What a hiatus?!?!

Motherhood has certainly taken a toll on my writing, hasn't it? Well luckily for me, it hasn't taken a similar toll on my textile work. Somehow between my two busy kids I have managed not only to continue knitting and designing (mainly for selfish reasons) I have also picked up quilting and sewing. And now it is time for me to return to documenting my crafty adventures for all to read and enjoy.

From now forward, you can expect once weekly content documenting what's on my needles, or ready for its final washing, along with the vital lessons each successive project has taught me.

Turned Hem

I love the tidy look of a turned hem on sweaters. I would probably like it on other pieces as well, but my go to method for turning a hem has always been a provisional cast on and that was typically too much bother. I want to just get knitting!! Until the other night when I had a great thought to make the process more "just jump right in"-y

A reverse loop cast on typically results in a very loose cast-on edge of knitting, so why not use that to your advantage! I simply looped on one additional loop to my cast on target number. That way I can let it get as loose as I want and I can easily slip that extra stitch and all the extra yarn off at the end of my first row of knitting. But that's not the amazing part. The really awesome part is how easy it is to pick up those loops as new stitches when you want them later!

Look how lovely and uniform those loops are waiting to be worked together with the working edge of my folded knit hem!!

But that wasn't my only revelation while working this hem! In a usual matter I held my needle of live stitches in close proximity to my picked up loops and began purling two together. It's a bit tedious because either set of stitches could easily fall off without much trouble. So I did something a little different.

I slipped off the live stitch from my back needle...

Then purples my picked up loop...

See my little pulled stitch and that loose loop to the right if it, poised and ready!

From the back (which is the front of the hem) pass that slipped stitch over!

There is way less attempting to coordinate shuffling of stitches in my opinion. Sliding two purled together stitches off of their original needles always ends up a little uneven in my experience. This method eliminated that shuffle for me. I feel like there may be a couple more movements this way, but much more precision. I prefer it.

And look at these pretty purl bumps on the inside of my hem!

And a wonderfully even look on the outer side of the hem, not that I find a turned hem to be incredibly obvious on the right side normally. But this is so clean!

Christmas Stocking Planning

Four years ago, for our first Christmas together, I knit stockings for my husband and I. Having chosen 4 classic Christmas hues, I still have plenty of yarn. Part of my plan was to knit stockings for our whole family. It was not until last week that I remembered that I now get to make the third stocking!!

Little Red Sweater

In a past post, I shared about a lovely little shrug that I designed. But you know what? Sometimes I knit lovely things and they just don't work with my lifestyle. Luckily, I'm a hand knitter with a passion for designing things that work for me (sorry if you aren't me and my designs don't work for you, I may be willing to dive into your life and design based on you, so email me and we could see if that could work out for both of us). So that's what happened with my Little Red Hooded Shrug, I changed it.

The Pros and Cons of Knitting with a Baby

Pros:

• Naptime = guilt free knitting time, because mom needs a rest too.
• Small sweaters take next to no time to knit
• Baby enjoys watching the repetitive motions (from a safe distance)
• Babies are constantly growing, therefore requiring new sizes of classics such as small sweaters, half-sized hats, and bitty booties.

Cons:

• Naptime = catching up on sleep missed last night
• Small sweaters magically has as much finishing required as the full sized versions
• Knitting needles have points...not so baby friendly
• Because baby is constantly growing and requiring new sizes, there never seems to be time to knit (let alone even sketch out) that new sweater(s) bouncing around in my head.

Finding Time to Knit or Crochet

Wow, motherhood! I know some of you read that and know exactly what I mean. Others read that and likely can imagine. Before motherhood, I think I thought I knew what that could mean. Now I realize that I had no idea. The days blur together, I forget to do things like shower (or I do shower and forget that I had), and schedules are a thing of the past. While there is obviously a lot that I should be finding time for (like cooking, picking up the house, and laundry), my hobbies land somewhere else entirely.

Little Red Hooded Shrug

I shared some of my favorite things about dolman sleeve sweaters earlier this week, and now I'd like to share with you one of my designs playing with dolman sleeves. I hate coming up with names for my designs, and this is no exception. In fact, it may be one of my poorer name decisions, but I have come to peace with it.

Dolicissima

Dolicissima is Italian for sweet little thing, which is exactly what this cardigan is. From the yarn I used, to the neutral shade that goes with everything, to the beautiful lace panel growing up the back. I love this little sweater and would easily use a dozen more!

Dolman Sleeve

I love the dolman sleeve, though I was sad to find that googling the term did not bring up very much in the way of specifics. In fact, many of the links were to well-known stores that had a selection of tops with various renditions of flowy sleeves. These hardly represent the many design and style options that I find the dolman style sleeve to open up.

A first sweater design...

The first sweater that I truly designed was the Beach to Club cover-up. I don't remember exactly what I made with the cotton-modal yarn, but the drape and shine were delightful. So I found a nice colored neutral that I liked and began!

Finished Object Friday

Its a little surprising, even to me, that I have finished some knitting in the last almost six weeks. Come to think of it, I didn't do anything during the first two weeks! So really, this is what I have done in the last four weeks. It has been especially easy to get projects going now that nap time is a bit more predictable and the nighttime sleeping has become more plentiful. 

Baby Knitting

I was really good about not knitting anything and everything for my baby while I was pregnant. But now that she's here the thought of knitting myself one of the five sweater's quantities in my stash for myself seems like a far away dream. On the other hand, my daughter is so small I can knit her a sweater in a couple of evenings (or a week of evenings at worst). So I am daydreaming of a little rainbow of sweaters for her, currently she has 2 baby surprise jackets. I decided to do a little Ravelry exploration for more inspiration, here's what I found (not that I need more to knit). 

The Adventures of a Milk Maiden

With the arrival of my daughter, many things in our household have changed. The cat has to sleep on his own. We have much more laundry than before. The two of us parents are excellent at forgetting to eat and sleep because she is just so adorable to look at. And I have a new job as a full time exclusive dairy. Here are some of my observations from the first month of motherhood.

Life's a Beach

Who doesn’t love a big lacy knit market bag? It can carry everything you may need with the ever expanding lace pattern. I have taken special pleasure in bringing such bags to the grocery store and watching the bagger fit my entire order into the seemingly tiny bag. Certainly not the most responsible way to get my groceries home, but we all need a little amusement. 

Dreaming of Sunshine

I am always searching for a perfect bag. In stores, online, finally I just started searching my own head. What did I want in a bag? What did I see commercially that I liked? What did I want to be able to carry around with me? This bag was dreamed up one spring when the department stores had all sorts of nicely finished leather patterns. I liked the idea of the texture of a bag lightening toward the top as I saw with leather that had flowery punches in the top half, or interlaced pieces toward the straps. Could I make knitting do that?

Three Rounds Full

Much like the Lily Valley Bag, the Three Rounds Full bag was born out of my experimenting with what felted material could do. Could you put eyelets into the fabric? How much of a shape could one really impart on the felted material if it was shaped while sopping wet? If the piece isn’t neatly sewn together, could the felting process impart structural integrity? The answer turned out to be “yes” to all of those questions. 

Lily Valley Bag

The Lily Valley Bag was the first pattern that I created. I had seen a few bags with the similar shape of triangles reaching up and becoming the straps of the bag. I had seen bags with layers sewn together to create different pockets and compartments. But none of these bags quite had the utility that I was looking for. I wanted something that could hold a good amount of whatever it was I wanted to be carried (yarn, groceries, the mishmash of items that occupy my purse). 

Fabulous Friday!

We finally got some sunshine, and I took a few quick glamour shots of my Sea Anemone Shawl. These were just quickies, and the pattern is still in progress (if I've started it, oops). I was able to get the general shape and feature some of my favorite components of this beautiful piece. 

WIPs Wednesday

Another accountability post. If I am taking weekly pictures of what I am working on and publicly sharing them, then I need to make progress on them or I will be embarrassed. So here are the projects I am working on, which includes a couple new treats.

Sea Anemone - Blocking

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

Here are some lovely shots of the Sea Anemone Shawl as it dries off.