I am definitely making up for lost time it seems. I was sick in April and didn't get all the much knitting done at all. At the start of this month, however, a friend of mine brought a cute little baby vest pattern to my attention. I went to her house that evening to share a skein of yarn from my stash so she could cast it on and I cast on too, sort of an informal little knit-a-long. This is the result:
I made that one using the magic loop method. It was a fun and satisfying knit and my very first finished knit garment. I made it for the bean I am expecting in July. I can actually just fit this onto my daughter so it will be something the bean can wear this winter.
I had such a blast making that vest that I decided to make a summer shirt for my daughter using the same pattern. I adjusted the yarn to cotton and adjusted the pattern to be larger for her since it is written for a newborn and she is actually two years old. This one I knit in the round.
This came out large enough to fit her now as a summer shirt and this fall over another shirt as a vest.
Then, because the wool vest for the bean came out larger than newborn sized I thought I'd make him a cotton vest to wear when he is born. I wanted the wool vest to be a bit larger than newborn, maybe about a 3 month size but think it is more a 12 month size since I can squeeze my toddler into it after all. So, I cast on for vest number three! I used a nice cotton I had in my stash and think it came out about the size I will need it to be for him to wear it soon after he is born and maybe up to about three months old.
It was such fun making these little vests! I am so glad that my friend found the pattern and that I gave it a go! After making three I was definitely ready to work on something else though! I decided to make another friend a baby sleep sack. She is actually due the day before me and we are both expecting little boys. I started her sack before dinner one evening and it was somehow finished before bed! I think I'm getting faster!
I also really wanted to try and get caught up on my afghan squares this month. I have been trying to work on the squares consistently so that I could have all the squares for which I already had yarn and patterns done before it was time for me to pick up my new bags. i made a little goal for myself to have them finished by this previous Friday since I planned to make a trip to the yarn store and pay for this quarter's membership and pick up my kits she had waiting. I got really close! I worked and worked and got to just one final repeat. I didn't quite make it. I still have that one repeat to do. I hope to finish it after this blog in fact.
You may be wondering, if I had only one repeat to go, how I have not finished it yet two days later? That would be because I finally did it! I finally stopped fretting and made myself cast on a sock! I have wanted to knit socks for quite some time now. The book that I am using to learn how to make this sock was actually purchased over two years ago along with sock yarn and double pointed needles with the intention of casting on then. I have no idea what happened. I do know that I am very nervous about trying new things in knitting and so I often just put it off and work with what I know. The same friend that suggested the vest has been sort of attempting socks for a short while now. She will start at the toe and get to the instep and get bored or have it unravel in her purse. Both of these attempts resulted in frogging and still no sock. I really wanted to try a sock though since I was so empowered by making my first garment and having so many things go on and off the needles in such a short time. I talked to my friend and told her I was ready to start and that she should try again too and we could motivate one another and help through any sticky situations. so I cast my sock on Friday and am still not past the toe increases but am very happy with what I have done so far. My friend is blazing ahead of me with one cuff down sock on the needles almost to the heel already and one toe up sock on the needles just past the toe increases! I don't know which she'll finish first but I do know that she will have an entire sock finished by the time I get to my first heel!
This is an action shot the night I cast on. I used Judy's magic cast on, and used a YouTube video to learn that. I also decided to work the sock, at least the toe increase portion, using magic loop. The instructions in my book are for dpns but I just thought that, for me, the sock would go more smoothly and not have ladders or other issues if I began this way. I am still contemplating switching to dpns through the instep portion just to see how I like that. Also, I cast on with a US 1 since that is the circular needle I bought to use for magic loop socks, and think that it is a pretty dense fabric and I could stand to move up a needle size. If I switch to dpns I will be able to move up to a US 2 and see how I like that fabric. I also ordered a US 2 circular and so if I do like the fabric, but am not crazy about the dpns, I will be able to continue the sock on the size 2 once that needle arrives in the mail. I don't want to frog the toe or anything because it isn't so tight or dense that it is a problem by any means. I just think that if I could use a 2 it will go faster and with the toe being on a size 1 it will just be that much tougher or more sturdy for daily wear. I am making this first pair of socks for my Dad because he has asked for socks since I fist taught myself to knit. I am using a ball of KP Stroll in the colorway Foliage because my Dad is a huge fan of orange.
Overall, it has been a very productive moth thus far. I am worried that my knitting time will become nonexistent once the bean is born. I really hope that I can somehow knit while he nurses or that I will have enough energy to knit while he naps. We will see how it goes. The first week or two there will be no knitting I am sure!
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