Hey Monkey!

It's only taken me 13 months, but guess what I finished?



Yup! The Monkey socks from Cookie A.

I love them! I don't know what took me so dern long! I had that first sock knit down just to the instep and there it sat, unloved and lonely for a full year. Last week I picked it up and decided to give it some love. I was actually pretty scared that I wouldn't know where I was in the 11 row repeat, but just a quick glance back at my needles and I was knitting the correct row in under 30 seconds! I flew through that first sock and had the 2nd one done in 3 days!

Now I don't know if it's the mid-weight yarn or what, but they ended up too big for me. (sigh) Alas, I must find a friend with size 10 or larger feet and gift them off.

Baby Surprise Jacket!

I'm in love with this pattern!

It's the Baby Surprise Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman. It's knit all in one piece with seaming only done at the shoulders. It's amazing, and perplexing, but mostly amazing. ;)



And for the curious, it's done in a Peruvian Highland wool hand-dyed by a local artisan.

Tootsies & More

So I cast off on these socks a few days ago and then promptly put them on my own feet. I thought about gifting them to someone, but then realized that I hadn't ever knit myself a pair of socks. Then I realized that I hadn't ever knit myself anything. Anything at all. Ever!

So these puppies? ALL mine!

And real quick, what's cuter than a newborn bum in wool?

Give up?

TWO newborn bums in wool!





My friend, Tif, is expecting twins in March and I could not be more happy for her!

Oh, and that is Lady of the Lake Targhee, dyed by Morwenna of Mosaic Moon. It's the Picky Pants pattern adjusted w/ the Curly Purly waistband (which I adore for newborns).

Happy NY and some December FOs

So I've been working on a very large custom order the last few months, but in between that, I've also been working on projects to stock Cherry Blossom Knits. I did, however, manage to complete some gifts in December.

What? What is that, you say? Kiela completed a project? Really?

I say, Really. I did. Two, in fact, and I'm very pleased with both of them.

This is a sweater based on the Child's Placket Sweater. I loved the first pattern so much, that I decided to go ahead and do it again. This sweater had to be knit out of this particular yarn (WWBN BFL) because the mother of the recipient hand picked those colors for Brad to custom dye. At the time, I had no idea I was going to be doing a sweater. In fact, I thought it would be soaker pants, but alas, he grew and I never got them finished. So, my guilt of not finishing the pants before he outgrew them has been replaced with happiness for the sweater.

Then we have, a basic Fan and Feather scarf.

This scarf was a free handout from my LYS. I saw the sample knit up on the wall and knew it was absolutely perfect for my secret santa recipient. Two days later, that puppy was knit, blocked, and drying.

Ahhh... the sweet smell of... what is that? Oh yeah, completion.

UFOs Share

Yeah, yeah, long time, no blog. I know. I have had a good excuse, though. The little nursling doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.

Fortunately, I still have time for knitting in the evenings. Why don't I blog in the evenings? Well, I use natural light for my pictures. I find that using a flash on my knitting makes the colors go screwy, washes out the lights, and is just generally icky. So I only photograph during the day. And not just during the day, but also when I have lots of good light. Couple that with not having a baby attached to my front, or a toddler that needs lunch, or an older that needs me to get her off the bus, and I've got quite a few obstacles to overcome. As it stands now, I've been typing up this post for 3 hours.

Don't laugh. I'm serious.

So anyway, back to the knitting.

Guess what happened this summer? You know, besides me giving birth to a toddler nearly 2 weeks late at the end of July. (You know I'm going to milk that for all it's worth) This nifty little thing called Ravelry was launched and thousands of little knitters like myself had a tiny little orgasm. If you haven't signed up yet, go. Go now. If you're a knitter like me, or even unlike me, (an incredibly organized knitter) you'll love this resource! Go sign up and put me in your friends. I'm Keyswalee.

Last year I came up with the idea of using all my scrap balls of yarn to make a blanket, but I never started it. Since this is likely going to take me 300 years, I thought I better get started.



I have to say that so far, I love this blanket. I know it's miles and miles of Stockinette stitch, but I don't think I'll ever tire of it. Every few rows it's a new yarn and colorway, and each yarn brings with it memories of a past project. It's also perfect tv knitting.

I have visions of my children fighting over this blanket and for some reason, this makes me happy.

Here's a yoke sweater I started for Peyton. This is in the most divine yarn. It's hand-spun from an artisan I met while at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. It's a blend of angora and merino and it's like knitting with clouds. I also have to mention the unique way this is plied. She takes 2 separate colors and plies them together and then one of those colors continues and the other color stops and a new color is picked up. After a while, that new color continues and the old color stops. Am I making any sense? I may not be. That's okay. You can probably see what I mean from the picture.



So why am I stuck on the first sleeve? Well, it's because I discovered that because of the uniqueness of the yarn, the sleeves will be different. As in, each sleeve will have different blocks of color in different spots. The anal retentive control freak in me hates that. Yes, I love this yarn, but I think it might be too much for me to handle. However, the thought of figuring out exactly half of each color repeat and then "striping" the yarns to make 2 sleeves exactly identical doesn't exactly thrill me either.

So there it sits.

Here I have some ankle socks. Just plain vanilla ankle socks with an eye of partridge heel flap. These will be for some lucky family member for Christmas. They are knit with Knitpicks sock yarn that was gifted to me. I think it's a discontinued Sock Garden yarn.



Next we have a design I came up with a few months ago after diapering my wee little one in the middle of the night. I was using those awesome cotton newborn gowns and a fitted diaper with a soaker over it, and the kid was peeing through the soaker. I thought to myself, how awesome would it be to have a wool gown? I'll be that super peer couldn't pee through both a wool soaker and a gown!

So here's what I've got so far, but I'm stumped as to what to do for the collar. Until I figure it out, it sits.



Next is a gnome hat; another pattern that I put together. It's knit with Three Irish Girls Lindon merino in "Reilly." It's sized 2-4 and will go up in the store for CBK opening. It's 95% finished. I've just got to grow the cojones to sew a lining into it and block it.



And lastly, just to show that I actually do finish some projects, is a pair of plain socks for another lucky family member for Christmas. They were knit with a patterning sock yarn. I'd tell you what it was, but (gasp) I threw away the label! Had I started them before I got into Ravelry, I would have put that info into the project page before the label got thrown away.

Ahhh... that's better

Check out my best completed UFO this summer! Nearly 10 lbs of baby boy sweetness, but we call him Gavin. He was born July 28th at 10:13 AM. That's 11 days overdue, not that I was counting or anything.
Oh, and all those itty bitty newborn soakers? Yeah. Too small. (sigh) So each evening after the other munchkins are in bed and we've finished our nursing marathon, I knit a little bit for him. He's got a long torso, and despite being nearly 10 lbs, he's skinny. I'm sure being 22.5" long helps thin out a babe, huh?

I'm finding that I still need to knit newborn-sized waist/hips and just increase the rise. In order to avoid that lovely diaper plumber-crack, we need a 16" rise. I still can't believe my 3 week old infant needs a 16" rise!
These sweet pants are a size small Picky Pants, adjusted as to use the CP waistband, in WWBN Silver Rainbow-- which happens to be one of my favorite colorways. These pants have 17.5" rise and a 7" inseam. I figured if I wanted him to fit into something for more than 5 minutes, I better start knitting things a little bigger. Besides knitting pants for the Gavinator, I've been doing baby sweaters. Here's the Child's Placket sweater from LMKG. It's knit in Mosaic Moon's single-ply Merino-- uber soft and perfect for a wee one, plus, who can resist those rich colors?


After much deliberation on the buttons, I decided to skip them altogether and fold the neck band down to create a collar. I haven't actually tried this on the kid yet, so we'll see if I need to do some adjusting to make that work.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot...

July is in full swing and I am feeling every bit of my nearly 39 week pregnant self. Babe's estimated date of arrival is a mere 9 days away, but who knows when he/she will decide to show up?

In the meantime, I'm keeping myself cool in the icy a/c and keeping my fingers busy to pass the time.

Here's a pair of Picky Pants and shorts for a trade with a friend of mine. Pants are 3 ply Targhee from WWBN in Caramel Sundae, shorts are a slightly thinner Targhee from Morwenna at Mosaic Moon in her Lady of the Lake colorway-- a stunning kettle-dyed blend of blues, greens, and teals.



Next I have a pair of striped shorts. Aren't they cute?



Cue Psycho music now! Holy ends, Batman! Anyone feel like weaving these in for me?




Lastly, another beautiful hand-knit, but not of my own making. This was sent to me from a friend this week. Isn't is gorgeous? I can't wait to put a tiny little head in it!