I started my new year with a little crochet project. It’s a scarf for a friend’s daughter. The yarn was unraveled from one of her baby sweaters. I tried a few different stitches, but the yarn is so busy, I decided to go with straight double crochet. I’ll be adding a few flowers, too.
How did you start the new year?
I finished up the granny cowl and I thought my new yarn might motivate me to finish up one more project. It’s crazy, right? I mean how long can I resist the new yarn?
This is Boheme #3. It’s been on hold since before the holidays. Gotta get it done. I do have pics of Boheme #2. I’ll try to post them soon. (Boheme #1 is here.)
A friend sent me a photo of her daughter’s dress and asked the best way to fix it. She was either going to finish it on the machine or add ric rac to cover the frayed ends.
I told her to bring it over. There were a few dropped stitches that I fixed with a crochet hook. Then I hand-sewed the rest with matching thread and duplicate stitches.
It’s not perfect, but I have to admit that I was kind of impressed with my own work.
Does anyone else get this excited over mending? Please tell me I’m not the only one!
I’m excited to finally post pics of this baby sweater. It was a fun little knit, even though I had to rip back a few times in the beginning because of missed buttonholes. (I must be out of practice knitting and watching tv.)
The only thing I changed about the pattern was the picot bind off. I chose a picot hem instead, which lies flatter and feels more finished to me.
My friend Lisa introduced me to Boheme and has knitted up quite a few of them. It really is the perfect three-season sweater: over long sleeves in the Fall, a turtleneck in the Winter and a tank top in the Spring. I’ll definitely be making another one. I’ve see a few feather and fan versions that are really cute.
What’s your favorite baby sweater pattern? Knit or crochet. Share in the comments!
pattern notes: You can find the pattern on Ravelry here. I used some Patons Rio from my stash. I love this yarn and wish it hadn’t been discontinued. I only have two skeins left.
I had 30 minutes to kill the other day, so I ducked into a thrift store for a little window shopping. Guess what I found! A sweater exactly like this one.
My lap afghan just doubled in size!
Have you found any thrifty surprises lately?
I don’t have a plan for this yarn yet, but I really do enjoy unraveling sweaters. These colors are so nice together. Any project recommendations? I’m open to suggestions!
In my creative space today is a crazy idea. I’m thinking of making a baby sweater for a shower on Saturday. Yes, this Saturday. (I told you it was crazy.)
It also looks incredibly small. So small, in fact, that I dug out one of my daughter’s infant sweaters for comparison. You know what? It is the right size, and my daughter really was that tiny. Oh, my!
pattern: Every Day is a New Sweater Day from Yarny Days. If you are new to her blog, take a moment and look around. Her work is beautiful!
Ever since I started knitting socks, I’ve wanted to knit a pair for everyone in my family. There’s something about giving a gift of warmth, especially when it’s handmade, that I really like. I just don’t have time to make it happen, so I started to think of alternatives.
One day I was looking through Linen, Wool, Cotton and saw a pattern for socks using angora wool and I got an idea. I’ve got plenty of wool sweaters in my stash. Why not make a pair of socks out of that?
These are basically a tube with one rounded end. I didn’t felt the wool, but used my serger to enclose the raw edges. The cuff has a casing for elastic to help them stay up. The button is just for decoration.
I see more of these in my future. I’ll be looking for superwash or wool blend sweaters so they can be machine washed. I’m also thinking about stripes, fair isle and cables. The possibilities are endless!
alternatives: If you don’t have a serger, you could felt the sweaters first so the edges don’t unravel or try the zig zag stitch on your machine. Felted socks may be too thick to wear with shoes, but would make great slipper socks for lounging around.
I think my exact quote for the morning was, “You are not allowed to buy any more sewing machines and I am not allowed to buy anymore sweaters for unraveling.” But when my friend and I got separated at a street filled with garage sales, I had no one to help me with my will power. This sweater is so soft. The colors will look great in my house. I’m thinking join-as-you-go granny square lap blanket.
recycle: “…to take an unloved garment, destined for the landfill, salvage the wool, and give it a brand-new start as a beautiful knit gift; it’s sure to be appreciated by any recipient who loves the planet.” Lee Meredith
I finished the petite afghan today and oh my is it ever thick and warm! I started with a large women’s bulky knit sweater and ended up with a 30 x 30 inch granny square.
The yarn was eleven untwisted plies and I used a K-10.5-6.5mm hook. The border is a round of half double crochets with three stitches in each corner.
I can’t decide if this is going on etsy or in my holiday gift pile. It would nice to have one finished gift to cross of my list!
project info: Original sweater and pattern details.