The Hypotenuse of a Triangle. . .

I have suddenly become enamored of wearing dresses and skirts. A work colleague of mine wears the loveliest dresses and skirts. She is a young attorney who doesn’t let her need for professionalism inhibit the way she dresses. I used to think that if I wanted to be taken seriously at work, I had to dress less feminine. I am sure that part of the reason I have not had a dress in my wardrobe in several years coincided with our move from Tampa, Florida to Chicago, Illinois – but I have to think that at least subconsciously, I stopped wearing dresses to compete at work. Last weekend, this part of my life collided with my knitting life!

I started looking at dress and skirt patterns on Ravelry. I wanted something easy, fast and colorful. I found it in a pattern called Lanesplitter by Tina Whitmore. This free pattern is all of that and fun to knit. It is designed to be knit with one colorway of Noro Kureyon -- a yarn I've used before. I paged through several finished examples by Ravelry members and saw several that were done with two different yarns. Using a light/bright yarn on the row that pops the purl side to the front and a dark/dull color to pull the other row to the back. So what I did was get two colorways of Noro Kureyon -- one dark/dull and the other one light/bright. There is some cross over colors in both of the yarns. There is a lavender and a mix of blue and red in both of the yarns and they came up at the same time in one place, but I think that it gives the skirt interest.

The pattern is über easy! Three rows of knitting and one row of purling. The hardest part of the pattern is the  increases and/or decreases at each end of the rows. Although the pattern has "sizes", because the pattern is basically a rectangle, you stop increasing both sides when you hit the desired length, continue increasing on one side while decreasing on the other side until the other directions hits the desired diameter at which time you begin decreasing on both sides. (It's easier than you think -- read the pattern.) I have the skirt about 60% of the way knit and I have only been working on it a few days. Can't wait to finish it!

Happy Knitting!

Never ending surprise.

This is my latest Baby Surprise Jacket -- Bamboo Baby Surprise. I am guessing that my math was off. The arms ended up really skinny. This picture was taken before I finished the second arm and before I sewed up the shoulders. The arms look even thinner now.

So how to fix it? My thought is to remove the seams from the shoulders and pick up and knit about 8 or even 10 garter ridges across the entire length of the wingspan. I will most likely use the faded denim color to do the ridge, but I am also weighing using the navy.

Aren't the buttons really cute? I thought they are perfect for a little boy's sweater. I had been planning on purchasing some brown wooden ones, but finding these was a welcome "surprise"! (Pun intended!)

Happy Knitting!

Girly Girl Finished, Now on to Next Surprise

My Girly Girl Tunic is upstairs on my spare bed blocked and drying. I used my lace blocking wires (Blockit) to block it out. It worked really well and I was able to use a minimum of pins and had it blocked in less than 5 minutes. Nice! I wasn't sure how I was going to block something that is knitted in the round, but the blocking wires worked well. That was an investment well spent.

Now that Girly Girl is essentially finished, I cast on another Baby Surprise Jacket only this time, I want to make one that will fit a baby between 12 and 18 months, so I am going to use Elizabeth Zimmerman's [K] method to get the size. I knit a swatch on US size 9 needles with Hobby Lobby's Bamboo Spun which is a boucle-like yarn made with 77% Bamboo and 23% Polyamide. My gauge came out with 4.5 stitches to the inch. I used the size chart from the Craft Yarn Council to determine the measurements I needed.

I cast on the number of stitches I calculated and am working on the first few rows right now. I will post again  when I have enough to photograph.

Happy Knitting!

Girly Girl Tunic

I am working on a baby sweater for an upcoming baby. I am not sure what baby yet, but as there are 5 expectant parents in my office right now, I am sure that one of them will be a girl -- hopefully a girly girl! The name of the pattern is Frills by Yarn Madness. I found the pattern when searching on Ravelry for a  lace baby dress. This can be a sweater or a dress with minor modifications. The pattern has been quick and easy to do so far.

I am excited about this sweater because I have never done a raglan top before. I am not sure why -- it has just never happened. But I really enjoyed the process of the increases -- it is very similar to increases in a couple of things that I have knitted recently. So maybe I will have to put a raglan sweater on my "to knit" list for me!

The yarn is Yarn Bee's Rainbow Wool. It is machine washable, which I think would be important to your average new mom. It is a bit scratchy, but I think that it is soft enough to wear in cold weather. I only bought one skein of this the other day just to try it out -- but I had no idea what I might knit with it. Now, I may have to run out tomorrow and see if there is any left. The pattern calls for 200 yards for the 3 month sized sweater and the skein has 204 yards. If I get a second skein, I will have plenty to finish it safely and I could even modify it to be the dress. That is what I get when flying by the seat of my pants.

Happy knitting!

What's up with me? Knitting without internet.

I am trying another option with Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket. Through Ravelry, I found an old blog written by Panda Man's where he has converted the infamous BSJ to a Stocking Stitch pattern. The pattern has taken into account the additional length in the stocking stitch in opposition to garter stitch. For the most part, the pattern is only 66% of the original pattern of the BSJ.

I have not blogged in two weeks due to an internet outage. I started and completed another dog sweater for my sister's dog, Lindy Lu. She is an Italian Greyhound mix which is really skinny and spends even warm summers shivering from the cold.


This was done with the left over yarn from s pair of gauntlets that I made to wear at work last winter. It is made with Debbie Bliss's
Washable Ewe which is a 100% washable worsted weight wool. The color is 'icing'. Yum!


I finally got the internet back up today, so I am trying to catch up with a lot.

Happy Knitting!

That's a Wrap! Composer Knits Scarves That Power a Piano | Wired Design | Wired.com

That's a Wrap! Composer Knits Scarves That Power a Piano | Wired Design | Wired.com:

'via Blog this'

I just had to pass this one on. . . knitting to create music! Would be fun, but I am guessing limited in wearable fashion!

Coat of Many Colors -- BSJ

My Coat of Many Colors is all but finished. I have only to finish seaming the shoulders. I had sewed up one of the shoulders, but ripped it out as I thought that the neck line was too small -- I don't want to strangle a baby with my gift. I am not sure if it only looks small because it has been so long since I have seen a really tiny one.

Boy did I learn a lot with this pattern. I also had a lot of fun with the colors and just the amazing artistry that Elizabeth Zimmermann has in this design. This was the first pattern that required button holes for me. I did the simple yarn over button hole that is written into the pattern and it was just big enough for the button. This was also my first try at doing an i-cord bind off. I love the look -- it is time consuming but so worth it!

I have seen many pictures of Baby Surprise Jackets and I am so taken with the techniques that can be used to make each one look so different. Differences in yarn, differences in trim, in solids or stripes done with yarn changes (as I have done) or with self striping yarn. I saw one with yarn over eyelets. I have seen them with as few as one button to as many as six buttons. I have seen them made with hoods or collars.

I can't wait to get started on the next one -- but let me get this one done first!