Knit-Talia

This is my cutie patootie niece, Natalia, all warm and cozy in her arm and leg warmers fashioned out of women's socks – a fun diy project made by her mom, Sandra. Great idea!! I'd like to knit Natalia a pair of maryjane's with a faux sock attached. I found a pattern but it's sized for a preemie/newborn, but I'm looking for age 2-3 size. I haven't learned how to adjust a pattern yet, but if anyone knows where I can find it, I would so appreciate it!!

What's next...

With the endless patterns I've found on the web, in knitting books and mags, I have basically accumulated more patterns than I could knit in a lifetime, so I'm surprised that I've decided on what'll go next on my needles. No matter that I still have several projects in the works (and oh so close to completion), I'm on to the next big thing(s). I finally could get started on that chevron scarf that first inspired me to knit now that I have yarn for it. I couldn't resist the beautiful slate blue color yarn I chose for another big project, the lace-patterned sweater (from Rebecca magazine, issue 29). With the cotton/rayon blend, it will be perfect for spring. The sweater will be the most challenging pattern to date, and I'm so ready to take it on!!

Brown Baggin' It

I'm so pleased at how this bag turned out!! This was my first really involved project where I learned to follow a cable pattern, knit seed stitches, and finally used my sewing machine (an Xmas gift from Dean) to line the bag with a vintage floral print. There were countless times when I had to rip back rows because I'd lost my place in the pattern sequence, or dropped stitches here and there. At first I was terrified that I'd unravel too much and not know how to correct it, but it was such a great sense of accomplishment when I actually figured it out. Lesson learned: the only way to fix and better understand knitting is to recognize when there is a problem, take action to work through it with grace, patience and an open-mind, and with that comes growth and sweet results. Kinda like life...

FL3 Putt

For one my father-in-law's 90th birthday gifts I thought I'd test out my knitting skills to make him a golf club cover. Believe it or not, he is still actively playing golf on a regular basis and shoots under his age. (That's him in the photo). He's known as FL3putt - hence the embroidery. My first time with the needle and the sewing seemed to take longer than the knitting itself. Overall, the end result fell a bit short of what I had envisioned as it came out looking like an adult wool sock thrown in a hot dryer - it was a wisp of a thing and I thought for sure it wouldn't fit over the club head, but the sucker stretches more than I thought. Although the embroidery turned out fine, it wasn't centered properly so after the seams were sewn, the verbiage was illegible. But the saving grace was the pom-pom that was obnoxiously oversized, but it gave it character. Not my best work so I'm leaving it up to your imagination ;)

Grey Bag

This little number was actually my first knitting project back in November and completed in a few days afterward. It's been sitting around collecting dust, not quite completed as it needed a drawstring, because I got too antsy to get started on new projects. So here is the finished product which I actually love and accessorizing with lately.