FO: Ellie's Stripey Cardigan

Project: Ellie's Stripey Cardigan

Pattern: my own improvisation

Yarn: BerrocoVintage Worsted

Needles: US Size 7

For: my 18 month old daughter

Cast On to Cast Off: I don't really wanna say since it makes it sound like such a LONG project- it has about 20 hours in it because of the re-thinking and ripping back as I improvised. I started it in June and finished it this past weekend.


Notes: I did a few decreases just past the elbow since Ellie doesn't like wider swinging sleeves and I really like how they turned out. I settled on seed stitch for the button band, sleeve cuffs and bottom edge after going through various ribbings. You can look at my Ravelry notes for details on some of the things I did.

Things I Learned: Even though this project took awhile time wise, I'm really glad I jumped in and tried going without a pattern. Yes, a pattern makes it so much easier since the decisions are all made for you with a known outcome and (most importantly) the math is all there! But, I learned a lot in the process and it helped connect some concepts about construction in my head.



Overall: A good project made even better by the fact that Ellie really likes to wear this cardigan. Now if only I could get a picture of her wearing it that isn't a blur of motion.

Together

I'm so loving seeing the kids together these days. While the boys were reading their current chapter books on the couch last Friday Ellie climbed up with them to "read" a Star Wars chapter book upside down and I had the three of them in a row on the couch in the family room all looking deep in thought while thinking about very different things.


Ellie runs after them to "tickle" and they all giggle and the boys indulge her even though her tickles often include unintentional pinching and scratching.


The boys regularly load Ellie into a laundry basket and stuff blankets and pillows around her before taking her for rides- sliding the basket along the carpet in short bursts. She laughs and they laugh and they add stuffed animals to the basket.

For as much growing up as Ellie has done in the last 18 months, it is Ender who has changed the most. He didn't want a sister- in fact he wasn't a fan of adding another child to our family. He likes status quo and adding another kid threw his world for a loop- but for the better. He's learning to take care of someone who cannot take care of herself, he now understands that her cry means she needs a response of some sort, and I think he enjoys the detective work sometimes involved in discerning what a non-talking toddler needs. He thinks she is incredibly funny (she is) and he has learned that including her in the "big kid" games can make for a hilarious time.

I'm so thankful for the time they have growing up together.

FO: Little Mitts

{Ravelry notes}

I love thumbless mittens for toddlers, but these little mittens have a funny way of deceiving me- I know I can knit them up quickly because they are small and don't have that thumb to mess with, but that somehow translates into me only putting on a few stitches here and there because it's "not a big project". But now that it's cold the mittens need to be done, so this weekend I made sure that happened.

Ellie likes them, but hasn't learned to keep them on quite yet. When I first put them on her she wiggled her fingers as if the mitten was a puppet and then took them off and said "toes?" and tried to put a mitten on her foot like a sock. The boys got a good laugh out of that one. 

I'm planning to knit her another pair or two in worsted weight since my boys frequently lost mittens at this age- I don't want to be caught without backups now that winter is well on its way.

Hello, November

It's autumn for real now, and I've had no problem packing up the sewing machine and moving happily back to knitting during all of my creative time. I finished one little mitt last night after the holiday festivities were over and kids in bed for the night.- only 3 more to go until the kids are fully mittened for this year. Then on to hat finishing, then sweater finishing...


It's safe to say that the finishing mood I rely on 3 or 4 times a year has arrived to save me from my piles of unfinished projects. I have Christmas gifts to knit, with only one of them begun but I can't in good conscience (and lack of spare needles) cast on anything else until I get some things OFF the needles.


Current In Progress:

Ellie's mittens (1 of 2 complete)
Ellie's striped cardi (a tiny bit of sleeve and the button band to go- so close!)
The Shapely Boyfriend sweater (down to just a little more sleeve and the button band!)
Exploding Socks
A hat for Halos of Hope


Must get moving on:

Ezra's mittens
Ezra's Winter Hat
Ender's Winter Hat
Ellie's Winter Hat
Ender's Christmas Sweater
Ezra's Christmas Sweater
Ellie's Christmas Knit (still deciding on a pattern.


I need to work a bit out of order- I can't just knit through the current "in progress" things because all the mittens must be done first (because COLD) and then I need to finish Ellie's cardi and then the hats and then at least get cast on for the boys' sweaters within the next two weeks if I'm going to have a real chance at finishing them before Christmas. There are cables you see, and I'm not the fastest at that particular technique quite yet since I don't cable often.



No longer in progress is the Cerus scarf- I pulled out the 5 rows I had knit (about 1500 stitches *sob*), but it was worth it because I started it without thinking about the fact that it would roll without a little garter or ribbing or something and that would make me unhappy later I think. Plus by taking that off the needles its on I now have free the cable I need to be able to do the button band on my Shapely Boyfriend Cardi. That took the sting our of the rip back. Now I can finally get that button band going.


I think the real solution here is that I need an additional set of cables and perhaps even another set of interchangeables... but not for awhile. Not until after I manage to save up for and acquire a spinning wheel. :)

KCW Wrap Up

I ended up with 2 dresses and a skirt for Ellie this week in about 8 hours of sewing. I know my newbie-ness is showing since I know a lot of people participating in KCW finished much more this week, but that's okay. We all start somewhere, right? I'm happy with my progress and Ellie has a few more things to wear in the coming months. The light colored polka dot dress above is Simplicity 5695, View A. I shortened the last ruffle since Ellie is on the more petite side, and even so this dress won't fit her for a bit- but it's a great spring dress, so that works out.

I shared this dress last week. I used this tutorial with some slight changes for the top. I've made 4 of these tops now and if they still fit through spring I'll probably cut the sleeves shorter.

I finally got the girl to let me get a picture! I promise she wears everything I make, she's just not doing well with the camera lately. I didn't plan to make this skirt before KCW but I had seen the tutorial for it and planned to make it when she was older. But then I saw this navy fabric and the little polka dots seemed to call out for a circle skirt. I know, I know- it's just furthering the polka dot issue I have.


I think part of leveling up to be "intermediate" level at something has to do with knowing how to fix many of your mistakes in the easiest way possible, and I'm definitely not there yet with my sewing. I had to go back and fix on a few things and that ate up some of that time. In fact on Wednesday I ended up setting one project aside because I just couldn't deal with the problem at hand that late at night. I have learned not to work on knitting problems too late in the evening because it often makes it worse- and I figure the same probably goes for sewing since I still have to think pretty hard (and often google) how to fix or change something.


What next? Well, honestly the sewing machine is probably going to be put away for a bit. I need to get fall hats and mittens knit up since fall weather is truly here, and I really need to get to work on organizing the area that I use for sewing. I'm really supposed to be sewing in the spare bedroom, but the closet doesn't really work for storage as it is currently set up (not really sure how it possibly stored anything, to be honest) so I need to take some time to pull that out and get organized toward future endeavors. I did start pinning a few things to sew for myself, but for now it's back to knitting.