We’re well into the rhythm of summer around here. Lazy mornings, no school, games, lego, reading, and a little crafting jumble together with camping trips, visitors, and finding ways to avoid the muggy heat (thank you, central air!)

My latest finished project is this scrappy baby quilt. When I look at it, I see bits of things I made for my own kids scattered throughout, which is an extra layer of fun just for me.
This is from the Quilt in a Day series of books, though that title is laughable from my point of view – this project was started the same year this blog was. Three years ago.

As my first all-machine pieced and quilted quilt, this little gem has more mistakes than I can count. No, I’m not telling. This year, I’m concentrating on finishing things. My thought is that something imperfect but done can be loved far more than something perfect but unfinished.
So far, so good – the tyke that received this ocean quilt loves it. It’s been gone out of my hands less than 24 hours and it’s been napped with, shown to Daddy, and used as a playmat while playing games. I’m pretty sure he’s not looking at the crooked stitching.

Details:

Started:	Jul 2006
Finished:	22 Jul 2009
Pattern:	Spider Web Scrap Quilt from Scrap Quilt: Strips and Spider Webs by Marcia Lasher.
Materials:	100% woven cotton fabric. Scraps left over from kid hats, shirts, vests, curtains, a picnic quilt, and I Spy Quilts. New fabrics were added to complete it (white sailboat print, backing, and some of the sea prints.) Cotton batting is Quilters Dream Cotton, Request (thinnest loft) from Kelsul, Inc.. Cotton-covered polyester thread (Coats Dual-Duty).
Notes:	Finished quilt size: around 42″ square. Machine applied the entire binding. Originally bought binding, but couldn’t figure it out and made my own. You Tube has a lot of binding application tutorials. Of the ones I saw, my favorite is this one. I also used a booklet I had at home, Happy Endings: Finishing the Edges of Your Quilt by Mimi Dietrich.

Meet Knitty Kitty – so named by one of my sons, and gifted last Christmas to an exuberant toddler. If you’re looking for a baby-safe easy knit that can stand up to some serious loving, this pattern may be for you.

Everything on Knitty Kitty is knit flat and then seamed, and it’s all stockinette. All color changes are at the edge, so no need to get fancy with the one-yarn-in-each-hand trick. I just carried the unused yarn up the sides, and left all of the niggly ends inside with the stuffing. Easy peasy!

This pattern is so forgiving that I ended up using two different weights of yarn (it was what I had on hand), and it worked out just fine. Just be sure that you attach the arms, legs, and tail to the correct end of the cat. It’s no fun to go to embroider the ears and find out that the whole thing is upside down. Or so I’ve heard. Ahem.

Knitty Kitty currently resides in a posh crib, where he’s been known to wake up his new bud from his afternoon nap. “Knitty Kitty woke me up. He was being pouncy.”

Details:

Started:	10 Dec 2008
Finished:	21 Dec 2008
Pattern:	Knitted Cuddlies by Louisa Harding. Ravelry link to pattern page. The pattern also has variations for a teddy bear and rabbit. This pattern is free, though you need to sign up for the Knitting Daily website to download it (also free.)
Yarn:	Knit Picks Merino Style (DK) in color Hawk (dark gray), adn Lion Brand Wool Ease (worsted) in Gray Heather.
Needles:	US6 / 4.0mm trusty old straight aluminums.
Notes:	Features embroidered with the same yarn I used to knit him with. He’s stuffed with ‘Airtex premium’ polyester fiberfill. Ravelry link for this project.

Here you can see the back and tail… and my cat checking out the competition.

No, no, I haven’t been holding out on you. There are no more little ones in my future for at least another 17 years, if I’m lucky.

This little set will set sail shortly with the rainbow blankie to Operation Marine Corps Kids.

This cute sweater worked up rather quickly on straight needles. Then, I had to face the facts. Unlike the Baby Surprise Jacket, this sweater has REAL SEAMS, two of which are very visible. See, I’ve been knitting off and on since I was small, but I’ve never gotten the hang of seams. Every time I’d go to do one, I’d just flip it and sew it from the inside as best I could, ripping and re-doing it until it looked presentable. Y’all, why didn’t you tell me I was sewing it from the wrong side? I googled around, and discovered the mattress stitch. It was a revelation to realize that sewing from the front allows you to see what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Holy mackarel! No need to re-sew! For anyone tackling a seam like I used to do, go look at these instructions. You’re welcome.

Here’s the cap I made to go with it. Believe it or not, this is the same yarn. The close-up of the sweater is the true color. The original cap was edged in garter stitch, but I switched to seed stitch to make it match the sweater. Between that change and the guesses I made to change yarn types, I’m hoping the hat and sweater will fit the same baby simultaneously. We can hope.

My son’s pal, Wimpy Chimp, consented to model the hat for you all.

Sweater Details:

Started:	Jan 2008
Finished:	28 Feb 2008
Pattern:	Daisy by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn:	Plymouth Dreambaby DK Solid in light blue (color 102). 100% acrylic, DK weight yarn. Less than 2 skeins.
Needles:	US 7 / 4.5 mm
Notes:	Made the 0-3 month size. I believe I got both the sweater and cap out of two skeins. It was three at the very most.

Cap Details:

Started:	25 Apr 2008
Finished:	21 May 2008
Pattern:	Sweet Baby Cap
Yarn:	Plymouth Dreambaby DK solid in light blue (color 102). 100% acrylic in DK weight. Less than a skein.
Needles:	US 7 / 4.5 mm. My gauge was 20.5 sts to 4″.
Notes:	I modified the pattern from fingering to DK weight yarn, and from a garter stitch border to seed stitch. I-cord ties measure around 9 in / 23 cm.

Hey, y’all. What’ve you been up to? I took some time off from blogland, but I’m still crafting away in moments stolen from the rest of my day. This bright baby blanket will soon be on its way to Operation Marine Corps Kids. If you are the charity crafting sort, please go check out their blog. It’s a lesser-known charity with a worthy cause.

I had this blanket with me at our last local knit night, and was taught the ‘crab stitch’ edging for it (thanks, Barbara!) After I returned home, I realized that the way I was doing the crab stitch was the same thing as turning the work over and working a row of sc, so that’s what I did.
Sure enough, I did it wrong (sorry, Barbara!) I’m sure it was the student, and not the teacher. At any rate, the blanket still lays very nicely; the bobbling in the photo above has everything to do with the condition of my front lawn. For anyone wanting to know what crab stitch really looks like, read about it here instead of looking at my blankie!

Edited to add: I’m sorry, guys! I totally forgot to add my pattern and yarn information. Here it is.

Started:	22 Mar 2008
Finished:	17 Apr 2008
Pattern:	Round Ripple Afghan by Sew on Fire Ministries
Yarn:	Caron Simply Soft Brites in: Rubine Red (9926), Mango (9502), Lemonade (9503), Limelight (9504), Berry Blue (9506), Grape (9507), and Simply Soft in White (9901)
Hook:	H / 5.0mm
Notes:	This is crocheted; I might try to figure out how to make a knit one someday. I worked 5 rounds of red, then 4 rounds of each color with a round of white in between. After working the final purple round, I turned the work and did a row of single crochet from the back side (next time I’m going to do crab stitch!) Inspired by a similar blanket by “Sunspotted” on Ravelry. Materials used (in grams): Red – 4g, Orange – 26g, Yellow – 44g, Green – 68g, Blue – 72g, Violet – 108g, White – less than 70g. Point to point, it measures 35.25″ (89.5 cm) across.

Hi y’all. If it seems like I just took off, it’s because I did. If I could contrive a way to live in the mountains here in NC, I would. Just look at this sky.

The family and I went on a little camping trip to the mountains. It was great fun, complete with knitting time around the campfire. The photo above was taken from a mountain meadow, where we were nearly in the clouds. The sock I was knitting was too complex to do in the dark*, so I ended up knitting this in the evenings:

A plain MDK baby bib. It’s in need of some embellishment and a button to fasten it around the little cherub’s neck. Anyone know where I can find a pattern for a crocheted froggie patch or some such? I’ll have to go on a search.

And, I finished up my first River Valley sock shortly before we left. Here it is, lying about in its native environment. The lovely yarn is from Cabin Cove Mercantile – the Inkblot colorway.

I’m ready to go back now, please.

* It freaks the muggles out when you knit in the dark around a campfire. Each evening, a different person would ask, “How can you see what you’re doing?” Easy enough to answer – I can’t!

If you’re ever in the mood to torture the neighborhood squirrels, I highly recommend one of these feeders. I put this little gem up in our yard on Sunday and spent the rest of the afternoon keeping score. At the end of the day, the tally was Feeder: 3, Highly irritated squirrel: 0. You can’t tell from the picture, but when the squirrel puts any weight on the perch, the cage on the outside fo the feeder lowers, and those pretty leaves cover up the access points for the bird seed. Our leaves are a bit chewed now (did I mention the squirrel was irritated?) but still functional.

Here’s my first baby burp cloth from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book…

Started: 6 May 2007 Finished: 13 May 2007 Pattern: Baby Genius Burp Cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting Yarn: Sugar ‘n Creme in Summer Splash and Hot Green Needles: Old funky aluminums, size 8 (need to use a smaller size next time. A 6, maybe.)

Its amazing how having my boys opened up my world. I’m the sort of person that goes through a store with a smile, but doesn’t really talk with anyone. I’m not anti-social; just terribly introverted. Backwards, as my kindergarten teacher used to say.

Some of my shyness has fallen by the wayside as I’ve gotten older; even more has fallen away since having the boys. Tweedledee, in particular, will chat up anyone he meets. And, not surprisingly, they chat right back – he can be rather engaging.

So, it’s no surprise that I’m on a first name basis with many of the pharmacists that we see at our neighborhood Target. What’s a little more surprising is that one of them – we’ll call her Em – calls out to the boys whenever she sees us pass down an aisle, or stops by the cafe if she sees us there having a snack. If the boys spend their allowance on something, they want to go by the pharmacy to show Em. She’s one of those natural kid-people. Happily, Em just gave birth to her first little one. He showed up a bit ahead of schedule, but everyone is doing fine.

For Em, I jumped in and made my first Baby Surprise sweater. I love that this:

folds up and turns into this:

Too cool. I love me some Fun with Geometry. Tweedled’oh and I picked out these buttons:

The little guy has an Irish name, so it works out well.

As for the pattern, I had a smidge of trouble. I’m great with mindless knitting, and difficult knitting. It turns out that mostly-mindless knitting trips me up. It’s not hard enough to keep my attention, so my mind wanders off and the next thing I know, I see that I very visibly messed up an increase six rows down. *sigh* Rip. Do over. Pay attention for a few rows. Repeat ad nauseam.

Details, details:

Started:	31 January 2007
Finished:	Knitting – 26 Mar 2007 Finishing – 2 Mar 2007
Pattern:	Baby Surprise, from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Workshop
Yarn:	Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK. 50% acrylic microfiber, 50% nylon. Lovely and soft; I’d use it again. I picked up the buttons at Jo Ann’s. I can’t find the button card to tell you the brand.
Needles:	Circular aluminums, size US 5 (I think.)

Seven years ago, I was in a hospital bed living my own personal movie of the week. About this time every year, my thoughts turn to how lucky and unlucky we as a family have been. All of you who have been through your own movie of the week (and, really, who hasn’t?) know what I’m talking about.

So, it amused me to no end when I realized what I was knitting. A little less than seven years ago, I sat in a NICU and knit this:

Don’t look too close – it’s pretty horrendous. One seam is still undone, and the ends were never woven in. No button at the top. It kept me sane whilst I sat in the NICU with the boys for a few months. That, and a bunch of preemie baby booties for my boys and some other little guys in the NICU. By the time it was done, I knew the boys were probably going to make it. I also knew that there was no way I’d have time to knit a second one. And, it was WAY too big for either one of them. After spending spring and summer at the hospital, we finally came home. Through the next three years when we struggled through our days, and then the four years of “normal” life that followed, this baby sweater sat around. It popped up from time to time, during a move or when I was reorganizing the craft closet. I thought about finishing it several times, but it never felt right. It was therapy for me, and I think it’s finished just as it is. Time to pack it away.

This week, I finished a little something for myself.

Feather and fan strikes again. It’s the first time I’ve knit it since that baby sweater. This is nylon/merino sock yarn from Cabin Cove – ‘boquet’. I am happy to report that I can knit with (and wear) this wool. It’s a teensy bit itchy on my feet, but I’m really sensitive. Knitting it didn’t cause any breakouts on my hands; I’m surprised and amazed. If you have trouble knitting wool, try wool that’s been treated to be machine washable. It’s lovely.

This was my first toe up sock, and my first sock with a short-row heel.

Comfy cozy!

Started:	Around 10 Feb 2007
Finished:	28 Feb 2007
Pattern:	Wendy’s generic toe up sock + feather and fan, modified for my feet. 60 stitches around (could stand to be smaller), 72 on the leg for the feather and fan (note: switch to smaller needles next time.) I knit 7.25 inches before the heel, and that should be a little less, as well.
Yarn:	Merino nylon sock yarn (80% washable wool, 20% nylon) from Cabin Cove Mercentile in the ‘boquet’ colorway.
Needles:	My little metal 4″ needles from addi, size 1.

This cheeky little hat is headed on its way to California, as soon as I can convince it to stop frolicking with the kitchenware. It is being donated to a breastfeeding awareness campaign, and will be given to a newborn from a low-income family. I hope it brings a smile to someone’s face.

I had intended to make another hat, but the watermelon is tired of waiting for its sibling. The Li’l Green Apple hat is having a time of it, mainly because I’m teaching myself to knit continental-style. It seems like a reasonable way to knit for economy of movement. However, I am finding that overcoming over twenty years of muscle memory is… kinda time consuming. I’m getting there, though. I’m sure the apple will find another charity home evenutally.

For those of you who can whip out a hat as quick as a flash, the deadline for this particular campaign is the end of July. You can get the address to mail hats to on the Harlot’s site (look in the July 14th entry.)

Started:	July 2006
Finished:	11 July 2006
Pattern:	From the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Scroll down to the July 1 entry for instructions.
Yarn:	Sugar ‘n Cream Cotton in Hot Pink, White, Hot Green, and Sage Green. Caron Cotton Tales in Black. It’s a little rougher than I’d like for a baby item, but if experience with my dishcloths holds, it will acquire cushy softness with use.
Notes:	My first duplicate stitched item. I’m pretty sure the inside is a mess. I’m also pretty sure the baby won’t care.
Needles:	I’ve forgotten already! I think they were Bates aluminum dpns, size 6.

Blogger is being finicky this week; if you’re reading this, I managed to stay on long enough to post.

I proudly displayed my pointy sticks during lunch at Panera Bread on Worldwide Knit in Public day last Saturday. Not another knitter was in sight, and I registered at least one sidelong glance from folks at another table. Mission accomplished, though I didn’t get much done between sitting, eating, and making sure my spawnlings didn’t do anything they shouldn’t.

The blankie is coming along. I don’t know what possessed me to buy acrylic yarn for this thing. Well, okay, I *do* know what possessed me. I thought it would be lighter and airier than cotton, I can’t knit with wool or animal fiber, and I wanted something that Mom can throw in the wash when unmentionable bodily fluids get all over it. That said, I’m now wishing I’d picked a nice, soft cotton. Live and learn. It’s too late to go back now, so I’m pressing on. My boys still love the blankies Grandma made from this same yarn, so I figure the baby won’t care.

I’m also hoping to get the little one set up with a travel quilt for days at the park. But, first blankie’s first.

Status on curtains: stalled. Yarn dyeing: need to get the dye. All my other unfinished projects: currently forgotten.