pepperknit

Today, I delved into the world of quilting. Two log cabin squares in aquas and reds, made to be “wonky” (a true challenge for me).

I’ve done one log cabin square before, but it was the epitome of precision: each band was 1″ wide, exactly, all the way around, without fail. I didn’t expect it to come out that way, but I’m someone who tends to the exact. For this I was aiming to make it more “free-form,” and though it required careful planning, I think I managed it! The true surprise was how much they look alike—the first was done and not within sight while I sewed the second, and yet I have wide bands in the same fabrics and the placement of the fabrics is really quite similar. Oh well, so much for “random”!

Today’s my dear friend Liz’s baby’s first birthday. I was about to cop out and buy him a book or something, but what kind of friend would I be if I resorted to store-bought? Amigurumi birdies swooped in to the rescue!

Each bird took about 2 hours, but given that I started them late Friday night and was busy all day Saturday, I only sewed parts on the 2nd bird on the subway on my way to the party. As a result, as per usual, the gift was not wrapped. Someday, I will plan a gift in advance, procure the appropriate packing materials, and present the recipients with a lovely wrapped gift complete with ribbon. Today was not that day, as I whipped the birds out of my purse and waggled them at the birthday boy.

He shrieked, grabbed them, waved them about, and promptly flung them away. Seemed like a good reception to me!

Birds of a Feather (Rav)
From: Crochet Today, Jan/Feb 2008
Yarn: A mixture of yarns, including some random 8-ply wool I got in Singapore (the red and the khaki) and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (the beaks)
Hooks: H/8 (for the red) and G/7 (for the other parts)
Notes: None of note. The pattern also includes a comb for the bird’s head but I went without. For one bird’s eyes i made French knots, wrapping the yarn around the needle 3 times (any less and the knot was too small). I attached the wings on one bird with the longest feather at the top and the other bird with the smallest at the top. It was a deliberate choice but I have no idea why. They were fun to make!

After a long drought, I was a bit of a crafting fool in Singapore, huh? Because here’s another FO (and all were knit on US 5, the only size needle I brought!). I should space them out or something, but I’ve waited long enough to blog about this finished object (two whole days)!

I have always had a thing for turtles. In fact, I had a pet turtle, Gus, in college. (He’s buried on campus.) In elementary school, I made a little clay turtle for my mom who we named Tootsie; she’s in storage in Maryland while my parents are overseas. So naturally, this second handmade turtle should be named the Tootsie II.

Let’s hope she isn’t carnivorous.

Tootsie II
Pattern: Sheldon (knitty; rav)
Yarn: Harvest Pure Wool in green and khaki
Skeins: 2 of each color
Needles: Addi Turbo US 5
Started: Friday, August 1
Finished: Saturday, August 2
Notes: I knit the body and top of the shell on my last day in Singapore; the rest I knit in the air flying from Singapore to Korea. The couple sitting next to me were delighted by her (ps, she’s enormous). (FO shots were taken in the Inch’on South Korea airport.) I really hated knitting it; there has to be a more elegant way for the turtle to be assembled (mostly the shell was a pain in the ass—three layers, none effortless matched up). It’s a pretty cute FO, though, so I hope my friend’s baby likes her. She liked the airport quite a bit.

I cast this on at 11:30 yesterday morning . . . worked on it idly during the day while working and doing some intense housecleaning . . . and was all but completely done at 9:30. I admit, even I was shocked.

Child’s Placket Pullover (ravelry; pdf)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Addi Turbo US 8
Size: 0-6 months (the smallest size)
Started: June 23
Finished: June 23

This is the yarn I mentioned having bought in the last post, the yarn that Penelope swore would get me a full February Baby Sweater. For some reason I decided the Child’s Placket Pullover would use less yarn—or, at the very least, it offered a lot of small sizing options. Plus Rachel’s knit a thousand of them and it looks cute; I’d made a Feb Baby before.

In order to maximize the yarn, I knit the body as directed, then instead of pausing to work the sleeves, I did a provisional (crochet) cast-on for the number of stitches the sleeves would have been, and worked the yoke as directed.

Then I went back and knit the sleeves from the top down, working the decreases at about the rate that the pattern calls for increasing. I knit the sleeves at the same time so that I could knit until I ran out of yarn. In truth, I ended up with a small pile of yarn left so I went back after that picture above was taken and lengthened the sleeves, each by about 10 rows (it’s so hard to estimate yarn!). I may have been able to get a little more out of the skein, in fact, but I was done jiggering. In the end, the sweater matches the pattern measurements almost exactly, so I could have just knit it as written and been fine.

Um, was I supposed to put in butonholes? Eh, it’ll just be an open collar for this little boy. It grew a bit upon blocking, but that’s all for the better, because now I can be sure the baby will fit in it. If I were to do another out of one skein of Cascade 220 (and at $10 a skein and just 6 hours of knitting, this is a really economical gift!), I’ll add some length to the body and maybe take a few rows off the sleeves.

Now I’m now more than ready for the upcoming baby boy of the person for whom I originally knit the Baby Surprise Jacket. I was worried I wouldn’t be done in time for the shower—in August. Hm, now what?

Erm, wait, it IS February. But it seems that the February Sweater bug is making the rounds–do people feel more inspired to knit it during the second month of the year, or is this a fluke? Because Annie just finished hers (we can’t believe she finished before me. Not that I think all knitting is a race, but well, I wanted to win), and Stacey is teasing us with her completed one. These are just two of the blogs that I read; I didn’t dare check Ravelry.

Baby Sweater on Two Needles, or as it’s more commonly called, the February Sweater
Knitter’s Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Liza Souza Super Sport, colorway Can’t Elope
Needles: US 5
Size: Longer than the pattern specifies, by about an inch or an inch and a half–eh, I had more yarn and I figured, why stop now? However, I will venture to say that this additional length reduces the cute factor ever so slightly.
Started: February 4, 2008
Completed: Last end sewn in February 20, 2008
Modifications: Knit the sleeves in the round. Down with seaming!
Notes: The reason this took so “long” compared with other tiny things that I knit is that I debated the closure. EZ calls for buttons, and there are some great examples out there with different button placement. But I wanted something that would up the cute quotient.

Pom-poms were clearly the answer. And some 3-stitch I-cord pulled it all together perfectly. When I did the yoke increases, the typical twisted M1s were making the rows look a little wonky, so I went with lifting the strand between and making a hole—the slight laciness in the yoke is cute, and that last row of increases was perfect for weaving an I-cord into. I think my I-cord is something like 20″ long.

This is another baby knit that is awaiting its recipient—and let’s all keep our fingers crossed for another girl, ok?

Remember the twins? My friends’ babies are growing at what seems to me an alarming rate. (Which is why I can’t knit them baby clothes right now. I’ve tried.) Interestingly, they’ve gone from not looking too much like either of their parents into a pair where one resembles dad, and the other clearly has her mom’s eyes. It’s fascinating.

This is Violet with the dodecahedron. Here’s here sister, Charlotte, with the icosahedron. This shot shows the red “base,” which wasn’t very clear in the FO post.

I spent a lovely day with the twins and their parents last weekend, in a snowy Connecticut. This meant we nestled down on the couch, and my friend and I knit. Or, rather, we had a tutorial. I’d taught her to knit back in college, and she was eager to pick it back up again to make a blanket for each of her girls. So we went over the basics of a log cabin, knitting up a little swatch, and we discussed yarn options. I can’t wait to see her progress–and I hope she knows I’ll be finding a way to feature it on the blog.

We also got to see the dinosaurs being well loved (well, Stegs–Trice must have crawled under the couch or something, because he didn’t come when we called).

I know you can’t tell, but Violet is chewing on his tail, and it’s awesome.

When you find out you’re pregnant, you start planning doctor’s visits and taking prenatal vitamins, and you generally brace yourself for the life change that’s coming in less than a year.

Your friends start knitting.

I’d never knit a whole Baby Surprise Jacket before. Started a few, but never finished–sizing always ended up being an issue. See, I’ll letcha in on a little secret: babies continue to grow as you’re knitting, and even if you try to plan in advance, something gets in the way, you get distracted, or something–catching up to an existing child is next to impossible for me. The only way for me to stay ahead of the game is to knit before they’re even born, so that the kid is likely to fit in it at some point.

I really like this yarn but I must admit it’s going to have to go to a baby girl. I love the idea of challenging the conventions of pink = girl, but who am I kidding. This is a sweater for a baby girl. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Baby Surprise Jacket
by Elizabeth Zimmermann, from The Opinionated Knitter
Yarn: Lisa Souza Sport, colorway What a Melon
Skeins: less than 1
Needles: US size 5
Started: Midnight, December 31, on the plane from Chicago to Newark (on the journey back from Singapore).
Finished: Buttons sewn on Thursday, January 31.
Buttons: Bought with Rachel at M&J Trimmings.

Because there was leftover yarn, I couldn’t resist a pair of booties to match.

Saartje’s Booties (pdf)
Yarn, materials, etc: See above
Size: The bigger size
Started: Tuesday, January 29
Finished: Sparkly buttons sewn on Thursday, January 31.

Now all I have to do is wait!

After finishing the dodecahedron on Saturday I planned on starting another, but then I got to thinking about polyhedrons and how easy it would be to make pretty much any shape. So I poked around Wikipedia and decided the icosahedron, a 20-sided shape, would be the way to go. I cast on Sunday morning, and cast off tonight.

It was fun! I used three colors–though I know it looks like just orange and yellow, the cast on and first row of each pyramid is in red. I will take better photos of the pair of toys in daylight soon.

Icosahedron
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in red, orange, and yellow
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Sunday, Jan 20
Finished: Tuesday, Jan 22
Notes: Each of these pyramids is built on a triangle–mine were all 7 stitches to a side. I knit 4 rounds between decrease rounds, except for the last, where I knit 3 rounds. Each pyramid took about 20 minutes to make, and were mindless but fun. The last pyramid, however, was rather unpleasant.

Took 45 minutes, and made me want to quit! But I’m very happy I persevered. This toy is so much fun!

or dodecahedronical. (But since each piece is built off a pentagon, I’ve been thinking “pentagonical” for the past week.) This is in opposition to the “hexagonical” time I had with the skirt.

Celestine
First FO of 2008!
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in blue and in green
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Saturday, Jan 12
Finished: Saturday, Jan 19
Notes: The pattern would make a much larger tree topper, but I wanted it baby-ish-sized (intending to give as a gift), so the base of each point is just 25 stitches. Also, the rate of decreasing would have made a much more rounded shape, and I wanted mine to come out on the pointy side, so I knit 6 rounds between decreases–and only decreased twice (once in the middle and on the last round). I cast on with blue, knit 1 round in blue, and then switched to 2 rounds green, 2 rounds blue.

Would I knit this again? I already am! Stay tuned for a new color combo . . .

Edited to Add (on March 25): Thanks to those who’ve come here via Whipup! To see the second toy, which was not a dodecahedron at all, go here.

There’s just nothing like seeing your handiwork at work, is there? And according to an offhand comment made by the mom, this is not the first time the babies have been dressed in their appropriately labeled clothing. Squee!

I spent the day with my friends, their babies, and another friend and his wife. There were some panicky “Ack! It’s squirming/crying/freaking out! What do I do?” moments on the part of us non-parents, but the parents were chill and the babies were only mildly “fussy” (which we’ve learned is parent code for “pain in the ass”). They are adorable. Even more so when outfitted in the onesies I made.