Finished! - Mayabee, or Once More With Feeling

Just one last toddler knit and I'm done for a while.  That is, the string of July birthdays is over, but it looks like there are a few commissions headed my way so I'd better not call it a day before the sun sets... 

Anyway, here's my toddler pullover no. 2, Mayabee.

I'm quite proud of it, you know?  It turned out even prettier than I ever thought it would.  Textured fabric is quite decorative in itself, braids on sleeves and all, but it's the hood that really makes the piece this time. 

It was my first time knitting a hood and I was a little anxious.  No need - hoods are easy!  I loosely followed an excellent tutorial found here, improvised a little and voila!  My hood even has a pompom...

...and a tiny lacy pattern where I had to increase for depth. 

The best news of all, Mayabee fits its owner almost perfectly (sleeves could be a little wider towards the shoulder, but I'll correct for this if/when I publish the pattern).  It looks adorable on the little girl it went to;  I might convince the parents to lend me a shot or two for the blog.  Check back in a while :)

PATTERN:

My own. 

It is sized for a one year old, but one of the commissions mentioned above is for a two year old version.  I'm not confident enough of my pattern-writing skills just yet, but please let me know if you would like to see instructions for Mayabee released into the world :).

Finished! - Verca

As mentioned before, July is a Month of Small Knits for me.  Another soon-to-be birthday girl, another toddler garment.  This time a pullover, named after the future owner.

The pattern is really simple, no armhole shaping and only a few gentle decreases on sleeves.  I'm sure even a complete beginner will fly through it with no difficulty.

Pieces are worked separately on straight 5 mm needles and stitched up afterwards.  I used acrylic self-striping yarn, DK weight.  By pure chance I achieved colour symmetry - stripes on front and back are a perfect match, sleeves identical.

Both front and back are worked in a neat, square grid stitch, with a garter stitch border.  Back is a bit wider than the front, hence the trapezoid neckline.  Sleeves are simple stockinette with border to match the body.

Surprise, surprise, I've finished the sweater off with crochet flowers.  Yes, I know, it gets monotonous.  I am through with the crochet flower binge though and you won't be seeing them here for another while. 

Neck opening is edged with a simple crochet stitch, with a button added on each side.

As you can see, my puppy is always eager to assist in the photo shoot!

One more toddler knit coming soon:  a textured hoodie for a one year old. 

PATTERN:

My own (with the exception of crochet flowers). 

The Verca pullover will be gifted away in another week or so and if it turns out that I achieved a reasonable fit, I will share the pattern here, for free.

Quick knits - Crochet Football

With the World Cup final only days away (and wasn't that a mighty trash that Germany treated Brazil to today!), I feel I'm just in time to present my new-ish creation:

A quick knit, planned as a back-up present in case Poppy Girl didn't fit, it took only two days to crochet.  Made entirely from acrylic DK yarn, it is composed of 20 hexagons and 12 smaller pentagons, stretched over a shop-bought rubber ball.  Initially I planned to fill the ball with toy stuffing instead, but I would never achieve such neat tension, and now it bounces, too!

One more picture, this time taken with borrowed, ultra high resolution camera:

Despite my efforts, colours came out a bit funny on all my pics for which I apologise.  In reality, the ball is a combination of very warm shades of yellow and brown (think: sunflowers), accented with bright red thread.

It was enthusiastically received by the Birthday Girl, along with Poppy Girl, which fitted just fine.  BTW, I DID fix those curling shoulder straps in the end.  It took a bit over an hour and I did not enjoy the process much, but I feel it saved the knit.  The devil's in the detail!

One more thing:  apparently, if you are two, footballs are really cool to sit on and I have a picture to prove it :)

PATTERN:

Found online, here.  It is written in Russian, but includes a schematic so it can be worked with even if you can't read the language.

Quick knits - Mary Jane slippers

Sometimes crafting is an inspired creative frenzy, at other times it's strictly practical. 

Ryanair is not known for generosity*, so when my new favourite model, W., arrived to stay with us, she carried only limited amount of luggage.  Slippers, deemed essential post factum, stayed at home.

We seldom entertain, so we don't have a stash of guest slippers waiting at the ready.  I could, of course, drive twenty kilometres to a nearest shonky shop and buy something made in China, but I chose a different approach. 

I dug up my trusty crochet hook and after only a day, these were ready:

Custom made, so they fit perfectly.  Colour, pattern, every detail - exactly as requested by the future owner. Money spent:  zero, because I used odds and ends from my stash.  Petrol burned - none.

It might be a little thing, but this small victory against consumerism really made me happy.

To tell you the truth, I like them so much that although I am not a slipper person, I will probably whip up a pair for myself at some stage :)

PATTERN:

Found online, here.  A fantastic, step-by-step tutorial included, so big thanks to the author.

* If you haven't yet seen this video about joys of flying Ryanair, watch it NOW.  Hilarious!