Pairings

Sometimes one thing fits so nicely with another thing that a knitter just can’t resist. This was a gift for a newborn and a gift for his sib. Levi got the Milo vest, by Georgie Nicolson. It’s knit in HiKoo Simplicity Solid, an easy-care DK weight spun in 55% merino, 28% acrylic, and 17% nylon. And for the sib? My Sunrise Side Bear, a Ravelry freebie, dressed in Nicholson’s Dolly Milo.

This is one time that matchy-matchy is no shame. I kind of think it’s baby-present perfect.

Here’s a closer look at this iteration of Sunrise Side Bear, knit in Berroco Comfort Print. Comfort is a very soft yarn so I knit this fellow at a very tight gauge, on US size 3 needles. That’s because it wouldn’t do to have stuffing showing through because Bear would be very emBEARassed.

I decided to knit Judith Durant’s freebie Watch Cap with the rest of the Comfort skein. I was surprised and pleased by how precisely the striping worked out.

And just look at the sweet bullseye-patterned crown decrease.

This Watch Cap is a classic unisex pattern. Easy peasy is sometimes just what a knitter needs and just what a wearer wants. Pair it with a cute stuffy for a great holiday present. Knit it in playful striped yarn to brighten up a dreary wintry day. Or knit it in somber tones for all your dearly beloved stick-in-the-muds who wouldn’t be caught dead in a hat as cheerful as this one.

Sunrise Side Bear

I live on what Michiganders (don’t laugh, that’s what we are) call the “Sunrise Side.” That’s the northeastern section of Michigan’s lower peninsula. Almost all the sections of the Sunrise Side are less affluent, more rural, just a wee bit less scenic (being honest now) than the western side of the northern lower peninsula. We have our share of big homes, beautiful homes, interesting shops, and jaw-dropping natural views. But we also have a lot of children taking backpacks of food home for the weekend. And my town has more vacant storefronts than occupied ones.

After I worked out the pattern for this little guy, Sunrise Side Bear seemed the best name for it. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

My pair of fraternal twin bears is knit in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted. In this beefy worsted, knit at a tight gauge on size 5 needles, they turn out to be about 9 inches tall and 6 inches across the arms.

Sunrise Side Bear is knit flat. Totally flat. In one piece. His face, head, tummy, and butt are formed by short rows. In case you’ve not yet learned how to work short rows, all the instructions are included.

These little guys just keep leaping off my needles. Even with sewing up and stuffing I complete one in about 4 hours.

Here’s another one I recently knit for newborn Sophia. Again I used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride.

I like to gift them wearing duds of some sort. For a newborn, a scarf seemed like a bad idea. Instead, I knit Georgie Nicholson’s Dolly Milo. Dolly Milo, knit in DK weight, is actually designed as a vest. But Sunny wears hers as a dress. 

Sophia also received her own Milo vest. Hers is knit identically to the doll’s version, but I chose a different cable panel.

I knit the vests in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK. The set made for quite a sweet newborn gift.

I recently knit a fingering weight hat out of some very special light fingering weight yarn: Fiber-Isle’s Buff. It’s 25% cashmere goat, 25% rayon, 25% bamboo and 25% “other animal.”  According to Fiber Isle, Buff is “made once a month from fibers left over from our blends. Never the same but always nice.” They spin bison yarns, so maybe some of the other is bison? Anyway, I had a smidge left after completing my hat (47 yards, actually) and thought I’d have enough for a tiny wee Sunrise Side Bear. “Close but no cigar…”

Running out of yarn created a patchwork bear. And once my bear already had a green front leg and a green front foot, it seemed to need some clothes to blend in the mish-mash.

I am inordinately fond of this little guy.

Read more about the Sunrise Side Bear’s construction here.

Stay safe, everyone. Knit on!

Small and smaller stuff

Well, well. Doesn’t Lambie look stylish?  She’s partial to pink and purple and told Glasshead that this is her favorite ensemble.

Lambie is wearing Dolly Milo, the doll-sized version of Georgie Nicolson’s popular child-sized DK-weight vest. Her pint-sized version sports a simple cable. I knit the 9 inch version of the pattern, which includes modifications for a 5, 7, and 11 inch doll as well.

For Evelyn’s Milo I knit the 4-yr old size and selected the hugs ‘n kisses cable strip. Nicolson’s pattern is sized from newborn to 6 years. It includes directions for six different cable strips. So, knitters’ choice.

Milo is a very clever construction. It’s knit top down, in one piece. No seams, despite the boxy “yoke.” My set is knit in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, a superwash.

Now, keep this next bit quiet. Lambie is not much of a reader, and neither is 3-yr old Evelyn, so I think the news is safe here. Evelyn is getting a second Milo as part of her New Year gift package. There wasn’t enough yarn left to knit one for Lambie, so I’ve not blabbed much about it. But for Evelyn? Well, ta da!

Totally cute, methinks. The cable is the horseshoe pattern. The yarn is Done Roving Yarns Frolicking Feet DK gradient. It’s another superwash. I purchased it for socks. But then I realized that not everyone likes their socks unmatched, which is what this gradient would have translated to as socks. Plus 350 yards of DK isn’t always enough for socks. What to do? Milo turned out to be a perfect choice. There was a bit of yarn chicken to the ending though. I shortened the vest some, which will still be fine for Evelyn, and I had about a yard of yarn to spare. The gradient really shines in this pattern.

Ok. Lambie is baaaaa-ing over on the bookcase, demanding she get back into the spotlight.

She’s modeling Keweenaw, a freebie from the Berroco Design Team. In 2013, Berroco’s Team bear, Barrison, traveled to Michigan’s upper peninsula. Barrison’s human lived in the UP for a few years and knew that the UP is jaw-droppingly beautiful. She blogged about the trip here. The Keweenaw peninsula, copper country, juts out into Lake Superior. Anyway, Barrison traveled about very cozy in his hoodie, complete with ear slots.

Lambie’s pottery ears have zero floppiness. So Lambie couldn’t cooperate in showing off the hoodie part of this hoodie. But Evelyn’s bears will do better. I knit my Keweenaw in what the pattern calls for, Berroco Comfort, and even managed to honor copper country by using yarn from the pumpkin colorway.

The next addition to the doll wardrobe is another Ravelry freebie Little Kina, by Muriela.

Little Kina is designed with 12 and 15 inch dolls in mind. The green and pink sweaters are knit in oddments of Stonehedge Fibers Shepherd’s Wool, a worsted. The wine-colored sweater is knitted in a much beefier worsted (more Aran, actually) Harrisville Design’s WATERshed.

These Little Kinas are really getting a work-out. When last I saw the pink one, Evelyn’s Strelka the Valiant was wearing it. Here’s the secret test to figure out if a recipient is knitworthy. Have their hand knits been used so frequently that they’ve developed pills? Yes? “Callooh, Callay.” I chortle in my joy. My granddaughter is among the knitworthy!

I tamed the Oopado!

PicMonkey Collage

What’s the Oopado? The first question is what’s the Ravelry GAL. The GAL is the Ravelry Indie Design Gift-a-long, an annual event where knitters and crocheters prepare for the holidays as only fiber folks can. With support and encouragement from others on Ravelry, and with a beginning two weeks or so of discounted patterns, the GAL runs from the week before U.S. Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. There are eight categories of paid patterns to choose from:

  • Hats & other head things
  • Cowls, scarves, & other neck things
  • Shawls & stoles
  • Sweaters & other garments
  • Hand & arm things
  • Kids & baby things (except toys)
  • Foot & leg things
  • Toys, home, & other miscellaneous things

And taming the oopado? It’s when a knitter knits at least one item from each of the 8 categories before the GAL closes.

The smaller items? Piece ‘o cake. But also finishing a shawl and a garment? I wasn’t sure I’d make it. Some forced idleness over the holidays was quite a boon to my knitting and I finished all I’d planned.

Starting with the small stuff, this is Coffee Klatch, by 10 Hours or Less. It’s a fun mosaic dishcloth, knit here in Knitpicks Dishie:

CoffeeKlatch

Regular readers know I’m a sucker for mosaic dishcloths and this one is definitely a keeper!  Actually, though, I gave it away. I’m quite sure another is in my near future.

This is Jennifer Boot Cuffs, by Kate Bostick of Cowtown Knits.

Jennifercuffs2

You can probably tell from the pristine condition of my boots, that we haven’t had much snow in Michigan yet this year. My cuffs are knit in humble, very serviceable Lion Brand Heartland. Actually, they aren’t my boot cuffs. They are now my niece Melanie’s boot cuffs. Here’s a closer look.

JenniferCuffs

My choice from the hand category is Aimee Alexander’s Farm to Market Mitts. Mine are knit in Stonehedge Fiber Shepherd’s Wool DK, a wonderful yarn that’s been discontinued.

Farm2Market

I’ve knit Farm to Market Mitts three times before and haven’t yet kept a pair for me. These are mine. They are tucked in my coat pocket. It’s very odd. I didn’t notice until just this very minute, that I’ve got a major goof on the first cable on the right mitt. That must be why I kept them for me.

My hat choice was another Susan Vilas Lewis (Stay Toasty) interesting knit: Vitruvian Man, again in Shepherd’s Wool DK.

vitruvian_hat

Here’s who inspired the hat’s main motif:

url

Honestly, I didn’t know his name. But I’ve certainly seen the image many times, the Leonardo da Vinci guy with the extra limbs, with his arms trapped in the square and his legs trapped in the circle. You can read all about Vitruvian Man here. For present purposes, he’s an excellent hat.

Here’s the top of his head.

vitruvian_hat_top

My neck category selection is Nocturne in M, by Simone Kereit of OwlCat Designs. It’s a one-skein, asymmetrical keyhole scarf. The “M” thing is because Kereit designed it for Malabrigo Rios. Rios is wonderfully soft. It’s one of those I can’t-say-enough-good-things-about-this-yarn yarns. Especially when yarns and necks will be rubbing elbows.

nocturne

I’m told that the Archangel colorway I used is very popular. I definitely like it. You can clearly see how the shades and colors evolved throughout the skein.

Next, in the baby & kids category, is Georgie Hallam’s Milo. There are 10,144 project pages on Milo. It’s an amazingly versatile little garment, sized from newborn to 6 years. Mine is knit in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, sized for a nine month old.

milo

When the Masterpiece Theatre production of Jane Eyre came out in late 2007, Ravelry was abuzz with discussion of Jane’s rustic shawl. Carol Sunday came to the rescue and soon developed and released “To Eyre…,” complete with that great garter stitch ruffle.

eyre

eyre4

Keep in mind that what is itch to many people is cozy to me, but a rustic shawl needs a rustic yarn. Harrisville Design’s WATERshed fit the bill. This is the Mallard colorway. I really like this shawl. But as a friend commented, I won’t be mistaken for Kate Middleton when I wear it. To Eyre satisfied the shawl/stole GAL category.

This is my GAL selection in the garment category: another Georgie Hallam (TIKKIknits) design: Summer Carnival. It’s such a sweet and simple thing.

carnival4

There’s a lovely brooch pattern in the heart position. And another set of three medallions (carnival/ferris wheels) on the right front near the bottom ribbing.

carnival

My Summer Carnival is knit in Classic Elite Fresco, a 3-ply sportweight mix of 60% wool, 30% alpaca, 10% angora. The colorway is 5306, which isn’t showing on the current CE product page. They would usually mean it’s been discontinued. I hope not because straw is an interesting vintage shade.

Hallam’s pattern has a 1950’s sensibility to it. I can see Doris Day wearing this.

carnival3

Thanks to all the Indie Designers who worked so hard to make the third annual Ravelry GAL so much fun. They organized giveaways, gave away lots of encouragement, and gave gobs of discounts. They’re a talented and generous bunch and the knitting universe is fortunate to have them.

Opadoo2

Milo

milo

This little vest is Milo, the brainchild of Georgie Hallam. She’s the talented Australian designer behind Tikki Knits. Her pattern is sized for newborn to six years, with chest sizes from 15 to 25 inches. The cabled column is a “knitter’s choice.” The pattern includes five cabled front panels, among them a very sweet set of stacked owls. I knit the horseshoe cable pattern. Milo is seamless, knit from the top down, and meant to be a bit close-fitting. Couldn’t be easier.

Isaac’s Milo is knit in DK weight Berroco Vintage. It’s an interesting, very soft, but somewhat splitty mix of  50% acrylic, 40% wool, and 10% nylon. I decided to knit the 9 month size to leave some growing room. The vest used just under 60 grams of yarn.

Milo appears on on more than 7000 Ravelry project pages. Patterns don’t reach those kind of numbers without having tons going for them.