September Carefree KAL

This month I made a pillow for my son's new desk chair. He chose the pattern and his favorite colors--the Italian flag. He's thrilled with the results! I'm happy to say that I am too.

This was made from an Italian pattern that actually had four rings. My son wanted three colors, so I modified it slightly changing the size of the rings. Unfortunately I ran out of green when I was working on the backside so it's not quite three equal parts, but if I didn't mention it, you probably wouldn't have noticed. I used ca. 350 meters of yarn.

August Prime Time Entry

This shawl was no fun! The pattern required 350 meters of cotton. The cotton I used was something I had already attempted turning into a sweater, but after using up 1-1/2 balls of the 3 I'd bought, it quickly became apparent it wasn't going to happen. I figured there had to be enough there to make a shawl. There was, but my complaint is based on the fact that the label said there were 550 yards per ball! I've been lied to before, but this is a bit ridiculous. I used more than 2-1/2 balls to complete the shawl. (The yarn was wound onto large cardboard cylinders, so it was all very deceptive.) The shawl was intended for me, but you'll notice it fits my 7-yr-old perfectly...like she needs a shawl! On top of all that, this was the splittiest yarn I've ever worked with. I needed to work in bright light to make sure I was always picking up every single strand of the yarn. Live and learn.

This is pre-blocking. It didn't stretch much when I did block it.

At least the background scenery in these photos is nice. The start is in the Dolomites and the finish was next to the Ligurian Sea. I had a nice vacation despite the dog of a knitting project I was working on.

June KAL

Down to the deadline wire here...I had the hardest time making myself make the tassel for my son's nightcap. I can't explain it, myself.

First project of the month: socks.

Fun to knit--very quick and easy and the end results ain't so bad, either. The pattern is called Chevron Lace Socks from the Lion Brand Just Socks book.

Next up was this baby hat I made for a new arrival in the neighborhood.

And, finally the nightcap I made for my son. I downsized the pattern quite a bit from the original.

I can't get it in close to the photo, but the link to the baby hat pattern is this.

Unfortunately, none of these items used Crystal Palace yarn, but the socks and the hat were both knit on the same set of bamboo Crystal Palace dpns that my sister gave me.

April KAL

This is the first knitted project I've ever made for my mom, who taught me to knit probably more than 40 years ago.Of course I quit knitting shortly thereafter and didn't pick it up again for ~35 years. (All those wasted years...grrrr!!!!!)

Anyway, this will be her Mother's Day present this year. I hope she likes it!

The pattern is called 28's Cousin 53! and is available free through Ravelry. It was knitted with approx. 305 meters (~333 yards) of some house-brand sock yarn I bought at Lidl a few years ago. It was a very quick and easy knit, although it required a lot of purling and 1x1 rib so if you don't like doing either of those, this pattern isn't for you.

Happy 150th Birthday, Italy

Here's my March edition of the KAL completed. It is the Cuff-to-Cuff Pullover by Jen Hagen. My son wanted a sweater in Italian flag colors because Italy celebrated it's 150th birthday this month, two days after he celebrated his 9th. I didn't finish it in time for either celebration, but we had agreed on that beforehand. I'm very pleased with the results and, even better, so is he! This is a very nice pattern, although I enlarged the size 10 slightly and it fits him like a glove.

Left Sleeve

Unfortunately we haven't had a sunny day in which to photograph it outside. Luckily the weather's still barely cool enough for him to wear it...not sure it'll fit next year! About the colors...I know they're not exactly right, but I work with what's available. Also he's wearing it backwards in this photo because the neckline seemed to be oriented the wrong way. Actually it works just fine either way and he's wearing it the other way around today.

Feb 2011 KAL...Done!

I made this hat/scarf/mittens set for my son's classmate. I'm sorry I didn't photograph them all together, but he was in a hurry to give them to her as they were finished. The model is quite a bit smaller than the girl who received them, but I did make the scarf waaaay too long! (I improvised the pattern.) It's a good thing I had roughly a metric ton of that pink wool in my stash.

Hat Start

Hat Done

Pinkies up! Scarf Start

Scarf Done

Mittens Start

Mittens Done

January...done!

I finished this bag today...not thrilled with the results. The yarn didn't fluff out as much as I'd hoped. Maybe I needed to make the loops longer or maybe I haven't spent enough time fluffing. At any rate, that tipped me over the 300-yards-used for the month of January.

Now I'm off to start the Me! Me! Me! project!!

January done...almost!

I finished the First Grade socks

but after all the math, discovered I only used ~245 yards of yarn, dagnabbit! I altered the pattern slightly by making a slip stitch heel flap and doubled the lace ruffle pattern to make it even more girly-girl-ish for my own first-grader. To put me over the top yardage-wise, I'm also making the Flirty Ribbon Purse from "101 Designer One-Skein Wonders" using a different kind of novelty yarn from the pattern's suggestion which will hopefully have a nice ruffle around the top when all is said and done. My yarn options here in Italy are quite limited so I work with what I can find.

First Carefree KAL Entry for Me!

I'm making First Grade socks for my daughter. I just cast on today (January 8).

She's a girly-girl who I think will really love them.

--Melanie