I finally finished my hat!  Funny how when I am knitting something for myself, I really don't feel that drive to finish it quickly.  Anyway, I finished my seed stitch hat and I am so happy with how it came out!  And of course I added a little knit rose to the side because that's how I roll. The funniest part is, my mom just bought a little hat like that for my grammy and it cost her about $30.  The one skein of yarn I used only cost me $3.50.  :)   I will be making lots of these for the Making Strides auction next October and maybe some for Christmas/Birthday gifts next year.  May even need to make one for myself in a few other colors.  
Anyway, I wish I had a pic to post right now, but Darling Husband left the camera in school over February vacation...so that will have to wait.  In other news, started the baby gifts for my friend S's little one.  I really need another break from baby stuff.
I saw my aunt the other day and she mentioned how she always wears the shawl I made her around the house.  That is a big compliment to me since she is a big knitter too! 
That's all for now...

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

That's what little girls are made of!  As I've mentioned before, lots of baby girls on the way!  Yesterday I went to the baby shower for my cousin K (actually my husband's cousin, but I consider her mine too).  She is expecting her baby girl "R" in March!  Lots of pink and purple yesterday.  And ruffles.  And bows.  And extreme cuteness!  I made Baby R a blanket, matching hat and booties, a sweater, and a mini blanket.  On the Wednesday before the shower I decided she needed that mini-blanket so I was able to put that together in record time!  So glad I did, I think it's nice to have a smaller blanket to put over her in the car seat or swing or bouncer or whatever, when you don't want the big bulky cover.
Mommy K seemed to really like it, and I was pretty proud of my work, too.  I loved the patterns and colors I chose, too.
Here's the big blanket.  I did a diagonal pattern that uses increases which create a beautiful eyelet type border.

 

Next is the matching baby hat.  After I made it I decided it needed a little sass, so I learned really quickly how to knit a rose.  Voila!

The sweater wasn't exactly how I thought it would come out.  I thought it would be more striped, but this was what I got.

And finally, the mini-blankie.  No matter how many times I make it people never get sick of this basket weave stitch.  Looks soooo complicated but if you can knit, purl and count, you can do it!

I was pretty nervous about giving these as gifts because it was the first time I made some baby stuff where I'd see the mommy to be actually OPEN the gift.  I knew K would like them, but still I was nervous because I am still a novice.  Well, I didn't need to worry, I got a lot of compliments.  Yay!

I am going to take a quick break from the gift-making and make a little something for myself for once.  Yes, seriously.  I am going to attempt to make a seed-stitch hat.  I have the stitches cast on and everything!  February vacation I will concentrate on Baby J and Baby W.  Both girls.  Lots more girly colors to come!  Good thing the hat I am making is blue and not pink. ;)

Mellow Yellow

Here's the first baby gift of 2012!  I made this for my mom's best friend's grandbaby.  They didn't know if it was a boy or girl, so I went with the standby of yellow.  It looks really bright in the pics but is much softer in natural light.  Unfortunately when you live in the woods like I do, you don't get much of that inside the house.  And any sunbeams we do get through the window are hogged by the dog! So yes, this color looks very lemon-y in the pics but is much nicer is person.  I made a basketweave blankie and a garter-stitch hat to match.  My first baby-hat ever!  Still not brave enough to attempt knitting in the round yet, so it's not a fancy hat, but still cute. 

Mom mailed this off to the new baby this week along with her gift.  Hopefully they like it!
I also have more baby things that I've finished but I can't post them until after the upcoming baby showers.  :)

Happy New Year and a Baby Bonanza

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I know I did.  I even made my own marinara sauce for my homemade lasagna.  It was yummy!  Everyone loved their gifts that I made for them.  My mother in law was the recipient of my first afghan (the creme and peach one a few entries back) and she loved it.  It was a birthday present for her, but I didn't actually get to give it to her until Christmas Eve (I was in A Christmas Carol every weekend from Thanksgiving to Dec. 18, soooo...didn't get to see her to give her the gift).  My mom loved the color of her scarf and hat.  I felt really bad that I couldn't give her the blanket I was planning to, but there was no way to fix the error I made and get it finished on time.  My great aunt and grammy really loved their shawls, too.  Gram put hers right on!  And my great aunt is a knitter herself, so to get a compliment from her was a big deal to me.

Anyway, now that Christmas is over, I need to focus on the Baby Bonanza that I find myself in the middle of.  I have lots of hats, blankets, booties and sweaters to make for all my family and friends who are expecting in 2012.  And that's just the ones that are pregnant now.  Who knows how many more are going to come along this year.  It seems to be the Year of the Baby Girl.  Selfishly, I want someone to have a boy so I can knit some blue and green stuff!  Yes, I know, that's gender stereotyping, girls can have blue blankies too.  But, I prefer girlie colors.  Though I am going to go outside the pastels box for one gift, which I am excited about!  Pics to come.  In the meantime, Happy New Year!  I personally am hoping that 2012 is a great improvement over 2010 and 2011.  Both were pretty bad.  So I am ready for a good year!

Merry Christmas!

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and all through the house...Katie's knitting needles were clicking madly to finish all her gifts!
Really though, I paced myself pretty well and was able to get EVERYTHING done on time!!  Woohoo!  So I present to you, without further ado...my homemade Christmas gifts!

For my Auntie Marianne...a lapghan.  Garter stitch, Lion Brand yarn in Tudor and Decco.

For my Grammy, a shawl in moss stitch.  Again, Lion Brand yarn in Tudor.  For some reason the skeins I used for this had way more pink and green in them.  But I like it!

For my great-aunt Bernadette, I also made her a shawl, this pattern was alternating between rows on kint-purl and straight knitting.  I am totally in LOVE with this color.  It's called Montana Sky. It's actually much darker, but still gorgeous.

And finally, a scarf and hat for my mom.  Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Dusty Blue.
I was really excited to finally make a hat.  Still don't know how to knit in the round, so I was glad I found a pattern where I could knit it flat and then gather it up.

It's nice to be giving home made gifts for Christmas.  People are always appreciative of the time and care, plus I think they like getting something original!!  Now that Christmas is over, I need to go into full babyshower mode...THREE babies on the way for friends and family, all girls.  So be prepared to see lots of pink and purple on this blog in the coming months!  I might somehow find the time to make myself a hat and scarf, but I won't hold my breath. ;)  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's better to give...

So in the past few weeks and months I have given away some of my knitting.  The pink prayer shawl for the breast cancer auction was a big hit!  Someone bought it!  Yay!  Mum's friend (who runs the sale) loved it and thought it was beautiful.  I got a lovely thank-you note from Baby O's mom about the little sweater I knitted her (forgot to take a pic of that one!).  Aaaand, last night I went out for my BFF Sarah's birthday, and I gave her a scarf that I knitted her.  Again, forgot to take a pic of that, but maybe I can get one of her wearing it.  She LOVED it!  I knitted a basketweave stitch in an off-white color.  It reminded me of Irish knit, and her being uber-Irish, she thought the same.  So I am feeling much more confident about my knitting abilities and about giving out homemade gifts for Christmas.  Those of you that know me, know that I can be quite a perfectionist when it comes to making things, so this is a big step for me.  I have two crocheted baby blankets that I never gave away because I didn't like how the finished product looked.
And speaking of babies, I have THREE friends/family members who are expecting this spring! (NO I AM NOT ONE OF THEM).  So there will be quite a bit of baby knitting going on after Christmas.  Blankies and sweaters and hats and booties galore!  So stay tuned, although I won't be posting finished products until after baby showers.
On the Christmas gift front, doing pretty well.  I finished Grammy's shawl (pics to come), am 1/3 of the way through my great-aunt's shawl, and am almost done with Marianne's lapghan.  Unfortunately I had to abandon the plan for my mom's afghan because I just won't be able to get it done before Christmas.  So I will work on it and when I finish I will give it to her.  Nothing wrong with a "just because" present.  I will make her a hat and scarf instead, and give her something else.  Maybe a gift certificate to get her nails done or something. 
So I am signing off for now...pics to come when I locate my camera battery charger.  Doh.

Some Christmas gifts in progress

So I have developed a bad habit.  Or at least what I perceive to be a bad habit.  I have three different projects going at once.  This has been the norm since the summer.  I have two afghans and a shawl started.  I should probably just do one project at a time, right??  Not so much.  A big part of it is I can get bored in the middle of a project so I start something new.  But I fully intend to have them all done in time for Christmas.  I also still have about three more projects for Christmas gifts that I have yet to even start or purchase yarn for.  We'll see how this plays out...

Here are the pieces of my aunt's afghan.  She doesn't have a computer so I can post this without her seeing it.  This is like the last afghan I made, but in different colors.  I love this pattern because it's in blocks so I do have the option of starting and stopping when I want. 

This is a shawl for Grammy.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through, at the very end of my first skein of yarn (Lion Brand Homespun, Tudor).  I love the way the colors flow.  Hopefully Gram will love it too!  This is the first project I ever did with the moss stitch.  It's not the easiest pattern but I like the way it looks.  Plus it's reversible.   Here's a close-up.

It isn't as clear with the Homespun yarn, so next time I use this stitch I will use a smooth yarn.  The stitches are close together so I know it will keep Grammy warm. 

Somehow I also want to knit a scarf in green for myself to wear with my black coat at Christmas time...we'll see if I can pull it off!