Thanksgiving sweater?

Well another race against the clock is on...this time for Thanksgiving which is Monday (in Canada). I started to knit a cable-knit hoodie for Jujube from another Phildar magazine. It is my first significant cable project (though I did knit a Good ole cabled scarf for my sister last Christmas).

The back is completed and took 4 days which seems like an insame amount of time to spend knitting what is ultimately a 12" x 12" square.

I'm almost done one front panel as well. That leaves 4 days to knit the right front, 2 sleeves and the hood. Can it be done?

I'd keep my fingers crossed but that would slow down my knitting considerably ;-)

In blog news, I figured out a way to post a finished objects gallery in my sidebar. It is a permalink to the October 2nd posting below. Check it out.

Cheers!

Julian's Baptism Sweater

Our 3 month old little guy was baptised on Sunday wearing the baptismal gown his grand-mother made for his father's baptism 27 years ago. The gown aged beautifully and had not yellowed at all. I knit a little cardigan to wear along in the hopes of passing both the gown and cardigan to my own future grand-children. I was up until 2 in the morning the night before his big day finishing the sleeves and sewing buttons but it was ready in time and looked beautiful.

The pattern was a real pleasure to knit. It was knit all in one completely seamless piece from the neck down (sleeve stitches are held on a stich holder and knit after the main piece). I'll post close-up shots in my gallery (just as soon as I figure out how to make one ;-)

The pattern is free and available here.

Cheers!

Hello World

My mother was one of 24 chidren. Yup! No really! My grand-parents were farmers in rural Quebec and being good Catholics in the 1930s and '40s had a child every year they could. My grand-father passed away when I was 3, but my grand-mother lived to be 84 years old.

She spent the long Quebec winters in Rimouski with one of my uncles and his wife but in the summer she would pack her bags, her knitting needles and her yarn and travel down the St-Lawrence River to Montreal where she would visit with all her children and grand-children and great-grand-children. She would spend about a week at each of her childrens' homes and knit mittens and socks and slippers for everyone in that family and then moved on.

During one of those visits, she taught me to "tricoter a l'endroit" (knit) and "tricoter a l'envers" (purl) with some scrap yarns. (Did I mention she was french? In fact my whole family is...I'm the anomaly. More on that later, but now back to my knitting debut. ) My grandma would watch me knit and every once in a while, she would have to put down her mittens in progress and try to figure out where I went wrong. Somehow, I always ended up with too many stitches (which is weird because now I always seem to be loosing stitches!). Anyway, I would make a little square, get bored and go draw or play house instead.

My grandmother passed when I was a teen and it wasn't until my early twenties that I got the knitting bug from a Martha Stewart Baby magazine. I got myself some needles and cotton yarn and knit the garter stitch baby sweater. It was pretty much a bunch of rectangles seamed together into a buttonless cardigan but it looked pretty good. I made one for my nephew and put the needles away for another couple of years. I was working full-time and finishing my bachelor's degree on a full-time basis as well and just didn't have time for knitting. Textbooks occupied my commuting time.

I got married last year and moved to a new house in the suburbs. One of the implications was a 1h30 minute train ride each way to and from work and since I graduated and don't have any more required reading...I picked up one of Debbie Bliss' learn to knit books and the rest is history. The addiction began. I was egged on by all the knitting blogs out there and now that I am at home on maternity leave with my 3 month old son, I have both the time to knit and a growing model for all those very cute and very quick knit baby sweaters and booties.

So expect to see a lot of baby knits 'cause he's always growing out of something...

Cheers!

Finished Objects Gallery

Fleece Artist mittens

Knit from a Peace Fleece wool and mohair kit.

Made with love hat and mittens

Knit using leftover Bernat Satin and this magknits pattern.

Gilet a capuche (cableknit hoodie)

Knit using Phildar Superbaby in Olive. Pattern form Phildar Layette Winter 04/05.

Bee booties and behive hat

Knit using Bernat Chunky. Hat pattern free online here. Booties from Zoe Mellor's 50 baby booties to knit.

Phildar bonnet, echarpe & blouson

Knit from Phildar Partner, Phildar Denim and the new pom-pom yarn Phildar Bowling. This was the first time I had ever used recommended yarn and recommended colourways. I am thrilled with the result. The pattern was in Phildar Layette's Winter 05/06 magazine. It is still a little big for Julian but soooo cute!

Shawl-collared jacket

Knit from Bernat Chunky in gray marl. The pattern is from Debbie Bliss' Baby knits for beginners.

Julian's Baptism Sweater
(seamless yoked baby sweater)

Knit in one piece using less than 1 ball of Bernat Softee Baby
The free pattern is available here.

Herringbone booties

Knit in blue and cream cotton yarn form Zoe Mellor's 50 baby booties to knit.

My first socks!

Knit from Confetti yarn using this pattern.

Pirate shoes

Knit from Bernat Satin. Yet another cute pattern from Zoe Mellor's 50 baby booties to knit. Julian wears these often. They're the only shoes he has that you can trust to never fall off. They also look great with all his baby jeans and khakies.

Stocking stitch sweater

Knit with 100% peruvian alpaca from Elann. Julian's skin breaks out into a rash when he wears this. I think I'll stick to acrylics and synthetic blends for his baby wear. The pattern is from Debbie Bliss' Quick baby knits.