Possible Luigi Shirt

Wacky Baby Knits --FINALLY!!

I loved Wacky Baby Knits by Alison Jenkins as soon as I saw it on Amazon.

The frog suit really caught my attention and I knew I would make it. I just didn't know that I would make it in 2 weeks and then take 2 months to finish it.

But then October came and I finally sewed all the buttons on this outfit. It took me a while to find 17 matching buttons I liked that didn't cost a zillion dollars. Then the thought of sewing on seventeen buttons was overwhelming and I just ignored. But now it's done in time for Halloween and winter wearing and I love it.

I only wish I could have gotten a detail shot of the hood. Ciaran was not cooperating. It definitely looks like an alligator, not a frog, but I still think it's adorable.

Here's the picture of the suit from the book. See? It's not that I made it wrong. It looks like an alligator. It's the nostrils.

Detail of bobble sleeve.

Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch by Nicky Epstein

One of Beckett's friends and preschool buddies had a birthday party. When we got the invitation I knew what part of the present had to be. In fact, this hat was one of the reasons I bought Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch.

The small cars were kind of difficult to find. Thankfully we found some at Target in the party favors section.

I think when I make this hat again, and I will make it again, I will do two things differently. I will knit it in the round. It's simple stockinette stitch so even I should be able to convert the pattern. Next I will knit the road into the pattern as a stripe. It was really annoying to knit it separately and then take the time to sew it on. Because it's stockinette stitch it rolled like crazy and was hard to keep it the same width all the way around.

Beckett's "Will you knit me a hat for winter?" hat

Beckett spontaneously asked me to knit a hat for him. I did steer him to a hat book that had pictures of kids and adults so he'd pick one of the kid hats that I wanted him to pick, but he picked on his own from there. Then I had to direct him a little more because he wanted me to use some of the scratchiest acrylic on the planet to make it. We settled on a less scratchy acrylic and used Lion Suede. It worked out much better then when I used it for the disastrous jacket.

Thanks to this I can cross off Knit a Dozen Beanies by Edie Eckman.

Fingerless Mitts

I'm starting the Christmas knitting...

These come from my Knitting Pattern a Day 2010 Calendar. So now I've completed it twice while other books languish. Oh well. At least this pattern helped my use up this one skein of Lion Microspun in Cherry Red that I've had for years. It's nice and soft and it made two full pairs.

Vogue Knitting on the Go! Quick Gifts by Trisha Malcolm

I knit the Fingerless Gloves for my mom. She wanted them a little longer than the pattern called for. Due to arthritis she wanted them to cover her second knuckle to insulate and soothe them. This was kind of the practice pair so I experimented with length. On one hand I knit 4 extra rows on every finger. This seemed a bit much. On the next hand I knit 2 extra rounds on the pinky, 4 extra rounds on the ring finger, 5 extra rounds on the middle finger, 4 extra rounds on the pointer finger, and three extra rounds on the thumb. I stuck with the slip stitch pattern although I only knit them in one color. You can see a subtle pattern though.At some point in time I'll need to weave in all those ends. It's a depressing prospect.

Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron

Hip Knit Hats: 40 Fabulous Designs by Cathy Carron mostly lives up to its name. There are few hats that could not be called "hip" in any decade, even ones when that term was relevant, cutting edge slang. However, there are plenty of wearable and even cute hats.

I made "Beth" which I would wear, well, with slight modifications. First of all, I made the adult women's medium size. I never thought I had a giant head, but this hat fits Beckett perfectly and I can barely get it on.

The dark green is a fairly accurate representation of the color.

The fit issues don't really bother me because I think the top knot is mostly ridiculous. I would make and wear this hat but sans giant bulbous, bobbly, knot. However, for Beckett I think it's cute. I'd heard this hat ran small so mostly I was making it for him anyway. I may go back and actually make a grown up size for me. It knit up very fast with bulky yarn.

The pattern looks minorly complicated with its twisting look, but it's simply alternating blocks of knit and purl stitch shifted one stitch every two rounds. It's quite clever and makes an interesting pattern. I've seen variations where you knit with one color and purl with another. I may try that.