Swallowtail Shawl

I just finished knitting The Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark for my Chris' Gram. I am in love with this pattern.

I knit it in Lion Brand Wool-Ease and it took just a tiny bit over two balls of yarn on size 10 needles. I mostly make toys so I'm like the opposite of a yarn snob. I love a good multi-use, work-horse sort of yarn and Lion Brand Wool-Ease (and Vanna's Choice) are my favorite picks for this. It's only about $3 a ball with a great range of colors and great continuity between dye lots. So for under $10 I've got this gorgeous shawl that's big, comfy and super soft and almost an entire ball left over that I'm thinking might become a pig or maybe some baby clothes for my new niece.


I was nervous when I started the section above with the lily of the valley nubbs because it seemed from the comments like other knitters ran into some trouble with this section. It did take a little while to get the hang of but I think it's so pretty. This section really sets the pattern apart from more basic shawls.

I definitely want to make this again although I might have to try a few different ways to wear it. I tried the shawl on for Chris in the typical over the shoulders shawl way and he said, "wow, that's just added 10 years to you." So I need to find a shawl that doesn't scream grandma. Any ideas?

Make Something Every Day in October

So last year Dabbled led the challenge for bloggers to create something new everyday for a month. I had high hopes to rise to that challenge but I totally sucked. But now it's October and I'm full of Halloween spirit and the weather is turning to that crisp, cool temp that just begs for knitting so this challenge came to mind. This time I hope to embrace it a little more fully. Especially since my mother-in-law just taught me to sew and bought me my very first sewing machine! I've already tasked Chris with sketching a monster for me to plushify.

I definitely have a backlog of crafted items that I've got to catch up on so I'll do the roundup here. First, there's a couple of items for my sister-in-law's new baby. A simple earflap hat

and a flowered headband.
I have plans still for a bunny like the one that I made my sister and maybe a few store bought things to round out the box.

Next, I've just finished a very late bachelorette present for a friend that just got married.
She wanted to avoid the overtly sexual presents that usually surround bachelorette parties so I made her a cute little hat and fingerless gloves. I love the robot motif and I hope that she likes it to. I have plans to line the hat tonight so that it looks a little more polished.

So that covers days one and two. For day three I'm thinking I'll knock out the bunny and then try moving into that scary new realm of sewing.

A Fat Little Fox

I recently finished making this chubby little fox toy. It started out as a pig from this pattern but the face just looked too pointy to me. Chris stepped in and suggested that it looked like a fox so I winged an equally fat fox tail and gave it a try. It's probably not my best toy but I'm pretty happy with it.

Bunny Done!

The bunny is done. I modified the pattern a little to make the bunny a smaller since I didn't have enough yarn for the full size. I also changed to ears from crochet to knit and knit them in two halves that where then seamed. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.

The beginnings of a bunny

You can't really tell from this photo but this is going to be a bunny, if all goes well. This little toy is a heavily modified version of the Caron One Skein Bunny. The original pattern makes a bunny about twice his size and that was just a little more than I wanted to take on, plus I didn't have enough yarn for that. So I scaled down the head and body from the pattern and then made the legs and arms more like the arms of the teddy bear that I just finished.

I'm sort of winging the ears though so that might take some trial and error. They're going to be big, floppy ears with pink on the inside to add a nice bit of color and cuteness. I'm hoping to have this one finished up this week so that I can start on the third toy this weekend. I haven't decided what to make next. I've got a very cute pig pattern from my page a day calendar so I might give that a try.

Bear In Progress

I'm almost through with this little teddy bear. The pattern is from lionbrand.com and he's the perfect size to use up the ecological wool that I had left over from the Hemlock Blanket. I made him a little scarf in Bernat Satin that was lying around. He does have legs but I haven't attached them yet. I'm hoping to finish him up this weekend and move on to the next project.

The Sock: Day 2

I'm just before the point of making the heel flap on the first sock. I love the colors.

The Beginnings of a Sock

I've just started making a sock using the basic sock recipe from the book Knitting Rules. I got the yarn in my stocking for Christmas (It's so COLORFUL!) and I'm excited to put it to use and to make something for myself. The very basic pattern should prove to be relaxing and I'm hoping that after I get a better understanding of what makes up a basic sock I will be able to try out more intricate and pretty lace socks.

Also, I've been totally into the men's Olympic skating competition and was very excited when Evan Lysacek won the Gold. His performances rocked and reminded why I used to love watching the figure skating competitions so much as a kid.

Giant Octopus

It's a bird!


It's a plane!


It's a GIANT OCTOPUS!!


I finished this belated Christmas gift for my Mom last month but have been forgetting to post about it. This is the most ambitious toy that I've ever taken on and I have to admit that from about the halfway point to the end I felt like throwing in the towel. It's loosely based on the pattern by Hansigurumi only much, much bigger. I had to improvise most of the head shaping and there were many times during the making of it that I would look at it, realize that the shaping wasn't going where I'd hoped, tear back a couple of rows and start over. Man, does that start to suck after a while. As much of a headache as it may have been to make, I'm super proud of how it turned out. It's very, very cute. And while this will remain the one and only giant octopus I may try to make a few tiny octopi following Hansigurumi's pattern.

Just for scale here's a photo of the giant octopus attacking me upon competion.

Nautilus for Chris

I finished gluing on the eyes for Chris' nautilus today. It came out so cute. The pattern is from Knitty.com and was quick and easy to follow.



I'm not sure what to take on next. I'd like to make something for my sister-in-law, Amy, who's expecting a baby this year. I'd also like to tackle this sock pattern. It seems challenging but cool and I have a few balls of sock yarn from Christmas. Then there's some fingerless gloves I'd like to make in order to sell on my etsy shop. Plus there's always Christmas knitting to start.

Terrible Photo of a Work In Progress

I'm nearly done with making this little Nautilus toy for Chris but I was super lazy about taking some in progress photos of it last night. It's based on a pattern from knitty.com that I've had on my queue on Ravelry for at least a year. I'm trying to make an effort to use up a lot of my stash yarn before embarking on bigger Christmas projects that will involve yarn buying.

After this I'd like to try my hand at knitting another pair of socks. I got some lovely skeins of sock yarn for Christmas and if I can get the hang of it I might make some cute pairs of socks for Christmas gifts this year. I love the Yarn Harlot's plan on her blog and in the awesome page a day calendar that I got for Christmas to set up 12 Ziploc bags at the beginning of the year, each with a sock pattern and a paired yarn. Grab a bag at random and knit one pair per month and by the end of the year you have 12 nice new socks for Christmas/Birthdays/yourself. But before I can jump into my own sock of the month club I need to, you know, learn how to knit socks well.

I also have a plan for some cute little mittens to make for my little etsy shop. I'm going to do a practice run with some cheap red heart yarn that I have way too much of before I go out and get something nice and soft.

Finally, and really most importantly, tomorrow is Puppy Bowl!! Since I'm totally not into sports and actually couldn't remember who was playing against the Saints in the Super Bowl tomorrow I'm going to turn my attention to the only sports event that I watch all year. And I'm most excited by this little puppy here.


Someone somewhere bred a chihuahua with a pug and I'm not sure if that person is a genius or madman. Sometimes I look at this puppy and think it's freaking adorable and sometimes it looks like some mad scientist glued the head of a pug onto a little chihuahua body and created an appalling abomination. Right now I'm leaning toward totally adorable. Chris voted for abomination. Either way I will be oohing and aahing as this and many other puppies chase around toys for several hours tomorrow. I'm weird, I know, but it'll make good TV for knitting.

Christmas Knitting Pt.2

I finished blocking the Hemlock Blanket. I think it's totally awesome. I can't believe that i was able to make something that looks so intricate and pretty. I might have to make a few more of these for next Christmas. Maybe I'll even take some time and make one for myself.

Christmas Knitting

A shawl and a scarf in Lion Brand Wool-Ease. The shawl is in charcoal and the scarf is in more of a slate gray. I'm super happy with these. I've only just begun trying out lace patterns and so far I really like them. They knit up pretty quickly and the lace patterns for both of these were easy to memorize after the first few repeats.

Fingerless Gloves (In Progress)

I'm nearly finished with a pair of fingerless gloves that I'm knitting up as a Christmas present. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease and the pattern is called Susie's Reading Mitts and I'm really happy with it. They're very simple and chic which was what I was going for.

I'm debating whether or not to make a full set with a hat and scarf or just to make one or the other to go with it. I've still got a month to finish the Christmas knitting so I've got some time to work it out.

As far as Christmas knitting goes, I've finished the Hemlock Blanket and I just need to block it this weekend. After the gloves and hat and/or scarf I'm hoping to make three Monkeys from the pattern in Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli for my nephew. I think that it's all doable by Christmas but check in with me on 12/20 to see if I bit off more than I can chew.

Baby Hat and Scarf

I just finished knitting a hat and scarf for my nephew, Alex. The scarf is probably way too big for his little baby neck but I was so worried that it would be too small that I may have over-compensated a little. The hat is totally adorable and I can't wait until I have some free time to knit myself one. It's made from Bernat Satin with two strands of yarn held together. It came out very lush and thick and I'm sure it will keep his head nice and toasty all winter.

The scarf was knit in stockinette so it was curling like mad! I crocheted a border all around but it was still curling some so I'm hoping that a little blocking will straighten out some.

My First Socks (In Progress)

I'm taking a stab at my first pair of socks. Just stockinette with a little bit of ribbing at the top to keep it simple. I'm using the Univeral Toe-Up Sock Formula by Amy Swenson from Knitty. I've got one sock down and about half of the second sock done. The toe-up way seems a little boxy but the formula was great and the completd sock fits Chris perfectly. Especially being my first sock, I really liked that with a toe-up pattern I could force my husband to try the socks on every five minutes to make sure they were progressing right. I hope to finish these up in the next week so that I can try knitting up a pair of ankle socks for myself. I've already got some bright red yarn picked out for them.

Baby Nephew!

I got to meet my adorable, new, baby nephew for the first time a month or so ago.














Isn't he the most photogenic baby ever?

I also tried out a few TTV photos on him.





















And while he was here I finished knitting him a little penguin toy. I actually made three for some other friend/family new babies. They were part of my very productive jury duty experience. I think that together they look pretty rascally though. Almost like a little penguin rat pack.

Mother's Day Presents

I had a lot of fun with Mother's Day presents this year. I actually ended up stuck in jury duty for about a week and a half just before Mother's day so I was able to get all of my knitting done during the waiting and waiting and some more waiting that's involved with jury duty.

I went with two patterns.












The first pattern is the winged heart tatoo. I LOVED this pattern! I don't know if I can stress that enough. LOVED! These were so cute when they were done. I made two of these. They knitted up pretty quickly and the seaming was fast and easy. I wasn't sure that I would be able to pull off the cute font for "Mom" on the banner but it wasn't difficult. I embroidered the words on with a darning needle and black embroidery thread.















The second pattern is the basic rose. I crocheted little hand bouquets with four colorful roses in each bouquet. The pattern is super simple and the roses come out looking very pretty.