and as you can see, they're way too big for me, so they fit his hands just fine.  He loves the color, he loves the fit, now he's just waiting for it to actually be cold enough for him to wear them.  So I'm really proud of these because a) I finished them before his birthday; b) he likes them a lot; c) they fit him well; and d) they are exactly the same size.  Okay, I'm probably most excited about that last one.

If you check my October goals, you'll see that I did finish the bottom-right motif on Book of Ink Circles.  However, I forgot to take a picture of it.  So this weekend you'll get 2 shots of BoInk in one post.  I know, you're excited.  I may actually be able to date this project 2010.

The rest of this week will be spent making a garden in the back of a vehicle.  Every year our church hosts a Trunker Treat event during the Harvest Party, and people decorate their car trunks.  Last year we were a shark, this year we're going to be a flower garden.  My agenda for today is cutting cardboard pickets out of fabric bolt cores and making yo-yo flowers.  I may spend more time on the yo-yos than the pickets.  Just sayin'.

My Week In Stitches

Fairy Sisters - I did the rest of the confetti on page one and one more row.  Because the main color right now is so dark, it's hard to see when I leave spaces for the confetti stitches.  So from now on I think I'll do them first.  At least that's what I think right now.

Blue Sweater - this received quite a bit of my attention this week.  I'm so happy with myself - I remembered to note on the pattern not only where I stopped, but how many more rows of that section I had left.  It saved me sooooooooo much frustration!  I still feel like it will need more reshaping, but I'm going to wait to do that until the skirt portion is finished.

Brown Sock(s) - I finished one!  I need more yarn to make the second one!  LOL - fortunately, the Etsy seller I purchased this yarn from still has the same dye lot in stock.  In my defense, I did the math based on the yardage of the yarn, and it was more than the pattern called for.  So, I was good.  Maybe the pattern only gave the amount of yarn needed for one sock instead of one pair, but that seems kind of silly.

My crochet pattern obsession continues...last night I downloaded 2 fingerless glove patterns one for DH and one for me - because sometimes you need to be able to use your fingertips when it's cold outside.  DH's birthday is coming up at the end of this month - I may try to surprise him with his.  Not hard, because he works evenings.  Honey, if you read my blog, now would NOT be the time to tell me. ;)