Baby Gifts

Chez Cheese is busy as usual...hockey playoffs are approaching fast, spring break is also around the corner while we gear up for some fantastic stuff.

My last post mentioned our cats and yarn and I should've known better...we were out of town over Easter weekend and I came home to a mangled knit hat. The kids need to pick up their items and so the cats can't help themselves. SIGH. It was such a cute hat and one of the first projects I knit when I picked it up again after a super long hiatus. I could have tried to fix it since it was just a few snags but the pom pom was destroyed and I just didn't feel like it.

Time to hide my yarn and knits. Over th weekend, cat mangled up my first hat I knit for Tyler in 2006 that got passed to Josh. RIP cute hat.

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Mar 28, 2016 at 7:55am PDT

So I moved on...some family members are having baby girls this summer and that kicked my knitting to another area that becomes almost obsessive in finding the cutest items to knit. 

Remember that half-done sock monkey? Well, it's all finished and looking cute. I even found a doll skirt pattern to make it cuter. 



Once that was done, I  had to find more and boy did I find a treasure trove of cute plushies to knit. I whipped an adorable little owl that I haven't decided who it will go to but I will knit more of them since it uses up leftovers. 



I started another plushie that is OTN (on the needles) and it involves a bit more work but lots of fun stuff to plan. These are so much more fun for me than knitting baby blankets although blankets are super useful.

I think that the ladies in my family or anyone for that matter would love the owls as gifts. What do you think?

UCLA Baby

Well, we heard of a new addition to our family! They haven't made an official announcement as far I know but they told us the news. So of course, I had to get started on a terrific baby gift. 

Now since I don't knit adult sized sweaters (while I'm typing in 80* weather), I'm all for baby sized sweaters. After that, it's strictly accessories! Side note: in the very beginning of my knitting  adventures, I chose to knit a sweater with the wrong yarn which I completed but it was a total disaster! It was not good.

So anyway, I present the UCLA Baby Sophisticate sweater. Isn't it adorable? I want to knit another one for my cousin but they live in Arizona which might not be all that practical is can be useful when they visit Cali. What the heck~!
I'm going to knit them one too anyway! Thinking a dark gray or a blue...



Lucky for me (and them) I had the right colors and enough to produce this cute sweater....it just feels awesome to have the perfect yarn in your stash. I also happened to have the right buttons although only 2 of each style. I think it adds some whimsy.








  I get to knit sweet, adorable baby things for 2 babies. Oh the possibilities!!

Baby Gifts

My cousin, Hannah is expecting her first baby at the end of September. Over the years, she has received various knit stuffed items ie. armadillo, bunny and monster. She will be putting them in the baby's room so that got me thinking I should do another search. Boy, my library has increased by at least 5 more stuffies.

I'm always trying to use up stash yarn and this Hungry Caterpillar is a prime example. I knit this in 2 days and used a variegated blue yarn for the body. The felt eyes don't match exactly like the book but that's okay. It sure does capture the essence of the book's version and that's fine with me. A very cute rendition and I will be knitting more if I need a baby gift.







So that got me thinking since the book is the hungry caterpillar maybe I can find a pattern for some fruit. Well, this apple is perfect. My first attempt I read a line wrong and had way too many stitches so I ripped it all out and began over. Much better.



So adorable. If I had  found this earlier, it would have been the perfect gift for the kids' teachers over the years. :)




Look how great it fits in Josh's hand. It's actually apple sized. He was laying on the ground watching TV so I had him hold it and it reminds me of Snow White after she bit into the apple. So now this part is complete with the apple and the hungry caterpillar.

Show and Tell

I have some pretty knits to show off today. Actually some have been done for a while but I've taken photos now so I can share.

We had a heat wave 2 weeks back which sucked the life out of everyone and now we are to our usual May gray/June gloom. I like the cool weather, personally.

Okay, here are my Smaug socks which I may have shown off before but I took a couple more photos of me wearing them which displays the stitches off better. Yes, the socks are really bright and my legs are even brighter.

These are kind of snug on me so I will gift them to my niece who is graduating high school and going off to school in Chicago where she will need some more warm accessories. 

Another pair of socks that are plain vanilla socks because look at how crazy colorful/bright the yarn is. Lots of knitters refer to this kind of colorful yarn as clown barf. Descriptive, isn't it? With all the socks I knit with intricate patterns/textures, I do love me some plain socks. A ribbed leg for lots of stretch will fit a variety of people.

These are just a tad long for me so I will gift them to a dear friend. I know she will appreciate the wild colors.

I also finally finished a baby blanket. I targeted the future dad since he is a USC grad and he can avoid the typical cutsey factor. This can be very tedious and hard for me to complete but I gave myself enough time and slogged along. The finished result is great so if I do attempt another blanket, this pattern is the perfect  one to use up those leftovers I save up. I'm sure I can find another pregnant friend somewhere.


Last, but not least are some cute coasters. The pattern is called Drip Coasters (free on Rav) and another great way to use up leftovers; this time with sock yarn.



  I think these will a nice end of the year gift to Joshua's teacher. 

Two baby hats

Some really quick baby hats for baby Aleksandra since it's been far too long gauging the size of baby heads. This time I tried some preemie hats because I tend to knit loose.

The hats fit just a tad small but still very cute and luckily very easy to whip up. :)

Little gnome.

The above is called Gezellig which is free on Ravelry.

Great for odds & ends of yarn.

And this one is called Presto Preemie Hat also free on Ravelry.

I'm off to find more baby hat patterns. Please feel free to recommend some of your favorite hat patterns in the comments. :)

November catching up

Getting through another hectic and emotional week just in time for the holidays so hold on to your hats.

Tyler made honor roll again and last year because of scheduling I was never able to see him receive his award but for 7th grade the time slot would work out perfectly. Well, that's what I get for assuming because the school changed the times again and I would have to do some quick driving back in forth to make it. I had to drop off Tyler first so he would there for the ceremony, drive Josh to school at 8:30am then drive back to catch what I could of the ceremony.


I walked into the cafeteria to see him already standing on stage so I was able to take a few photos. Also in addition to this hectic morning, we had to bring in Tyler's science project and his potluck dessert of mini pumpkin cupcakes. He thought he would be able to drop them off in the classroom but the teachers are in their in-service meetings Tuesday mornings. Ugh. Luckily, he found his friend G to watch over it during this time. :) Phew.


I have been knitting but not as much as I like but here is the latest. I finished the Apple Core blanket which can be used for a small lap throw (believe me, I used it for this purpose while stitching it all together) or a baby carrier blanket that can convert to a security blanket. I only took one photo so I definitely need to have another photo shoot with it. It took me about 1.5 days to get the I-cord edge on there and I really like it. I can't imagine how long it would take if this was a bigger blanket.

My November MOCK (mystery sock) with the challenge as Texture. A side story with this particular yarn because it's one of the earlier sock yarns I purchased way back when so the ball band is long lost so it is really a mystery yarn.

Next this yarn is fickle...I really like to find the perfect pattern for the yarn (for the most part) and this yarn has been started, frogged and restarted numerous times.  It's very thin and when knitted up, it doesn't feel very good. Very rough and scratchy.

So this yarn has been without a purpose until this month I noticed the mystery socks were named Moody stockings ( more after Mad Eye Moody vs. being moody like me) but I thought it was perfect because this yarn is definitely moody like me and I will finish these socks with this yarn. I guess I will keep them for myself just because I went through so much trouble to even find the right pattern but they'll be a reminder of their moodiness.



Look, even the color conveys moodiness but dang it, I don't like knitting with it.



Here are the socks somewhere around Clue 1 (Clue 3 was just released) so I have some knitting to do.
The texture made with the knits and purls are hard to see but like I said before...these WILL be knitted.

Watch, when I complete them they'll turn out to be my absolute favorite pair of handknit socks. Some hair conditioner should soften them up...

quickie

Last night I knit a cute little baby hat called Aviatrix. The yarn is a mystery since I lost the ball band long ago that my cousin gifted to me. A nice multi-colored yarn with a soft feel to it.

The pattern is super easy and cute. I really need to find a doll to be a model for my babywear although Torchic is very cute, he doesn't fill the bill. But you get the idea...





I need to find some cute buttons to attach the strap. Fun project!

Patchwork

Finished another project that was started a while back, picked up again where I saw glaring mistakes so I ripped it back to my first panel and restarted. Much better.

The completed project is so cute. Too bad I didn't knit when my kids were babies, I probably would have kept having more to get my baby item fix. :) Um, okay maybe not but I have friends & cousins (much younger than me) that can benefit from baby knitwear. :)

The yarn was perfect for California winters too, a cotton blend with nice pastels. I found some really cute kitty cat buttons to sew on and just need a real baby to model it.

As you can see, I had to come up with a way to photograph the sweater and here is when your kids old craft projects can be very handy. Josh decorated a photo frame for Father's Day a while back and it worked pretty well as a hanger. :)

Too cute.

Josh got the likeness of Hector down pat. :)

Cuteness

Not nearly as many photos as Tyler had when he was a baby but here is a favorite of ours of Josh at around age 6-9 months.



Josh at almost 1 year old. I don't what this loveseat has to attract the shirtless guys but there it is. :)



Not sure what Josh is holding but I think we are at Embassy Suites on one of our many trips to San Diego. Love Josh's belly.

Note: all this scanning business is brought to you because Josh has a 100 day project and another mom gave me an idea to use 100 photos of Josh make our poster. It's a big job but I figure that we would have a nice keepsake after it is all done. I'm going thru my files and shrinking the photos down to about 2.5 x 2.5 to keep the entire poster size down.

Toe-Up

I finished another quick project...this time I learned to knit socks from the toe up. All my other socks were knit from the cuff down. I suppose it doesn't really matter but there are instances when knitting toe up socks are preferred.
First, when you're not sure if you'll have enough yarn for a pair of socks. Knitting top down, I knit about 6 inches of leg and then "x" inches for the foot (depending on the size). It would really blow if you didn't have enough yarn to do the toes (unless you want toeless socks, maybe for a pedicure?). So that's when knitting toe up comes in handy where you finish the foot first then when you're almost out of yarn, you can just make a shorter leg and bind off.
Second, some sock patterns are specifically designed to be knit toe up. The pattern of stitches just look better that way. I have a book with a lot of stitch patterns I want to knit but they are toe up which I had to skip (for now).
Well, I finally figured out the cast on for toe up socks and knit up some baby-sized socks to get the general idea since the heel is a bit different too.Luckily I know a baby who can wear them now...baby D.

See? Baby D likes them and they fit perfectly!!

Here is the really cool gadget that has been filming my little home videos. See? It is smaller than my Blackberry! I carry it around in my purse so if the need arises, I can whip it out and film it.

Every Inch Counts

Yarn!!! What did you think I meant? After making my Cheese Monkey socks, I had a wee bit of yarn left...like the size of plums (times 2) so I went ahead to try and make some baby legwarmers. I mean like really small. I had to omit some rows of ribbing to squeak these puppies out. Maybe I'll keep this on the list of stashbusters because seriously, I have all these leftovers balls after the main project.

I think they'll fit okay. Plus I don't believe these will serve a real purpose ie warmth. Pure accessory and fashoin statement.

Hopefully baby D will look slammin in her new hat and legwarmers. Thankfully the weather is gray and rainy...I can curl up by the fire and knit while my spicy potato soup is in the slowcooker. :)