Here it is! At last!

Dear friends,

Well, here it is, at last. It's my first baby jacket, completed! The pattern is a very good one and I have learnt a tremendous lot from it. I have done my first neck shaping, my first "complex" structure, my first buttons, my first time picking up stitches... It's been an incredible journey! I am sorry if I have not been able to post meanwhile. I wanted to have it completed and finished before posting again on the blog.

So, here are the photos... Yes, it is not perfect. The fronts are not perfectly symmetrical after buttons have been placed... oh well. It's not a problem. Also, I was so impatient I only did half collar: it had to be twice as long, but I was impatient. Anyway, it doesn't look too bad.

I am so proud of my seaming down the fronts and sleeves! Wow!

There isn't a single thread popping out! It's all "a piece" now! Isn't it too funny! Wow, I am very very happy about my first baby jacket. I used three colours. The blue-purple is for stockinette stitch. The orange-purple is for garter stitch.

What do you think? Do you like it? Please, leave your comments...



Lots of love,
Flavio

First Sleeve Coming...

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for the help you are giving me through the Knitting Novices group. It is absolutely invaluable. I can't believe how much you are supporting me through my knitting learning! I was totally panic-stricken because I couldn't understand the "pick up stitches BETWEEN the two markers" instruction in my pattern. Well... my friends at the group explained the mystery and.. here it is! Picking up stitches was very easy, though it's the first time I do it. Really! I might be not very good at seaming, but I am improving... now, picking up stitches was absolutely easy. I was scared since I read it was tricky but... hey, it worked! :) The pattern must be a good one. Proportions look good! The sleeve is looking so cute, with the last inch in garter orange stitch!

Now, I'll have to seam the arm length before seaming down to the low edge of front and back. At least, I guess so! I'll try to do the other sleeve identical... wow, I feel that the jacket is getting a good shape! I am thrilled! It will be my very first real complex "wearable" thing! Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. I am very satisfied with the sleeve, its decreases, the shape... I even used different decreases: on left side of sleeve, I did a right slant (K2Tog); on right side, I used left slant (ssk) - this way, the shaping is perfect! WOW! :)

Looking forward to your comments!
Love,
Flavio

My first attempt at... BABY JACKETS!

Dear Friends,

I am not sure where to start from. I have started an ambitious projects, but I don't know how it will go. I wanted to try a "baby jacket" pattern classified as "beginner". I can't remember where I got it from. I search it on Google but it does not come up. I am puzzled!

It says it requires "Cherub DK" and "Cherub Temptations" yarn, but I am using generic yarn. I am mixing three colour. When the pattern says "use 2 yarns of DK", I mix orange and purple. When it says "use 1 yarn of DK and 1 yarn of Temptations", I mix purple and light blue.

I was very thrilled with the plan. First, I had to start with the back: 50 stitches on. Good. 2" in garter stitch, then, 4 times of [6 rows in St st + 2 in Garter st]. All, mixing colours. Garter would be orange and purple, while St st would be purple and light blue. After this, all St st until desired lenght (some 31cm). Instructions said to place 18 center stitches on a holder for neck, and to place on holders each shoulder side, to bind them off together with the fronts. But I am not daring enough to do that, so I followed the second given chance: bind off now back shoulder stitches and sew them to shoulder fronts later.

After this came the hard part: the front sides! This implied doing the same as the back, but splitted in two: 23 + 23 stitches. Also, it involved neck shaping. I HAVE NEVER SHAPED A NECK BEFORE! - Ok, calm down Fla. There must be a solution to this. I tried to follow the instructions. All seemed to go well. The right side gave a nice neck shape. Bind off 3 stitches, dec 1 every other row three times and that's it. NOW... it asked for the same design on the left front, but REVERSED!

I thought this would mean symmetry or something like that. Now. Consider this: if, on right front, neck shaping started with binding off 3 st at the beginning of the desired row, then dec 1 every other row, now I had to DEC 1 AND bind off 3 st at the end of the desired row! This meant I HAD TO CUT THE YARN after BO the 3 last stitches, which caused a stress, because... how was I to continue the following rows after a bind off? I thought the only way was to add yarn, which would produce another loose end, and what's worse, in a neck shape. Oh well. Please, friends, let me know if I did the correct thing or if I misread the instructions. After this, I continued to desired lenght and bind off all 16 remaining stitches. After I bound off, I saw the left front was SHORTER than the right front. I PANICKED. Now I had to learn how to unravel bound off stitches. I trembled.

It sort of worked although the last stitch was... weird. Oh well. I continued knitting ignoring that, and it worked. I worked up to CORRECT length and bound off. Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeew!!

Now, I have two fronts and a back. They look nice and soft. THE WORST part comes now.

I AM AFRAID OF SLEEVES!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Please, I need your support :)

Love,
Flavio

Knit It! (Fair Isle Impromptu)

Dear friends,

Well, here it is: have been working on this last afternoon and morning. I wanted to mix three colours (although in separate designs, not all together) - and I designed it all myself: the Greek decoration, the hearts and little diamonds, plus the strange "thingy" in the middle. I also had a hard time trying to design the letters: it all had to be symmetrical, and I only had 34 stitches to work on. First thing was preparing the garter stitch frame. The work nonetheless rolled. What I did is placing it under heavy books all night long. This sort of worked! It almost does not roll now. Maybe I did some sort of basic blocking? ROTFL. It is all acrylic, and I have read I should not use steam on it otherwise it'll "break" or ruin.

I thought about doing hearts and diamonds in orange yarn (yes, again orange!) *** To fill in the symmetry, I added a little zig-zag: looks nice! Then, in purple, the Greek frame. I am so happy it looks so well. When I drew it on paper for the pattern, I was afraid it wouldn't look right. It does! Then, the words. Wanted to write something about knitting. I thought "knit it!" would do it. It looks so funny! Also the "i" with the dots... aren't they lovely? Would love to hear your comments :)

Also, do I have to call it "dishcloth" even when it's not intended for dishes?!

Love,
Flavio

I am fine

Dear friends,

I am fine - sorry for not having posted anything those days. I have been very busy, and hadn't a lot of time left for knitting either :( Alas! ** But, I am working on a new "dishcloth" (although I'll never use if for dishes, so I just like to call it "knit-square"). I have invented the design, in Fair-Isle, and used three colours! You'll see... surprise, surprise ;-)

In the photo, you can see my first hat ever which I gave as a present, two or three months ago. I did it for a little cousin (a few month old). Notice my spaghetti pom-pon! I just cut short strings of yarn and tied them to the top: they looked so funny! Hope you like it :)

Good Morning Darling!

Good Morning
Darling :*)

Ice Cream: Vanilla with Watermelon Hearts

Dear friends,

Well, I felt the need to use one of those lovely yarns I bought in Italy, so I thought I'd repeat a familiar pattern: the heart hat. I know, I should try something new, but I am a bit nervous lately so I sticked to what I know. I used vanilla as Main Colour (I know, it looks too white on the photos, but I swear it's like cream or ice cream!) - and hearts were done in watermelon as Contrasting Colour. Isn't it sweet?

This yarn is much "fatter" (chunkier?) than the one you saw in the blue/orange heart hat. I couldn't cast on 72 stitches, so I did it with 40 (it had to be a multiple of 8). It got quite high, in the end the hat looked very small. I can barely put it in my hand, so to speak. Well. Another doll hat for my collection... When will I be able to do a real hat for a real adult? Anyway, it's a nice exercise. What do you think of how it looks anyway?

Now... I really am unhappy with my seaming. I don't like how it looks. I am apparently doing something wrong. What's that? I wish somebody could help me with this. Please, leave your comments. I'll love to read them!

Lots of love,
Flavio

My first attempt at CABLE!

Dear friends,

I have finally dared to try cable for the first time. I didn't know what to use as a cable, but I found something "U-shaped" that might work. This little experiment is based on what I can see in the great book Knitting for Dummies. It's a simple Sl3 on cable and hold in front, K3, K3 from cable rhythm. The first attempts were pathetical: I wasn't able to do a good cable. I created big "holes" between the cable parts and it looked awful.

Now, it looks better. I have to practice a lot yet, but this is my first complete cable. What do you think? I have seen more difficult patterns for cable, but they look impossible. I am also quite confused with the chart icons for cable. They look very strange! Anyway, this is what I have done. Doing a sweater is still very far from where I am in my knitting skills right now. But I don't despair ;-)

Lots of love,
Flavio

My first lace pattern!

Dear friends,

Here I am again with a new work. I have finally been able to finish a lovely lace pattern that I have found in the great book Knitting for Dummies. I just love it. It is called "Miniature Leaf". It was quite difficult at first, mostly because when you miss one of the stitches the design is ruined. Eventually I was able to finish a decent square, with a garter-stitch frame, so it looks like a lovely framed picture :) What do you think?

I chose, once again, orange yarn. It's so bright! Notice those details between the stitches... Do you like it? What do you think? I would love to hear your comments, really :) If you want me to give out the pattern, just let me know and I'll post it. I used 4.5mm needles (size 7, I guess).

Love,
Flavio

Heart Hat!

Dear Friends,

I have been able to knit, in 4 hours, a decent hat for the little cousine. I didn't want to give the little ones, so my friends from Knitting Novice adviced a lovely pattern for a baby hat: it features a rolled brim (because of stockinette), hearts in contrasting colour and a topknot decoration. I also added a pink lace for the baby :) Well, since I learned how to do Fair Isle, I was very happy to try this one. It is my very first time doing an actual garment INCLUDING Fair Isle technique. Yes, I did some experiments before, but they were just rectangular samplers. This time it's a real object, a hat, with Fair Isle in it. I was afraid about weaving in the loose ends, it is still something that looks too random for me... but it's getting better. I am becoming quite fast with stockinette, and the decreasing part was a pleasure! The little hearts are lovely, and I managed to do a nice topknot. It is not I-cord though. Following the instructions, I worked the remaining 9 stitches for a few inches then bound off. This created a lovely "string". It was stockinette, but I knitted the first and last stitch on each side, so it rolled in its sides, which was very useful! I joined the top and bottom and the "cord" seaming with the remaining yarn: I don't know if this is correct, but it worked!

I am very happy with it. I am not sure the little baby appreciated the effort (4 hours non stop!), being only 1 year old, but it was such a nice feeling having been able to create something wearable and nice! Wow :) I am happy for this...

Let me know if you like it too :)

Lots of love,

Flavio