That's my boy!

Hmm, what's this?

New toy! Thanks Mom!


(Before any of you Knitters have a heart attack, let me point out that it's Cotton Fleece, from the sale bin. This would not be happening with my Brooks Farm stash.)

Hat!

Julian in his new blue hat, made from scraps of Rowan Cashsoft Aran, my own pattern. (76 sts on a 16" #7 circ.) It's a little bit big, so it's perfect for him to grow into this winter!

Ravelry countdown is at 94...

Oh for cute

Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple baby top-down raglan. I knit the largest size on #7 needles to make up for using DK weight yarn instead of the worsted-weight the pattern calls for. Rolled collar, ribbed cuffs and hem. I bound off the edges with a #9 for extra stretch.

Yarn: Less than 2 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in color Wild Sage.

Verdict: Speaks for itself, doesn't it? I need to make more of these. Top-down construction lends itself well to stripes, and I have a fair amount of Cotton Fleece to use up. (This would also be fantastic in aran-weight cashmerino.) Only problem is that this size fits him perfectly, so I may have to add a few stitches in the front and back and a few more rows on the sleeves and hem in order to get something that will fit him next month.

Socktober!

Happy Socktober! I hereby resolve to finish at least one of my three pairs of socks-in-progress by the end of the month. In fact, yesterday I picked up the Rock & Weave socks and figured out how to fix them, which merely involves ripping back one finished toe and reknitting both, so I'm hopeful that those will be done soon. Then it's on to the Pink Socks, the first of which is at the heel, and the Grape Koigu Upside-Down Monkey Socks, which are only a few inches long at the moment. (I started them about two weeks before giving birth, so I've been a little too distracted to memorize the pattern.)

Julian's sweater is nearly finished - I just have to weave in the ends and redo the bind-off on the cuffs a little more loosely. I tried it on him this morning and it is Beyond Cute, so there will be photos soon!

Baby knits

Julian has received some wonderful handmade gifts, and we wanted to show them off!

Gretchen made him an adorable vest, which fits perfectly and arrived just in time for the cooler weather.

Diane made the sweet bunny from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, which is a big hit now that he's old enough to grab things and chew on them; the bunny's ears are just the right size for his little hands.

And Emily made the Moderne Log Cabin blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which keeps him cozy for all his naps at home. Thank you all so much!

Sleeves

Yeah, I'm almost done with one sleeve on Bonny and it's pretty clear that the yarn I have will be inadequate. Bah. So the plan is to frog both sleeves and make them 3/4 length instead, which should do the trick, but I need to gather my strength before ripping out all those stitches. For now, I'm making Julian a top-down raglan pullover in green Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and it's a nice, easy, quick knit. After that I may make him a few more hats, as we had a cold snap yesterday and I realized that the hat I made him months ago now fits perfectly, which means it'll be too small in a few weeks. More little cashmerino hats, hooray!

In other news, I just read this review of Veronik Avery's new book, and now I must make this red fair-isle sweater-jacket thing. Love it. I might choose a darker crimson red instead of this more tomato-ish color, but first I have to get the book and find out what the yarn is.

I swatched the Brooks Farm Duet and it is, duh, totally the wrong gauge for the Hourglass sweater. So now I'm in the market for a nice simple classy pullover pattern in a DK kind of gauge. Where oh where is my Ravelry invite so I can go looking for such a thing?