Looking Ahead to a Petite Polished

Y'all are in store for a cozy twosome in this post!  Camden gets to show off a new hat AND a new sweater!

For such a lovely sweater, I took so long to write the blog post that the Petite Polished shows wear. I would say it honestly started pilling pretty soon after finishing it, too.  I wanted to hold out on allowing Camden to wear this design by Alicia Plummer, but since I finished it in October and she needed a pull-over, well, that was that.  Originally, I'd wanted to sew her new jeans first for a nice photo combo, but I have yet to get around to sewing those.  Maybe next week, aha.

There was some silliness in knitting this pattern, though the pattern itself was lovely.  Because of my gauge, I added extra yoke rounds, but in doing THAT, I also added extra increases, which wasn't great for the sleeves, and when I started the first sleeve, I realized my mistake and had to rip back and decrease differently.  I wasn't sure that it'd work, considering I couldn't just get rid of the original sleeve stitch count, but it ended up being okay.    I alternated skeins, and while the gauge called for is looser than I like to knit a DK weight yarn, it does look nice.  In saying that, I wonder if it'd be AS pilled as it is if I knit at a tighter gauge.  I knit with Tanis Fiber Arts PureWash DK in the Luna Gray colorway.  I was glad for Camden to have a somewhat neutral-toned sweater, which it is, but she really still needs another pull-over - and a cardigan, while we're at it.  I had been desperate to try the PureWash base for some time (because of its more eco-friendly "super-washing" process, and it is nice to knit with, but I'm not sure I'll knit with it again, unless I do try some time, at a tighter gauge.  Overall, the sweater is quite lovely, and Camden loves to wear it!

As for Camden's hat, this is another moment where I feel cool that I knit with deep stash yarn!!!  The yarn was purchased way back in 2012, and I had paid an Etsy seller to knit a sweater for Camden, because I didn't trust my abilities or something and figured another person would knit it faster, LOL.  Anyway, the remnants have been in my stash every since, some lovely Madelinetosh colorway - I think it was Truly, Madly, Deeply.

A tiny July 2012 Camden!

Looking Ahead, designed by Veera Valimaki, is a simple-enough pattern, thought I botched up the decreases a bit; it was hard to know how to stay in pattern, or I'd get off track.  Either way, it is cute, and I also had a feeling it'd be super cute with a faux fur pom pom, and I was RIGHT!  I am so glad I ordered from Thread Head Knits.  She has tons of choices, and I bought my poms as a bulk order, but keep in mind that some colors can't be ordered in bulk buys.  I was winging it on color choices, but I figured something I ordered would work, and the light pink is so pretty with the hat.

Even here, you can see the pilling.  I really should get a Gleener!

I am pretty happy that I have been working through stash yarns - for the kids or for others.  I am knitting two wee sweaters for twins right now - one down, one to go!  And I have recently knit another pair of mittens each for the kids, both from scrap yarns.

Lastly, so much has happened since the last post, but here are some snippets from some days!!

She worked on this longhouse with her dad.  She presented very well!

Their monsters are afraid of faeries!

But their monsters love to eat!

This and the next shot are the same beach, same five minutes, LOL

A gift her grandma made!!!

Gift for baby cousin Helen!

They are now obsessed with The Lion King!

Cornish Tin II AND Colorwork?! Absolutely!

This hat is just gorgeous!  I'm so glad this yarn didn't have to sit in my stash for millions of months!

I told myself that if I finished a few things for the kids, I could work on a couple things for me, and back when Cornish Tin II came out, I knew I had to snatch it up FAST!!!  (I purchased from The Woolly Thistle, by the way - so....stateside!)  I had missed the first incarnation of Cornish Tin in 2015, so, I allowed myself two whole skeins of the second go-round, and I totally don't regret it, naturally.  I am really trying to move toward using non-superwash yarns, but I'm so picky and have a hard time purchasing just anything, based on an on-line picture.  But I knew when I saw it in 2015 that I NEEDED it.  The 2016 version, from Blacker Yarns, is a lovely mix of fibers, so, it's pretty and heathered, in a way.

The colors I used in my lovely Vitsippa hat are Wheal Kitty Orange and Levant Gray.  The colors are clearly contrasting, but I feel that with this pattern, maybe a brighter color would have been a better choice over the orange.  You CAN see the pattern well enough in bright light, but I always worry.  The pattern is included in Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 12 (Pom Pom site) and isn't the only pattern in that issue I'd like to knit!  Written by Joji Locatelli, it is quite delightful and simple, as far as the pattern and directions go.  It seemed to take forever, just because it is a million rounds of fingering weight yarn, yet it also flew by - maybe because there were no cables, LOL!

I had tried a needle size or two for the ribbing but ended up going with size 00 needles and the smallest size hat.  In the end, I maybe could have knit the middle sized hat, but it does fit.  I prefer my hats to be a bit snug, but it's almost a pop-off-my-head type of snug, aha!  Honestly, I am just excited I now have three whole knit hats for myself - one I knit several years ago and the Fathom I recently knit.  I have plans for just ONE more....then I promise I'll work on a hat for Matt, a Quadri, as he really could use a new, fancy hat!

Things have been pretty tame around here lately.  I mostly can't stop thinking about my quilting class that starts next week at Modern Domestic.  I'm THIS NERVOUS about the class....I feel I will ruin all my fabric and have NO IDEA what I'm doing.  I hope I don't drive the teacher, Meredith, nuts!  :O

The weather has been off and on decent....sun, clouds, wind, rain....I'd like a consistent 65 and sun, if that's all right ;)  It looks like the birthday party weather for this coming Saturday should be okay, which is awesome.  I am sad, though, for Camden, as I planned poorly and didn't think about spring break for public school kids, so, a lot of families are out of town.  But ahhh!  I need to order cupcakes today!  I keep forgetting!

Our days in the life of....

Someone brought up Santa, so, he had to make an "appearance" for Tiberius's birthday

Finally rid of this annoying tree 

Presents from "grandma in Michigan"

                                      

Someone didn't feel well for a day last weekend 

Time with good friends!

                                                     

Headed out on a shopping trip with Matt's mom and me