Moving Forward

   I'm a little sad to be leaving this blog behind, but I will be blogging at Stevens Handmade from now on. I started this blog in college, and continued it when I was in grad school, so I could keep in touch with friends and family and let them know what I was working on. I love looking back at what I've made and remembering what was going on in my life at the time, but I am moving forward in a couple of different ways that my new blog will document. I've had my own home with my fiance and our four animals for a little over a year now, so there is all sorts of making going on that didn't necessarily fit with this blog that I would like to share--making things for our home, our pets, and ourselves, and cooking, decorating, baking, growing and preserving food. I also plan to share some of the items I am making for our wedding next June.

   I'm also moving forward with a new business that I've been thinking about for awhile, also called Stevens Handmade. The new blog is not just for the business, though--as I mentioned above, I plan to share all of the things I am making, not just the ones for sale.

   I will be leaving this blog up but closing the comments. I enjoy looking back but I am excited to share new projects with you too, so I hope you will follow me over to Stevens Handmade!

Damson

I knit Damson for my Grammie's birthday last February. I love all of Ysolda's patterns, and I completely love her Whimsical Little Knits booklet, so when Whimsical Little Knits 2 was released I ordered it immediately.

I ran out of the main yarn (more about that in a minute), only because I purchased a skein of about 400 yards and the yarn used for the pattern had about 440 yards. I used a cream sock-weight yarn to finish the lovely loopy edging.

Damson by Ysolda Teague; in Whimsical Little Knits 2 (also available through Ravelry and on her website)
Yarn: NH Knitting Mama Fitzwilliam yarn, 1 skein (I think the colorway was Berries? I don't see it on the site currently); Knit Picks Bare yarn for the edging
Needles: US Size 6 24" circular needle
Modifications: I used another yarn, Knit Picks Bare yarn for the edging after I ran out of the main yarn.


 I loved this yarn and the pattern--the yarn was beautifully dyed and the pattern was easy to memorize but still interesting to work. As with all of Ysolda's patterns that I have made, it was very well written and the construction was beautifully executed and included interesting details, such as the looped edging and the triangle yarn over pattern. I love these little shawlets because they are pretty quick to knit, too!

Hello Again

I have been very into crochet lately--I'm working on a kit for a crocheted afghan that belonged to my great-grandmother, and I'm working a bit on my own crochet designs (with help from crochet stitch books).
I also made this for my cousin's fourth birthday in March:

Crochet Breakfast by Jessica Spencer, Beansprout Creations (Rav link)

I just used scrap yarn (acrylic and machine-washable cotton) that I had in the stash. My cousin loves to pretend to cook for people so I thought he would like it, and he does.

I was very lucky with my freehand embroidery on a scr ap of felt for the bag (the bag was from some t-shirt sheets we bought a little while ago). Overall, this is one of the projects I am the most proud of, in part because of how well it turned out but also because I only used materials I already had, and because it was a present that is so perfect for my cousin.

 

I am looking forward to a summer full of crochet and crafting!

Catching Up

I have been consumed with one big knitting project after another for the past few months. My future sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful little boy on April 7th, so for awhile there I was working only on baby things. Here are some of the things I made for the shower in February:

Modified Bear Claw Blanket (from the Bear Claw Blanket from an old issue of Interweave Knits, designed by Veronik Avery):

This was a big project. I started working with the pattern, and it took me over a week just to work the center square. I was on a time crunch since the shower was in February, so I decided to work a log cabin around the outside edge. I started with a knitted on log cabin border, but it was too scrunchy where it was knitted on, so I ripped it back. I ended up crocheting it on because it was easier to control the picked-up stitch tension and easier to rip back if it was scrunchy. I spent a lot of time fussing about how it looked, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out and I'm proud of myself for coming up with a creative solution to my problems using the resources I had on hand.

Modified Bear Claw Blanket (center panel from Veronik Avery's Bear Claw Blanket)
Yarn: Plymouth Dreambaby DK in cream, brown, and light blue; Valley Yarns Huntington in grass green
Needles/Hook: US Sizes 2 and 3 for the center panel, US Size F hook for the log cabin strips

I also made two baby sweaters and some booties. Here is one of the sweaters:

Little Wolf Sweater by Luanda Diaz-Santiago (purchase on Ravelry)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in green and blue (from stash)
Needles: US Size 8
Modifications: I knit the body in stockinette; I can't remember but I think there is a different stitch pattern in the directions. I also think I knit the body in the round, and made a couple of other modifications that I can't remember now.

I didn't make this bunny, but someone else did. I was at a craft fair and there was a woman who makes great bags and stuffed animals from old chenille bedspreads (I bought a bag for myself). I did change the bow, since the original had flowers on it, and I'm proud of my bow-tying job.

I'll find the pictures of the other items and post those soon, as well as the other things I've been knitting. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Instructional Video!

I've gotten a few questions about the cuff of the Sandalwood Socks I designed, so I decided to to a video to demonstrate how the stitch is made. I had a hard time with it at first, and it can be hard on your hands, so I also show how to make the stitch with a cable needle.

A note about the video: this was my first time doing this sort of thing, and during the first minute or so I sometimes move the needles out of the camera frame. I do demonstrate the same method on the last needle, so just hang in there :)

Hello again!

I'm still here! There has just been lots of excitement around here these past few months. We hosted Thanksgiving in our new home, followed closely by Christmas, then January flew by, and now we're already in February. The excitement continues though, because Jack and I are getting married! So you may eventually get sick of all the wedding crafts that I post here (or I will be too busy to post much at all).

As usual, there was still lots of knitting. I'm going to try to catch up a little, but the details on these may be scarce since I knit them awhile ago.

First up, a sweater for my cousin's baby girl:

Pattern: Eloise Eyelet Cardigan (a free Lion Brand pattern, Ravelry link)

I think I just used the recommended needles and I used all of one skein of heather raspberry Lion Brand Wool-Ease and finished up the yoke in some cream Wool-Ease. Both were kicking around my stash and this was a great way to use it up. It's a very cute pattern, but sometimes it specifies to keep the first and last few stitches in seed stitch and sometimes it doesn't, so be careful with that--if you have the picture and you're not a complete beginner then you can figure it out but keep an eye out for it.

I believe in my last post I promised you a picture of my Tiny Little Shoes from Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits. I love this booklet and her second one, Whimsical Little Knits 2. The patterns are wonderful and most only use up a little bit of yarn. This pair is made with some leftover sock yarn, which I love and think is a great way to use it. It would be really cute to make a pair for a new mom and use the leftovers to make these for the baby.

More to come soon, including a video to help you work through the cuff on my sock pattern (which is now available for download here through the Interweave Knits store!).

Happy November!

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but there's been some big stuff going on. We bought a house! I had a birthday! We went to the Common Ground Fair, and I also went on the Wool Arts Tour! And you know, the general everyday life things that interfere with blogging. Also, there seems to be more things to do in fall, my favorite season.

There has been lots of knitting going on, but Blogger is acting funny and insists on rotating my pictures for no reason, so I only have a couple for you today. It's November, so it's a good thing I knit myself some slippers:

These are the Grown Up Booties by Ysolda Teague, from her Whimsical Little Knits booklet. I love this booklet so much I ordered Whimsical Little Knits 2 the second I heard about it. These are knit with some '70s acrylic I had leftover from my Granny Square Afghan. One reason I love this booklet is that the projects are great for using up stash yarn. I plan to knit everything in it--so far I've done Ishbel and the Tiny Shoes in addition to my booties (pictures to come soon). I'm about to start the Ishbel Beret and I've just gotten the second yarn for the Cairn hat and mitts (the first is from my stash, and so is the yarn for the beret).

I hope you had a good Halloween and are enjoying this beautiful day! For some crafty inspiration, check out Craft Leftovers, my (not-so-new) obsession. Kristin Roach has awesome tutorials and lots of great free patterns and recipes!