A New Sweater

As if this little girl didn't already have enough hand knit sweaters, right?!

But, for Christmas,  we had to make something special.  This pattern was completely dreamed up in my head and it was fun to see it 'come to life' over the holidays.  It was a little complicated with all the colorwork and sizing- so things may have been "fudged" a bit, but it came together.  For that reason, I wouldn't count on a pattern coming out of this- my notes are mere scribbles, and my charts are hand drawn with multiple dark lines being drawn through.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to post. When I take a break, it's always hard to come back.  I feel I owe some sort of apology or really impressive post, but then I realize I just need to start up to get the ball rolling.  The holidays were grand, complete with much time visiting family and friends.

Unfortunately, Joe and I started 2012 off on the wrong foot, with a dreadful case of (what we believe to be) food poisoning.  I'm really not sure how we would have gotten through that situation without family nearby, but we have pulled through and finally seem to be on the other side of it.

I hope your holidays were wonderful and that you are now enjoying some selfish knitting- it is time for that, right?!

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Elise's 2nd Christmas Stocking

By the title of this post, you may have believed that I am some sort of super mom that knits a different stocking for her child each Christmas.  But, the sad reality is that Elise didn't have a stocking for her first Christmas.  Oh well, you can't win them all- better late than never, right?

As mentioned before, I loved the idea of incorporating the motif from Elise's first Christmas outfit into her stocking.    Since I never found an exact stocking I wanted to make, this was the perfect solution. After I originally posted about possible stocking options, I did stumble upon another great stocking.  Enter the Falling Snow Stocking by Jennifer Hoel.

Turns out,

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I used elements from the Falling Snow Stocking, along with inspiration from her 1st Christmas sweater dress to create a stocking that will (hopefully) be with her for a lifetime.

It's a bit more flashy than our stockings, but that's ok.  I figure they don't have to match.  And, when we have more to add, we can have a whole eclectic collection of handknit stockings.

Yarn:  Cascade 220, Cream and Red (about .7 skeins of each)

Raveled: here

I have some big news that I am *SO* excited to share with you- stay tuned later this week.

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Uncertainty

I'm still not 100% sure of what this stocking will look like in the end, but I have cast on and started working.   I'm thinking of just doing the stocking in red and white and leaving out the blues.  Here's a reminder of what Joe and my stockings look like (just scroll down to the last picture)- I think it will blend nicely with just the two colors. 

I am incorporating the motif from her 1st Christmas dress, thank you so much for the idea!

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Stocking Stuck

Now that the big birthday celebration is over, I can move on to my next knitting event: Christmas.  More specifically, Elise's Christmas stocking.  Yes, I know, she was around last Christmas, but I didn't have time to whip up a stocking- at least she had a cute Christmas outfit- remember?

Knowing that Elise will (probably) be awake this year to open presents, I figure I need to jump on a stocking for her.  The problem?  I can't find the perfect pattern.  The solution?  You, of course.

So far, I do have a few stockings favorited on Ravelry, so here's a little roundup:

1:                                                 2:

 

3:

4:

5:                                                      6:

7:                                                  8:                                                  

9:

10:                                                 11:

(all these stockings can be found in my Ravelry favorites, tagged 'stocking')

And this is the planned on color scheme:

Or this:

The dark blues are more different than they look.  The first is hand dyed yarn, the second is a heather blue with a little more green in it. 

So- what do you think ?  I'm looking for opinions, but also suggestions.  Like I said, I'm not really set on anything and if there's some amazing secret pattern out there I would love to see it.

The Best Christmas Outfit Ever

Seriously- have you EVER seen a cuter Christmas oufit?  

I think not. 

If only I had the time to whip up something so nice for myself... maybe next year :)

This dress started as this pattern by Dale of Norway. 

After I got past the motif, I decided I needed to make the outfit a little more girly (Elise gets a little offended when people think she's a boy).  The solution was to stop knitting.  The body suit then became a little dress to wear with leggings- but I knew something was missing.  Enter the greatest little booties ever made (ok... so I'm a bit biased, but I love them!). 

A couple days before Christmas I spent some time scouring Ravelry for a basic bootie pattern I could embellish.  I knew what I wanted the end result to look like- I just wanted a little bit of help getting there. I stumbled across Christine's Baby Booties and knew they would fit the bill.  I mimicked the motif of the sweater dress, added length to make them more like a winter boot, and pom-pom ties to top them off. 

Since I wanted a washable outfit (I wanted to make sure she got a chance to wear this a few times over the holidays), the yarn I chose was Cascade Heritage Solids and Quatro Colors. 

The needles?  Yup- size 0 and 1.5 (US)

The Patterns?  Body Voss and Christine's Baby Booties

Raveled?  here and here

Hope you had a very merry Christmas!

Deck the Halls...

...with boughs of yarn!  Although Christmas decorating has been slightly neglected in our household this year, I have had visions of how I would like to decorate my craft room for the holidays in the future.

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This picture popped up on Apartment Therapy last week and made me want to go around searching for stray buttons and remnants of pale-colored yarns.  How great would a couple of these look on my worktop?

This felt wreath by Pickles would be perfect on the doorwall by my workspace.  Have you been over to Pickles website/blog?  I am constantly inspired by all of their knitting patterns.  They just came out with a new book which I'm hoping will eventually be in english...please!?

Finally, I would have a tree adorned with all sorts of yarny goodness.  Charlene (aka Keppygirl ...you may remember her felted bags I posted about before) is a friend from Ravelry who submitted this quick ornament project. 

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All That Glitters…

No, that aren’t gold, but they are fast and simple to make.  Just what the fiber lover needs to help celebrate the holidays.



Yarn Ball Christmas Ornaments

Materials Needed:

Styrofoam™ balls – 3”, 2 ½”, or 2”

Yarn – color of your choice, I used an acrylic worsted weight yarn

Metal Ornament Hooks Glitter – color of your choice

Spray Adhesive – Krylon All Purpose 7010

Glitter – color of your choice



Using your choice of 3 inch, 2 ½ inch or 2 inch Styrofoam™ balls, wrap with the yarn of your choice.  I used an inexpensive acrylic yarn.

Wrap with layers of yarn until the Styrofoam™ no longer shows. Tuck the end of the cut yarn under the wraps.  Use a pliable lightweight metal ornament hooks, reshape the ornament hooks into a “U” shape.  Cut a 6 to 8 inch length of yarn and tie the ends together forming a loop.  Tuck the knot under one of the wraps on the yarn ball and insert the reshaped ornament hook into the Styrofoam™ ball so that it straddles the loop of yarn.  Push the ornament hook all the way down into the Styrofoam™ ball.

Then apply spray adhesive evenly, but lightly over the surface of the yarn covered ball.  I prefer the Krylon™ brand all purpose 7010 spray adhesive.  Note: it is important to spray outdoors or in a well ventilated area.  Also be certain to protect the table top or area you are working in for overspray.

Have a fresh sheet of newspaper under your work to catch the glitter that doesn’t stick to the yarn ball.  Then lightly shake your choice of glitter over the yarn covered ball.  Hang to dry.

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Besides this super easy project (talk about stash busting!), I would also adorn my yarny tree with all sorts of knitted ornaments.  I will make this a long term goal- maybe a couple new knitted ornaments a year- here are some of my favorites:

These ornaments come as a kit from Knit Picks.  For 19.99 you get 9 skeins of Palette yarn, plus the patterns for all of the ornaments.  I love the little sweaters, but my favorite part of this kit may be the felted string of lights.

Mini Christmas Stocking Ornament is a free pattern on Ravelry and has been a long time favorite of mine.  Not only would these look great on my craft room tree, but I think they would make a great quick gift if you needed something in a pinch.

Again from Knit Picks is this free pattern for a knitted advent calendar. Fill each of the 24 mittens with a little something special as you countdown to Christmas- what a great idea!

Finally, I love these cabled ornaments from Kalamazoo Knits.  Deck the Balls with Aran is a pattern from Kelly Jensen and is available in her Etsy shop.

So although I am not taking the time to whip up any knitted holiday cheer, I figured I could at least document some of my favorites so I have them saved for the future.  For now I am still busy working on Elise's holiday outfit which I am making a ton of modifications to.  The original pattern was seeming a bit too boyish so I decided to change it up. I have a vision for some super cute booties to go along with the outfit- only a few days left! 

Christmas Knitting

Christmas is typically a very busy time for people.  We all just try to keep our sanity while tackling each task on our ever-growing to-do lists.  This Christmas is shaping up to look quite a bit different for us. With a new baby in the house, we haven't really gone out of our way to decorate a tree and put up a ton of Christmas decor- our priorities have shifted a bit this season.  I have to say, right now I'm really loving the change of pace.  My days have been looking a lot like this lately:

Despite me neglecting 'normal' Christmas traditions, there is one seasonal pastime that seems to be creeping back into my life.  That's right, it started with a worsted weight diaper cover last week, and was followed up by a super bulky (yet super tiny) earflap hat the next night (pictures to follow- have to get the right lighting/cooperative baby).  From those super quick projects I decided it was time to move on to something a little more serious- enter size 0 and 1.5 needles:

Seriously- what was I thinking?  How many days left until Christmas???

Holiday Highlights

Since I left for over a week, I feel that it's only fair to catch you up on what has been filling my schedule. Here are some of my favorite moments from my week off:

Christmas Eve night spent quietly at home.

The Gosselin girl's design summit '09. Yes, my maiden name is Gosselin, and no, I don't know Jon, Kate, or any of the 8! My sisters, Mother and I went through knitting patterns, color books, and clothing catalogs to get design ideas for knitwear. We didn't accomplish all that much, but it was still a lot of fun!

'Big kid' sleep over complete with Pizza, strawberry milk, and the Princess Bride.




Best friends(who live over 1000 miles away from each other) with matching hats and mittens (crocheted by my Mother-in-Law).



The simple pleasure of playing in a big box.






Having my whole family together (I wish it could happen more often):
I did take a break from all the slipper making and managed to complete a pair of mittens for myself. I almost forgot how much I love knitting for fun! I have already been wearing them all over town...pictures tomorrow!

All is Calm...

I know many of you are wondering what happened with the giant beast of a tree that was trying to consume our living room. Well, the beast lives. It lives, but was tamed.

What was once this:



Is now this:



And the fact that I am officially 'ready to roll' a day and a half before Christmas is a Christmas miracle in itself.

'Twas the Fight Before Christmas...

I really wanted to get a tree up, but it in the past few weeks, it has been more than challenging to find a couple free hours to go and get one. So there we were, less than a week before Christmas... I just told Joe to grab one on his way home from work.


Last night it made it into the house.


I think its too big....


Joe thinks it's "awesome"....

Opinions?