Old Fashioned Baby Sweater

This is one of my latest baby knitting projects. It was easy to knit up and looks and feels great. I loved the color in the original pattern so copied it with a yarn that was as close as I could get locally. I used vintage buttons on the shoulder in a contrasting color for a little more interest.

Pattern: Fiddlehead Pullover http://www.purlbee.com/storage/FiddleheadPullover-Rev%201.pdf
Yarn: Frog Tree Meriboo (merino/bamboo) in color 405 http://frogtreeyarns.com/Products/Yarns/Meribooreg/tabid/67/Default.aspx
Buttons: Vintage

Pickled

I love making pickles. They are fun and easy to make, and better yet, I actually enjoy eating the finished product. There are many recipes for pickles on the internet, just make sure you find a repuatable source, as canning food improperly is dangerous. These are the Quick Dill Pickles from Putting Food By.

  

A Litte Bit Modern, A Little Bit Country

I got the idea for these cuties at a store in Healdsburg, CA, and it was months before I found affordable metal toy "trucks." I found the tractor trailer at an antique store in Snohomish, WA, and the bright little truck at a shop in Sayulita, Mexico. The paint on the tractor appeared to have faded, but I polished it with a little vaseline and he was as shiny as new! The plants in the tractor are assorted succulents, and I can't recall the name of the plant in the bright truck. They are all require indoor conditions here in the Pacific NW, so these will live in my office at work. A fun and easy craft!

My Best Craft Yet

OK, so I can't take much of the credit for this, but I'm still going to count it as my best craft yet. I have been remodeling a house for a year now, and it is finally beginning to look like a home. My dad has worked on this house during nearly all of his free time this last year. It's not quite ready for full time living, but it's getting closer. Here are some before photos and some relatively recent photos of the same areas of the house.

Living room and bedroom before...

During construction...

And getting closer to a finished product - now a living room and dining room...

 Kitchen before and in process:

Bedroom before and getting closer...

And extra bedroom before, on its way to being a bathroom now...

I will post more pictures as it develops!

My Favorite Knitting Patterns Now - Amimono

I discovered Aminomo books at my favorite yarn store, KnitPurl in Portland, Oregon. They are one of few stores that that sells these books and the Isager yarn that is used to knit the patterns. If you are looking for modern knitting patterns for young women, check out these books. The styles are edgy but classic at the same time and are knitted with beautiful yarn. Her most recent book also includes patterns for toddlers.

The Amimono patterns are written by Helga Isager, who is the daughter of the famous Marianne Isager. Her patterns are fairly simple to knit, though they are somewhat difficult to read. I have found that charting them makes them easier to follow.

I am knitting daffodil now, and then will follow with vanilla and lemon. Stay tuned!

The patterns can be viewed here (site is in Danish): http://www.amimono.dk/
The books and yarn can be purchased here: http://www.knit-purl.com/store/pc/showsearchresults.asp?keyword=amimono and here http://yarnatwebsters.com/store/yarn-companies/isager
And pattern corrections can be found here: http://www.isagerknit.com/1-109-corrections.html

Woodland Beauty

I love all things woodland, so when I saw this mushroom baby rattle pattern, I knew I would knit it one day. Unfortunately, I didn't get it done in time for the woodland baby shower I hosted for a girlfriend in February, but better late than never! It knit up quickly and easily. The rattle is a little bigger than I had imagined, and it may be too big for the tiniest babies, but I think they'll grow into it quickly. It's about 3.5" across the top when looking down on it, and about 5" tall.

I didn't have any Koigu, so I used some beautiful Madelinetosh yarn as a substitute. If you have never knitted with this yarn, you should give it a try. It's absolutely wonderful to work with, and the colors are amazingly rich.

For this rattle and other knitted baby toys that I want to make noise when shaken, I buy small cat toy balls from PetCo. They're cheap and work well. I've tried a couple of local pet stores, but they don't carry these little balls. I'm amazed that yarn stores don't carry them, as they work so well for knitted toys.

I have found that you need to use loose batting for knitted toys as opposed to batting you would use for a quilt. Flat batting doesn't fill all the nooks and crannies as well as loose batting does. 

Pattern: Purl Bee Toadstool Baby Rattle http://www.purlbee.com/toadstool-babyrattle/
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock
Yarn source: Bad Woman Yarns (Seattle) or Knit Purl (Portland and internet) http://www.knit-purl.com/store/pc/Madelinetosh-Glazed-Sock-Yarn-12p1373.htm

Twin Cuties

The Purl Bee is one of my favorite sources of knitting and sewing patterns. I had planned to knit this sweet little hat for a long time. I love this yarn and this pattern, so I couldn't help but make two of these when I finally got around to the project. It was easy to knit, so give it a try!

Pattern: Giacomo's Baby Hat
Source: Purl Bee - http://www.purlbee.com/giacomos-baby-hat/2008/1/9/giacomos-baby-hat.html
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Sport Weight (you can get this at Purl Soho)

Blynn's Booties and Blanket

I knitted another super simple baby blanket (see previous posting) and a pair of baby moccasins using this pattern from the Purl Bee - http://www.purlbee.com/baby-bootie-moccasins/. The blanket was time consuming because of the volume, but the booties knitted up fairly quickly. I can't wait to see the booties on Blynn!