Archive for the 'babies' Category

Feb 20 2008

it’s a february kind of month

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.

february sweater (by mintyfreshflavor)

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 (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

I-cord detail (by mintyfreshflavor)

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

41 responses so far

Feb 12 2008

double the fun!

Published by Mintyfresh under babies, toys

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.

grabby (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

an icosahedron? for me? (by mintyfreshflavor)

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, StegsTrice must have crawled under the couch or something, because he didn’t come when we called).

gnawing (by mintyfreshflavor)

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

15 responses so far

Feb 01 2008

prenatal

Published by Mintyfresh under 08 FOs, babies

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.

Baby Surprise Jacket (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

Baby Surprise Jacket (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

Saartje's Booties (by mintyfreshflavor)

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!

matched set (by mintyfreshflavor)

56 responses so far

Jan 23 2008

polygonical

Published by Mintyfresh under 08 FOs, babies, finished objects, toys

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.

366.22 • icosahedron! (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

diligence (by mintyfreshflavor)

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

18 responses so far

Jan 20 2008

pentagonical

Published by Mintyfresh under 08 FOs, babies, toys

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.

366.19 • and now for something fun (by mintyfreshflavor)

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.

11 responses so far

Sep 08 2007

bAby + baBy

Published by Mintyfresh under babies, miscellaneous

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!

bAby + baBy

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.

this little piggy went to market . . .

27 responses so far

May 27 2007

a tale of two onesies

Published by Mintyfresh under 07 FOs, babies, miscellaneous

Yesterday, my friend L and I got together for a crafting afternoon. Our mission? Freezer paper stenciling onesies. i’m sure there are tutorials out there on the web, but I didn’t quickly find one when I briefly looked for it, so here is my brief guide to using freezer paper stencils to paint adorableness onto clothing. It’s super easy, and you’ll figure it out yourself, but it’s nice to know you’re on the right track, I think.

Step 1 is to procure the materials. Onesies are cheap from Target or other big box stores like that; fabric paint is not so cheap but the smallest containers I found at the art store will last me for YEARS. I got Jacquard fabric paints, because Jacquard is a dye company I know is respectable. For brushes I got some little sponge-tipped brushes, because I knew we’d rather dab than paint. And finally you need the freezer paper. This is a kitchen item, usually, so look in your grocery store aisle with the wax paper, saran wrap, etc. I must confess I got mine from my mom, who had a roll and was like, ‘yeah, take it.’

Step 2 is to design your motif. I used the computer to draw out what I wanted, since mine was going to be type-based. L looked for images online that she could use as inspiration, and she freehanded hers. Look for pieces with bold areas of color–fiddly use of many colors is not going to work here.

Step 3 is to transfer your motif to the freezer paper, then cut it out. Freezer paper is thin enough that you can just trace. Ensur that the shiny side of the freezer paper is down. Use an X-acto knife to cut the shape out. Think it through: Keep in mind that what you cut OUT is what you will fill IN with paint. So sometimes, if you want to keep an area in the middle white, you need to preserve part of the “insides” to be stuck on separately. If you are doing more than one color, trace your uncut image over more than once so you aren’t just hoping things will match up later when you redraw the shape.

DSC06827.JPG

Step 4, you iron on the stencil! The freezer paper box recommends a “hot iron” for ironing it on. We set the iron to “cotton/linen.” Place the stencil on the onesie where you want it, with something behind it (we put a piece of paper between the layers), just to protect the back of the onesie. Press the iron onto the stencil. Avoid squiqqling the iron around if you have small parts, because you risk shifting them before the paper is set. Just press down; it’ll adhere within 10-15 seconds.

stenciling

Step 5, paint. Put a small amount of paint on the brush and just tap it onto the stencil, ensuring good coverage and paying attention to the edges.

Step 6, the hard part: Wait for it to dry. While it’s drying, I’ll show you an example of our first layer and second layers, so you can kind of see the process a little more closely. Note that we both wanted to preserve white areas within our motifs, so we had separate elements to cut out and stick on. They are simply ironed on with the rest; no sweat.

layer 1, layer 2 for two of the onesies

Step 7, the best part: Peel off the stencil. It comes off really easily; don’t worry!

stenciling

Step 8 is to repeat steps 4 through 7 with your second color. Be mindful when you set down the second stencil, so it’s aligned properly. We have no tricks for this, just our eyes. We did a decent job of it, so I wouldn’t fret too much.

Step 9 sets the ink: Iron the back of the painted image for 30 seconds with a hot iron. This should make it washfast (according to the dye we used).

onesies

Step 10, stand back and coo over how frickin’ cute they are! Decide you are going to go into business creating these. Wish you had more handy to make more immediately.

Lessons learned: When applying ink to thin elements, like type, don’t get all overzealous with the paint–it might bleed just a wee bit. But when applying ink to large elements, like circles, do your best to ensure there’s adquate coverage at the edges! Ah, it cuts both ways.

Explanation of our chosen motifs: Remember the dinosaurs I made? (Stegs and Trice) They’re for the upcoming twins of my friends C and TJ (who occasionaly reads the blog, but I’m hoping he won’t between now and the shower next Saturday). And when they had their first ultrasound, the little girls were labled “A” and “B.” So I made “baby a” and “baby b” onesies! My friend L bought the most adorable frog towel (a hooded towel, where the frog head is the hood) and a little stuffed frog that ribbits for her college friend, who’s pregnant with one. So she made a frog. She also wanted a “lil’ sweet pea” piece, so she made the pea pod, which I’m totally going to be using for some future child, because I luff it so much.

40 responses so far

Apr 04 2007

it’s begun!

Published by Mintyfresh under babies, meetups, skirts, techniques

The Shocking! Skirt is in the works. There are no good pictures in the magazine or online anywhere to help me out with any close-up details of this thing. I’ve completed one panel, and it’s going well–the skirt is pretty straightforward–but I hit a small snag and as a result I’m rejiggering the pattern a bit. Annie and I dissected and discussed it tonight, and I feel pretty confident with my new direction. I’ll give full notes upon completion, especially because by then I’ll know for sure if it’s a good change.

keepin' it real

Basically, the deal is that I want to weave in next to no ends at the end, and obviously with three colors in the works that’s going to be tough. In order to achieve this, I spit-spliced two colors together for the very first time. I asked the folks at knitting group if anyone had experience with two-color split-splicing, and Dame Candle Company (yes! I sat next to the woman behind Dame Candle Company; I’m a geeky Cast On fan, what can I say) said she’d not had resounding success with her attempts. I was daunted but unwilling to give up on the idea that I could make it work. Embarrassing aside: I was all brazen about declaring spit-felting god’s gift to knitting, showing people who didn’t know the technique how cool it is, and of course the first time I was impatient and it didn’t felt all the way, so my triumphant “and then see! it’s one strand!” declaration was a pathetic, separating mess.

On my second try (”for reals this time”), it felted the way it should, and I hit the right color-changing spot exactly. Success!

But the biggest issue with wanting to weave in no ends is that is seems the pattern wants you to knit each consecutive panel in a nonconsecutive piece. That is, the last row worked is a WS row, but the first row of the next panel is also a WS row. Well that will just not do. So I’m going to work it out that the last row worked is RS. We’ll see if this is all foolhardy laziness or a smart trick.

At knitting group tonight we all got to meet Anastasia, Annie’s 2.5-week-old baby! She slept pretty much the whole time and is SO TINY. Mom’s planning to knit them matching Anastasia socks–quite an honor for me!

mother and child

26 responses so far

Feb 11 2007

beware on the savannah

Published by Mintyfresh under 07 FOs, babies, toys

Because there’s another dinosaur out there. This one just looking for your approval–he’s a little insecure but ultimately a happy guy.

hi cutie

all trice

Pattern: Trice
Yarn: Knitpicks Crayon, orange
Needles: US 3 Knitpicks circular
Started: 3pm Saturday
Finished: 1am Sunday
Total Time: 5 hours or so, a little more
Modifications:As with Mr. Stegs, I knit this one in the round and stuffed as I went. I’m not sure if I completely forgot the numbers I used for Stegs or if I just stuffed him more full, but he ended up more chubby than Mr. Stegs. And by golly if he isn’t just even cuter as a result!

But so I don’t forget the values I used in case I want to make one again (which I’m sure I will), and if any of you opt to knit it in the round, here’s what I did for casting on and getting to the 10 stitches that the pattern calls to be cast on.

Nose: Cast on 4 stitches. Kf/b in each stitch on next row. Knit one row plain. K1, kf/b, knit to last 2 stitches, kf/b, k1. 10 stitches.
Legs: Cast on 12 stitches, knit 12 rows. (K1, k2tog) around. Knit one row plain. K2tog around. Draw through (no plain row before drawing through).

The horns actually came out ok, so I’m considering adding Mr. Stegs’s tail spikes, but I’m not sure if I want to.

stegs and trice, BFF

Love!

31 responses so far

Feb 06 2007

just because i’m determined

Published by Mintyfresh under 07 FOs, babies, toys

Or, just because I’m insane.

Or, just because I’m a show-off.

Or, just because it started to be a game.

Or, just because there’s no possible way I’ll keep this up after tonight, but I had to at least try!

stegosaurus

That’s right folks. FOUR finished objects in FOUR DAYS. Is this a PR? Oh yeah. I’m no marathoner like my dad, but this was a knitting marathon, of sorts.

Pattern: Mr. Stegs
Yarn: KnitPicks Crayon in green, with blue for the eyes and mouth
Needles: KnitPicks size 3 circ for the body and legs, KnitPicks size 1 circ for the plates down his back.
Started: I’m not entirely sure. A few weeks ago, soon after a friend revealed she’s pregnant with twins. Actually, right before I started the green socks, because back then I talked about knitting something else green. So . . . January 18?
Finished: February 6.
For: One of the twins referenced above.
Modifications: I am not one for seaming, so I knit the body and the legs in the round, stuffing as I went. This made it far faster and more fun; you can see it take shape as you go. I knit each leg as a simple tube that I decreased for one round and drew it through (like the top of a hat). The plates caused me some trouble, because I considered making it more “accurate” by doing two rows of plates and offsetting them, but then I came to my senses and did what the pattern called for. It’s knit as a simple piece and sewed on, and though I toyed with the idea of picking up stitches down the guy’s back, I managed to come to my senses on this point also, and sewed it on (which took no time at all). The pattern said 8 plates, but I got through 7 and measured it along its back and that was enough. (I did this on the bus; a middle-aged man standing nearby eagerly asked “is that a dinosaur!?” and I was really happy he could tell right away. He even said “I could tell right away; it really looks like one!”)

As for other modifications . . . because I used my own yarn and needles, I went by look and feel more than pattern in a few cases, including the length of the legs (not sure what they’re supposed to be, but I liked a little squatter, and it stands up on them just fine), and the height of the plates (in the pattern, 5 stitches wide at their widest, but for this yarn, I felt 6 was better. I could maybe have gone higher, but it’s fine). Oh, and I didn’t do the tail spikes because the yarn just doesn’t hold up to that.

I love him. Adorable. I’ll make a triceratops to match so each of the twins gets a dinosaur. Yay for knitting for twin babies!

And a big Yay for finishing! This is the most satisfying feeling. Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! (Tomorrow I’m going out to dinner, so there’s just no way. It’s going to be a while before anything else hits FO status.)

Oh, and this all does a lot for my stashbusting, which is another awesome feeling.

25 responses so far

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