click to see the whole thing!

Hey Teach has been sleeved and blocked but still awaits her buttons. The ends are all woven in. She fits like a dream. I can't wait to wear her! In the meantime, I'm dreaming of a little something Spud & Chloe-y to knit next....

All this rain (and a particularly crazy day yesterday) have left me in need of a little mood enhancer. Enter Wacky Baby Knits!

We all know that I enjoy babies in wacky knits. Especially my babies.

     
I'm feeling cheerier already.

So you won't be surprised when I tell you that I couldn't resist this hilarious little book full of silly knits for kids. I brought it to knitting group this weekend and we were all in stitches looking at the adorable photos of the babies in the funniest little knits. Like...

...these complete frog and pirate outfits. (And don't forget the cow suit on the front cover!) Now those are some Halloween costumes just begging to be knit!

In addition to these outfits, there's a series of seriously laugh-out-loud funny hat patterns. Are you ready? (Swallow that coffee, we don't want any messes on the keyboard.)

 
Elvis hat and Mohawk hat

Those are just too good!

And for those who like to knit baby booties, there's a gaggle of giggle-inducing footies too.

 
Furry Bear Feet and Monster Boots and Mitts

Oh my, I feel so much better now. What's a little rain or a stressful mommy day when I can stay inside and knit a baby Elvis hat for my kids?!

Fourth of July weekend is always special for me since it's my birthday. And this weekend it was even more special because it was a BIG birthday. We celebrated my 40th by going to a little carnival, where I squeezed my 40 year-old body into this kiddie carousel bus for a ride with wee one.

Good times. (Although I was scared for a minute there that I'd never be able to get out!) Other big birthday events include a fun dinner out with the knitsmiths last night, a Red Sox game this week and a weekend trip to NYC! This turning 40 thing definitely has its advantages.

And now for the ugly. I'd planned for my 40 fat quarter quilt to be a present for myself for my 40th, but before I can finish it, I've got to improve my quilting skills. So this week I've been working on the ugly picnic blanket. Anyone remember that one?! As a warm up to quilting the kids' quilts and, eventually, my big birthday 40 fat quarter quilt, I'm doing my first time ever free motion quilting on the ugly picnic blanket.

 
front and back

It looks alright from a distance, but up close, it's pretty ugly! The meandering stipple pattern rocks (yes, I'm using a template!) but my stitch length is anything but uniform. Luckily, the quilt was meant to look ugly (so I won't feel bad dragging it to the playground and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on it and letting the kids sit on it with sandbox feet) so no amount of gorgeous quilting was ever going to save it.

click to see the big ugly!

Still, even with all that ugly fabric and all that ugly quilting, I'm growing very fond of it. Like turning 40, it's big, it's kinda ugly, but it's goooood.

I'm just back from teaching my knitting class in my new, aptly named, hey teach sweater!

(Photos were taken by the blue blog's new official photographer, S. He is so hired! I tried to take some pics on my own but they came out terrible.)

So here it is, in all of it's still-slightly-too-short-despite-my-having-lengthened-it glory. I am, however, very pleased with how the button bands came out after my changes. I wish the ribbing in the middle would actually cinch the sweater in a bit, but still that lace sure is lovely.

click for a close-up

And I am surprised by how much I like this short-sleeved summer cardigan idea. It was delightful to wear both inside the yarn store, where it was a little humid and stuffy, and outside, where it was cool and breezy. It seems that even the teacher can learn something new.

A round of applause, please. I have finally finished my blue gloves, my first knitted gloves ever! I was so excited about these gloves last winter. I finished the first glove in a day, slowed down a bit on glove number two and then eventually put it down for good with three fingers done back in December. When I was digging through my knitting stuff to find something to bring to knitting group last week, I spotted these at the bottom of the pile and figured it was about time I finished them up.

another fine picture by my son, S

The yarn was some vintage Sunshine Yarns worsted and the pattern is the basic glove pattern from Ann Budd's indispensable Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. I love them! Which is really too bad, cause that means I'm gonna have to make more gloves. And we saw how quickly that went the first time. Get ready for the sound of one hand clapping....

... a Purl bag full of Spud and Chloe!

Birthday shopping in NYC was great. I got myself a whole new wardrobe practically. A sort of I-just-turned-40 thing took over and I decided I needed new everything from undies to pajamas to clothes and makeup. I also picked up some fun summer reading for the kiddos (current favorites: Captain Underpants and the Magic Tree House Merlin Missions) and made sure to hit my favorite crafty shops as well. I picked up a few fat quarters from Purl Patchwork and Brooklyn General (such a great store!) and made a bee line for the Spud and Chloe yumminess at Purl, finding everything I needed to make both the flap happy hat and the candy stripe jacket.

Finally back home, I've got to clean, do laundry and then get knitting!

This is what wee one calls my Polly Pocket shirt. You see, she got a Polly Pocket doll in a Happy Meal last summer when we went to Germany and Polly was wearing a light green shirt. This year for her birthday, wee happened to get a shirt in the same color and was so excited that she and Polly had the same shirt.

Then I happened to get this 3 dot shirt in the same shade. Wee one was always very happy when I would wear my Polly Pocket shirt and would point to it and say "mama's polly pocket shirt". But after I'd only worn it a couple of times, it got a tiny hole in it, front and center. Nooooooo! I had to find a way to save the Polly Pocket shirt!

So I decided to find (or make) an applique to cover the tiny hole. I'd put off the repair for a bit, hoping to be inspired by some fabric or applique. Then this weekend, I simply couldn't resist the cutie patootie little Japanese appliques they had at Purl Patchwork. I had planned on only using the flower, but then I realized that the hole was just slightly off center, so I added the bunny next to him to keep the whole thing centered. It's a little more baby-ish and even more Polly Pocket-ish, I fear. But I like it and it looks way better than the hole!

Welcome to the latest stop on the Vintage Baby Knits whistlestop blog tour! (with two giveaways, so keep reading...)

I am pleased to present to you Kristen Rengren's beautiful book chock full of classy baby knits with the signature look and stylish details of knits from the first half of the twentieth century.

Jackie Cabled Cardigan set

Rather than construct new patterns with a vintage feel, Kristen has collected and studied hundreds of genuine vintage patterns, selected 40 of these and updated them for knitting in modern yarns with modern techniques. If you've ever examined a vintage knitting pattern, you know that it's not as easy as simply taking said pattern to your lys, picking out yarn and needles and starting to knit. Needle sizes were different, yarn types had all sorts of strange designations and most patterns included no schematics whatsoever. Kristen has done all the hard work for us, translating a bevy of delightful patterns for modern knitters. There are dozens of darling sweaters and cardigans, several constructed in one piece (like the blue cardigan above) or from the top down (like the sweater on the cover). And all of them, including those with more traditional or complicated construction, have excellent and thorough diagrams.

 
Pearl Shrug

This adorable shrug - the first pattern in the book and a stunning example of the quality of all of these patterns - has such a unique construction, I was overcome with the desire to make it just after looking at the schematics! (Seriously, I really want to make one of these! Since my little one is too big for these patterns - most go to 12 or 24 months - I guess I'll have to make one to give away. If you'd like me to knit one for a little baby girl in your life, leave a comment and let me know. I'll pick one name and make the Pearl Shrug just for you! UPDATE: The contest is closed and a winner has already been chosen.)

The smaller and simpler patterns are just as compelling, including soakers, blankets, hats and three perfectly vintage stuffed animals.

 
Pixie Hat, Rupert the Lion & Elmer the Elephant

Kristen has masterfully given these old patterns new life, making them appealing to a modern audience by presenting them in contemporary yarns (the Pixie Hat above, for example, was knit in Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks that Rock!) and in contemporary knitting parlance, but always keeping the true vintage style. She has resisted the urge to change the gauge or details too much. The patterns are still knit a fine gauge with traditional motifs and pattern stitches and therefore, still convey all the delicacy, elegance and charm of vintage style.

Liza Sideways Sacque

Wanna win a free copy of Vintage Baby Knits?! Click here for info on how to enter the contest being run by STC Craft. You can also peek at a gallery of many more of these gorgeous projects and even download a free pattern from the book! And be sure to check out the whole blog tour for some funny interviews, insider info on knitting for the book and much more still to come! (Next stop: Handmade News tomorrow!) You can also visit Kristen's blog for a whole series of articles on knitting vintage.

(A question to the brilliant folks at STC Craft who followed up Melanie Falick's lovely Weekend Knitting with Heather Ross' fabulous Weekend Sewing: can we hope for a Vintage Baby Sewing book sometime in the future? Pretty please?)

UPDATE: Congratulations to Robin, who left the lucky 14th comment and is the winner of a handknit Pearl Shrug. If you see this, Robin, send me an email and we'll talk yarns! Thanks to everyone who played along!

We were busy celebrating the boys' birthday this weekend with a pool party and a big trip to Six Flags. So all regular Sunday activities, like knitting in the evening or watching Masterpiece Mystery had to be postponed until yesterday evening. Last night, I set out to knit one of my new Spud & Chloe projects while watching Miss Marple, inveterate knitter herself, solve a good old fashioned English countryside who dunnit. (I'm a week behind on my Miss Marples because of my trip to NYC the weekend before, so no comments on this week's episode, please!)

I knitted a good three inches on the start of my Candy Stripe Jacket. The yarn is the to-die-for soft Jade Sapphire Cashmere. I wanted to get the exact yarn as in the pattern picture, but the Spud & Chloe yarn isn't actually red like I'd thought from seeing the pattern picture on my monitor, it's more of a dark burnt orange. I had so fixated on that red color that I was determined to find something at Purl that would match the image of it in my mind. There was some Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton that I rejected as too bulky and some basic Rowan cotton yarn that wasn't going to be special enough. They didn't have enough of a shade of Koigu KPM I'd considered and some Koigu Kersti was going to cost a fortune (there's like no yardage on those hanks!). In fact, it would be the same price for me to just make the sweater in cashmere. Mmmm, make the sweater in cashmere, mmmmmm. Once I'd had that thought, I was pretty much done shopping. They were knitting up a swatch of the Jade Sapphire which looked and felt marvelous and it came in a bright coral color that always appeals to me. Sold!

The yarn is everything I'd imagined. It's so soft and light, it's heavenly. Indeed, I enjoyed knitting these first three inches so much that I'm not even annoyed that I have to reknit them. (Doh! I read the pattern wrong and forgot to knit the slip stitch edging along one side.) Mmmaking the sweater in cashmere, mmmmmmm. Did you say something about slip stitch? I was wasn't attending. Cashmere, mmmmmmm. If Miss Marple had had this cashmere to knit with, I'm sure she wouldn't have bothered solving half those cases.

Another night, another show, same three inches of the candy stripe jacket.

I ripped out the few inches I'd already knit (sans slip-stitch edging, doh!) and reknit them correctly, this time while watching MI-5 (hubby and I are only on the second season, so no spoilers, please!). It was certainly a different experience knitting to MI-5 than Miss Marple. A bit more distracting and intense. But when things get scary, I can get lost in my cashmere. Mmmmmm, cashmere....

Knitting on the candy stripe jacket continues. I'm almost twelve inches in on one front panel, thanks, most recently, to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I was watching an old favorite, the 1940's version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson and lo and behold, there's Lizzie and her mother winding yarn.

Greer Garson made a beautiful Lizzy Bennet and Olivier is still my favorite Darcy. And then there's the cashmere, of course, mmmmmm....

While I was at Purl in NYC a couple of weekends ago with my mom, she spotted a gorgeous sample scarf they had knit up in Alchemy's Migration yarn. It was a simple brioche stitch pattern (instructions are posted on their Purl Bee website) but what made it so special was how they alternated two colorways of the yarn, just like the Noro striped scarves seen here and here and everywhere on the web. I've always loved these scarves and how the simple act of switching yarns every two rows transforms each colorway by breaking it up and slowing down its color changes, blending its colors with other unexpected colors. But there's no way I could ever wear Kureyon or even Silk Garden on my neck. Uhn-uh. Soooooo, when mom saw this scarf and said she might like one for her birthday (hint, hint), I was skeptical. Then I went over and touched it. Ahhhhhh, it was soft and silky and light and lovely. I immediately agreed to make one for her.

We found the exact shades of Migration they had used (Goldeneye and Cinnamon Teal) and I dug out my ball winder and swift, which I never use anymore because I'm too lazy, to wind up two perfectly lovely balls of Migration ready to do this one right. (Only for you mom!)

I'm barely into the thing and already it's both as fun and as boring as I'd imagined it would be. My eyes will blur over from working the same pattern row over and over and over and over and over and I'll think I can't possibly knit that row another time ever, but then I'll catch a glimpse of how the colors have changed in those last few rows and I'm utterly beguiled into knitting more.

I've spent another couple of nights with my alchemy scarf (info here) and new things are happening. I was worried it might repeat itself, but this second section looks quite different from the first.

click to see the whole scarf now

It's gotten so boring though that I spent the previous night's knitting time dreaming of starting a new project. So I dashed out with wee one yesterday to pick out some yarn for the baby shrug I want to make from Vintage Baby Knits for Robin (the winner of my vintage baby knits contest!)

I wonder how many nights I'll be able to keep myself from starting this one.