Black and Blue Skull & Crossbones Skirted Longies

Yeah... what to say? I'm surprised this one has been so popular! I have 3 more that I still need to get on the needles! I've worked out some of the kinks in the skull design and I think it looks much better now than it did the first time around. The skirt gave me some trouble. I need to think harder before I dive into things. That's one of my shortcomings in life... if I'm going to do something, I want to dive in and do it. I don't really want to prepare for it. I don't want to spend hours drawing out a design. I don't want to have to get my calculator out to figure out exactly how long or wide I need to make a thing or where I need to put shaping stitches. I'd rather just wing it. Of course, this leads to all kinds of less effective things. For instance; the skirt on this soaker has turned out so beautifully... and if I'd just taken about 5 minutes to figure out just how wide it needed to be and exactly how I wanted the skirt shaped, and where I wanted the skull to go, I wouldn't have finished it, and realized it was about 5 inches too wide and the skull wasn't centered. I could have finished it two days earlier if I hadn't had to rip it back and start over. Lesson learned? Time will tell.

Purple Hearts & Stripes Skirted Longies

I LOVE LOVE LOVE working with alpaca! I lucked out and found some alpaca on sale and chose to do this one with soft, pretty yarn :) I also love purple. This has to have been one of my very favorites that I've made so far.

Armywifemindy Longies

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about these colors. I had a hard time getting good colors for this one, which is surprising since everyone wants pink and brown and I think it's an adorable combination, but this one was really hard! I bought a darker chocolately brown that looked really nice next to the mauvish pink I'd picked out, but when I got it knit together, it looked awful, and I had a really hard time finding anything that I really liked. I think the gray and pink together in this one kinda lends a fall feeling to it, and I really like how it turned out in the end.

Jack's Monster Longies

These are even cuter on the little monster they were made for! I'm really happy with how they turned out, and the more I use Cascade 220, the more I love it.

This was the first pair that I knit both legs at the same time. I'm hooked. It's a MUCH easier technique than counting rows.

Skirted Longies

I've decided that I have GOT to learn how to dye my own self-patterning yarn. I love how this skirty turned out. Design-wise, it's my favorite. The purple one was my favorite one to make because the yarn was so soft and such a pretty color, but let's face it! This one is ADORABLE and I'd love to offer it for sale, but the self-patterning yarn is prohibitively expensive. There's nothing else for it; I'm just going to have to learn--REALLY learn-- how to dye yarn.

Crossbones and Skull Skirty

I love how this turned out!

Just look at my adorable Princess Addy! Could a model be any cuter? I mean seriously! I'm pretty sure she knows how cute she is too. I feel very attached to my little niece. More than I have to any of the others. I can't get enough of her, and I think she knows it. Just the other day I was hanging out at my sister's house and she didn't want to hang out with anyone but me! Ok... except when she needed her mamma. Obviously she likes her better than me, but you know, I think we have a special thing going. And I'm pretty sure it has nothing at all to do with my contributing to her being so fashion forward :).

I've started a new soaker that I'm very excited about. When it was first purchased, I had my doubts, but now, I think I might need to knit one for Addy. It's a skirt with a skull and cross bones on the bum. Yeah... sounds scary, until you see the pic the mom sent of what she'd like the skull to look like :). I've finished the underpants part, which is pink and black striped, and have started on the skirt part. So far I've got the ruffle done in pink... and then my children got obnoxious and we had to leave and go someplace where they could run around outside. Seriously, this is going to be one of the cutest ones yet!

Octopus Shorties

I'm totally in love with this little octopus. I've found my new calling in life, and it is to design Intarsia patterns for knit soakers. In case you don't know, Intarsia is a technique of using different colored yarns to create a picture. I've seen some pretty amazing work. I even found a knit picture of President Obama not too long ago. If I could remember where it was I would put a link. Maybe I'll add it later. I was so excited to find an easier way to make patterns than I did with the bumblebee bum soaker. I found a graph paper generator that I can put my guage into and then trace a picture onto. Very cool. The design for this one was inspired by a pic that the mom who bought it sent to me.

I also tried a new yarn with this one; Cascade 220, which is 100% Peruvian Highland wool. I love it. I love the way the stitches are so well defined. It knits very smoothly and is much softer than I would have expected. I believe this is going to be my new yarn of choice folks. I may even switch what I'm using for the sock monkey skirty!

Acrylic Sock Monkey Skirt

I have perfected the "sock monkey" and now offer it in wool and ACRYLIC (for those that don't cloth diaper or would rather have the ease of machine washable fibers).
I have to say I'm rather surprised that these colors worked out as well as they did. I had my doubts, but what do you know? This was yarn used at the request of the person who bought it, and she was right about all she said about it. It was nice to work with, and surprisingly, I did find colors that some have told me they like better than the original. Hmm... maybe I'll have to see if I can find a darker heather for my wool sock monkey...

Skirted Longies a.k.a. Strawberry Shortcake Pants

The mom who ordered these wanted them to match a shirt she'd commissioned from someone else. I think they turned out much cuter than most people around me were thinking they would. Knitting takes a certain amount of foresight. You have to be able to envision what you're creating, especially if you're designing from scratch. You have to be able to hold the picture in your head and not get distracted when people around you look at you funny and think you're totally crazy to be trying THAT pink with THAT green??!! Yes folks, I do know what I'm doing :). Yes, they look like Strawberry Shortcake pants. I think that's what's so lovable about them. I can't wait to try some other designs in skirted longies.

Monster Skirty

Look at my cute Princess Addy!! I just have to say, she makes one heck of a model! This skirty was SOOO cute right off the needles, but I had no idea how cute it REALLY was until we put it on Addy. Personally, I think she's a natural. I mean, look how inspired she was to stick her tongue out, knowing how well the look would go with the monster that was on her bum!! I love this design. It was so fun to do. Seriously, I started giggling when I was sewing the eyes on I was so impressed with how cute it was coming out. It's funny, I look at these beautiful things I've created, and it doesn't really register that they came from ME. I mean, I'm just me, plain old me. Mom to two toddler boys and exceptionally bad housekeeper, and yet, these adorable things come out of my hands. I was surprised by how cute I thought these were when they were finished. They might as well have been designed and knitted by someone else. I can't wait to make one for my little nephew Jack... the monster is TOTALLY fitting for him :)

Addison's Blessing Gown

Bee Longies

Heart and Stripes Skirty

Sock Monkey Shorts

These two pics of the shorties on the cute little guy are of my perfected shorties design. They look SOOO much better than before! They have a wide leg now instead of ribbing, they're a little longer, the face is much better. It's more well placed and much more well constructed than before. Plus the eyes are way cuter now than they were before. I've got to say I'm really glad that these have been popular enough for me to make the necessary changes to make them REALLY cute!

The little guy modeling belongs to a girl who won a giveaway on another blog. Isn't he a doll? I'm totally partial to my own boys of course, but this kid has some of the dreamiest eyes I've seen in a long time!

Hearts and Stripes Longies