I have completed the first row of Teddy Bear pattern squares on my baby blanket. This project is knitting up nicely and I am happy with my adaptation of the original pattern. I think the choice of the cotton Peaches & Cream yarn was also a good one. Just read a thread on Ravely about yarns for babies and one knitter commented on how the Peaches and Cream yarn gets softer with each wash – exactly what I wanted: a soft, washable baby blanket.
First Row of Teddy Bear Squares Done!
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Finished SocksFinished Socks
Knitted striped socks
I finished my striped socks yesterday morning. I am pleased with how they turned out. I used a self-striping yarn from Patons Yarns and it was fascinating to see the stripes evolve as the socks knit up.
I did not really use a pattern for these socks. There are literally thousands of free sock patterns available on the internet, but you really don’t need them if you understand the basics of knitting socks. I started with a gauge swatch and used my foot measurements to determine the number of stitches I needed. The “how to” of this seems to be enough for a separate post, so I will place that in my queue for future topics.
I choose to do a picot hem at the top of the cuff, a 3 by 1 rib for the cuff and instep, a slipped stitched heel flap with a square heel turn. My mentors for these socks were Nancy Bush – I consulted her book “Knitting on the Road” for advice on the square heel and Cat Bordhi, whose book “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles” contains a wealth of information on how to knit socks.
Knitting socks on two circular needles
Chevron Scarf – in ProgressChevron Scarf – in Progress
So, I spent quite a bit of time asking various folks what they thought about the chevron scarf and which patterning they liked. All of them were very supportive and all gave me their opinions — but many couched their remarks in such a way that I would not feel the need to frog what I had already knitted. (I appreciate their kind concern, but I really don’t mind frogging something if it isn’t knitting up the way I want it.)
Those who thought the 2 row change in color was best were about equal to the ones who preferred the 4 row change in color. Likewise, many suggested that I leave the initial rows of 2 row color changes as is and just continue knitting the 4 row color changes until the scarf was nearly done — then switch back to the 2 row color changes. I seriously consider doing this — but, in the end, I decided I preferred the 4 row color changes over the 2 row color changes (too busy, I found them really distracting). So I took a plunge into the frog pound, and started over.
Now this pattern knits up rather quickly and it didn’t take me very long to get back to the original length I had knitted. This is a wonderful knitting project — it is an easy to remember 4 row pattern and I really like knitting the Cascade Heritage yarn. I am certain I will finish this Christmas present well ahead of schedule.
WIP: Cardigan & Romper for New GrandsonWIP: Cardigan & Romper for New Grandson
Okay — I swatched some more on this cardigan project. Earlier I had posted about Things Learned from a Swatch. Well, I continued to be dissatisfied with my color selections — I really just do not like that light aqua color for this sweater. So, I went back to my LYS and bought up all the teal color they had — which is the color I really wanted for the main color on the cardigan. The problem is that there isn’t enough of this color to do both a cardigan and a romper to match.
So, standing in front of the yarn bin at the store, I decided that I’d try using a combination of the teal, the red AND a darker blue. There was enough of the darker blue in one dye lot to do the romper and there was 1 ball of another dye lot left. Since I only need 1 ball of the darker color to do the alternating 3 color pattern in the cardigan, I bought this ball as well because the color variation is not that different between the two dye lots and since it will be mixed in with the other colors, it should work out okay.
Here’s my swatch with the new color scheme added. The darker blue color definitely shows up better than the lighter blue against the teal color that I want for the main color. I have started knitting the romper in the darker blue and I think I’m going to really like the coordinated outfit that will result. This project is a bit challenging because I am knitting on size 0 and size 1 needles to get the right guage. Lots and lots of small stitches…