Tag: knitting

Knitting for baby

~ Maggie ~ 2 Comments

My knitting mojo (and thus my blogging mojo) were gone for quite a while. If you’ve been reading here a longer time, you probably know the drill. It’s all connected. But here we are.

I have been knitting.

I had to. One cannot gift the first grandbaby lots and lots of handknits, and then go ahead and ignore the second one.

Yes, that’s right. My youngest daughter is expecting a little one in December. Or maybe a little bit earlier, since both mother and baby are not the healthiest they can be. But we’re not talking about that right now. There will be a little babe that needs handknits and that’s great.

And of course that made me think about this sadly neglected little blog. Because knitting has been the core of it since the start of it, even though I do post about other things. So I should at least post a few pictures to keep my knitting history up to date, shouldn’t I? (there are a few projects missing, but most of them are in the archives somewhere)

And okay, I really, really want to blog again. I missed it so much, but I couldn’t work up the energy or headspace to actually sit down at the computer and write.

Anyway. We were in the Netherlands shortly after we got the news, so I found myself in the textile shop to buy yarn for this baby the day after we arrived. And it didn’t take me too much time to crank out a cute little hat and some booties. I didn’t use a pattern; just winged it and somehow the construction of the booties worked out right (this is the second time I knit them, first time was three years ago for the grandson).

(I’ve been trying to tweak the color of the picture to get it closer to the real color, but I can’t get it right. Also, my big screen and my laptopscreen have completely different colors, so I don’t even know which way to tweak it. The real color is a happy, sunny sky blue with a hint of green. At least that’s how I remember it)

I made a matching little sweater too, but I forgot to take pictures of it and we’re in Curaçao right now. I’ll try to remember to take one when we’re back in the Netherlands in a month or so (we’re traveling a lot this year).

I also knit a blanket and a baby surprise jacket, and those are here, but I’m going to spread things out a bit. Stay tuned for more baby knit posts (and maybe a little update about the cute little ruin? I’ll try…)

Anyway… How cute are those tiny booties?

It doubled

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

I almost didn’t post today, but then I realized that it doesn’t take too long to take a picture of my knitting and write something about it. You know, to keep he blog momentum going.

So here’s my cowl. I was going to say that this project isn’t going too fast. I haven’t been knitting much this week. But, looking back at last week’s post, I noticed that it almost doubled in size. So let’s call that progress, even thought it has to double in size a few times more before it’s finished.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

For next winter

~ Maggie ~ 5 Comments

I was going to skip a Friday post. Since I started blogging more regularly, Fridays were about knitting. But I forgot to take a picture of the (very little progress) on the blanket before we left and I thought I didn’t have anything on the needles here. Turns out I did. I forgot about that…

When I cast on, I thought the grandson sweater was almost done (BTW: it fits perfectly!) and I figured I had enough time and knitting mojo to finish this cowl before we left, so I could wear it this December. Ha!

Well, let’s be gentle to myself. This is going to be my cowl for next winter. That will give me plenty of time to finish it.

I was going to write a list of crafting goals for the new year to inspire me to actually do something, but I haven’t had time to think things through. Maybe next week…

Rustic, but warm

~ Maggie ~ 3 Comments

This weekend, I set myself the goal to finish the mittens. I’m still not fully back into my knitting mojo, but I succeeded. At least they’re ready to take with me to The Netherlands when we go (only 10 days from now)

I know, these are very, very basic. But that’s what I wanted them to be in the first place. I like exploring how to shape something and then, when I feel comfortable with it, add (some) more details to the pattern. I think I got these down, so who knows what’s next?*

Also, they make a good set with the balaclava. Rustic, but warm.

*Ha, who am I kidding? More basic stuff, probably. That’s all my mind can handle these days…

Knitting mittens

~ Maggie ~ 6 Comments

After finishing the hat balaclava for my grandson, I thought it would be fun to make it into a set. So I decided to knit him some mittens.

Even though these are my first mittens, I thought I’d wing it. You know… how hard can it be?

Well, actually, not that hard. I’ve always been scared of the thumb, but it’s just making a few stitches and putting them on hold when there are enough. I am having some doubts about the sizing again, but I’m going to roll with the sizes on this really helpful chart.

They don’t fit me, so that’s a good start 😉

A balaclava for my grandson

~ Maggie ~ 7 Comments

I finished it yesterday, after redoing the ribbing around the face. The first try was way too tight, I picked up too little stitches. The instructions were a bit vague and warned about not making it to wide, but the second time I ended up picking up one stitch for every row at the sides, and all ten stitches that I had to cast off under the chin and that looks perfect.

After folding the ribbing inwards and sewing it down, I was done!

It looks (too?) small to me, but I don’t really have a clue about baby heads anymore. Normal hats are much more flexible than this, so it worries me a bit. But then again, I did the math.

Well, I sort of did. For the height I followed what the pattern adviced for two year olds. They don’t really give measurements other than stitches for the width and I used thinner yarn, so I had to do a bit of guesswork*, but I think it will be okay. Unstretched the hat covers 32 cm (12″) and I guestimated that the face is about 1/3 of the total head circumference, so that would make 48 (18″) cm, which is what they state as the right size for a two year old.

R. is only one year old, but Dutch babys tend to be a little bit bigger than American babys. Oh wait, this is a British pattern… Gosh, so confusing.

But Dutch people are among the tallest people of the world, so I think our 1 year old Dutch boy should fit perfectly in this size. And if it’s too big, they can always save it for next year.

I will be demanding a try-on the moment I gifted this though. I usually don’t, but the suspense is killing me! (only one month before we go)

p.s. I will also try to take pictures of him wearing it and post some on the blog.

*Yes, I know: gauge! But somehow guessing works better for me. I’ve never gotten things right with gauging.

Halfway through

~ Maggie ~ 3 Comments

Over the weekend I cast on for that balaclava and slowly made my way through the neck piece. Slowly, because I was doubting the size with every stitch I made. I had to tweak the pattern a bit because my yarn is thinner than the yarn they worked with (I cast on stitches for a bigger size and use measurements for the smaller size). I’ve done that before and it usually works out, but I found myself wondering how big our grandson actually is right now. I don’t have a clue… So weird. We’ve seen him two months ago, but that’s a long time for a baby.

Anyway, I kept going. The shaping was interesting and even kind of fun once I worked out what they meant (the pattern is not written row by row). I messed up a little bit (I was two stitches short), but fixed it without unraveling the whole thing. Now I need to knit a few more centimeters straight up and then there’s another lengthy explanation on how to work the top, but I think I understand what they want me to do, so it should go smoothly from here (famous last words?).

Casting on

~ Maggie ~ 7 Comments

As always other knitters posting about what they’re making their family for Christmas inspire me to pick up the needles and make some gifts too. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself though, so I thought I’d start by making a hat for my grandson. But then I remembered keeping hats on one year olds (and older toddlers) is quite hard. My girls all had those hats that are attached to neckwarmers. Do you know what I mean? Google didn’t. But I persevered and eventually found out (on Ravelry) that these hats are called balaclava’s. Who knew? (we don’t have a word for it in Dutch as far as I know)

Of course Ravelry has an overwhelming amount of patterns with very beautiful and intricate designs, but my knitting has been so off this year* that I chose this simple one. I have just the right yarn for it. Really soft and in a color that will go with whatever color coat he’ll have.

It’s still a big pattern to work through and patterns intimidate me even when I feel perfectly fine. I prefer winging it, but I can’t figure out how to construct a hat like this. But I have made things that are far more intricate than this, so I should be able to do it. I’ll keep you posted!

(*I deleted a long rant about my not-knitting-much this year. I think I’ve mentioned it before; it’s all connected. Depression, no knitting, no blogging. But I’m fighting my way back.)

Not good

~ Maggie ~ 5 Comments

Yes, that’s actually a lot of progress since last week (for my currently not-so-great knitting mojo, that is) and I was finally getting into the zone. I love when that happens. I was happily knitting along and thinking about how to finish this top, even playing around (in my mind) with some creative options. I felt like I was almost at the spot where I could part for the sleeves and I thought I had enough yarn to even be thinking about making a real tanktop (that I would actually wear) instead of just a tube with shoulderbands.

But…

That blue tanktop underneath my knitting fits me perfectly. I could do a slightly shorter version (this one is quite long), but I would loose length when the knitting stretches sideways. And it will have to do that to fit. Ahem. So I really have to make it longer.

Also:

That’s all that’s left of the blue. I was convinced I had two skeins of this, but I can’t find the second one anywhere. I’m not even sure if I can get a full stripe out of this, let alone do at least one more repeat.

Oops. Back to the drawing table…

(to be continued)

Progress

~ Maggie ~ 2 Comments

I’m still going… well, semi-strong. I try to pick it up every day and the color changes keep it interesting.

I would have preferred to do it without the blue, but I also want this top to cover my stomach and without the blue I was certain it wouldn’t. With the blue I’m about 75% sure I will have enough, so fingers crossed. I’m to old for the cropped top look.