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.

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.