Finished Object: Gramps Cardigan and Garter Ear Flap Hat

Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates 

Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho

Yarn: Madelinetosh DK
Colour: Worn Denim
Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm Round Needles
Start of project: August 4th, 2017
End of project: August 22th, 2017

On Ravelry

A long long time ago I finished this little Cardigan and a matching hat for Anja's new baby.

In the meantime, there is no more bump but a little Ruven (who is already 3 months old).

I loved knitting these two things, the yarn and the colours are beautiful and I know that these garments will get worn (because I've seen Ruven's brother wear his R&R Hoodie a lot).

Finished Objects: Tschiertschen and Monkey Jacobus

Pattern: Peanut by Tin Can Knits
Yarn: YOTH Yarns Big Sister
Colour: Thyme, Hazelnut
Needles: 3.75mm and 4.5mm Round Needles
Start of project: January 5th, 2016
End of project: January 8th, 2017

On Ravelry

I knit this little vest for a baby that I will see for the first time in February. I hope he won't be too big by the time we get there, I wasn't sure how much yarn I had, so I went with size 6 to 12 months. 

I combined a few pattern for this project. The basic vest pattern is Peanut, the fair isle pattern is Anders. Because I needed a number dividable by 12 I had to add 4 stitches, but that wasn't very complicated. When I got to the end and the only thing left was the cast off I remembered the beautiful finish of the button band of my Silversmith Hoodie so I added an iCord in the contrast colour. I am really happy with how that turned out, it looks so very tidy now.

In the end there was still a bit of the yarn left over so I cast on for another project for the same baby:

Pattern: Monkey Jacobus by Annita Wilschut
Yarn: YOTH Yarns Big Sister and a bit of Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label
Colour: Thyme, Hazelnut and Poppy
Needles: 3.5mm Round Needles
Start of project: January 8th, 2016
End of project: January 15th, 2017

On Ravelry

I love knitting toy and this is going to stay another favourite of mine. It was so interesting to knit this monkey, I can't believe how clever all the construction was.

I knew it was going to be very tight with the left over yarn. In the end, I didn't have enough of the Thyme for the last arm. After a bit of playing around I settled on a stripe of neon yellow and a slightly wider one in red which I think looks super funky and retro. The Hazelnut was just enough, there was probably about 10 inches left in the end. I used the red yarn for the mouth and the tail as well.

Now there is only one problem - Antonia and I are seriously in love with this monkey and we both can't imagine to let it go. So I might have to find some other yarn and knit a second version, this one just stole into our heart and seems to want to live on our sofa ;-)

 

ETA: Because we were so attached to this monkey I started a second one. I used up the small left overs from my bounce blanket. Somehow the second monkey looks more feminin which is why we call her Lotta. They both stay on the sofa for the moment but I think we are ready now to let the first one go and just keep the second one ;-)

Finished Object: Playdate

Pattern: Playdate by TinCanKnits
Yarn: Biscotte & Cie Bis-Sock

Colours: Sorcerer Uniform and Bouclier

Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm Round Needles
Start of project: July 8th, 2016
End of project: August 8th, 2016

On Ravelry

When I started this I had an idea in my mind which came from an inspiration I saw on Julie's blog. I had this vision of a striped cardigan with unicoloured details but of course I forgot a few important things. The thing is, sock yarn is dyed for socks, so the stripes look best when the piece you are working on is about sock width, which you can see at the top of the sleeves. When the circumference is bigger, the stripes get thinner or kind of disappear which is what happened at the body of the cardigan (that's my favourite part). The stripes get very fat and kind of heavy when there is just a small piece of fabric, as you can see at the top of the front (that's the part that I don't like very much). So all in all this got much wilder than I expected. I kind of hope that worn it won't matter as much, I think it might look nice in movement (with a kid inside ;-)

This was the second time I knit a Playdate (the first one was done exactly a year ago) and I really love that pattern. This time I chose the 2 to 4 years old size and in the beginning I was scared that it might turn out too small, but now I think it's a good size for a boy that will be around 18 months in the fall, so he will be able to wear this for a while. I still love the little pockets and how light it is, I used exactly 1 skein = 100gr of the stripey yarn and around 30 gr of the grey. As I bought two skeins of the stripey yarn there is definitely enough leftover for a pair of socks ;-) I added a shawl collar because I think they are very cute for little boys and for everybody really. The sheep buttons might not be terribly practical but I just couldn't resist them.

  

  

Now I'll need to fix a date to give this to the little boy it was knit for and hope that he and his mom like it.

Finished Object: Garter Ear Flap Hat and Squirrel Socks

Pattern: Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho
Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted
Colours: Mandala and Antler
Needles: 4.5 and 5mm Round Needles
Start of project: April 16th, 2016
End of project: April 17th, 2016

On Ravelry

This hat was just a quick project in between. I love how the little hat turned out, I think the stripes look great in garter. Mandala is such an amazingly beautiful colourway, I really knit more with it. The hat turned out really small, even though I knit the toddler size, so I think it will fit a newborn.

Right now there aren't any new babies around, but Antonia's teacher is expecting one in the fall ;-), so this might be the perfect present then.

I still had more yarn left over (the original project for this yarn was my Winter Forest Hat) so I added a pair of Little Squirrel Socks to the combo. I sure love to use up yarn like that ;-)

Finished Object: Anders

Pattern: Anders by Sorren Kerr
Yarns:  Malabrigo Yarn Arroyo
Colours: Neutral and Jupiter
Needle: 3.75 and 4mm Round Needle
Start of project: November 25th , 2015
End of project: December 2nd, 2015

On Ravelry

I had this pattern in my queue for a while and was just waiting for a new baby to be born. I was really happy when I heard that my friend Marietta had given birth to a baby girl with the beautiful name Elif in the middle of November. I ordered some yarn and soon I was ready to start knitting a little sweater for her.

I had never used Malabrigo Arroyo before but I am sure I'll order it again, I just loved the feeling of it and I think the colour is so beautiful. The pattern was quite easy and it grew so quickly. I did the colour work twice because there were some rather long strands on the inside which looked like traps for little arms and hands. The second time I managed to get shorter strands by trapping them after 3 or 4 stitches. I used this tutorial and it really helped me without slowing me down. I also learnt to knit Vikkel Braids which look really neat, though they take quite some time to do.

I hope I'll get the chance to see the baby and its mom soon, but there is no real hurry, because the sweater turned out quite big and should fit only in a few months.

Finished Object: Peanut

Pattern: Peanut by TinCanKnits
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label
Colours: Lemongrass and Cobalt
Needles: 3.5mm and 4mm Round Needles
Start of project: August 22th , 2015
End of project: August 23rd, 2015

On Ravelry

This little vest wasn't planned at all, but it just happened. Last Saturday I was comfily sitting at home, knitting on my Atlas when the bell of my flat was rung. Outside there were my lovely neighbours who wanted to introduce me to somebody. They had actually just had a baby boy the day before and the amazing mom was not only back home already but she had also walked up three flights of stairs, was still carrying all her stuff from the over night at the hospital and kept standing outside my flat, calmly talking about birth and everything. So I met Jascha ;-)

So when they finally went inside their flat (I wasn't impatient but rather scared for that poor new mummy) I couldn't keep myself from going to my stash right away and once I'd found some lovely leftovers from Antonia's hoodie I cast on a little Peanut Vest. I loved knitting it, it grew so fast and I knit a good part of it next to the pool. I am looking forward to seeing in on the little guy who is still far too tiny to wear anything as big as the small vest I just knit ;-)

Finished Object: Savannah Chaps - Zebra

Pattern: Savannah Chaps by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Art Green Label
Colours: Lucky Penny and Sand
Needles: 4mm DPS
Start of project: April 3, 2015
End of project: April 5, 2015

On Ravelry

I fell in love with this zebra when I saw one on Julie's Blog Knitted Bliss. I added it to my long queue list without a plan for when to knit it.

Then I had quite a bit of leftover from my R&R Hoodie and even though the yarn is not really a gradient yarn, I thought it was varied enough for the darker stripes. And I was totally right, I love the subtle colour changes.

This little toy is done very quickly. You knit all the parts seperately and in the flat and then you sew it, stuff it and join it all together.

I was a bit apprehensive about the face, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but it wasn't too difficult. I love the intense black eyes and the mouth looks friendly. The mane took quite a while, but it was worth it, now it has this 80s style hair, kind of like my own ;-)

I will share this on "Auf den Nadeln im April"