Knitting Ranger

It has been a rather busy time -- in every possible respect. So I have a lot of catching up to do. I will start with something I finished very recently.

My kids -- just like most others these days -- are extremely fond of those yellow thingis: The Minions. I came across this crocheting pattern:

http://nurnichtdenfadenverlieren.blogspot.de/2014/01/freebook-minion-mutze-aus-baumwollgarn.html

I decided to knit it instead of crocheting. I did crochet the eyes though.

This is the result:



I hope my kids will love to wear it.

I lost count how many baby blankets I have made in the past years. But here is yet another one. As I was under quite some time pressure, I kept the main part of the blanket fairly simple, hoping I will have time to do a more elaborate rim. Again, I used Austermann Merino 160 in natur and red -- it will be for a girl after all -- and size 4 needles. The size is approx. 90x90cm, but due to the pattern it is very flexible. I hope the little baby girl will love it.

The main part is made with 120 stitches and I used 8.5 skeins for it. And yes, this was the boring bit. But this allows for very fast progress. If you want to do such a blanket without the rim, just use 150 stitches. The next blanket will be more elaborate.

This is the full blanket:



And the detail of the rim and the main part:



The rim is also made with Austermann Merino 160 in red. It is crocheted and I used 4 skeins of wool and a size 3 hook. The pattern is not very specific, I just wanted to give it a bit of volume and size, and at the same time making the pattern a bit flowery, which I think worked out.

This is another Christmas Gift I wanted to share with you. It took me quite some time to prepare it and I was (still am) very proud of it. I used one of my favourite merino wool - Austerman Merino 160, color 210 and 232.

I used the double-sided knitting, as explained for example by

http://lattesandllamas.com/2014/02/06/demystifying-double-sided-knitting/

This tutorial makes the start really easy. If you are interested in this technique, give it a try.

For the pullover I used a more "wintery" pattern, that I prepared myself. It can be worn either on the "white" side or the "blue" one. It is made in size 110, so not too big, but not too small. It was a good size to prepare something like this.

I know I am a bit late, but I actually wanted to post this earlier, but better late than never ;) So here is the first part of my Christmas Gifts. I made several of these as gifts to various friends and relatives. The models were taken from here:

https://snowflakepatterns.wordpress.com

So here are some of my results - I made approx. 30 of those to give away.

I used various types of cotton, but the best results were achieved with Schoeller-Stahl Manuela size 20, color 02, using a 1mm crochet needle. I also tried with thicker and thinner wool, but this provided the nicest results.