Earthtones Girl

“It’s always obvious which people are most worth knitting for…”

That is what my other dear knitting friend said when I thanked her (briefly via email) for the sweater she sent CJ.  She also said a few other things that brought me to tears!  I’m starting to think the real goal here is to make me cry…

Here’s gift #2…

She had me just with the yarn color and those leaves.

The best sweater pattern ever…

A Baby Surprise Jacket (by Elizabeth Zimmermann) with a brilliant unvention, to use EZ’s phrase, rib-cuffed long sleeves!  Brilliant!!!

Perfect!!!  Now here’s the best part… I dare you to read on and not need a tissue…

Told you you’d need a tissue.  I know this is meant to be worn and loved but I just want to frame it.  I want those messages of love to be daily reminders for my boy.  Sarah also hoped for a son for me.   I’ve chosen my friends very wisely!  Our sons even share the same name, spelled differently (Julian & Jolyon) yet equal in beauty.

Thank you Sarah for the jacket, your love and ever-present support.

When someone gives you a gift there is clearly love and thought and well wishes behind it!  When a knitter gives you a gift there is also the element of time!  Yes the other gifts took time to purchase, wrap, etc but a hand knitted gift takes hours and hours!  Those hours could have been spent doing tons of other things but the knitter spent those hours on you… On making a gift for you!

This post is one of two, to show off gifts made for my son.  My friend Carolyn’s gift is up first…

When she handed this to me, I just held it and looked at it for the longest time.  I couldn’t say a word.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was!  And the work involved…the time involved, the time spent, left me speechless.  My dear friend knit this on #2 needles with sock yarn.  For you non-knitters, that’s a lot of stitches,  effort and there it is again, time!

When this was made my baby’s gender was unknown.  She was secretly praying for a boy and chose red, still gender neutral but would look gorgeous either way!   I would come to know later that many people wanted a boy for me, we’ll talk more about that later.  Let’s admire some more.

My favorite part is the “attached” socked feet!  Does it get any cuter? Um, no!  I wish I had an “action” shot for you but it is way to big and really doesn’t show the beauty.  In the meantime lets see those feet again.

A perfect little baby sock! I can’t stand it, really I can’t!  This should be just the right size when the weather really gets cold.  Actually at the rate my boy is growing he’ll be in  it even sooner.

To my friend Carolyn, I’ve said thank you in person, via written note and now online!  Can you tell how happy you’ve made me!  You are one of my dearest friends and I love you.

From one knitter to another… Knit on!!! And I get it, on all levels!!

When I was pregnant with my daughter Kira, my one and only hobby (reason for living) was knitting.  I had grand plans to my new baby lots of warm goodies to keep warm and snug.  But as fate would have it I developed carpal tunnel syndrome which caused non-stop pain in the last two fingers of both hands.  I tried to knit through the pain but eventually I lost the battle and was only able to complete a few items.

Now everyone says each pregnancy is different so when I learned of my new pending arrival I grabbed the needles and got to work.  All the while praying it wouldn’t happen again.  No such luck.  It has happened again and  it’s even worse this time around.  I was stuck the first time having had only one trick in bag but not this time.  In the five years since Kira was born I’ve learned a thing or two.  And all I can say is thank heaven for my machine and hand sewing skills.

All that said, here’s my little babe’s first toy.  I’d like you to meet Basil the Softie Bear (pattern by Nana Company)

I wish you could feel how soft and sweet this little guy is.

I followed the instructions to the letter, using linen, wool felt, hand sewed the details, etc.  I really love how it turned out!!!

I stuck with a polka dot fabric theme, even found dot grosgrain ribbon in my stash.

And here’s the back…

I slipped stitched the back closed…I highly recommend acquiring that skill.

Can you stand all those adorable dots? I can barely.

There is supposed to be a little patch on the back that reads, “This bear belongs to (then you fill in the baby’s name)”.  I’m going to have to wait to add that a bit later.

Thank God I can sew because even though I can still knit albeit very slowly. I think I would go insane and take everyone with me if I couldn’t make something, anything at all.

And if you’re wondering what I have been knitting here’s a little peek.

I think this little bear will go quite nicely with the hand knits.  Don’t you think!

I can’t even tell you how touched I was by all the wonderful comments both here and on Facebook over my baby news.  Thank you all SO much!!!  I honestly have the best family, friends and readers ever!!!

So now that the cat is out of the bag I can start posting again!  I do have one big project going on right now for a dear friend but in between working on that and living life my babe’s wardrobe is starting to grow.

Baby D is due the first week of October and will need lots and lots of warm goodies!  For the longest time I’ve wanted to sew booties.  I’ve knit them before but there is something beyond adorable about a pair of sewn ones.  The booties below are my first attempt.  Not to bad but not great either.

I decided to combine two patterns.  This one and this YouTube tutorial.  As you can see the heels are different.  The heel on the one on the right (sewn first) is way to small.  The elastic kept slipping on me as I tried to sew it.  And the toe is also a bit smaller because the batting kept shifting too.  I pinned and pinned but it was still tricky.  I followed the written pattern on that one.  For the other one I used the written pattern AND the technique instructions from the YouTube video…and as you can see much better.

Another view….

The written pattern is designed to have all enclosed seams.  While I love that idea I found it darn near impossible to sew without using my own fingers as pin cushions…endless pins.  If these booties were going to walked in then by all means I would make it happen but they are for warmth and I don’t really think the baby with notice or mind.  So I used my beloved pinking shears and voila….

I always tried to make the inside of my work as neat and attractive as the outside.  I have knitting camp to thank for that!!!

I took this picture with the booties on my hand to give you some perspective but I don’t think you can really see how small they are…they are so precious!

Again, not a bad first try but you know me…perfection please (or as close as I can get)!!  Let’s see what happens with my next try!