Thumbless Baby Mitts

I guess I must be one of Santa's helpers because I'm still making gifts. I'm becoming addicted to hats of all things. They quick and easy enough to make on a whim. Since I was off today and certainly got bored, or rather suffered from withdrawal, I had to find something to make. So I came up with Thumbless Mitts for one of my nieces. She's just 6 months so thumbs really are not necessary yet. I combined info from toe up socks, hats and top down socks and mittens to come up with these little cuties. It's a really versitile that can use pretty much any stitch but I wanted fpdc to match the Reversible Strands Hat for Men pattern by Nancy Smith.

I think just about any yarn weight will work for these mitts as well but you may have to do a few more rows of increases. I haven't tried it yet but I think that it would be as simple as this:

inc every 4th st, inc every 5th st and so forth. Then reduce back down to for the wrist. I eyeballed this all thing so my niece hasn't even tried these on yet but it looks like they will fit. If they're too big, no problem.

Thumbless Baby Mitts
Materials:

I used a very small amount Caron Rainbow Tones (Country Rose) but any worsted weight yarn will do. Experiment with other yarn weights!

H crochet hook

Yarn needles for weaving in ends

Notes: Work first stich in same stitch where you joined when working sc rows.

Mitt
Chain 4
Rnd 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and each across (3sc). Working on opposite side of chain, sc in next 3sc for a total of 6sc, join with a sl st and ch 1.
Rnd 2: work 2 fpdc in each sc. join with a sl st and ch 1 (12 dc)
Rnd 3: Work even, join with a sl st and ch 1
Rnd 4: *dc in the 1st st, 2dc in the next st. Rep from * around. join with a sl st and ch 1 (18 dc)
Rnd 5: Work even, join with a sl st and ch 1
Rnd 6: Work dc in the 1st dc, 2 dc in the next. Work 2 dc in every 3rd st around. Dc in the last st. join with a sl st and ch 1 (24dc)
Rnd 7-13: Work even (24dc)

Wrist
Rnd 14-15: Sc in each stitch.
Rnd 16: Dec 3 sts evenly spaced (21 dc)
Rnd 17: Hdc in each st (21 hdc)
Rnd 18-20: Work fphdc in each sts around (21 fphdc)
Finish off.

I'm not a designer so I can't guarantee that this pattern is perfect but I hope it is.

Keep stitchin'

Just Plain Frilly

Enough of this darn snow, right? My last posting I spoke about 3hrs of digging snow and how smart it was. Having the whole week off of work made it easy for me to relax and recoup since I couldn't even get to the doctor for pain pills. Thankfully, I worked as a Physical Therapy Aide for seven and half years so I know how to apply heat/ice and stretch out my muscles.

There was also time to work out a new project. I wanted to make a blankie for our new family member and I wanted it to be something a little different. I've never done the diagonal stitch so I figured this would be a good time to try. I'm not sure if I started it right because I just ripped until I was happy with the way it was coming out. Remember, I hurt my back so running back and forth to the computer wasn't an option. Once I got a size that I liked, may not be right because I didn't have any measurement to go by, I needed a border. I wanted something with lots of lacing and maybe some ruffling. I did search for that and found Kim Guzman's friendship squares with a really nice border. It had pretty much everything I wanted and some so I tweaked it a bit to get the look I wanted; basically adding more chains did the trick. All the extra chains and the way I changed my colors gave me enough of the ruffle effect that I wanted. It's just plain frilly.

Since the baby is due in May this blanket is more useful for bedding decor rather than for wrapping baby but I love it anyway and I'm sure Mommy will love it too, right Kiana? I'm glad we have a break from the snow because now I can get out and get a look at the spring/summer yarns for something that the baby wont have to wait to wear.

Keep stitchin'

Sunday Best

I finally finished the little coat that I started almost two weeks ago. I had to frog and start over several times because the bottom portion was not the look I wanted. Sometimes following a pattern is easier, I don't have to think about sizing. But when I try to bring one of the ideas in my head down to my hands, something gets lost in translation or is it transportation...lol.

Anyway, Sunday Best is finished so I have to come up with a matching hat. Even though my niece is due in May, this little coat is for the colder months. I can't wait to get a photo in the entire outfit, guess that will be in a while. I think I'll have to borrow a teddy bear or something like I've seen other stitchers do.

One of the things I love about this coat is the buttons. Each little button is different because I didn't have a set of buttons to use. I went through my button bag and found one pink, one lilac and one white. With all the specks of red, yellow, blue and green in the yarn I think different color buttons work well. I also love the contrasting waistband woven through. I used this yarn as scrap stitch markers since this is another top down garment but I loved the way the colors blended and wanted to work it into the garment. I saw a few patterns online that had ribbon woven through so that's when the light went off.

Keep stitchin'