Sheeps!

This weekend was the annual Sheep Shearing Festival at Gore Place.

Alpaca!



Sheep shearing!





Sheep herding and dogs!



Nigerian dwarf goats!



Lambies!



Woolly stuff!



Hedgehogs! (for Kate)



Kilts!







Always a fun day, with the critters and the crafts.

baby in blue

Thanks to amazingly speedy service by the USPS and the Royal Mail, you're seeing this a lot sooner than expected!

The baby parade continues with Lizzie, who is due early next month. For this little one--who we've been told will be a girl--I made these goodies:



Pattern: Ballet Blossom Cardigan from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies, size 6-12 months
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Forget-Me-Not (1.5 skeins) on US3 and US5 needles



I didn't do the flower called for in the pattern but improvised a rose instead.



And instead of doing a tie around the back I put a button closure at the front, with a snap inside.

What I'm most proud of on this project is the seams. I've been knitting for six years but I've only just figured out invisible seams!

See, right side:



And wrong side:



And since it's going to be a spring/summer baby, I made another of the sun hats.



Pattern: On the sunny side, by Melanie Hoffman
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Coral Beaches on US7 needles

And booties, too, of course!



Pattern: Triange Edged Booties from Debbie Bliss's Quick Baby Knits
Yarn: Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Heather in Crocus on US2 and US3 needles



Welcome, little one.

in lieu of actual knitting content

I give you photos.

My Wollmeise stash as it stands after scoring two skeins in last week's Loopy Ewe update:



So prettttty.

And this is from yesterday.



PAX East, a video game convention, is going on here in Boston. Which means the city is currently overrun by geeks, a very good thing in my opinion. And while I'm not a gamer, I am most definitely a geek. So when a friend of mine going to the convention planned a knitting get-together for convention-goers I decided to tag along. So I spent a few hours knitting and chatting with my fellow geek girls, eating cookies, looking at costumes, and generally having fun. And the girl next to me was crocheting a D20, hence the picture above.

And here's the finished D20, too.



Dear geeks, you are always welcome back.

oodles of babies

I've got a lot of friends having babies in the next few months, and I've started stocking up on the baby knitting in preparation. I can't show you everything yet, but these few were sent off yesterday.



Pattern: Umbilical Cord Hat, from Stitch n Bitch
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cherub Collection Kaleidoscope DK (what a long name!) on US 7

And modeled by my lovely teddy bear:



And another hat...



Pattern: On the Sunny Side
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Tea Rose, on US 7 needles

And modeled by a fabulous poodle:



And, of course, there have to be booties, too.



Pattern: Herringbone Bootees by Zoe Mellor
Yarn: Sandes Garn Sisu in red, with a little bit of Patons Kroy in white, on US 2.5 needles



There are more things done, but those will have to wait until it's closer to the arrival of those little ones!

The three day scarf

So, remember those two balls of yarn I walked out of the store with on Thursday? By Sunday night they had turned into this:



Pattern: Mochi Plus Beaded Rib Scarf
Yarn: Crystal Palace Mochi Plus (2 skeins) in color 552 (as I refer to it, sunset colors) on US 8 needles



Just a quick, satisfying project. And wonderful colors to look at during winter!

short but sweet

This was a very quick knitting project for a thank you gift.



Pattern: Princess Mitts, by Jennifer Hagan
Yarn: Brooks Farm Solo (small portion of a skein) on US 6 needles

(Without the flash shows the cables better.)



I love the finished project. I do feel, though, that the written pattern could have been far clearer, especially in regard to the thumb gusset. I used the designer's revised pattern, available on her website, and I have just read the original version (available here) and the original was easier to understand. I did figure it out eventually--with Johanna's help!--but it was needlessly complicated.



But they are pretty, and a fast knit.

I missed my bus yesterday afternoon and decided to kill time by browsing in Windsor Button. Always a mistake. :) These decided to come home with me.



I'm really attracted to those sunset-y colors right now.

v for victory (well, sort of)

I've been meaning to knit a vest for the past few months, to wear over a button down shirt at work, but I only just got around to actually doing it.



Pattern: High Street Vest by Kate Flagg
Yarn: Farmhouse Yarns Not Just for Socks in Storm (almost two skeins) on US 5 needles

I got the yarn in a swap over on the Doctor Who boards on Ravelry, and it's very nice. The one problem I had was that when I wound the skeins I discovered that one was considerably lighter than the other in terms of color. So I ended up alternating skeins every other row while knitting.



I would have really loved this pattern except for one little thing. It is supposed to be done specific to your measurements, so you're supposed to insert the numbers for where you want it to fall on your body. Except that I'm a really lousy judge of where things are supposed to be on my body and I ended up making the body of the vest far too short. Even a suggested number would have helped to suggest to me that maybe my numbers were not leaning the right way. Otherwise the pattern is great and leads towards a nice finished product. In the end I cast on and knit an additional three inches of ribbing and grafted that to the original cast on. It's not perfect--the seam is noticeable--but it's wearable. Another time I'll make one--with the right numbers.