My friend, or more correctly, my "almost" daughter gave birth 2 weeks ago prematurely to a beautiful little girl who weighed 2 lb 8 oz. Her name is Emily Rose. Emily's mother just loves sock monkeys. So I looked around to find a sock monkey hat to make to make for Emily Rose. I saw many nice ones, but I settled on by Ruth McColm, and the name of the pattern is: Sock Monkey Beanie with Optional Earflaps and it can be found on Ravelry.
It was easy to make and I think it turned out rather well. I made a couple of adjustments. I didn't use buttons for the eyes, instead I stitched with black yarn. For the ties I didn't make braids or twists, instead I crocheted chains with double thickness of yarn.
I'm planning on making a pair of socks and a bib to match. I haven't decided on patterns yet. I'll decide on those tonight. As of right now I think for the socks I'll use the "Newborn Tubes Socks" pattern on the website, Bev's Country Cottage. I've made them before over the years. They're easy and they work up fast. I can't wait to get them all finished and sent off for Little Miss Emily Rose.
I was almost halfway to the armhole decreases on
the front and ended up having to start over. I found a mistake about 5
rows back but messed up royal when I tried to un-knit or frog it back to
a row or two before the mistake, so I just ripped it all out and started over. I’m really very frustrated. A sweater this basic and this
simple should NOT be causing so many problems.
I'm now at the point where I can start the armhole decreases. And since I have both the front and back ready for the decreases, it should go fast from here on. I plan to knit both sleeves at the same time, so I think I should have this done by the end of the month if I keep going at this pace.
I recently joined a crafting book club. Of the 5 or 6 books I ordered, 3 are basic "learn to knit" type books. Although I've been knitting for 40 of my almost 65 years, there is much I don't know and much I've forgotten. I no longer have my wonderful mother-in-law to help me when I get stuck, so I must depend on books and sometimes videos. Aren't videos wonderful?? Oh, how I wish we'd had computers and instructional videos when I was first learning to knit and crochet! I'm finding the videos on knittinghelp.com are absolutely fantastic. I don't know what I'd do without them. One of the beginner books I ordered actually includes a DVD with instructional videos. That should be a huge help.
I'm hoping to brush up on skills I've forgotten as well as learn new techniques. I've been knitting for far too many years to be limited to 'easy' projects.
