AtomicKnits

The Neverending Baby Set

A couple of months ago, my cousin Emily asked me to knit her a little baby sweater to give to her friend who is due to have a baby in April.  She decided on the Yoda Baby Sweater and said she would pay for the yarn.  I saw a picture of this done in Manos Cotton Stria, and I thought the yarn and the color was perfect, so I went out and bought four skeins.  That was way too much.  This yarn knits up really nice and the semi-solid colorway is awesome, but, blech, it is not nice to knit with. I don't like cotton in general, and the nubblyness of this yarn was just not really that fun to have in my hands.  I really didn't want to have any leftovers of this yarn, so...

...I knit a bunch of accessories to go with the sweater, and used up about 98% of the yarn (I tossed the little leftover ball). I knit a bib with a penguin on it, a hat, and some booties. Every time I finished an accessory I would look at all of the yarn I had leftover and wish it was all gone.  But, I powered through the next accessory, and the next. I have a couple more babies to knit for. I think those will definitely be one skein projects!

The Neverending Baby Set
Pattern Source: Baby Yoda Sweater - Dogs Steal Yarn (Rav), Penguin Bib - Down Cloverlaine, Seamless Baby Booties - Pickin' and Throwin', and I just made up the hat pattern
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Manos Cotton Stria, colorway 213 Mint
Needles: US 6 for sweater, bib and booties, US 7 for hat

Vortex

I have been wanting to knit this hat for quite a while, and I finally got around to it.  I had two skeins of Noro Kureyon in my stash that were perfect for this.  I liked that the colorway is darker, so the striping doesn't get too crazy.  Also, I'll be able to wear the darker colors with more things.

This hat is made using short rows and knitting a bunch of domed wedges and then seamed up the back.  I really like the way the stripes turn at the brim of the hat, and I also really like the slight point at the top!  My favorite part is the the blue and black stripes on the front of the hat. I want to wear this hat all the time, but it's a bit itchy.  I hear that Kureyon gets much softer after a couple of washes, so maybe I will have to try that.

Vortex
Pattern Source: Knitty, Winter 2008
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, colorway 90
Needles: US 10

Watch Cap for Eric

Sometimes the simplest things are my favorite to knit.  For Christmas I made my mom's partner, Eric, a watch cap.  I made it extra long so it can be doubled up over the ears, and I made it out of handspun!  Knitting with your own handspun really brings an added joy to the project.

The pattern was written for bulky yarn.  The yarn I used wasn't bulky, but it definitely was bulky in certain places!  It made a really cool, light, squashy fabric that will still be very warm.  Justin was kind enough to model the hat for me.

Watch Cap for Eric
Pattern Source: Knit Wiki
Yarn: Handspun Colonial Wool Top
Needles: US 10.5

Baby Hats for Charity

A few weeks ago, I saw this post on Moth Heaven, one of the knitting blogs I read on a regular basis.  I won some concert tickets around the same time that I read this post, so I thought that knitting some baby hats for the ICTC would be a good way to return the karma.  These were fun and fast to knit, and I like how the yarn turned out kind of stripey-but-not-really.  I made two of each color in three different styles:

Plain

Cables & Ladders

..and cables around!

I am hoping to send these off in the mail this week!

Baby Hats for Charity
Pattern Source: Free Ravelry Download from Annette Derksen
Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable Ombre, colorways Fresh Lilac & Seaside
Needles: US 9

At last! A baby gift!

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for someone I know to get pregnant (it's sure not going to be me!) so I could knit some baby stuff!  During one of my yoga classes, I noticed a little bit of a tummy on my yoga teacher.  Of course I wasn't going to ask, but one of the other women wasn't scared, and our teacher, Joey, announced that she's pregnant!  Immediately I wanted to knit her something for the baby.  I was stuck, because I don't have a lot of gender neutral yarn in my stash that isn't super bright or really earth toney.  Nothing really fitting for a baby.  A couple of weeks ago, Joey mentioned that the baby is a boy and I was like 'YES!' I knew I had some blue cotton lying around waiting to become something!  I found the pattern for the booties in one of my baby knitting books, and I used Allison's toddler hat pattern.

I think these booties are so cute!! I hope the baby can wear them for a little bit.  I know the hat is a little big, but I figure the brim can be rolled up for a smaller head and also worn when the baby is a toddler.  I can't wait to give these to Joey!

Baby Booties & Hat Set for Joey
Pattern Source: Booties - Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, Hat - Mission Falls Cotton Hat - Baby from A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Yarn: Jaeger Aqua, colorways 313 & 306
Needles: Booties - US 6, Hat - US 7

Mission Falls Cotton Toddler Hat

This week I started and finished a toddler-sized hat with a kit I received from Allison at SuperCrafty.com in my goodie bag from Sticks and Stitches.  This yarn is SO NICE.  I love the way it feels - it's so soft and it has just the right amount of drape.  I really like the way the colors go together.  I guess there are like a million colors in this line.  Allison is collecting these hats for charity, and I plan on giving this one to her when I see her next at knitting group.  I had a lot of fun knitting this hat and trying out this awesome yarn.  Thanks, Allison!

Mission Falls 1824 Cotton Toddler Hat
Pattern Source: Allison's Blog - A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, colorways 303 - Jade, 304 - Moss, 302 - Wintergreen
Needles: US 7

A New Hat for Justin

For our mindful knitting practice during my retreat, we needed to bring a simple project where we didn't have to keep track of a pattern and just devote our focus to making each stitch. After the mysterious disappearance of the Fake Isle Hat, I wanted to make Justin a new hat before the warm weather arrived this year for good.  When I was gathering up all of my green yarns for Project Spectrum, I found a pile of a chunky wool blend in a perfect Justin color.  A simple ribbed watch cap is something that you can't really make the wrong size and it's simple enough for me to using in a mindful practice, and for Justin to want to wear it.  I really like the way it turned out!  I don't have enough extra to knit one for myself, but I'll figure out something to do with it.

Watch Cap for Justin
Pattern Source: KnitWiki
Yarn: Lana Grossa Due Chine, colorway 406
Needles: US 10.5

Christmas Gift 2/3 - Jeffrey the Wind Hat for Timmy

My brother, Timmy, requested this hat from me a while ago.  I think he was a little surprised that I actually made it for him for Christmas.  His alter ego is called Jeffrey the Wind.  Jeffrey is known to produce rap songs and sometimes DJ on weekends in downtown Kunming, China.

He was very specific about how he wanted this hat.  He wanted a white hat with the word 'WIND' in light blue letters on the front.  He said he wanted a beanie hat and wanted it to fit snug.  I was nervous that this finished hat turned out way too small, but I like my hats kind of big.  I found a simple men's beanie pattern on Ravelry and then used an alphabet chart to do the lettering.

Here's a picture of Timmy sporting his new hat on Christmas day.

Jeffrey the Wind Hat
Pattern Source: Hat - Cashmere Cancer Chemo Cap from Yarn Ball Boogie, Lettering - Letters breien
Yarn: Hat - Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran colorway 101, Lettering - Dream in Color Smooshy colorway Some Summer Sky
Needles: US 5

My first attempt at pattern design

One of my knitting resolutions for this year was to design my own pattern.  I decided I wanted to knit a hat in the round with an image of Champy on it.  I grew up in Plattsburgh, NY which sits right on Lake Champlain, so, naturally Champy, the lake monster was and still is a significant part of my life.  I just really, really like Champy.  If you need more education, you can read about Champy in Wikipedia, or here at the Lake Champlain Land Trust site.

Anyway, I found a picture of Champy that I liked (I believe that Champy is a plesiosaur, not a serpent) and used the nifty KnitPro to produce a small chart that I could use for a guide to make my chart.  Then, I made some knitting graph paper in Excel that was the size I wanted my hat to be and translated my KnitPro pattern to the graph paper in Excel.  I just used the paint bucket to shade each cell, it was very easy.  I decided to make two Champy's, one on the front and one on the back and also spell out Champy's name twice to lessen yarn floats.  Then I got to work knitting it. I was kind of dissappointed in the result at first.  Some of the floats are so long that I ended up twist the floats in every few stitches or so.  Some of these twists showed through and made the fabric look really puckered.  I really didn't like it.  Blocking helped a little bit.  I want to knit another version of this hat before I write up the pattern in only two higher contrast colors and I won't twist in the floats.  I will carefully let them hang and then tack them in after I'm finished knitting.  After I'm finished with the 2nd version, I will write up the pattern and have it available for download.  I'm pretty excited about that!

Champy Hat
Pattern Source: Personal pattern created by me!
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, colorways Bronze Patina, Orange You Glad & Limeade
Needles: US 8

Sheep & Wool Hat

I knit another quick fair-isle hat last week.  I probably won't get a chance to really wear it for a while, but it was a fun instant gratification project.

I love the visual effect this simple fair-isle chart has, and I love how mod the design is!  I think I might knit the Matrix mittens to match this.  I need a new pair of mittens for winter this year since I won't need to use my Charlie Card mittens anymore.

Sheep & Wool Hat
Pattern Source: Say What?
Yarn: Cascade 220, colorways 7822 & 4192
Needles: US 8