Filed under: knitting, photography by ramune

Thieves Like Us – Marie Marie

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What better time to knit a really warm baby alpaca/silk sweater than during the warmest winter of my life? I started this sweater way back in August and after putting it aside a number of times throughout the autumn and winter, it is finally finished . . . just in time to be put away until next winter.

Backstory: This pattern comes from a Debbie Bliss book I bought in Seattle a couple years back. It was a memorable purchase because my mother, sister and I happened upon this yarn store where Debbie Bliss was visiting from the UK, showing her new pattern books and yarns. I am by no means a knitting expert and don’t know all of the names in the knitting world, but I do know Debbie Bliss. I almost always look at her yarns first when starting a project and have bought several books of hers, so this was pretty exciting, especially since we had no idea she was going to be there.

Filed under: gift, knitting by ramune

Matthew Dear – Monkey

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Having pregnant friends means knitting tiny little things like baby hats . . . baby hats you secretly want to knit into full human sized hats for yourself. I found this pattern on ravelry.com and am pretty happy with how it turned out, I just hope it fits the little nugget. I might work on converting the pattern into something a little less childish that will fit on my head (perhaps without the neck strap).

Filed under: favorites, knitting, music, photography, self-portrait by ramune

Me, Shawl by Siga R., Hat by Vasare R.

Cold and Colder seems to be the theme as of late. It has been cold outside (and still no snow), I am cold inside and I have been listening to Colder . . . a lot. So today I bring you a self-portrait in my favorite cold weather bundle up gear and a song.

Let’s start with the song: “Wrong Baby” by Colder.
This is one of my favorite Colder songs and has been stuck in my head for a while now. It suits my mood lately and is off the album called Heat (yes please). If you are going to watch the video I recommend listening to the song first. The video is great if you want to see Marc’s sweet French dance moves, but his voice is not quite as good as on the album.

Now back to my project. Since it’s been so cold lately, I have been wrapping myself up in a fantastic shawl my mother knit for me. It’s a whoppin’ 7.5′ x 2′ and is super cozy (my sister has one as well). Along with the shawl I am wearing a hat my sister made when we had our wee business (Pilkasiulas).

Stay warm and drink hot cocoa!

Filed under: gift, knitting, photography by ramune

Patrick wearing the scarf I knit him (backwards, but that’s ok)

My friends Lilly and Brandy hosted a Christmas dinner/gift exchange at their house this past weekend. The food was delicious, the Eggnog dangerously tasty (I might have been 12 when I last tried Eggnog) and I was strangely too full for the large quantities of dessert (my second dessert stomach seriously let me down). After dessert we exchanged Secret Santa gifts. I was Patrick’s Secret Santa and knit him a scarf made from Peruvian Highland Wool. When I was at the yarn store it took me a good 10 minutes to decide which colors to get, they were all really lovely. I might have to go back and buy the other colors for another project.

Filed under: favorites, knitting, self-portrait by ramune

My first pattern! Knit gauntlets

Years ago my sister gave me a lovely pair of gauntlets for Christmas. They were fantastic in every way . . . and then I lost one. The following year she gave me a new pair of gauntlets by the same designer and again, they were fantastic in every way . . . and then I lost one.

This year I decided to “throw down the gauntlet” and knit myself a pair. I looked online for a pattern but didn’t find anything I was particularly excited about. Either they looked way too complicated for a first try or they looked boring. I decided to go through some stitch pattern ideas to see what I could work into a gauntlet pattern (no, not the Medieval pieces of armor) . The chevron pattern jumped out at me as a good first simple/interesting design. The yarn is super comfy/warm/soft and I can’t wait to put them to use! I also look forward to making other gauntlets with different knit patterns.

Silly attempt at modeling my new gauntlets

Filed under: baby, favorites, friends, gift, knitting by ramune

Zarina and the baby blanket I knit (covering her very pregnant belly)

As I had mentioned before I had a few project that were a little more time consuming than the rest. Finally I can post this one because I just went to my friend Zarina’s baby shower this weekend.

Zarina and I have been friends since 4th grade and she is my first friend (my age) to have a baby, so I was pretty excited and wanted to knit a few things for the little nugget. I started off with two super soft wool winter hats (that should look different on a baby’s head than they do on a mini pumpkin) and then moved onto a slightly more complicated wavy baby blanket.

Below are a few photos of the items and a couple more are on my Flickr site.

Hat #1 keeping a pumpkin warm

Hat #2 keeping a pumpkin warm

Detail of the baby blanket