The Big Girl Sweater

This is not a baby sweater. It's not even a toddler sweater. It's a kid sweater...size 4-ish.

I guess it's not really a sweater yet...but it is a sweater-in-progress for my tiny Peanut.

BUT...my tiny peanut of a granddaughter has grown into a kid, a "big girl," if you will. If you should happen to forget, and call her a "sweet baby girl," she will remind you that she is a big girl, because she is...and this is my first "big girl" sweater. I think it's going pretty well, and I'll keep sharing as I go. For now, I'm going to keep knitting, keep treasuring every moment with her, and reminding myself that she will not always be small. 

And I am going to bug her parents for a sibling. (Kid-ding! I promise...) Maybe I'll start knitting for the babies at church again. :) Or maybe I'll just finish this Big Girl Sweater!

Thanks for stopping by. Now, go hug the kiddos in your life, and Knit in Good Health!

Did I mention...?

I don't think I remembered to mention how much she enjoyed the dollhouse...

...and the dolls...

But she did! 

Yay!

Black Cat liked it too...silly cat! :)

Happy Saturday to you! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Glory, Glory, Halleluja!

Mine eyes have seen enough black yarn to last me many years;

I've been knitting with this black yarn, and it's bringing me to tears!

Though I carried it with gray yarn, still my eyeballs it has seared...

I'm so glad that it's done!

(I think the cats are glad it's done, too!)

Glory, Glory! and Hallelujah! that this project is finally finished. I don't usually knit with such dark yarns (save for a pair of man socks or two through the years), but I was working this sweater as a sample for a friend, and she picked the color/yarns. :) You know that I love knitting, and I am usually not very picky about yarn, but this black about killed my eyes! I think the final sweater looks good, but I don't know for sure, because I can't even seem to focus my camera to take a clear picture of the whole thing...lol!

Still, I think you can see the basic shape in that photo, and this one shows the texture that came from carrying the gray nylon thread with the black wool:

Overall, I think I like the effect, but glory! Next time I sample knit, I will request NOT BLACK yarn! ANYTHING BUT BLACK yarn! IT NEED NOT BE WHITE, BUT NOT BLACK yarn! Live and learn, and this one is done...well, it will be done after a final soak and block. Then I'll let Lynn know that it's ready for her sample display. :) 

Now, onto the brightly-colored, stripey socks! 

Or maybe I'll just close my eyes here for a minute...they are so very tired. Do you think my eyes could take a nap while I work today? 

I didn't think so either. Oh, well. A good night's sleep tonight then...that's the ticket! Take care of your eyes, and use good lighting when you craft, especially when working with dark colors! 

Knit in Good Health!

I Wish I Had a Bunny...

Easter is tomorrow, and that makes me kinda wish I had a bunny. Not a real bunny, mind you...I've been hankering to knit a bunny for some time, tho. Anyway, I have some other things on my plate, and I have not managed to knit a single bunny for Easter. :(

I did, however, run across a fun little ditty (shared by a friend on Ravelry) about sheep shearing, and since it is springtime...and since lambs and Easter can be connected (in chocolate, at least)...here is my offering for your Easter listening pleasure:

Click Go the Shears, by Rolf Harris - Go take a listen, it's just over 3 minutes (plus a 15 second advertisement...ugh to commercials, but glad I don't have to pay for YouTube!)...

Wasn't that a hoot?!? And if you want to know more, like I did when I researched the lyrics after my first listen (because I have now listened at least a dozen times...it's infectious), here's a link to a review of those lovely, Austrailian lyrics! Honestly, I should have been a high school English teacher, because I now kinda want to compare and contrast this song with the Shaun the Sheep theme song...and then write a paper about it, and compare that to the paper YOU might write on the subject!  :) But, as your Easter gift, I will refrain.

I hope that you have a lovely and blessed Easter, and that you get to spend time rejoicing about all the good things in your life! I'll be praising the Lord all day, thankful that He made such a great sacrifice for me. And I'll probably be humming Click Go the Shears a time or two as well. :)

Happy Easter!

Knit in Good Health!

Just yer Average April in Ohio

On April 10th, Peanut was at our house, and the weather looked like this:

On April 15th (yesterday), it looked like this outside, and the high temp for the day was 32°F:

This is not unusual for Ohio in the Spring, but how am I supposed to prepare for this Bi-Polar, April weather from day to day?!? 

I think that if Peanut were still in Ohio with me, she would say, "Just knit, Gamma. Just you knit."

So that's what I'm going to do, with every spare moment!

How's the weather by you these days? Are you knitting through it? lol!

With and Without Red Toes

Did you ever get your hands on a sock yarn that just made you sigh with contentment? You pick up your needles and start stitching, and every stitch just makes you happy. Sometimes, if it's a stripey sock yarn, you feel like you're doing a magic trick every time the color changes...it just passes through your fingers and "Poof!" New color! That's how I am feeling about the Lighthouse colorway of this Knit Picks Felici yarn. 

I know I'm late to the party, because I didn't really even get my hands on any of this stuff until it had already been declared "discontinued," but I have spent the past few months enhancing my stash with about 7 different colorways (and lamenting a little at the ones that are already gone forever). I'm not a star stasher like some of my friends, but these days I stash a lot more than I used to. :) I don't even feel badly about it, because we all know that sock yarn doesn't count! Especially when your socks are simply smashing, like these!

So very smashing that I've decided to knit another pair in this color as well, but with a twist. The second pair should have red toes and heels...now, for some red sock yarn...

Wait a minute. Hmmm, no reds in my stash? Nope. But fear not! I have Easter egg dyes, and there's some white there! And now, we have red!

It's going to be grand in the toes and heels of my second pair of Lighthouse socks, see?

Off I go now, to stitch socks and sorcery in stripes! How much self-striping yarn is there in your stash???

Knit in Good Health!

Here, Knitty Kitty!

You know that my darling Peanut is in town, so you also know that there has been quite a bit of this going on...

And that led to the inevitable question, "What is it, Gammy?"

"What do you think it should be, Peanut?"
"I think the kitty like a toy!"

"Should we knit her a kitty?"
"Yes! Knit a kitty! Knit a kitty!"

So, we did.
"We knitted a kitty for dem kitties, Gammy!"

It's a fun and easy pattern, and there are lots of variations. I didn't really follow the actual pattern, per se, because we were knitting a square before I thought of it at all...but I did follow the diagrams for sewing this cutie up, and I used some math to make sure the ratios were just right...I love knitting maths! Anyway, I also don't think I sewed the head on quite like the pattern suggested, but still, it's a knitted kitty...and White Cat

and Black Cat

seem to love it! (How freaky are Black Cat's eyes when I use the flash? shudder!)

Yes, they love it so much, that it is covered in cat hair, and granddog hair, and people hair, and the kitties are tossing it about every chance they can!

Perhaps I should have gone a little lighter on the catnip? Nah! Where's the fun in that?

I hope that you are getting your Recommended Daily Allowance of catnip and knitting these days! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! Meee-owww!

A Word From the Peanut Gallery

Peanut is visiting! That means there is notsomuch of the catonlap knitting...

But there's lots of laughing,

and playing, 

and general goofing around! Last night, I think I spent about half an hour kissing her tummy and feet, declaring loudly how tasty she is! "No! Gramma is tasty!," she shouted in reply. So fun! But I think my favorite conversation of this visit (so far) went something like this:

Peanut heads for the stairs...upstairs is an area that requires supervision, and she knows it.

Gramma: What are you thinking about doing?

Peanut (very matter-of-fact): I. don't. know.

Gramma: Well, if you're going upstairs, you need a plan and a grown-up.

Peanut: Well, I'm just thinkin' of the plan...

Gramma: So, what's the plan, Peanut?
Peanut (eyebrows up, looking sideways a little and nodding): I think the plan is let's take the kitty toy to the kitty...on the bed upstairs.

Gramma: Who is the grown-up?
Peanut (big grin): Gramma!

And off we go, up the stairs, to bring the kitty her toy. To bring two kitties their toy. ("It's not a real mouse, Gramma. It's a cat mouse. It's just pretend, not real.") And the cats were so happy to see us coming up to interrupt their nap...notsomuch! lol! 

Sorry, cats. Peanut rules, this week. Next week it will calm down some, but for now, just be nice. 

Thanks for indulging this doting grandma, Blogland! Until next time, Knit in Good Health!

Baby Blanket Bingo

There was a knitter, had some yarn, and Pretty was her name-o!

Wait a minute. Nevermind. And, although it is a sad state of affairs, Frankie Avalon isn't anywhere to be seen either... But I did finish a baby blanket, and it kind of reminds me of a BINGO card, see?

Well, it's a grid anyway. I think it turned out swell! I started with a pattern that called for knitting squares and sewing them together. You'd think that a knitter who enjoys setting in sleeves and seaming sweaters would eat that up, wouldn't you? But not this knitter! Don't know why, but I just don't like to sew blankets together. Crochet them together sure! But sew? No way! 

So, I knit this one all in one piece, and I think it turned out swell! The picture motifs are all from Kris Knits dishcloth patterns, and the textures are mostly from the original pattern, but this project is all me, baby! I sure hope the baby likes it...

Disclaimer: Nobody in the Pretty family is preggers. This was a commissioned piece for a friend, so everybody just settle down! :)

For an encore, I'm going to work on some stripey socks! And I'm going to take a picture of the socks-in-progress on Black Cat...

Knit in Good Health!