To-Do List: Duck Booties

[caption id="attachment_91" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="via http://lauratwilley.blogspot.com/2011/01/baby-booties.html"][/caption]

Adorable?  Yes.  Impossible?  I hope not, because I cannot get over how crazy-cute these duck-style booties are.  They are $40.00 on Etsy, but I'm going to make them instead, because a).  that is not $40.00 worth of yarn and labor, and b).  I'd much rather make a million of them and give them away to just about every woman who has a bun in the oven.

xo

j

Baby Hats on the Fly

These little guys were whipped up in a jiffy before our client had to leave town this past weekend. Suffice to say, we did a pretty stellar job creating two identical hats (for twins!) with matching patterns and colors, while knitting in two different locations and unable to see what the other was doing.  

To create a soft, cozy feel for our hats, we used Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller brand yarn in Bamboo Ewe (55% bamboo viscose, 45% wool) in Beach Glass and Mermaid.

xo

j

ice cream necktie! (neapolitan style)

This is an all-garter-stitch tie knit with more Sugar n' Cream yarn. I began at the skinny end. For the gradual increases in the front of the tie, I used the 'make one left' mode, which I learned from knittinghelp. [Basically, it involves slipping the connecting loop between right and left needles onto the left needle, and then knitting into the back of it]. Towards the bottom of the tie, choosing a way to decrease became a bit tricky; all modes of decreasing make some type of mark by slanting either to the right or the left. To try and even everything out, I used the slip-slip-knit method in the first half of every row (which slants to the left, or into the center of the tie), and the knit two together method in the second half (slants to the right). The result? A Neapolitan flavored ice cream necktie. Mmmm.

A very special thanks to our handsome model! :)

<3 N

Yarn Highlight: Sugar N' Cream

I am loving Sugar N' Cream yarn by Lily. Yarn that is 100% anything (cotton, wool, alpaca, etc) can get kind of pricey. However, I try my hardest to steer away from synthetic yarns, since there are all sorts of things in them that probably aren't the best to drape on a baby's heads or teeny feet. I love this Sugar N' Cream yarn because it's 100% cotton, and it only costs a little more than a dollar per skein. Right now, I'm using it to make some tester socks. Although its smaller than your average skein, you're still getting a decent bang for your buck, while going au naturale at the same time.  N used it to make an adorable Moleskin protective envelope for me as a Christmas present.

winter blues

This was a Christmas present for my mom! (She's on the right ^.) It was a really fun scarf to make. I used what's called the "faggot stitch". After casting on a multiple of four + 2 stitches, knit 3 rows in garter stitch. During the third row, decrease by 2, so by the fourth row an even multiple of four stitches is left. Then, it's simply knit 1, yarn over, and knit 2 together, over and over and over and over...

The key for this scarf is to use a type of yarn that is easy for knitting two together. The first time I tried this pattern, I used a fuzzy, complicated sort of yarn, and the results were not as great as I'd hoped. This mixture of blue/brown/white is a nice and easy cotton blend -- thin enough to show the holes from the yarn-overs (great for lacy-like patterns).

Total time: 10 hours

(Special thanks to our model!)

<3 N

american chullo!

I made this hat for my most AWESOME cousin ;). [This is just the big-people's version of the adorable baby hat J posted a couple of days ago.] I was inspired by the Peruvian "chullo", which usually is a little taller, is made of alpaca fur, and has little alpaca pictures running all around the sides of the hat (see this page). I used two 8mm bamboo straight needles and Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" yarn. It's classified as a beginner's hat, since it uses the straight needles instead of circular/double pointed. (Basically, you knit the two ears separately, then attach them in between extra cast-on stitches that begin the main part of the hat - which ends up looking a bit like a curvy triangle. The curvy triangle can contain any design you wish -- be it alpacas, a contrast stripe, or cute little stitch-dots, like J's baby hat. The last step in the hat is to sew the sides of the curvy triangle together with a classic mattress stitch.)

The whole pattern is a bit long to explain here, and it in large part depends on the size you want, the type of yarn, and the size of needles you use. If you're curious and want to try making one, just shoot us an email at sheep.dog.designs2@gmail.com. :)

Total time: 6 hours

<3 N

a cozy for your thoughts

 

Hello fellow knitting enthusiasts!

This is a knitted cover for a moleskine journal. I got the idea for this while looking at "Rickshaw" products - they have beautiful moleskine "folios", but I found them to be a bit bulky for my taste. This cover fits medium journals best (3.5 x 5.5 inches), and slips on snugly to dress up any treasured book of thoughts :).

I made this one for one of my bestest buddies (who happens to be the co-author of this blog, J!). I used only one small skein of Lily "Sugar-n-Cream" yarn (100% cotton, found here) with 5mm bamboo needles. I cast on 20 stitches, and then alternated knit 5, purl 5 for 5 rows, next switching to purl 5 knit 5 -- creating that checkerboard pattern you see in the picture. I knitted a rectangle 20 stitches wide and about 15 inches long, then simply folded, stitched up the sides and top (with a slightly lighter color for a border, as well as an increased loose length of yarn for fastening to the button), and sewed a decorative button in the center. Ta-da!

Total time: 5-6 hours

<3 N