Teddy Bears

A few months back I was out shopping with my Mom for craft supplies when I came across a free pattern to knit an adorable teddy bear.  I decided since the yarn to make it was on sale that I'd get some and make one for Kyrie.  It turned out to be a very simple pattern that knit easy and stuffed well.  The tricky part was sewing the buttons on for the arms & legs.  When it was finished, it was so adorable that I decided to make a blue one for my cousin's baby shower.  The boys of course loved the bears also so I've made one for Conrad in green, white, and brown.  I've got blue yarn for Matthew's, and thank goodness Robert doesn't want one...yet.  To be honest I'm quite tired of knitting bears!

Unfortunately all the pics I took of the bears, in progress and finished were on my phone's SD card that got formatted.  When I find the pattern though I'll post it, as well as the adjustments I made to it to be able to knit it in the round.  It worked out much better without the seams sewn up the back of all the body parts.

A Hat For Emma

 Yesterday  morning the family and I got invited to cousin Emma's 3rd birthday party.  We were instructed not to bring gifts.  You know no one ever listens and always brings gifts for a 3 year old.  I decided instead of going out and buying things that I would make her gifts.  I already had a cute purple and green scarf that I'd knitted a long time ago and never gifted so I though I'd make a hat to add to it.  I played around with a ton of yarns, patterns, and gauges before I finally settled on this one.

Here is the pattern that I used http://mlminspirations.com/patterns/HappyHat/happyhat.html

I edited it for a toddler size.  I used size 6 needles with chunky boucle yarn and cast on 45 stitches.

I knit in the round for 6" instead of 7".

 

Orange Slipper Socks

I decided against starting my socks right now.  To try out my newly honed round knitting skills I started a pair of orange slipper socks for Matthew.  These knit up nice and quick and I've already finished sock one.  It is SO nice to look at a non-twisted sock!  I'll be starting sock #2 this evening.  After that I have a teddy bear to make for a baby shower.  I'm probably going to make a little baby beanie too.

Here is the leg, heel flap, turn, and gusset.

The finished slipper sock.

The sock on Matthew's foot.

here's my story

Today I decided to start a blog all about knitting. Here's my story.

I started knitting a few years ago when my son Matthew was in the hospital. He had a virus that left him severely dehydrated and unable to keep anything in. I spent an entire week at Children's Hospital with him. I was bored silly! Day 3 I decided to go to the gift shop to see if there was anything interesting to do. That is where I found a learn to knit kit. It had everything I needed to make up to 2 projects from the book. After untangling my first hank of yarn (boy did I make a mess) and rolling it up into a ball I got started with my very first cast on and this is where my knitting journey began.

I started out slow with scarves, cell phone socks, and other tiny projects. By the time Matthew turned 3 and had his tonsils & adenoid removed (yet another week long hospital stay) I was making my very first sweater for him. I never finished the neck of that sweater but he loved it because I made it and wore it proudly even though he needed a t-shirt underneath it. When my daughter was born I had graduated into hooded raglan sweaters complete with drawstring pants. I have many projects simple and complicated under my belt now and I'd like a way to catalogue each one. Almost everything I make is a gift and I'm looking forward to recording the process of each one from now on.

My current project is socks. I had gone to the craft store with my mom so that she could pick out a sock yarn color. I'd made her a pair last year and she loved them so much she wanted another. After I got the yarn home I read the "ingredients" of the yarn were 50% superwas merino wool, 25% bamboo, and 25% nylon. I called my mom right away knowing she's allergic to wool. Now I have 2 skeins of this beautiful yarn so I decided not to let it go to waste and make socks for myself, as I do not have a wool allergy. I set to work on the first sock soon after. Today I was 3/4 of the way finished with the first sock when I had a brainstorm. I've always had problems with my round knit projects twisting. I could never figure out what the problem was. It was so frustrating to know that they were not supposed to turn out the way they were and being able to do nothing about it. I even consulted with another fellow knitter who didn't see the error of my ways. Today I figured it out. I was knitting in the back of all of the stitches when I needed to be knitting from the front. Such a rookie mistake but this is how it goes when you teach yourself from a book and concepts in your head. You know of course this means that I have to rip the entire sock out and start over. It's sad to know that 10 hours or more of work is lost but will be so very rewarding when my socks finally turn out untwisted the way that they are supposed to. I think I'll wait til tomorrow to start over. There will be pics of course.