F.O.: Eagle Jacket

He's 6!! And I finally finished his birthday sweater! Last year after I finished knitting a shawl collar pullover sweater for my oldest son, he requested that I knit him a sweater that has a zipper on it. No problem! I have had my eye on this pattern for a long time and I was just waiting for him to be the right size to knit it.

Pattern: Eagle Jacket by Debbie Bliss in the book 9 to 5

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Charcoal, Black, and White

Needles: size US 7 & 8

I absolutely love this! It is one of the only Cowichan style sweaters that I have seen for kids. The pattern was easy - I was a little bit wary of doing stranded knitting on the purl side but it was easier than I thought it would be. The yarn is great also - a 100% wool in just the right colors.

I wasn't really sure how to go about installing the zipper. I found two methods - one was to use a hook to pull loops of yarn through the zipper tape so that you could knit the zipper onto the sweater and the other method was to just sew it on with a needle and thread. Neither method would work perfectly for this sweater so I used a hybrid of the two methods. I found a very large, very sharp needle in my sewing box (which I have no idea what I used it for previously?!?) with an eye large enough to pass yarn through and I chain stitched the zipper in place with the yarn. Really the only difficult thing I found with knitting this sweater was all of the ends that needed weaving in. I tried to do that as I went along so that I wouldn't be stuck with doing it all at the end but it was still tedious. A small price to pay for such a wonderful sweater!

Waxing and Waning

I am sure that in every knitter's production there are periods of waxing and waning. I hit my time of waning at the end of September. I just had way too much on my plate with four birthdays in a row here (all three of my boys' and my husband's) which included a few big parties, not to mention daily life of taking care of said boys and the amount of time and care that goes into that. Something had to take a back seat and it was my knitting. I was just too busy and, at the end of the day, too tired for it. Needless to say, none of my boys' sweaters were finished for their birthdays. In fact, they are still not finished.

There they sit on a chair awaiting their finishing touches. I am very close. I think now, after taking a much needed breather, I am ready to pick up the needles again and get these finished before my boys grow out of them and don't even get a chance to wear them. I might just be a waxing knitter now.

WIP Wednesday: Birthday Sweater

My oldest son's 6th Birthday is less than two weeks away. Yikes! I am working on this Cowichan-style sweater for him. I still have a ways to go on it so I need to hurry up! I am loving it so far though. I can't wait to see it on him when it is all pulled together (and the one million ends are woven in - ugh!).

F.O.: Rosebud

This hat is the post-Christmas present that I knit for my mother. She requested a navy blue hat and I just loved this pattern.

Pattern: Rosebud by Jared Flood Yarn: Tahki Yarns Tara Tweed in color 005 Needles: size US 6 and US 8

I love the simple garter stitch with the big oversized cable and the slight slouch of the hat. The yarn is incredibly soft for a tweed and really suited the pattern. I was completely tempted to keep this hat for myself but seeing that this Christmas gift was already late, I thought better of it. It looks like I will just have to knit one for myself.

First Day of School and Some Sample Knitting

Today was Oliver's first day of the first grade and he was on the bus at 7:05 this morning.

He looked so cute in his uniform with his little tie on and his new backpack, I got a little teary eyed watching him get on the bus. But now the twins are down for a nap and it is so quiet around here, I can actually hear myself think. It is awesome!

The new BT Fall 12 Lookbook hit yesterday and it is amazing! I want to knit almost everything in it. Damn you Brooklyn Tweed - my knitting queue is already miles long!! The Driftwood Pullover, Burr Jacket, and Breton Shirt are at the top of my list and I would love to knit up the Guilder Scarf for my husband. I was lucky enough to knit up a sample for this beautiful collection. This summer I worked on the Turnagain cowl. I was super excited when all of this yarn arrived in my mailbox:

It is a reversible cowl worked up in stockinette stripes. On one side are thin stripes and then very thick stripes on the reverse side. It is worked in one piece then folded over and the stitches are grafted together.

It was pretty easy knit but it is a sizable cowl so it did take me a while to get this done. When I came to the part of the pattern where it said to graft together 242 stitches I was paralyzed with fear. I was a terrible grafter - I usually had to rip out my grafting stitches like 20 times before I could get it right and then it still didn't look right. But don't they say to get over your fears to face them head on? Well, there's nothing like grafting together 242 stitches to get over that. Now I can graft anything together!

It is a wonderful design and it comes in 4 different color ways for your liking.

Summer Catch Up

It is still officially summer, right? These days I just can't tell. My blogging seems to have taken a backseat to the kiddos and our various summer activities - but I am still knitting away here and there. My oldest son returns to school on Thursday (is it bad if I am excited about this?) and I am hoping to have a tiny bit more downtime to get this blog going again. I love my boys but there are 3 of them and only 1 of me - you do the math. Most of the time I feel like a hot mess and I constantly have to tell myself to keep it together. Anyway, let's catch up with the knitting - that is way more fun to talk about. I have quite a few projects that need their own blog post which I am hoping to eventually get to. I finished a few as far back as the spring - including Aidez but it has been waaaay too hot for me to model that for pictures. It turned out beautifully so I can't wait to wear it as soon as the weather turns chilly. The owl sweaters I was knitting for the twins birthday are done and they are awaiting the button eyes. I turned out another sample for Brooklyn Tweed - Yay Me! (I am congratulating myself because it is really hard for me to get any deadline knitting done these days but I did it!!! I know I am completely crazy for taking these projects on but I cannot help myself. When Brooklyn Tweed comes calling I just can't say no.) I have a sweater on the needles for my oldest son's Birthday, I am halfway done with a pair of socks, and started little stuffed toys for the twins. I know this seems like a lot but these are projects that have been ignored on this blog for months. Trust me, sometimes days go by and I can't squeeze in enough time to knit a stitch. It took me 2 days to write this blog post. Seriously.

So these are the maniacs that are keeping me on my toes these days. Knitting content will be coming up soon.

Knitting and Sleeping Babies

My little Hayden, little Baby B, has had a little trouble taking naps lately. I will put him down in his crib, he will sleep for about 20 minutes and then he is up crying. I quickly run into his room and scoop him up because Nolan is asleep in the crib next to him and I don't want him to wake up because he can sleep for a marathon 2 1/2 - 3 hours. My little guys have started crawling. Nolan, the sleeper, scoots around all over the place, but Hayden will always crawl over to me and want to be picked up. I think my little Hayden wants a little more mommy time. It is hard being a twin - they don't get all the attention a single baby gets. Today, as Hayden fell asleep for a nap, instead of putting him in his crib, I let him sleep on the couch next to me while I knit. I usually don't knit when the boys are taking a nap. There are usually about 10 loads of laundry that need to be folded or sheets that need to be washed or dirty dishes in the sink or about 50 stray Cheerios under 2 high chairs that need to swept up. But today I have let all that go and have been knitting quietly right by my sleeping baby and I'm pretty sure that he knows that I'm here - he's been sleeping peacefully under the blanket I knit for him for a long time now. And I am sure Nolan appreciates it too - he's been asleep in his crib without getting a wake up call from his twin brother.

W.I.P Wednesday: Birthday Owls

Now that I have three boys with birthdays within five days of each other in October, I started knitting for them now. Given the fact that my knitting has slowed down a little bit, I still wanted to make sure that all of my boys get a special wooly knitted gift from me for their birthdays. I have knit my son, Oliver, something every year since he was born and I didn't want to break the tradition. I started with this little sweater for one of the twins.

I couldn't resist knitting the popular owl sweater. It is just too cute. It is going surprisingly fast too. I love watching the little owls form as I knit around!

F.O.: Baby Booties

Well, we made it through the first six months with the twins. Phew! There are things that are getting easier and then new challenges pop up. They are going to bed at 8 on the dot every night (Yay!) and sleeping through the night (Yay! Yay!) but now that they are getting all that sleep at night they are taking shorter naps during the day and they are a lot more active! They are this close to crawling and I am not sure if that is going to make my life easier because they can get around or harder because I will have to chase two of them around and make sure that they don't get into anything that they shouldn't. We shall see. I am still waiting for the day that they will play with each other - that will be so cute! Right now they smile at each other and tug at each other's clothes and arms and legs but that is about it. They also tend to tug these cute little baby booties that I knit for them right off of their feet!

Pattern: Booties by Debbie Bliss Yarn: Quince & Co. Chickadee in the color Egret Needles: size US 2

I am a sucker for baby shoes. When my first son was born, I went a little overboard - I bought him tiny little New Balances, Pumas, Robies - to name just a few. On the upside, these little guys got to wear them too. I love these little booties. They are like little shoes but soft like socks too. Now if they would just keep them on their feet.....

Look - they are holding hands! Too cute!

W.I.P. Wednesday: Silk Shrug

A textured shrug in blue silk for springtime.

F.O.: Starr

I finished this lovely cotton slouchy hat about a year ago, so this post is long overdue. I couldn't resist knitting it after I found the pattern in the Kim Hargreaves' book Misty.

Pattern: Starr by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton in the color Mist
Needles: Size US 2 and US 6

I love the mixture of cables and lace in this pattern. Between the lace and the cotton yarn, this is a great, stylish hat to wear on chilly spring days. I also love the light color of the yarn. This has been getting a lot of wear this spring - even though the weather has been warm, there have been some colder days that this hat has been perfect for!

Sample Knitting

The latest collection from Brooklyn Tweed is here - Spring Thaw - and I am excited to share the sample that I knit for this wonderful collection. I was lucky enough to work up the Barrington Vest this past winter.

This vest is knit up in BT's newest yarn, the lovely Loft, in Artifact and Woodsmoke. This was quite the challenge for me. I learned a lot of new techniques, the biggest of which is steeking. It was my first time to ever do steeks and I was scared to death I was going to mess up. I have never intentionally cut my knitting before and I was quite nervous but it worked out really well. Another great technique used for this vest is the very cool provisional cast on which makes the ribbing look completely professional. And, of course, the entire body is stranded color work.

I have no idea how I managed to get this done in the midst of the Christmas season with newborn twins but somehow I sent it out in the nick of time. I quickly snapped these photos right before I ran out the door to send it off so they are not my best but Brooklyn Tweed has much better shots, of course.

My Life These Days

Remember when I wrote this post and I said that taking care of twins was not hard? Ya, I lied. I lied big time. Taking care of twin babies is HAAAARD. I must have written that in the haze of my ibuprofen and oxycodone cocktail I was taking for the pain from my c-section. I know that I resolved to blog more this year but I can't even find time to go to the bathroom during the day, never mind blog. Oh, and I also have that other 5 year old kid who needs attention too. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much knitting done either, which makes me really sad because I really miss it. I have been sneaking in a few rows here and there on Aidez but nothing solid. I am happy that I have two very happy babies even though they are a butt load of work and I collapse exhausted every single night, but as everyone tells me: "This too shall pass." They also say: "Just wait until they are teenagers" hahaha - I can't wait!

In other twins news: We had to have tests done to determine if they are identical or fraternal and we just found out that they are identical!

I dunno. I just don't see it.

P.S. I apologize to the bloggers I usually leave comments for on your blogs (you know who you are) for not commenting lately. I have been otherwise engaged.

W.I.P. Wednesday: A Christmas Present

I didn't get much knitting done for Christmas. I was kinda busy with other things. I feel really bad because my mom wanted me to knit her a hat. Now that all the craziness of the holidays is behind me, the twins have turned a corner, come out of their newborn stage and settled down into a schedule, and I don't have a Brooklyn Tweed sample deadline looming in front of me, I have finally had a chance to start knitting a hat for my mom. It's only a little late.

Yipes! Striped F.O.'s!

Apparently I am crazypants because I thought I would go all 40 weeks in my pregnancy with the twins. It just goes to show I know nothing about twins whatsoever. Then at the end, I was so huge, I mean really, really huge, that when I scheduled my induction for 38 weeks I was relieved that I didn't have to wait until 40 weeks to deliver. Then when I went into the hospital at 35 weeks and I was told I needed to deliver now, I was jumping for joy (in my mind, of course, because I was so big that there wasn't any actual jumping) because I was sooo ready. The babies were tiny compared to my son when he was born at a whopping 9 lbs. 9 oz. but people tell me all the time that they are very big for twins. I had planned on knitting up some hats and sweaters for them before they were born because I thought that I had a few extra weeks to go but I managed to squeeze in a few projects right after they were born and they were sleeping a lot.

The first is little Striped Hats.


Pattern: Striped Baby Hat by Sirdar
Yarn: Quince and Co. Chickadee in Peacoat, Egret, and Bark
Needles: size US 5

And I couldn't resist knitting up a pair of Puerperium Cardigans after I saw this on the Yarn Harlot's blog.


I used some leftover Cascade 220 wool that I had in my stash for both of these sweaters and they are so small that they really took me no time to knit up. They are knit on a size US 6 needle.


I absolutely love these little sweaters. I have gotten so many compliments on them everywhere I went with the twins. They are a must-knit for a newborn baby. I squeezed the babies into these up until they were almost three months old and they kept them warm through the chilly Fall months. I am so sad that they don't fit into them any longer. The babies have already gotten so big - it is crazy how fast they grow! Time for some new wooly sweaters I guess.

W.I.P. Wednesday: Aidez

Yes! I have hopped on the bandwagon and I am in the middle of knitting myself an Aidez!

I started knitting this over the summer when I was in between knitting baby blankets. I was hoping to have this finished so that I would have a comfy open cardigan to wear post-pregnancy. Time got away with me and I am still working on it. Right now, I have one of the fronts done and I am halfway done with the back. It goes really fast when I actually have time to knit on it. I would love to have this done to wear this winter. I love how it is turning out so far.

Samples

This past summer, as I mentioned before, I started doing some sample knitting for Brooklyn Tweed.The projects I knit were fun and challenging to do. They turned up in the BT Fall 11 collection and I would (finally) like to share them with you. First up is the Muir Hat, a garter stitch hat that is knit sideways and shaped at the crown with short rows.

Unfortunately, all I have is this iPhone work-in-progress photo. I forgot to take pictures of the finished deal before I sent it off.

I also knit the Lockhart Mitts, both the long and short versions.

It was a privilege to work on these great designs on the Brooklyn Tweed sample knitting team. And getting skeins of Shelter in the mail to knit these up was an added bonus. I am currently working on another sample this very moment in the new yarn Loft. You will have to wait and see what these gorgeous skeins are knitting up to be!