Monster Shorties

NY Shorties

Owen in Monster shorties

My sister has ONE CUTE KID!! How could anyone not love those curls. He was bound to have 'em. His mommy sure does! He's probably one of the most photogenic kids I've seen in a long long time. She should probably get him into modeling.

And the shorties turned out pretty cute too :)

Owl Skirty

I don't think this one could have turned out any cuter than it did. The mom sent me a pic of some fabric she was having made into a shirt, and I did my best, and you know, I think it was good enough this time :) I can't wait to see pics of it on the little girlie!

Look at this beautiful little princess! I love it when moms send me pics of their little ones in my soakers! Especially when they're this gorgeous! (I mean the baby of cours :))

Thanks for the pics Brandi!

Hello Kitty Shorties

I think these turned out really cute. The colors are beautiful, there's very little pooling, and the design was easy and very cute, if I do say so myself :). However, I have decided that although I see the merits of Cestari Superfine as a soaker yarn, I don't like knitting with it. It's very soft and squishy and thick, which makes for a very good soaker, but instead of being springy and slightly stretchy like most wool yarn, it's very stiff like cotton and very tiring to knit with. Plus, it has LOTS of little twigs and grass and (shudder) brown bits that could only be leftover bits of dingleberries! This is no reflection at all on the dyer, Lollytree Yarns, which are beautifully dyed, and I wouldn't have been able to finish this one without some extra help from the dyer (she sent me some white cestari superfine to make the Hello Kitty face) and I LOVE HER!, but I do not like this yarn. This is the second one I've made and I had my doubts with the first one, but it turned out so cute and I figured the twigs had to be an aberration. Why would people be so crazy about such a poor quality item? But it was not an aberration, and yeah... I would recommend something else. My new mission (or maybe just my continued mission) is to convert the world to alpaca. I love alpaca. Especially when it's blended with wool. Then it has the luxury of super soft, lustrous alpaca, and springy, stretchy, lovely wool. Maybe I can get the Lollytree Yarn girl to dye me some alpaca and convert her! Maybe that's what I'll have to do :).

I finally managed to get pictures of some new monkey shorties before I sent them out! This really is an amazing feat. I've sent out probably 6 or 7 pairs of monkey shorties without ever getting a good pic before sending it. And they're really cute! Just like the monsters, I love making the sock monkey things. Love them. Love it even more when the mom agrees that a wool/alpaca blend yarn is the only thing that's good enough for her little one! :). Yes, it's made of my very favorite yarn. I made a pair of longies to match... gotta get that pic up here too....

I *heart* TRADES!

YAY!!! Someone who wanted something other than black! Now I've got to post this on Etsy so people can see that it's just as cute in something other than black, and MUCH easier for me to knit.

My boys love to play with the girls next door, who just happen to be 4 and 3 just like my boys :). When we're outside I often take my knitting out while I'm watching them play, and the girls think it's really fun to try stuff on that I'm working on. This skirt is sized for about a 3 month old, and it's a real testament to the wonderful properties of knit fabric (and particularly the resilience of wool) that both of those girls tried on this skirt and it looked like a really cute mini on both of them! It may not have fit a diaper underneath, but at least it'll still be usable after potty training! Or during! It could a really cute skirted capri pant for a little girl. They were trying on a monkey skirty yesterday. I'm thinking next time they try stuff on, I'll have to take some pictures. They're really cute.

I traded labels for this skirted longie. I'm quite excited about it. I can't wait until they get here! I've wanted a label for a while so that people remember where they got their soakers from. I love doing trades. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who want to do trades with me don't make things I need or want, and vice versa :(. But when it works, it works great!

Olivia's

This soaker was inspired by this picture. I'm totally AND COMPLETELY in love with it! I'm in love with the little pig, I'm in love with the soaker, the heart and stars, everything! It's even made out of my favorite yarn.

When I have a girl someday, I'm definitely going to make one for myself!

Music Skirty

This skirty was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be, and believe me, I thought it was going to be a lot of work. Surprisingly, the difficult part was NOT the music around the skirt. I know, right? Totally looks like that took me many many hours to do. In fact, I think it only took 2, maybe 3 to embroider all of it. No, the thing that gave me a massive headache was the cute design on the bum. First I tried to embroider it on, but that was just... not pretty. I really don't understand how people get away with duplicate stitches for large patterns. I can't do it. There must be something I don't know that they do. I'm going to have to consult a master knitter and see if I can learn. It would make my life considerably easier if I could easily duplicate stitch some patterns, like this one. I got it all but finished and decided I needed to redo it, so I had to actually cut off the top part, pull it out, re-knit it with an intarsia pattern, and then sew it back onto the skirt. And that whole process, especially the sewing back on bit (you have to mark REALLY CAREFULLY where center front is on both pieces!) had to be repeated at least twice to get it right. I'm still not completely satisfied, but it's much better than it was before. I think it's acceptable. There's still so much I need to learn about knitting. I learn something new with almost every soaker I make. I wonder if I'll ever get beyond soakers or if this is just what I'm going to knit from here on out? I think I need to make a point of doing something else, just to keep me limber. Maybe I'll start on that vintage crocheted christening dress pattern I got off of ebay a while ago? Who knows, maybe someone I know, (maybe even me!) will have a girl who'll want to use it someday soon.

I've been featured on another blog! It's so gratifying to be recognized for my work like that. This one is interesting because it's NOT my Sock Monkey Soaker, per usual, it's my Sock Monkey Skirty :). On my niece no less! Isn't she cute?

Eat your heart out BYU fans! :)

Scrappy Soaker

I'm thinking maybe I should add these to my repertoire on Etsy? I could get rid of some of my stash that way, and they're fun to make since I'm changing yarns and stitch patterns every few rows. Much more interesting than something that goes on and on in the same color forever. Although, I really haven't made anything like that except the tops I made to go along with some monkey skirties I made for a photographer around Christmas time. My sister has asked whether I get sick of doing stripes. Not really. At least there's some change and it's easy to keep track of progress. You only have to measure one stripe to know how far you've gone, so if you misplace your tape-measure (or your 3 year old absconds with it) halfway into the legs of your latest soaker, you know exactly how long it is, and that's very convenient :)

Easter Skirted Capris

The scrappies in the next post go with this skirty too. Or at least I hope they do. The mom said she loved them, but I haven't actually seen how they look together. I'll have to see if maybe she'll send me a pic.

I've had MANY compliments on this one. And you know, it wasn't even difficult to make. The hardest part was probably making the wave pattern for the grass. The easiest part? The yarn... ahhhhhhh the yarn :). Yarngasm. Oh yes. The purple is 100% baby alpaca. I'm not sure there's anything softer or more luxurious than baby alpaca, except maybe brushed baby alpaca, which is very fuzzy and wouldn't work for a soaker, so I'll probably never have the chance to work with it. :( Although I might have to buy a ball just to pet when I need some comfort.

I think I did put another butterfly on the bum of this one... I can't remember now. Oh well.

The green yarn is a blend of wool, cashmere and microfiber. I wonder how it would hold up as a soaker? It wasn't quite as nice to knit with as the alpaca, but then nothing is, but it was very very nice. It's a little pricey, but I would definitely like to add it as an option if it works. I'll have to design another soaker for Addy :).

Butterflies & Flowers Skirted Capri

Before I start complaining, I have to say that I really love how this one turned out. If I had a baby girl, I'd definitely put it on her. And I totally love that I figured out (inspired by a WAY TOO BUSY soaker I saw on Diaperswappers) two color linen stitch as a cuff option. I think it's my favorite looks wise. It just looks cool.

But seriously! The woman asked for a fairy and some butterflies and dragonflies. I couldn't for the life of me come up with a not cutesy fairy for a pair of soakers. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult! I scoured the internet and found lots of good inspiration pics for fairies, and then I dug in. I tried intarsia and fair isle. I tried embroidery. I even tried tracing a pattern on with fabric stabilizer and then embroidering over it. I think I spent quite a bit more money than I made on this one just trying to get the design right. In the end, the fairy proved to be completely elusive and I was left with butterflies and dragonflies, and even though they turned out really cute, they aren't what I'd envisioned, and even though (as I said at first) I totally love the way these turned out, I'm disappointed. I feel like I failed. Maybe I'll do it again in fingering weight yarn and see if I can get that darn fairy to cooperate. With a fine enough guage I could probably find a cross-stitch pattern that would work beautifully. I wonder if I have to go all the way down to fingering weight or if Dk would work? Hmm... sounds like I've got some work to do.... after the 10 orders I have on my waiting list. And the several soakers I owe my sister. And the blanket I owe my other sister. And the pants I promised my 4 year old....

Sock Monkey Skirty - Evolution/Refinement

The monkey skirty has come a long way from the first time I made it! It looks nothing like the first one now. I started by changing the way I did the waist band and the cord. I now do all my waistbands the same way, but I perfected it on the sock monkey skirty.

Then I bought an Embellish Knit and that completely revolutionized the way I do drawstrings. My sister didn't like the cord on the original. She said it frayed to easily. And well... the lovely little i-cord mill seriously cuts back on time. The next thing I did was change the eyes. The first ones I just embroidered on and didn't really know what I was doing. Then I had the bright idea to crochet little buttons! Way easier and more uniform. It now takes less than 5 minutes to make and sew on a pair of eyes.

After the eyes, I changed the skirt so that now it attaches different. It's been through several iterations, and now I think I've really got it where I like it most, which involves knitting it separately and grafting it on, but I don't mind that. I added a little diamond motif detail at the waist of the skirt (where it attaches) to make it lay flat and have a smoother join so that it doesn't look like an afterthought.

After the eyes and before the skirt, I added ribbing around the legs, which just makes it look much more finished, and keeps prefolds from leaking better.

Last of all (surprisingly) I've FINALLY settled on an absolute formula for the face. It's taken a while to really perfect the placing and construction of the short rows to get the smile and the eye band just right. I think it actually is to the point that I could write a pattern that someone else could make it off of. Maybe when I get sick of making them (not likely) I'll publish the pattern. Maybe. I'm very proud of this one. Mon chef d'oeuvres, one might say.

I just couldn't resist adding this las pic of my niece and nephew wearing matching monkey skirties :).

Skullie's Can They Get Any Cuter?!?!

Have I ever said how much I love purple? I do. I LOVE purple. I love this purple in particular! If you click on the pics and zoom up close, you can see how the yarn is heathered with bits of turquoise and hot pink. I LOVE it :). And I totally love how these turned out. Okay, so maybe the skullie is getting a little easier to make. I'm still not wild about using black yarn (it's really hard to see what you're doing if you're not in full sunlight) but seriously... they are super cute.

I added a little skullie on the bum of the longies this time. I thought it would be a cute detail, and make them cuter to wear without the skirt. I had to pull it out a few times before I got it right, and I'm still not sure it's all the way there. However, when my sister saw it, her face lit up and she totally thrilled over how cute it was, so I guess I've succeeded :). Thus begins the love part of my love/hate relationship with my most popular soaker... the Skullie. Who knew that all I needed was some purple?