Little Rubén! And me learning crochet...

Dear friends!

Here I am again. Today I visited little Rubén and his family, and his mother Marián took the little jacket and hat I did for him in June, for this autumn. We tried it on and now the size is perfect! He's just one year old, and I thought this would be for 2-year old, but wow. The kid is big, or the pattern is small, LOL! Anyway, it looks sooo nice on the baby. I am so proud! He really looked cute, although it was almost impossible to take a photo of him with the hat on (I understand, because today it was a bit too hot for the hat... and generally babies don't like strange hats :) - Don't you think he looks soooo cute? The guy with long hair is me, LOL. Yes, I have never had my hair sooo long as I have it now.

Well, back to Rubén. He's growing up quite nicely! And he has such a funny face! Especially the eyes are very piercing :) Quite a difference from last year's pictures with the first things I knit for him. The fruit jacket is still in use, by the way! It's wonderful to knit for such a baby (and such a nice mother! She loves to use my experiments :) She made me a gift: my first real crochet hook and instructions! As you can see in the photos, I was quite puzzled. I find it soooo difficult, but I'll try to practise. I find it so unstable compared to my good old 2 straight needles. It's very difficult to get started, and get the thread go through the loops... oh well. But I will learn, promise! :) Poor me! As if I didn't have enough worries!

Hehehe... ;)

Lots of love,
Flavio

My biggest sweater! WOW!

Dear friends,

Wow, I have finished it! I made the collar and it looks OH SO NICE. I am so happy about this sweater! The yarn is very simple, nothing beautiful, but now that I have tried the pattern out of the magazine, I think I would like to do it again with a nicer yarn. This one is a simple mix of two acrylic yarns (blue and pale yellow, worked 2 strands at a time). It has set-in sleeves. All of it is in ribbing: body, sleeves, collar... It is very easy to do, just... SLOOOOW, because I am a slow (but precise) knitter, and this was my biggest sweater ever: it can fit a 4-year old child because the ribbing really spreads out (it looks small in the picture but you can really spread the fabric). I hope you like it! :)

Love,
Flavio

My "Lol Cat" test results :)

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

72% Affectionate, 39% Excitable, 75% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

First blocking... oh dear!

Dear friends,

Well, here I am, trying to enjoy my last days at home before leaving again for Switzerland. I am working on my bigger sweater ever, aprox. for a 4-5 year-old child. The pattern comes from a nice Spanish magazine. Looks nice, but... I wanted to block the pieces. I DO NOT have a good space for that. Plus, I have never blocked anything ever.

I thought I'd take a big table, but a tablecloth on it, and literally "block" the pieces to the specified sizes - with... clothpegs. I know, this will look ridiculous to all of you but... do you have any better ideas? I am sooo ignorant about blocking. Argh :( I have turned everything "moderately wet". Let's see what happens... I am a bit afraid. I don't even know if I should leave it there all night... uhm.

I will keep you posted...

Love,
Flavio

Summer Knitting - Strawberry Baby Jacket and Hat

Dear friends!

Well... here it is, I am so proud of it! I really wanted to try something new, that is: creating my own baby jacket, without following any pattern. My friend Arantza gave me some hint and here I was, trying to figure out how to decrease for my FIRST PAIR OF RANGLAN SLEEVES! Oh myyyy! Well, I used this super soft acrylic (incredibly soft, I love it), and with barely 110g I was able to do a jacket and a hat! It doesn't look terrible, and proportions are OK, I think. The shaping worked, and I even did the button edge while knitting the fronts: this way it looks more regular and I don't have to pick up stitches later to do it vertically. I was afraid the sleeves would look (AGAIN!) too thin or not big enough. I seem to have a problem with sleeve-measuring... oh well. What do you think? I am quite happy, the jacket looks ready to be worn this winter by a girl baby... Now I have to find one among the army of cousins, aunts and friends... mmm. The hat was a simple garter + stockinette stitch thing. I am getting better at distributing the decreases. How do you do it, by the way? I never know if I do it the right way.

Lots of love!!! :)
Flavio

Summer Knitting - Zebra Jacket, mini-scarf and hat

Dear friends,

What can I say? I had 200g of this super-bulky domino yarn in black and white... and I was stupid enough not to make a scarf out of it. Instead, I thought I would do a baby jacket. First lesson learned therefrom: NEVER do a baby jacket with a ultra-bulky yarn. It simply won't work. Looks fat, chunky and too hot for a baby. And heavy. It's SOOO heavy. I think I won't give this to anyone... and I am too lazy to unravel the whole thing. I had a bit of yarn left so I did a mini-hat and a mini mini mini scarf - probably not good for a baby, or even dangerous (suffocation?). Do I sound pessimistic? Well, maybe... argh. Doesn't look too bad... it even has two non-existent sleeves, good for spring...

Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :(

Love,
Flavio

Summer Knitting - iPod Pouch!

Dear friends!

My dear friend Gunhild asked me to knit a pouch for her iPod "nano". She gave me the size of it and I came up with this simple pattern. I thought I would use very thin yarn - but doubling it, and 3mm straight needles. She said the iPod is turquoise. Then, I chose turquoise yarn (looks like cotton, or simply 1-ply acrylic, I am not sure. The thing is: I had never worked with such a tiny yarn. I started with some ribbing, and then stockinette stitch with regular "bulge" done with a purled row, just to give some variety to the whole thing. It also helps to grab the pouch! :) Then, I would knit to a bit more length than the iPod heigth - after that, I would simply repeat everything, but mirrored, as if it were from bottom to top. Then I would sew everything. I still have to give it to Gunhild, but I tried it with my partner's mobile phone, and it works! Wow. It really looks small and nice. Very very sweet. I should do more thingies like this for friends...

What do you think? :)

Love,
Flavio