Turtle Love Cloth

Oops!  It was pointed out to me that the pattern for the Turtle Love cloth wasn't listed in the sidebar.  I'm not sure what happened, but it's there now!  Here's a direct link:  Turtle Love Cloth

An Oldie

I've been feeling pretty awful about not posting more and I reached the point where I almost thought about giving it up entirely.  Almost.  My son gave me a lecture and I've actually had a few nice knitters contact me. So, I guess I'll try harder!  LOL!!

I thought I would start by posting an "oldie".  This is one of the patterns that I did for the tribute book for Peaches & Creme after they went out of business.  You could only get the pattern if you bought the book, but I get requests for it all the time so I'm just going to post it.  The pdf files are in the sidebar.

 

This was called "Turtle Love".  I knew the gal who ran Peaches & Creme loved turtles,so that was my inspiration.  I do recall that I had a hard time getting this to look the way I wanted.  My daughter-in-law loves turtles too, so I felt a little pressure to make sure it was okay!

I added a chart to the pattern which wasn't included in the original.  I know that a lot of knitters prefer to work from charts, including myself.  It would be so much easier if all the patterns were just charts, then there would just be minimal test knitting required.

Another soggy, rainy day here in Western Massachusetts.  My poor window boxes are starving for some sunshine, but my hydrangeas are loving it.  Good weather for turtles!

Pure Imitation

I don't belong to Pinterest (or Facebook for that matter) but I do like to check out some of the boards, particularly those that pertain to babies and kids.  I came across this sweet little cardigan.

I loved the whole design especially the little feather and fan detail at the hem.  Unfortunately, the post was all in French and even with the Google translator, I just couldn't figure out how to get the pattern.  Or even if there was a pattern!  I decided that it couldn't be that hard to recreate it, right? Well, yes and no.  The trouble with trying to recreate something is that there is a lot of trial and error.  A lot.

I started with my own Sweet Tee pattern.  Because I wanted a cardigan, I added two extra stitches to each end so I could have button bands with five stitches.  From there, I knit the whole yoke in garter stitch.  This was a little tricky as I had to knit more rows because the garter stitch shortened up the length.  I ended up with a few more stitches than the pullover has.  This was okay, because it just meant that the armholes would be larger and that's never a problem when you're dressing babies. The other problem was that I had to figure out how many stitches I needed to complete the feather and fan pattern.  Once I worked that out, I added the increases in a bunch at the center back.

They don't really show up in the picture but it added a little extra flair, if you will.  I'm not crazy about my shoulder increases compared to the original.

I added the same eyelet band to the sleeves and used some buttons that I had in my enormous button stash.  All in all, I think it came out pretty cute.  I used two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that there was one huge, glaring error.  I hadn't seen Ruthie in awhile and wouldn't you know, the little bugger had the nerve to grow and the sweater was too small!!  How could she do that to me??! Still, I know the sweater will go to a good home and will keep some other little girl nice and toasty, but I was disappointed not to see it on my own grandchild!  They tell carpenters to measure twice and cut once.  I think that advice could also apply to aging grandmothers!  Measure first and then knit!!

Little Porker

Thank you for waiting so patiently for me to get my act together and to finally post another animal from Ruthie's Farm.  This time it's the pig.  I had a hard time coming up with a name for this one.  All of my great ideas were already taken.  I was complaining to my good pal, Tunie, that I didn't know what to name the little porker, when she said to name it that!  Duh!

I used Peaches & Creme in Sunburst, but I think it would look good in almost any color.

For the cloth, I used Army Tan.  I love this shade of brown.  It's a pity that they discontinued this yarn.  I know it was bought out by Lily, but it just isn't the same.  Fortunately, I stocked up on a whole bunch of cones before they went out of business.

The pdf files are in the sidebar or you can click here for the bib and here for the cloth.

The aforementioned Tunie knit both the pig and the chicken as hostess gifts for a friend.

Anyone for bacon and eggs?

Angry Feet

The Angry Mitts were such a big hit with the grandsons, that I decided to take it a "step" further (no pun intended!) and make them some angry socks.  My goal was to knit each of the boys a pair to tuck into their Easter baskets.  This sounded like a good plan at the time, except that the idea didn't occur to me until about two weeks before Easter!

This project turned into a marathon knitting adventure, but as you can see, I managed to get them all done!  The socks use the same premise as the mittens.  You use your favorite, basic top-down sock pattern and then embroider the faces.  They're really simple to make.

Mickey loves the blue bird.  I knit his pair first to try out the concept.  Then I knit the black bird for Jack.

Ugh.  I forgot  how much I hate knitting with black yarn!  I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that this is probably the most difficult bird to make.  It's so hard to see the stitches to do the embroidery.  I had to sit in the sunlight (when there was some.  It's been pretty scarce around here!) to be able to do it.  It was actually a strategic move on my part to knit this pair second.  I knew I couldn't give a pair to one and not the other, so I had to keep going.  Fortunately, the third pair that I knit for Marty were the easiest.

The white yarn was a welcome relief and Marty has much smaller feet!  Of course, I couldn't forget our Babe Ruth and since I discovered that there's also a pink bird, I decided to include her in the fun!

The hard part was having to actually buy pink yarn.  You all know how much I hate pink!  Still, I have to admit that they did come out pretty cute.

I've put the pattern for making the socks in the sidebar.  As I said, it's not really so much of a pattern as it is a recipe for making your own.  You can grab the pdf file there or you can just click here.

I also have updated the Angry Bird mitts pattern by including charts for the black bird and the pink bird.

Now who's to say that you couldn't knit a pair of socks using two different birds?

Out of the Running

Thank you, thank you to all of you who voted for my friend, Tracy.  Unfortunately, she had to withdraw her project due to a mix up.  As I understand it, once you posted your project there wasn't supposed to be any "chatting" until after the voting.  The time was based on Irish time.  Tracy updated her post to include more information and the moderator said it qualified as "chatting".  I don't get that, but here's the kicker, based on Irish time, she was still before the deadline!  Despite pointing it out, she still had to withdraw. In any event, both Tracy and I are grateful for those of you who tried to help her out!

On another subject, Knit Picks and I are on the outs.  They gave me a really hard time about an order I placed before Christmas.  I'll spare you the details, but it did take them six weeks to credit my account.  Then, of course, there was the fiasco with the stolen credit card information.  I didn't want to wait and see if I was one of the unfortunate ones, so I cancelled my credit card.  While I didn't have any suspicious activity, I did place an order during the time period.  Better to be safe than sorry.  If all this wasn't bad enough, I'm thoroughly disappointed with some socks I knit with their Stroll yarn.  There's a neat hat pattern on Ravelry called Dustland Hat .  I haven't knit the hat yet, but I thought it would also make nice socks.

See?  Nice huh.  I love green and had high hopes.  Well, while they might look nice from a distance, up close they're horrid.  The yarn pilled and fuzzed like crazy.

They look like they've been through the wash a few times and they were spanking new!

You can barely see the stitch detail.  Jack still liked them, but then again, he doesn't really care too much what he has on his feet!

I'm not anxious to use this yarn again anytime soon.  I have a ton of it too.  I guess it's true that you get what you pay for.  I know I won't be paying for this again any time soon!

Lucky Me!

I have been so fortunate to meet some really lovely people both through my blog and through Ravelry.  One of them is my pal, Christi, from Texas.  A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to get a package in the mail from her.  I just couldn't imagine what she could be sending me.

Look at this gorgeous set of handwarmers and matching cowl.  Christi knows how much I love green and so she knit this beautiful set for me.  Not only that, but she also spun the yarn herself!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I'm not used to anyone making things for me. She made this as a thank you for something I did for her awhile ago.  Something I didn't expect any thanks for, so needless to say, I was just overwhelmed.  I wish you could all slip your hands into the mitts and feel how soft and cozy they are.  I'm truly touched by Christi's generous gesture of friendship.  As I said, lucky me!

On another note, I'm going to shamelessly ask you to help me help out another friend.  Tracy lives in Arizona and has had some major health difficulties in the last few years.  She's entered a contest on Ravelry and I would love it if you would all vote for her project.  I think it's one of the nicest ones in the contest and it would be just so terrific if she could win.  All you have to do it go to Ravelry and vote.  Here's a link to the voting: St. Patrick's Day Celebrations  Click on "love" and that's it! You can read Tracy's touching story.  tracyvw is her Ravelry name and her project is post # 6.  A beautiful Irish scarf.

Isn't it lovely?  So I urge you, if you've ever knit one of my patterns, this is your chance to "pay" me back by helping Tracy out.  I sure hope she wins and I thank each and every one of you!!