Ski Socks

Maybe its just my imagination but this winter seems way colder and snowier than usual. Its a very good thing that I knit myself up some warm wooly socks. Back in November, I signed my oldest son up for ski school which is six weeks in January and February so I knew I was going to be hitting the slopes quite a few times this winter. I knew I needed a nice thick pair of socks to wear with my boots to keep my toes warm.

Pattern: Classic Socks for the Family by Melinda Goodfellow

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Charcoal Twist and Red

Needles: size US 5

These are perfect cold weather socks. I knit them in worsted weight wool and used a smaller needle to so that they are nice and dense. They definitely keep my feet nice and warm. I used a short row heel here in the contrasting colored yarn and decided to graft the toe with the red as well.

I have been skiing solo while my son is in his lesson and it is just what I need - peace and quiet and calm - after an entire week with 3 crazy kids. After I pick my son up from his lesson we hit the slopes together for a few hours it it has been so much fun spending time with him doing an activity. Now I just need to get the twins on skis so that the whole family can ski together. Maybe next year? Haha we'll see!

Sample Knit: Montauk

Coincidentally with the re-start of my blog, Brooklyn Tweed has come out with their exceptional Winter 2014 collection in which I have knit a sample. I was lucky enough to work with the popular knitwear designer, Veronik Avery this time around and knit up the beautiful design Montauk. I was a bit daunted knitting this sample this time around for a few reasons. This was the first time I knit a full-blown sweater for Brooklyn Tweed and it was a big undertaking for me considering what little time I have. Also, when I knit these samples, keep in mind that it is the first time that this pattern is being worked up so there are no pictures of what it looks like and in some cases I get a pattern in installments and even though I had a sketch from the designer, I was having a little trouble envisioning what she wanted - especially with the collar. It was also quite a time consuming knit considering the all-over wrapped stitch pattern but I had fun with it. All turned out well in the end.

As always with these samples I only have a quick snap from my iPhone before I run it out the door to the post office. But I have linked to the Brooklyn Tweed page above where the photos are professional. Enjoy!

New Year, Fresh Start

I thought the start of the new year would be a good time to get back on my blog. I have missed it a lot. I'm sure you can all guess why I haven't been blogging - three kids is a lot - especially twins. But I didn't want to be one of those bloggers that just disappeared leaving people wondering "What happened to her? Maybe her kids ate her!" Well, my kids haven't eaten me - yet. I am still here and I am still knitting. My life just got really crazy. The twins are now two and having two that are two is lots of fun (sarcasm). My oldest is seven! Whaaaaat? When did that happen? He is playing soccer and basketball, taking piano lessons, and about to start ski lessons so he really keeps me on the go with all of his activities. So I am squeezing in my knitting here and there when I have a few precious quiet moments alone and I am also going to try to squeeze in blogging too. I have a lot to catch you up on being gone so long and I am almost done with my first project of 2014. Oh ya - we also just got a puppy too! A little dachshund. His name is Charlie. He's my knitting companion.

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.

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!