Top down Raglan Sweater KAL

I joined the Spud and Chloe Top Down Raglan sweater KAL last week. This is how far I've gotten on the sweater for one of my nephews.

All I need to do now is add a moss stitch hem and then it's on to the arms!
I'm really enjoying the creative process for this sweater. Great first time sweater for someone who's always wanted to knit one but was afraid to.

I've also cast on for the Baby Professor vest (Ravelry link). I'm using some gorgeous mossy green yarn that was gifted by my daughter. It's a quick knit and I love how the moss stitch gives it a whole new texture. I'll definitely be casting on for #2 since I have tiny twin nephews to knit for! Progress photos to be added soon.

March News updates

Well, well, well, I am the proud aunty of twin boys! On March 6th, my brother and his wife doubled their family LOL

The boys came a bit early, but still doing great. Olivier was born first and weighs in just a bit over 5 lbs and Alexi followed coming in at just under 5 lbs. Pretty gosh darn awesome for twins. I've been busy knitting up wee caps and sockies to keep those itty bitty toes warm. 

The caps are my own design which will be published on Ravelry soon. It is in the test knitting stage at the moment. Here is a sneak peek at the hat!

The socks are a simple pattern called Jelly Bean Baby Socks that I found on the Spud & Chloe blog. You can also connect via Ravelry for the pattern. I absolutely adore Susan Anderson's patterns. I've been lucky enough to get a couple of her books and they are amongst my most favorite. Always at hand by my side of the couch.

Also crocheted a few bibs to catch those burps and other unpleasant things that babies tend to do. Doesn't matter though, we still love them, burps and all. The bibs are my own design. With the birth of these wee ones, I was reminded of how frustrating it was to find proper bibs when my kids were newborns, so I designed a bib that suits what I wanted out of a bib and still have it look nice and easy to wash and dry. Socks and bib photos will come soon.

I don't have any photos of the boys yet, but as soon as I get some, I will gladly show them off :) Should be interesting to see which side of the gene pool dominated for these wee babies.

Sometimes it amazes me how you meet people through some rather interesting twists and turns in life. Almost 2 months ago, I was cruising around the various blogs I follow and noticed one mentioned that I hadn't been to yet. The name of the blog is what struck me most, such a cute little name... Pink Feather Paradise. I followed the link and first post I see is of Alex challenging herself to make granny blocks from a book she owns. One of the blocks, named Willow, that she made was incredibly gorgeous. She hadn't mentioned which book these were from so I left her a message asking :) And that was the beginning of a lovely communication between us. Turns out that she has an extra copy of the book 200 Crochet Blocks and she's quite willing to send it to me!!! After a few false starts, the book finally arrived yesterday. It wasn't alone in the envelope. Alex added a couple of balls of some of the yummiest feeling yarn I've felt in a while in pale blue! I'm guessing the book didn't want to be cold on it's long trip across the big pond. This book has joined my favorites pile by the couch. I've paged through it several times now and keep drooling over the gorgeous squares. Take a few minutes and drop by Alex's blog. It's worth the trip :)
 

Alex also challenged me to make one of the squares that she was having problems with. For anyone who has the book, it's the square on page 71 called Granny Stripes. I'm having the same problem as Alex. It's not square! Going to keep trying until I figure it out LOL In the meantime, those failed squares a la rectangle are going to become a seat cushion for the office kitchen chair. The one that's on there now is getting very thin and could do with an extra layer or two of colorful blocks.

In my stash now for at least 2 years have been sitting these 2 balls of brown heather yarn. Mary Maxims Best Value yarn. Every single project I have attempted to make with this yarn has failed miserably. The yarn is for the most part too limp, likes to split, but oh so soft. Today I came across a pattern for a round pillow that for some reason made me think of these 2 forlorn balls of yarn sitting at the bottom of the not so well loved tried and failed yarns tub. I hauled it out once more and set to following the pattern. It's working beautifully! The crochet stitches used in the pattern are making the yarn stay put and still feels incredibly soft! I've finally found something that can be done with this yarn LOL The book is Special Techniques & Stitches in crochet. The pattern is called Slip-ring Aran Pillow on page 10. It looks hard but it absolutely isn't! Just one more bonus to this book.

Falling in love with Crochet once again

Yes, it has happened. Something I thought I'd never go back to, Crochet!

I did crochet as a teenager, self taught using a Stitchionary. I wasn't very good at it. The yarn I used really wasn't the best but it's all I had. The problem was that I wasn't happy with the feel of the finished projects and after 10 years or so, gave it up in my mid twenties and moved on to sewing for my kids.

Last week, my girlfriend became a grandma for the first time. A gorgeous little girl born 1 minute to midnight on March 31st. Almost an April Fool's baby. Right then and there, I decided to knit a welcome to the world jacket for the little princess. I found a very nice pattern for the jacket but did not want to use ribbon since I find it's fussy and inhibits the wash n wear you need for baby clothing.

I substituted said ribbon for flowers. I searched high and low for some really nice knit flowers and leaves but most of what I found had to be felted. Since I don't have wool in my stash, that was out. I figured maybe I could find something nice in crochet. Shouldn't be too difficult to do and I have much better yarns now than I did as a teenager.

Searching through Ravelry's patterns for flowers, I found some I liked, but still not THE flower. I then turned to the internet, typed tiny crochet flower pattern and the 3rd site listed on the page was Attic24's. I clicked on the link and it brought me to the prettiest little flower patterns that I had ever seen. Also included with the flowers was leaves! simple ones, no fuss, no muss. So off I went looking for a crochet and some yarn small enough to do some flowers for the jacket.

She also had a pattern for a double petaled flower which I really liked and found the perfect spot along with a leaf to keep it company. I wanted to add a bit of weight to the hood and that was the perfect spot for that flower and leaf. Something pretty to look at from the back.

The flowers and leaves came out gorgeous and were the perfect addition to the jacket. I even used 3 of them as buttons! The leaves still need to be appliqued, but you get the idea.

I have to say that her blog is amazing, she has the simplest instructions, lots of very good photographs of how to do specific crochet stitches. She also lives in the sweetest village in the UK I've ever clapped eyes on judging by the photographs she posts. It all seems so quaint, reminds me of idyllic pictures you see of an era gone past. Add to that living in a 100 year old Victorian house and there you have it.... my dream.

I'm also going to give her ripple tutorial a go since I love the way it makes the colors pop and no holes!

So all this just to say, go check out her blog!!!!