FO: Lady Chadwick Cap Update

A couple of weeks ago I finished test knitting a new pattern, Lady Chadwick Cap, for a friend of mine. It wasn't totally finished...it still needed the finished button. Buttons set the whole mood for your knits. You want it to be just right, especially after you've spent hours, days AND years knitting or crocheting something. Again, I had a problem deciding what to which button. There are SOOOO MANY to choose from!! :(

First we looked at feathers. Then silk flowers. Then combination feather, flowers and buttons. And finally buttons. Oh man! The buttons!! o.O

We looked at a neat distressed wooden button with simple peach and teal flowers painted on it ($7). Nice. It looked good with it but it wasn't a post button. There was a really nice brass button with Celtic knot cut outs ($8). It was really nice with the cap. THEN we saw a black button with pink and teal inlay in a flower design. Oh my. $15. OH MY! DAMN!

Well, thank goodness I had a 50%-off Jo-Ann's coupon because it was the perfect button! At least I think it is. :P

It's a fabulous hat!! Can't wait for Andrea to start selling this wonderful pattern. LOVE

FO: January Baby Sweater and Booties

Voila! It's finished...and just in time!! I got the January Baby Sweater AND Booties all finished...seamed and ends woven in and buttons sewn on. It's going to be hard to part with it but it's going to a good home. :)

I ended up using +/-2 skeins of Crystal Palace's Panda Cotton in Royal Purple with 3mm DPNs. It's a wonderful blend of bamboo and cotton. Perfect for a Texas baby.

The sweater is Lankakomero's Baby Outfit.  I didn't make the pants that go with it as I had planned.

And the ADORABLE booties were designed by a friend of mine. They are Shirley Ruffle Baby Socks from Christine Olson Originals. They are super easy and definitely a baby must-have!!! What can I say...They're just TOOOOOO CUTE!!!

So...NOW what do I do?

Almost Finished!

YAY! The January Baby Sweater is almost done!! It is blocking now. All that's left will be to sew up the side seams. This is a super easy pattern by Lankakomero. There was only one place in the pattern for the.Baby Outfit that through me. It must have been in the translation. It said to "hop over" -- It must be a Finnish technique :P

Now I'm working on matching booties and maybe a hat. We'll see how motivated I get about making the hat.

I loved knitting with Crystal Palace's Panda Cotton. It's scrumptious!

New Technique Day

I've had the Knitting Brioche book for a while now and have been wanting to try it for the longest time. I especially love two-color reversible brioche. SO...I figured since I just finished my first Red Heart Special Olympics 2012 scarf yesterday (pictures to follow later) that now is a good time to learn how to knit brioche. As I was crocheting the RHSO scarf I was thinking how a scarf in the red and blue would be cool in the reversible brioche. Basically new technique = new scarf. Love it! :)

Here's a beautiful sample from Knitterbelle of what I'll be knitting.

Wish me luck! I'm off to try this. You could hear screaming later. LOL


**UPDATE**
So I have spent the afternoon knitting and ripping. :(

I have found the book instructions and online instructions to be convaluted!! I watched soundless youtube videos and can see it done BUT it just wasn't clicking. ::sadness::

I did some more searching and have found a link to what could be the oldest reversible brioche scarf pattern online by Borealis Yarns but posted by Rebecca back in 2005.  This pattern MAKES SENSE!! It's in English. LOL 

This is the link you want to use for the 2-color Reversible Brioche Scarf!!

Purple Honey Cowl

This is a WONDERFUL to make!!! It's Madelintosh's Honey Cowl. I pulled three skeins of Sirdar's Peru in Damson out of my stash -- a nice chunky wool, alpaca and acrylic blend. I know the pattern called for some DK weight and the Peru is bulky but I winged it with great success. :)

I cast on 140 stitches with US 11 circulars. This thing FLEW while I was knitting it. You knit a row and then only knit half the stitches the next row. How easy is that?!?!

The Sirdar Peru was really nice to work with, too. I love how the dark purple gently blends into the lighter purple.

When it was finished, I was surprised that it didn't measure up like I had planned. I had wanted a longer cowl. I screwed up somewhere in my calculations. Oh well, It's still a nice length. I blocked the hell out of this one and stretched and stretched it. The pattern opened up nicely. I was afraid it might be too hot because of the weight of the yarn but the stitch pattern makes a nice design of "air holes" so I'll get some air circulation around my neck. :)