Marshall finished!

I finished Aaron's sweater.  I've never done saddle shoulders before, so the construction was a little different than what I am used to.  I like the contrasting shoulders.  That was actually the reason I made this sweater.  We had seen a sweater like it somewhere and he liked it, and I said, "I have one just like that bookmarked to make you already!" So he picked out the colors, and while it's not what I would have chosen personally, I like the end result.  It's hard to tell in this picture where the shoulders look brown, but it's actually this weird heathered mix of like purples and browns and blues and I don't even know what all.  It mixes up really nicely though.  It's Knit Picks Swish Worsted, and the color is Lava Heather. 

It ended up being a close call with yarn amounts for the black, but luckily I had an extra ball of that from another sweater.  I ran out of black on the collar which gets folded down, so I just used the heather yarn for the inner collar and you can't even see. 

Anyway, I love the fit of this sweater for him.  This is the fourth sweater I've made him.  First was The Manly Sweater from Stitch N Bitch, which was my first ever sweater, years and years ago, back when we were still just friends.  I have no idea what ever became of that, but needless to say it was not the best thing I've ever made, ha.  I have also made Leo twice, and he loves them.  However, the fit of Marshall is just terrific.  We are both so happy with how it came out.  It looks great, it fits great, yay.  This is my favorite sweater that I have made him.

 

The only minor complaint I have is that it is a bit of a bore to knit.  It's a lot of just slogging through K4, P1, especially on the body...17 inches of that and no variation.  The arms were a little more exciting because of increases, but I didn't really enjoy it until I joined the arms and body for the yoke.  It really started moving along then.  I used size 7 needles, I think, so I mean, it's still better than Leo which I knit on maybe 4's.  Other than that, very, very happy with this!

Hyena Cart

I've decided to switch my wool longies from my Etsy store to a new Hyena Cart store.  I have 4 pair for sale already pre-made, and there are custom slots available as well.  If you know any babies who need some wool longies, come and visit my store!

Slalom

I finished my Slalom socks.  I like them, although they are a bit short.  I followed the pattern and did 2 repeats of the leg chart before doing the arch increases, but if I made them again I would definitely do at least 3 repeats.  They are much shorter than I normally wear my socks.  This was an interesting pattern.  I liked the way the increases built in allowed the cables to continue down the back of the foot.  It was a new construction for me.  I had some issues with the heel on the first sock, but mainly due to inattention and then mounting frustration.  I redid it about 6 times, I think.  But really it was not difficult; it was just me.

I knit both socks at once, knitting the cuff of one and then the cuff of the other, one repeat of the leg chart on one and then one on the other, etc.  I think I'm just going to do socks this way anymore.  That's how I did the purple knee socks I made recently also, and it just seems to go more quickly.  Also when you get done with one, you're already almost done with the second and not starting over from scratch.  I'm not in love with making two toes in a row or two cuffs in a row or two heels in a row, but overall this works well. 

I also finally finished a Sockdown Challenge! Yay.  Maybe I will win some yarn.

I started a new pair last night, but I'm not sure how they're going to end up.  I'm using some solid purple and green leftovers to make a striped pair, my usual.  I did one toe so far.  I'm going to do a couple stripes on sock one to make sure I like the colors together before starting the second toe.

I'm also waiting on some yarn to arrive for a sweater for Aaron.  This is his Christmas present, although obviously it will be late.  I'm making Marshall.  I had it picked out for a while as one I would like to make him. The other day he was playing a game, and some of the characters had sweaters like that.  We both said we liked them, and then I showed him Marshall and offered to make that as his Christmas sweater.  He agreed and chose black and this weird heathery red/purple/blue color that I just cannot describe.  I will post pictures when it arrives.  Anyway, not the colors I would have chosen, but it's his sweater.  Hopefully that gets here soon, but in the meantime, I will work on the purple and green striped socks.

Christian's Billy

I ended up going with a size 4 for Christian's sweater.  I decided to use brown as a contrast color because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough orange, going with the bigger size.  I would have had just enough, as it turns out.  But I like the way the brown looks and it does tone down the orange, so it may not look as shocking with Christian's red hair.  (I still wouldn't have chosen orange for him, but whatever.)  I did all the buttons last night for all 3 sweaters too. Sid once again helped with photos (although started chewing buttons and got chased away).

The green and blue are supposedly the same size (24 m), although I added an inch of length to the blue; it actually looks closer to the orange (4 y) in size though, which I guess is good since I was afraid it would be too small on Michael.  My gauge must have been off on that one, but again, that's probably good.

Now back to my Slalom socks to hopefully finish by Dec 31 and enter the SKA Sockdown drawing and win something wonderful.  Or at least just have a lovely finished pair of socks.

Michael's Billy

I finished the second Billy last night.  This one is for Michael, second nephew.  He is 2, so I made the 24 month size.  But he is also tall, so I added an inch of length at the bottom.  Not to mention that for some reason my buttonholes didn't end up the same way on this as the first one (same size), so I needed to add a few rows to squeeze in another buttonhole.  I must have been knitting more loosely on this one, which I guess is good because there will be more room in the sweater for 2-1/2-year-old.  I think you can actually tell better on this one with the extra length that the back is longer due to short rows.  It wasn't as obvious on Holden's. 

Still needs buttons:

Helper!

I am debating what size to make Christian.  He is 3 currently, 4 in April, but is pretty tiny, so I think I will stick with the size 3 for him.  Holden isn't going to be 2 until April either, but I still made him the 24 month size since it's a short sleeved top and he may not need it until April anyway.  I made Michael, who was 2 in September, a 24 months also.  I really didn't think out the sizing very thoroughly, looking back now, haha. Hopefully everyone's sweater fits, and if not, they will grow into it.  Unless Michael's is too small, which hopefully it is not, because by the time it is time for wearing short sleeves, he will be more like 30-ish months...Okay, none of this needs to be written out in detail, but I am just hoping now that Michael's fits and not sure if I should go with size 3 or 4 for Christian.

Holden's Billy

I finished the first Billy.  This one is for Holden, littlest nephew.  This is a 24-month size.  I think I made a mistake early on in the pattern because everything seemed to have gotten about 2 or so stitches off center, but I don't know, I looked through the beginning part where things went a little wrong the first time (since I have started a second one in the same size for Michael, medium nephew) and think it was my mistake after all.  I originally thought it was a minor numbers issue in the pattern, but who knows.  We'll see what happens when I get to that point again with #2.  If it still seems off center, I'll shift everything a couple stitches.  Whatever.  I still have to add buttons, but I think once I finish all 3, I'll do a big button-sewing night and finish them all at once.  Because sewing buttons is not my favorite thing.

Anyway, cute pattern. The raglan shaping, interesting collar technique, pocket detail, and lower back short rows kept it from being an extended stockinette nightmare. Really, the lower back short rows didn't add much length to the back though.  I probably could have done a few more, but it's cute nonetheless.

Pocket detail

Helper!

I managed to finish this up really quickly, and I hope the next 2 go equally fast.  I gave myself a deadline of week per sweater to finish, and I got #1 done in about 4-5 days.  Although today and tomorrow will be kind of useless knitting wise thanks to the holiday. 

A few recent projects

Okay, so I am actually still alive.  I just haven't been knitting as much this year as I used to, and also I haven't been posting even when I am knitting.  But here I am.

Some things I've finished over the past 6 months since I've disappeared from blogging.  I did almost no knitting over the summer.  I started a pair of leftovers socks, which you will see below, in July, but then we got a little troublesome kitten who needed a lot of attention (he was only 8 weeks old and very needy, and for the first few weeks it was like having a toddler to look after), and I just got distracted by other things.

I picked up knitting again in September with anotherSwinging Stripe Cardigan. This is the fourth Swinging Stripe I've made.  It's such an easy knit yet really nice.  Kelly got a hole in her previous one and asked for a new one.  She picked the colors, a sort of teal and cream.  It's more of a greenish blue in person, although it looks just blue here.  I wouldn't have chosen these for myself or even probably chosen them to go together for her, but I like how it turned out. 

After that, I picked up the pair of leftovers socks I had started in the summer.  I used some plain navy blue yarn and some leftover yarn that I had dyed (Hera) in 2-row stripes for an interesting pair of socks.  I think I actually like the dyed yarn better broken up by the navy than knit plain. 

The final thing I finished was a pair of not-quite-kneesocks.  I also dyed this yarn.  It's called Gina, and as expected, thanks to some cat activity, it was kind of a pain to work with.  Dexter, our then-kitten, had slashed it up while it was drying and there were a ton of breaks in it.  Also while I was working on knitting these, the now-1-year-old Dexter and his new little brother Sid kept stealing them, playing with the yarn, dragging them all around the house and so on.  So basically I was afraid they would disintegrate the first time I wore them, but I've pretty much been wearing them all week and they're awesome.  (I would have liked to give them to their namesake, Gina, but since I thought they were going to fall apart and also they are hand-wash only and I like to give washable gifts, I kept them myself.  Deal with it.)  Anyway, the fit is perfect too.  I did some calf shaping and I also did 3 inches of ribbing at the top instead of just 1 inch, and they stay up really nicely.  Yay.

I decided to make the 3 nephews each a sweater for Christmas, and I'm waiting on the yarn for that.  That kind of turned into a minor ordeal.  Aaron picked out the color for his sister's son, a dark blue, the same color he picked out for his own sweater a while back.  I asked my sister what color Christian might like for his sweater.  He chose bright pink, but his dad vetoed that, haha.  So then it was like a big problem trying to pick out a color.  I should have just chosen myself, but Kelly ended up deciding she wanted bright orange for Christian.  It seems like it will be overpowering, especially with his red hair, so we had to try to come up with a contrast color that everyone was satisfied with, which was no small feat.  I ended up getting a medium brown, but I'm going to see what it all looks like when the yarn arrives.  I may end up just doing all orange; I may do orange with a little brown; I may throw it all out the window - we'll see.  Holden is getting green.  And on a related note, I recently found out we're having another nephew or a niece in May.  Yes, my sister has been busy the past few years, haha.  Three kids with the oldest turning 4 right before #3 arrives should be fun for her...I just keep acquiring new cats, which I think works out much better personally, haha.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting for my yarn to arrive, I've started on a new pair of socks, Slalom.  I had these in my queue for ages.  A few months back, the designer apparently had a whim to go look and see who had her patterns in their queue, saw that it was my birthday, and gave it to me for free!  Thank you to Gorlitsa Knits for the free pattern!  I'm just working it in a plain purple yarn.  I like cables better on plain yarn.  I've joined in yet another SKA Sockdown (attempt #4) and hopefully I can actually complete this one.  They have to be done by December 31, so I'm thinking that although I probably won't finish them before the boys' sweater yarn arrives and I start those, I SHOULD be able to finish them.  The pattern itself is working out much better than the last few I tried for Sockdowns, so fingers crossed.  (I never did mention that I abandoned the Drip Drip Drop socks I had started for the mystery sock SKA a few months back.  I didn't like the fit in the foot and had to modify it to ribbing instead of cables, yet I didn't like the look of the ribbed foot.  So I just ditched them and reused the yarn for the Gina kneesocks.)

Hopefully I will post more often than once every 6 months from here on, but no promises...