A Knitting Update

Back when I started this blog, I mentioned that I would be showing some knitting, as well as my quilting.  As it happens, I think I’ve only done a post or two on knitting, so I’m a little behind on that part.   My problem is, I love to start new knitting projects, then the work deadlines come up and I don’t get them finished.  In fact, I have had two sweaters laying in my studio for 6 months or so, and all they needed was the buttons sewn on!   How sad is that?  Well, I’ve finally gotten my act together and I’ve been finishing lots of projects.

 

I just finished up this hat for my new nephew Peyton.  It’s too big for him, so I had to model it on a glass display globe that sits in my kitchen.

It’s called the Top Down Bonnet with Animal Character and it’s a free download off Ravelry.  It’s one of those “it’s so funny looking, it’s cute” kind of faces.

 

I used up some of my Classic Elite Wool BamBoo Scraps from the sweater below to make the hat.  The sweater is called  Mr. Greenjeans  and can be found on www.knitty.com.  Their Mr. Green jeans uses a beautiful variegated yarn, so I might have to make another one of these with prettier yarn.

This is a top down pattern – which I love.  It means there is hardly any finish work. 

 

These are the dreaded buttons.  I really don’t know why I put off sewing them on.  They really are beautiful buttons.

 

I just finished the seams on this one last night.  It’s called the Empire Tunic and can be found in the Terra Collection book by Tahki Yarns.  It’s a super easy and quick to knit, so it was really fun to work on. 

 

I used a yarn from Classic Elite called Waterlily.  I’ve used this yarn before and just love it.  It’s a soft merino wool, has beautiful color variations, and it’s pretty durable.

I love the combination of lace and cables, my two current obsessions in knitting.

 

Speaking of lace, I tried my first actual lace project.

I can’t say that I loved lace work, as I found it a little harder working with such fine yarn and I found the center panel of the scarf to be quite repetitive.  But now that it’s done, I think it’s very pretty.

This pattern can be found in the book Victorian Lace Today.

I would say this is a beginner lace project.  My friend Maria does beautiful lace work, so it makes mine look so amateur!  Check out this lace blanket she made.  Isn’t it just drop, dead, gorgeous?  Maybe after ten years of practice, I’ll work up to a project like that. 

 

One of my other lacey looking projects is this sweater, but it’s done with a heavier yarn, so it was easier for me to manage.

I started this sweater this winter and got the front and back done before taking a break from it.   I picked it up again for our trip to Quilt Market this spring  (Joel drives and I knit 🙂 ).  We had a 17 hour drive to get there and it took me that long just to do one sleeve.

That’s about 1200 miles for one sleeve!  I got the other sleeve done on the way home.  That means it took me about 80 hours to make this sweater.  That sounds completely crazy!  It’s a good thing I don’t usually add up the hours it takes me to do these things. 

I will stop for now, so it doesn’t take you forever to download these pics.   Stop back in to see more knit projects later this week –