A Handmade Christmas

The green sweater with twisted stitches is my own design I came up with for my mom. The fuzzy blue sweater with hat and mittens, I designed for Aidan. And the blue Aran style sweater I designed for my niece, Ashlyn.

Last minute gift dolls and a Cinderella topsy turvy doll. I made these for Aidan and Chloe from Jean Greenhowe patterns.

I made these little stockings and dolls for one of my nieces and three of my nephews. They were made from Jean Greenhowe patterns for the most part. I did make some changes, though. I added the monograms on the stockings. For the snowman and elf stockings, I followed her basic stocking pattern and embellished them my own way using some of her other patterns. On the doll, the original pattern called for guipure flowers. I don't even know what those are, so I embroidered a lazy daisy stitch instead.

Another birthday sweater

I designed this sweater for my mother-in-law for her birthday. I was unable to get very good pictures of it, but I still wanted to post it here.

I don't even know yet if it fits her, but she loved it. I wanted to get a picture of her wearing it, but I forgot. Anyway, The yarn I used is from Elann. It is a worsted weight superwash wool. The sweater was constructed seamlessly from the bottom up. The sleeves were worked separately, from the bottom up, and then joined to the body. The yoke features small plait cables with the decreases in the purl stitches to form the circular yoke. The pattern I used for the body is a modification of Barbara Walker's rib and braid pattern.

New yarn and needles

I just got these in the mail today. They are Knitpicks Options harmony wood interchangeable needles. I purchased them with money that I got for my birthday. I can't wait to use them. Aren't they perty?

My husband got me this beautiful yarn for my birthday. Well, he gave me a dollar limit and told me to choose whatever yarn I wanted. I buy most of my yarn on Elann.com, because you get more for your money. Anyway, the one on the top is Superwash Bamboo and the one on the bottom is Highland Sport.

More pics

My sister Jenn emailed me these pictures she took of my sister Karla wearing her birthday present.

Snowflake eyelet wrap cardigan

I designed this sweater for my sister Karla for her birthday. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but I knew if I knitted like crazy, I could get it done in time. It took me less than two weeks to make. My inspiration for this piece came from a picture in a magazine of a similar wrap cardigan that my sister liked. She asked me if I could design something like it and this is what I came up with. It features a snowflake eyelet pattern, a ribbed waist, and a ribbon tie. The bottom edging is a 1x1 rib knitted on sideways because I didn't want it to pull in at the bottom. The yarn I used is Lion Brand micro. I usually don't like to use acrylic for wearables, but this is the softest acrylic yarn I have ever used. And it was on sale, so that was another bonus. Her birthday was last Saturday and she loved her gift.

What I've been doing

I haven't posted in awhile, but there is a reason for that. I finished another sweater, but it is a Christmas present, so I am going to wait until after Christmas and hopefully I can post a picture of it on the recipient. I am almost done with another design, but I can't post a picture of it yet because I am going to submit it (hopefully) for publication. So I am still knitting like crazy and it won't be long until I am posting more pictures.

Fleurette lace sweater

Since the weather is starting to get colder, this will probably be my last Summer sweater. I wanted to design something pretty and feminine that could be worn with jeans for casual occasions, or with a skirt for more formal occasions. The yarn I used is a cotton, linen, and rayon blend. The lace pattern for the sweater is a french lace pattern called Fleurette. For the sleeves, I used a type of faggoting called Rick Rib. The use of short rows shape the cap sleeves. There is a ruffle at the hip for ease in fit. When I was knitting this sweater I wanted to shape the waist, but I didn't want to mess with my stitch count and throw off the pattern. So I changed needle sizes for the waist shaping. Since this yarn is so drapey, it didn't shape the waist as much as I wanted. To fix this I made an i-cord drawstring and wove it through the lace pattern at the waist. I did a picot bindoff for the neckline, sleeves, and at the bottom of the ruffle.

Eyelet wrap cardigan

I love wrap cardigans. I actually tried to design one about a year and a half ago, but I had just started designing and it didn't come out right. So I finally got up the courage to try it again and this is what I came up with. I used Rowan 4-ply cotton yarn. The allover stitch pattern is a quatrefoil eyelet. The edgings and the side ties are done in a feather faggoting pattern. This took me about a month to make because I am a bit of a perfectionist and I frogged it out a couple dozen times. It was worth it though, because I am very happy with the end result.

Ripple Lace Tank

Usually when I design something, I come up with the design and then I choose a yarn. With this one, I chose the yarn and designed a tank top for that yarn. I had purchased 10 balls of Queensland Collection Invito yarn on Elann.com for an unbelievable price and I was just dying to use it. It was kind of hard to pick a stitch pattern that would showcase this yarn, but I think the ripple pattern works. For the lace edgings, I used Knitpicks Shinesport. For the straps, I made 2 i-cords on each side 1 in each color and then I twisted them. I am working on getting the pattern written out. When I do, I will post it on my other blog, Gourmet Knitting, if anyone is interested.

My first knitted charity donation

I recently joined the Yahoo! group, Crafting for a Cause. If you are unfamiliar with this group, they craft for a lot of different charities. You don't even have to be able to craft to join. They also accept store bought donations. I decided to join, because I just wanted to give back in some way. I love to knit, so what better way to make a difference. The charity I chose to knit for first is Pine Ridge Indian Health Services (OB unit), in South dakota. Their goal is to send all the newborn babies home in a new outfit. So I decided to knit a onesie and a pair of baby booties. I did not design these, though. Since I have never knitted anything like these before, I just found a pattern in a knitting magazine that I had. I followed the pattern all the way through for the booties, but on the onesie, I made a couple of changes. Anyway, I hope they find their way to a very deserving baby.

Sleeveless v-neck sweater

For this sweater, I wanted to do something a little different. Since I love cables, I decided to try a closed ring cable from Barbara Walker's "Charted Knitting Designs." In the book, it was not a spot pattern, but I thought it would look better this way, so I only did one repeat. I also found a pretty twist pattern called Rapunzel's braid, from Barbara Walker's "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns," which runs along each side of the v-neckline. The lace pattern used at the bottom is a very old fashioned lace that I found in Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns." For extra shaping at the waist, I added an elegant ribbing (this is the actual name of the stitch pattern from "Charted Knitting Designs") at the sides. All in all, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Summer sweater with mosaic color pattern and cables

I have been wanting to do some color knitting for a while, but the problem is, I do not like fair isle or intarsia. So I decided to try out one of Barbara Walker's mosaic patterns. And I love cables, so it seemed like the perfect combination.

My first entrelac venture

This is a baby blanket that I made for my sister in law, who is expecting a baby any day now. I had never done entrelac before, but I am a bit of an adventurous knitter, so I found an online entrelac tutorial. It was so easy to follow, I decided I would make it even more interesting and I added a 6 stitch cable to all the rectangular panels.

An unusual design

I designed this sweater because I love cardigans, but I am not particularly fond of closures. In other words, I do not like dealing with buttons, zippers, or most other things that are used to close jackets or cardigans. So I came up with this design. I call it a cardipullover.

Knitted socks

This is my first pair of knitted socks. The cute little feet that are sporting them belong to my little sweetheart, Aidan. He is My 2 year old boy and the light of my life. I don't usually knit socks, not because I don't like them. I just prefer to tackle larger projects.

Knitting as usual

Something you should know about me is that I am always knitting. That is not to say that I don't do anything else, that just means that I always have a piece of knitting on my needles. And I work on it when I have time. When I am not knitting, I am thinking about my next design and all the elements that go into designing a knitted article. This sweater is one I designed last winter. I got the idea for it from a picture my sister cut out of a magazine because she knew I would like it and could maybe reproduce a similar one. She was right, I did love it. But the one in the magazine was $60. So I went to Knitpicks.com and found this beautiful wool yarn for $1.99 a ball. It took 16 balls, so it only cost me about $32. And that is just one of the things I love about knitting and designing.