Test Knitting Sweaters

Yikes! I have NOT been keeping up! It's time for a few catch-up posts about knitting and crochet projects, and then I can get into recipes again. I have a photo-documented calzone recipe, as well as Black Forest Cheesecake and maybe some others coming up.

Back in December, I test knit two sweaters for the designer Svetlana (tweedysheep on Ravelry), based in Moscow, Russia. It's fun getting to work collaboratively on a project across the world, and I'm thankful for Ravelry providing the means to do so efficiently. The first sweater I tested for Svetlana was the Momo Cardigan, in the age 8 size. (Available for sale on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/momo-2) This pattern caught my eye because "momo" means "peach" in Japanese, and I had a pet hamster named "Momo" after Momotarosan, the Little Peach Boy who is a folk story hero. The clever increase in the lace in the yoke intrigued me too, and I signed up to make this sweater without having a recipient in mind at first.

I ended up giving it to a second cousin. The photos aren't the greatest, another cousin took them while I was at work. This sweater was a quick knit, and fun. I used Berroco Vintage yarn, which is really soft and nice to work with. In the first photo you can see the heart shaped buttons I used. They aren't a perfect color match, but how often can you get away with using heart buttons?

While I was still finishing up Momo, Svetlana posted ANOTHER girl's sweater that I fell in love with and just had to test knit too. Since this second one had a due date of December 25th, I thought it would make a nice Christmas present for my cousin's 10 month daughter.
This pattern is Bloomsbury for Kids (both this and Momo have adult versions! I plan on making the adult verion with some lovely alpaca I got at a fiber fest this fall....) and it is also available on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bloomsbury-kids
My cousin, who lives in a warmer part of the country, was quite wonderful about taking lots of photos and sending them to me. Her daughter is ADORABLE with or without the sweater:

I can't wait until I get around to making a my-size one!! I love how the lace goes down the back and the sleeves, I find this construction interesting but easy to learn once you get started!

Christmas Gifts

In my family, we usually celebrate Christmas more than once, with different sides of the family. Besides the obvious benefits (having lefsa for one meal, and eggrolls for another) when "Second Christmas" comes in the beginning of January, it gives me a bit more time to get those presents made!

First Christmas:

Snowflake Cowl, pattern by Celeste Young

This is a 100% wool Norwegian star cowl for my mom. The pattern called for size 10 needles, I used 11s. I'm not the happiest with how it turned out, but boy, was it fast. I'd like to re-make it sometime, only double-knit.

My sister got the tam she had picked up and asked for before Thanksgiving:

 

Corinthian Tam, pattern by Angela Hahn

My grandma, who used to be a knitter before arthritis limited her crafting, got her first sweater from me, in her favorite shade of blue:

Marigold Sweater, pattern by Amy Polcyn

Grandma cried. I both am, and am not, proud of this sweater. Most of the body was knit while on the stationary bike at the gym. In December, I mostly gave up swimming for biking because you can knit and bike, but not knit and swim. I figure if you can wash manure and dirt out of wool, you sure can wash sweat out of it.
This was the only gift that technically wasn't done in time. The sweater had the buttons sewn on, and was blocked and dried but it was gifted with an IOU for the sleeves. Fortunately, I was able to knit and attach the sleeves within 24 hours. This is actually the third time I've knit this sweater pattern. I have one in teal, and I gave my mom one in pink for her birthday last summer. I love wearing mine with sleeveless dresses.

Second Christmas:
Christmas round 2 was actually a little harder to knit for, since they're the relatives I live with, which makes it hard to hide knits and work on them at the same time.

I have a musically-inclined cousin who doesn't talk much. I thought his present would be the easiest to hide, but no, he came into my room for the first time ever while I happened to be working on his hat:

Piano Hat, pattern by Lindsay Koehler

In typical teenage boy fashion, I can tell he likes it, because the only time he gets more excited than this is when food is involved.

My aunt got the second Xenia shawl I've made (I plan on making more!):

Xenia, pattern by Vanessa Smith

sooooo much lace

The most difficult present by far to keep secret was the afghan I joined for my cousin. I didn't actually crochet any of the blocks, but received them in a "Lily Pulitzer" color-themed swap in the Vanna's Choice Fan Club group on Ravelry.

Over the summer, I did crochet 20 9" blocks, but the ones I made have been dispersed all over North America, and the ones in this afghan are the ones I received back from others. While these aren't "my colors", I do love how cheerful they look together: so summery! The block that everyone comments on in the pinwheel "Beach Ball" block that incorporates all the colors.

I had to do several rounds around each block to ensure that they were the same size with the same number of stitches, then join the blocks and finally border them. I feel asleep several times late at night under this blanket while working on it after the recipient had finally left my room to go to bed. Although she had seen some of the blocks before, she didn't know I was joining them or giving them to her:

The day I needed to finish it, I actually brought it with me to Royal Grounds, so I could weave in ends in peace without her showing up unexpectedly. ;0)

Playing Santa

I love making gifts. I love kids. I love giving gifts to other people's kids. This Christmas I got to be Santa and made some gifts for two sweet kids, a brother and sister.
First, I found fleece on sale. REALLY on sale. With the help of my cousin, I made fleece blankets. The girl's has owls on one side (matches her bedroom) and butterflies on the other. The boy's has sports balls on one side, and dinosaurs on the other. When he got his blanket, he thought it was a superman cape (!).

I love fleece blankets. I was given one as a gift when I graduated HS, from Fran, a lady who I taught swimming lessons with. I still use mine! It's the green and brown striped blanket on my bed, which is the backdrop for many of these photos.
I also made similarly colored sweaters for these kids. The boy got a sweater vest that should fit him for a few years. I love, love, love sweater vests, and obviously the smaller they are, the cuter they are. His mom loves them too! This was a pattern from DROPS that I modified.

The little girl got the "Little Mary Anning" sweater by Mary Ann Cunningham-Kim, which has a shell pattern on it. I'd originally started this at the end of August, and have been working on it on and off since then. I had to rip back a number of times because I'd missed something in the pattern. I was happy to finish it, and have it turn out well. Additionally, while I thought I was making the 2 yr old size, I was actually working the 5 yr old size, but it fits her now and should for a couple of years. 

More holiday posts and test knits to come after New Years!

Sneak Peak

Hi,

I've been busy knitting, crocheting, baking and doing classwork and haven't been able to keep up with posting finished projects! Here are a few sneak peaks of what is to come:

This is a "jester" baby suit for a friend's baby. I anticipate finishing it TONIGHT (now that I've said it, I have to do it <----- see what I did there? accountability) and mailing it off to Japan tomorrow. More pics (of the details) to come.

This fall sweater is DONE: buttons, blocking and all. I've been wearing it around town in my stubborn belief that it is still fall. It reminds me of maple trees in autumn and the wool is super cozy. I have yet to get finished pictures of it due to the weather/ not being outside during the day/not having someone to take a picture.

Another sweater that is done: I knit it in August, but didn't block it until last weekend when I got pins/foam mats and could block the lace properly. I will add finished photos when I get them (for the same reasons as above)

Another sneak peak: 

More of this next weekend! (and a recipe too!)

:0)