Knitting update time
have been a knitting fiend this summer - Photos and notes behind the cut!
Certainly my largest project to date....The Sheep Blankie!
Made for my coworker Jamie who is going to be having her baby boy any day now!
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Lime Light & Cotton Ball. Black yarn is Plymouth Yarn Wildflower D.K bought on clearance.
Pattern is "Sheep Dreams" from the book "Knit Baby Blankets". Originally, I was planning on knitting the "Sweethearts" blanket, but when I got the book in the mail I saw the sheep and they were so dang cute that I changed my mind. I'm glad I did as the more I thought of it this seems like the kind of blankie a boy could love as he grows up, whereas a blankie with hearts on it might become "baby stuff" after a shorter amount of time.
This took me about 1 1/2 months to knit, and a lot of that was "speed knitting" knowing that the baby shower was coming up. The sheep were done in duplicate stitch after the blanket was finished, which would have been fine if I hadn't bound off with only 2 evenings to spare before the shower and if the sheep didn't take an hour each to complete. I decided to only do 6 sheep based on not having enough time or patience, and I'm happy with the result. My coworker and her husband love it and even said they hoped it would be his favorite blankie. :)
TIP: Recommend getting a disappearing fabric marker to mark out where the duplicate stitches go!
#2: Kitty Paws Scarf
Yarn: Anny Blatt Fine Kid in "Callisto"
Pattern: http://aroundnround.blogspot.com/2006/12/cats-paw-scarf.html
This was the never-ending lace scarf of all never-ending lace scarves! I started it way back in April in anticipation of my friend's birthday in June (she's a kitty fanatic), but she ended up going home to NM for several months and so I put it on the back burner to work on other more pressing gifts. I picked it up here and there between projects, but felt like I could spend hours on it and not make much progress because of the fine gauge (size 4 needles). Finally my friend announced in August w/ 2 weeks notice that she would be visiting for a few days so I knitted like a fiend one weekend and finished the darn thing. It felt so good to bind off let me tell you. While blocking it became apparent why it seemed to take so long - finished dimensions were 13" wide x 41" long! It was huge and so much tiny knitting! It was a slog but I'm pleased with the results, my friend loved it and her mom is a knitter and gushed about how much work it must have been so at least it was appreciated.
#3 "Blue Jayne"
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash for all 3 colors (2 were already in my stash hence the yarn choice)
Pattern: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=19076.20
Knitted for my brother for his 20th birthday. I went with the Jayne pattern because I myself love Firefly, although I don't believe my brother is necessarily a fan. I went with the un-Jayne-like color scheme because it seemed more my brother's style and I had the white and light blue already in my stash, which is the same reason I used worsted weight rather than bulky as the pattern called for. Hence my first official gauge swatch and altering of pattern based on gauge. Also, my brother has an oversized head (which we have teased him about all his life, poor guy) so I added an additional 1" to the pattern. I have notes about how I altered the gauge on my ravelry page, something i had hoped to find as a reference myself so maybe others will find it helpful.
'I would also like to note that I knit this whole darn hat in 2 DAYS!