Happy Birthday, Molly

 I can hardly believe you are 13 years old. 

You have changed my life in ways I could not ever have imagined.  It's not been easy, we've both had a hard time of it, but you have come so far and I am so proud of you.

 You drove me crazy as a baby, doing everything before I was ready.  Climbing on tables at 5 months old.

 

 and standing up at 6.

 This picture always makes me cry because this is the first time you looked at me in about a year. 

 You've grown up so very much

 This was Molly's birthday party.  Caity made a collar like Kermit's

 Molly loves Hello Kitty shirts. 

 Kermit and Charlie in the Box are her favorite things.

Happy Birthday, Molly

Shave and a Hair Cut

The past week or so I've been shaving a lot of my knits.  Like blocking, I never seem to stop being amazed at how much of a difference it makes in how good the items look, so while I was mid project I thought I'd take a picture

These are handspun Cormo (one of my favorite breeds).  If you don't have one of these big shavers it's worth getting.  They can be found at places like Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $15, and they will make your knits look like new again.  In my experience things pill less after their first shave, because most of the short fibers have already come out.

 And since I probably never blogged this pair of mittens, here's the original pictures of them

3 ply cormo, from Winterhaven Fiber Farm, purchased at Greencastle Fiber Fair.  Bulky-ish, I didn't bother with WPI or anything.

The mittens were just improvised and took me 3 days to knit in January 2011, using just under 100 yards.

Swirl Hat German and Danish Translations

The Swirl Hat pattern is the most popular one I've written.   Calanau on Ravelry has offered up this translation into German.

Swirl Hat in German

Muster von Mandie Harrington

Dies ist eine einfache Mütze, die aus weichem Garn in Sockenwollstärke schnell gestrickt ist. Sie ist elastisch genug, damit das wachsende Kind sie eine Weile tragen kann. Weiches Garn und der enganliegende Sitz lassen auch eine großartige Chemomütze entstehen.
Garn: 20 bis 50 Gramm Sheepy Times Yarns Panda Feet
Nadeln:  3,25 mm (US size 3) oder die passende Größe zur angegebenen Maschenprobe. Du kannst ein Nadelspiel oder Rundstricknadeln verwenden.
Maschenprobe: 26 M = 10 cm (glatt rechts)

    Größen (angegeben ist der Kopfumfang):
Frühchen: 30-33 cm
Neugeboren: 33-36 cm
4-12 M: 36-41 cm
12M – 24M: 41-48 cm
Kind: 51 cm
Erwachsener: 55 cm

    Anleitung:
72 (80, 88, 96, 112, 128) Maschen anschlagen und zur Runde schließen.  Achtung: nicht verdrehen!
*2 re M, 2 li M* für 8 Runden
*2 re M, Umschlag, 4 re M, 2 zus.stricken * so fortfahren bis die Arbeit 11,5 (12,5, 14, 15, 16,5, 17,5) cm hoch ist. (ab Anschlagkante)

Beginne mit den Abnahmen:
1. *2 re M, Umschlag, 3 re M, 3 M zus.*, wdh. 63 (70, 77, 84, 98, 112) Restmaschen
2. *2 re M, Umschlag, 3 re M, 2 M zus *, wdh.
3. *2 re M, Umschlag, 2 re M, 3 M zus *, wdh. 56 (60, 66, 72, 84, 96) Restmaschen.
4. *2 re M, Umschlag, 2 re M, 2 M zus *, wdh.
5. *2 re M, Umschlag, 1 re M, 3 M zus *, wdh. 45 (50, 55, 60, 70, 80) Restmaschen.
6. *2 re M, Umschlag, 1 re M, 2 M zus *, wdh.
7. *2 re M, Umschlag, 3 M zus *, wdh. 36 (40, 44, 48, 56, 64) Restmaschen.
8. *2 re M, 2 M zus *, wdh. 27 (30, 33, 36, 42, 48) Restmaschen.
9. *1 re M, 2 M zus *, wdh. 18 (20, 22, 24, 28, 32) Restmaschen.
10. *2 M zus *, wdh. 9 (10, 11, 12, 14, 16) Restmaschen.
Größe 12 M und größer:
11. *2 M zus*, wdh. 9 (10, 11, 6, 7, 8) Restmaschen.
Garn abschneiden und durch die verbliebenen Maschen ziehen. Fest ziehen und Enden vernähen.

(edited 2/19 to fix a mistake in the translation)


And lbjj80 has translated into Danish. 

Swirl Hat in Danish

Swirl hue
For tidlig født: 72m (12-13tommer)
Nyfødt: 80m (13-14 tommer )
4-12 måneder: 96m (14-16 tommer)
Barn: 112m (18-20 tommer)
Voksen: 128m (20-22 tommer)
Slå 128m op på rundpind. Strik 2 r, 2vr. I alt 8 omgange.
Strik 2 r,slå om, 4 r, 2 r sm. Strik dette mønster til arbejdet måker 7 tommer = ca. 17,5cm, fra starten af huen, incl. Ribkant.
Indtagninger:
Pind 1. 2 r, slå om, 3 r, 3 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 2. 2 r, slå om, 3 r, 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 3. 2 r, slå om, 2 r, 3 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 4. 2 r, slå om, 2 r, 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 5. 2 r, slå om, 1 r, 3 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 6. 2 r, slå om, 1 r, 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 7. 2 r, slå om, 3 ret sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 8. 2 r, 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 9. 1 r, 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Pind 10. 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Til de 3 større størrelser:
Pind 11. 2 r sm. Gentag pinden ud.
Luk de resternde masker sammen.
Hæft enderne.

It's not easy being green

Back to catching up- Last fall Molly wore the yellow Shalom cardigan I made her almost all the time, so I figured it was time to make her another sweater.  She said she wanted Kermit green.  

I still wanted a fairly bulky knit because I wanted to finish it quickly, so I chose Iced.  And I wanted a slightly nicer yarn than the acrylic I used before I knew if she would actually like a sweater, but still washable and something that would stand up to Molly wear, so I chose Cascade Covington.  I really like how it came out.

 

It really didn't take long to knit up at all, just over a week for a full sweater, and Molly is now pretty much my size, so I might have to make myself one of these. I made the size 38 but didn't do the garter stitch quite as deep as the patter calls for, so hers is more like a 36.

The yarn was nice to work with, I like the subtle variations  and the way it almost looks like handspun.  She wore it a lot last fall, and it needed a shave once, but still looks nice after almost daily wear.

Incidentally, Molly does not like posing for these pictures, and doesn't stay very still, so most of the 30-40 pictures I took look like this:

It's Cold!

..so I've just made a few quick knits for keeping warm

This is the Ahoy Princess Beret.  The yarn is Shephard's Wool from Stonehenge Fiber, milled in Michigan.   If you can ever get your hands on some I highly recommend it, it's lovely to knit with and wear.

I bought it when we were in Michigan at the beach at the end of last summer.  The color is fittingly called Great Lakes. 

I always look ridiculous in pictures taken by my husband. 

 But the hat is pretty cool.  The pattern was easy to follow and it only took me about a week of knitting.

Thursday Sean couldn't find any decent mittens or gloves for this cold weather so I made him these.

Pattern is Thrummed Mittens, modified slightly to be smaller, my first try was too big.  Yarn is some black Peace Fleece I had around and some red fiber I dyed.   

He says they were so warm his hands were HOT yesterday when it was 4 degrees F, so I consider that a win.  2 quick evenings of knitting well spent.

Catching up

So I'm going to attempt to start blogging every Tuesday again and see how it goes.  It'll probably be a mix of past projects and current ones. 

So since the Yarn Harlot has been blogging her Doctor Who scarf, I thought I'd share mine, made a year ago.

 I knit this baby in 3 sections.  Basically I knit until I couldn't stand the length of it anymore and then put it on a stitch holder and started the next section with a provisional cast on.

When I was finished I grafted the sections together.  You really can't even find the joins now. 

 Since I was making this for my 23 year old nephew, and I couldn't count on it not being thrown in the washer and dryer, it's made from Vanna's Choice, which is actually a pretty nice yarn for an acrylic.

Ravelry page is here

 

 And here's another striped garter stitch thing: Stripe Study. 

I knit this shawl in about 3 weeks and loved it the whole time.

It's knit in Kauni rainbow stripes and an undyed Sheepy Time base, Fingering Merino, which is quite soft and squishy.  Actually knitting with the sample was what made me want to dye it.

I really love garter stitch

.