Blankets for Baby

I've been working on a little project recently. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I have quite a few patterns published on Knit Picks. I decided to combine all five of my baby blanket patterns into an e-book. And then I designed another baby blanket, which I self-published on Nimblestix. And I decided to include it in the book as well.

Harmony is not pictured on the cover, but is inside.

Blankets for Baby is available for purchase on Nimblestix, for $12. If you were to purchase each pattern separately, you'd pay just under $14, so it's a savings of about $2. The e-book is 22 pages long, and includes: 

Posy Patch 

Sydney Claire

Evellyn Anne

Willow Carroldine

Sisterhood 

and 

Harmony.

I believe you don't have to be a member of Nimblestix to download the e-book, but I'm not certain. And anyway, you should become a member if you're not. Nimblestix is a great site! It's like Facebook for fiber artists, but better. :)

Drive-by blogging

Katiee's Bag is growing...it was about 20 inches long in this photo; it's about 2 inches longer now.

 Evellyn Anne is done, and it turned out great!

I don't have an in-progress pic of Crown Jewels, so y'all will just have to wait for that one.

Evellyn Anne is up!

My Evellyn Anne baby blanket pattern is finally up on Knit Picks!

And here's the link to the pattern:  http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Evellyn_Anne_Baby_Blanket___D10911220.html

Knitting and exercise and gardening, oh my!

I finished the waist cables on my BBSweKniMo project!  Hooray!  I decided to only do 7 repeats, instead of 8, because I have a short waist(along with the rest of me).  So now I'm doing stockinette, except for the rope cables at the front edges. ☺ I've come to the conclusion that I won't get this project done by the end of the month, so my goal is to get the body done.  I have to do a few inches in stockinette, and an inch or so of garter stitch, and then add a crochet border and buttons and buttonholes.  I'll do the sleeves next month, I guess.  I'll be glad to get this sweater done, even though I won't be able to wear it until fall.  I started designing it so long ago that I'm just ready to have it done.

I've been thinking about socks.  Socks are nice, quick projects.  And I have a gazillion sock patterns printed, and lots of sock yarn to go with them.  So I think I'm going to set another goal, of knitting one pair of socks per month.  That way, I'll have plenty of them when cold weather comes back.  I loved wearing my handknit socks this past winter, but I only have three pairs, and none of them are superwash wool, so I have to wash them by hand.  I think I'll start a KAL with my friends in the Bunker, if any of them are interested.  I love our KALs!  I'll bring up the idea tonight, when we meet in the chat room for our virtual Knit Night. ☺

Oh, my goodness, I totally forgot to post this yesterday!  I got an email from Stacey at Knit Picks: they like my Julia Lynne cardigan!  So I'll be knitting another one of those as soon as the yarn support arrives.  I can't wait!  I'm still waiting to see the pics from their photo shoot of my Evellyn Anne blanket; I'm not sure whether they'll want me to replace my pics in the pattern with theirs, or just use them for the "additional pictures" on the site.  If it's the latter, that pattern might be up on the site tomorrow; if it's the former, it'll probably be another week.

I went to the gym this morning.  I didn't want to.  When I got there, I didn't want to exercise.  While I was exercising I wanted to stop and go home...until I reached the 15-minute mark on the bike.  When I was done, I was glad I was done.  I have yardwork and knitting and laundry and cleaning to do.  Haha.

Speaking of gardening...we were speaking of gardening, weren't we?  I peeked at my sprouts again, and saw that I have cantaloupe and pumpkins and cucumbers sprouting too!  Nothing yet with the lavender, but that usually takes longer.  I started my tomatoes yesterday: Big Boy and Red Cherry and some seeds I saved from really yummy yellow tomatoes.  And I started my Texas Bluebonnets too.  I love Bluebonnets, but since it's the State Flower, it's illegal to pick them where they grow wild.  This way, I'll be able to pick them and bring them inside.  I haven't started digging yet; I'm waiting on the utility people to come mark the underground cables and such, to make sure that I don't cut anything. 

Evellyn Anne!

I finished my Evellyn Anne blanket!  It's blocking on my family room floor at this very moment...

I'm so glad I got it done!  I'm ready to focus on other projects.  And I'm glad because I'll be able to have my niece model the blankie for the pattern pics.  A blankie pattern is always more appealing with a cute baby in the pic. ☺ I'm going to visit my family in Kansas next week, so this is perfect timing.  The girls are very excited about visiting with their cousins.  I'm excited too.  I really miss my family.  I sometimes wonder why I didn't visit more often when it was only a three hour drive.  Now it's twelve hours, so three seems like nothing.

♥

I went to the gym this morning, and worked my legs and back.  My right leg still hurts from when I put my foot through the neighbors' kitchen ceiling back in August.  I must have injured it worse than I thought.  I think all this exercise is the reason it's hurting more now than it was before I started working out.  So I worked my legs.  Hoping it'll help, like working my back makes my back feel better.  And I did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It's getting easier, so I might be ready to try level 2 on those machines.  I think I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Knitting and exercising and organizing, oh my!

I made some progress on Evellyn Anne yesterday.  I'm on the twelfth repeat of the lace pattern, of fourteen.  And after that, the ruffle.  I might be able to get it done by the end of the week, which would be nice.  I want to get it blocked before I go visit family in Kansas; my parents have almost no carpet in their house, so I wouldn't be able to block it there very easily.  And I want to have my little niece Evie be my model for the pattern pictures, since the pattern is named after her.

♥

I went to the gym this morning and worked my back.  Did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It was a good workout.

♥

Today we're starting to get the Christmas decorations put away; Hubby's dad just left a little while ago, so now we can access the attic where the boxes are stored.  I'll be glad to get it all put away; I'm ready to get on with the new year!

Evellyn Anne is in progress!

I got the yarn on Monday for the Knit Picks sample of my Evellyn Anne blanket pattern!  Yes, it really is this green.  Haha.  The color is called "Parrot".  It looked a little more pastel on the website picture, but I still like it, and think this blanket will look terrific!

This picture is from Monday night.  I didn't get much knitting done yesterday, so it only has one more row(from the center) of diamonds completed now.  I just transferred it to a circular needle; I picked my shortest size US6, and it's actually a little too short at this point.  So I'll transfer it again on the next round to a longer circ.

♥

I'm using KP Swish DK again; same yarn type as I used for Posy Patch.  I really like this yarn.  It's incredibly soft, and very nice to work with.  I hear that it's also great when it comes to washing, but as I've never washed anything made from it(just soaked and blocked) I can't speak from experience there.  I should knit up a swatch and wash it, just to see how it behaves.  Maybe I'll do that....when I'm done with this project.

♥

I went to the gym this morning; worked abs and legs, and did 22 minutes on a stationary bike.  Good workout.  My shoulders are still a bit sore, so I put some BioFreeze on them; hope it helps because I want to work arms again tomorrow.

Now that Upstream and Avonlea are done...

...and out of my hands...

I spent yesterday writing up another design proposal.  I finished this baby blanket back in September, but forgot to submit it for consideration...probably because I gave it to my niece right away.

 The name is "Evellyn Anne", after the recipient of the blanket.  I'll never forget the way she grabbed it and laid claim to it, before her mom (my sister) could say a word!

So I sent the design proposal to Knit Picks yesterday.  I explained that the reason I did stripes was because I didn't have enough of either yarn to make the whole blanket, and that I think it would look better in one solid color.  I hope they like it.  I think it has a good chance; there aren't a lot of patterns out there for lacy baby blankets knit in-the-round.

Knitting up a storm...

Okay, I've finally got time to blog about my recent knitting projects! While on vacation I completed this baby blanket:

Here's a closeup of the lace pattern. I showed the blanket to my sister, asking whether she liked it, and her baby Evellyn grabbed it and claimed it as her own before Sara could say a word! I hadn't been able to decide on a name for this pattern before then, so its name is Evellyn Anne, after my little niece.
And here is Angel, modeling a shawl I made on vacation. She doesn't yet know that it's for her. I'm giving it to her for her birthday on Monday. She'll be nine years old.

And since we got home from vacation, I made these mitts! These are the samples I'll be sending to Knit Picks, as soon as I get some good pictures of them on someone's arms. The blue ones fit me, but I won't be modeling them because I have no fingernails right now(thanks to my nervousness over flying). I think I'll ask my neighbor to model them. Angel will model the red ones, once I get a chance to paint her nails.

And here is the beginning of my new Upstream scarf. The picture was taken a couple days ago. I've completed five repeats of the cable pattern now. The photo doesn't do the colors justice. There's much more variation in the blues, and a hint of green; it's a gorgeous colorway. This is also a sample for Knit Picks. I am very excited about the prospect of having two more patterns published.