quick knit

Yarn Along – A Cardi and a Classic

Yarn Along - The Pomegranate Chronicles

Knitting: I am chugging right along on my Abalone. I have finished the body and have seemed up the sleeves. I used a 3 needle bind off instead of the Kitchener stitch. I just always get frustrated with Kitchener’ and I didn’t want it to lose momentum on this project. Most sweaters have seems at the shoulders, so although I think it would have looked cooler, I didn’t think it was worth the fuss (for me.) I have picked up the sleeve and am almost ready to bind it off. I need to look up i-cord bind off. If you have a good reference for this, please share! I could use it. So after this, the other sleeve, and the edging is left. It’s going so fast. I love it. I think this matching of yarn and needles size is perfect for me. I need to find more projects with worsted/size US8. I am already thinking about my next projects.

Reading: I finished a book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower last week. It was an interesting coming of age book for the next generation. There were parts that made me cringe as memories of high school came rushing back. Filled with serious topics, the story is written in a series of letters to someone by the main character. We don’t know who this someone is, and we never find out why he is writing them. Suicide, date rape, drugs and teen sex are just some of the experiences it covers making it sometimes dark and uncomfortable. I enjoyed the way it was written, it made for a quick read. And although the topics made my stomach turn in thinking that someday Griff will be in high school, overall it was a good story.

One of my goals for 2013 was to read 2 classics. Then I met Katelynn B over at A Yellow Kind of Pretty on instagram (btw, I am sarabethnelson on instagram, find me!) and she has inspired me to double that goal. I took a poll with my favorite bookworms and Wuthering Heights was a clear winner. I do notice it is currently a FREE download for Kindle until March if you are interested in joining me. I honestly know nothing about the book, not about the story or its characters and am anxious to read it. I did start the book last night, well at least the introductions. I am a bit intimidated that so many people have to explain so much about the writer and the structure of the book before it even begins. To be honest, I skipped through most of it. I hope that doesn’t mess me up too bad in the book. I did find it very interesting that Emily Bronte’s sisters also published classics. It made me wonder what their parents did to make them all such well written women. Most of all, I just think it is so amazing that we can read a story published in 1847 on our wireless digital tablets. I am sure in Emily’s wildest dreams, she never could have imagined that. I haven’t decided on my other three classics. If you have any suggestions, please share! If you are going to read Wuthering Heights, please let me know! I’d love to discuss it, if I don’t get too lost in this book!

What are you reading? Knitting?

Joining Ginny

A Spot of Knitting

Amid our summer escapades, I have been knitting. Remember “reality check” with too many pink booties? Well, I did finish a boyish pair.

They are too cute. My neighbor was nice enough to let me dig through her buttons until I found some cute mismatched ones that worked perfectly with the yarn. I was so excited to finally be on the right track that I added a baby hat to make it a set.

It did come out cute, even if I do say so myself!

Happy Knitting!

Just Right Baby Hat Fits Just Right

I was delighted to receive an email this week from my Sister-In-Law. This great email also included these precious pictures of my newest niece Hannah in the Just Right Baby Hat I knit for her.

This hat is SO precious. She looks so adorable in it! I just love baby knits! Happy Knitting!

“Off The Vine” Sweet Pea Hat

This is my latest original pattern. It is a newborn hat I call “Off the Vine” Sweet Pea hat.

I had been tossing around baby hat ideas in my head for a while. I really wanted to participate in the KnitMore Girls newborn/preemie hat challenge. But nothing I was working out was coming out the way I was planning. Then my search for a sweet pea hat happened when a friend wanted to commission me for a “pea pod” hat for twins that her friend was having. Then it clicked together for me.

My inspiration was from this sweet pea image I found:

(c) 2007 Tracy Flickinger

I thought this was so cute and simple. I used size 8 dpn’s with Lion’s Brand Organic Cotton yarn. I wanted something to give it an organic look. This is what I came up with…

I added the picot edge to make it sit sweetly on the new babies face.

I wanted to make it simple. The baby is the key to this hat. I wanted it to look very organic and used a heavier weight cotton yarn to give it a natural feel. I wanted the baby to look like they were just picked off the vine.

The top is decreased with a long icord that is tacked down to make it curl without adding any wire or something to stiffen it. It is soft and simple.  It really came out like a pea pod top. I am very happy with it. I plan on writing up a pattern soon. What do you think?

Cute as a Button

Spoiler alert for Chelsea. I completed the baby outfit made for my future niece or nephew.

This pattern is from One More Skein. I used Sky Blue Organic Cotton yarn and I so LOVED this yarn. I think this will be my go to yarn for baby sweaters from now on.

It is made to match the Super Quick  Baby Britches. Griffin helped choose the blue buttons to tie it all together. I can’t wait to get pictures of the baby in this outfit. It’s a bit bigger- probably a 9-12 month outfit, but I will be sure to post pics when I get them.

A Gift for Mom

I knit up this beautiful sachet to hold potpourri or soap for my Mother for mother’s day. I used the Lace Sachet pattern by Eunny Jang, downloadable for free on Ravelry.

I had some left over fingering weight Pizazz yarn from NH Knitting Mama. This is a very light weight merino wool. It’s so soft and just lovely to use. I used single point needles instead of DPN’s. I worked row 1 in lace and purled row 2.  I worked this pattern for about 3 and a half inches, then switched to straight YO and knit to have a different lace on the top section. I knit this for 3 inches then sewed up the seams. This picture was taken before blocking. It’s amazing what blocking does.

While it was blocking, I worked on the mesh insert. I purchased some toule, cut it to size and sewed up the sides. I wanted the top to have a more finished look, so I added ribbon.

Once the knit bag had been blocked, it was time to assemble it!

This yarn blocks out so nicely. I steam blocked this. As soon as I block it, all the stitches come right out and makes it look amazing. I added the ribbon to the top between the two lace patterns.

And inserted the liner.

This was a great little project with big reward and my Mom loved it.

The Just Right Baby Hat

While my Mother-In-Law was in town last week, I got a few quick projects done. It was nice to have an extra set of hands to look after the Griff so I could get some knitting done. My Sister-In-Law is expecting her second baby in August. She lives out West near my MIL. I wanted to send her home with something for the new baby. I found a very cute and simple pattern on called “Simple Newborn Hat with a Touch of Lace” by Ginny Foreman, available for free on Ravelry.com.

I used Bernat Softee white yarn for this hat. The yarn was a bit difficult and kept pulling in places, but all in all, very soft and affordable yarn. It worked up very fast and only took about 4 hours for me to complete. To give you a reference for size, I actually blocked it on a red wine glass. It is so cute and small and soft…I am keeping this pattern handy for any other friends or family members in the future.