It's the little things

So I have a success in the knitting realm. A small one, but I will take it. I actually finished this hat once and then realized it was just too small, so with about 6 rows to go I took it all out and started over again. It was only then that I realized I had used a size 4 for the ribbing and 3's for the body. So that was why the ribbing was sloppy, even for me. So I am glad with the decision to start over. I love this yarn, it is so soft. Merino is an amazing fiber!

Trouble committing

I am one of those that has to have a few (or more) projects going at once. I get bored, I get frustrated, I cast it aside with frustration or loathing and move on, usually coming back to it sooner than later. But sometimes it is later, much later. I am a slow finisher. I was rockin' this scarf and then I started making mistakes, like every row. This is after knitting at least 24 inches in this pattern. Who knows... so then I moved on to Nellie - see below - that wasn't working so well, and I still haven't figured it out, just for the record. All of this is going on while I'm trying to finalize a pattern for my daughters quilt, find one last perfect fabric, and then do the dreaded math. So I moved on, pulling this yarn from my stash. A small skein of amazingly soft bamboo, and then a hand painted merino. Neither of which I bought enough of for anything but, well, a hat. Not just one hat at a time, but two, because... well, I don't know why. Trouble committing, I guess.

C'mon Nellie!

Well, my great hopes for speeding through this road trip project were totally unrealistic. Not too surprising, however also not for the reasons one would suppose. This is a pattern that makes me crazy. I kept saying, if only they had given me a drawing of what this flattened out sheep is supposed to look like, it wouldn't be a problem at all. It is a weird pattern after all, not intuitive, how about some visual aids here? Well, I didn't get much further than this before things were looking funky, I mean super funky. So much ripping happened and now I'm stymied! I am going to attempt this again tonight, to get past that one line in the pattern which happens to be crucial to the shaping. I may go crazy trying it yet again, so this post is an attempt sort of clear the air before I pick it up again!

Whoa Nellie

We are getting ready for a weekend road trip, which means, of course, that I need a good knitting project. So I am planning on making Nellie the Sheep, by Debbie Bliss from her Baby Style book, for Baby Deux. The last time I did a road trip project I finished it in record time. This is a smaller, but more involved project, yet I still have high hopes for finishing quickly. I have made this project once before and it turned out very cute. I did, however use a cheaper yarn, so I'm excited to see the result with this, one of my favorite yarns! It is the lovely Rowan Wool Cotton. A really delightful yarn to work with. Soft, durable, a little sheen, and no pilling!

A quilt for E

My daughter needs a quilt for her bed so of course, I must make it. I got a bunch of Amy Butler fabrics in pink, of course, and greens, but didn't have a pattern. Really I just had a notion of the idea of what I wanted. Vague? Yup. (Let me insert here that I have had this fabric for about 6 months) I have been messing around with Photoshop (and I really mean messing, this is slapped together, and the fabrics are not at all in actual proportion, but just wanted to get the gist) trying to get an idea for a pattern, and I think this one might work. I got the pattern idea from this new site that I fell in love with for the patterns. The actual fabric isn't quite so in your face pink, somehow in real life it doesn't look quite as busy. So I will look at this for a few days and hopefully decide if it is a go or if I should keep playing with patterns. I need to tackle this one soon though!

Kimono Robe

This is my current project. I have made this robe before, including making one for my mom out of a beautiful linen, and yes, I forgot to take a picture! I really love this robe pattern from Amy Butler In Stitches . It is just challenging enough to be interesting, but easy enough to be attainable. There are some nice details including a lot of top stitching, which I am a big fan of. I think it adds such a nice finishing touch.

A little Regency dress

I decided (days before of course) to make E a little Regency dress for Easter this year. I had bought this fabric for her a while back with the intent of making some sort of dress and as Easter rolled around decided it would be perfect. Time being short and wanting use what I already had, I pulled out the Girls' Regency pattern from the Sensibility pattern site . A friend had used this pattern several times with great results and I also found it to be a delightfully simple, but pretty and sweet pattern. To make the dress sleeveless, I borrowed a technique, also from their site that I had used to make a bodiced petticoat. Toward the bottom of the tutorial it tells you how to flip the bodice so that ALL of the seams are on the inside. I love for a garment to be neat inside and out. That said, when I get a decent picture of her in it when it is PRESSED, I will post it. :)