Finally finished: the Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater

I have way too many nearly finished projects. One of my recent goals has been to start knocking these out, and this sweater was high on the list.

This sweater was started about 2.5 years ago (I know, I know). It was intended to be one of two. One of my good friends from graduate school has twin girls, and they were nearing their first birthday. I found this free pattern through Interweave Knits, and was immediately smitten. I love the sweet simplicity of it, and the twins' mom had recently commented about how impossible it is to keep the long sleeves of most sweaters clean when babies are eating. The pattern also uses a couple of additional techniques I'd been wanting to try: top-down knitting and real cables (I'd only used mock cables in previous projects).

The pattern called for baby alpaca yarn, but since I prefer using more easily washable yarns for baby projects (I can't imagine a new mom wanting to spend any time hand washing baby clothes), I found a machine washable merino wool on Knit Picks. This yarn was great to work with. It was super soft, and the color of the un-dyed version was exactly what I had in mind for this sweater.

This project taught me that I love knitting cables. I become a bit giddy on rows where I get to actually make the twists. I also found that I love love LOVE top-down knitting with raglan sleeves. The actual finishing steps of knitting projects always hold me up (more on that in a moment), so not having to sew the sleeves on at the end of the project is pretty exciting. Somehow it felt a little more organic to have the entire sweater come together at once, rather than in pieces.

Eventually I realized the sweaters weren't going to be done in time, and the project lost the sense of urgency it originally had. Once I finished knitting, the sweater was tucked away for awhile. As I already mentioned, I haven't exactly learned to appreciate the process of finishing - especially when it comes to weaving in ends and blocking. This project has been haunting me ever since.

Over the last week, I finally took care of the finishing touches. I still like the pattern, and I highly recommend it for beginners looking to try sweaters or top-down knitting. All that stockinette stitch does show mistakes a bit more readily though (looking at it a couple years after working on it, I noticed a few twisted stitches and gaps where yarn was joined). The washable merino blocked beautifully, though I haven't seen how it actually holds up to machine washing. My friend's twins are obviously a little big for it now, but I'll hang onto it until the next time a friend has a baby girl!

Do you have any nearly finished objects? Are there particular steps that always hold you up?

When it's not all or nothing

For the first 28 years of my life, my bread had always come from the store. (Full disclosure: it still does most of the time.) For a couple of reasons, I eventually started thinking I should make it myself. First, I became more aware of the ingredients in packaged foods. It was difficult to find brands without high-fructose corn syrup, for example. Second, I actually ate fresh bread for the first time. It was kind of a revelation. The stuff in the plastic sleeves at the supermarket just can't compete. Still, the idea of making bread myself seemed intimidating and time-consuming. I continued to buy my supermarket bread.

Eventually, I met my now-fiancé. He introduced me to a new kitchen toy: the bread machine.

Sure, I'd heard of bread machines before. I even have a friend who had extolled their virtues. Honestly, I'd kind of always shunned them though. It sort of seemed like cheating. If I was going to make my own bread, I should go all in, right? And have you seen bread machine bread? It's a totally uninspiring cube! With a hole in the bottom!

You know what, though? When I used the bread machine, I had total control over the ingredients that went into it.  And even if is wasn't pretty, the taste beat the pants off of the stuff from the supermarket. It still doesn't get as much use as it should, but I did pull it out this past weekend. There's not much better than the smell of bread baking on a rainy afternoon. (Another point for making your own bread!)

So far most of my loaves have been made using the whole wheat recipe that came with the bread machine, though I'm looking to expand my repertoire. Do you have any favorite bread machine recipes? Or go-to recipes for making it all yourself? I still want to work up to regularly baking bread without the assistance of a bread machine, but I'm happy okay with where I am for now. In the end, it's better to be taking small steps than no steps at all!

What's wrong with this picture?

Have you ever had one of those days? Today was one for me. After work I decided to finish up this knitting project that’s been haunting me for a couple years now (more on it later). I was nearly done sewing on the snap when I realized I’d sewn it on…backwards. I decided it was time to cut my losses and called it a day on any projects that require more than stockinette stitch. Tomorrow, though, I’m knocking this project out! In the meantime, I’ll be bringing my pumpkin hat bag to knitting group.

It's pumpkin hat season!

We’re still several weeks away from Halloween, which means I’m officially devoting all my knitting time to pumpkin baby hats for the next month or so. In 2009, my final tally was 8 hats, which I donated to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Parkland, the Dallas County public hospital. While I like knitting baby stuff in general (it’s cute and it works up so quickly!), there’s a special need for handmade items for preemies. Baby clothes aren’t typically made in such small sizes, which I was made more aware of by having two aunts who have worked as NICU nurses.

The hats were really well received last time, and I had a lot of fun working on them. My knitting bag went everywhere with me, and I worked on them any time I had a free moment, whether it was waiting at my doctor’s office or getting my oil changed. (I’m still amazed by how much knitting in public serves as a conversation starter.) Going into the 2012 pumpkin had season, my goal is to beat my number from 2009. Also, I’ll share information about how I make them for anyone who wants to play along at home!

First a couple of things to keep in mind when knitting for your local NICU:
1.) Stay away from natural fibers: Yes, I prefer cotton and wool, too. However, they just won’t survive the high-temperature washes all NICU donations are subject to for the safety of the babies.
2.) NICU babies come in all sizes: As I said above, there is a special need for items in smaller sizes. If you’re looking to donate several hats though, consider making some bigger sizes as well, since even full-term babies can end up in the NICU.

I was inspired by, and used, the hat pattern found here. Ultimately, I used modified pumpkin vines after deciding I needed to learn some remedial crochet before trying more advanced stitches. Thanks to Google, I was able to find knitting patterns with similar vines (like the one here).

When it came to finding yarn, I wanted it to be soft (it was going to be for babies, after all) and I wanted a shade of orange that didn’t inspire thoughts of construction crews. I eventually settled on Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice (more details on my Ravelry project page here). Pulling it out this year though, I decided to see if there were softer options out there.

My first stop was Knit Picks. I haven’t tried many of their yarns, but what I have used, I’ve loved. Their Brava Worsted is ridiculously cheap compared to even Vanna’s Choice, and I think their Persimmon color would be just about perfect. It’s also well-reviewed on Ravelry. Those same reviewers also recommended Berroco Comfort. It’s likely going to be more expensive than Brava, but I feel like I should try it for comparison’s sake! (Besides, I’ve enjoyed the other Berroco yarns I’ve used.) More on these yarns once I’ve had a chance to try them out!

Do you have any recurring charity crafting projects? Any favorite patterns or recipients? Do you have any favorite brands of yarn (or other materials) that you go back to for your charity projects?

Making up for lost time

I’ve always been picky. I’ll see a nearly perfect gift for someone and think, except it’s more of an olive green, and I’d really prefer moss. I’ll find a totally serviceable bath mat, but decide it would really fit the space better if it was an inch and a half wider. Don’t even ask me about clothes shopping. (Suffice to say that it’s a very special combination of my pickiness and the inability of anything off the rack to fit my arms and my torso simultaneously.)

So much yarn! So many good intentions!

So what’s a picky girl like me to do? Well, one option would be the make more things myself. I like this idea. Who doesn’t prefer something personalized to the stuff you can find by the cartload at your local big box store? Wonderful! A solution to my particular brand of particularness!

In case you can’t read those book spines from where you’re sitting, their subjects range from knitting and quilting to pastry arts and bonsai (yeah, I don’t know either).

Not so fast. Sure, I get big, lofty crafting ideas. Of course I’ve bought far more materials and notions than I deserve for the number of items I’ve actually completed. Why? Because I’m still picky when it’s something I’ve made. Since I’m still a beginner to most types of crafting, I psyche myself out before I even start. I’m afraid of putting a lot of time and effort into something and still not liking the outcome. That brings me to the purpose of this blog.

It’s more than a little ridiculous that I have this many sewing patterns, but no finished garments (yet).

I want to start tackling projects instead of overthinking them. I want to throw myself into a new craft without trying to plan for every conceivable bump in the road first. I want to let the entire process be more messy and not worry about things working out perfectly the first time I try them. When I was learning to knit, I made myself sit down a knit at least one row per day. Hopefully this blog will provide me with some accountability and inspire me to make regular, if tiny, steps towards other goals as well.