Baby Hat

Another completed knitting WIP!  This time it's a tiny baby hat made from a Ravely pattern.  I have to say the flower in the original picture included with the pattern is what drew me to the pattern, but in the end I had no appropriate yarn to make one.  It's OK thought because the hat itself is very cute!

The pattern is a very basic little hat, but it was nice to follow a pattern and not worry about trying to size it myself.  My gauge was a bit tighter than called for, but I decided to go with the smaller size anyways.  I did extend the hat by two rows though.

Made with Wool-Ease Thick& Quick in Oatmeal

(skeins of yarn are very good for modeling hats!)

Knitting WIP II

This is another one of my knitting WIPs.  I suspect this one will take a while to make - even longer than the one I showed last week.  The other one at least has cables which are fun to make.  This one is just stockinette.  Lots and lots of stockinette...

Baby shoes

The gift knitting mentioned in a previous post is complete and has made its way over to the intended recipient.

This is the same pattern that I used for the first pair of baby shoes I made.  I should have read the post before I started making these though...  I picked up the stitches for the sides differently and I think the  way I made them in the first pair looks better (and makes for a slightly larger slipper).

The new parents did not know if they were having a boy or a girl.  When I chose the yarn, it looked fairly gender-neutral on the skein, but as I finished the first slipper I realized there is an awful lot of pink in it!  The new mom-to-be assured me she would not mind having pink slippers if it turned out to be a boy.  As luck would have it, they had a girl so a little bit of pink does not matter.

I debated whether to start from the same part of the color way for the second slipper and in the end decided not to bother with that.  The slippers do l look quite a bit different, but I think it's clear that they belong together:)

Made with Patons Kroy Socks yarn in Meadow Stripes.

Knitting WIP I

The smaller knitting projects I worked on earlier this year put me in the mood for starting something larger.  This is the start of one of the sweaters I am working on.  I have absolutely no illusions that I will finish it anytime soon, but it's been something I have wanted to do for a long time.  I hope to have it done before the end of next winter!

Dragon hat

A few weeks ago I posted a crochet hat WIP.  I mentioned that the hat I showed at that time was quite a bit more interesting than it first seemed.  The hat is not only complete, but my nephew received it so I can finally post it!

I made this following the Dragon Hat pattern by BriAbby.  I first saw the pattern last summer and immediately thought of my nephew.  I had not planned on making him another silly hat since he is getting older, but how could I resist making a dragon?!?  Initially the plan was to make it for Christmas, but other things got in the way so I didn't even start making it until the holidays.  The hat itself was pretty quick, but the dragon took a while!

I didn't realize until I started making the pattern that each little piece of the dragon is made separately and then sewn together (there are three pieces just for each eye!).  I thought I took a picture of all the individual pieces together, but apparently not.  Shown above is just the dragon after it was all sewn together.

It took a few tries to get the dragon started.  Initially I started to make it with Red Heart Super Save in a very nice dark green, however the dragon ended up huge!  He would have hung over the back of the hat and I didn't think that would look too good.  I ended up going with Red Heart Soft in Guacamole, but I had to scale down the hook size to get the dragon to fit on the hat.  I found this particularly strange since my tension is normally pretty tight.  Although I was not happy about having to switch colors at first, this green grew on me.  It also makes for a larger contrast between the hat and the dragon so it turned out well.  The one thing I was adamant on is that the dragon is green!  I had a very particular dragon in mind when I made this hat, besides, everyone knows that dragons are green:)

Sewing the dragon to the hat was probably the most nerve wracking part.  I think the instructions call for attaching the dragon fist and then sewing all the pieces onto the dragon, but I thought that would bet very difficult to handle.  I decided to pin everything in place, take the dragon off the hat to attach all the parts and then attach the dragon to the hat.  The wings and hind legs were attached after the body of the dragon was attached.  Despite it all, the dragon decided to perch on the hat a bit crooked...

It's most noticeable from the back, but I am trying hard not to let it bother me.  My sister in law said she would not have noticed anything if I hadn't pointed it out.  I think I also made a mistake in the ridge of the first wing.  I didn't notice it until I got to the same point in the second wing.  I suddenly realized that the two wings did not look alike!  I decided to go with the mistake I made in the first one since it resulted in a more dimensional ridge.  It took some figuring out on what I did wrong in order to replicate it though!  Now that I no longer have the prototype in my hands I don't think I could figure it out again.

For the most part the pattern is very easy to follow and everything is clearly explained.  I did have to play with the sizing a bit, but that is not unexpected considering individual gauge plays such a large role in that.  I would definitely make this again if I found a willing recipient, but I do need a break before I even think of making it again.

Overall the hat was a hit and my nephew really likes it.  My sister in law even said that she almost does not want to let him wear it so he doesn't lose it.  I told her hats are wearing!  I was most happy to hear that he is not too old for silly hats and that it will get a little bit of wear this spring and then again next year!  (I found out he still wears both the monster hat and the fish hat!).

Knit mitts

Most of the recently completed items I've either knit or crocheted were made as gifts.  This one is for me.  I had initially planned on making these mitts last year and even found the pattern and bought the yarn.  Winter ended though before I could get started and then I was no longer in the mood to knit.  I picked it up this year and the first mitt more or less flew off my needles.  I hope it don't get stuck on the second mitt!

February Progress 2016

Work has been pretty crazy the last few weeks.  I am too tired to do anything when I come home which includes making lace or posting!

Bobbin lace:

Made some decent progress on my WIP.  Over halfway there!

Tatting:

Kept plugging away on all four active WIPs.  So far my goal of picking up each WIP at least once month is going well, but I will have to revisit that once yard work season starts.

Needle Lace:

I actually started a small needle lace piece!  It's coming along quickly - when I pick it up! 

Crochet:

I finished two more hats!  The WIP in my last post is now finished and has been sent to the recipient.  More pictures to come once it makes it to its destination.

Knitting:
Both of my WIPs are now complete.  Since they are both gifts I need to wait to post them.  I also have a few more projects in progress.