Yarn Along {these boots were made for walkin'...}

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Corrabelle/rolled-cuff-baby-booties


I've been quickly knitting up some last minute things for the baby to distract myself from discomfort and to keep from going stir crazy.
I realized that I hadn't made any booties yet. We have lots of tiny shoes from previous babies but it dawned on me that this baby should maybe have shoes of her very own.

They're quite itty bitty, i wouldn't be terribly surprised if they only fit for a couple of weeks. But, i'm certain that they'll make an adorable Christmas ornament once she outgrows them.

Today's post is rather short and uneventful...im blogging from my phone because my computer desk chair just isnt looking very comfortable right now. I'm really hoping that by next week's yarn along i'll have a tiny model for all this wool!

Yarn Along {A Sleep Sack and Cowl}

Still counting down for baby, but in the meantime knitting away a few last minute baby projects that I didn't think i'd have time for.
I've made little sleep sacks for other babies, but my own have never had one. I also wanted to make one that would be useful for something else once the baby has grown out of it, (a keepsake of sorts) so I made it in a way that it could be used for a decorative throw pillow someday down the road. (I'll have to stitch up the other end of course, but that should be easy.)

The bottom flap is seamed at the sides so it's not actually a flap, but a pocket top that flips. And my son made the little wooden buttons for me. I thought it was a nice touch that this baby would get buttons made by her sweet and very loving older brother. 

I'm also knitting a cowl for our knitting group's knit along. We decided to go with the honey cowl because it's still a fun knit for those with more knitting experience, but easy enough that beginners can make it as well.

It's perfect timing, because I wanted to make a few Christmas presents anyway, so I dyed yarn with a couple of recipients in mind, and tried to go with more of an adult "frozen" theme. The trickiest part was trying to get both skeins to match. (I did dye them together, but sometimes one will absorb more dye than the next etc.)
I think they'll be fine though. I thought I could possibly get away with one skein for the cowl, but i'm nearing the end of the first and will definitely need to break into the second. 

Oh, and totally unintentionally, I found a project bag that matches the yarn; a cosmetic bag that was on clearance at target for 7 bucks! It's like it was meant to be.

Yarn Along {From Where You Were Plucked}

I have this really silly notion, and I'm not sure where exactly it stems from, that I'm not ready to have a baby until I have a hat with a knot in the top.
It's like this nesting-for-a-newborn thing that just *has to happen*.

I woke up last week in a cold sweat realizing that I didn't have one for this baby. Well, I have the ones used for the previous three babies, but it wouldn't be right to allow this baby's first hat to be one of her older siblings first hats. Another notion that I have no grounds for, but there it is.

My previous three babies had regular store bought jersey hats with a knot in the top, which suited the job perfectly. Lotte's actually had two little knots, one at the top of each corner, that almost looked like little ears, or the Great Gazoo. Adorable. 

I just love that these little hats look like the baby has been freshly picked, no, CHOSEN, off of a magical baby tree somewhere. That little knot just screams "I'm a brand spankin' new little person!" 

I might have issues.
I looked around on Ravelry and there were a few knotty hats on there but nothing like what I really had in mind.
Note: Typically, around this time before baby, I get somewhat irrational with the DIY. I don't just break down and clean all the windows, but I come up with work for myself that is seemingly useless. "Yes, Corrie, Write a knitting pattern, when there are already so many available... How about a hat that will fit for only a few weeks? Then you will feel as though you are ready to have a baby."

So without any more explaining (because let's face it, I might just be a bit crazy) here's the pattern. (oh, and an FYI-I tried it on my friend's full term, two week old newborn. Fits perfectly.)

*****

{From where you were Plucked}

Materials: Sock or light fingering yarn scraps(two colours if you want to do the colour work portion-I'll explain how the hat is made first and include the colour work details at the bottom of the pattern, so you can choose to skip them if you would rather.)
2.5 mm double pointed or 16" circular needle
4 stitch markers
tapestry needle
With main Colour, using long tail cast-on, cast on 108 stitches. Place a stitch marker to keep track of your beginning of round.

Without twisting your cast on, join for working int the round and work in K2P2 Ribbing for 10 rounds or approx 3/4 inches

Switch to st st and knit until piece measures 4 inches from cast on edge.
Decrease Set up row: k27, place marker. Repeat two more times, and then knit the remaining 27 to your beginning of round marker. You should now have 4 markers with 27 stitches between each one.

Decreases:
Row 1: *k1, k2tog, knit to last three stitches before next marker, ssk, k1, slip marker*. Repeat to end of round
Row 2: Knit

Repeat these two rows 5 times, for a total of 10 rows. (68 stitches remaining)
Then work Row 1 only, 6 times more, (20 stitches remaining.)

Remove markers as you come to them, and knit until this top tube of 20 stitches until it measures 5 inches long. It may be easier to switch to double pointed needles for this portion.
Once you reach a 5 inch point,  k2 together all the way around. Break yarn and draw through remaining 10 stitches, secure and pull remaining thread inside the hat.
Tie a knot in the top and you're finished :)

Colourwork
After you do the 2x2 ribbing and several rows of stockinette stitch, without breaking your primary yarn colour, pick up and switch to a contrasting colour. (pictured, white.)

Row 1: Knit one row in contrasting colour. (i did a jogless stripe method-helpful youtube tutorial for that here.) Do not break yarn between these four rows. 
Row 2: knit one with primary colour yarn, knit one with contrasting yarn, all the way around. (so mine was blue, white, blue white, blue white etc.)

Row 3: same as row two, but with contrasting colour first. (white, blue, white blue etc).

Row 4: same as row 1.

when these four rows are completed, then break yarn contrasting yarn (white), work more stockinette in the primary colour and if you wish, throw in another section of colourwork. My colour work sections are about 3/4 inch apart. 

Knitting {in Church}

For this week's portable/church project, I decided to cast on a quick little hat for one of my nephew's Christmas presents. I plan on making it look like a really goofy monster (because, well, he is) and seaming the top with a kitchener stitch rather than typical hat decreases.
I love projects where I get to use up leftover yarn, and kid projects are perfect for that.
It's gone really fast and I'm just about finished.

I also got a little surprise when I reached for an apple-double hearts! 

Church notes: 2 Peter 1:3-11, Message download here

I'd love to see what you're working on too!

Yarn Along {baby knits}

Puerperium -a sweet little sweater with a weird name.

I finished up a few baby knits-anyone want to help me decide on some buttons for this little sweater?

I realize that the two pinks look almost the same in the picture, but the upper right is more of a reddish colour, and the bottom left are more coral. 

oh, and we are expecting a girl, or so we're told.I never feel like we can be entirely sure until the baby is actually in our arms.

There used to be a tiny hole-in-the-wall store on my street that was packed to the walls with old, new stock. Still in original packaging, but from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Crochet thread, bakelite and lucite buttons, stocking supports, zippers, ribbons.....
And sitting at the very back of the store behind a very large secretary desk covered in haberdasheries was the tiniest, and probably oldest woman I've ever met, smiling behind her massive, coke bottle amber glasses, hands folded, just waiting for her next customer. I felt like i was walking into a movie, or a wardrobe....another universe.

And what was even more delightful but definitely puzzling, was that the prices she was selling these things at were what was actually on the original package.

So yes, these buttons cost me 5 cents a package for 40 of them. 

I bought them ALL. ...and a slew of other goodies as well. I basically kept going back until her store was in my house. 

Well..not quite, but almost.

I've given a lot of it away for gifts to vintage appreciating friends, and used a lot of it on my own projects as well.
I decided a while ago to use some of these buttons though on some baby things because they're just too delicious to let sit in a box. 

I also made some of these hilarious little pants (they're just about as wide as they are long, I love how newborn pants are just about square.)

I'd really like to make a couple more pairs, they look so cozy! And they work up really fast.