Knitting Sandwich

passing on the love

One of the things that makes knitting/crocheting especially fulfilling is to know that these wooly creations can potentially be cherished over many years, kids and even generations.  Mateo, being a winter baby, got to relish in many of the knitted sweaters my my Portuguese grandma made for me.  And now it's lots of fun to see both brothers getting use out of the hand-knits they were gifted.  

Both boys enjoyed this adorable crocheted hat from Auntie Melissa. (pictured in sweaters from great-grandma & mama, respectively). 

Johan also got to enjoy this sweet aviator hat the lovely Anna made for Mateo.

He is currently obsessed with the gnomes Auntie Lindsey made for Mateo. 

And, I have to admit I'm especially thrilled that Johan can just fit into this vintage snowflake coat at the moment. I actually bought this yarn and pattern in Brooklyn many years ago after seeing a sample hanging in my lys of this gorgeous vintage coat pattern.  In all honesty I remember wanting to make it for baby Sabrina but, realizing she'd never get to wear it in Texas, I just hung onto the pattern and yarn long enough to make it for Mateo many years later.  Sadly though I guess I hung onto it a little too long because by the time I finished it was already a bit too small for Mateo.  I added some rows to the hood and arms but it was still a bit too snug.  

It was more than a bit of a challenge to decipher this (extremely minimal) vintage pattern but so worth it, I humbly admit it's one of my favorite things I've ever knit. All the better it gets to be passed on! 

Have you been lucky enough to see any of your knitted/crocheted creations be passed on? 

-claire

 

patience is a virtue...

looking at the time stamp on this photo i see that i put the last square of my 2015 weather blanket in on january 20th.

and as much as thora enjoyed playing with the little fringes along the edge of the blanket...

 i got started right away on the border.  i had a plan and a vision in my head, all i didn't have was a concept of how much yarn was going to be needed to get around the entire perimeter of the blanket.

 so yes, you guessed it, i ran out of yarn.  again.  for real.

 and this time the yarn i need is backordered until feb 20th.  so weather blanket is on hold.  again.  but that's okay, i have other things i need to work on, the deadline for my knitnight group's 3rd annual swap is fast approaching and i need to finish the (currently top secret) project i'm working on for that.  plus it's february, so i have a february square to make, and a friend who just had a baby... so lots of knitting to be done while i wait for what i hope will be my last order (please, please let it be my last order) of yarn for this project!

-melissa

Quilt catch up

I realized I missed a few updates.  

This is a quilt I made last fall for my mom's birthday.

She selected the color scheme; I love it!

And here is one I gave a baby who is almost 2 now.

Talk about a belated post!

-Lindsey

weather blanket update- german edition

I don't think I've checked in with my weather blanket since way back in May (sorry), so I thought it was about time for me to do so too, lest you think I've abandoned it.  Though I still have a long way to go, I have to say I'm farther than I expected myself to be! I got through mid-November done before running out of white yarn (ack!).  

Thankfully, the first snuggle tests have been met by a seal of approval. 

e

Though Johan is just as horrified as mama by all those ends...

It pays to be clever like Melissa and weave as you go.  I'd better get busy! 

-claire

weather blanket update

when last we checked in with my 2015 weather blanket, i was almost done with september, waiting for more yarn to arrive to continue work.   well that yarn arrived and i took the blanket with me on our 15 hour drive to tennessee to see brian's family for christmas.  i made it until mid-november before... you guessed it... running out of yarn again!  this time it was a different color, but none the less frustrating.  more yarn was ordered (not taking any more chances i ordered a skein of anything that looked remotely low!) and this is how the blanket looked while we awaited the second arrival of yarn:

 it's exciting to see 10 1/2 months laid out like that!  and i'll let you know that thora and i have used the blanket a couple of times when we were in a pinch...

 its snuggle-ability has been fully tested and it works great already!  

the rest of the needed yarn arrived earlier this week and now i am ready to get to work and finish this blanket!

 -melissa

squares of joy - january edition

it's been a good five months since i've made a square of the month block... coincidence that thora is also 5mo old?  i think not!  

 i'm back on the bandwagon now though!  

three finished squares!  ooooh that meeting up of the mitered square corners has me so excited for next month!

 all those right angles coming together in perfect garter stitch glory!  it's like a neurotic crafting dream come true!

-melissa

christmas morning(ish)

Hello all and happy 2016!  I hope you had a warm holiday and your new year is off to a wonderfully peaceful and inspired start.  We were lucky enough to spend about five weeks in the US with my parents and we packed in a whole slew of holidays while we were there- my birthday, Johan's baptism, Thanksgiving, Mateo's 3rd (!) birthday and Christmas.  Needless to say, our suitcases were especially full on the way home. One of the highlights of the holiday for me was that with papa, grandma and grandpa all around it was possible for mama to dust off her knitting needles and finally crank out a few Christmas knits.  Unthinkable! 

For years I've been looking forward to the day I could make a Sheldon, and so of course I jumped at the chance when Mateo said he wanted a snuggle turtle for Christmas.  

And then I made Johan this little guy from leftover yarns from his newborn sweaters (yummy Malabrigo sock). 

My crowning achievement  was supposed  to be these Christmas morning vests (ala Molly Weasley) that the kids would appropriately wear on Christmas morning.  After knitting like the wind in every second I could, I found myself at 11:15pm Christmas Eve with two finished vests but forced to admit I could never get the duplicate stitching of the initials done in time.  Oh it hurt to get so close and have to surrender.  

So instead, we celebrated happy January 6th morning!

I ran into all sorts of roadblocks with these guys- biggest one was that I ran out of yarn (Berroco Vintage) once I got to the edging and after driving all the way to the not-so-local yarn store, found that they were out of it.  So I ended up doing the edging and letters in a darker grey but I think it worked out okay after all.  

A happy 2016 to you all!  I've missed you and hope that I can be around a lot more this year. 

-claire

baby knows best

while in tennessee for christmas i finished the zen circle i was making for bundles of joy with the leftovers from rachel's log cabin blanket.

 while i was taking photos yesterday i thought to myself, "wait!  i have a baby!"  said baby had just woken up from her nap and was promptly placed upon the blanket.

 she wasn't quite sure this was what she wanted to be doing...

 she rolled over and decided, nope.  this was definitely not what she wanted to be doing!  so i scooped up the baby and we went back to photographs sans model...

 because around these parts, baby is the boss!

 -melissa

A few little things for my favorite little people

These babies are just the sweetest of peas!!

(Sweet pea burp cloth)

Such happiness!

They are rocking the Mason Dixon bibs.

I love this pattern and these people so much!

-Lindsey 

yarn along 12.16.15

joining with ginny at small things for this week's yarn along:

 reading: lily and i are on to book two of the redwall series, mossflower by brian jacques.   they're still sweet books, fun little adventures...  i think i like this one better than the first, but i'll wait until we're finished to render final judgement.  we're close... just a few more chapters.  we read a little bit each night before lily goes to bed.

crocheting: i'm making a zen circle blanket for bundles of joy.  i love this pattern for when i'm just wanting to enjoy crocheting and not have to think very hard, just zone out and crochet.  all it is is a giant flat circle from the tutorial by lucy of attic24.  

as you can see i'm not really challenging myself in either category right now.  but with a four month old baby somedays all the challenge i can handle is getting us both dressed in time to pick lily up from school!  so we're taking things nice and easy for now.  

now it's your turn - what are y'all reading and knitting/crocheting right now?

-melissa