Knitting – Thimbleanna

Spring Projects

9 Comments / June 2, 2022 June 2, 2022 / Holidays, Knitting, Smocking

Well, that was a longer than normal break! It’s been a pretty busy spring full of fun activities with the grandbabies plus the usual spring chores around the house, etc. It all seems like a big blur now that I look back on it — it’s true what they say — Time Flies when you’re having fun. Or, it just flies when you’re old LOL.

A lot of my time was spent getting ready for a trip to Scotland, which happened a few weeks ago. Half of the trip involved a hundred mile walk, so, in February I started walking 5 miles a day to build up my hiking stamina. All that walking takes a lot of time and I probably should have trained harder, but more on that later! When I wasn’t walking, I spent a fair amount of time making fun things for the girls and preparing our annual little Easter party for them. Just like last year, we decorated cupcakes, made Easter bonnets,

and had a fun scavenger hunt to find prizes. Prizes included the annual Easter Grammy Surprise Box

and some little knitted kitties in their denim dungarees.

As always, the pattern is by Little Cotton Rabbits. Her fun little animals are so cute — I’m pretty sure I love them more than the girls do!

Judging by the mess at the end of the party, it was a big success. The girls are at such a great age now — they love all the fun activities — especially the suspense of the scavenger hunt.

In addition to the Easter Party goodies, I made some smocked Easter dresses for them. We love to read the Peter Rabbit stories together and have Peter Rabbit tea parties, so I decided to put little bunnies on their dresses.

The pattern is Lee from The Children’s Corner Store and the fabric is a Liberty print called Camille — one of my favorites. SweetiePie sent me a cute picture of the three girls in their dresses, but I can’t seem to find it now, so a picture of three little sleeves will have to do ;-D

I also made matching hairbows for each of the girls. I ordered Peter Rabbit scrabble tiles from Designs by Chastity on Etsy. She did a nice job on the tiles and it worked great just to hot glue the tiles to the Liberty fabric.

So, that about sums up spring in ThimbleannaLand. Oh! I also made a wedding quilt which will make an appearance this weekend — CuteNiece2 is to be married on Sunday. More on that later too. Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Bobbalicious

8 Comments / February 28, 2022 February 28, 2022 / Knitting

Well, how is winter going out there? We’re having a good one — we’ve had a fair amount of snow (which, as you know, I love!) so I’m a happy camper. The weather today is beautiful — mid 40’s and sunny — it’s a clue that spring will soon be here. I love all the seasons for different reasons, but Spring might be my least favorite. Oh sure, there are pretty spring flowers and finally an end to winter (for those who are tired of it), but there’s generally mud and spring clean-up involved. I’d rather stay in and knit and sew LOL. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here — all that yard work is at least a month away, so I still have time to stay holed up inside.

We’ve had a good and busy winter here in ThimbleannaLand. Pretty routine, and I’ve been able to sew and knit quite a bit. I made cute little Valentine dresses for the FinallyHurrayGirls, but it seems we were all too busy for pictures. I’ve also started the wedding quilt for CuteNiece2 who will be married in June and I’ve been knitting in prep for Easter. I also finished a sweater for HurrayAThirdGirl. My goal last year was to make each of the girls a sweater for their birthdays, and in classic Me fashion, all the sweaters have been late.

HurrayAThirdGirl’s little sweater is from the Bobbalicious Set by Debbie Bliss. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Baby Pink. It’s really soft and lovely to knit — hopefully it won’t pill too much.

I used those sweet little pink Acufactum fairies for the button ribbon. I love that they’re a little surprise when you open the button placket.

HurrayAThirdGirl is 2 (and a few months) and I made the size 3 on the pattern. Happily, this sweater is plenty big and will last her a few seasons. Her Mama, has declared this her favorite of all the sweaters I’ve made for the girls. My jury is out — I might be a little partial to the sheepie sweater or maybe the merriment cardigans. In any case, HurrayAThirdGirl has worn several of the hand-me-down sweaters from her sisters, but I think this is the first sweater made just for her. I’m thinking she might need another one soon (although FinallyAGirl was crying awhile ago because she’s grown out of the sheepie sweater and she loves that sweater and she needs another one LOL.)

And btw, isn’t HurrayAThirdGirl a cutie? We got some great news about her little patched eye this month — as CutiePie excitedly told me over the phone right after an appointment with the pediatric opthamologist, “She can see!” I don’t think I’ve really said much here on the blog, but she was born with a cataract, so the lens had to be removed when she was a newborn. There was a lot of worry that she’d never really see out of that eye (which is now corrected with a contact until a permanent lens can be placed in a few years) but her recent eye tests were amazing. And, well, proud Grammy aside, SHE is amazing. Try spending most of your day with an eye patch — I don’t think I’d even last 10 minutes.

A pesky little patch isn’t going to slow this little doll down though — she has babies that need tending!

Happy Last Day of February!
XOXO,
Anna

Little Buds

10 Comments / December 13, 2021 December 28, 2021 / Knitting

Well, I’m back as promised, with tales of a little sweater for FinallyAnotherGirl. It took me longer than expected to get pictures together — I guess it’s the time of year. I really should be posting something festive, but the few projects I’m working on can’t be shown yet. Hopefully after Christmas!

FinallyAnotherGirl is 3 now and this little sweater was for her birthday in September. Better late than never! Our little Miss loves purple and turtles, so Grammy did her best to deliver.

The pattern is a loose rendition of Little Buds by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting. This is the third children’s sweater I’ve made from her and all three have fit beautifully. The original Little Buds pattern had buds and vines forming the pockets on the front of the sweater and more buds and vines running up the back. I chose to leave them all off and just knit a plain sweater. For the pockets, I used the instructions from the Sheepish sweater (also by Alana Dakos) and I lengthened the sweater by a few inches.

The yarn is Rowan baby cashsoft merino, color 114 lavender, and it was a dream to knit. I’m a little worried that it might pill, but it’s too soon to tell. My local LYS had some cute little turtle buttons that I thought would be perfect for our little turtle lover. I only bought 5 buttons though, so I need to get another one. I’ve been back to the shop twice since I finished the sweater, but they’re keeping weird hours these days and I can’t seem to catch them open.

FinallyAnotherGirl came to visit the day that I had her sweater ready to give to her, and just my luck, she had a pretty lavender bow in her hair.

She calls it her turtle sweater and I think it’s been a hit. Also, pockets in sweaters never hurt!

At the beginning of the year I decided that I wanted to make each of our little granddaughters a sweater for their birthday. I’ve been consistently late on all of three of them. Our littlest just turned 2 a few weeks ago and her sweater is almost done — just a little more work left on the sleeves and then the button bands.

I’m off to get crackin’!

XOXO,
Anna

Playful Stripes

6 Comments / September 27, 2021 September 27, 2021 / Knitting

It’s sweater weather – Yay! I can’t believe fall is here already, but I’m ready for it. We had a wonderful summer — it went by in a flash, it wasn’t too hot, we had lots of playtime with the grandbabies, and we had some fun family time. But now … falling leaves, pumpkin everything, cozy sweaters and lots of project planning. The change in weather (and ok, the looming holiday haha) always make me want to plan new projects — especially knitting projects. Before I run to the next project though, here is the latest little sweater that I made for FinallyAGirl:

It’s the Playful Stripes cardigan by Alaina Daikos of Never Not Knitting. I love her children’s sweater patterns. This is my second Never Not Knitting pattern — you may remember when I knit Sheepish for FinallyAGirl a few years ago. The yarn is Merinoull, a superwash yarn by Sandes Garn, and it’s just the right weight for this sweater. Choosing how often to change the stripe colors was a little stressful, but I loved knitting this sweater. It was a fairly quick knit and it just felt so cozy while knitting.

I changed the button band a little after looking at other Playful Stripes cardigans on Ravelry. The original pattern called for a 2×2 rib button band, but someone on Ravelry did a garter stitch band and I think it looks better on this cardigan. I backed the button side of the button band with the Acufactum Children and Sheep ribbon to give the buttons some extra stability. FinallyAGirl really likes the cute ribbon too!

My favorite part of the cardigan is the sweet little scalloped hem on the sleeves and main body. It was fun to knit and I think it’s just so pretty.

FinallyAGirl is 5 now and I knit the size 5 which is just perfect — it’s a wee bit big so it should last for a year or two. She’s such a little pill — the years are flying by and it’s hard to believe she’s old enough to wink back at me!

Next up: a cardigan for FinallyAnotherGirl. Luckily for me, a Grammy’s work is never done!

Have a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

The Tale of Two Little Sweaters

9 Comments / March 13, 2021 March 13, 2021 / Knitting

Way back in the fall I started knitting two little sweaters, one for FinallyAGirl and one for FinallyAnotherGirl. They were intended to be Christmas presents and things were going well … until I ran out of yarn on FinallyAGirl’s sweater. I could have made it work if I’d made the sweater with 3/4 length sleeves, but that just didn’t seem like a good option. So, I decided to just wait until I could get some new yarn.

I had purchased the yarn the previous year at Litla Prjónabúðin in Reykjavík, Iceland, when TheSecondChild visited in 2019. I contacted Dagga, but she had no way to bill me internationally, so that wouldn’t work. I searched online and there were only three places in the states that carried the yarn and they were all out of stock. So, all I could do was wait until new stock arrived. That finally happened in January at Fairlight Fibers and I was able to order the extra ball of yarn and get back to work.

But, boy oh boy, having enough yarn didn’t make the task any easier. The pink sweater fit FinallyAGirl just fine, but the yellow sweater just didn’t want to co-operate. The first problem was that the neck was too small to get it over FinallyAnotherGirl’s head. I ripped it out and knit it looser (and since the sweater is knit top down, the ripping out wasn’t the easiest!) Alas, a looser knit didn’t work, so I decided to steek it and make a little button band. The first button band was only two buttons deep and just not big enough. So, I ripped that out and made a bigger button band.

That seemed to do the trick (hopefully it won’t fall apart, it’s a very shallow steek — luckily the yarn is nice and sticky.) After the neck was done, I decided the sleeves and body weren’t quite long enough so I ripped back the ribbing and added another row of triangles. Luckily, ripping from the bottom was easy and I had plenty of yarn. So, all’s well, that ends well. The little sweaters fit and hopefully they have enough room in them that they’ll both be able to wear them a little bit next year too.

A few details about the sweaters:
Pattern: Thufa by G. Dagbjört Guðmundsdóttir
Yarn: CaMaRose Lamauld 1/2 Llama Wool in Dusty Rose, Ochre, and Natural
Label: This is the Back by Kylie and the Machine

I didn’t get any pictures of the girls in their new sweaters, but SweetiePie sent me this picture the other day. FinallyAGirl was all dressed up and ready for Wacky Wednesday at school!

So now, off to work on a sweater that I started for myself last fall — and ran out of yarn for that one too. This is a trend that hopefully will end soon LOL.

XOXO,
Anna