Green

This pattern was found on Ravelry - I modified it to knit in the round, and didn't continue on the neck. (The original has instructions to knit a cowl neck, but I stopped with the boat.) This yarn is pretty bulky, and I thought a cowl would be too warm with the sleeveless top.

The shaping turned out well - I was nervous and kept measuring my torso, but I think everything turned out. I still have to tuck in all the loose ends, but because I knit in the round there are only 2.

I got this yarn at the Yuzawaya in Kichijoji. (Love that place!) It was on sale - I got 10 skeins in a package, and only used 4 for this project, so I have to find something else to knit. Maybe I'll knit up a top for my Mom as well.....

Great Stash-buster

I saw these little snails at my local yarn store and thought they were a great idea. I have been knitting them to use up the little bits of yarn I have leftover from other projects.

Little Sister Dress - Update

I finished this dress (in progress here)- all that is left is to find cute buttons for the shoulder. I am hoping that it will turn into a grow-with-me type of outfit - it should fit as a dress for a toddler and grow into a tunic up to 7 or 8. Heck - the thing would probably fit me if the arm holes were a little bigger.

Top

I knit this little sweater using a heavily modified version of the Easy Baby Cardigan pattern. I put the opening on the shoulder to make a little snap open for baby's head, and then joined to knit in the round. Believe it or not, this sweater only took 1 skein of yarn!

I used Premier Yarns Serenity sock weight, self striping yarn, with ivory trim. The yarn is a wool, bamboo, nylon mix. I got the yarn at Joann's when I was back in the US over Golden Week. I started this project on the plane back to Tokyo, and finished about a week later. Progress was facilitated by Michael's long working hours!

Close up of the puff-sleeve. I was pretty proud of it.

I will be sending this beauty off to our friends Anhtuan and Anne, who are expecting their first baby together!

Little Sister Dress - In Progress

This is a true Japanese creation - I started casting on while riding the Shinkansen to Kyoto (ripping it out several times), and continued working on it under the cherry blossoms at Hanami. (this picture - note the ubiquitous blue tarp).

The light blue yarn is from a yarn shop I found in Kamakura, and the brown is some leftover wool from our Lodenwelke trip in Austria (also used on my Wool Baby Jacket).

Wool Baby Jacket

This is the first project that I started for ME. It is also the first project I completed in Japan.

I love this wool, purchased at a Lodenwelke in Austria, and I decided it would make a great little unisex jacket for a future Downie (as my mom likes to call her future grandchildren). I used a really simple 5 square pattern (knit 5 squares - a big one for the back, and then 2 for the front, and two for the arms). I used a 3-needle cast-off to attach the back to the front panels, and then picked up stitches for the arms. The neckline, front, and wrists are in garter stitch, and the rest is in seed stitch.

I've purchased some wooden buttons, but haven't put them on yet. I'm playing with waiting for a Downie to make his or her arrival before putting on buttons, or just biting the bullet and getting fun colorful buttons. The hope is that this jacket will "grow" and could be used as a cardigan for a 2-3 year old as well.

Easy Top-Down Baby Sweater

This is the first top-down baby sweater I knit, and it was a blast. Not only is top-down the ONLY way to knit sweaters, this one is the perfect base to make all sorts of modifications. I used this pattern, which I found on Ravelry.

I knit this using inexpensive synthetic yarn from the 100 ￥ Shop. It took about 5.5 small skeins, and a few days of diligent knitting. I knit this up right after the move to Japan, so I wasn't working yet (which explains how fast it went).

This sweater might look familiar - I blogged about it on my Japan blog here. I ended up ironing a cute whale patch onto the front, and sending it to my niece, Celia, for her first Christmas.

Mittens - January 2009

I went through a mitten phase this past winter. The problem was that I would come up with more and more ideas as I was knitting, and I had a hard time being disciplined enough to actually knit two of each kind. I also blogged about my mittens here on my Japan blog. Here are some of the results:

"Snowflake" Mitten.

Used off-white wool with a thread of metallic silver purchased at Tokyu Hands.

"Cable" Mitten

Used washable marino wool in Dublin from KnitPicks.

"Chunky" Mitten

Used thick synthetic yarn from my local 100￥ Shop.

The variety shot: