Gifts for Our Little Boy

We happily have an abundance of talented crafters in our family. Today, rather than talk about my current projects, I thought I would share some of the homemade gifts that were made just for NEB, our little boy.

Before I get into specifics, I'd like to wax a bit sentimental. There is just something so special about homemade gifts. With a store-bought gift, you have the gifter's thoughtfulness of their choice and the use of the item. If it is a really perfect fit to your personality or it is bought on vacation, you know that they were thinking of you in particular when they could have been thinking about something else.  I have nothing against store-bought gifts.

But a homemade gift is a different level. Someone has given you the gift of time. The gift of effort. They have spent hours and hours (and hours) thinking about you and putting their intention (dare I say love?) into the item.

NEB was loved by many even before he was NEB.

So, the gifts, starting with one from me and my husband. I have talked in detail about it before, but I haven't ever published pics of the finished piece, except on Ravelry. G picked out yarn and I made a blanket; NEB is sleeping under it right now. Not much else to say except that I mostly like how it came out. I think I cast on too many stitches though, so the shape is a bit weirdly wide.

NEB under blanket last spring. ETA: hat made by grandma.

I hope that he appreciates the love I put into it when he is older. The nice thing about baby blankets is, unlike baby sweaters, they you can't really completely outgrow them. I had a baby blanket on my bed to keep my feet warm until college.

Speaking of baby blankets, we got a lot of them as gifts. Most were store-bought or hand-me-downs, but two others were made just for NEB. The first, from my aunt, was a large sewn quilt. NEB spent a lot of time on it doing pushups before he could crawl. It had a lot of interesting fabrics for him to stare at.

NEB on quilt from Aunt R in February

The second blanket was from the grandmother who taught me how to knit. It is a turquoise cotton lace blanket. I didn't use it much, because we were using the one that I made, but it should make a great lap blanket in years to come. It has a nice, heavy drape, and a lovely feather-and-fan pattern.

Lace blanket from grandma, draped over the babygate

Speaking of gifts from grandma, she also made a sweater and matching hat. I already posted a picture of NEB wearing those, though.

Another of my aunts made NEB a whole set of hats, in different sizes.

Some, not all, of the hats from Aunt C.

He has worn many of them, some he is still too small for, and a few he never wore, since they only fit him during the summer months. It is a great pattern though, and the hats are adorable. The next child to use them might be a summer baby, and will use the ones that NEB didn't.

And the last homemade gift (that I can think of at the moment) was a bunting from my mother-in-law.

Warm outfit for NEB from my mother-in-law

It's gorgeous (like all of her work), and warm. It has a hood and even a pocket to fit a car seat buckle through. And... it confused us, so NEB hardly wore it. G, who usually does the dressing, didn't even realize that the bottom was closed up. So he thought it was designed for a much larger child. My mother-in-law says that she dressed him in it a few times to take him out on walks while she was watching him, but that's really it.

Well, that is the downside of making gifts for infants. They grow so fast that sometimes they only can wear it a few times - or never. But there are always more infants, and the items get passed on to be worn by someone new. As the first great-grandchild on one side, and the first one in awhile on another, NEB probably got more than his fair share of new items.

He also got a bunch of homemade hand-me-downs. But I'll save them for another day.

Three Projects in Three Stages

This month I am going to talk about three projects that I have been working on recently: one just finished, one that I am right in the middle of, and one just starting.

Each part of a project has its charms. When you are just starting, there is the excitement of trying new things, planning (I do it sometimes, I swear) and dreaming, and puzzling out how it is all going to work. In the middle, you are getting the hang of it. You often can just let your fingers remember the pattern and relax. At the end of the project, you start seeing how it will finally look. You get to get out of the rut you have been in for the middle part and do some finishing to make it look just right.

We'll start with the end.

Finished shawl, delivered to recipient

A few months ago, I told you about a lace shawl I was working on with handspun and commercial yarns. Well, I finally finished! I always forget that triangle shawls knit up fast at the beginning and get slower and slower as they go along. So when I think I am three-quarters done, I am actually only half done (or less).

That's the first thing about finishing - it can seem to take much longer than it should. What do they say, the last 10% takes 90% of the time? Not so true in knitting, but it can feel like it!

Once the shawl was actually cast off, I still had to weave in ends and block it.

Pre-blocking, post ends-weaving:

Shawl, pre-blocking

In this case, I wanted to block it in such a way that it would preserve those beautiful waves on two edges. So I could only use my blocking wires on one edge, and just t-pins on the others.

Mid-blocking:

Blocking on the blocking mat

And finally I had to get it to the recipient: a friend who has a fondness for pink and purple.

Completed:

Wearing the shawl

Ok, now for the middle.

Since May I have been working on a spinoodling project. (Like noodling, but spinning. Get it?) I needed something that was portable, and wasn't ready to start something big, so I took out some yummy fiber and my Ashford spindle and figured I would let it speak to me. Again, I didn't really plan out where I was going with this project.

Not so Solid Solids from Little Barn

The wool is not a specified breed, but it is mill-prepared, combed top, with a nice variety of shading. I spun it for awhile and I tried to do it less fine than my previous spinning project. I have half a pound of the fiber, and I don't want to be spinning it forever!

But I guess I've reached that stage in every spinner's life when I have to relearn how to make thick singles. my hands just don't want to do it. And, of course, it's easier to thin a thick part of the yarn (untwist and tug) than to thick a thin part.

So after I had been spinning awhile, I decided that only a quarter of the wool would be used to make a single this thin. I would try making a fluffy, thick single to ply it with. Well, a couple weeks ago I wound my thin single onto my spindle bobbin (reusable straw) and started my thick single.

Thick single on spindle, thin spindle on straw

It's hard! My hands keep wanting it to make it thinner! After a bit of spinning, I started spinning the top from the fold. Thinking about it, I really wanted a nice fluffy yarn from my second ply, to really contrast with the first ply. It's definitely good practice to retrain my hands though. Hopefully, I'll be able to post beautiful pictures of a lovely art yarn when I finish, and it won't vary too much from start to finish (unlike my first major yarn - oy!).

Two mismatched ends of the same scarf. Made from my very first major spinning project.

And finally, we get to the beginning - of a new sweater, that is. This has been many years in the works. Way back at the 2014 Maryland Sheep & Wool festival I got three large skeins of an alpaca/wool blend to make my husband a sweater with.

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #1

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #2

Surrey, from Brooks Farm - Color #3

As usual, I miscalculated the colors I should buy. I always want to buy sets of three colors. Two that match and a third to tie it all together. But so few patterns are written for three colors! So I usually have to find a two-color pattern and modify it. As I am planning on doing here.

My husband always cold, so a nice alpaca sweater will be much appreciated. And the wool in the blend will hopefully keep it from growing too much during wear. I'm a bit worried a how loosely plied the yarn is - I can only hope that it wears well and doesn't pill. From my notes, it appears that I was planning on doing fair isle. But, I don't feel like it (so there). I picked a mosaic pattern: Shulz by Mary Kate Long.

It is top-down, so I am having fun right now with complicated short rows and picked up stitched for the shoulders. It doesn't look like much yet, but I can see the possibilities...

Until next time, happy crafting!