Another baby blanket

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

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. . .

. . .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

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

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

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

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