Naomi's Art Smock

Naomi likes art projects so I made her this little art smock.  It is from the book One Yard Wonders.  I hope that she will get a lot of use out of it.

Garden Update, April 28

We've been working on our garden and here is the latest:

This is last weekend after two weeks of rain here in Chicago.

This is after pulling weeds today and yesterday.

Me, hauling weeds to the waste pile.

A little flower at the back of our garden (probably a weed).

Our first real plant, chives.  One of our garden neighbors gave it to us and we planted it in the back corner.

A view from the back of the garden.  We estimate that we have about six more hours of pulling weeds before we start planting.  One of our garden neighbors told us today that this spot had been overgrown for years and we can tell by how many weeds/roots we are pulling.

Stained Glass Hat

I bought this hat kit at Vouge Knitting Live and finished it just in time to try it out while Winter was ending. I really like how the yarn changes colors and shows through the solid color.

Our Garden

We signed up for a community garden last year and were put on the waiting list.  This year, we got a garden spot.  It's 10 ft by 20 ft and it's in a park in about 15 minutes from where we live.  Here is our spot:  

We did some work there over the weekend and here it is now:

There are so many weeds that it will take us a while to turn the dirt and pull as many weeds as we can.  Then, we'll be ready to plant when it warms up.  We're new to gardening, but we met some of the other gardeners there yesterday and I think we'll be able to get tips from the others who've been doing this for years.  One person we met has been working in this community garden for over 20 years.

Honey Cowl

I finished this Honey Cowl this weekend.  I needed a new scarf and this is a popular pattern so I thought I would try it.  I really like how it turned out.  It's long so it can be wrapped twice for warmth.  Hopefully Spring is on the way and I won't need to wear it much more this year.

Lace and Koolaid Socks

I finished my first pair of lace knit socks and I really like the pattern.  I didn't realize that this yarn would stripe so next time I will pick a different yarn so the pattern shows more.

My mom made these socks for me with the yarn that we dyed with koolaid this past summer.  I really like how they turned out.

Here is the yarn being dyed:

And, here it is after dying:

Birthday Dresses and My First Fair Isle Project

Happy Birthday, Naomi!  Today is her 1st birthday and I made her this dress.  It's a little big, but she'll grow into it.

My mom and I made this reversible dress for her as well.

She's celebrating with a party at home today and this is her hanging out in the park a few days ago.  My parents are visiting and having fun hanging out with her for the week.

I also sent her this crochet sweater that I made a while ago.

Last week, I took a class and learned how to do fair isle knitting.  This is my first project and I really like how it turned out.  I'd like to make some mittens to match.

And, I finished some socks recently.  These are knit from yarn that is made of wool and bison.  The yarn is really sturdy and warm.

And, these are knit from one of my favorite sock yarns since I knit my first pair with this yarn as well.  It is Malabrigo and it knits and wears so beautifully.