These are all of the bears that I have sewn over the past year. I designed the patterns for most of these.

Andy 19 inches

Anna 19 inches

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This is the first sweater I have completed that I am using a pattern for.  It is from drops.  I am, however, changing the front to be a pullover with a partially open collar instead of a button up cardigan.  So far I have the front and a partial arm done.  I am using Lion Brand Cotton Ease and a size 9 needle.  With the yarn and gauge that I am getting I had to do 2 sizes up from normal to get what I normall would.  There is a LOT of shaping with this pattern, and you really have to pay attention because it is all in centimeters, as well as the fact that I added color changes.  I also plan to add a pocket on the front using the same shaping as the arm holes (2/3 the size as the front of the sweater).  Check back for updates.

Drops Sweater In Progress

Mar 9, 2009

I am working on the last sleeve and then I am almost ready to seem.  I have made quite a few adjustments to the pattern.  Below is what I have written down.

Drops Pattern: Cardigan in Vivaldi with Hood

Knit size XL and I am a 36in chest.  It fits just right in the chest area.

Yarn I used: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (bought 4 pink, 4 blue, 2 green

Size 9 needles and I am 1 st per inch off (making the garment smaller) on the gauge which makes it fit perfectly on the top.  I am going to be adding gussets on the bottom of the sides to help with shaping and fitting there.

Color Changes: Bottom band 12 rows pink - pattern 4 blue rows, 2 green, 4 blue, 6 pink - repeat

I carried the colors, but I am going to try and use the green to do my seeming.

Front:  This is knit the same as the back till you get to the arm shaping.  Do the arm shaping same as for the back till you get to where you knit even and there are no more decreases.  At this point you will be splitting the stitches.  Find the middle stitch and count three stitches on either side of it (this will be for the “v” neck part continuing onto the hood)  Put the stitches on the left on a seperate stitch holder and work with the stitches on the right.

Front Shaping:  After you have split your stitches up accordingly and put the ones you are not working with on waste yarn follow the rest of the instructions.  K 22 rows changing colors where you normally would, then start your decreases.  Decrease one stitch on inner edge (center of chest) every 4 rows till you have 18 sts left.  Repeat for other side of the V shaping.

Neck before edging is added

Here is the pattern for the gussets:  these are to be placed at the bottom edge on each side.  I knit these in all pink and I plan on putting some blue laces across them, but want to see what they look like sewn in first.

cast on 17 sts

Knit to 8.5 in from start

Bind off 1 st on each side every 4 rows till 5 sts remain.

End on a decrease row (gusset should be 80 rows tall or 10 in)

Insert in the side of the sweater.

I am sooooo bad about keeping up about posting.  I just get so into knitting that I even forget to take pics.  I usually knit something and it is out the door before I even realize that I have knit it.  I need to do a better job of taking pics and posting them I guess.

This week I will be working on adding new patterns, although I haven’t figured out how to get them posted on Ravelry just yet.  Maybe I can figure that out too.

Check back soon for some more updates, and again sorry!

This will be the final preemie set for the summer unless i get a good jump start on my Christmas presents and finish up some UFOs.  I finally found someone to take the items to the hospital for me.  I know they will get there safely because she works in the delivery unit.  I am not sure if all the sizes are right.  Some items are small, some are large, but I was figuring that all babies are different sizes too.

This whole set was done with DK baby yarn by Berroco.  It is super soft and will wash very well.  I think the variegated blue and the variegated pink on the blanket was a Bernat yarn, but i can’t find the colors at the store any more, they are probably still on line though.  I just used a single crochet for the booties, and a single crochet for the hat.  The hat also has a small shell stitch around the edge.  The blanket was done in Tunisian Entrelac Crochet and was very difficult to follow in the pattern book that I got, but once i got it figured out it was pretty easy.  The hard part was that the author of the pattern didn’t have the pattern all on one page or even in a set of pages.  To get the blanket done you had to flip through the book from page 3 to page 7, then to page 11, pack to page 5…..etc.  So good luck for anyone who tries this out.

This project was not only my first experience working with wool, but it was also my first felted project.

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