New Knitting Projects

Here's my current knitting fun:

Fish Baby Toy (Boy/gender neutral version):
From Toys to Knit by Tracy Chapman
I just used cheapy, washable yarn from Michael's for this project. And some yarn I had in my stash. It would be a great project to use up remnants of a bunch of different yarns. You wouldn't have to make a matching one. Each scale could be a different color or yarn.
Pictures of front and back from the book:

Here are the finished knitted pieces to sew together:

And the finished product:


I love this little fish. I think it turned out adorable. The finished product is about 8 inches long. I plan to make this in white, pinks and purples for a girl version too. I've recently become obsessed with the idea of knitted toys, especially to give as baby gifts. If you take the time to knit something for a child clothes-related, you put all that hard work in and they only get to wear it for a short time before they outgrow it. With a knitted toy, the child can play with it forever.

Knitted Cardigan for 18" Stuffed Animals and Dolls:
Next up: the Ribs and Lace Cardi from Knits for Bears by Amy O'Neill Houck. This is an adorable book with a whole wardrobe of knitted things to dress up your favorite animal/doll. Supposedly, they'll even fit an American Girl doll (something our girls will probably get in the next year or so--now that there is a new store in the Mall of America). How fun to get clothes for your child's doll/animal and not have to pay American Girl/Build-a-Bear prices for it. Although, I guess it depends on the yarn you use. Again, I used cheapy Michael's yarn for this project.
Here's an almost finished in-progress photo:


My only gripe with this pattern is that I believe the lace pattern is "backwards" in the book. Following the pattern as written, I ended up with my knitted lace side "inside" the sweater and the purl side on the outside. This is just for my daughter for Christmas so I didn't care that much. I'll just do the opposite next time I make this.
Here's a picture where you can see the inside:

I also added a couple rows of seed stitch on the bottom and cuffs to match the neckline.

Here's how my daughter will open it up on Christmas:

And here's the sweater on two of her favorite animal friends (both from Build-a-Bear):


And finally, a pair of socks for my mom for Christmas. I sort of made up the pattern. I used the Emily's Socks pattern from Two at a Time Socks. Actually, what I made is the pattern on the cover. But in the book, Emily's Socks are kid-size and do not have a picot edge. There is no actual pattern in the book for the socks on the front, so you have to take an adult-size pattern and apply the Emily's socks pattern to it. I used the Anne's Magic Stripes pattern from Knitting Circles Arounds Socks and just substituted in the Emily's Socks pattern with a picot edge on the top.
I used Cherry Tree Hill yarn in Winterberry to knit up the socks. Here they are in their finished glory. No progress photos on this one.




Whew, not sure what I'll do next, but I need to knit up something to give to my younger daughter for Christmas. So I might try out another pattern from Knits for Bears.