Little Monster Ezra

Even though it is for Christmas, I took the opportunity to try on the suit while Ezra was visiting me last night.  I am very happy with the outcome.  It is a little long, but with shoes on, it should still be just fine.  The sweater fits wonderfully.

I need to sew the button holes a little smaller.  I had stretched them for some bigger toggles, but decided the toggles were too large.  These monkey buttons were perfect size, but didn't stay shut when I buttoned them.

The best I could do to get the shot of the little monster face. Ezra was too fidgety to get anything else.

I've finished the back of the sweater I am making for Tony for Christmas.  It is coming along nicely, and will give me something to work on for a while longer.

Monster Suit Done

I've finished the sweater for the monster suit for Ezra.  I was disappointed in finding the buttons that I wanted to use, but settled on some monkey buttons that were perfect for the color. Since the monkeys are on the front of the sweater, and the monster is on the back of the pants, I don't think it matters.  I'm very pleased with the finished project.

Sweater front, showing the monkey buttons.

Full suit from the back showing the monster mouth.

Full suit from front.

Now it is back to knitting an adult sweater for my husband for Christmas.  I am almost done with all of my Christmas knitting.  Still have to work on the sewing machine to make Ezra's pajamas. That should conclude the Christmas projects.

Pants Finished; Project Not

Well, I finished the monster pants that I was making for Ezra, but I am not finished with the project.  The main problem...they are too big and too heavy to fit as regular pants, so I have decided to knit a sweater to match the pants and make it into a winter suit to be worn over his clothes.  I will give them to him for Christmas, and by then, he will have grown just a little bit more and maybe it will fit even better. Here is a look at the pants.

This is the front view of the pants.

The back view shows the monster face.  Since I was making this pattern up as I went by looking at a picture, I misjudged how many short rows I needed to use to make the mouth look more open. Instead of a wide open mouth, this little monster has a wide, toothy grin.

I have started the hoodie sweater which will be done in the hunter green, except for the arms.  They will be done in the striped pattern like the legs.

Joey's Sweater

I finished Joey's sweater today.  I was really upset with myself.  The reason I was making it in the first place, is so that he can have a bigger sweater than his old one.  I did make it a little bigger, and the arms were longer, but when I got finished with the body of the sweater, it was just the same length as his old one.  That meant that I had to take out the last ten rows which were the band of the sweater.  I had to knit another six rows to gain another inch+ to the length.  Then, I had to re-knit the ten rows for the band.  It turned out to be a perfect fit for the sixteen inch zipper that I planned to use.

This shot is a little too dark to get a good look of the black sweater, but gives a nice front view of it and the handsome model.

Outside, the sweater shows up better, and gives a better view of the hood.

You can see that the sleeves are plenty long to cover his hands, so he can easily wear another layer under it and will be able to use it for a longer time into the winter.  Now that I have finished the sweater, I will get started on making a very cute pair of pants for little Ezra.  His mom found these pants online, called Monster Booty Longies.  They are adorable, but since I do not have a pattern, I will need to design one by myself.  I'm up for the challenge and can hardly wait to get started.

Baby Hats

I have finished the dozen baby hats to be donated to the hospital for the newborns. I made six for boys and six for girls.  I planned to put pom poms on all of them, but then I decided that the pom poms looked more like for boys.  I have a cute pattern for making a bow, which I used for the girl hats.  It took a little more time to make the bows, and it seems to hurt my wrist while making them, but I like the outcome.  I am happy I decided to put on the bows for the girls and the pom poms for the boys. Each hat was knitted from a different yarn, so there is a variety of textures as well as colors.

Next, I will knit a sweater for my grandson, Joey.  He has almost outgrown his sweater from last Christmas, plus it is getting quite worn.  His mother has requested another one, so I will get right on it.  I needed another project to work on anyway.

Heads and Tails 2 Modeled

I knew that I would have a couple of models show up to try on the masks and tails for me.  Dot and Lucy make for some really cute character shots.  Here they are: my little fox and raccoon.

 Lucy gives a foxy yip.

Foxy Lucy showing off her tail.

Oops, the mask got a little askew, but this gives a good shot of the head and tail of this little fox.

Raccoon Dot shows her face.

Nice pose to show off both parts.

Now, that is some tail!

Back to making baby hats for the newborns at the hospital, pajamas for Ezra's Christmas, and probably a new sweater for Joey.  He has outgrown his Christmas sweater from last year, and Mom seems to be hinting for a new one.  I don't mind, because I will want to knit something after I finish the hats.  I have three more of them that I want to make to get twelve.

Heads & Tails, Part 2

I just finished making the masks and tails for the twins in my Sunbeam class at church.  I hope their mother still wants to buy them, but if not, I will have a couple of sets for sale, or to give away to some grand children.  I chose to make another fox, although slightly different from the first one I made, and a raccoon.  I am quite pleased with the outcome.  I wish, however, that I had discovered how to cut fake fur earlier in the project.  I was not happy with the straight cuts that were coming out on the fur when I had to cut strips.  I finally tried to correct the mistake by lifting the fur upward before making the cut.  It worked beautifully.  Much to my dismay, some of the cuts were already made and I didn't have enough fur to make more.  At least, it is a lesson learned for the next time.

I have been working on baby hats to be donated to the hospital for the newborns.  I have finished six and want to make at least six more before I send them off.  They are a very easy project, and I can usually make two a day, working on and off.  I think it takes about three hours to make one hat.  I want to put pom poms on them, but I will wait until I have finished the knitting and make all of them at one time. 

Afghan Revised

Well, I have now finished the revised edition of the afghan that I had previously made for my son, T.W.  I had made this afghan out of 100% wool that was spun from the wool of his own sheep.  I was trying to use up what I had left of various colors of the bulky weight wool.  Because of that, the first attempt ended up being very small.  I wasn't happy with that, so I decided to go back and add some more blocks to it.  I really used up every bit of the bulky weight wool that I had, and it was no where near enough to enlarge the afghan.  I decided to use a double strand of the medium weight yarn that I had left.  That also meant that I had to combine colors in the double strands.  I did the best I could and was able to increase the size of the afghan by eight inches in the width and fourteen inches in the length.  I am much happier with the final afghan.  The pictures below show the before and after shot of the afghan.

BEFORE: it doesn't cover much of the bed.

AFTER: it nearly covers the bed and looks better with the border.

The second shot also shows a truer color to the brown part of the afghan.  In the first one, it looks more gray than brown.  Unfortunately, you can also see where I ran out of the contrasting color that I was using in the double strand on the right side of the afghan.  I was using a green with the blue.  When I ran out of the green, I started using a different green, but it was much darker than the one that I had been using.  Oh well, there is nothing I can do about it because I ran out of yarn.  I know T.W. will not mind.  He will like the fact that I used up the yarn that I had, and it will be a nice wool afghan for keeping him warm in his cold Maine winters.

I'm not sure what I am going to do now.  I have some sewing machine projects to make, in particular, the pajamas for Ezra for Christmas.  I didn't make a quilt for him because he is so little.  His mom said that he could use pajamas, so pajamas it is.  I bought the material the other night and will begin on them soon.  I also have some more masks and tails to make for an order.  I think they need to be done for November.  I have to check about that.  I need to have some knitting projects to do, but since I have finished my Christmas items, I think I will make some baby hats and donate them to the hospital.  I will be taking a car trip this week end, and I definitely need something to work on while we are traveling.