Tired... zzzzzzzzz...

Phew, I'm tired today! The cooler weather has relented and its back to the upper 70s (sigh). At least I got to wear my mitts for a day. I finished a new pair of longies for Little Bit using the leftovers from Kate... love them. Those colors are rockin'! No pics yet because LB is taking wearing them now, but she taking a nap (yeah!).

I'm also designing a longies pattern that involves all-over ribbing. I'm going to see how the ribbing works re: fit, then I'll spice it up with some cables. I think its safe to say I'm a cable-a-holic. I also need to do some repair work on her Picky Pants Plus (ravelry link), my increases at the gusset have become rather holey and stretched out, so now we get leaks. Its time to learn duplicate stitch I think.

While I'm thinking about it, any ideas on how to do an increase without getting a hole? I've tried kf&b and m1, but I'm still getting holes. I also tried not stacking the increases, but that just made the gusset area messy looking.

Well, I'm back to working on gift knitting... 3 down, 13 to go... plenty of time, right?

FO: Kate

Pattern: Kate, from knitty
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted. I used the yarn recommended in the pattern, right down to the colors. I liked the way she looked, and I didn't want to mess it up.
Needles: I used two circulars for the body, and dpns for the legs and ears.
Mods: Instead of the recommended dpns, I used the two circular method, mostly because I thought that I could avoid laddering at the needle joints. Well, laddering still happened, and I found it fairly difficult to get the tension right with the two circulars. So, I went back to dpns for the rest of her and loved it. I guess I'm a dpn kind of gal. I also decided to not add any face decoration. I'm afraid that anything I'll add will look frankenstein-y. Best not to mess with a good blank slate.



Overall, I loved this pattern. It was easy to follow, the colors are great, the yarn is nice and much loved by my little one. We are so happy to have this rockin' kitty join our toy collection.

Still no kate?

Sadly, tis true... I've just now finished the stuffing part. I'm needing to take a pause and step back for a bit... I want to make sure my stuffing job is going to be good enough to live with it. After all, I am giving this to my daughter, so I'm sure I'll have to look at it often and I don't think I can bear something I'm not perfectly happy with.

I'm a few rounds below where I have to add eyes and the nose/mouth issue. Never having done any embroidery I'm understandably nervous about it. I have a general idea of what I'm going to do, but we'll have to see. Anybody have any suggestions for a newbie? (if anyone is reading this :)

I'd post pics but we're under a serious, rainy cloud cover - until Friday!! Yeah for rain, boo for poor lighting. but my garden is loving it. When we get some good sun, I'll have to take some pics... the colors are amazing :) Maybe I'll apply some color impulsing like Ruth (although I can only hope to get as accomplished as she is someday).

Well, the little one is calling for me. Must run!

Kate and I

So, the yarn is growing on me. I really am liking the softness as well as how well you can see the stitches. I am now about halfway done with the body (and have completed two whole color changes!) and am just loving this pattern! It knits up quickly, and the instructions for a jogless color change are very easy to follow. She is going to be much bigger than I'd imagined, but will be oh so cute with a growing girl :) Using the two circulars is quite easy; I'm really glad I decided to try that route, DPNs make me crazy.

Oh, I have to add that this pattern is

A little something for the seasoned knitter.
Daring but not exhausting.
Previously, I've only done things up to tangy :) Yeah for upping the ante!

If all goes well, I will hopefully have a finished toy to show you.

Happy Friday!

Kate updates

As promised, here is a pic of my latest project. :) I'm halfway through round 10 and I only had to cast on once. I tend to cast on too tightly, and I just wasn't able to wiggle the needles through after my first round of increases. Not to worry, I cast on again, and it was even better.

The jury is out as to whether I like this yarn or not. I find it rather splitty and it seems to lose its twistyness as I knit. I don't know whether that's the yarn or my knitting, but that's how it is. I'm hoping to have enough left over to do a few diaper covers for the wee one, or maybe even a wrist warmer or two :)

Isabella is still steadily being worked on. I finished with the first ball and am rolling my second. I've got a few inches to add and then I'm on to the shaping of the back. Yeah for progress!

Enjoy spring!

Kate: the cat with britches

So, I got my yarn in today for Kate, the cat with britches, my first knitted toy for my little girl. I got the yarn from Flying Fingers, as they had the colors I wanted. The service was quite fast and the prices reasonable, so I will be patronizing them again :)

The details:

1 skein each of Lamb's Pride Worsted in M-181 Prairie Fire, M-14 Sunburst Gold, and M-105 RPM Pink. I will be attempting to use two circular needles size 8 to do this (as I'm not a big fan of DPNs - too much to hang on to), but I've got the necessary DPN's just in case it doesn't work. I'll be casting on just as soon as I get off work, which is in about 3 minutes :D I'd post pics of the yarn, but we're under a tornado watch and the light is bad (what with the green cast and all).

Hopefully, I'll have a toy to show off soon.