Buttercup

This is my first attempt at knitting a warm weather garment. I am quite pleased with how it turned out!

This is "Buttercup" by Heidi Kirrmaier. It was a lovely pattern to knit. And it's free! You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

I only modified the sleeves on the pattern. I simply knit them longer (the original pattern has cap sleeves) and then finished the sleeves using Heidi's directions.

Check out all her patterns. I love the flowy and simple look of the tops. I'll be knitting more, for sure!

PS The yarn is Hempathy by Elsebeth Lavold. Yummy yarn, people!

Hello Kitty

I found the pattern for this doll on Ravelry. It was a really fun knit and a free pattern! The only change I made was that I made the dress as a "wrap" so my daughter could easily change her clothes.

The dress and the bow snap on and off. I plan to make more "outfits" for her.

New Yarn

This yarn will be knit into a winter hat for my son. I love how it turned out. I think it'll knit up into a really interesting fabric.

I have approximately 210 yards of it. It's BFL from cloudlover69. I bought it in May at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival. I was very pleased with the fiber and how it spun up! I'm sure I'll be buying more fiber from them in the future. They are having a sale this week! Time to stock up!

Swoon

Melissa LaBarre (the person who designed the pattern I used to make my red cardigan) hearted my cardigan on Ravelry. And she said she had been thinking of doing something similar and she liked my mods! I'm over the moon.

Swingy Garter Yoke Cardi

It's done! It's done! It's done! (And it only took 3 1/2 months.)

I'm really happy with how it turned out. I had hoped it wouldn't gap at the front. And I was sad at first. But, it's growing on me. If at some point I don't want the gap anymore I can just sew some snaps to the button band and fix that right up!

I made these increases just under the yoke and added a few more at the underarm to give it a swingy A-line silhouette.

I sewed grosgrain ribbon to the wrong side of each button band. I'm so glad I did! I may go back to another older cardigan and add ribbon. It gives the sweater such a more finished look.

I also went for snaps instead of buttons after the grosgrain ribbon made buttoning my buttons too difficult. I like the snaps! I may just add ribbon to all my future cardigans.

I would definitely knit this sweater again. The original pattern is fitted and I might make one of those (you know, just knit the pattern instead of messing about with it). I think this pattern also would work with some stripes or lacy pattern at the bottom.



Here's my full list of modifications to the Garter Yoke Cardi by Melissa LaBarre:

1) Knit yoke with a needle 2 sizes smaller than necessary to obtain gauge.

2) Immediately after finishing yoke, on first round of stockinette, add increases. I increased using a 3 stitch repeat of: purl into the front and knit into the back of the same stitch, knit into the back and purl into the front of the next stitch, knit one stitch. If I were to do this again I would have knit 4 - 5 stitches next to the button band and then started increases and continued increasing all the way to the raglan increases.

3) After separating the sleeve stitches knit 1 inch at the underarm. Increase by knitting in the front and back of the same stitch 4 stitches from either side of the underarm marker (increasing 4 stitches each increase round). Knit about one inch and do the increase round again. Note: I only did this 2 times. I think I might have been able to get my cardigan to stay closed in the front had I done more increases on the “front side” of the underarms.

4) Don’t do the waist shaping.

5) Sew grosgrain ribbon to back sides of button bands. Sew snaps for closure.

Look what happened yesterday!

My tomatoes are huge! I have a few tomatoes turning orange and red.

And yesterday morning I couldn't help myself when I saw this little beauty.

I shared this tiny thing with my daughter (my son doesn't really like them). The kids and I were both ecstatic that a tomato had grown and was ready to eat. This tomato was delicious! It was either a Mexican Mini or a Chocolate Cherry. I lost track of which ones I planted where. I doubt that would even matter at this point as the branches are all a jumble.

Bring on the tomatoes!