Wild Stripes and Surfing Monkeys Unite

Project: Wild Stripes baby blanket from Knitty.com (http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer05/PATTwildstripes.html)

Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style-- all colors called for except substitued the coal for the cornflower color.

Needles: Size 5 circular-- 32"

Fabric: Cotton Flannel-- surfing monkeys. I am fairly certain this came from Joann's. Red binding.

Receipent: Little Man

Time: This was one of my first knitting projects. I thought it was a great first knitting project. Nice but not pricey yarn, repeated knit and purl but with color changes so it didn't get dull. And best of all for me it contained my love of quilting into it. All in all a great project. This took me about 6 months to complete off and on.

Notes: This is not perfect by any means. My first rows are funny to look at. I think I must have been twisting my stitches. I left them in so I know where I started from, yep that's it. LM is only two. He loves it and doesn't seem to mind the imperfectness of it. He just loves that mommy made it for him. (Don't you wish everything was that simple.)

I did the entire thing with hand stitching because I wasn't getting the control I wanted with my sewing machine. It still would not totally square up, I'm not sure what the technical term for this is.

I can see the benefit of using a striped or plaid fabric. I had no choice. I asked LM what he wanted in fabric and he said "moky" so monkey fabric it was. The colors on the flannel seemed right for the project also.

Also, I didn't always follow the right number count on the stripes. This was a travelling, car, playground project and well, it has to be said, I screwed up even the simplest pattern.

I have quite a bit of leftover yarn but I am not sure what to do with it yet. Any suggestions?

The Not so Itty Bitty Football Helmet

I should start by saying that there isn't a hat in the Itty Bitty Hats book that I don't like. I have completed a few of the marley's but they get swooped up by friends for their children the second they are off the needles. Sure they promise pictures but I haven't seen any yet. This book is one of my current obsessions. Usually with knitting or quilting books there are one or two patterns that I feel I must make. This book, well, I must make all the hats-- maybe more than once. In various sizes.

The low down:

Project: The football helmet

Yarn: substitued yarn. I had some Debbie Bliss DK cotton sitting around not planned for any projects. The crochet trim, the football and the top sprout were random pieces and partial skeins of cotton yarn that I inherited.

Needle size: I used a size 6 CN and DPN's

Size: Largest-- 2 years and up

Problems: I am a fairly new knitter so I think the problems I had are all my own and are due in no part to the pattern or the pattern writter. I take full responsibility. My gauge was a bit off. I was getting 5 stitches to the inch vs. the 4 1/2 stitches to the inch called for. My hat came out huge. It is to big for me. I see no point in making a gauge swatch for a hat that only takes me a few nights. I know this is one of my problems and I accept this. The other problem I had was getting the seed stitch ear flaps and the hat brim to line up properly. There is still a line of stitches from the join that doesn't line up. This only bothers me enough to make the hat again but not to rip it out. (So you're starting to see what kind of a crafter I am. If you need to leave now I understand.)

New skills: Crochet edge. A simple edging treatment but it felt like an accomplishment.

Sorry about the model. Poor grumpy bear was all I had at the moment. LM was taking a nap.