Oxo the Lovable Elephant

Meet Oxo, the Lovable Elephant

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Sport
100% superwash merino wool
136 yds/50 gr - color 1946 Silver Gray
1 full skein

Needles: size 3 Clover bamboo dpns

What a clever pattern! The entire elephant is knit seamlessly with arm, legs, and ears picked up and stitched outwardly. The legs were a breeze. The arms required a bit more patience because they were closer to the head and trunk. The ears were a challenge. Knitting them was fine, but I had to pick up stitches along an imaginary diagonal.

I ended up cutting a triangular slip of paper to size from the center back of the head to the first ear and using that to determine where to pick up for the second ear. Later I read a project on Ravelry where the knitter stuck a slender dpn straight through the elephant's head in order to determine where to place hers. This seemed brilliant but at least my fellow didn't get a headache!

I find I can never name a stuffed animal until the face is complete and the character emerges. While knitting this one I thought of other famous elephants:

Horton, of course
A person's a person, no matter how small!

Colonel Hathi
We're a crackerjack brigade, on a pachyderm parade
But we'd rather stroll to a waterhole, for a furlough in the shade!

Echo the Elephant
Every great family is headed by a commanding leader, and Echo's clan was no exception.....a wise and experienced mother who guided and protected her family for many years.

In the end, once I came across the bit of ribbon I tied around his neck, I named him Oxo. That's right, I named him after a beef cube!

I love tins of all sizes. [Perhaps you've noticed!] Years ago I would run across the mention of Oxo tins in my Miss Read books but never knew what exactly they originally contained. This was in the Dark Ages before the internet. My English friend enlightened me and gave me a couple of tins.

Miss Read used them to contain her household budgeted funds.
"I am going to put an elastic band round each of those Oxo tins and remove them only when the exigencies of rightful duty make it necessary." In fact that's probably what Oxo is doing up there with his tin, putting a bit by for a rainy day. He looks a foresighted chap, doesn't he?

Squeezebox

A couple of days before Christmas I decided to cast on something small. Something simple to knit that wouldn't require too much concentration or frequent referring to a pattern.

I certainly didn't have time to spend digging around for a pattern and going out for yarn was definitely out of the question.

I ended up turning to two purchases I had made back in the spring at Stitches. This yarn was never intended to be paired with this pattern and the end result is just so-so, but the project served it's purpose and I now have a baby gift hat in the vault.

Back in the spring at Stitches South, I fell in love with a booth sample hat. It was knit in either a Koigu or a Claudia's Handpaint in a crayon box colorway and was ever so soft and yummy. When I asked for the pattern I was stunned to be handed this - The Scrunchie Hat by Sandy Joyner.
[no link found and neither pattern nor designer is found on Ravelry]

Proof once more that those shop samples are very effective. Never would I have thought to make the hat that is pictured on this pattern, although I suppose it is a good use for the Noro sock yarn called for by the designer.

Knitting this in a very pale solid color just totally misses the point pretty much. The Noro at least accented the rounds and the colorful Koigu of the sample made great show of the knit/purl stitch combinations. This pale blue does neither. : (

I used Kollage Yarns Luscious; a washable fingering weight blend of 63% cotton and 37% nylon. It comes 345 yards/100 grams and I guess I used maybe 180 yards or so. Just guessing.

I knit it with size 2 INOX needles. The pattern is written for 3 sizes and for a child's 15"-17" hat has you cast on 132 stitches with size 2 needles and the Noro Silk Garden Sock. That seemed like rather too many to me, but I tried it and yes, it was considerably too large. I ended up casting on 102, knitting the knit/purl pattern and decreasing down to 99 before the crown decreases started. Then I just ended with the little i-cord loop at the tip.

The part I like best about it is the way it collapses on itself when you put it down. I couldn't help but think of it as a squeezebox and tend to start singing or humming The Who song whenever I handle it.

Well it served the purpose for portable, simple holiday knitting and I think I'll keep my eyes peeled for some Koigu sometime.

One misty, moisty morning

A wee FO

Pattern: Infant Socks by Judy Ellis

Yarn: Serenity by Premier Yarns
50% merino wool / 25% bamboo / 25% nylon

Needles: size 1 bamboo dpns

I found this little pattern years ago on the Socknitters website. There are loads of free sock patterns over there. As written, it makes a very small basic infant sock. I can often get a wee pair out of leftovers from my own socks. Generally I only adjust by knitting 8 rounds before the toe decreases, but this time I also upped the cast on number to 48 from the stated 40.

These, along with the book, will go to a friend who is expecting a son in May. I had a couple of other books in my hand before finding and selecting this one. I love, love, love Richard Scarry's illustrations, remembering them from my childhood and enjoying them again years later when my daughter was born. His little rabbits are so cute. Wouldn't you love to be an illustrator? I would.


"I'm not interested in creating a book that is read once and then placed on the shelf and forgotten. I am very happy when people have worn out my books, or that they're held together by Scotch tape." Richard Scarry

(1919-1994)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Stash

I'm calling this little baby cap Flavia, after the main character in the book "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie". I haven't read the book. I got my fill of Flavia just reading and hearing about her. But since this little baby gift was made from yarn from the bottom of the stash, that phrase sort of stuck in my head as I knit it.

This is yarn bought years and years ago when I very first began to knit. I bought it to make a preemie hat for the lace club service project. Those projects have to be knit with non-wool yarn, so this Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK which is 50% microfiber acrylic and 50% nylon fit the bill.

Although it is billed as a DK weight and the ball band recommends a size 6 needle, that seemed a bit hard for me to believe. I used a size 4 needle. I didn't even have the concentration needed to search for or follow a pattern so I just cast on 88 and did this simple variation of a k2/p2 rib. It is called Baby Cable Rib in Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks" - just three rows of k2/p2 and on the fourth you create the twist by k2tog, leave on the needle, k the first stitch and slide both off. Makes a nice little change from basic rib and really isn't any slower.

The bamboo dpns I used were really too grabby but I couldn't be bothered to change. And, just another reason why I still love dpns, the crown is a simple decrease at eight points. So easy to keep track of when everything is nicely divided on four needles.

Forget Flavia; for some reason now I'm thinking about PIE.

Quickie Hat

There are a couple of office grandbabies coming in January. I know one is expected to be a boy, but I think (I think) one is expected to be a girl.

I had seen the Lion Brand Baby Wool at Joann's so the other day I used my coupon and bought a ball.

It is superwash and felt pretty good in the ball.
I chose the Alpine Meadow colorway which is mostly yellow with a bit of green and blue.

I am not really getting home before dark now and my photos are suffering, but this gives you an idea.

It did not feel overly soft once I got it knitted, and after a soak, it was fairly lifeless. While still damp I tossed it into the dryer for a bit and that seemed to work out just fine.

Once again I went to the Children's Cotton Hats pattern from "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts". I find that pattern to work up super quickly without a lot of fuss. The top decreases do create a bit of a point, but I'm going with the idea that it just makes it more elfin and adorable.

Yet another bonnet

I finished up the Evelyn A. Clark baby bonnet over the weekend. Once I got it blocked and dry I decided I did like it enough to consider gifting it, but it is far from my favorite.

Details:

Pattern: Tiny Treasures; Baby Bonnet and Booties (sans booties obviously)
an absolutely PERFECT pattern

Yarn: Fortissima Piccolino by Schoeller +Stahl
50% Merino Superwash Wool - 25% Nylon - 25% Rayon (Bamboo) • 109 yards per 25 gram ball • color 07

Needles: Size 2 Clover bamboo straights (love 'em)

All reservations about this FO are due entirely to the yarn. This yarn comes in a small, 25 gram ball and normally retails at the yarn shop where I got it for $6.00. Luckily I visited on a sale day and got it 25% off. I found the yarn very splitty and it lost all body when I soaked it to block. I let it dry a good bit and then tossed it into the dryer. That seemed to help and I was a bit more pleased when I retrieved it. This may be a characteristic of superwash yarns. Certainly ease of care is desireable in baby knits, but I will not be knitting with this again.

But I will, most definitely, make this pattern again. This pattern was the only reason I kept making stitch after stitch with this yarn. Besides having a sweet little lacy edge to start off with, it has short-row shaping at the back of the head which is just plain FUN to knit. It finishes up with an attached i-cord ties.

The pattern is in the Vogue On-The-Go! series book, Baby Knits Two. There is really little else in that book that appeals to me. As usual, I bought it only because it contained an EAC pattern.

In case you haven't noticed, I love EAC.

Not Lovin' Knit Yet

Saturday was a gorgeously perfect fall day. Oh, my! How welcomed it was!

I decided to take the time to drive over and check out Lovin' Knit, a not-local-to-me yarn shop that opened earlier in the year.

My LYS closed and there isn't really another conveniently close. Perhaps that is a good thing wallet-wise.

Lovin' Knit is a lovely shop and I enjoyed my browse. As I am still working away at the Estonian lace stole, I didn't want to start another big project. However there are a couple of office babies coming in January, so I decided to try a baby yarn and bought one wee 25 gr. ball of Fortissima Piccolino and immediately cast on an Evelyn A. Clark bonnet. So far, I'm not sure I'm loving it yet. Seems to me I can feel the non-wool components much more and it is a tad splitty as well. Nothing really approaches Dale of Norway Baby Ull in my estimation.

Bubblegum

Sugar, ah honey honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you.
Honey, ah sugar sugar
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you.

Pattern: Little Girl's Shrug
by Knitting Pure & Simple #288

Yarn: Aslan Trends Santa Fe
Color #1332 - Pink Mist
85% merino/15% polyamide - 180 yds/50 gr.
about 160 or so used

Needle: Size 4 - circular and dpns

Back in May, browsing an Atlanta yarn shop, I saw this little shrug knit up for a shop sample. Man! Those shop samples! They really know how to get you, don't they? I loved it, but had no need for the pattern. Still it is rather hard to forget those shop samples! Once I learned a coworker was expecting a new granddaughter in November, it was time to spring into action.

I asked my almost-LYS to order the pattern. The pattern is sized for dk or light worsted weight yarn to be knit on size 7 needles to make size 18-mo. to size 10. The baby will be a sister of twin boys (all boy boys) born about four years ago. I knew I wanted a Serious Pink (can pink be serious??) and machine washable. I also wanted to try a finer yarn and smaller needle to try to get a newborn size.

Luckily the shop had one lone skein of this perfect pink in the Aslan Trends Santa Fe; a machine-washable sock yarn in a color they insist on calling Pink Mist when you and I know it is really Bubblegum. Just what I had imagined. The yarn was lovely and a treat to knit. Very soft. I'm sure it would make nice, soft socks.

The pattern photo shows it with a ribbed hem but gives alternate directions (and chart!) for a lacy edge. Well you know I had to knit the lacy edge.

It is so cute I can hardly stand it. I really need a tambourine to play while I dance around with it singing The Archies tune.

Want to see the back? Are you singing yet? [click to make it bigger while you sing]

What an EASY pattern and easily adapted to the small size. I can also see lengthening it and the sleeves, too maybe.

My candy girl. I'm glad I can keep it a few more months.

New leaf arrived

Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.

Chinese proverb

The Evergreen Bag is finished except for one lone i-cord drawstring. As I was working on the first drawstring, I learned a new grandson had arrived to a coworker. A new leaf on his family tree. Well new baby means quick cap, right?

I looked around the internet and found the Greenleaf Hat and thought it would fine with the Berroco Vintage and I had plenty left from the bag. From this photo angle the leaf looks a bit too big, but doesn't seem quite so much in real life.

I used a bit of the green at the start of the roll brim before switching to the blue and the switched back to the green, of course, for the leaf.

All in all, a quick and satisfying knit and I'll definitely keep this one in mind for future baby gifts.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

A quiet evening on the cul-de-sac. No fireworks to be heard yet.

As I sat and watched the PBS American Masters special on Garrison Keillor, I finished up the little Evelyn Clark baby bonnet; a thoroughly satisfying and easy knit. [it's called i-cord for a reason after all!]

But speaking of fireworks, I expect that Mary is already aboard the Intrepid and will be soon watching an amazing display.

Happy 4th of July to you wherever you are.

So fun, so clever

The Evelyn Clark baby bonnet is finished.

I spotted this little cap made up in a booth at Stitches South and just knew, deep down, that it had to be an Evelyn A. Clark pattern.

I was able to find out that it was included in the Vouge On the Go series - Baby Knits Two.

I dithered a bit about buying the book since I was really only interested in this one pattern. But (you may already know) Evelyn's designs are my one weakness.

As soon as I found out my LYS had the book, I caved.

The back crown is my favorite part. Isn't it sweet!
It is worked in short rows. The 91 stitches worked flat for the lace part decrease on either side of the center purl stitch and, with the magic of short rows, draw the panel down and in until there are just 7 stitches left! So clever!

I used leftovers of Regia Silk from when I made the other bonnet. It's perhaps almost too soft for this one worked on size 2 needles. Next time (oh, yes there will certainly be a next time), I'll probably use the Dale Baby Ull called for in the pattern.

I can hardly wait to make another!

What's the opposite of cable-licious?

Mary asked me about this project - the wee aran sweater.

I'm about a sleeve and a half away from the dreaded seaming. The bloom is off this rose. It's a pure slog knit now.

The knitting itself isn't that bad. It's not the most fun I've ever had, but it isn't the least either. I do not underestimate my dread of sewing. I don't feel comfortable with it. I have no idea how the cable patterns are going to match up at the saddle shoulders (other than I expect they will not; match up that is!)

I suspect that since I don't have much confidence that this project will come even near to meeting expectations, that I am deliberately slowing down to put off the inevitable disappointment.

I've already encountered one major problem. The sides of the sleeves are to be knit in moss stitch and kept in pattern during the increasing. I have absolutely NO CLUE how to do this and haven't found any help on the internet. [I confess to having spent much more time looking at lace shawl patterns than searching for this answer.]

Now this should not be an insurmountable problem. Obviously it can be done; witness the pattern photo! A little logic applied should solve the puzzle. But for the life of me, I can't figure it out. As I worked up the sleeve chart, I did something and decided this was a pattern. Not the pattern, but repetitive. I rationalized that the parents and other adults around the intended baby wouldn't have the pattern in hand for comparison and would really be so besotted with the infant that they wouldn't give a backwards glance to the gladrags.

And truly, at this point, if I'm thunderstruck with the answer, I doubt I'd frog and restart. The baby-to-be is growing and so should this sweater!

Incredibly Quick

If you ever need a quick, inex-
pensive baby shower gift this is a great pattern. Or maybe you want to give something handmade but don't want to spend forever or just want to augment to a store-bought gift.

This is the Children's Cotton Hat from "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts". I check this out of the library every once in awhile.

It's the second time I've made it and this time I actually used the Mission Falls 1824 Cotton called for in the pattern. This 100% cotton yarn has a nubby texture and wasn't too awful to knit with - especially for so short a period. It is labeled as machine wash and dry / gentle cycle.

One ball was $5.75 at my nearly LYS and I used less than a full skein.

Teeny Tiny Aran

A new project. Well at least a new project start. I'm not altogether sure this one will ever make it to FO stage.

I've been returning to this pattern, Heirloom Aran Baby Set, by Lisa Lloyd, ever since I purchased the Spring 2004 IW Knits issue.
That's 5 years of reading, pondering, studying, and then putting the issue away.

A friend is quite excited about an expected grandbaby. I thought perhaps, just perhaps, I'd give it a try.

But already I've encountered roadblocks. I've screwed up a cable (see 2nd on right). I fear both the neck pick-up and the seaming. Seaming! Ugh.

And the things I don't know about knitting could fill an encyclopedia. For starters: the center cable repeats over 6 rows but the sides repeat over 16. Directions just tell you to knit the back until you reach a given measurement, yet the introduction says the saddle shoulders (yes, that's another hurdle) carry the pattern over the shoulders. This sounds to me like I should be ending at a specific point.

Such puzzles. That's what makes knitting so interesting, right??

Hiawatha's chickens

"Ewa-yea! my little owlet!"

All the time I was sewing tiny little buttons on for the owl eyes, I had Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha" rolling around in my head. Not the whole thing as who can remember the whole thing?! But the fireflies and the owlet part kept surfacing.

This is a little odd looking cap, but the oddness is from my doing, not from the pattern. The baby for whom this is intended arrived early and around 5 pounds. I thought a small cap was in order so I only cast on 77 stitches and worked it in some leftover Comfort DK. JP voiced some concern over having buttons on something intended for an infant, but I think this will be outgrown so very quickly and way before the babe discovers the buttons.

I love the little owls and intend on making this again sometime in a different yarn.

When he heard the owls at midnight,

Hooting, laughing in the forest,

'What is that?" he cried in terror,

"What is that," he said, "Nokomis?"

And the good Nokomis answered:

"That is but the owl and owlet,

Talking in their native language,

Talking, scolding at each other."

Then the little Hiawatha

Learned of every bird its language,

Learned their names and all their secrets,

How they built their nests in Summer,

Where they hid themselves in Winter,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens." - Henry W. Longfellow

Knits Shoots and Leaves

...or in this case, berries and leaves but I couldn't resist the corny title.

The Leaves and Berries Baby Bonnet is finished and what FUN it was to knit! That said, I do believe I've crossed the line with this one. I'm pretty sure this is something only another knitter would be delighted to receive.

Mary suggested I could just keep it myself and enjoy it for the object itself, and right now that's what I'm planning to do.

I would like to make this again when I find the perfect yarn. The Regia Silk worked out well and makes a nice fabric, but I think it would be lighter and more heavenly in a cashmere/silk blend. Meantime there is enough of the Regia to make the matching socks that Marilyn so graciously included a pattern for when she sent the pattern. Thanks, Marilyn!

Pattern: Baby Bonnet - "Leaves and Berries"
by Marilyn Merbach of Rabbit Tree Farm - Saxonburg, PA
Yarn: Regia Silk (55% wool/20% silk/25% nylon)
about 1/2 ball or 110 yards
Needles: size 1 bamboo dpns and Addi Lace circular

You had me at berries

I know. Doesn't look like much, does it? But it is my first ever knob. At least the pattern calls it a knob. I'm assuming that is the same as a bobble. I've never knit a bobble either.

What it actually is, is a berry in my newest obsession - the Leaves and Berries baby bonnet.

And it really wasn't that dreadful to knit. I only needed one more needle and a couple of extra hands. : )

I'd link you to the pattern, but the designer, Marilyn Merbach of Rabbit Tree Farm in PA, doesn't have a website. However, she's a lovely person and kindly sold me the pattern once I found her.

The one I saw (and fell in love with) was knit from a kit that also included her lovely cashmere yarn. I don't have any cashmere so I'm trying it out in some Regia Silk. I know. A shame and not at all comparable. Hopefully it will be satisfactory for practice and we'll see how it goes.




ETA: here it is now with all eight berries.

I have NO idea if my gauge is anywhere close.
(that would involve checking gauge, right??)
Who cares. I just want to see if I can make it first.

Son of Leave It To Beaver

Leftover yarn and needles still in the box bag, so why not use them to make a pair of infant socks for one of the new babes? I tried halfheartedly to make them twins but they are only fraternal. Oh well. They will be quickly outgrown!

I used this very basic pattern to make them.

Next up for the next babe? Maybe an owl cap?

Fun Felting

PJ Bear (official naming will come later) was felted today.

Knitters speak of the magic of blocking lace but I gotta say that felting is more magical for me. At least with lace you have some beauty before blocking. The loosey-goosey garter stitch of the pre-felted object is not very lovely.

Naturally I was so anxious to toss him in hot water that I forgot his pre-felt photo op but you can get some idea here.

This is my second baby bear from the Fiber Trends pattern (201x) and it is such a fun project.

Several years ago I saw one on the Whimsy blog. She mentioned that she had tied the arms toward the front while it dried and she then gifted hers holding a baby spoon. Awww. That explains why I have my little fellow restrained!

and, once again, my Christmas cactus and I are much alike: we are both Late Bloomers!

another baby cap

Lots of little babies expected around work, the first of which just arrived so I quickly knit up a Vine Lace hat. This is my favorite quick project. 4 rows, 2 of which are knit only. It practically flies off the needles.

Pattern: Vine Lace Baby Hat
at Interweave's Knitting Daily
Yarn: Sublime baby cashmerino silk dk
75% extrafine merino/20% silk/ 5% cashmere
color: 0002 "cuddle"; about 1/2 ball
Needles: size 3 Susan Bates cheapy Silvalume

"a child is born only once, but a grandparent is reborn with each new grandchild."
-Arthur Kornhaber