Knitting along

Fair warning for those who only come here for baby posts. I really don't have any new pictures of Maegwin or much of any news. She continues to be adorable and the joy of our lives. No progress really on talking or crawling; she still scoots around in circles. I'll even frontload the blog post with her so that those who have no interest in my knitting can flitter away knowing that I haven't put anything else of interest to you in this post.

Oh and lest ye all think that I don't love the dogs anymore, I caught this moment on film. Their other beds were in the wash so they improvised.


Ok-are they gone? All of you still here, you know what I'm talking about. The good stuff-the knitting. Not that baby stuff isn't good stuff. Of course it is. I've got a wee case of cast-on-itis and thought maybe sharing what I've got going might help.

First up, Hippo from the fabulous book Itty Bitty Toys. This is my first toy attempt and I'm really enjoying it. I've got the head and body sewn together and am working on the arms. The pattern calls for holding two strands together while knitting. This has a two fold benefit of both using up sock yarn (of which I have a lot) and also of giving a mighty interesting mottled look. The yarn is Knitpicks Imagination in the colorway Gingerbread House.

I found some bamboo stuffing that I'm very happy about but I think I should have stuffed the body a bit more. Maybe once the arms and legs are on though it will be fine. It did make for easier sewing on of the head.

Second on the needles is my first crochet project, Santorini. Yes, I am that crazy. Not only did I just learn crochet but I thought "hey, I can totally knit a sweater so I'm sure I can crochet one". I've managed all of one row so far but I knit the gauge swatch about ten times so I feel pretty confident that I both have gauge and know the stitches. It's in a lovely white cotton/tencel blend that has a nice drape and has apparently withstood getting ripped out ten times. Rowan's crochet book has totally changed my focus and I now am looking for ways to combine knit and crochet.

Third on the needles is French Quarter Socks in Burgundy Cherry Mousse from Craftsmeow. She still has some of this yarn at her Etsy shop so go check it out. It is shiny and soft and a dream to work with. I'm making the 72 stitch version and though the pattern calls for size 0 needles I got gauge with a size 2. I'm thinking that perhaps Anne Hanson of knitspot must be a looser knitter than I am. This pair of socks is for the July Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge. I'm still a part of this group on Ravelry though I've yet to complete a pair of socks this year. It seems that Maegwin keeps getting in the way. ;)

Fourth on the needles is Josie's wedding afghan. I'm on the second repeat and everyone compliments it when they see it. I'm doing three to four rows a night and should still be on target to complete it the weekend before we head out. If I can get ahead of the game I will try to do so but there are so many distractions, both knitting, work, gardening, and housework related.

I'm still part of Stashdown in my Yarn Snobs group on Ravelry. I ended Q1 and Q2 in the green and am heading into Q3 with a lot of projects planned to complete. Yardage out only gets to be counted when a project is cast off so there will be lots of that if I can get all aforementioned items completed.