Ruthie's Farm

I guess it was inevitable that I would end up re-knitting this blanket and now that it's finished, I'm glad that I did! 

As you can see, I changed the border and added four more squares.  I really love the heartbeat design and, since I also love my little Ruthie, I decided to add a heart to each row.  I also changed the yarn from Plymouth Encore to Plymouth Jeannee.  This is a cotton blend yarn and is so soft.  You can just toss it in the washer and dryer which is important for babies.   The only drawback to the yarn is the yardage.  There's only about 110 yards in a ball so you do go through it fairly quickly and then you're left with all those ends to weave in!  On the plus side, it's fairly inexpensive and it comes in gorgeous colors.  Ruthie's blanket is a very pretty shade of aqua which my camera won't capture.  In these pictures, it looks like a gray green, and what's with this pink background?  I have it spread out on pure white sheets! 

If you look close, you'll see that I have four new designs in the blanket.  There's the hen:

And there's a new pig and a new rabbit. 



The goose is new too, but after knitting it in the original blanket, I decided that it needed to be scaled down a bit and I'm much happier with the leaner version.  (If only I could do that for myself!)

The dog and the cat are not new. They were the designs I did for the 2010 Dishcloth calendar only I tweaked them by eliminating the heart border.

I decided that the border needed some interest so I added the knit stripe.

Now, I know that some of you will want the basics, so here, in a nutshell is how I knit the blanket.  First, pick out which patterns you want and how many.  All of these patterns have the same stitch and row count.  I used 16 designs and my blanket measures approximately 31" x 34".  I used a U.S. Size 6 needle. I think it's a nice size to make it practical for just wrapping around the baby.  The side borders are 9 stitches of seed stitch, 3 knit stitches and 7 stitches more of seed stitch for the inner border.  Each design was done without the borders called for in the patterns which resulted in 27 stitches per design.  I knit seven seed stitches between the designs and finished with the 3 knit stitches and 9 seed stitches for the outside border.  The outside top and bottom borders have 14 rows of seed stitch and then I knit one row, purled one row, for a total of 4 rows while at the same time keeping the first and last 9 stitches in the established seed stitch pattern.  My cast on was 167 stitches total. The inner top and bottom borders have 9 rows of seed stitch.

While I do have a number of patterns that use 39 and 38 stitches, most of my designs are 37 stitches wide, so there are a lot to choose from if you want to make your own blanket (and I hope you do!) 

I'm happy to report that the blanket has already been put to use and Ruthie has given it her drool of approval!  

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Remember this game?  My boys had it when they were small and now we have it again for the grandkids.  The boys and I play it quite often and always end up laughing and having a good time.  This pattern has been lurking around for awhile.  Truthfully, I had kind of forgot that I did it, but after one of our "game sessions", I thought I should post it. 

I decided that purple would be a good color choice as it works for either boys or girls.  The cloth is done in Peaches & Creme Grape and bib is Dark Grape.

Another wild animal to add to my menagerie.  Soon there will be enough of my designs to do a blanket with just wild animals!  The pdf files are available in the sidebar or by clicking here for the cloth and here for the bib.

Speaking of blankets, I decided to re-knit mine.  This time I hesitate to say that it's going really well especially after I thought that the first time.  However, I'm loving this new yarn and the color.  It's taking me a lot longer to knit it, since I added more squares and since I'm using smaller needles.  I've learned my lesson though, and this time around I'm not going to show any in progress pictures.  Just in case, well, you know. . .

Owlie

I'm not much for glitter or beads or shiny doodads, so I've never added any to my knitting.  However, when I saw these cute socks, I decided the time was right to try it.  Owlie is a free pattern on Ravelry and is just perfect for a bird loving grandson.

This is a well written pattern and includes links for tutorials for adding the beads.  I used the method with the crochet hook and it went really well.  I don't know if I'd like to do it for a ton of beads, but for this project, it was just fine. 















The tricky part was finding the right size beads.  There are quite a few websites that sell them, but the shipping is more than the actual beads.  I was getting really frustrated until I happened upon this website.  They are fast and the shipping is reasonable.  I've purchased cross stitch supplies for my mom from them lots of time. 

 

I used Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Oak that was in my stash.  I did decide to change the foot and not knit the owls.  I thought the beads would be rather irritating in a shoe and I didn't like look of the owls without beaded eyes, so I just did a few bands of knit and purl.

Jack really seemed to like them, although I do think he was a little disappointed that they weren't parakeets!

On a personal note, "Jenn" if you read this, I tried to answer your email, but it came back as undeliverable.  I'm not sure why your computer rejected your own address, but the answer to your question is "no, I don't have any patterns that are as small as 35 stitches.  Maybe you could just add an extra stitch on each side of your design as part of a border and use a 37 stitch pattern."

Blanket Blues

I know that several of you have been waiting patiently for an update on the baby blanket that I started a couple of months ago for little Ruthie.  I know this because I've heard from quite a few of you.  It pains me to admit that I have royally screwed it up.  I haven't been talking about it, because I'm just so annoyed with myself for being so stupid!  I was sailing right along and thinking I would have it done in plenty of time.  In my mind, it was going to be so cute and special. I bound it off and went to block it and then, to my absolute horror, I discovered that the borders weren't even close to matching!  Now, this may not seem to be a big deal to some of you, but I wanted this to be perfect.  I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.  How could I have messed this up so badly?  I did measure, but apparently not very well. 

I realize that it's not a very good picture either.  I just couldn't capture the true color, but you can clearly see the lousy borders!  Turns out, that I don't like the yarn either! 

It's Plymouth yarn's Encore, a blend of wool and acrylic.  I have knit with this before, but I'm just not thrilled with it.  It is a pretty shade of green, despite what my camera is doing to the color. 


So then, what should I do?  I could just gift it as is.  My daughter-in-law assures me that I'm the only one who would even notice.  This isn't comforting though, as I wanted this to be really special.  I've always been a bit of a perfectionist, so this is really bugging me.  I decided that I also don't like a couple of the designs.  The proportions are just a little "off".  I think I know that I really need to start over.  I found a couple of other yarns that I'm testing to see if I like them better.

Isn't this color horrid?  I bought my new camera just so this wouldn't happen.  I guess when one thing goes bad, everything else follows.  However, you can see two of my new designs here.  The goose, which needs to be scaled down a little, and a new pig design.  That's as close a look at you're going to get for now though, as neither of them are close to being ready for posting!

On a positive note, I wanted to share with you a couple of pictures of blankets that have gone right!  Jamie, who is deadpoet7 on Ravelry, made this little number with six of my patterns:

I don't know what yarn she used, but she took nine of the designs and then sewed them together.  I like the way it reminds me of a quilt.

Cindy, who goes by CindyPsych on Ravelry, knit this pretty blue blanket:

 

She used Lion Brand's Baby First for her yarn and added this adorable border.  See, it is possible to knit a nice border.  Perhaps I should have consulted with Cindy before I began!

Thank you to both Jamie and Cindy for letting me share their pictures.  I guess now I have to decide if I want to start over or not.  Stay tuned.

For the Birds

Is there anyone who hasn't heard or seen those Angry Birds?  Truthfully, I had never even heard of them myself until my grandsons started going on and on about them.  My son has one of those phones that has everything including the Angry Birds game.  (I have a cell phone too that actually lets me make phone calls and occasionally take a picture of my ear!)  The boys are crazy about these birds so I guess it was just a matter of time before they asked for one on a hat.  Mickey likes the blue bird and Marty's favorite is the white one.

Mickey loves his hat and Marty, well. . . Marty hates his!  I don't know what his problem is exactly.  At first I thought maybe it was a little too long.  I wanted him to have a little growing room, but I ripped it back and made it a true beanie hoping this would help.  It didn't.  He just said he didn't like it and tossed it aside.  Oh well, at least I tried and who knows what a four year old wants!

Now my oldest, Jack, likes the Angry Birds, but his favorite bird is actually his new parakeet named "Fred".  I was keeping my fingers crossed that he wouldn't ask for a hat with a parakeet, because I had no idea how I would pull that off.  No such luck.  That's exactly what he wanted!

It actually came out fairly well and Jack just loves it.  I had some variegated sock yarn that was perfect for the wings.  I ended up using duplicate stitch for all the hats.  I really don't like hats with seams and this seemed the easiest way around that. 

Now, before you ask, I'm happy to share my charts for the Angry Birds, but these designs are licensed and so you won't be able to use them for anything except your own personal use.  You can't sell items made using the charts and you can't repost the charts.  The chart for the parakeet is different as that is totally mine and I don't care if you use it to make money, as long as you don't post the actual pattern.  All of these patterns do have some embroidery to add details and these are not included with the chart.  Still, you should be able to figure it out without any problem.

If you look closely, you can see Fred peeking at the camera from his cage!  You also can detect just the slightest grin on Jack.  As I said, he's very happy with his cap! 

Two out of three's not bad!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a sweet day! ;o)  After my last post, one of my readers asked for a pattern for soakers, so I thought this would be a good time to share one of my favorite patterns.  I will confess that I don't always follow a specific pattern.  I knit a good number of soakers when little Marty was using them, so over time, I just kind of developed my own design.  It isn't different enough to claim as an original pattern, so I won't try to.  Instead, here is a link to a pattern that is almost identical to what I use.  It's called the Snapdragon Soaker and it's a free download on Ravelry.  It's a well written basic pattern that is easy to use as a template for doing your own thing!  Here's my variation on the pattern:



This particular soaker was knit with Rowan's Colourscape Chunky yarn.  My eldest son, who lives in Rhode Island, had given me a gift certificate a year ago to this charming little yarn shop called Fresh Purls in Providence.  I just happened to meet the owner and we had a nice visit.  She only had one skein of this particular colorway left and I wasn't sure if I could make it work or not, but since it was for a tiny little bum, I managed to eek it out.  What was even better was she sold it to me for half price!  Without me even asking!  LOL!  But I digress. . .

Don't you love those ruffles?  There are long color repeats so I was able to manage each ruffle in a different color.  I can't take credit for the idea of adding ruffles.  I found this project on Ravelry by berrymama using the same Snapdragon pattern.  That was so thoughtful of her to share her instructions.  Because my yarn was chunky, I just added three ruffles.  I think it would have been too much to add four.  I did add the little garter stitch heart though.  I thought it needed just a little something extra on the front.

If you are new to knitting (or using) soakers, remember that they should be knit out of 100% wool.  Some people have good luck with superwash wool, but more than likely it will have the same effect as if you had used acrylic yarn.  You really need the wool to absorb the moisture.  Also, remember that they have to be lanolized before you use them.  Here is one of the best explanations of how to lanolize that I've come across by Sheepy Time Knits.  I also highly recommend her pattern for longies.  I've used it several times and it was worth every penny!  Another excellent source for great patterns is The Knitting Siren.  I've lost count of how many Turtle Butts I've knit!

Hearts for Ruthie

While I was waiting for little Ruth to arrive, I started knitting up some "girly" soakers.  I had an idea for a soaker with hearts and it came out kind of cute.

It's just a generic soaker that used 80 stitches to begin with and the hearts repeat every ten stitches.  I used some Cascade 220 wool in my stash.

However, while I was knitting it, I thought this pattern might also make a cute bib and cloth.

It's so simple that I almost feel guilty about how quickly I came up with the idea.  It hasn't been test knit, but once you get going, you almost don't need the pattern! You can look at your knitting and know what's coming next!



The bib was knit with Peaches & Creme in Shocking Pink.  Wouldn't this be cute for Valentine's Day too?

The pattern includes directions for both the bib and the cloth and has a chart.  I'm putting the pattern in a pdf file in both the updated cloth and bib files, so you can find it in either spot.  Or, you can just click here for the pdf.  I hope you have fun making this for your little sweetheart too!

At four days old, Ruth Anne now has a nickname.  My son (and her father), who is a huge Yankees fan, calls her "Babe Ruth", which of course leads to "The Babe".  He says that wasn't his intention when they picked her name, but I'm not so sure.