Bob's Socks

I've been knitting socks for years and whenever I've asked my husband if he'd like a pair, he's always said no. Until a few weeks ago. When I told Esther, one of my knitting friends that I was going to make Bob a pair of socks, his first ever hand-knit socks, she insisted that I accept 2 skeins of sock yarn from her stash. She said I'd be doing her a favor!  How could I refuse? Thank you for the yarn, Esther. Bob was happy with the colors in it.

I fiddled with the numbers of stitches until I finally came up with the correct cast on and a stretchy rib/seed stitch. He has a very high instep and I wanted to be sure he could get the socks on easily as I know he’d never wear them otherwise. I’m so happy they came out well and they FIT him!

Now, we’ll see if he ever wears them. His usual sock of choice is the nylon men’s dress socks.

SANTA HAT

I am a member of Bundles of Joy group on ravelry.com. BoJ is a charity group dedicated to helping needy babies and children of Pine Ridge Reservation in SD. The group decided it would be nice if all the newborns in the OB Ward on Pine Ridge had Santa hats. So I knitted a hat and have offered my pattern, "Newborn Santa Hat", for free on Ravelry. Knitted as directed, the hat will fit a newborn, but it can be made to fit a larger baby or child if you increase the cast on number of stitches by increments of 3 stitches to your required size, then follow the rest of the directions as written.

If you'd like the free Newborn Santa Hat pattern, click on the link that says "My designs on ravelry.com" at the far right top of the page, and it will take you to my patterns. 

Merry Christmas!

Baby Rugby Pullover

I finally finished my latest baby sweater pattern - Baby Rugby Pullover. I created it to resemble the rugby shirts my son used to wear. The one I created is knit top-down and seamless with raglan sleeves and a buttoned front placket that opens wide enough to allow the sweater to go easily over the head of a squirming baby.

Knitted Smocked Baby Dress

I've been working on a new knitted baby dress pattern for the past few months. I ended up knitting 6 dresses because I just couldn't seem to get the dress to look the way I could see it in my mind. I finally determined that the problem was the neck band - it was way too big. It's fixed now and the pattern is complete and is finally available for sale on Craftsy http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/knitting/clothing/knitted-smocked-baby-dress/30960 and on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-smocked-baby-dress

I created this design to resemble the Bishop hand smocked baby dresses my Mom used to sew. My dress has long sleeves and is made from sport weight yarn. A heavier yarn wouldn't drape so well. I can just picture one of these on a baby during the winter holidays. :)

Teddy's Baby Pullover

About 2 years ago I made a pullover for my teen aged grandson, Teddy, and had yarn left over. When I saw the yarn in my stash one day, I decided to use it to make a baby pullover, using the same stitch I had used on the sleeves of Teddy’s sweater. That is how Teddy’s Baby Pullover came into being.

I ended up knitting 4 of them in different yarns and I love them all. The stitch used is very stretchy and my grandson was able to wear his sweater for far longer than I had expected it to fit him. Hopefully this will hold true for the babies who receive my sample sweaters. All my samples go to Pine Ridge Reservation in SD.

New Baby

I went baby shopping - baby doll that is. :) I already had 3 dolls. One is named Mini Purl because she’s preemie sized. If you’re old like me you’ll remember Minnie Pearl so you can see I took her name and changed it some. :)

The other 2 dolls are between 3 mos and 6 mos sized so I really “needed” a newborn sized doll. I found one at Toys R Us for about $22 and she’s just the right size. I took a measuring tape with me and measured her head, chest and length to be sure. I think the clerk thought I was a crazy old lady. LOL

After Toys R Us, Bob (yes he was with me when I measured the doll, but he already knew that I’m a crazy old lady) and I went to the mall to get his watch battery put in. While we were waiting for that, we sat in the chairs in the middle of the Mall and a new Mom and her 3 week old baby sat near us. My new doll was in the car so I couldn’t hold it beside the baby, but I’m pretty sure they are both the same size! The new Mom said her baby is already sleeping all night - lucky Mom!

I decided that since the doll was bought/born on the 4th of July, her name will be Julie. :) Bob says the house is getting crowded with dolls. They’re all on the sofa. LOL

I had to interrupt her TV watching to take this picture. She was watching the news with Bob. :)

My sweater

My sweater is finished. When I went to buy buttons, I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to use blue ones that were the same color as the sweater or silver antique looking buttons, so I bought both. After I got them home, I decided on the silver ones. I like the looks of the  finished sweater, but the fat old lady wearing it - not so much. :)