Knitting Away

So awhile back ... I knit a sweater for Thomas.  It was an awesome experience, as I discovered that I could, in fact, read and follow a knitting pattern!! And once I finished said sweater ...it of course barely fit ... and my sister refused to accept such a gift / hand-me-over (not down, the babies are too close in age for hand-me-downs =) hehe) even when I insisted!  So the tiny hooded sweater remains nearly finished, in need of the perfect button and some thread trimming, in T's little bin of too-tiny-clothes.

Finishing such a project felt like a milestone ... and I remember thinking, "Holy crap, it took that long to finish a sweater sized 3 months ... I will never attempt anything larger!!"  And here I am, working on a sweater for little T sized 6-12 months. Baby steps. on Baby Sweaters.


I recently became addicted to a website called Ravelry.  It is such an awesome resource handed down to me from my dear friend-in-yarning (and many other experiences), Annette!  It allows you to search patterns, add them to your queue, or "cast on" a current pattern ... logging the type of yarn, quantity, difficulty of the pattern, etc. etc.  Many patterns are free, such as the patterns I found for T and S's baby pumpkin caps completed in October ... and my most recent finished object - this beautiful pink hat!

Finding the pattern for my pink hat lead me to this very cool blog - http://www.pickles.no/ ... It has so many awesome patterns ... obviously Scandinavian in style, given the language in the side bar ... Norwegian? I have no idea.  It was this website that lead me to the project I've got on my needles at this point in time - using yarn handed down to me by my friend .. Annette!  The pattern for the 6-12 month size was free on their blog with larger sizes for sale on Ravelry ... and so I used free yarn as a tester to determine size relative to my little baby.  I'm not sure how I feel about the colors at this point in time ... part of me loves them, because the lime green, turquoise and bright yellow really lend themselves to the quirkiness of the pattern.  Won't it be pretty in springtime??  I would also like to see more of the dark green / yellow / turquoise in the multi colored yarn than lime green to add to the drama of the middle section.  I'm thrilled to continue working on it, regardless, as I've added some skills to my repertoire already, making the back of the sweater longer than the front, for example.  I'm also looking forward to making some more button holes and that adorable elfin pointed cap ;-)

These knitting projects always happen along when I'm in a sewing lull ... or when I am expecting a car trip in my near future ... what better thing to do when driving 8-10 hours in one day than knit?  I am eager to get my sewing machine back, though ... I've been inspired by so many sewing projects, I can hardly handle it!