Daily Craft - Coming along nicely!

3 hours into knitting the baby blanket, I'm really quite thrilled with my choice.  After getting over the fiddly beginning with only 8 stitches, several double pointed needles, and feeling a bit like I'm all thumbs - this is now proving to be a super quick knit.  Thank you no purl stitches.  I'm thinking all blankets should now be knit in the round so that you can eliminate purl stitches altogether and just whip in circles. 

I'm also pretty psyched about how the colors look together.  The dark color in the picture is actually more of a pine green, and I think the combination is a good one.  I'm following the stripe design from the original pattern (sort of), but incorporating 6 colors instead of 5.  I think I'm going to love it.

I should also give two very big thumbs up to the yarn.  This is my first time working with Plymouth's Dream Baby, and I gotta say that as an acrylic/nylon blend, this may actually sway even the most particular yarn user that not all acrylic yarns are bad.  It is SO soft that just want to curl up with it.  I've heard that it just keeps getting softer with washing too.  Soft and functional?  Sold. 

Daily Craft - The great blanket debate

As my parting payment from sample knitting with Plymouth Yarns, I opted to get a bunch of baby yarns.  I got some Dream Baby DK, Jeannee DK, and a fun textured yarn, Whitney.  All in neutral colors of course, seeing as we have another 2 weeks before I go in for my anatomy scan and find out gender.

What's up with this poor kid's head
being super-imposed on here?!

One of the things I intended to make is a knit blanket...but my search for a blanket ended up being quite complicated with thousands of patterns out there to choose from!  With 6 coordinating colors, I wanted something that would be fun and show off the colors nicely.  In the end, I narrowed it down to 3. 

I did somewhat fall in love with this Honeycomb Stroller Blanket - which looks amazing in bright, bold colors (thank you Ravelry!).   The pastels in the pattern photo do NOT do this justice.  I decided against it for now though as I want something that looks nice on both sides and didn't feel like dealing with adding a backing fabric to a knit piece for now.

I also considered the Bright Blocks Blanket pattern (pictured left, courtesy of Lion Brand). I really like the woven look of the squares, but I've not done a ton of entrelac and I feel like I'm looking for something that won't take forever to do and I don't have to pay much attention to.  Yes - I'm aiming for a good quantity of knit items while I still have the time to do it! 

My final decision?  I've opted to make the Constant Baby Blanket, which will be a nice square blanket, worked from the middle out using simple stitches, but will show off stripes nicely, while being a good mindless (and quick) knit.  Time to cast on...  :)

Daily Craft - WTF was I thinking?

You probably don't remember this post from last year where I shared my chevron baby blanket crochet project.  I worked on it diligently for a while, then decided to bring it into work to continue on my lunch breaks.  It was tucked away for a while in a bag, sad and neglected.  Recently I decided I should probably continue with this project and have been crocheting a little bit at a time. 

I think it's coming along really nicely and I love how it looks - but I'm using fingering weight yarn!  OK, seriously, wtf was I thinking?  I must be mad.  At this rate, I'll be done with it by 2014.  Thankfully, I started this project without a specific baby in mind - because any planned recipient would probably be in first grade by the time it's actually finished.  So, lesson learned - tiny yarn for tiny baby doesn't make for a quick project...even if I do think it's adorable. 

Share your "wtf" moments with me!  I need some support.  :)

Daily Craft - The search for the perfect cardigan

I don't knit things for myself very often.  One factor being that I live in Southern California, which doesn't present itself a ton of opportunities to bundle up with warm wooly items.  [Really, it probably would have been a good idea for me to learn to knit when I was still living in England, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.]  The other factor is that I do a lot of sample knitting - which I enjoy, but it is work and leaves me very little time to knit for myself because I tend to gravitate toward other crafts between sample knit projects.

As the weather is starting to cool off out here in sunny CA, I have concluded that it's about damn time I made myself a cardigan though.  I love the patterns for cardis and jackets using fun, chunky yarns that knit up in no time...but realistically, I won't wear a lot because the cold season is so short.  I also wouldn't wear anything too thick in my office.  A month from now they'll be turning up the heat in the building and I'll end up sweating with my desk fan blasting at my head because my office is a closet (complete with fuse box for the entire floor - ah yes, I have the power to turn stuff off!) 

So, yesterday I continued my search for the elusive cardigan pattern that would carry me through some of the colder days, but also work nicely during fall and into spring.  Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner!  Check out this jacket by DROPS Design.

I will admit that despite being pretty advanced with my knitting, even if I say so myself, DROPS patterns have always been somewhat intimidating to me.  I think it's because a lot of them are converted from Scandinavian into English and aren't written in the standard knitting language that I know and love.  I decided to copy and paste the pattern into a word document and reformat slightly so that the directions were a little easier to follow.  Now, all I have to do is find the right yarn and I'm ready to go. 

Naturally, I picked something that's done in sock yarn so potentially could take me until the spring to finish anyway, but I love it and can't wait to finally be working on something that I'll be able to proudly wear and say "yes, I made it!"

Daily Review - Plymouth Baby Alpaca Ampato yarn

One serious advantage of sample knitting for Plymouth Yarns is getting to sample a variety of the yarns that they have on offer.  I'm working with a yarn right now that I have used before and enjoyed every second of working with it!  So, if you're looking for something new to try, I'm suggesting Plymouth Yarn's Baby Alpaca Ampato.

Specifications:
Weight: Aran
Yardage: 128 yards (117 meters)
Weight: 100 grams (3.53 ounces)
Gauge: 16 stitches = 4 inches
Fiber: 100% Alpaca

Alpaca yarn in general is considered to be stronger, softer and warmer than wool.  It's also hypo-allergenic for those that have wool allergies but want a more luxurious fiber to work with.  The structure of alpaca fiber also means that it's not prone to pilling, staining, or tearing - which is important if you just spent hours upon hours knitting up a garment but don't want to worry about whether it will hold up with wear.  

What I loved about this yarn is...well pretty much everything.  If I could only use one word to describe it, it would be buttery.  In fact, I kind of want to curl up with it.  Some yarns can be a little tough on the hands after a while, but this just keeps sliding through the fingers making it an effortless knit.  It is a plied yarn but I didn't find it to be splitty or difficult to work with because it maintains a nice smooth feel as you are using it.  I also found that it has terrific stitch definition so is perfect for cables, and also maintains a wonderful drape.  All in all, a wonderful yarn to have up against the skin.  The only downside to this particular yarn is that it's not cheap - approximately $14 for the 128 yard hank, which I think places it firmly in the "luxury" yarn category - but well worth it even if it's just a small project.  Highly recommended!


FYI - The tunic pictured here is one that I knit up used this yarn so you can get an idea of how it looks as a garment, and it looked even better in person.  You can buy the pattern for this tunic at Webs for $4.00.  I like it as is, although it could be easily converted into a shorter sweater if that's more your thing.

Daily Craft - Destashing

I'm finally attempting to clear out some craft space and it's sadly time for me to part with some of the supplies hiding in my storage bins!  I'm hoping that these items can move on to a loving home where they'll be used rather than being part of this one woman attempt to craft her way through entirely too much stuff.

Anyway, I've created a destash page for anybody who may be interested.  Mostly acrylic yarns there right now, but as I continue to go through my supplies, I'm quite sure that other items will appear as well.  All prices noted do include shipping within the US, and I'm open to reasonable offers if anyone would like to make one.  :)

Daily Craft - Just too cute!

I've admittedly been slacking a little on my crafting over the last few months, but I'm back into it now and using this pattern, decided to make some baby socks with small pieces of yarn that I've got around.  How cute are they?!  They don't take long, are great for left over balls of yarn, and they're simply adorable.

I have more of this yarn in green and white so I think I'll be making more.  :)

Daily Craft - Pretty in pink (and purple)

Months ago, I got a total steal at the local thrift store involving 5 bags of yarn with a retail value of probably $400+, for the bargain price of $30.  One of those bags had about 40 balls of fingering weight cotton yarn in about 16 different colors.  I can only assume that at some point, somebody bought them intending to make a gigantic blanket of some kind, then concluded that making a blanket like that in fingering weight yarn would be sheer insanity. 

The yarn has been sitting there just asking me to do something awesome with it and I recently decided to make a blanket with it, as I believe was originally intended, using this pattern.  I'm making it baby blanket sized instead of full sized (hey, somebody I know is bound to have a baby girl sometime!) and it has to be said that my initial trepidation that it would still take forever with such thin yarn is gone.  I'm already a quarter way into it and really happy with how it's turning out.

I'm only using 4 of the 16 colors that I have so once I'm done with this one, I'm wondering if I should make an adult sized blanket with the rest of it.  I'm thinking I'll stick with crochet because it'll be so much faster than knitting it on tiny needles.  Getting through it quicker will also help prevent the WIP (work in progress) hibernation factor - like the sweater that's been sitting in the closet, on the needles, half finished, for 18 months now.  If you have a favorite crochet blanket pattern, please share as I'm open to suggestions!