Happy Birthday, Gus!

My nephew Augustus celebrated his first birthday on the 15th of November. I knit him this cute vest as a gift:



I was very worried about the sizing. After lots of consideration, I first cast-on the "2 years" size. A few inches in, I showed it to Mark's mom said she thought it looked too big. So I frogged it and cast-on the "12-18 months size" (I mean, he *is* 12 months old, after all). I had the whole back panel done and I was really happy with the size, but then showed it to Nan Penney, who thought it looked too small.

I had a mini panic attack, but I was not frogging it again.

Luckily, it fits him with room to spare. He should get a lot of wear out of it. And he looks pretty darn adorable in it, if I do say so myself:



Project Details

Pattern: Keene Toddler Vest

Yarn: Patons Decor in Rich Grey Heather 87673 (MC) and Rich Country Blue 87622 (CC). I chose this yarn so the vest would be machine washable.

Needles: Addi 40" circulars, sizes US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 9 (5.5 mm)

Notes:

• I made the body of the vest a little longer than instructed in the pattern because others on Ravelry had commented that it knit up a little short.
• I knit fewer rows of ribbing for the arm and neck bands because the ribbing looked too "long" to me in the pattern photo.
• I seamed the shoulders using the 3 needle bind-off as suggested in the pattern, and mattress-stitched the sides.

Mittens for Steph's Silent Auction

My good friend Steph is playing for Team Newfoundland at the 2010 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship starting on November 14th in Burlington, Ontario. To raise funds, her team had a silent auction, so Steph was looking for donations of items for that would attract bidders. I decided I would knit a mitten/hat set to help her out. Unfortunately, the hat is still half-finished on the needles. Fortunately, the mittens turned out great, and found a loving home (and fetched a few dollars to help Steph and her team pay for their trip)!

The design is my own, which I am working on perfecting and may offer as a pattern when I'm satisfied with it. I used Briggs & Little Tuffy yarn, which is 80% wool and 20% nylon, in the "Red Mix" colourway. I used this yarn so the mittens would be easier to care for than 100% wool and still have enough wool content to be warm. This wool does tend to be a bit scratchy, so I washed the mittens in lukewarm water with a bit of dish liquid. This softened them up considerably.

I'm knitting, I promise...

Long time, no update. But I assure you, I am knitting!

The thing is, I'm knitting Christmas gifts, and I don't want to spoil any surprises. The exception to this is a birthday gift for my nephew, and while he is turning one and hence too young to be reading my blog (although he is a smart one, if I do say so myself), certain parents could be lurking, and I'd like for it to be a surprise for them, too.

I have a few non-gift projects coming, though, so stay tuned for updates on those. It's quickly becoming winter here and I need to make some accessories for me (the fingerless mitts just don't cut it when it's snowing)! Seriously, I'm a knitter who has never knit a pair of mittens or a hat for herself. Something needs to change here.

In other news, I've started going to a knitting meet-up at The Rooms on Wednesday nights with some local knitters I found on Ravelry. I have been meaning to go for a while, but always found excuses not to (honestly, I was just chicken). I'm so glad I started going. They are a great group and I enjoy having other knitters to hang out and chat with "in real life" (and not just on Ravelry).

Signed, sealed and soon to be delivered...

... my first package of charity knits is on its way to Ottawa! :)

Christmas knitting has begun

Now that I've finished the knitting I'm doing for Warm Hands Innu Knits, it's time to concentrate on my Christmas knitting. I won't be posting everything here (some recipients might be lurking around) but I'll put a few things up.

The first thing I started was a pair of socks for Dad. When we were in Big Falls this summer he saw me knitting a pair of socks and mentioned that Nan used to knit them for them, and that he likes wool socks for his waiters when salmon fishing. I decided to knit a nice, thick pair of wool socks for him. The pattern I chose is "#101 Heavy Socks" by Briggs & Little, which I found for free on Ravelry.


I decided to knit these in "sock monkey" colours and I like the way they are looking so far. I am using the Briggs & Little Tuffy yarn suggested in the pattern, in the oatmeal, ecru, and red mix colourways. I am knitting them using the magic loop method, using a US size 2 (2.75 mm), 40" circular needle.

Warm Hands Items... Complete!

I finished my last hat for my package for Warm Hands Innu Knits today! I'm happy I reached my goal of five pairs of mittens and five hats in time to mail everything to arrive in Ottawa by September 30th. I ended up having enough of the right colours to do five matching sets - two small, two medium and one large.


I'm so happy with how these turned out. I'll be sure to take a picture to post when I package them up.

Who?

I posted in July about a swap I was involved in with one of my Ravelry groups, "Puck This!", as a way to occupy ourselves in the NHL off-season. Well, we just finished round 2, and this time I decided to knit my swap buddy I super cute hat I found in her Ravelry queue:

The pattern is "Who?" by Sara Amoroso, and is available for free on her blog. I followed the pattern for knitting the hat itself to the letter - which is REALLY strange for me - but I am extremely happy with how it turned out! The way the cables form the owls as you are knitting is so cool to watch. I only sewed on two buttons for eyes, and I like how it looks. To my surprise, I was even able to find matching buttons of the same size in my spare button tin.

I used Briggs & Little Tuffy yarn in the oatmeal colourway, and US size 6 (4.0 mm) bamboo dpns, and a metal cable needle.