Baby Knitting – Knitting Is So Fun

2022: Wk of Mar 6 – 12; Oops Metric vs Imperial Measurements

March 13, 2022March 13, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting

BABY SWEATER TEST KNIT

Well this is embarassing! Being an engineer I consider myself pretty proficiant in the metric system and converting between metric and Imperial. After writing this post about how frustrated I was at how long it was taking to knit this baby sweater, I realized today that the length was 19 cm not 19″!! For us Imperial number users, 19 cm is 7.5″!! So everything I knit today was not needed. The sweater is at 8.5″ so not too oversized. I’m thinking I’m just going to leave it a bit long rather than rip out the 11 rows (~1500 stitches). Yes this is a test knit but I don’t care. Lesson learned. When the pattern gives metric and Imperial, cross out the metric so I don’t get confused!! (Heard back for the designer. The extra inch is okay. I don’t need to rip back!!)

On the plus side, I’m happy to know that I’m closer to being done than I thought. I bought buttons today. Glad that I’ll have time to work on other projects beside the sweater this week. Turns out only focusing on the sweater was boring.

SOCK/BLANKET KNITTING

The baby sweater got almost all my attention this week since I thought I had so much knitting to do on it. I did work on my pair of fingering weight yarn socks during our morning walks but sadly it’s getting so humid in Florida that the yarn sticks to my fingers. Not sure I’m going to be able to knit the fingering weight yarn on my walks afterall. The socks will get a lot of attention this coming week as they will be my “car knit” as I’ll get to knit on our “girls” road trip (see below).

My neice’s baby blanket got a little bit of attention as I’ve started a pink stripe. Not worth taking a picture. I hope to have more colorful stripes to show by next week.

KNITTING ROAD TRIP

I have been fortunate to find a small group of knitters here in Florida. The six of us meet weekly. There are not a lot of yarn shops in Naples, Fl (one) so we are making a road trip Monday to a yarn shop 2 hours away, Four Purls. It is run by the parents of Emma’s Yarn. You may have heard of the yarn on podcasts. We will shop for about an hour, go to lunch and then we arranged to have a class on bobbles and latvian braids. I have no interest in bobbles (I think it’s a fad which will “date” items plus I just don’t like them) but I’m looking forward to using the latvian braid on collars and/or cuffs. I’m looking forward to having a “girls” day. It’s my plan to simply buy one skein of “souvenir” yarn. I sure don’t need another “sweater” quantity. Maybe mini skeins??? April is right around the corner where I’m committed to “queue up” my stash so that I can see how many years of projects I already have on hand. Any bets?? I have a feeling I’ll be generating at least a 5 year knitting plan (I see a new excel extended knitting plan in my near future).

PROGRESS KEEPERS

While shopping for baby sweater buttons, I decide to try my hand at making some progress keepers. I have found that I prefer the leverback clasp to the lobster clasp so it was an opportunity to make more in the style I prefer. Plus I’m always losing my progress keepers so a few more is a good idea. Here are the ones I made.

It has turned into a good week now that I know I’m further on my baby sweater than I thought. It should be no problem to finish by the end of the month afterall. I’m looking forward to the week ahead. Hope you are too.

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog each week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts. YOP is in it’s 11th year. It’s my second in the group.

2022: Wk of Feb 27 – Mar 5; Cast-ons and Winning Ways Continue

March 6, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Yarn

PODCAST GIVEAWAYS

I shared 2 weeks ago that I had won a giveaway from a podcast, MC Knitting Adventures. The really cute project bag arrived this week. I would call it a 2 skein sized bag. Bigger than a sock project bag but smaller than an adult sweater project bag. I’m going to use it for a baby sweater project.

Seems my winning ways are continuing. This past week I won another project bag from a podcast, Frivolous and Frugal!!! This time for my Stephen West shawl I just finished. I’m very excited because the bag is combination cute fabric and clear plastic. I love being able to see what’s inside. I use clear cosmetic bags as my notions bags so I can see exactly where everything is. I use clear pill containers for my stitch markers so again I can see what markers are in what portion. I use clear zippered bags to hold my yarn in my “yarn wall” so I can see all the pretty yarns I own. I like that the project bag will show off the pretty yarn inside.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket??!!

BABY SWEATER TEST KNIT

My good luck just keeps on. An opportunity to test knit a baby sweater for Anne B Hanssen popped up in my Facebook feed. Knitting a baby sweater is on my goals for this year. I thought the pattern was cute and since I’ve been “gifted” quite a few skeins of baby yarn here in Florida I “applied” to test knit. I’m very excited that I got selected to knit a 9 month size. My granddaughter is currently wearing 6-9 months so it’s perfect timing. This will be a bit stressful as it has to be finished by the end of the month but since it’s small, I should be able to do it.

TEST KNIT VS TECH EDIT

Ironically I had just watched Andrea Mowry’s “I’ll Knit If I Want To Episode 50th” this week and it included her thoughts on tech editing vs test knitting vs sample knitting. I thought it was great. I think too many new designers “abuse” their test knitters by expecting them to be free tech editors. I agree with Andrea that if you find more than 1 or 2 errors or poorly written instructions, the pattern is not ready to be test knit. Guess I’ll get to see how it goes with Anne Hanssen. Test knitters are already finding a lot of errors in her pattern. I had to print out the pattern versus use Knit Companion so I could make all the corrections. I’m sure glad there are plenty of knitters ahead of me finding these errors.

FOs and Cast-ons

I did finish both pairs of socks this week. So techincally I have completed a pair of socks for February and for March, My goal of a pair of socks per month is looking good!! My Starry Night socks were a bit of an experiment as I knit 64 stitches instead of my usual 68 stitches (US 0 needle). Turns out 64 is too tight for my foot. I can wear them but prefer the 68 size. I was worried that I had made the foot to long but that fortunately wasn’t the case. I’m going to see if they fit my daughter better as I believe she has a narrower foot. If not, I can wear them but in the future I’ll go back to 68 stitches. I also did ribbing on the arch for a tighter fit. Again I don’t think I’ll do that again.

So I got to cast-on a new pair of socks!! I brought some fun yarn that I really want to knit but it seemed silly to create more “scrap” yarn as I know I don’t need all 100g to make a pair of shortie socks. So I decided to cast-on the leftover rainbow speckle yarn and it’s lime green and orange minis for toes and heels. The contrast toe is a bit long but I want to use up all the yarn. I have found that I can use fingering weight yarn for “walking” socks as long as it’s light colored so I can see it (I do have to wear my reading glasses). The Starry Night socks just had too much dark blue to knit while walking. The Swirl E pattern is very simple and I love it with this yarn.

**AlwaysBeKind yarn in Swirl E Pattern**

Secondly, I cast-on the baby sweater test knit which will dominate most of my knitting this month. I did swatch and found I could not get gauge with the yellow DK baby yarn I had intended to use. Going down a needle size made it hard to knit and no way did I want to knit something while fighting the yarn the whole way. Fortunately I had also been gifted some Sport weight baby yarn (the yarn weight called for in the pattern). It’s actually much nicer yarn as it is wool and 12% cashmere instead of acrylic. But it is dark grey, not exactly a spring color. I’ll just have to get cute spring buttons and maybe add some duplicate stitch. The yarn has a tight twist which will really help show off the lace pattern. I had to go up a needle size to get gauge but what a surprise – after knitting a few rows of the sweater I thought it looked a little big. I checked the circumference of the sweater and found the sweater was knitting up larger than it was supposed to be. So I’ve dropped down a needle size. I’m not supposed to share photos until the pattern releases but at this point there’s not much to see so I will.

GIFT YARN FINDS A HOME

Thank you for all the suggestions on what to do with my unwanted “gift” yarn. A suggestion to look on Facebook for a local “Buy Nothing” group was a huge success. Had no idea there would be so much interest in free yarn. I was able to get rid of all the yarn I didn’t want in less than a day. I think hubby was disappointed I gave so much away but I still have PLENTY to make at least four summer tops plus LOTS of baby yarn in addition to a sweater’s worth of wool tweed a Cincinnati friend wants. I also kept some dark charcoal alpaca yarn as my stepdaughter wants me to make the Stephen West Spiraling Cables shawl for her. I have plenty of the autumn colored yarn but will do the cables in dark charcoal instead of tan like mine.

It was a great week!! Hope yours was great as well.

2021: Wk of 11/21-27; WIPs, Thanksgiving, and Christmas In The Air

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

HELDIG TANK #2

Completed the hems and have joined for the body. This is a simple knit although the Daisy yarn is a bit fiddly. Thus this will not be a car knit project. It will get worked on possibly the day of rest at my daughter’s or once we get to Florida.

MARY MAXIM CHRISTMAS SOCKS

I’ve decided to continue the Christmas socks. My husband might like them as house socks in December. Blocking (twice) helped some. They are in the car just in case I get a break from driving.🤞

KNITTER CHRISTMAS

My friends did like their “12 Day” Advent set. Hopefully they will still like the eclectic mix of yarns after they open them all. One of my friends gave me these thoughtful knitting aids – a foldable ruler and a magnetic dish to hold my stitch markers. I have 2 sock rulers, and I like them, but they are too long to fit into my sock project bags. This foldable ruler will be more useful since I can keep it in my sock project bag. The magnetic dish is great! I have a magnetic necklace but found that I accidently end up knocking the stick markers off it so I don’t use it. The dish has a much stronger magnet so even if you knock it off a table, the stitch markers won’t fly off. If you have a metal tray table, like I’ve been using from IKEA, there is no way that dish can even get knocked off!! Then another knitting friend made us all these adorable knitting basket ornaments.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We had a wonderful time for Thanksgiving. Just 3 of our boys on Thanksgiving. Then the same boys with my dad, brother (and SIL), and nephew yesterday for a delayed Thanksgiving. I just love Thanksgiving foods!! My diet took quite the hit this week but I know I’ll get back to more moderate eating once we are in Florida.

We did not visit my step-daughter and her baby just prior to Thanksgiving. Enough said. As my son who still lives with us while attending college said, “I never want to get on your bad side”.

TIS THE SEASON

I adore Advent season. Christmas lights and decorations. It will be interesting to see how I feel spending Advent in Florida but I think it will be fine since I know I get to spend Christmas in Ohio. There is a multi-street neighborhood near where we rent that does the whole “Christmas With the Kranks” thing so I will definitely be touring the neighborhood. I will miss my northern friends but look forward to seeing my southern ones.