Afghan Gift Take Two

As my last attempt to make a knitted afghan as a gift for my aunt turned into a total UGH! I decided to try again, but this time I went with a bulky yarn to speed things up a little.

 

Chunky Afghan:

Yarn: 2 balls of each: Bernat Softee Chunky Solids in white, natural, dark taupe and linen and Loops & Threads Charisma in taupe

Needle Size: US 10 1/2 (6.5mm)

Pattern Source: Maple Grove Blanket (available on Ravelry)

 

This was a wonderful blanket to knit while watching TV, and as it grew it kept me warm while I was knitting. I think my aunt will love it, and I can't wait to give it to her!

Close-up of lace detail.

Small Stuffy

I bought an issue of Mollie Makes a few days ago. It's an old issue, but I was really excited to buy it because it came with the fabric to make this:

 

 

Took me a morning to hand stitch it together, and it is so cute!

 

Baby Hats

The child size hat.

I made two pumpkin hats, one for my nephew and one for a co-worker. They turned out fantastic and they are really cute.

 

Baby size hat.

Pumpkin Hats:

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in orange

Needle Size: US size 5 (3.75mm) and 7 (4.5mm) 16" circular needles

Pattern Source: Pumpkin Hats (free Ravelry download)

 



Close-up of the leaf.

These hats were a really quick knit and the pattern was really easy to follow. I decided to only put one leaf on my hat because I liked the look of it.

 

 

This hat was also made for my nephew. I love the color block, the two colors worked really well together.



Forward and Reverse:

Yarn: Rozetti's Always Dreams and Vanna's Choice Prints

Needle Size: US 6 (4.0mm) and 8 (5.0mm)

Pattern Source: Leisure Arts #75357, Knit Celebrity Slouchy Beanies for the Family by Lisa Gentry



 

Love it! Can't wait to see it on my nephew



A Secret Hat

I have finished one of the projects I have been working on in secret for my boyfriend. I had to wait until he goes out or is sleeping so I could work on it, but I got it done!

 

 

 

Naturally Confertable:

Yarn: Rozetti's Always Dreams

Needle Size: US 6 (4.0mm) and US 8 (5.0mm) 16" circular needles

Pattern Source: Leisure Arts #75357, Knit Celebrity Slouchy Beanies for the Family by Lisa Gentry

 

 

I really enjoyed knitting this hat. The pattern is great and the yarn is so soft and nice to work with. I am thinking of getting a couple of more balls so I can make matching scarf to go with the hat. 

 

 



UGH!

I finished making the blanket I was knitting for my aunt about a week ago but I couldn't bring myself to do a post about it since I felt really discouraged about it. Here's what happened: I had finished knitting it and it was looking awesome, but I wanted to make sure all the stitches would show nicely and the blanket would sit well. I decided to steam the blanket to kill the acrylic (as had worked beautifully in the past), but unfortunately, this time it didn't it didn't turn out so good. I made a big mistake while steaming it: I didn't follow the direction of the pattern, I just went in a straight line. This turned the squares all wonky on one side (I saw that I had made a mistake on the first half, so the second half of the blanket turned out great). To top it off, there was drops of hot water that fell from the nozzle of the steamer right onto the blanket causing the acrylic to get over-killed and creating holes. Seen from one side the blanket does not look so bad, but I won't be giving it as a gift, I will keep this one for myself and work on something else to give to my aunt.

 

The 'good' side of the afghan.

 Afghan:

Yarn: Mary Maxim Starlette in Soft Taupe

Needle Size: US size 9 (5.5mm)

Pattern Source: Knitted Black Afghan from Knit Simple Fall 2013

 

The pattern was excellent, and all the different stitches really kept me interested in making it. The different squares were easy and small enough that I was able to carry this project with me. I will chalk this one up to a learning experience and move on to my next afghan project.





You can see the holes created by the drops of water in the center of this photo.