Clara

I fell in love with this little dress as it popped up on several blogs I like to look in on. I like it even more now that it is finished and about to be gifted to my newest niece (age 7.5 months) this weekend. She will most likely wear it to a party for her Grandfather, who just attained an impressively numbered birthday! Coincidentally, I will be performing Märchenbilder by Robert Schumann on the viola during that party. Schumann was of course married to a famous woman named Clara. Kind of fun connection.



Details:
Pattern: Clara Dress
Yarn: Isager Strik Alpaca 2, most of 2 skeins
Needles: Size 4
Colorway: Dusty Plum
Size: The larger one, though the dress is not going to fit a 2 year old!
Started: December 25, 2009 as I was traveling with my husband to Washington, DC in a non-stop driving rain storm on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. An auspicious start, but a little rugged knitting never hurt anyone!
Finished: March 27, 2010, first day of spring break!


View of the back and adorable buttons.

I went up one needle size on the dress, because I had forgotten the proper size of needle at home. It did not knit up too loosely and added even more to the beautiful drape of the fabric. A very fun project, though the delicate yarn and small needles did make it a bit tedious at various stages.

Happy Spring and Happy Knitting!

How Is Your Knitting Year?

(Click on picture to make the print larger)

I found this funny greeting card and thought that it summed up my knitting year so far. No finished objects except for a late Christmas present scarf... and lots of yarn and patterns coming into my life that are not getting attention. Maybe it is time to embrace the idea of "stash" with less anxiety. I just don't want it to take over...

Elisabeth = 1
String = 5

Till next time - Happy Knitting! Perhaps I'll get some knitting in over Spring Break!

Snow Day!

Today was the perfect Saturday: nothing on the agenda and completely snowed in! Here are a selection of photos from around the house.





I should re-knit the cuffs on my Norwegian sweater and go snowshoeing in grand knit style tomorrow...



Till then, Happy Knitting!

Late Loot

Somehow I got really behind on the holiday knitting. So I had to catch up a bit after the New Year started. This scarf is for my friend P, who is a great pal and admirer of my craft. Another friend of ours had made her a scarf (turns out it was also green), but P had misplaced it in a recent move. I'm glad that her new scarf could fill the void!



Details:
Pattern: Ariel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade 220, one skein
Colorway: Hunter Green - neither photo does the color justice, oh well!
Needles: size 8, metal
Start: January 1, 2010
Finish: January 9, 2010



Happy Knitting!

Little Professors and some Sugar and Spice!

My husband and I have 5 siblings between us, three of whom are having children. All three reproducing siblings (or their wives, as the case may be) had a third child this year, which meant that Auntie E needed to spring back into action with the yarn and the needles.

One little sweater was already finished in March. After several years of languishing through the finishing process, it needed to languish a few more months for the little niece's arrival. Here is Niece #3 showing off her new sweater. Full post and details about the sweater can be found in the February / March 2009 archives.


So Sweet! She just needs to roll up the sleeves a little!

On the other side of the family, all the nephews (and nieces) love and strive to be a awesome as Uncle A., who is a professor. How perfect to find the "Little Professor Vest" pattern, another great pattern by local designer Christina Wall. (classiccableknits.com)



These were super easy and quick knits.

The Details:
Pattern: Little Professor Vest by Christina Wall
Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash, one ball per vest. There was plenty left over.
Size: Newborn for Nephew #6, 9 months for Nephew #5
Finished both: Just in time for gifting - December 24, 2009
Notes: There is no 9 month size, but I just added 4 stitches to the 6 month size cast-on number, knit an inch longer, and then followed the directions for decreasing after dividing the front and back parts of the vest until I had the same final stitch numbers as the other sizes. I'm glad I added a little more room, because this child is sprouting! I was also worried about the newborn fitting into his vest, but he was perfect for it. He was only 12 days old at the time of the photo shoot!

Nephew #6 - "This vest is making me so sleepy....zzzz"


Nephew #5 - "I'm so happy that I look like Unc already!!!"


Cousins! - "Hey, what's new down there?"


Happy New Knitting Year!

Well...

Here comes POST NUMBER FIVE for November! Blogging with regularity, it turns out, is all about setting goals and following through, just like anything else... Though I feel slightly guilty for not finishing at least this hat. I got sucked into a book series this weekend. Twilight, while no Harry Potter series, certainly has its page-turner moments...



Back to the knitting... This is Jared Flood's "Quincy" which, I am finding out belatedly, should probably not be knit in a variegated colorway. I am having a difficult time deciding if I should follow through on his directions, thus putting the not very subtle seam front and center for all to see. Or if I should semi-hide the seam in the cool fold that is my favorite part of this hat. And then there is the matter of possibly running out of yarn for the top. I bought the yarn in Banff last summer and have not seen this brand in any local stores... I guess I'll have to post again soon!

Till then, Happy Knitting!

Knitting Nancy, Knitting Nephew

My Knitting Nancy resurfaced a few weeks ago, innocently smiling up at me out of a crafting drawer.



So this Thanksgiving when Nephew #1, age 7, wanted to help me knit, I knew exactly what he could do. He needed a little bit of assistance first, but quickly gained confidence.



By the time it was bedtime, he had figured out how to handle the whole thing by himself! We had lots of giggles and anticipatory moments trying to guess when the knitting would come out and when the colors would change. It was really fun to see what a good time he was having!



Hope your Thanksgiving was great too!
Happy Knitting!