Hand Knit Good-ness

The perfect fit

The littlest babe received some extra special hand knit pressies this winter.  My lovely friend, accomplished knitter, seamstress and librarian (doesn't she sound wonderful? she is…) made our girl this gorgeous sweater, booties and baby bonnet combo.

Gorgeousness

It is knit in wool, in the loveliest shade of coral, or orange-y pink, or salmon maybe.  Regardless, the color is beautiful, and the garments are perfect.

Looks great on this vintage table cloth too, eh?

And it is so special to be thought of as recipients worthy of such time and effort as hand knit sweaters and the like.  We love.

"Purple with zig zags, Mom"

New Year Mittens

What knitter can turn down a request for new mittens? Not this one.  It was an especially compelling request when paired with the annual "I don't want to count this" inventory sale at my local yarn shop.  So off I went to find some appropriate purple yarn for the small fry.

What I ended up bringing home was one skein each of Nature Spun Sport Weight yarn in Purple Splendor, Alpine Violet and Plum Line.  They are respectively lavender-ish, magenta-ish and dark purple.  This was my first experience with Nature Spun and I'm a big, big fan.  The colors choices were  very good, and the swatch and mittens knit up really nicely, and blocked beautifully. (And $4.40 per skein - score!)

Last sunlight of the day

I did knit these on really small needles – US 1 and 2.  But my swatch with the recommended US 5s was more loose than I wanted it to be.  The goal was a finished pair of mittens that was super dense to keep the small fry's little hands as warm as possible.  

I made the pattern up as I went along, and learned a new technique for making a knitted cord in the fabric, which turned out just as well as I was hoping that it would.  The thumbs are a little less shapely than I would have liked, but carrying three colors of stranded yarn around a circumference of only 25 stitches is a little of a challenge.

I-corded together

At the end of the day, they turned out really well.  The girl loves them. And I took a little extra time to knit an i-cord to each cuff, so that they will not get separated from her, or her coat or each other.  And I'm hoping that the thickness of three color stranding and smaller needle size do a much better job of keeping her warm than her old store bought mittens did.  More technical details are on ravelry here.

Fossil Pullover in the Wild

The fossil pullover fits and is lovely! The littlest little wore this over the holidays and it fits like a dream.  I had knit the 6-9 month size and she is in 3-6 month clothing, so it's a little on the smaller end of the sizing spectrum – either that or my gauge is on the small side. Not entirely unlikely.

Warm and cozy

It is an easy on and off pullover with the generous button raglan.  The Brooklyn Tweed Loft is warm and wooly, but light.  That is essential as it turns out because this girl is a miniature human space heater.  She doesn't not enjoy being sweaty either, so we try to avoid that at all costs.

The other thing that I love about this little sweater is the hemmed neckline.  No one wants to squeeze their head through a too-tight neck, or squeeze some poor baby's head through one.  And even worse is a neck that is a little too tight once it's on.  The hemmed neck has just the right amount of give, and the folded ribbing helps to keep the form of the neck, so it's not floppy or messy looking.

If you know a worthy little recipient, I'd recommend this pattern.  It's a keeper! Previous post and photos can be found here on the blog, and more pattern details are here on ravelry.

Holiday Recap

Snow dusting our window garlands

The holiday season this year was full, just the right balance of activity and plans and down time at home.  And I imagined myself perfectly prepared for it all this year.  The preceding fall maternity leave would surely have allowed me all the time needed to make this the most relaxed, well planned and perfectly executed holiday break.  And then it arrived and I was reminded that a maternity leave isn't really a vacation.  I was busy doing other fun and rewarding things – like admiring our new girl, and spending quality time with the small fry, lest she feel forgotten, and other essentials like dreft-scented laundry, washing bottles, and the other daily responsibilities that come with keeping a home and family.

The family star

The thing is, that it will never be perfect; not in the Martha Stewart-TV-set-style that exists in my mind.  But it was perfect in its imperfection.  There was last minute rushing around to keep the number of stocking stuffers per person balanced, remembering that groceries must be purchased in order to make the Christmas day meal, and the obligatory last minute wrapping and assembly.

World's best peppermint bark

We had a great time and made the most of the time off together. And probably only I noticed that there was still some cat hair on the couch or that we never got around to making those pecan sticky buns I'd planned.  It's just normal life with a little bit of a work break and a lots of special details crammed into the week.  We hope you had as nice a time as we did.

Spritz cookies

Very fun new toys

Christmas Cookies!!!

And now we've welcomed 2014 with a crisp snow, a house that is almost free of pine needles, and an extra pound or two from those butter-laden cookies.

Cheers to a happy close to 2013.

Posie's Polar Bears

The weather has turned here and it is really starting to feel like winter.  And the Christmas making is going full swing.  I've got a few nice little things to share which have already been completed.  (yeah maternity leave and baby naps… they are a wonder for the productivity.)

New handmade Christmas ornaments

I ran across the Alicia Paulson blog and store a few months ago.  I'm not sure how I have missed her beautiful photographs and posts – not to mention the shop – for so long. I'm addicted now.  This fall I've so enjoyed reading along and enjoying pretty views of Portland.  

I just missed ordering the kit for her Christmas ornament collection for 2013, but thankfully there were others from past years that were still available.  I purchased the 2010 kit and started right away on the polar bear.  And the net result is just darling.  I even had enough of the wool felt to make a second, slightly smaller bear. The blue scarf-ed bear is the bear from the kit.  The second is the one I eeked out of the remnant wool and some of my own embroidery floss and yarn stash.

A pair of bears

Making these was a little time consuming, but they are small enough, that you can work on them with a lap full of baby. They might even be easily portable because of their size, although it would be a shame to lose some of the little bits and bobs that make the nice details, buttons, sequins, etc.  But I think that the time put it was worth it.  I love handmade Christmas.

So this year each girlie will get to hang their own polar bear on the tree, complete with their name embroidered with the year on the back.  I haven't yet started on the mitten or red coat ornament, we'll see how much more I can get finished before the actual holiday!  Cross your fingers, and stay warm.

Finished – Fossil Pullover

Fossil Loft yarn feels perfect for fall

It's done… which happened a few weeks ago.  And I've finally photographed it.  I love this little sweater and cannot wait for the littlest little to be big enough to wear it. (Details can be found on Ravelry here.)

Pin oak leaves and acorns

Chose the vintage buttons

And now I'm on to Christmas making… more posts about that soon.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Fossil pullover

Button selection...

Last month when starting the Stephen West mystery shawl, I was all poised and ready to knit with Brooklyn Tweed's Loft.  As it turned out, that yarn wasn't quite the right type for that particular project (see my post about it).  But I was still really anxious to start something with Loft.  So I cast on the McDreamy pullover by Drops design.  It was a free pattern which I had marked as a favorite on Ravelry some time ago.

I knit this sweater out of the Fossil color way, and my notes about the pattern can be found here.  It was a really pleasant project.  Not so fussy that I couldn't pick it up and put it down without losing my place.  And now I'm working on button selection… I'm leaning towards the rounded vintage buttons (closest to the neckline in the photos).  I was planning on going with pink or red to girl-it-up a bit, but now I'm not so sure…

Leaning towards the top button