Knitting, Crafting and Other Ramblings

So I'm still deep in my knitting obsession. Here are a few recent projects. The first is a little knitted chicken for my sister. She has real chickens and after seeing the farm animals I knit for J, she requested a black and white chicken. I couldn't find a black and white yarn that I liked so I knit this one with one strand of black and one strand of white held together. I was actually a little surprised by how that worked out (some areas look just white or black), but generally like how this little hen turned out.

Cat's Chicken
Pattern: Fuzzy Chicken by Fuzzy Mitten (Barbara Prime)
Yarn: Worsted Weight Wool from my stash (leftover from the Hello Kitty bag)
Needles: Size 8
Modifications: Just yarn doubled and needle size from 6 to 8 to accommodate this change.
Stuffing: Poly-fil


I also finally got around to adding buttons to J's rainbow cardigan. He just loves this sweater and loves it even more with his new red elephant buttons (from JoAnn's)--because what rainbow sweater doesn't need red elephant buttons?

Smiling.

Doing "a silly one."

"Crossing his eyes."

I finally finished Oscar's sweater, but I still need buttons. I bought some, but am not thrilled with my button holes so I'm considering redoing the button band--which makes me glad this is a sweater where you pick up stitches and do the button band as an add on (which makes it easy to fix without messing with the rest of the sweater).

Oscar's Topdown Raglan Cardigan
Pattern: Kid's Top-down Raglan by Gail Tanquary (Ann Norling #53)

Pattern Style I used: Crewneck Cardigan
Size: 2

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton (100% Cotton) (100g/ 150 yd)

Color: 632
I used about 2 1/2 skeins.

Gauge (for me): 5 stitches/inch on Size 7 needles in stockinette

Needles: Size 7 and Size 5 (24" circular and doublepoint)
Modifications: My usual--knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat so no seaming.
This is my third time using this pattern. It is simple and quick. I'm a little uneasy as this is the first time I've knit a child's sweater in cotton. Any words of wisdom for washing this little sweater?

My current knit project is this pinwheel blanket. As you can see, I'm doing mine in stripes. I really like the way it is turning out. It's a gift for a good friend who is pregnant with a little boy. It is a little strange to me to be knitting this blanket from the center out. I'm used to hats and things that go from the outside in--which is nice because each row gets smaller so by the end it goes really quickly. By the end of this blanket, I will have 440 stitches--that will NOT go quickly. Oh well. So far I am really enjoying this project.

I also need to knit a blanket for my new niece who is due in May and I need to knit two more Ike-a-sauruses (Ike-a-sauri?) for Ike's brother and sister. I also have a few babies to make hats for, but those can wait since summer is almost here.

I wanted to knit some little Easter goodies for J and his classmates (two cute options here), but I didn't have time. I might still try to whip out something for J and N's Easter baskets. We will see.

I am also considering (gasp...) knitting something for myself (gasp...gasp..). I want to do something different and interesting and am considering both the Petal Halter and the ZickZack Tunic from the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits. Both are pretty daring in terms of style for me, but I think they would be fun to knit. I'm a little nervous about what yarn to use especially as the suggested yarn for the ZickZack Tunic is 50% wool/50% silk. It looks beautiful, but how do you think that stands up to spit up and sticky toddler hands? Any thoughts? Will keep you posted on my thoughts and if I actually splurge on nice yarn and spend time on something for ME.

In non-knitting news, I have a lot of loveys to make as there are lots of babies either just born or on their way. I just found this absolutely adorable fabric which I'm going to use for my new niece on the way. I had a different one started, but this fabric is just too perfect to resist. Don't you just love it?



Well, that's all for my crafty ramblings. I'll end this post with a random Pepper photo. Here she is hanging out at the base of N's high chair. She loves meal time as he's decided he loves to feed her. It's a happy relationship between a boy and his dog.