Ladybugs

First, I need to apologize for my last post if I gave the impression that I was going to permanently stop posting bib and cloth patterns.  I only meant that I was moving on to other things temporarily.  Apparently, this caused some confusion judging by the number of comments and personal emails I received.  I'm flattered to hear from so many of you, but I'm sorry if I scared you into commenting!

I'm still working on the t-shirt pattern.  I've knit a couple more, including this variation with a butterfly and an eyelet trim:

Check out the cute button:

I also did a plain version with a ladybug:















It's hard to see in this picture and I'm not as thrilled with it as I hoped I would be.

Both were knitted with Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme.  This is a worsted weight and may just be the softest yarn I've ever felt!  It's 100% cotton and is put up in 180 yard skeins.  It's wonderful to work with and each shirt only took one skein.  I didn't have a lot to spare when I was done, but I didn't feel like I was cutting it close either! 

I was inspired to make a ladybug soaker to match.

I found the pattern on Ravelry here.  It was so much fun to knit. Sandra has so many cute patterns and I can't wait to try a few more!


You only use two colors at a time.  I used Cascade Sport 220 which might not have been the best choice for a soaker.  However, because the yarn is stranded, it adds an extra layer to make up for the lighter weight.  When I reached the crotch, I needed to keep the thickness so I used the same method I do for the heels of socks.  First row is "slip 1, k1, etc" and the next row is purled.  I was pleased with the results and it's just a fluke that the butterfly shirt also matches the soaker!

As for the shirt pattern, I'm still trying to work out the kinks.  I can already tell that it needs to be longer, however, before I go any further, I need to have Baby Ruth (or "Babe Ruth" as she's known in our family) try it on.  It might be important to have a shirt that actually fits, don't you think?? 

Finally, I want to address a question that Ally left me in the comments.  She said she was having a problem with her I-cords looking neat.  I  have a couple of suggestions.  First, after you're done knitting them, give them a couple of good hard tugs.  Also you can do what I do and pin each end to an ironing board and stretch them out, then give them a good steaming.  Don't let the iron touch the fabric, but hold it above it and really hit it with steam.  This is also how I block my bibs.  Of course, you could always try using my crochet method.  Crocheting the ties is pretty easy and so fast.  I will admit that you almost always have to steam them with this method.  They look like curly fries otherwise.  Hope this helps!

T-shirts!

Well, judging from the underwhelming response to my last two patterns, I guess I should just move onto something else.  Like baby t-shirts.  I searched for a pattern that would match up with the one I had in my mind, but nothing really came close.  As is the case for most of the things I do, I decided that the only way to get what I wanted was to do it myself! 

I hate sewing seams, so I knew I wanted a top down shirt, but I also wanted to be able to slip it off and on easily over baby's head.  This would require a placket.

Of course, I had to add a little design to the front.

And to the bottom:

I think it came out really cute.  You start at the neck and work back and forth, while also working the design on the front until the placket is deep enough, and then it's worked in the round until the depth of the armholes is reached.  You then slip the sleeve stitches onto waste yarn to work later and knit to the bottom.  I wanted small sleeves, so when I picked up the stitches, I just did the tiny ribbing at the edge to finish them off.  It was really simple.  The tricky part was figuring out how many stitches to cast on in the first place.  I was trying to avoid a Flashdance look!

I have tons of ideas for other designs, but one that popped into my head was this lacy one:

I love this version!  The lace will make it nice and cool on a summer day!  It's not completely finished as I haven't found the right button for it yet.  I finished the placket off by just single crocheting around the edge and making a buttonhole at the same time.  I thought it made more sense to finish it once I knew how big the button was.  I didn't want to have a loop that wouldn't stay on the button or one that wouldn't fit over a button!







The peach version has fewer stitches around the neck so it isn't as floppy.  I can see lots of things I'd like to improve upon.  Both versions are knit with cotton.  The aqua shirt is made from leftover yarn from the blanket.  (Jeannee by Plymouth).  The peach is Aslan Trends Pima Clasico.  It's supposed to be machine washable, but I haven't put it to the test yet!

I'm contemplating trying to write up the pattern, in case anyone else might be interested, however, I've never written a "sweater" pattern before so I'm not sure if I'd be any good at it.  I know what I did, but can I explain it well enough so you'd know too?  I can see that it would be fairly easy to adjust the size up or down, but if I decide to do it, I think I'll just stick with one size.  I've learned that I can't please everyone!




Hablas espanol?

No.  I don't speak Spanish* despite taking it in college.  (College was a long time ago!)  However, if you do speak Spanish, then you might be interested to know that a very nice knitter from Spain asked me for permission to translate my patterns.  There's a Spanish group called "Nuevos Baberos" which can be accessed here.  They have already translated the heartbeat bib:

This is one of my favorite designs so I'm happy that they chose this as their first bib.  The direct link for the pattern is here.  I'm not sure if they've done any others, because I don't speak Spanish and I have no idea what they're saying.  Hopefully, if they're talking about me, they're being nice!

(*Yes, I do know that I need an upside down question mark in front of Hablas, but neither my keyboard nor Blogger will let me insert it!)

A Tail of Two Bunnies

Every year I always try and post a brand new pattern on the anniversary of my blog.  That was my intention this year also, except that I completely missed the date!  I thought it was the last day of April but it turns out that it was April 1st instead.  Well, so much for that idea!  To make up for my poor memory, I decided to post two patterns for you!

This is "A Tail of Two Bunnies".  When I was designing Ruthie's blanket, I wanted to add a bunny to the mix.  At first, I designed the bunny with the tail and was pretty happy with it, until I realized that almost all of the other designs in the blanket were head shots. The bunny with a tail stuck out (to me anyway) and so I went back to the drawing board and drew just the bunny's head.

I couldn't decide which one to post, so I just decided to do both and, since this is basically the same bunny, I combined the two into one pattern.

I want to thank my good friend, Denise, for helping me out.  She did a knitting marathon of both designs so I could post these as quickly as I have.  With her permission, here are her bunnies:

Didn't she do a fabulous job?  Then again, she always does a fabulous job, both with the knitting and with catching my typos!  I'm so lucky to have her helping me out!

You can get the pdf file by clicking the links in the side bar, or by clicking here for the bib patterns or by clicking here for the cloth patterns.

I wish I knew how to post a poll, so I could see which design is your favorite. You'll have to leave me a comment with your pick!

Finally, you might be interested to know that my original post was April 1, 2008.  Four years ago!  It just doesn't seem possible.  I'm so grateful to all of my followers and to all of you kind enough to leave me your comments.

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."