Sara Basic Fingerless Mitts (WIP)

These fingerless gloves are more than half done. I was knitting and watching the kids, and I called Evelyn over for the this quick work-in-progress photo. She wants them for warming up at gymnastics, and she’s still excited to get them even though gymnastics are on hold now.

The pattern is Sara Basic Fingerless Mitts by Johanna Gistvik. The yarn is Space and Time by Waterloo Wools, who are sadly no longer in operation. I still had enough left in my stash from Evelyn’s cabled hat. That was 5 years ago now, and it still fits her well. It’s nice and stretchy. I’m also making these mitts just loose enough to last her for …forever 🙂

Teddy Bear in Sweater and Shorts

My son Henry turned 5 last month, and it was finally his turn to get an animal stuffie of his own. He was super excited to meet his teddy bear and new best friend, who he promptly name Ryan. He’s been carrying it around a lot, except for the times Ryan spends “hibernating” in Henry’s bed. They’ve even had a few play dates with Evelyn and Ellie 🙂

Of course I went back to Julie Williams (Little Cotton Rabbits) for the pattern: Bear Boy (Ravelry link). The main yarn for the bear’s fur is from Julie Asselin. It’s the “Brocade” colorway in the Nurtured line (a 2016 or so vintage, but similar to “Poèmes” I think). The others are all odds and ends I had in my stash — so I won’t go into detail there, even if I could 🙂  And wool roving was used for the stuffing again.

Happy finished object Friday! It’s been 2 years to the day since I posted my last finished object, Ellie the elephant. Literally no excuses for that. Isolating with my family at home reminded me to post this, which I had been meaning to do. I’ll put up photos of some other items I’ve finished in the last 2 years soon too. Cheers!

Elephant Doll in Purple Dress

The dress for the elephant doll was finished shortly after my last WIP post in the fall. But I’ve neglected the blog since then, with other busyness going on around here. So finally, here is a photo of the finished doll with her dress. My daughter has named her “Ellie” 🙂

Since it’s been a few months, I can also comment on the quality of the doll/project/yarn — The doll has held up super well so far to both of my kids playing with it, my 6 year old daughter and 3 year old son. Check my last post for a link to Julie Williams’ animal doll patterns — I can’t recommend them enough.

 

Elephant Doll with Dress (WIP Wed.)

pattern:

Girl Elephant in a Frondy Frock by Julie Williams

yarns:

• purple: a superwash merino DK, “boysenberry” from SweetGeorgia Yarns 
• cyan: Bayfield DK in “Wasaga Surf” from Georgian Bay Fibre Company
• gray: gossypium cotton in “Sea Fret” from erika knight

 

My daughter is very excited that her elephant doll is almost ready. There’s just a bit more work on the dress to finish up, and it should be a ‘finished object Friday’ post soon. Thanks to Julie Williams for this pattern — she has a great line of patterns, including other super cute animal dolls. Definitely take a look if you’re not familiar already!

I closely followed the pattern for the doll (especially the much appreciated tips on stuffing it properly). However I adapted the dress pattern a bit to make it double-sided. That means it’s a bit thicker now but also twice as fun!

My daughter picked the colours, which definitely remind me of the old CGA graphics on my first family computer when I was her age. That four-colour mode with cyan and magenta brings back memories…

Bandana Cowl in Spectrum

pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

yarn: Spectrum from Madeline Tosh

There’s nothing wrong with summer knitting, especially when getting an earlier start on winter items. Here’s my daughter’s new cowl/scarf. It’s part of her new, mature look for Grade 1. The Bandana Cowl is a cool “big girl” item that’s still fun.

 

Lark Rise Shawl – finished object Friday

Although I’ve been knitting for years (since ’09 or ’10) I had, until recently, yet to knit one traditional knitter’s project: a shawl. I made this one for my wife’s grandmother, and my lovely wife models it in the photos here. It seemed to knit up quickly considering the size; all the yarn-overs definitely helped.

It’s the Lark Rise Shawl by Sierra Morningstar. This one is made with Tosh Vintage in Flycatcher Blue. I’m not used to blocking large items like this, but I followed the pattern’s recommendations and proceeded carefully (as shown below). I think it turned out nicely.

Finished Object Friday: cute booties

You may notice I’ve shared other finished objects within the last week. I’ve been making up for many Fridays without posts. But now here’s a proper ‘Finished Object Friday’ post!

For these baby booties I slightly adapted pattern #1 from the Cascade 220 book, 60 Quick Baby Knits. That’s “Flower Stitch Booties” by Angela Juergens.

The yarn is the “Brocade” colour in Julie Asselin‘s “Nurtured” line. It’s 100% wool: Rambouillet, Targhee, and Merino. They’re a Canadian company, located in Coaticook, Quebec. So they’re local-ish for me here in Dundas, Ontario — Okay not local, but they are closer most of my other favourites. Full disclosure: I’m now a fan.

Spring Blue Bird

Here’s another knit toy. This blue bird was a present for my niece’s first birthday last fall. The pattern is Spring Robin (with different suggested colours, of course) by Sara Elizabeth Kellner.

Henry kid-tested this time to make sure it was good enough for his cousin. He approved 🙂

striped baby hat in blue and grey

This hat was made for a coworker’s baby. The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. Here’s the link. It’s somewhat similar to another pattern that I’ve used before — This one in pink, green, and pink again — but less-fitted at the top, a bit stretchier there. This one was knit in Tosh Vintage, like many of my recent projects. It’s the same grey used for the octopus and also a new Turn A Square hat for myself.

 

Small knit toys

These are a few small toys I knit last summer for two of my nieces and a nephew. The last photo shows my daughter kid-testing them in advance 🙂

Here are the pattern links:

• http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dutch-rabbits
• http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/octopus
• http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-girl-doll

These three projects helped use up some of my yarn odds and ends. Although I can say the octopus is two colours of Madeline Tosh Vintage. You may notice I tried something different from the pattern for the doll’s hair — more of a rag-doll look I thought. I also used ‘safety eyes’ purchased from the good people at 6060eyes.com, which I believe was recommended in the octopus pattern.