Not knitting I know but I'm mighty proud...

These cupcakes (instructions are found here http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e05029) were made out of strawberry cake mix. The babies were individually made out fondant and the eyes and smile were poked in with a toothpick. It was a bummer that the cupcakes were a wee bit big to fit the cupcake tree so I placed them in there with a little balancing act, but they sure looked yummy. Forgot to take photos of the tree, but it was a beautiful presentation.

Another donation...recognize the yarn?

Aha! Another adorable sweater for one beautiful baby. The yarn was donated to me, so the sweater must be donated to my group, God's Tiny Angels. The light colored yarn is part of the ugly-duckling yarn that I still have not used up. It is lovely as a trim, isn't it?

Sweater for Heather

Wow, it's been so long since I have posted! Guess I've been busy. This sweater took about a week or two to knit up. If I had the correct count and did not have to rip out the sweater twice, I would have finished in a week. I love the rounded edge of the sweater. My niece will be so in fashion! This was knitted bottom up. Started with 60 stitches and then increased two stitches (one on the edge and one somewhere around the side seam) for 8 rows. Then two or 3 rows of just straight stockinette, when the sweater was cut into its separate pieces: left, right and back portion. Working up the sweater was then knit with a decrease of one on each edge until I was satisfied with the shoulder's width. The back was knit straight stockinette until it matched the front edge's shoulder and then the sweater was sewn together. At least 34 stitches were picked up from the armhole edge and worked in stockinette until I was satisfied with the length. Before adding the cuff, I decreased 3 stitches and then did a simple knit purl knit cuff. The edge of the sweater is 8 stitches width of garter stitch which was attached to the edge of the sweater. The buttons were miraculously easy to attach. It was the first time I used a very tiny crochet hook which fit through the button holes, and I used the same yarn to pull through the buttons and tied them on. I usually sew my buttons on with regular thread and needles, so this was a first for me! Isn't this sweater so purty? I'm writing this stuff down so that I can make it again. I have some yarn that I am eyeing for the same type of sweater...although I think I will have to adjust the number of stitches cast on since it's a little thinner type of yarn.

The softest hooded baby sweater made of TLC

Still trying not to buy any new yarn and using up my stash! I finished this a few weeks ago and am posting a photo now. I love this yarn. It is so unbelievably soft after it's washed and dried. Maybe I should have made the arms longer so my baby niece, Heather, could wear it longer...The green is celery and the purple is grape. Such a yummy combination.

This poor scrappy yarn was such an ugly duckling. It was leftover from some kind of project and was given to me. Its color was some strange brew of grey, undecided if it wanted to be some shade of faded grape juice or the grey of a gosling.

But now it is now beautiful and waiting to be loved.

Thinking of Spring

Here's a white sweater I have been working on accented by a simple tulip design that I created for it including the graph of the design. What is super cool about this sweater is that I really wanted to learn how to increase without creating a hole in the knit, so I was able to create a raglan sleeve and worked from the neck down. In addition to working with color, I learned how to weave the strands on the wrong side of the sweater so that they don't catch, which is especially useful if your colors are further apart than 7 stitches.

Simple cable baby sweater

Here is a sweater for a baby. As you can see, I am really trying hard to use up the yarn I currently have. It's not really a one-hit wonder since it's the second sweater I've created using the same basic type of cable. With this sweater, though, I remembered to twist the cables opposite of each other.

Hooded sweater for Miles

Here is another sweater for my nephew, Miles, and I have decided to place a separating zipper down the front in lieu of buttons (I am so brave). And here is a closeup of the sweater after I attached the zipper.

What I've been up to

This is my very first ever post! Yay me.

Here is a photo of a baby vest that I put together. It's not really from any pattern--I just winged it, as usual. I kept notes though so that in case I want to repeat it, I can wing it again, and it won't end up being a one-hit wonder. Still trying to stick to no new yarns for 2007--I've already broken it once and I keep tempting myself with trips to JoAnns and Michael's, but so far so good.