good-natured ribbing

I finished this blanket a while a go (after 5 months of work) and the bonnet was just finished recently.

Pattern: Serenity Blanket (on Ravelry)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (to ensure an easy care blanky). I think I got into the 5th skein.
Needles: Size 7 US. I used Denise Interchangeable but wish I hadn’t. It was hard to slide the lacy stitch pattern over the connectors.

Pattern: Leaves and Berries Bonnet
Yarn: American Cashmere Yarn – 80% Cashmere, 20% Silk
Needles: Size 1 US
Notes: I bought this as a kit (yarn and pattern) at the Michigan Fiber Festival a few years ago. The yarn and pattern come from Marilyn Merbach from Rabbit Tree Farm in Saxonburg, PA. The construction of this hat was new to me (click through to Flickr to see notes).

Because I was giving these as a baby shower present, I wanted to keep them secret. The shower was today and the gifts were given. I love how both of these turned out!!

I guess I’m serious about this finishing streak. A year ago, I started knitting the Minimalist Cardigan from the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. You can see the early stages of it here and here. About 2 inches into the last piece (a sleeve), I had a minor mess up – but set it down instead of fixing it. And there it sat for until about a month ago when I ripped out the sleeve and started again. Days later, all the pieces were done and blocking.

I blocked the pieces before sewing them together – wow, what a difference! It was so easy to finish… all the parts just fit together. The fit is perfect and it has wonderful drape (thanks to the bamboo!).

Yarn: Briar Rose Celebration (50% Merino, 50% Bamboo)
Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan (in Ravelry)
Needles: Size 7 US (Denise Interchangeable)
Mods: None! Unless you count the variegated yarn.

This is my favorite sweater so far! By the way, did you notice I’m wearing the same tank top as the model in the magazine? Unfortunately, I didn’t have a belt that fit around my chest to finish of the look. (scroll down on this page to see the original)

I started these about 2 years ago… Seriously. I knitted one around the time the pattern was released then put it aside for other things. I had a hard time with the tubular cast on and didn’t like how it looked. This kept me from going back to it. Now I’m on a finishing streak and I knocked the second mitt out in 4 days.

The first one uses the Italian tubular cast on (without waste yarn) – tutorial here. I found it to be a bit unsightly, at least the way I did it. So, for #2, I tried the long tail tubular cast on – video tutorial here. This came out much nicer. Now that they are all blocked and have been worn several times both of the cast on edges look about the same – so there was no need for all the fuss after all. Either method works.

And I love them! They have been worn many, many times already.

I put a new free pattern up on the Knitzi website. Something a little different this time… easy fuzzy legwarmers for your little ballerina. Inexplicably, Ava picked the name “Pickles” and it stuck.

This is a very straightforward pattern but the combination of yarns makes them something special. I used 2 partial skeins (just over half of each) of Claudia’s hand painted sock yarn (in Pink Clouds) and one full skein of Kid Seta silk/mohair blend (in Cotton Candy). They are very warm and will come in handy this winter!

The pattern is available here and is also on Ravelry:

(how sad is that… come on, knit some up so I can have more than 1 project!)