handmade goodness

I love being part of a community that values handmade gifts!  Even ones that others have made... Baby J has received some very special gifts the past couple of months.

First off is the first hand-knitted gift Baby J has ever received!  It's from one of my favorite bloggers of all time - Grumperina!  I can't believe how generous she was in giving us this very special gift.

It's a lovely hat made of handspun and Louet Gems - she blogged about it here.  It's amazing to see another knitter's work; of course, her work is impeccable!  Really has made me want to be much more careful with weaving in ends and the general look of my knits.

I love her little tags as well - too cute!

My friend Karen gave me a lovely giraffe from Wren Handmade as a shower gift - it is so cute!  And the precision it takes to make all of the small details is amazing.

My boss Jen gave me two of the most special handmade gifts ever.  First off is a knitted set of Matroyshka dolls.

Aren't they adorable?  I'm not sure what book they are from, because my co-workers have been hiding it from me!  Isn't that hilarious?  They are so perfect, especially because I am a quarter Russian (and it might be the only Russian thing Baby J gets... except for maybe blond hair/blue eyes!)

Jen then told me about the most amazing gift ever - it was the gift that kept on giving! It starts with this yarn:

It's one of my favorite yarns of all time - Sundara's Worsted Merino.  The colors are amazing, orange, pink, a little yellow.  And the name of the yarn?

Custom dyed yarn, just for Baby J!  Isn't that so thoughtful?

Jen had started knitting the baby blanket (she is truly the baby blanket knitting queen!) but she just started getting some achiness in her hand.  I said I would finish the blanket so she could save her hands, and I'm so glad I did!  She had chosen an entrelac pattern, which I don't think I ever would chosen.  It was one of the most fun projects I've knit in a long time.

Pattern: Entrelac Baby Blanket from Knitting Fairy

Entrelac is so fun and addicting!  I had knit an entrelac hat long, long ago when the Lady Eleanor Stole was all of the rage, but I had forgotten how to do it.  Once you get the pattern down, it's so easy.  And knitting with the yarn is super yummy.

After the blanket was washed and dried, it became even softer. 

The edging is a single chain crochet pattern, I have no idea if I did it right but it worked out.  I also like this photo to show the depth of the colors of the yarn.  It's hard to capture in photographs but the complexity of the colors in Sundara Yarn is the main reason I love it so much.

Baby J is one lucky baby!  She's starting out with so many wonderful gifts - thank you everyone!

do the baby knits ever end?

I still have a few more baby knits to post about, even ones that I didn't knit!  But here's a sweater and a hat that I made fairly quickly the past month.

Pattern:  Garter Yoke Baby Cardi

Yarn: Koigu KPM, 2 skeins, size US 3 needles

I really love grey/purple right now.  I originally bought the yarn to make socks, but I thought it would be fun to try to find an easy pattern for Baby J.  This is a really easy, fun cardigan that I found on Ravelry (I'm sure this has been said a million times before, but what did we do before Ravelry?). 

The buttons I found at Wildfiber, instead of my current favorite Mood.  I wanted a little girly but not too over the top.  I think these buttons hit the mark!

I made this hat... in a night?  Maybe two...

Pattern: Simple Baby Hat by Blue Sky Alpacas

Yarn: Rowan Purelife Cotton DK, 1 skein

A great, easy pattern that's free!  I added the umbilical cord on top for a little interest.  I'm curious to see what size this hat ends up being... I have no idea what size newborn's head are!

surprise, surprise...

The one item I've been wanting to knit for a long time is the Baby Surprise Jacket.  But, I have to admit, after perusing the pattern in the Opinionated Knitter, I couldn't get my head around the pattern (I blame it on the hormones!).  Luckily we had just received the pattern at Purl, which gives row by row instructions.  A week later, I had a finished Surprise Jacket!

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Sock Hop Yarn, Touch Me 1.5 skeins, Size 3 needles

I've been hoarding this yarn for a while, waiting for the perfect project.  I've always loved Brooklyn Tweed's handspun version, so I thought this would work out well.  Knitting baby items is so rewarding!  The progress is so quick!

I got the buttons from Mood, which has become my go-to place for buttons.

After knitting this sweater, I kept saying that Elizabeth Zimmerman is a genius!  It is definitely worth a look if you haven't knitted it already.

bright and snuggly blanket

I've been knitting a few baby items, but I haven't taken photos in a while.  Here's the first project I started when I found out that we were having a girl.

Pattern: Super Easy Baby Blanket

Yarn: Alchemy Temple

Temple is one of my favorite yarns to look at... and it's just as much fun to knit with!  My co-workers helped me pick out the colors and I love the way they go together.  I wanted something bright and cheerful, and I think this hits the spot!

It took me a little longer than I thought it would because of all of the garter stitch (especially in the middle!) but the colors made up for it.  And once I washed it, the yarn became even softer!  I would love an adult size blanket to snuggle with!

holiday wrap up

Better late than never!

Our loverly Christmas tree with a plethora of lights...

... woven gifts...

... knitted gifts...

... and a cat who just always has to be in the photo - even if he is unrecognizable!  Happy 2010 everyone!

christmas crafting

Every year I try to make some sort of christmas craft.  Some years are more successful than other... considering I didn't make anything last year!!!  But this year I feel I made up for last year.  First on the list - stockings!

I had a hard time taking photos of these, but they are a take on Molly's Strip-Pieced Christmas Stocking.  I've always wanted to make stockings that would last for many seasons.  And I loved this pattern!  I made it much more simpler by machine sewing and quilting everything and using white muslin for the back.  I also wanted to put our names on it so we knew who's was who's!  It was my first foray into strip piecing, which was much easier than I thought it would be.  This was a project that took some time, but I'm so glad I made them!

Last Thursday, I was sitting around, looking at my blog feeds, when I saw the Winter Sweater Wreath on design sponge.  I literally stopped what I was doing and made the wreath immediately.

I think the simplicity of the wreath is what appealed to me the most.  A very satisfying project!

I also made Liesl's mittern pattern using the purl Holiday Bundle and the leftover fabric from the stockings.

Here's Rob's favorite mitten:

And here's mine!

And Rob has been christmas crafting too!  Here are two ornaments that he made in mere minutes:

Happy Holidays!

revisiting the color wheel

One of my most treasured handcrafted pieces is my Color Wheel quilt.  It was so much fun to make and it makes me so happy everytime I use it.  I still had leftover fabric from the bundle, so I've been trying to figure out what to do with it.  I knew I wanted to make another baby quilt, so after much hemming and hawing (and advice from Rob!) I decided to make a rainbow baby quilt.

I cut the squares into 5"x5" pieces and the white is just muslin (it's actually scrap muslin from purl).  It was easy to make but hard to manuever with a belly in the way!  I started it as early as I could because I knew sewing would be more difficult the bigger the belly got.  It's not the prettiest quilting job, but I'm glad I used some leftover fabric!

My original idea was to quilt it using a simple stitch in the ditch, but (small voice) my lines were too crooked!  So I got 1" painters tape and did more of an offset square pattern for the quilting.  It gives it more of a scrappy quality, doesn't it?

The back is this fabric that I've been hoarding for at least a year and a half.  It's a lightweight Japanese home dec fabric we called Drive.  My idea was that this would be more of a play quilt that a sleeping quilt, so I wanted to have a sturdier fabric for the back.

I've made a few Christmas projects too, but it's been rather gloomy here the past few days.  Hopefully I can get some photos taken soon!

crafting on cloud 9

The best part about working at a yarn/fabric store is seeing all the new products!  We get first dibs at everything.  There are very few fabrics that I have to have right away, but when we got My Happy Garden from Cloud 9 Fabrics, I immediately cut 1/2 yard cuts of each fabric for myself.  Not only did I love the prints, but I love the fact that it's all organic! 

I made some burp cloths using the fabric and some organic pre-fold cloth diapers, using this pattern from Chick Pea Studios.

Most of them are just the solid fabric, but I used some scraps from the following project:

I just cut 8" strips from the fabric, cut some of the in quarters or in half, and just played around with the placement.  The whole project took me less than 2 hours - yippee!  It's sort of rumply because the back is made from Michael Miller's Organic Herringbone, which is a knit fabric.  It shrunk a little during the final wash (even though I did pre-wash it), but the quilt?  SO soft and snuggly.  I would love to be wrapped up in this blanket.

A close up of the blanket.  I'm glad I was able to keep both projects all organic!

something knitted, something sewn...

Sometimes craft planning is just as fun (or even more fun!) than the actual crafting.  The best thing about baby crafts is that they can be so darn quick!  Take the following sweater...

Pattern - February Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn - Sundara Worsted Merino in Pine over Gold, 1.5 skeins

I have been wanted to make this sweater for ages!  Sundara's yarn is the perfect complement to this pattern.  I just realized that the color I used is super close to the one that Brooklyn Tweed used.  Except his is so beautifully knitted and photographed.  I kind of messed up on the sleeves, they are a little short but I've decided this is a short-sleeved sweater... and we'll leave it at that!  The buttons are ones that I got from Linnet on our Japan trip.  They are a little shiny but a little sparkle never hurt anyone!

I have now made the following item three times in the past month.

Do you know what it is?  It's a nursing cover, also known as a "hooter hider".  A friend of mine LOVED hers when she was nursing, and I knew it would be easy to make.  And to be able to choose your own fabric?  Priceless!  I've made them for two expecting friends as well, along with a little drawstring bag to store it in.  Here's a pattern that is really close to what I ended up making.  The fabric is from Lecien's My Folklore line... but I'm not sure it's available anymore (this is when a fabric stash REALLY comes in handy!)

If anyone's curious, here's what I look like at 6 months pregnant.

They say if you rub your belly hard enough, your wish will come true!  I think I'm wishing for a hamburger!

wrapping up in new york

I don't know where my head has been lately... I think Baby J has diverted all of my energy into nesting!  I have a slew of baby crafts to share, but I did want to wrap up our trip to the East coast... which we finished over a month ago - yipes!

Along the way to Manhattan, we stopped in Hartford and Long Island.  I have exactly one photo to share from each leg:

What? Knitting content!  I whipped up these hats for some friends of ours, they are the Diezel Ribbie Hat from Tante Sophie in Blue Sky Worsted.  My co-worker Rickie made these earlier in the year for her family, and I couldn't resist making some too!  The yarn is great and the pattern is so easy.  Success!

Rob's cute nieces in Long Island! 

We managed to get to Manhattan on a lovely fall day.  One of the first things we did was have a picnic in Central Park, which I've never done.

We also took a nightime stroll along the High Line, which was so beautifully lit.

No exhibitionists here!

Lots of opportunities to take goofy photos too!

The theme of this trip might be "things we've never done in Manhattan".  The next morning we went to the Cloisters... more silly photos on the way to the musuem.

The Cloisters was a wonderful break from the hustle of Manhattan.  We had a great time enjoying the art, architecture and weather.

We dropped by the Met, just to go to the rooftop garden.

We ate lunch at the Secret Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel... a super nice hotel with a burger dive in the lobby.  It's down a hall next the the concierge desk, it's a little hard to find if you don't know where you're going.

Our last night we ate Arepas (a first!) at Caracas and finished off our trip with a visit to Rice to Riches for rice pudding.

Along the way, we saw lots of good friends, dropped by Purl for a hello to all the wonderful people I talk to on the phone but never get to see, went to the Morgan Library (loved it!), visited two projects of Rob's that took him away for most of the summer, and ate lots of great food.  We love New York!