Sassy Sara modeling her Sparkle Shrug

Gave Sara her shrug tonight and she loved it. Much to my delight it wasn't that big on her!



It was funny though, b/c she was standing with me when I went into the trunk of my car to get it, and she goes "Is something in there for me?" and then gets this look on her face and says, "I remember you said you were going to make me a white sparkly dress." I corrected her and said "Not a dress, a little sweater..." and she nodded, as if to say "yes, that's right." Then I poked her little belly and said "You stinker! You ruined my surprise. I have it here to give you!"

So we went inside and I gave it to her, and she modeled it for me right away. Crappy cell pics because of course I forgot to bring my real camera. Oh well, this little tushie looks just as cute via cell pics. And just for the record, I did not ask her to pose for any of these, she just automatically strikes a pose when you ask to take her picture. I seem to recall another little girl...cough cough me cough cough...who used to do the same exact thing.

New Year's Eve Sparkle Shrug

For Sara. A very quick knit that ended up being too big in an attempt to not make it too small. Oh well, she'll grow. Made with LB Wool-Ease in white/iridescent (hard to see in pics) and size 8 needles. Used THIS cute and easy pattern, with some mods that I'll post later. I know Sara will like it but I wish it was going to fit her now.

Mom's Ruby Wrap: done for Christmas

Opening it up...



Modeling it...



How great does that look?! I can't believe I finished it in time, but I did. I ended up using only 7 of the 8 skeins (100 yds. each) of Berroco Softwist (the color is "cool red") since mom is only 5'4" and I didn't want the thing to eat her up. It fits perfectly and is the perfect length to be worn just evenly draped over the shoulders, or with one end wrapped around.



A little blurry but shows off the pattern well...



I love the drape of this yarn and the slight sheen from the one nylon thread that runs through it. So yeah, it turned out great. I left it on a scrap yarn holder just in case she did want it longer, but she doesn't...so all I have left to do is bind off. I didn't even block it b/c I didn't have the right stuff...so I just pulled on it a lot and that worked! Below is a picture of mom wearing the shawl as well as about 5 other scarves that Gabby got her. Sara insisted on putting them all on her at once and I got a few good pics of it.

Debbie's Crocheted Arm Cast Cozy

So, Debbie broke her hand a few weeks ago. She has no idea how, but she broke it on the side and it has greatly hindered her knitting. She was obviously bummed and I wanted to do something special for her, but with funds being what they are (i.e. LOW), I decided to make her an arm cast cozy. I found the pattern on Ravelry but it's online HERE. SO quick and SO easy (crochet)! I used RHSS in pink camo, love it! :)



The note attached says:

I know that you've been feeling down.
And things don't look to rosey.
But cheer up, smile, check this out!
Your very own arm cast cozy!

Cafe con Thanks

On occasion, I’ll stop at a little Cuban cafeteria right by the university on my way there in the mornings. I just walk up to the outdoor window to order my cafe con leche. I’ve been going there for a while and become friendly with Ani, the young girl who is the barista. She is so cute and has taken to starting to make my coffee when she sees me get out of my car. Man, I love that and she is always so cute and nice and asks me how I am, etc.

So for a while, I’d been wanting to do something/gift something nice for her since she told me a couple of months ago that she didn’t have any break over the summer, no vacation or down time, b/c she needed to work. Throughout our conversation, I learned that she works there at the cafe from 6:00am - 3:00pm, then she goes to school every night from 6:00 - 9:00. She can’t be more than 25 years old and I just wanted to give her a little something. I know her situation isn’t unique, but she is always a smiling face despite her situation and I really appreciate that/her. Simple pleasures, ya know?

My first thoughts were to get her a massage/spa gift certificate but of course I can’t afford that right now, so that brought me to option #2: make her a little spa something. Since it was the week before Thanksgiving, it seemed like the perfect time to do it. I put together this little token of my appreciation, a mini spa package. Here is how it was packaged (how much do I LOVE that I had a spa-themed bag and cute matching paper?!):



And here are the contents:



Cloth is Elvish Leaves (my fave)!

4 Scrubby Nubby Cloths

All for the Thanksgiving swap with The Betties, 5 for swapping and 5 for charity. Nine down, one to go. These last two are straight single crochet and I have to say, they are probably the best in terms of nubby scrubbiness. :)

Under the Sea (baby sweater)

This is Raglan Sweater by Debbie Bliss (link is to her Ravelry pattern page) from the book "The Baby Knits Book", which has a lot of great patterns, all of which will make you want to have a baby. I made this for Debbie Singer's son Max, who I met today and who is totally delicious. I altered the sizing specs and added bottom ribbing (knit during Warren's mock trial) so it wasn't a midriff sweater, which I think is not a good look for a baby. :)




Yarn sub: I used Bernat Berella 4 in the Seascape Ombre colorway, which I love. Despite being the same gauge as the yarn suggested in the pattern, it knit up totally different. I'm thinking I am a loose knitter, even my dishcloths are like 2 sizes too big usually.

Pattern mods: I cast on 45, for the 0-3 months size. I knit it for 5.5 inches as per the 12 month size length, but then stopped the decreases at 23 sts (the 9 month size) so the neck was wide enough. Also added two more rows of st st to the neck edge before binding off (so did 4 instead of 2 rows). IMPORTANT NOTE: If I knit this again, I need to make the body longer, about 7 inches long instead of 5.5. The ribbing I added looks okay but I would've preferred the rolled hem.

For the sleeves, I cast on 30, per the smallest size. Knit the length to 7 inches before starting the decreases. Decreased until there were 18 sts left on needle (per the 9 month size).

All the SEAMING for this little baby sweater is NUTSO. Still, it came out super cute and was well-received by Debbie. Since the body was nowhere near long enough, I picked up 88 sts around the bottom cast on edge and knit about 2 inches of 2x2 ribbing.

Two more dishcloths

I randomly made up my own cloth, and titled it so: Friday Night Cloth (link is to my Ravelry page). Nothing great or fancy, but it came out good anyway. It makes these little triangle spaces between rows so would be cute in a solid yarn too. The one pictures is crocheted with Peaches 'n Cream 'Salmon Royale' colorway. Pattern below picture.



Pattern:

chain 26

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and across, ch 1, turn.
Row 2: sc in next ch and across, ch 3, turn.
Row 3: dc in next sc and across, ch 1, turn.
Row 4: sc in next sc and across, ch 3, turn.
Row 5: 2dc in next dc, skip next 2 sts, (3dc in next dc, sk 2 sts) repeat across, ending with a ch 3 in last ch space.
Rows 6, 9, 12, 15: Repeat Row 3
Row 7, 10, 13: Repeat Row 4
Row 8, 11, 14: Repeat Row 5
Row 16 and 17: Repeat Rows 1 and 2




This one is the Autumn Leaf Cloth from the Thanksgiving Cloth collection by krisknits. Cute, easy, quick.

Sherbert Shrug

This was something I'd been wanting to try to make for awhile, and finally did. So easy, will definitely be making more, as gifts and for me. It's the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet. I used Bernat Softee Chunky in the Carnival ombre colorway, which I didn't think I'd like (hot pink and orange? no thank you), but it's actually really cute.



A quick knit b/c of the bulky yarn, too. I accidentally forgot to do the initial neckline ribbing, but I ended up liking it better so that worked out nicely. I crocheted around the front edges and neckline, since I wasn't going to use a clasp to close it and wanted it to come further around. I think it looks nice and 'finished' with the crocheted edging.

PS) I was wearing this purple tank when I tried it on to take a photo tonight. It actually matches (sorta), but I will not be wearing it with this in the future. A plain white tank will look much better.

Circle Cloth

An easy and addicting pattern, with a super cool result that looks much harder than it is. Pattern is the Circle Cloth...totally fun knit. I cast on 34 instead of 46, so it was more of a washcloth size.