bestitched

Getting my stitch on

These days I've been obsessed with cross stitch. The most recent is for Lewis' office.

The pattern is from Mr X Stitch's etsy shop. He has awesome patterns!

On her scooter

Another skirt and more to come

 

This lovely skirt pattern is Baile from Army of Knitters. I decided to knit a shorter version, somewhere between the long and short version shown in the pattern. I used Cascade Ultra Pima in a lovely mint color. I'm very happy with the result, but this yarn is HEAVY. So heavy that it actually pulls down the skirt a little (yikes!). I'm thinking of adding some extra elastic at the waist to stabalize it. 

And there are more knit skirts on the horizon, finished and yet to be photographed. Watch this space!

Allison's baby quilt

My niece had a baby boy. I'm a great aunt now. It is strange. 

But thanks to my bee partners--the KBeeC ladies--little Chance has a new crib quilt! 

My piecing of their amazing blocks leaves a little to be desired. (Let's fact it, I rush through the end of projects sometimes. I got stuff to do people!) But the end result is fantastic. Thanks ladies! Mwah!

Kristin's birthday sweater

There are only a few people who deserve a birthday handknit. Here's the friend that deserves a handknit (almost) every year for her birthday.

Kristin, my scrappy Scandanavian friend (with special guest star Kenny)!

Happy birthday friend!

Pattern: Thea's White Russian 

Yarn: Artful Yarns Cliche discontinued (of course!)

Buttons: Vintage from Gather Here (If you live in the Boston area, GO HERE!)

 

Cross stitch baby bibs

Grumperina is having a baby soon.  And let's face it, I was too afraid to knit for her. So I decided to cross stitch some baby bibs for the little grumper. The patterns are from sewingseed, who has the cutest cross stitch patterns and the little bibs are from Charles Craft.

I loved making them, even though I know Grumperina won't use (if you're reading this, you  SHOULD!).

2011 Easter sweater

This year Lily asked for a cardigan for Easter and I've been wanting to knit tiny tea leaves for ages. Harmonius convergence.

The pattern was fantastic. I used Valley Yarns Goshen in red (her favorite color) and truthfully I don't think I would use this yarn again. The modal gives it a slightly squeeky feel when you knit with it - not the most pleasant experience. The good news is that the color stayed put. The bad news is that it seriously grew after washing. 

She's really happy with it but of course it's too warm in Philly to wear it. 

Happy Easter everyone!

ETA: Here's a look through Lily's Easter sweaters through the years. 

a simple cowl

The past few months have been a little crazy with travel, parenting, and work stuff. And now I'm packing for a trip to Chicago at the end of this week (which means I miss SPA, boo) and then preparing for a conference in California at the end of next month. My roomie at the California conference is my sweet, beautiful friend Amy. Look, here she is...

 

...wearing the cowl I made her for Christmas. The pattern is Nova's birthday cowl (love this pattern) and knit using some Ella Rae bamboo silk and Habu Tsumigi Silk held together. 

Some other skirts and projects are on and off the needles. More on those after Chicago. See y'all soon!

winter white blanket

 

A warming gift for friends recently married. I had planned on a more complicated pattern, but then realizing I was going to be knitting this over our holiday travels, I opted for something simpler.

 
The blanket uses gull stitch pattern immortalized by Elizabeth Zimmerman. And since I've knit lots of little February Baby sweaters, I could knit this in my sleep. (Good thing, cause on the trip down to Philly after the blizzard, we were stuck in New Jersey for FIVE HOURS and I ended up knitting on this in the dark. NJ, please buy some snow plows).

Pattern: Pine Forest Baby Blanket (free on ravelry)

Yarn: Berroco Comfort Chunky in Ivory

Needle: US 11

Christmas washcloths

 Possibly the best stash buster project ever. Using remnants and partial skeins from leftover projects, I knit up some washcloths for holiday office gifts. 

 Wrapped up with a little soap and a tag, the result was a hit. 

Merry, merry to you and yours!