Baby Gifts Galore!

I haven't blogged, but I have been busy being crafty in the meantime! I've been making a lot of baby items and hats lately. Here are some of the most recent baby gifts I've completed.

The blue hat and booties are for a knitting friend who is having a boy this month. I also made an identical blue hat for a high school friend who is also having a boy and is also due this month. Both hats were based upon the Simple Baby Cap 1 pattern in Itty Bitty Knits, but I did a K1, P1 rib for an inch instead of all stockinette. I used Lily Elite Cotton for the hat shown here. The booties are knit in Patons Bumblebee Baby Cotton using my modified version of the Bobble Booties Debby Ware pattern, which is intended for a girl. I omitted the eyelash and stockinette stitch for the top of the bootie and did seed stitch instead. As I knit them I discovered that there were errors in the original pattern for knitting the instep and the soles. The instep was meant to be knit in stockinette but the pattern said garter stitch. For the soles I had to decrease at the beginning and end of each row as well as at the stitch marker in the middle in order to be able to sew the booties together properly.

The pink hat is for another high school friend who is having a girl. I used the Upside-Down Daisy pattern from Itty Bitty Knits and knit it with Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarns. I couldn't fit all six of the white petals on the hat for some reason, so it only has four. It still looks cute!

Beatrice Shrug Completed

I finally finished this shrug. It turned out well for the most part, but if I ever made another one, I would do some things differently. First, I would use a different chevron pattern and follow the schematic measurments. The pattern instructions were too verbose, and by the time I figured out the pattern I realized that it wasn't always possible to skip a stitch and a chain in the row below in order to make the stitches match up at the top and bottom. Therefore, I always made sure that I put the stitch at the top of the chevron and at the bottom where they were supposed to be regardless of whether or not I was skipping the appropriate number of stitches.

Secondly, I would make the sleeves narrower and increase for the portion that covers the bust. As you can see in the photo, the sleeves are enormous. That's a little too much bulk for me.

I'd also use a more casual yarn for the next shrug, too, so I could wear it with jeans or dress it up. The Bernat Satin looks too shiny for casual wear.

Beatrice Shrug Progress

I've finished the two pieces of the Berroco Beatrice shrug: the shrug portion and the tie. Now I just have to sew them together. I used Bernat Satin instead of the Berroco yarn, which was a good substitute. The chevron pattern was too wordy and seemed like the stitch count was incorrect somewhere. I eventually figured out how to make it work, but I'd never use this stitch pattern again. If I made another one of these shrugs, I'd consult a stitch dictionary for a better chevron pattern.

Baby Blanket Free Pattern and Flower Petal Bib

I made these for a coworker's first child. The bib is the Flower Petal Bib from One Skein and the blanket is my own pattern. I used Elann Sonata for the bib. Knitting the bib gave me my first attempt at short rows, which turned out well for the most part.

For the blanket and chained the width I wanted it to be using an L hook with Bernat Baby sport weight yarn and Patons Cha Cha eyelash held together.

First row: hdc in 3rd chain from hook, hdc across; ch 2, turn.

All remaining rows: hdc across; ch 2, turn.

When the blanket is the length you want, fasten off.

Edging:

Anchor a sc anywhere but in the corner with white Bernat Lu Lu or similar yarn.

*5 dc (shell), then sc*, repeat from * to a corner.

7 dcs in the corner and continue with shell repeat above until another corner is reached. Fasten off.

My blanket was at least 30" x 40", but you can make it any size you like.

I used a cone of Patons Cha Cha for the blanket, so I can only estimate how many balls to use. I'd say 5 balls at least. You can also use Bernat Eye Lash, too, as it's the same stuff, although both yarns have been discontinued. Each ball is 77 yards, so about 400 yards of any similar weight eye lash yarn will do.

International Freeform Show is Live

Finally! The group challenge exhibit for this year's show is up and running! I only submitted pieces for the elements and you can see them here. I had a fun time doing it!

Project Updates

Over the past month or so I've had to make some quick projects that I haven't had time to take pictures of before I gave them away. I crocheted some baby booties for my nephew for his baptism and knitted a mini sweater vest that I attached to a card for an SnB friend who is moving. I also monogrammed some mugs by etching glass for the first time using etching cream and stencils I made from Mack Tack. They turned out well for my first time.
I finished a shracket for my stepdaughter using a pattern I found on an episode of Uncommon Threads. I still have yet to take a picture of it. It turned out quite well and she loves it.
Right now I'm working on a Berroco zippered cardigan for my son using Lullaby, which I think is discontinued. It's turning out well so far. I don't have a lot of experience seaming and have never sewn in a zipper, so this will be a challenge for me.

Crocheted Wire Buttons

I just received the May issue of Threads magazine and started browsing it. I found instructions for making crocheted wire buttons. I've already done some wire crochet and have the tools I need for that, so I'll definitely be making some of these! They'd be a great addition to freeform, knitted, or crocheted garments, too.

Freeform in Progress

I've been working on my scrumbles for this year's International Freeform Challenge. There are two challenges:

• Elements: The first exhibit will be based on your interpretation of 4 elements:
  Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Each element is a separate scrumble.
• Tree of Life: The second exhibit is The Tree of Life/Peace will be a display of 3 dimensional FF pieces that will hang from the limbs of tree branches.

Each challenge requires that gold thread be somewhere in each piece to signify unity. We could do one challenge, both, or parts. I chose the elements.

I'm finished with Water and not really pleased with it, but it's good enough. The deadline is next week for the online exhibition, so I can't be too picky. I'm working on Fire now and really liking how it's turning out. Next I'll tackle Air and finally Earth.

Unfortunately, I can't post pictures until the online exhibition because the pieces are going to be unveiled all at once. I'll post more information here once that happens.

Stitch Markers

I just completed these stitch markers last night using the tutorial on this blog. I made them because I wanted to give a handmade gift for my SnB friend's birthday, and thought these would be perfect. I already had beads and beading equipment. I just needed to get the brass curtain rings, which I found at a local fabric store.

These made up quickly. They're addictive, too! I can see myself making more to give as gifts to my knitting friends!

Third Time's the Charm

I recently purchased the Itty Bitty Hats book to make some hats for my son. I started out with the basic roll brimmed hat. The hat patterns only gave out age ranges for size and not finished head circumferences, so I measured my son's head and made the hat roughly his head size. Well I neglected to realize that the hat needed to be smaller than the head circumference due to stretching, so I got this:

That wouldn't work, so I gave the hat to my husband. It fit him quite well.

Then I attempted to make another hat--the one on the cover of the book. I made the hat slightly smaller than the first one, but it still didn't quite work:

That hat I claimed for myself, since I wanted to make an adult-sized version anyway.

Realizing finally that I needed to make the hat at least 2 inches smaller than the head circumference, I began the third hat. I used the basic rolled brim hat as my guide but did a 2x2 rib for an inch instead. I didn't want the rolled brim this time. This time it worked!

Although I'm pleased with this hat, I wished I would have done the ribbing for 2 inches. I'll make sure I make that adjustment for the next time. These hats work up quickly, so making another one will be a snap!

Photo Restoration

I recently scanned in a set of my mom's photos so I could make copies. Before I could do that, I had some repairs to do, so I fired up Adobe Photoshop Elements. I used primarily the clone and the healing brush tools to do the restorations. As a result, I was able to restore quite a few old photos. I was able to repair two badly damaged vintage photos--one of my grandparents and one of my great-grandparents. I also reparied an old-style family photo taken when I was a child that was damaged and had a background that didn't cover the photo area completely. That is the photo I posted here. You can see the before and after versions. In order to remove dressing area was visible in the photo and cover it with the backdrop, I copied part of the backdrop and put it on another layer. I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the area not covered by the backdrop and stretched the copied backdrop layer to fill it in. I merged the layers and then used the clone and healing brush tools to blend in the new portion of the backdrop so that it looked natural.

I'm quite pleased with how this and the other photos turned out. I'm getting quicker with using the Photoshop tools. I'm really enjoying being able to repair and restore these photos, too. With each restore, I am preserving memories!