Knitting all summer...

I said I would post more often, and I suppose I lied. It turns out I hate blogging when I'd rather be outside enjoying the summer. Since today is freezing and cold and a true taste of Winter, I thought I'd update with some pictures of what I've been up to!

I am especially proud of my Ishbel scarf that I knit up while on holidays in Nova Scotia. I went out there for a wedding but we made a vacation out of it by renting a car and driving all over the island. We put on 3500km on our rental car (Yay for unlimited mileage contracts!) over 9 days. My boyfriend did 95% of the driving, which gave me time to work on this beauty:

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague

Diamond Yarn Foot Loose Superwash
Made for Me!

I'd never been that far east (within Canada) before and it was fun to do all the touristy things like Peggy's Cove and eating fresh seafood everywhere we went. I also had a chance to visit Gaspereau Valley Fibres, where I picked up some Fleece Artist yarns and a beautiful woolen blanket. I haven't made anything with the yarn yet, but I will very soon for Christmas gifts.

As I mentioned in my previous post, baby knitted goods are so much fun to knit. The patterns are generally easy-t0-follow, and it only takes a couple of hours (or couple of days) to finish a project. Here are two cute sweaters that I made earlier in the year:

Maile Sweater by Nikki Van De Car
Araucania Ranco Multy
Made for a friend's baby

This pattern is free and very rewarding, although the sleeves were a bit of a pain. I absolutely love this sweater, and the only thing that I would do differently would be to use a slightly thicker yarn in a superwash (this particular yarn needs to be handwashed!). I made the next sweater out of cotton, which turned out to be a great idea because my niece wore it all summer long:

Autumn Leaves by Nikki Van De Car
Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton
Made for my niece Talia

Again, this was a great pattern, and since it was top-down, the sleeves were very easy. I enjoyed knitting with Debbie Bliss cotton, it felt soft and buttery, but I'm not sure how it's holding up to baby wear. The last time I saw this sweater on my niece it was looking a little malformed and stretching in some areas. Since this only took me a couple of days to make, I could easily whip up another one using a more baby-friendly cotton (maybe Lion Brand!). Also, I have a huge bin of mismatched buttons and I think mixing them up on the sweater was a cute, playful idea. And what baby would refuse such a cute sweater!?

I'm in the process of making Christmas gifts, stay tuned for how they turn out!