WIP Fest

One finished project -

  

a flower potholder for a class I'm teaching. Love how this turned out - so bright and cheerful. 

The hardest part is getting the white trim to look neat and tidy, especially on the back.

 
and a bunch of works-in-progress. 
Shawl for a friend;
another shawl that's been promised for a year or so. . . .  
sweater for me (a crochet-along with my Thursday night peeps);
and the knitting project that will probably give me an ulcer. I'm making a coat; a KNIT coat. My favorite part? 
The little numbered markers the instructor made for us. I love watching them flow past my flying lumbering needles. Two weeks in - class goes till the end of July - and I'm already well behind my fellow students. Oh, well; slow and steady gets it done, right? 

More Travis

You may remember the cocoons I made for baby Travis' first portrait session? His mommy gave me permission to post some of them here, so y'all can admire the cocoons MBT (My Boy Travis) in his hand-made finery. 
Isn't he adorable?
 
I don't think there's anything more precious than an infant yawning . . . unless it's a baby in a bear hat. I just love that expression on his face. 
 
These were taken on January 22, a day before Travis turned one-month old.
 
And this one
 
was taken just a week later. He's already starting to change and grow. And like the shirt says, My Boy Travis is a handsome lad! (Yep, I'm a tad biased. But you know I'm right . . . )   

Cocoons

Grrrrrrr, Blogger ate my first post when I tried to publish it. Hate rewriting - once it's gone, I always remember it as purrrrrrfect.

Travis' mommy asked me to make a knit cocoon for his first photo session. She picked out the pattern*, purchased the yarn and gave me plenty of time to get it finished - it just doesn't get any easier. 
 

Soooooo when the cocoon was done ahead of schedule, and I still had an unused ball of yarn, I whipped up a little crocheted nest as an additional photo prop. 

This pattern is super easy. I love that the author gave the nest's dimensions - in addition to the stitch count - which made it a cinch to substitute my slightly thinner yarn and still get something I was pretty sure would fit a one-month old. 

 

Can't wait to see how sweet Travis looks in these.

*I'm not linking to the knit pattern. I thought it was very over priced for something that basically said 'cast on x stitches, knit y rows, bind off and sew up two seams'. If you're interested, more info is on my Rav page.  

Busy Day

Towels, gifted:
Fiber, spun:
Knitting, done.

I've had the woven towels finished for awhile, but was waiting until I'd given them to their recipients to share pictures. The pattern is from Webs (here) and details are on my Ravelry page (here). All three towels were done on the same warp; just the weft color changed in each one.

Started spinning the first of two 3-ounce batts from Spinderella - in 'Harvest' - that have been in my stash since 2006 or so. Love this colorway, especially how it sparkles. I'd been saving it for "special", for when I became a "better" spinner. Finally realized great fiber should be enjoyed (so I have an excuse to get more!)

Both fronts and backs are done on the Scarf Trick Sweater. On to the sleeves!

Tour Progress

The sweater is coming along; not much done since class on Friday but I did get photographic evidence today. Still hoping to get this finished by the end of the Tour, but since I have little to no idea how to put sleeves in, I may be off by a day or so.

Today's BIG news is that I finished spinning all 9+ ounces of BeeMiceElf's 'Serene'. Whoohoo!! Planning to let this sit tomorrow in honor of the Tour's rest day, then start plying it on Tuesday. Sooooo pleased to have this done.

The colors in the first photo aren't accurate - bad lighting this time of day, I guess - so this is more what the yarn actually looks like. I still think it's Christmas-y.

Scarf Trick Sweater

I love how knit- or spin-alongs get me motivated. For tonight's knit class, I was well ahead of where I needed to be; both back pieces were done and ready for seaming, plus I'd finished one of the fronts. Hoping that by the next class - in 2 weeks - I'll have the remaining 3 pieces done and ready for finishing. At this rate, I may actually have an entire finished sweater to wear this year! Whoohoo!

Touring the Progress

Tour de France KAL - 2nd back piece almost done. Hope to start the fronts tomorrow. Or I may try working this pattern in Tunisian, making a 2nd sweater at the same time as the knit one. Can you say "crazy pants"?

Tour de Fleece - 34 grams/1.2 oz (45.4 grams/1.6 oz total) of superwash BFL spun today. Hoping to get all 8+ ounces spun and plied by Tour's end.

Tour de Fleece

Happy birthday, America! I spent the day comforting Leanne, who is not enjoying her first teething experience; spinning for my Tour de Fleece challenge;
and working on my Tour de France KAL* project. I need to finish spinning the 7.5 oz of Polworth so I can use the bobbin for my real Tour de Fleece project. I'm down to just a small bump, thank heavens. This stuff is poorly prepared and pulling out all the nepps and VM (vegetable matter) is slowing me down and making me crazy. Just.Want.It.Done.Already. Maybe by tomorrow night.

*KAL = Knit-along

Growing

This is my favorite in-progress project. My first time doing knit short-rows; I had no idea they were so addictive. The longer the scarf gets, the better I'm liking it. I need to put this aside and work on the christening gown but, right now, my heart is with Helix.

Crochet Brioche

One down, two to go. Ok, who am I kidding? Lots to go is much more like it. My WIP* list on Ravelry is almost embarrassing. Done is the Pashmina Brioche Cowl - made with two colors of super soft, luscious madelinetosh pashmina in 'fig' and 'posy'. The pattern is from the Winter 2011 edition of the online magazine "Tangled". I love that they have both knit and crochet patterns and that they 'cross-pattern' - designing the same item in both fiber mediums. I added a row of picots to the top and bottom edges and didn't make it as wide as the pattern called for. This is So. California, after all. Don't need a thick cowl that's likely to give me heat stroke.

Leanne's christening dress in under way once again, with the ceremony scheduled for July 2. I tried it on her before I got to the skirt - good thing since, just like Addy's dress, I needed to add 2 rows to the bodice to accommodate my long-waisted baby grands.

And while I should have been working on the above (or the sample I still owe the shop for an upcoming class), I just had to start this last night with my handspun yarn. It's Colleen's fault, talking about how much fun she had making her Helix scarf. Love the yarn, love the pattern, not sure I love them together. Opinions??


*Works in progress

Finishitis

Over the weekend, I got a bad case of finish-itis.

Leanne's Baby Surprise Jacket? Done. It had been sitting for over a month, waiting for me to sew up the shoulder seams and put the buttons on. It's still a bit big on her, but she'll grow.

Tunisian Ripple Scarf? Done. This is a store sample for a class I'm teaching in June. Love the colors and the texture.

Never-ending Pi Shawl? Done, done and done!

Started this in January, along with Edie and Colleen, and truly believed it would never be done. (More on this FO tomorrow.)

I finished this one earlier in the week. It's a Hexagon Baby Jacket for a friend's first grand daughter. She wanted it in time for Easter, to match the baby's new dress. Done!

Working, Working, But Not Finishing

I'm making progress on a bunch of projects but nothing is getting finished.

The Never-Ending Pi Shawl - I'm halfway done with the knit-on border. 276 stitches bound off; only 300 (times 16 = 4,800 total stitches) left to go.

Leanne's Baby Surprise Jacket is off the needles. I need to sew the shoulder seams, add buttons - little red ladybugs, of course - weave in my yarn tails and it's done. My latest bobbin lace bookmark. It's done and off the pillow now. Looking for another project to start. LOVE this craft.

I contributed the four brown squares* and the crocheted border to this baby blanket the yarn shop ladies made for Anne's soon-to-arrive little girl. Sewing all the squares together would have made me nuts, but a border? That I can do. The colors are unusual - especially for a baby blankie - but I love how great they look together. Hope the Little Miss gets lots of use from it.

*Close-ups of the squares and additional details are here, here, here and here.

Knitting Progress

Despite the lack of recent evidence, knitting has been happening. I'm holding to my New Year's goal (not resolution!) to do less crochet and more of everything else fibery - and this month, that means knitting.

I've started the border on the never-ending Pi Shawl - my first ever knit-on border*. Why didn't someone tell me how easy that is?? The Kid Silk Haze is a bit slippery but the actual knitting is a breeze. I was even able to rip back to a dropped stitch and continue on - another first. Before this I would've had to rip all the way back to the beginning and start over. Progress! Our Lady of the Dirty Face decided to help me take photos today. I love the frog pose (above) and the glamor shot (below). Also on the needles is a Baby Surprise Jacket for soon-to-arrive Leanne Elizabeth. Verrrrrry soon to arrive. I started the jacket during the Super Bowl but ripped it out that same night and started over. So much happier with it now. The yarn is some I picked up at Pearl's on the 75% off table and the contrast color - a snowy white - came from the same place.

Leia helped me with this photo too. So very, very helpful.

A colorful, inexpensive little gift that needs to be finished very, very soon. Leanne's official due date is this Tuesday (4 days). First babies are usually late, but . . . . . I've got to knit faster.

*There's 576 stitches in the last round of the shawl. For the border, I need to knit 16 stitches into each one of those 576 stitches. That's 9216 stitches. Nine THOUSAND. I've gotta stop calculating this stuff.