I have a few small recent projects to share with you.Here's a pink pixie hat for a friend's daughter.
Bee blocks for Jennifer, she requested words of encouragement and healing.
Just one more pair of bee blocks and I'll be finished for the year. Tia has requested bird blocks!It has been getting colder so I want to make sure that we all have warm slippers for the winter. I'm making a pair of "frankenslippers" that will use up a lot of the small ball ends I found when I pulled out my selection of worsted weight yarns. It will be good to clear these out of my sewing room. Yay for cleaning up and using what I have!
These fun vintage fabrics came in the mail yesterday. I did a little fabric swap with Katie. Don't you love those little Kangaroos? The two fabrics on the left are the old 36 inch wide yardage.
What fun little projects have you been up to this fall?
Pixie Hat
During our drive to Kansas City for Quilt Market, I did a bit of knitting.
I finished this super cute pixie style hat. It's really a pretty quick knit.
Miss Petunia loves it. I like that it comes down and covers her neck. I think that will be great to keep the wind off her neck next winter and will also make getting ready for recess a little quicker - no fussing with a scarf. This one is a wee bit small for her so I plan to make a bigger one and make the neck/scarf part a little longer. She has chosen a pretty pink yarn. She said I could give it to her for Christmas. Isn't that sweet?
The pattern is sized from baby to adult. I kinda want to make one for myself. M thinks that would be a little weird. I offered to make him one but he declined. Well, he didn't want the elf shoes either so what fun is he?The pattern for the hat is Lyalya Hoodie by Natalia Schaffer.The yarn is Artyarns supermerino.
Ladybug Picnic Mittens
You may remember this project from last winter...
I won the pattern and yarn in a mitten group on Ravelry last year. Adele and I knit them for our two make a pair project.With most of our projects our guages have turned out to be the same. With these mittens, one came out tall and thin and the other shorter and wide. Hmmmm.
Not sure what happened there but we decided to go ahead and each make mates for the first that we knit. So, this time two make TWO pair.The pattern is Ladybug Picnic Mittens by Elinor Brown. The yarn is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport.I love the little braid around the cuff.
After knitting so many mittens in 2011 I have learned a bit more about what I like and don't like in a mitten.I like thumbs with a gusset and long cuffs that are snug to the wrist like these two. But these are probably not as warm as needed in our cold winters. (even if they weren't fingerless)I like fun colorwork designs like the ladybugs, and these two pair. The stranded work mittens are a little warmer with the extra yarn carried on the back.The warmest mittens I have made are these double layer felted mittens.The knitting continues. If I find the perfect balance of thumb and cuff design, fun pattern, and warmth I'll let you know.Here's one last photo of the ladybugs. My little photo assistant said I needed a butterfly hand shot. So here ya go.
Endpaper Mitts
I've had these mitts finished for a while but haven't gotten photos of them until today.
The pattern is Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang.The yarn is a no longer available hand paint and cream baby ull.I love the look and fit of this pattern and the directions are great. The tubular cast on and cast off give a great finished edge. I know I'll be using both methods again in the future. Heck, I'll probably use this whole pattern again - It is THAT good. I don't usually knit the same pattern more than once.
The hand painted yarn lost a lot of color in the washing but I love the faded blue jeans look that they have now. The original color can be seen here.In addition to this photography, we attended three music events this weekend. B and D also replumbed the house so that we have water up to the new bath! The room has no fixtures or walls yet, but the water is there! They worked until 2:30 this morning so that we could have hot water in the rest of the house today. Someone even washed all the dinner dishes before going to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Thanks D.
Lavender Quinault
This week I got a package from A that had the second of these fingerless mitts.The pattern for these is Quinault by Marjorie Walter. It was an easy to memorize pattern for elegant looking mitts. I love the braided look to the ribbing and plan to make a pair of socks with the same rib pattern.The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll in color Twinkle Heather. It is really soft after blocking. I think these mitts turned out really great. Thanks A.I've started on the second of a pair of socks for her. I'll let you know when that is finished.
The Little Deer
I'm just about to sit at the sewing machine and quilt the zinnia quilt. I am so happy with it so far that I want to keep going and see how it turns out.First, I thought I'd take a minute and show you the tiny deer ornament that is being mailed with Tia's blocks today. Now I am officially caught up on my bee blocks.
I'm off to the sewing machine.
Almost Summer Sox
If you are looking for some quick knit socks this pattern is for you.
I really zipped along with this sock. The only problem is that A didn't send me quite enough yarn. She assures me that she has more at her house and can finish the toe.
These are Cookie A's Summer Sox knit with Sockotta by Plymouth yarns. We used size 1.5 needles.
National Knit Mittens Month
For those of you who are not aware - January is National Knit Mittens Month. I have gotten off to a good start. I love the little people on the cuff and thumb of this one.
I knit furiously this weekend and finished the left mitten Sunday afternoon. The pattern book only had a chart for the left mitten, and not wanting to suffer the confusion of knitting the pattern backwards I quickly started another project that has been on my knit list, the squirrel sampler mittens.
Again I am using yarn from my stash. The black yarn is Garnstudio's Baby-Ull and the tan is a vintage baby wool by Bear Brand.B was able to make a reverse copy of the "paper doll" mitten chart so now I'll be able to more easily make the right mitten of the first pair. I'll have to wait until I finish the squirrels though because they use the the same needles.It is fun to get some of the smaller projects on my knit list made. Sometimes I wish I had more arms so that I could work on more projects.
Wearing Winter Woolens
The new winter woolens are being worn! P is modeling her new helmet hat. This is the third one I have knit for her. This one is knit with Artyarns Supermerino. I just love this pattern. One of these days I will write out the pattern. Actually, I have my notes in several places somewhere in the house. When I find them I'll get it written up in an adult and child version.
I wear my hat like this all the time. I can't stand for my ears to be cold.
D and B are also enjoying their new socks. Both are knit with Knit Picks stroll sport.
D's, on the left, are knit toe up. B's, on the right, are knit top down.B is also happy to have a new pair of felted slippers. My next project is to try to make new soles and stitch them to the bottom of an old worn pair of slippers. The tops are always still in good shape when the bottom wears through.M will be designing a new hat that I will knit for him. He did such a great job designing his last hat that I am eager to see the new plan. He is also designing a colorwork hat for his girlfriend. The design as I currently understand it will stretch my colorwork skills. I'll keep you posted.
Hugs and Kisses
I found this little baby sweater set yesterday while searching in the freezer. (I have it stored in the freezer to keep the moths away.) This was a sweater I made preblog when I was pregnant with P. I took the pictures to update my ravelry project page and I thought I'd share it with you too.
The pattern is Heirloom Aran Baby Set by Lisa Lloyd in the spring 2004 issue of Interweave Knits. I don't remember the details on the yarn but it is a super soft merino wool.
I even have proof that P wore it! Here she is in November 2005. 
What a cute little peanut she was on her vintage pink thrifted blanket.
Beach Glass and Seaweed Socks
My Beach Glass and Seaweed Sock pattern is available in my shop.This is the first time I have written out a pattern in an official way for others to purchase. Coming up with the design was the easy part.
I had fun with the design and was pleased to get the ribbing to transition into the easy-to-memorize four row pattern repeat. 
Putting the pattern into words so that other knitters can repeat the design came next. The biggest challenge, however, seemed to be getting the pattern into PDF format for easy download.Thanks to Adele, who test knit the pattern and helped with the technical writing and D for making the PDF conversion after I spent hours on it and couldn't get the formatting the way I wanted. Thanks to M for taking the great photos for the pattern and Barb for the name.
Thanks also to P and B who helped with the first photo shoot that really didn't work out very well.
And while I'm at it I should thank my mother and grandmother for teaching me the love of needlework.
Photo shoots can be fun!
Actually, I enjoyed the process so much that another design is already under way.
Designing
My sewing room is directly under our bathroom reconstruction zone. Without a ceiling, plaster debris and sawdust often rain down onto my desk from the work area above. I have resorted to keeping my laptop closed most of the time and vacuuming my desk and the computer key board several times a day. It is difficult to work in this environment so I have been spending some time writing down a few knitting designs. I have several sock and hat designs swimming around in my head.P has watched as I try to work the patterns out on graph paper. This is the first she has seen of graph paper. She was so intrigued that she wanted to try it herself and has designed her own sock. She has moved on to planning out a few doll quilts
and even a dress she wants me to make. It has pompoms on the bottom, sides, and even the sleeves!
My designs seem to take longer. I figure, knit, pull out, knit some more, make more notes... my mind races. While I am knitting on one idea my mind is working on another. I think I'll start knitting another sock tomorrow just to get the design out of my head so that I can knit on one or the other peacefully!
I 'll be sure to let you know when I have a pattern written out. In the mean time it's back to the drawing board for me.
Lacy Rib Socks
I've finished another sock! These are adapted from Evelyn Skae's Lacy Rib Baby Socks pattern. Adele chose Bare by Knit Picks for the socks. It is a very soft Merino wool and silk blend. (70% wool, 30%silk)
I'll be taking a little break from the sock knitting to work on some other projects the next month or two.I actually started a mini shawl - the infamous Ishbel - and found that I am very used to knitting in the round. Knitting rows in two directions took some getting used to. I am trying it in lace weight alpaca from Briar Rose Fibers.How are your fall projects going?
