Hello Ducky

In this post, I blogged about getting some vintage yarn from Colleen. See that bag in the front, with the yellow, blue and orangey-red yarn in it?

Well I made my first finished object, this ducky. I had made another one last fall and liked how he turned out. He's a pretty happy ducky!

Vintage Yarn

My dear friend Colleen is downsizing her house and getting rid of her yarn stash. She's been telling me about this yarn haul, and we finally had a chance to meet up for the yarn pass-off. Just LOOk at this haul!

Vintage yarn that she tells me she hasn't touched in years.

What to make? So many possibilities!

And look, she also included a pile of magazine books and patterns. I love old school patterns, I find them way easier to understand.

She put in a couple of UFOs, like this thick wool sweater. Or maybe it's a vest?

And look at this project.

She started it maybe 20 years ago and joked that I should finish it. I was eager to complete it but then I saw the pattern - it's WAY to hard for me! Well maybe not. But my gosh, look at that detail.

Her intarsia stitches are perfect! I should take a crack at finishing it because it would be a freakin' masterpiece!

Perfect Slouchy Hat

Ages ago I made this perfect slouchy hat from this Lion Brand pattern, but that I found through All About Ami's post here. It is fast, easy and really has the perfect amount of slouch.

Then my sis requested one in black. So I whipped one up in under an hour.

I made it longer, as Ami suggested, and you can fold the brim up.

Look at that perfect amount of slouch back there! 

Hello ducky

Hello there little ducky! Made from a lovely pattern by AmigurumiBB, found off this page ( changed his feeties though).

Duck on computer:

Wee duck in big chair.

Girlie baby things

Part two of this post - baby things for a baby girl! Here's my starting yarn again:

First a hat, which I free-styled in hdc:

Then some bow booties using this pattern, but without the bow:

And finally a heart using this pattern:

Pink set, all done!

Baby Things

Beth gave me some yarn from her own stash. Because I need more yarn. (Yes I do!) She had two balls of this lovely baby yarn in cotton/poly blend. We have a couple of friends having babies soon, so I made her a set of baby things:

A simple roll brim hat:

A pair of little booties, using this pattern from Prisca handmade:

And a wee little hanging birdie (pattern on my pattern page):

Here they are, a set of green baby things. Pink set to follow!

The Perfect Hat

My friend asked me to knit up a hat for her sister. She wanted it to be chunky and thick, slightly slouchy, and long enough to cover her ears. I have been experimenting with Lion Bran Wool Ease, and made a few hats in order to get the right look and feel. I finally came up with this - what I consider to be the Perfect Hat! It uses one ball of yarn and knits up very quickly. I just love the colour, and I hope the recipient will love it too.

Once I figure out the proper name of the cable stitch, I will write up the pattern. I need to make one for my husband too, to make sure my scribbled notes are correct. Stay tuned for the pattern :)

New square

Here's another square that I made up using the Vogue stitch a day calendar. The stitch was taken from the June 4, 2012 page, and it's called "Granite Relief Stitch."

Close up of the pattern:

Finished 12" x 12" square:

And here's the pattern. Enjoy!

Granite Relief Stitch 12" Square

I made up another square for the Gateway Theatre Knit and Purl charity event. The pattern is for a 12" square, and uses the granite relief stitch, which I found in the Vogue Knitting Stitch a Day Calendar.

Materials: 

DK weight yarn (mine was 70% acrylic, 30% wool)

5.5mm knitting needles

Granite Relief Stitch is worked over multiple of 2 stitches; over 4 rows:

Row 1 (RS): knit

Row 2: k2tog across row

Row 3: kfb across

Row 4: purl

Repeat rows 1 - 4

Pattern: 

Cast on 60

Knit 5 rows of garter stitch (knit every row); begin pattern:

R1: knit all sts

R2: k5, k2tog to last 5 sts, k5

R3: k5, kfb to last 5 sts, k5

R4: k5, purl to last 5 sts, k5

Repeat these four rows until piece measures 11 1/2 inches from beginning

Knit 5 rows of garter stitch.

Cast off, weave in ends - done!

Note: I make no claims to this beautiful stitch, it's from Vogue. I just wanted to share what I did. Hope you enjoy!

Question: Testing Crochet Patterns

Hi - is anyone out there? I have a question, maybe you smart blog-readers can help? I have a few crochet patterns I've made up that I would like tested. Of course I have used them to make finished objects, but I just gloss over all the potential typos and just look for the numbers. I know there are a number of ways to go about this on ravelry but - to tell you the truth - I don't know how to jump in on forums and I'm not diligent enough at checking up on them. I want to finalize them so I can start selling them on etsy. Help? Someone? Pretty please?