If you follow my blog regularly, you may have noticed that I took the month of August off from blogging. I decided that instead of focusing on knitting and blogging, I wanted to focus on the last month of summer with my family. My oldest child starts preschool next week and our entire schedule will be changing. I wanted to spend my days running through the sprinkler, playing in the sandbox, chasing fireflies, lighting sparklers, and just enjoying my kids. I spent a lot less time knitting than I usually do and therefore, didn't have much to write about. I hope you'll forgive me. At least I'm back with a pretty great FO.

Project Details
Pattern: Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in Grasshopper
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm), US 7 (4.5mm)

I finished these adorable little legwarmers last week and despite our hot temps, they have already been worn a few times. My daughter loves them. She carries them to me and says "Mama, on" while flashing her sweet little smile. I can't say no.

I finished my Goldilocks yesterday! I even had enough time to block it and get some pictures before bedtime.

It was a quick knit once I made it past the first 10 rows. Getting started with the contiguous increases and the cable pattern required a lot of paying attention. As you can imagine, I don't get a lot of undistracted knitting time. Most of the time, my kids are with me when I'm knitting, which can lead to mistakes (like knitting instead of purling, or missing an increase). This sweet dress was completely worth the short-lived confusion. Grace even agrees!

I'll be back later today to announce the first blogiversary pattern winner and put up a new contest. Stay tuned!

As promised, here are the last of my Mad May projects. One of my best friends is pregnant with her first baby, a girl, due at the end of the summer. Since we had just attended a shower for our other close friend, Kelsey knew I was going to knit her something. She just had no idea what. I was happy to fulfill my duty as the friend that knits and make that something she knew was coming.

Her baby shower was last weekend. The shower was beautiful, though very pink! Not that I'm complaining, I love pink. In true Jenn fashion, I knit a pink sweater and matching hat. I know what you're thinking, but don't worry, the sweater is a 6-12 month size and the hat stretches a lot. Plus it gets cold where she lives in mid-September. Trust me, I thought about all of that. After having two winter babies and receiving beautiful summer clothes for them in newborn sizes, it's ingrained in me to pay attention to the seasons.

Over a year ago, I bought 2 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico - this really beautiful dusty, pale pink with slight tan undertones. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but it was too beautiful to pass up. When Kelsey found out that she's expecting a girl, I knew immediately the Faded Calico had her name all over it.

There are a ton of great baby sweater and hat patterns out there, and I agonized about which one to use. I finally decided to knit a Baby Sophisticate. It's a classic sweater with a shawl collar and 4 buttons. It's simple enough not to be fussy (even if the baby is), and the collar/ button combo guarantee that it will fit over the baby's head easily. Mom won't even have to unbutton it if she doesn't want to. Maybe that's just my button-hating bias showing.

Since I went relatively simple and safe (read boring) with the sweater, I wanted something a bit more fun and feminine for the hat. As you all know, I'm pretty addicted to the Cabernet Series, so it should come as no surprise to hear that I made a Cabernet hat. This hat is so incredibly clever. The crown shaping is practically invisible in the Cabernet cable pattern. Sidenote: I can't wait to make one of these in my size!


Kelsey cried when she opened them, which I was really hoping to avoid, but I'm pretty sure that's the hallmark of a good gift. All in all, I'm really happy with how this sweet little set turned out. But more importantly, I can't wait to meet her baby girl. Is it August yet?

Project Details: 
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down; Cabernet Hat by Monika Sirna
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK Twist in Faded Calico
Needles: Us 4, US 6, US 8

About 6 weeks ago, I posted about the Kveta Hat that I had the opportunity to test knit for Monika Sirna. I also had the pleasure to test knit the matching cape, but I just realized that I never posted about it! Bad blogger...

The Kveta Cape is a sweet little accessory than any girl would love. I made another Kveta Hat to match the cape - because, really, who can resist? The cape has a lot more finishing than I typically go for, but it was well worth it. The pattern has you hand sew ribbon and snaps onto the ribbing for closure.

Earlier this week, I finished Ease. It took a whole lot longer than it should have, which I admit is totally my fault. I knit the entire body in  2 or 3 days, the sleeves in another 3 and then I started the cowl. That's where things got derailed. The pattern has you pick up stitches around the neck for the cowl, but the yarn I used (Dream in Color Classy) did not cooperate. I tried several different ways, but no matter how I did it, the pickups looked sloppy (no fault of the pattern). I knew I wanted the cowl neck, so it was time for plan B. I decided to do the cowl in garter stitch instead of stockinette. I purled the first round after picking up the stitches, which seemed to help camouflage the wonky picked up edge.