Finished cardigans and new WIP's

Here is the Save the Baby Whales cardigan with buttons. It is now officially complete.

My daughter helped pick out the little sailboats.

Also finished the Ditto cardigan for myself. The day I finished it and tried it on I was wearing a green shirt and I looked very pumpkinish. I purposely put on a white shirt to take pictures.

Side view. It doesn't quite stretch around the big baby belly but that's okay, that belly will be gone soon. I hope.

Here it is lying flat. If it didn't fit me I was going to gift it to my sister who loves orange. She still may end up with it if my like of orange completely disappears after the baby is born.

Two finished projects means I've cast more on. This is another little cardigan for the little guy. It is the Simple Baby Cardigan and would be simple and fast if it weren't being knit on 2.75mm needles. 

Cast on a plain sock for my SIL. A birthday present.

And some time today I'll be starting another cardigan for the little guy to take with me this weekend to work on during skating lessons and ringette. I don't want to take the sock - as I may drop and lose a needle or the other cardigan as I don't want to manage 2 skeins at the same time. This cardigan is on 3.25mm needles or I might start a gift for daughter on 5mm needles. That'll work up much faster. Or maybe I'll start both.

Cardigans in progress

I've been working on finishing up the two cardigans the last couple days. I worked on the button band while sitting outside as seen above.

Had both sitting on the couch beside me while the kids and I had a Muppets movie marathon on their last day of Spring break on Friday.

When our movies were done I was finished one sleeve and halfway done the other.

I also had the left button band complete and attached to the cardigan.

Friday night I watched a movie with my husband. I know that's a lot of movies in one day for one person (6 to be exact) but the only one I had to really pay attention to was the last one as I have seen all the Muppets movies many, many times. By the end of the night I had finished the Save the Whales Cardigan for our son and weaved in all the ends.

This is supposed to be size 6-9 months and be for this fall but even after going down 2 needle sizes it is still too big and will probably be for next spring. I bought some buttons today so there will be another picture once I get those on.

And I made a good start on the right button band for my cardigan. It's nice to be almost done these two. I have 3 projects waiting to be cast on - 2 more baby cardigans that will hopefully fit this fall instead of next year and a pair of socks for a gift.

Cardigans

Been working on finishing up big projects the past couple weeks. This morning I finished the body to the above cardigan for our little guy who is due at the end of the month! The waves look good but I was too tight working the whales in the middle. Have tried to stretch them out and am hoping that washing will help but it probably won't. You can see I have the left sleeve on the needles and hope to get those done in the next couple days and then start weaving in all the ends. I'll need to buy some buttons as well.

A close-up of the best looking whales. 

Finished the body of this cardigan for myself. Only have the button bands left.

Sleeves are worked separately and then added onto the body before working the yoke. I already have the buttons for this cardigan, just need to finish it.

A knitted finish

I finished the Herbstwald shawl about a week ago. Here it is before blocking. It is only 2 couch cushions long.

After blocking it stretches across the whole couch.

Detail shot. I loved the last chart of this pattern (the last 20 rows). I liked the whole thing actually, but I really like how it finishes.

A picture of the middle. I like how big this shawl ended up being. I added an extra repeat of both charts A and B and am glad that I did. This has become more of a wrap than a shawl. Now I just need the weather to warm up so I can wear it outside. It's snowing here today but at least my new shawl can keep me warm inside.

Pattern is from the book "Sock-Yarn Shawls" by Jen Lucas. You can find the book on amazon and Jen's blog here.  There is also a ravelry group.

A Quilt Finish!

I finished the quilt for our little guy this weekend. Here it is all washed, waiting for baby. Today marks 33 weeks, which leaves us with 7 weeks until the due date. 

I'm very happy with how this turned out.

Detail of the quilting on the back.

The whole back. I think I like the back as much as the front. It's just a curtain panel. I hope it holds up to all the washings this quilt will get. 

One last shot of the quilt top. It's now folded up awaiting his arrival. Can't wait to lay the little guy on it.

Double Take

Had some finishes last week. It seems everything came in pairs.

2 embroideries done.

Taught my daughter to crochet on Friday.

Stitches are a little tight but she's getting better.

She ended up making 2 bracelets.

While she was learning to crochet, I wanted to work on a crochet project so I had something to demonstrate with. I ended up making 2 mug cozies.

The bigger one fits a regular mug.

Or a slightly oversized one, as in this picture. The little one fits skinny tall mugs. 

And I finished the second baby sock making an adorable pair. 

Finishes and WIP's

Finished the pair of anklet socks for myself yesterday. 

I hope to make a few more pairs of these with some of my other leftover sock yarn.

This past week I finished a cardigan and 2 hats for the baby. These are newborn size. The bigger hat was made first. Followed the pattern and it finished huge. So I changed needle size and the amount of stitches cast on and ended up with the smaller hat.

Close-up of the cardigan. These are all knit with worsted weight yarn.

Can see the difference in hat size.

Finished the Labyrinth shawl (over a week ago?) and finally got it blocked. Ran out of yarn so I had to delete the final 2 rows. 

Still love the pattern and feel of the yarn.

My first lame attempts at self-photography. I kept meaning to ask my daughter to take pictures this weekend but forgot.

It's super soft and not too bulky.

Finished another initial embroidery for a niece. Need to iron, frame it and get it in the mail before her birthday later this month.

With all those finishes, I had to start something. A little something. Started a pair of socks for the little guy. I don't have enough of the green and orange to make a complete pair of each. Instead of doing one orange and one green sock I decided to do an orange sock with a green toe and a green sock with an orange toe. Made the first one in a couple hours last night. Now to make the green one.

Also cast on some grown-up socks. Another birthday gift which I really need to work on.

Made some progress on the baby's blanket. It now measures roughly 18 inches.

Not sure where I was the last time I posted a picture of the Herbstwald shawl but I have completed 4 repeats of chart A and 2 of chart B. Doing one more of chart B and then deciding if I will do more or move on to chart C. Each pattern repeat adds 48 stitches - I have enough yarn to continue for a while, but it's taking quite a bit of time to get through the 20 rows of each repeat.