Been trying to use up a bit of leftover sock yarn - actually, it’s the Monkeypal I love so much. I hate to have these tiny little balls of leftover yarn sitting around, you know? So these tiny wool soakers are ADORABLE. What I’m going to do with them, I have no idea. They’re so easy to make, and fast (about an hour), I’ll probably make a few more. The pattern is here, and here’s the Ravelry project page.

And these little socks were fun to make. High-Energy Baby Socks, they’re called. Apparently named after the pattern developer’s friend’s baby, who was nicknamed High Energy Fetus. Anyway. Simple but with fun details around the top. I knitted these up mostly at the pool during our week at Okoboji, watching Wally and Daddy playing and holding a napping/nursing Genna. PS - tried nursing discreetly while wearing a bikini and knitting? Yeah, not so much. Ravelry project page.

These socks are a pattern I made up myself, based on the other two baby socks patterns I’ve used. It’s ribbed throughout, with a simple heel flap, knit top-down. I knit it on size 3’s, wanting a slightly bigger size than I was getting on size 2’s, and I’ll be honest - that was, I think, a mistake. These socks kind of slide right off of her. They fit will around the foot, but they just slide off for some reason. Grrr. But they are awfully cute, and if I put legwarmers on over them, they’ll stay up, right?

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Then I also whipped up this sock for our DSi. I thought it would use up the rest of this yarn I inherited from my mom, but, um, there was more there than I thought. This particular pattern, though, was awesome. It’s knit in a tube, flat. I’ve read how to do this several times in several different places, but this pattern was the first to use words in a way that made sense to me. As I read it, I finally understood how this works. Ravelry project page. Pattern. NOTE: if you decide to use this pattern, on the line where she explains how the ribbing words, she says:

Slip Stitch Pattern (ribbing): k1, bring yarn to front, slip st purl wise, purl 1, slip sts purl wise, bring yarn to back

She means “…purl 1, slip st purl wise…”  ONE stitch. Not stitchES. There were some questions about that in the comments on her blog (linked above), but I don’t think she understood what was being asked.

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And then I used the same pattern, a felted it a bit, to make this pouch for the IPod Touch. And then I used up a bit more scrap making this little pouch with the same pattern, adjusted to give me a flap to fold over and snap.

The Two Summer Sundress. This is such a ingenious design - I hope it really works out the way it’s supposed to. This dress is supposed to last two years - the first year, with the straps crossed, the second year with them straight. We’ll see.

I made three total, but didn’t get a picture of the dress I made for my niece Joey. The ones pictured are for my friend’s daughter Liv for her 5th birthday later this month and for Genna for next summer

I’ve never sewed on my knitting before, and I’ll admit it was a bit scary at first. I did Genna’s dress first so if I messed up, at least it wasn’t a gift for someone else’s kid, you know? But it was super easy to do, and I didn’t screw it up too much. Now I just hope that they fit all the intended receipents!!!

Pillowcase dresses are SO SIMPLE!!

Yes, you can start with an actual pillowcase, but you don’t have to! In this case, I just cut some fabric, about twice as wide as she is big around. (So I measured her around the chest, and doubled it.) Sew up one side seam. Now you have a tube, right?

You can either hem the bottom (and you pick which side is the bottom, since when it’s just a tube, either side could be the bottom!) or you can add a length of seam binding, or make a decorative band with another fabric, whatever.

Once you get the bottom hemmed, focus on the top. Lay the dress out, you can put the seam in the back or on one side. Cut out armholes. Like this:

After the armholes are cut, you’ll see only ONE straight part of the fabric that’s not hemmed, right there, top front and top back, between the armholes. Make a casing out of each of those little flaps, just about 1/4-1/2 inch deep.

Now, you need to hem the armholes. You can just hem them, or you could use seam binding. I personally recommend seam binding.

Next, cut two lengths of seam binding long enough to thread through the casing and tie over each shoulder. I recommend sewing the seam binding closed for this purpose.

And you’re all done. Easy peasy.

If you want pictures, post here and I’ll take some and put them up.

I made Wally this Link Tshirt with freezer paper stencils. I’m not totally happy with that smear under the eye! Notice that it’s already stained.

Genna’s outgrown all of her winter newborn hats, but we still needed something warm for her for this summer. (Camping in the mountains, it gets pretty chilly.) So I whipped up this adorable pixie hat. The pattern is free, of course, because I generally only use free patterns, lol. I liked how it knitted up, but the sizing seems to be a little wonky, which other people on Ravelry said, as well. I made it with some Lorna’s Laces that I had leftover from another project.

And who would have thought late May in Iowa would bring an opportunity to wear it outside, also in our fleece bunting with pants and a sweater underneath?

Here’s the Ravelry project page.

Randy’s socks, done!! And, I might knit him socks with bulky weight yarn, but probably not DK weight any more. These took forever. And he’s got really large calves, so I probably should have addressed that with the pattern, but I didn’t. He says they’re really comfortable, though.

Here is the project page on Ravelry. And the pattern is Widdershins at Knitty. I used Paton’s Stretch Socks and size 2 needles.

I also dyed up a bunch of stuff for my own family.

Hoodie for Wally. He helped me dye this one and loves it.

A headscarf for me. I actually made this a while back and have been wearing it incessantly. It’s a few inches bigger than a do-rag, which gives me just enough space to tie it the way I like.

Then a new headscarf for me, in green.

Orange and Yellow outfit for Genna. It’s a little boring, though. I might applique it.

I love this shirt for Wally. We made it with the low water immersion technique. Basically, after soaking the shirt in soda ash solution (fixer), we stuff it in the bottom of a jar, pour in the two colors of dye, and add water to cover the shirt. Easy enough for a four year old. I’m going to applique something fun on the back.

Outfits for Genna for summer. I love the Sage and brown together. The shirt on the left is actually sage with raspberry.

And I love this dress. Raspberry, Sage, Chocolate. Sounds like the start of a recipe. How smart is it to have a white dress for a 6 month old? Not good, probably, but I can always overdye if I need to.

This is by far my favorite thing I’ve knit, ever.

You can read more about the pattern, yarn, etc. on this post.

I finished these up a few days ago, but am just getting around to posting the picture. I could not be happier with my finished socks. Yarn and pattern info are here.

 So at first, for many years, I had no desire to knit socks. Then more recently, I’ve become more intrigued by the idea. But I was too chicken to give it a try, because reading instructions for socks seemed so confusing. I found so many websites talking about all this math, and measurements, and whatnot, and it intimidated me. Also, knitting is something I largely do in the car or in quick bits here and there, so I tend to stick to relatively simple patterns.

But then a group of mamas I know decided to start up a knitting/fiber arts group. More on that later. And just before our first meeting, it was suggested that we all try the same project - BroadRipple socks from Knitty. So a very kind friend got me the yarn and needles and I got to work. Originally, we were learning to knit two socks at a time using the magic loop method, but with a newborn and needing to knit in brief moments, I just couldn’t keep track of where I was, so I switched to double points and whipped out my first sock in a matter of about a week and a half. The heel was not as hard as I feared, in fact it was not hard at all.

Now I am working diligently on the second sock. It’s going slower. (I had the benefit of spending massive quantities of time in the rocker holding the sleeping or nursing baby in her first week to get the first sock done. Plus, I have to finish needlepointing Miss G’s Christmas stocking, and that project takes priority!)