F. O.: Tiki Socks

So I am finally getting organized here. I logged myself on to Ravelry today, collected all the information about my finished projects and WIPs, and entered it on to my projects page. It turns out that there was a lot more stuff that I finished and that I am working on than I thought - like eight things. That is a lot for me because I tend to focus on one or two things at a time. So here I am, getting my butt in gear while the twins are napping, and I am blogging.

After knitting the beret for my niece for her birthday, her sister, my other niece, wanted me to knit something for her too. She wanted some socks. She is 11 years old and very girly so I thought "What could be cuter than some stripey socks in a very girly color?"

Pattern: Classic Socks by Melinda Goodfellow

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the color Tiki

Needles: size US 2

I knit these for her for Christmas and she loved them! I have always wanted to try the self striping yarn and it was really fun to knit with. The socks knit up really fast because I really couldn't wait for the color to change so I could see what it looked like. I used a basic sock pattern because of the stripes - I didn't want to get too fancy and lose the stripes to a pattern. The yarn is really wonderful and the stripes turned out exactly the same on both socks. I made sure to start knitting on the same color for both socks to get them to be identical.

These were so much fun to knit that I might just try some more colors!

F. O.: Cables and Lace Beret

This is the start of my attempt to catch up with this blog and to post about all of the knits that have been left out for so long. The first of which is the Cables and Lace Beret - that I finished in July last year. After my niece, who was turning thirteen, saw the hat that I knit for my mom, she requested one for her birthday. I decided on something that looked a little bit younger, a little bit slouchier - so I went with the Cables and Lace Beret by Michele Wang.

This was a lot of fun to knit and I really liked the pattern. Of course I love anything that has a combination of cables and lace. I used size US 2 and US 4 needles to knit this. The yarn is Harrisville Designs Shetland in the color of Suede. I picked the yarn up from my LYS and at first I thought it would be too stiff and scratchy but it did soften up a lot after blocking.

My niece really loved the hat. She was so excited that I knit it for her! I am so glad because I know how hard it is to please thirteen year-old girls.

My niece with her hat on - Isn't she adorable?

F. O.: Two Baby Owlets

Hi There! I know this blog has been quiet for some time but that means that our household has been anything but! I thought that it was high time to show you the little owl sweaters that I knit for the twins for their first birthday (way back in October).Yes - their first birthday has come and gone (we actually survived the first year phew!) but they are now 15 months old and crazier than ever.

Pattern: Baby Owlet Sweater by Kate Davies Yarn: Patons Classic Wool - one in Natural Mix and the other in Gray Mix Needles: size US 6 and US 8

These little sweaters are too adorable and Nolan and Hayden get compliments every time they wear them. They were a quick and easy knit but I must admit that sewing 60 buttons on these guys were not that fun. 60! 30 per each sweater! That is the kind of stuff you deal with when you have twins!

These photos were taken on a recent trip to Boston because, let's face it, there is no way that these monkeys are going to sit still for a photo shoot. We tried that with our Christmas card this year and came up with less than stellar results. Ha!

My husband's parents have a real soft spot for the owl sweaters. My father-in-law's mother was a big time knitter and knit a version of this sweater for my husband when he was a baby. My mother-in-law passed it on to me when Oliver was a baby and I happen to have a photo of him wearing it when he was a year old:

Gotta love those cute little owls!

I thought, for like a second, to knit up one of these for Oliver too. But then I thought better of it because he is 6 now and this might just be one of those things that gets a kid beat up on the playground (not that that happens anymore). Well, one day when he came home from school and he saw me sewing the buttons on one of the twins sweaters, he asked me who the sweater was for. When I told him it was for the twins he said "Awww I want one too." Stay tuned.... another owl sweater might just pop up on this blog.