Crocheted Stacking Toy

I made this toy for our new baby, it was a lot of fun to put together and use the various crocheting skills I just learned and put them to use. It was particularly fun when you start to put in all the little details and it really comes to life. Even my older kids like to play around with it. I didn't stick with the yarn colors, but rather just went with whatever I had that was close and I felt would work. The pattern is available here

Crocheted Ladybug

So now that I made this doll for my daughter, of course my son needed something as well, and since he loves bugs, I made him this cute little ladybug. A quick little project you can find here.

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Doll

My daughter is really into Nightmare Before Christmas right now, and wants to be Sally for Halloween (guess I need to figure out how to use that sewing machine I got 3 years ago) however I did find this cool pattern for a crocheted Sally doll, the colors are different, but you can tell she was going for a Sally doll, she even refers to her by name in the pattern but I think she was trying to avoid copyright issues. Either way, I have modified the suggested yarn colors and I also ended up doing the project in a much larger size crochet needle than the pattern called for. Being my first attempt at crocheting ever, it made it easier for me. I ended up using a size 8 5.00 mm needle instead of the 2.5mm called in the pattern linked below. My daughter really liked the doll and it was a fun way to start into the world of crochet. I found it useful for doing little craft animals and dolls, and quicker than knitting, also nice just having to deal with the one hook and the chance of dropping or losing stitches is much less. However, I don't find it as good for clothes or such, as it makes it quite tight and not very soft or flexible for blankets/clothes/ etc.

You can find the pattern for the doll here

Knitted Girls' Jacket with Small Cable

So once I had finished my jacket (see previous post), my 5 year old daughter asked me to make her a jacket too, so we went and picked out colors and a style and I came up with this jacket. Once again based off an existing jacket pattern, this time I went back to my Debbie Bliss Baby Knits book, and made the Zipped Jacket with Contrasting Edges and went with a simple infinity symbol and kept it going along the length of both sides of the zipper, from the Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold that I had used for my jacket. Since then, this jacket has seen quite a bit of use and multiple washings, a great success!

Knitted Jacket with Celtic Cable Pattern

This jacket is a combination of two different patterns, I used a hooded zip cardigan pattern from Vogue Knitting's Very Easy Knits book as my base and then I used a pattern from Viking Patterns for Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold, in which she called it Narrow Panel with Little Lattice for the cables flanking the cardigan on both sides of the zipper, it also has a large hood that is not show in the picture. 

I had been working on this project when I was pregnant with my son, and then put it aside for a long time after he was born, and had stepped away from any knitting projects. I was almost afraid to go back to it, as I wasn't sure exactly where I was, and if I could even pick up the complex cable pattern in the right place, but then I finally faced my fears, delved back in and finished the jacket and was back on the horse.

Knitted Stuffed Duck

I knitted this Mallard Duck for my Father-in-Law several years ago for his affinity for ducks, I got the pattern out of World of Knitted Toys by Kath Dalmeny, a really good resource for all types of animals and dolls, all in knitting. (I have found recently, that there is a much larger amount of crochet patterns for toys than there are knitting patterns, that also seem to gather together faster, but knitting is still my first love.. some crocheting to come.)

Eeyore Stuffed Animal

My kids love all things Winnie the Pooh, and when my daughter found this donkey knitting pattern in my Debbie Bliss Toy Knits book that has a very strikingly resemblance to Eeyore, she begged me to make it for her. I added the pink ribbon to the tail, and there it was!

Alphabet Blanket

Also when my little man was coming, I went for a rather ambitious project, which was this alphabet blanket, all knitted in one piece with a series of YO's to make the separation of blocks and the formation of the letters. The triangle border is dealt by picking up stitches at the end and knitting the triangles. I also got this pattern from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits Book, called Alphabet Blanket.

Striped Sweater for my little man

I knitted this sweater a while back for my little man when he was around 1 1/2, I based it off a pattern in Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits book, called aptly Striped Sweater, however in the pattern it had rolled sleeves and neckband and I just kept it as a simple collar and sleeves that tapered in a little. I also made my stripes even instead of some large and some thin stripes.

A variety of hats knitted last winter

I had done a variety of hats last winter for the family, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves for myself. The first one was a watch cap that I did for my husband, I knitted it with a extra thick yarn, and so it came out much larger than the pattern I used, however, that was my intent. It made it very warm and comfortable for my husband. I used this pattern on Ravelry called the Marsan Watchcap, but with a larger yarn and larger needles, the pattern called for a 7 and I used an US 8. Marsan Cap pattern

I also did the "Boyfriend Hat" but knitted it smaller so it would fit my 3 year old son. It actually fits me as well, because of how it stretches, it either has a more close together rib on his head or a farther apart rib on an adult's head, as well as it just covers the top of my ears, to where it encompasses his entire ears when he is wearing it. I found this pattern on Stephanie Likes to Knit's blog here.

So, of course then my 5 year old daughter wanted me to knit her a hat too, with some nice italian wool yarn we had just picked up at a little niche knitting shop up in the mountains, so I went with this cute little cable hat. The pattern is here. After all that knitting, I realized that I hadn't knitted myself a hat yet! I also was dropping off my daughter at Kindergarten every morning and hanging out in the playground before school and finding it quite cold, so I made myself a pair of fingerless gloves as well, so I could still drive and pick up things but keep the chill down. I went with this Chicabean hat and some fingerless gloves with a twist, both fun little cables and twists. The Chicabean pattern is here and the fingerless glove pattern is here.

New Baby Clothes for Newborn and 3-6 months

So I have also been busy making some clothes for our upcoming baby girl. Since they grow so fast, I made a newborn hat and booties, but also made a hat and jacket for when she gets a little bit older, 3-6 months.

The first one is a little pumpkin hat and booties, which I am sure she will wear for maybe 10 minutes before she grows out of it, but it is a pretty quick knit and it is offered in a variety of sizes. I went with yellow and white, cause I just happened to have it on hand, but you can make it orange and green to look just like a pumpkin or even pink like the example in the pattern that you can find here

I also was looking for a cute little hat, a little different than the normal baby hat, with a little flair to it and found this cute little one with the knitted flower. And then I used another pattern for a matching cardigan with the same colors I used for the hat. The pattern for the hat, you can find here and the cardigan was taken from this pattern here.

Bunny Blanket and Sock Bunny

I have knitted these two creations for our new arrival as well, the first one is a knitted bunny that is knitted up in almost one piece, kind of like a sock (the arms, ears and tail are knitted and sewn separately, but the legs, body, neck and head are all one piece.) The pattern was from Lion Brand Yarn, linked here

I also did this little bunny blanket which is about the size of  large washcloth with a bunny head and arms, for the little one to hold and chew on. It comes together very fast and is almost all in one piece with very simple stitches. A great beginner's project.

This one is also from Lion Brand, linked  here. They suggested a velvetspun yarn, but I just used a cotton yarn and came out very nice and soft.

New Feather and Fan Baby Blanket

Here is a blanket that I have made for our upcoming addition to our family, using the feather and fan pattern. The awesome thing about this blanket, is that it looks really complex, but it just one row of k2togs and YOs and then just regular knits and purls. So it comes together rather quickly.

Here is the link of how to make this pattern to whatever size you would like, any 4 ply yarn would do, I used a size 8 circular needle, but gauge isn't too important, just adjust it to the size and desire you want to achieve.

Feather and Fan Pattern

My New Knitting and Crocheting Blog

I started a knitting website back in 2001, I put on a bunch of projects and links and never went and updated it. Since then, I have done a lot and never really went to redo or update the site. So in this day of blogging popularity and ease, I decided to just start a blog for my knitting and crocheting projects. You can see my old site at http://www.inmypajamas.com.