FOs in Action!

Baby booties in action!  (via DP)
Well, as close to action as a 21-days old baby can get.

DP kindly posted a photo of his sweet girl, MMP, wearing the baby booties I made for her right after she was born.  So, I was working on the second bootie in the lunchroom at work and one of the ladies asked if I was selling them.  I shook my head apologetically and said no.  As much as I love knitting as my primary hobby once it turns, for lack of a better word, job-y my focus starts heading downhill.  Hobbies satisfy a a personal interest that is totally under your own control; not a time limit or a requirement, or a dollar amount or use value--it's always about what ever satisfaction you get from it.


My nephew playing with his Little Teddy Bear. (via LM)

My sister sent me some photos of my nephew playing with the Little Bear I gave him when they visited in February.  According to the email, he put it in his shoe and began driving him around eventually parking him in the laundry basket.  As you can see, I did knit a sweater for the Bear. On a side note, I love his fatty baby hands.

This to That

Remember Longina/Trigoria?  It was a hybrid of the Trina Cardigan and another pattern written after a sweater that Eva Longoria was photographed wearing in, like, 2008.  Well, I was really close to being done. REALLY close.  The sleeves were still live but everything else had been bound off or woven in and I had a nice wooden button ready.  I'd even gone as far as washing and blocking just to see how much the yarn blossomed.  But that was it.  While it did satisfy what I'd originally planned for and desired as a knitting project way back when, the physical result just did not hit the mark.  The pockets weren't as deep as I would have liked, the sleeves weren't quite long enough, the collar was itchy and didn't stand up too well, and I felt it was overall too baggy and schleppy and very much something you would throw on to take out the trash. 

It was last September that I sent the cardi to the frog pond.  I pulled out my SUPER AMAZING YARNBALL WINDER and started cranking.  It was a lot of yarn; I mean, I was cranking that handle for daaaays.  Since I started with a basic raglan, I frogged up to the armpits and went with simple cap sleeves.  With the left and right bands, I made a neckline placket (which is now oh so slightly off-centered now, but I have plans), then knit so many inches of plain stockinette plus waist shaping, and closed it out with an easy 1x1 bottom rib.  The neck stitches were picked up for a squat foldover collar a la mock turtleneckish-bateau.  The collar was tacked down by crochet over sewn-in method, and then I made some loops down the neckline placket which is ready for some buttons.

I'm quite pleased with it now.  It's feels much better, it has an actual shape and a bit of visual interest. I was really hoping to have enough yarn for a sweater tunic with two flat front pockets, alas it was not destined to be.

After a nice soak to straighten out those frog wrinkles, we're now on the second day of drying.  With this dreary gray weather I'm banking around some time next weekend for it to be totally dry.  Do you know what that means?  I can't try it on and fudge and fidget. It's just going to lay there atop the towel and drying board mocking me.

I did discover something funny last night.
 

The last two inches of the sweater is from a different dye lot because there is a very clear demarcation of two different blacks.  I'm glad it's at the bottom. 

Fry

A couple of years ago my friend, TJ, requested a Bender doll which I happily knitted for him.  To continue with the trend of his love for all that is Futurama, I knitted a companion: Philip J. Fry.

Since I love making toys Fry was another easy knit-out-as-you-go sort of patterns where I started at the head with CO 4 sts and took it from there so, unfortunately, I can't offer a pattern.  I was in a time crunch since Fry had to be mailed to Hollywood in time for TJ's birthday (which is today).


Bender and Fry (via TJM)

My least favorite part of this was Fry's hair.  I ended up knitting a separate wig-like piece that I sewed on afterward.  I couldn't quite figure out how to knit that cowlick-fauxhawk as in the animated version so I settled for a sort of half cable-half bobble turned into itself.  I know, it's totally confusing, but it is exactly what it sounds like.

A couple of my favorite things about Fry: instead of fiberfill, his legs are stuffed with thick leftover cotton yarn that I wound in mini 4" hanks so he can sort of stand upright; and his jacket is removable. I was worried that when TJ opened his gift, he might think, "Cool! Conan O'Brien!" so I added the pizza box accessory.  That was easy with a bit of cardstock folded in half, a Panucci's Pizza image via Google image search, and a pizza pie clipart (which you can't see it because it's on the inside!) were printed on 2" Avery mailing labels.

Oh Baby!

These are for MMP who was born just 2 weeks ago.

Oh, Baby! Baby Booties pattern from Empty Knitster
Takumi #3/3.25mm
BMFA STR Medium in "Jewel of the Nile"

Amigurumi

^_________^

I did it. I crocheted something that is neither a granny square nor a flower but a thing! An actual! Real! Thing!

Yesterday, I was on a cleaning kick and decided to rearrange all my crap.  It ended up being a really good thing because I rediscovered FOUR craft books that I had pretty much forgotten existed.  One was how to knit with beads, one was on general knits for family and home, and the last two were knitted toys and Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts!: Amigurumi that my little cousins gifted me two years ago, either for Christmas or my birthday.

I've seen amigurumi, I love it, and I've read tutorials but I could never completely wrap my head around it because, c'mon, it's crochet and crocheting is weird. Even the word "crochet" is weird--it looks like "crotchet."  Suffice it to say I'll always be a knitter first, a hooker second.  But the designer makes it super easy with simplified illustrations, step-by-step instructions and minimal blather.

My first amigurumi, a gift for my nephew, is the Little Teddy Bear.  He is a wee bear at 5 inches tall. The only mod I made was to crochet the head and body together instead of two separate pieces, but everything else I followed to the number.  Now, to knit some clothes for the little bear.