Pattern of Grace

Another baby blanket

2011-05-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Another baby boy is on the way. The mom to be has selected Pottery Barn bedding in cream and dark brown with a touch of blue. For the blanket I used Lion Brand Baby's First yarn color #099. This is an acrylic cotton blend that feels good on the needles. The pattern is very basic - checkerboard. I used a 6 stitch border on the edges and 6 row border top and bottom in double moss stitch. The checkerboard pattern alternated between stockinette stitch and double moss stitch. I went to the magic world of knitting math to determine the size of the blanket and the size of the squares. I wanted this blanket to be a good size to use in a stroller without a lot of excess fabric to have to tuck in around baby. It is about 28" by 28". Enjoy special new little one!!

Baby Blankets Everywhere

2011-05-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

So many babies are coming into our world in the next few months. It is a joy to create a blanket for each of them. This mother to be selected a beautiful Fossil bag as her diaper bag. Using Spud and Chloe all cotton yard from The Woolie Ewe (1301 Custer Road, Plano, TX - the web site is down) I matched the colors of the bag as closely as possible. Now, what to do with all the colors? Since this is for a baby boy, I wanted it to look like a boy! Patchwork of course! In this design each square is a different pattern. I took ideas from basic stitches and from the book Fearless Knitting. While I did write down the pattern, it needs a little fine tuning - little adjustments I made while working on this blanket.

Basically, here is how this went together. Three panels of four squares were knit first. Then the three panels were joined by picking up and knitting two panels together. I picked up stitches along both edges then used a double needle bind off to join. After the three panels were joined, the border was added down each side, then across the top and bottom.

The baby shower is this weekend. I cannot wait to see the new mom's face when she opens her new diaper bag and matching blanket!

So much yarn. . .

2011-02-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

. . .so little time. That is my mantra for knitting. I have lots of fabulous yarn, lots of wonderful patterns, and a bunch of ideas in my head. All it takes is time. I have had a couple of creations and have put one or two things up on Etsy under the shop name Caught Napping. Here is one of my favorites.

Here is the story: I had a pattern for a scarf. Great pattern. There were 4 stitch combinations: brick, block, moss, and eyelet. I had a wonderfully soft skein of Berroco's Comfort. Perfect. When I finished the scarf, it was about 30 inches long. That is not very long in scarf world. It lay in the drawer for months. The other day I had a light bulb moment: Sew it into a circle for a cowl! I added one twist and it drapes so pretty like in the picture. I am going to make another just like it - only this time on purpose!

Little Easter Sweater

2010-04-05T16:45:00.001-07:00

Little C's first Easter, which he will probably not remember, was cool, slightly misty, and perfect weather for a quick egg hunt and a light cotton sweater! From One More Skein, and knit with Blue Sky Organic Cotton, it is actually for a new born to 6 months. It fit Little C perfectly. And it goes with his argyle outfit from Janie and Jack. Little C loved egg hunting. Actually, the egg hunt meant that he sat in the grass, we rolled the eggs to him, and he threw them back. They were plastic eggs, by the way.

All in all a perfect Easter - and best of all, He is Risen!

Pillows

2010-03-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

I forget that knitting can be for something other than clothing - like decorative household items. Like a pillow. Dear Daughter wanted one for her sofa - something in a light color to help brighten up the room. This pillow is done in Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wood, 15% mohair). The pattern is from One More Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit. I offset the box pattern slightly - for no reason other than I wanted to do it. The yarn is so soft. The button closures were easy. I found the buttons at my favorite yarn store The Shabby Sheep. I sewed the buttons on with teal colored thread, one of my daughter's favorite colors. And it gives the pillow a little "pop"! The top picture is the knit pillow with another on her sofa - the browns, teals, and creams go nicely together!

Baby Sweaters

2010-01-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to knit - anything for little ones! This sweater was a gift for a friend at work - well, two friends actually. One co-worker's son is married to another co-worker's daughter - and now they are both grandmothers! Welcome, little Ryder.

The yarn is Bernat Cotton Tots. I like it because it is 100% cotton. The pattern is from the same book as the shawl in green below. There is one pattern for boys and another variation for girls. I think I will make the girl one - just because.

Little Hats

2010-01-23T15:46:00.001-08:00

This is my favorite hat for little people.

I use whatever colorful stash yarn I have

on hand. This hat is for the cutest little

girl across the street - Claire!

The pattern is from Weezie Wear - weezierwear1@yahoo.com

Knitted Gifts are Fun!

2009-12-06T12:08:00.001-08:00

From one of my favorite books, One Skein, comes these two purses. The green clutch is for my oldest niece. It is knit of Misti Alpca hand painted yarn, machine washed and air dried to felt or full. The color becomes variegated in the washing. The buttons are from my collection and my mother's collection.

The drawstring purse, also from One Skein, is for the younger niece. The yarn is a mixture of wool and acrylic, and is knit in the round making it very easy. I hope they like these little gifts of love!

Merry Christmas ornaments

2009-11-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

A slight side trip from knitting. I made these ornaments from inspiration found in the best little store: Smitten in downtown McKinney.
First I got some wooden disks at Michaels. Then I tore Christmas carols out of a hymnal - (okay, before you wig out, I did not steal the hymnal. I bought one at Half Price Books and used it.) - and applied them to the disks with mod podge. Used Christmas themed paper on the back, again from Michaels, and glittered the edges. Vintage seam binding made the hangers. By the way, the ornaments are hanging from twine strung across a screen door that came off of my mother's house before it was torn down. Kinda cute, right? One of the rewards personally was reading through the words of these very special hymns. It brought the focus right where it is supposed to be for Christmas - on our Savior!

Cason's sweater

2009-11-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

From the book One Skein Knitting comes this darling color block cardigan for children. I used all of the yard left over from Cason's baby blanket. This was very easy to knit - I changed the pattern slightly, adjusting for the amount of yard I had. It is meant to be asymmetrical - that is not a mistake!
The trim around the neck and down the front is an attached I-cord. This should have been easy. It only took about 5 tries to get it right. Now I am going to use this trim a lot.

New Mother's Gift

2009-11-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

This is a shawl for nursing mothers. It is a leaf lace pattern, very easy and very beautiful. I used Misti Alpaca chunky weight yarn in a dark green from Shabby Sheep. Because the yarn is handpainted, some of the dye washes out and it becomes several shades and hues of the green.The pattern is from Natural Knits for Babies and Mums by Louisa Harding. It is fabulous book available from any bookstore (try Amazon). It is a basic shawl pattern with the addition of buttons for modesty. The scalloped edge is a natural result of the pattern.

Cason's Blanket

2009-02-26T07:10:00.001-08:00

It has been a joy to knit for Cason in anticipation of his arrival in March. The blanket colors are from the nursery which can been seen on Catherine's blog. The pattern is from Sublime - a book of baby knits - and is called Stripey Travel Rug. I modified the width of the stripes just for fun. The yarn is Berroco's Comfort and Berroco's Love It. Needle size was 8, although the label says that a size 9 could be used. Of course, I used by wonderful Denise needle set. Now all we need is Cason!

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Psalm 8:2

Christmas hats

2009-01-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

For my brother and his son, my nephew, I made hats for their Christmas presents. The pattern was from a book called "Holiday Knits" by Sara Lucas and Allison Isaacs, page 17. It has a bunch of fun and quick projects. The yarn for the hats was Lion Brand chunky wool. I altered the pattern a little - I did not do the turn up brim because it would be too warm and heavy. I added the contrast rows further up on the hat. It is knit on circular needles. I did adjust the number of stitches due to the chunkiness of the yarn. Now I want to do a lot more - they are so soft and warm. And knitting presents for special people gives me a chance to think about that person, to pray for that person, and to picture them wearing these hats and hopefully know that I love them! Happy knitting!

2008-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

A little over a year ago, my friend Christy and her family helped our nation with the greatest gift: Husband and father Rick went to Iraq to serve in the medical corps. Since Christy and I no longer live in the same city, there was very little that I could offer in the way of assistance - no running meals over to her house; no offers to babysit the beautiful grandchild; no moments to have coffee and talk or take a walk.

So I knit. Christy is wearing the shawl that I turned into a prayer project. As I worked, I would pray for Christy, her family, Rick, anything concerning them. All was recorded in a small journal which Christy received with the shawl.

There are still service men and women overseas. Don't forget to continue to pray for them, for our country, and for the coming elections.

Of course, the yarn came from Shabby Sheep and was a hand painted shades of blue yarn. The pattern is from www.knitty.com and is called "Cozy." Here is a trick I learned: Because the pattern changed every other row, I wrote the instructions for each row on a 3x5 index card and secured them with a ring clasp. I never lost my place. Happy knitting.

God's Gift

2008-05-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

There is nothing more anticipated than a new baby. There is nothing more precious! My neighbors Tanya and Justin are expecting their second little girl in a few weeks. The entire neighborhood came together for a baby shower for Tanya. This blanket was so much fun to knit. It is done in organic cotton by Blue Sky Alpaca in four different colors. The darker bands of color are variegated wool. The pattern comes from one of the clients at my favorite store, The Shabby Sheep, in Dallas. This was easy and fun to make - it is amazing how the points on the chevron appear through the knitting process and reminds me of Psalm 139: 13-14:

You created every part of me, knitting me in my mother's womb.
For such handiwork, I praise you.
Awesome this great wonder.

Two Precious Children

2008-03-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 20:7: The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.

After knitting Chris and Stewart hats for their New York trip, I was asked to knit hats for Stewart's girls. I used Yummy Yarn from my favorite store, The Shabby Sheep. The pattern is from Weezie Wear Designs #WWD51. The sizes range from Children's X-small to Adult Large. You can e-mail them at weeziewear1@yahoo.com.

This pattern is a great way to use stash yarn. I am now working on hats for all the nieces. It is a fun and easy project.

Grace Notes

2008-02-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

The music in church this morning was awesome! Amazing Grace, old and new versions, How Great Thou Art - so beautiful to sing and think about. The lesson was on grace and God's grace to us. Grace is the one thing that sets Christianity apart from every other religion (C. S. Lewis). I am graced by my children- often I feel undeserving of having them. And the grace note is the extra - the friendship - I have with all three.

The girls and I had lunch together Saturday - Cay is showing off her new muff. She loves muffs, and this one is knit with from a pattern from www.knitty.com. The yarn is from my very favorite shop: The Shabby Sheep. It is very soft boucle - a matching hat is on the needles right now! The patterns on this website are amazing, fun and generally easy to follow. Here is a tip, for knitting or any time instructions need to be followed: I put the printed pattern inside a plastic notebook sleeve. Then any notes I need to make I do in erasable marker on the plastic.

A Picture of Grace

2008-02-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday's sermon was on the Prodigal Son. The pastor made the point that this story is not so much the story of the rebellious son as it is the story of the grace of the father. (Luke 15:11-32). We have a Father just like that - God. Grace is the undeserved mercy and love of our Father. It is also what we can show a world that is hungry for love and acceptance.

Any talk of a son brings to mind my son - who is not rebellious or prodigal! He is funny, smart, and an extremely talented photographer. The other day he was getting ready for a trip to New York (it is February) - and he hates cold weather. So he asked me to knit him something to stay warm. (The shock is that I have been knitting for several years and he once said that there was nothing I could ever knit that he would ever wear! Now he wants something. . .) I had a pattern for a quick chunky knitted hat and this is a picture of Chris in New York in his hat. Here is the pattern:

For an adult male hat: 100 gm ball Chunky Yarn - I use Lion Brand chunky wool
US size 15 needles (round and straight)

CO 8 stitches
Row 1: Purl across Row 2: kfb into each stitch across (16 stitches)
Row 3: Purl across Row 4: (k1, kfb) across (24 stitches)
Row 5: Purl across Row 6: (k2, kfb) across (32 stitches)
Row 7: Purl across Row 8:(k3, kfb) across (40 stitches)
Row 9: Purl across Row 10: (k4, kfb) across (48 stitches)
Row 11: Purl across Work even in stockinette stitch for 5". Work one more inch in 2x2 ribbing. Bind Off.

On this hat, I used up some stash yarn, hence the two color stripes. It is a great stash pattern.
Because I am not comfortable seaming knitted pieces, I use a circular needle and when I get to 48 stitches I join and knit the rest in the round. To finish I only have a small seam near the crown to stitch together. Enjoy!