Foot

Isn’t that just about the cutest foot ever?

That is all.

What to knit in the summer – Part 1: dolls

It’s almost too hot to sit outside in the afternoons this week.  Gone are the days of wanting to knit mittens and woolen hats.  What to do?  My answer this week: stuffed animals and dolls.

This one I started last July.  It’s based on an Edward Gorey drawing that I love. 

I put this away last fall because I just couldn’t get the dress right.  This week I had an epiphany as to how to do it so back onto the needles it went.  I’m happy with it now and am currently working on the hair.

The other current one is based on a drawing that my husband did.

I’ve been wanting to translate his drawing to yarn for a long time now and finally settled on this one.  I love how simple the shape is but it’s still expressive and has details that really make it.

It looks a little more fetal alien than monster right now but once he gets his face finished it’ll look better, I swear.

I had to special order the oval shaped safety eyes but I think it’ll be worth it.  I hope to write the pattern for this one so I’ll try a version with embroidered eyes next and see it that’ll work.

Ahh, knitting items with no trying on of warm garments.  Now to figure out what to knit for the next three months….

The Summer of the Bug

I love insects.  I never really acknowledged that until adulthood, but I really have been in awe of bugs since I was a kid.  When I was little I could spend forever catching grasshoppers and moths, looking them over, and watching them move about. This fascination arose again once I had children.  The house that our family bought in 2009 has a huge Box Elder tree on the side which, of course, is filled with Box Elder bugs.  My son Atticus, three at the time, was so excited by these bugs that he’d shriek with joy every time we saw one.  What fun to be so excited by something so little and seemingly ordinary.

This week I caught Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo on TV.  This short but sweet documentary explores Japan’s obsession with insects.  I loved this and went to bed thinking about bugs.  I dreamt about bugs.  I woke up thinking about bugs and instantly knew that I needed to work these little insects into my next knitting project.

I had already started this little cotton sundress for the baby.  The pattern is Shades of Summer.  This designer has so many cute patterns for little girls.  Her sample in the pattern has little button embellishments along the bodice.  I loved the look but I knew I wanted something different.  I started embroidering little bugs on it today and I really like the way it looks so far (I especially like the caterpillar!).  There will be bigger insects along the bottom hem.  I think.  We’ll see what it looks like when I get there.

Next up is another insect inspired knit.  I dyed these skeins yesterday and am now trying to decide which and how many to use for the toy that I have brewing in my head.

I’m getting over a particularly nasty case of broncitous, so I took this as a good excuse to not do much today aside from sitting on the porch, knitting, and watching the bugs fly/crawl/scuttle around.  Lots of good inspiration outside today.  So many things to knit, so little time.  I’ll always make time for the bugs, though.

Blankets

My little girl turns one this week!  Sniff, sniff.  She has proven her loyalties to gender stereotypes and has embraced all things doll related.  She doesn’t know yet what a doll bed is so I completely expect her mind to be blown when on her birthday I give her my doll bed from when I was a little girl.  I thought I needed to add something new to this old thing so I made her this flower blanket using Attic24‘s Summer Garden Granny Square.  This is only the fourth or so crochet project I’ve done but the second from Attic24.  I adore her patterns, plus Lucy is about as cute as can be and one of those women who after reading her blog you so wish you could sit and have tea with.

I did a boarder of 4 single crochets in each gap, plus 7 on each corner.  I love how fast crochet finishing goes!

I had fun with this project but my real motive for this was to try to get my crochet juices flowing to work on my Babette blanket that has been languishing for months now.  As my second crochet project, this was either really ambitious or really stupid, I haven’t decided yet (a little of both perhaps?).  My husband and I both wanted something pretty warm and heavy, so this is worked with worsted weight with a C hook.

I’m nearly to the end of the pattern but as you can see it’s pretty tiny.  So now I need to plan some more squares, add more to the pattern and keep on plugging!

Buttons

My mom kept her buttons in empty film containers.  To this day just the sound of one of those containers opening makes me smile, remembering sorting those buttons while my mom sewed.  I love looking at all the variety, comparing sizes, sorting colors, all that stuff.  Last summer I found a tin of buttons at a rummage sale for $2.  It was a church sale and this was obviously some old lady’s collection from the last 40 or so years.  I was so excited to take them home, sort them, and stick my fingers in that tin the same way you would your toes in soft sand.

It was well worth $2 for the nostalgia.  For the functionality, though, I’m not sure.  It seems most crafters I know have a variety of buttons in their supplies but personally every time I need buttons for a project I end up going out and buying new ones.

The sweater I’m working on calls for ten buttons.  I have looked through all of the buttons in my house and I just don’t have them.  It seems so silly to me.  All of these:

and there aren’t any that meet my needs.  I have considered mixing and matching but I just don’t know if I’m the sort of person that can pull that off.

I guess I’ll just hold on to these and someone can buy them at my garage sale when I’m old.

And here is the so-close-to-needing-buttons cardigan!

I’ll be channeling The Little Engine That Could today and plowing through it.

The slow cardigan

I am a total sucker for stripes. No, really. Look at all the striped things I knit. When I saw the Bergen Street Cardigan, it was love at first sight. The only thing better than stripes is stripes on cardigans.

I started this in August, determined to finish by the first snow (which in Colorado can be anywhere from the first few weeks of September to mid November). Mid September rolled around, I got to the top and tried it on. Too baggy. Lesson learned: when choosing a size for a garment measure across the bust AND around the waist. The bust width fit perfect while the waist was way too large.

I took my scissors and ripped out a row somewhere under the armpits, picked up the live stitches, and started knitting downward (the original sweater is bottom up). I hemmed and hawed over it lots before letting it sink to the bottom of my knitting pile.

When I came across the Twist Collective’s February Finish Fest, I knew this was the kick in the rear I needed. This is back on the top of my list, ready to be completed in the next eight days. It will be done!

And for added motivation, I told myself I won’t work on any other project until this is done. I think that will get me moving!