WTF am I thinking?!

So after it took me NINE months to make Chewys sweater (that BARELY fits now) I decide to make him a cabled vest out of the same Sirdar booklet, and only gave myself a month to complete it. *ZOINKS* I also have a big thick book to read for our book club and we are visiting some friends later in the month. Oiy Vey!

And of course the slave driver (I mean lovely middle child of mine) is requesting a pteranodon and cat toy ASAP. Yeah, good luck with that kid. I need to teach him how to knit these himself! ;)

Hallelujah its DONE!

Chewy's sweater of doom! LOL Took FOR-EV-AH but it's done done done. A bit snug already. I'll have to block it later.

More recent projects

Here are some more recent projects...

Granny slippers!
Can be found here on ravelry...


DROPS alpaca headband. Pattern can be found here...

iPhoodie!

I saw this amazingly cute pattern by clickertyclick, a sweater for your ipod! It was from almost 4 yrs ago, but the deminsions fit the new itouch or iphone. I started knitting it and thought, ew, don't like seaming! How about a pocket, wait! lets leave this section out... After contacting the original designer, she agreed I can post my mods for the pattern! It's a free ravelry download, or check it out here! :) Thanks to Linda from ClickertyClick!

I present to you all, the iPhoodie! (that's iPod/iPhone Hoodie but I thought I was being hysterical with the mashup spelling. My 10 yr old said that was lame and call it a sweater. LOL can't please them all!)

iPhone Hoodie
(pattern modified from clickertyclick. Original pattern can be found at http://clickertyclick.blogspot.com/2006/07/at-last.html)

Materials needed:
US size 3 (3.25mm) straight needles and 4 size 3 DPNs
Worsted weight yarn
4 stitch markers
2 pieces of scrap yarn
Yarn/tapestry needle

Gauge: not important to the integrity of the pattern

Techniques used:
KFB = knit in the front and back of the same stitch
3 needle bind off = see http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/casting-off and scroll to the bottom to watch the video on this technique.


Pattern:
Cast on 22 stitches on straight needles. Work in stockinette until the piece measures 2.5 – 3 inches (or approx 7cm) ending with a purl row.
Divide the stitches placing a stitch marker as you knit the next row as follows: K3, place marker, K4, place marker, K8, place marker, K4, place marker

Now you are ready for the increasing. Purl the next row then work as follows: Row 1: K2, KFB, move marker, KFB, K2, KFB, move marker, KFB, K6, KFB, move marker, KFB, K2, KFB, move marker, KFB, K2 Row 2: Purl all stitches.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until there are 10 stitches before the first marker and purl the next row.

Now you are ready to set aside the sleeves. K10, remove marker and place those 18 stitches between the marker on scrap yarn, Knit until the next marker, remove marker and place those 18 stitches between the marker on scrap yarn, knit to the end. You should have 42 stitches. Purl the next row.

Switch to DPNs kniting in the round. K 14 on each of 3 needles. Work in the round until the entire body measures 4 inches (10 cm). K1, P1 for 7 rows, then do a 3 needle bind off to seam up the bottom of the sweater.

Now it's time to pick up your sleeve stitches. Knit the 18 stitches onto 3 DPNs and work in the round until the sleeve measures 3 inches (approx 8cm). K1, P1 for 4 rows and cast off normally (not 3 needle bind off).
Repeat this for the other sleeve.

Time for the pouch... Pick up 7 stitches in the middle of the sweater approx. 2 rows below the v of the neck. Row 1: knit Row 2: purl Row 3: KFB, K5, KFB Row 4: purl Row 5: KFB, K7, KFB Row 6: purl Row 7: KFB, K9, KFB Row 8: purl Row 9: KFB, K11, KFB Row 10: purl Row 11: knit all stitches Row 12: purl Cast off and seam to the front of the sweater approx 2 rows above the first ribbing row.

Seam the top of the hood together by folding in half and stitching across the top. Weave in all your ends.
You can pick up stitches around the opening to add a fun trim or add a 3 stitch I cord to each side of the hood for the strings. If you want to keep the sleeves from hanging free, you can stitch them to the inside of the pouch or side of the sweater. Or, let them cover your headphone cords. You could even try some intarsia on the back of the hoodie for an interesting and creative look!
© clickertyclick and CoffeeBra

Godzilla vs. Mothra

My 5 yr old is obsessed with Godzilla movies. Old and New. We've seen the Matthew Broderick one I think 300 times now. LOL After making him the sea monster, he requested Godzilla. Um, I'm not that great at faces, so he's been looks like he had a few too many drinks. Mothra was knit by yarn donated by Knitschmidt. It was the PERFECT colors!

Here is the toy my son has that he wanted me to recreate...


And Mothra


Godzilla


Mothra Vs. Godzilla


My son then drew a picture at school to make sure I got them as accurate as possible. ;) Did I do a good job?

Back at it!

Update on the baby, he's growing and doing great! finally saying mama and even cruising the furniture! Our goal is to have him walking by his 2nd birthday this April. :)

So now with the break in all our Dr appts, I've actually got some knitting and crocheting done! Check my ravelry page to see all the projects... Coffeebra's Projects


A few pics...
tea cup pin cushion from lion brand's website



Owl from Harry Potter for my oldest son



And a Sea Monster for the middle kid.



Now I'm working on another tea cup for a friend and trying to knit a Godzilla for my middle son. He's obsessed with every movie ever made. LOL

I'm hoping to be back to knitting soon!

We have some sort of diagnosis for the little one. He has Dyspraxia, Hypotonia, Global Developmental Delays, Developmental Coordination Disorder, Speech Apraxia and a host of other really long terms. Basically the Dyspraxia covers most of it all. He receives 4 therapies a week and goes to many specialists. He soon will be wearing special ankle/foot braces to help him stand more. He also is a former self starver and still Failure to Thrive so it's an every day battle to get him to eat. Doesn't help that he also is allergic to Milk, Soy and Citric Acid and will be having formal allergy testing done soon to see what else. Dealing with him has been a 24/7 job. I have sooooo many projects and patterns swirling in my head, I just need to get back into them. I thought I'd be knitting at the Dr.'s office and during therapy but all of the things he is dealing with require hands on attention. I've gotten over my Google obsession trying to diagnose him myself, but replaced that with a Chick Lit book obsession. I am hoping the knitting obsession can come back so i can finish the sweater I've been making him since MAY!

Getting back in the swing of things...

My youngest has had such a rough go of things in the whole "normal development" for babies. He's almost 18 months and yet to walk, in fact he's far from it still. We have yet to get a diagnosis for whatever is going on, but not for lack of trying. I will hopefully get back to knitting now that we are getting into a routine of the various dr. appts and therapies and getting the older boys to and from school and their activities.

Just wanted ya'll to know, I'm still here! I'm still working on some new free patterns to add to ravelry, just dealing with a few of life's curve balls first.

New Pattern coming... "Don't Call Me Victoria" Scarf

My mom's name is Vicki, people almost always assume its short for another name. Nope, just Vicki. She especially hates it when people call her Victoria. I wanted to knit her a scarf in her favorite greens and blues. Found the perfect yarn, FiberNatura - Heaven, a Merino/Silk mix that's "heaven" to knit up! Searched Ravelry for hours, consulted my trusty The Harmony Guide, Lace & Eyelets and poured through the lacy patterns. I wanted something somewhat light, LOVE the snowflake stitches, but fall themed. Settled on the Fern Lace stitch and wrote up a super quick and easy pattern for the perfect sized scarf! I'm knitting it up now and will publish it on here as soon as it's finished!

Here is a teaser, bad picture, but you'll get the idea. ;)

The Sweater that Killed Me...

My obituary shall read, "cause of death, self inflicted knitting needle stabbing to the eyeballs and brain" My final project?? Chewy's fall sweater.

I cast on in May, got bored, set it aside, and now that its getting closer to fall, I really want to finish it. It's adorable, but man, it's made with some tiny-arse needles and a pattern that makes me want to stab my eyeballs. It's cute as hell, but boringggggg.

So motivate me to finish this thing! I have the back panel complete and working on the front. Below is a pic of when I first cast on and the pic of the pattern itself. Soooo cute, but may kill me in the process.

Ocean Waves Baby Blanket

The finished product... :) I'll write the pattern later, but the stitch came from The Harmony Guide - Basic Crochet Stitches - Wavy Shells II

Crocheted baby blanket!

I'll be posting a pattern and pics as soon as I get this finished! using the wavy shell stitch II from the Interweave Basic Crochet Stitches book, I'm making a super super cute blanket for my soon-to-be new niece! The nursery is all ocean and painted in a soft turquoise/aqua and sand. My SIL is amazingly crafty and handpainted bits and pieces on the wall, trees, sand castles, all sorts of cute things! This blanket falls in line with that. I chose Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton in Macadamia (Sand) and Almond (foam) and Cascade Luna in Seafoam (ocean) and threw in some LBNCOC (wow! long acronym!) in strawberry and wove the ends around every once in a while as seashells in the sand. I'm very proud of this blanket and cannot wait to finish and show it off! And to share the pattern of course! :D So watch for that!!!

I have a whole line of the StarWars guys I want to get the patterns written for and them completed too. It's been hard since my youngest child has been going through some feeding issues and delays, so hopefully I'll find more time to knit and crochet to help keep my mind off all of his issues. At least I'll have projects to work on in the dr.'s office right?!

Sweaters in the summer?!

It's going to take me until winter to finish this most likely. LOL Chewy's fall sweater. Great pattern, just takes forever when you knit a few rows then hop on facebook. knit a few rows, go make dinner, knit a few rows, back to facebook. ;)

Crocheted toy pillows... Star Wars Fleet

I found this pattern for Rudy the Rectangle at Michaels.  Instantly fell in love.  Here is my first Rudy for Chewy. 

Then Cartman wanted an "orange jedi" one.  so this is what I came up with.  He calls him anakin, but he reminds me more of plo-koon (and he's obsessed with the movies, not me, took me 3 months to figure out what the hell a 'plo-koon' even was!  Google that shiz.) 

Now I am inspired.  I'm creating a whole jedi fleet.  Even a few from the Dark Side.  Watch for more guys either here or on Ravelry.  Here is Yoda...

May the Yarn be with you...

The life of a mom...

I haven't posted in a long time.  sorry about that!  Sick kids, went on a mini vacation, been knitting up a storm and just finished the book Friday Night Knitting Club.  I'm working on some new coffee cozy patterns and possibly an ipod case, so stay tuned.  :)