Knitting Fla

Hello - This is Flavio. I love knitting! I would love to try sharing bits of my life and my thoughts. Lots of love! :)

domingo, septiembre 30, 2007

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


sábado, septiembre 29, 2007

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

miércoles, septiembre 26, 2007

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

jueves, septiembre 06, 2007

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