[Note: this is Jim writing this, not Wood. Sorry!] 

So my wife is too busy working hard to write about this beautiful sweater she made but I couldn't let the weeks go by without sharing it. We made the kids all their birthday presents this year, and our daughter was pretty excited to find this sweater finished and sitting next to her bed on the morning of her birthday (she may have seen some of it in progress). Those are little owls.

If you look closely, you can see that one of the owls on the front (and one on the back) is awake, with little button eyes:

The pattern is "Owlet" by Kate Davies, available on Ravelry here. My wife said some knitters have adapted the pattern to make this sweater with Totoros instead of owls. That is pretty awesome, but I can't figure out how to navigate Ravelry to find it. Ravelry is even more confusing than Pinterest to my male brain. Anyway, the yarn she used was "Sublime Cashmere Marino Silk (Aran weight)," also on Ravelry here.

Previous Project: Birthday Sweater I

For the kids' birthdays this year Jim and I decided to make their presents (we knew the collective grandparents and their friends would take care of the store-bought stuff). Each kid got a new quilt, a sweater, and a costume from their dad. I can't speak for Jim---but making the quilts and sweaters for the kids' birthdays was as much for me as it was for them. I liked the symmetry of making them the same things, and all were projects that I had been trying to move to the top of my list for a while. I hope this will be the first post of several in the next few days sharing these projects (I haven't been very good about updating this site).

I used Hadley Fierlinger's pattern from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies for Gram's sweater (a book I highly recommend). This was based on a vintage pattern, so the pieces were made separately and then sewn together. I have to admit I was very skeptical and considered unraveling the whole thing more than once. Even as I sewed together the finished pieces, I still thought it was going to be a huge failure. It seemed way too small and I just wasn't sure I was lining up the raglan seams properly. So I was kind of shocked when it was all done and it was so charming and perfect. A bit on the small side -- that is my fault, not Hadley's -- but it fits him and he actually likes it. He wore it to school twice during the first week. A big improvement over my first attempt to make him a sweater. 

He likes it because the yarn is so soft. I used yarn that I bought at the Michigan Fiber Festival last summer. It is Knitting Notions classic merino superwash sport. I bought the yarn at the festival directly from Catherine Harrison, the owner of Knitting Notions. The yarn is expensive (the most I've ever spent on a single skein), but it is beautiful and soft and gorgeously dyed.

(I really like the buttons on the back). I'll soon share the birthday sweater I made our daughter.

Previous Project: Twin Rompers

I have two tough little nephews. They were born in August, at only 29 weeks gestation. They are identical, and as happens in a small number of twins that share a placenta, they had twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Before they were born, my sister-in-law had two intra-uterine laser surgeries to correct the TTTS.

My brother and sister-in-law live in Pittsburgh and we don't see them enough. This pregnancy was as high-risk as it gets, and every single day that she remained pregnant felt like an accomplishment. I was so worried about those babies, and even more worried about my sister-in-law and brother. There was really nothing for me to do but wait, and hope, and knit. While I was waiting, I made rompers for them. I used yarn that I really loved. I knew they would be born early, and probably would be tiny, but I knit a newborn size anyway.

When they were born at 29 weeks weighing about 3 lbs each, I mailed the rompers to Pittsburgh. The babies stayed in the NICU for two months, and when they were finally ready to leave the hospital, the rompers were the perfect size, and they wore them home.

I used the Small Things Romper & Sweater pattern from Carina Spencer ($10). I made matching hats, too. Jim took the following pictures for me and he put the hats upside-down, which really bothers me, but I want to share them nonetheless:

I almost forgot I also did matching booties:

The boys are doing great and we're planning to visit them soon. When we were in Pittsburgh last fall, they were still in the NICU and we had to sneak our daughter in to see them, so they haven't even met their boy cousin yet. He thinks he's going to teach them about all kinds of cool things (like lightsabers). I hate to break it him but my brother probably has that covered.

Previous Project: Eyrie

Remember the robin's nest from last spring? Not long after I wrote that, bluejays came and killed the babies. We hid this from the kids, but it filled us both with an incredible sadness. My wife knit herself a nest and filled it with robin eggs (with one that clearly came from some kind of magical bird). They still sit on her desk at the office.

 

Spring's a long way off, but I just wanted to share that.

Previous Project: Real-Steel Armor

Back when we were still new to blogging SIX YEARS AGO we would occasionally get a kind comment from the prominent Portland-based knitting blogger Larissa Brown (who has since published several fantastic books, including My Grandmother's Knitting: Family Stories and Inspired Knits from Top Designers, Knitalong, and the e-book Bonnet Love). We were always kind of amazed the Larissa paid any attention to us, and we were blown away when she designed a bonnet that she called "The Juniper" in our daughter's honor and sent one that she knit herself (with a lovely vintage ribbon).

I dug up some pictures of our daughter as a baby wearing that wonderful gift:

Now that my wife is knitting all the time herself, she can appreciate Larissa's kindness and the skill of her craft even more. The Juniper bonnet pattern is still on Larissa's site and is available for personal use. Wood recently downloaded it and made a version of the bonnet for our neighbor who is pregnant with a little girl. She used a ribbon that I believe she bought at Purl Soho when we were in New York last summer.

We can attest that it makes a great gift. Thanks again Larissa!

Previous Project: Seashore Dress

While we were traveling, I brought a skein of Stonehedge Fiber Mill's "Almost Handspun" yarn (the label has the name of the animals it came from on it!), hoping to turn it into a sweater for Gram. The pattern I used is the Fisherman's Pullover by Veera Valimaki. A few times while I was knitting, Gram would ask me what I was doing, and I'd tell him I was making a sweater for him. Each time, he'd say: "I hate sweaters! Stop knitting!" A sweater vest I made for him last summer has a too-small neck opening (another vacation knitting project, but completed without a ruler), and I fear the difficulty of getting it over his head has ruined sweaters for him.

Well, I'm not one to stop working on things I know my children hate (see last night's dinner).

I finished the sweater about a week into our trip. Luckily, my daughter loves sweaters and she's wonderful about wearing things I've made, and I'd knit a size 4 thinking it would be best for Gram next winter. The sweater fits her perfectly right now, and the thick yarn is great for spring. She loves to shed her coat as soon as possible, so I'm guessing this sweater will get a lot of use on the playground in the next few months.

Hopefully my boy will be over his sweater aversion by next winter.

Previous Project: Selvedge Denim Ipad Case

I've been busy.

A hat for Jim:

A pair of felted slippers for Gram:

A cowl for my sister-in-law (I made another one of these for my other sister-in-law, but forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her):

A sweater for Mr. Bear (I have an unexplained love for tiny sweaters):

A pair of hobo gloves for Jim:

A scarf for my mom (the colors match her new winter coat):

(details about all of the patterns and yarn are on my ravelry page. And don't forget about the woodcraft ravelry group -- so many wonderful knitters of all skill levels. Join and post some pictures of what you've been up to!)

Previous Project: Pixie Cap

Late Fall and Winter are such a great time for knitting. Having handknit items around, both those completed and those in progress, makes the steadily chilling air almost welcome. The challenge for me is to remember that I can't knit everything and that sometimes it is worth it to just buy a pair of mittens. Other times I come across a hat pattern so adorable that I just have to make it, even though there are at least 15 hats in our closet already. I recently made this hat for Juniper; it's the Vintage Pixie Cap from Hadley Fierlinger's Vintage Knits for Modern Babies. Jim said it kind of reminded him of the little caps the French kids are wearing in Alfred Eisenstaedt's classic photos of the audience at a Paris puppet theatre. The yarn I used is a bit thicker, but I think the result is still pretty cute:




I created a ravelry group for any sweetjuniper readers who want to learn to knit, or who already know how to knit and want to help others, or just want to check out what other people are making. The lovely DW (the woman responsible for the fact that I can't tear myself away from my knitting needles at night long enough to empty the dishwasher) has joined, and has already taught some group members how to knit cables. I'm also meeting with a wonderful group of ladies in my neighborhood for a weekly night of knitting. Already there are at least five other pixie hats adorning small heads at our playground each night.

If knitting is something you've always wanted to learn but were too intimidated (or frustrated) to try, I urge you to give it a go this winter. I always worry that by sharing my projects on Woodcraft it seems like I'm showing off, so I want to share something now that will hopefully dissuade anyone from thinking I'm naturally good at any of this. If you need some encouragement, take a look at the first thing I ever made from yarn.

Ten years ago I learned to crochet while I was living in China, and I made what I truly believed at the time was an awesome scarf for Jim for Christmas. You can't really fully appreciate from that picture how uneven this scarf is. There are parts that are 2 inches wider than other parts.


Here I am making the scarf with my friend Carissa Carmen (who taught me to crochet):

I think she may be repairing one of my many mistakes in that picture. I also added a pocket, thinking it was a clever touch. You know, for all those times that you need to keep. . .something. . .in your scarf. . . . I was really proud of that pocket:



Jim was nice about it when I gave it to him, probably summoning whatever enthusiasm he could from the well of relief that I hadn't made him a sweater. He even wore it once when we went touristing around Beijing (it helped that it was extremely cold that day). To this day he's bitter about that scarf strangling him in every picture I took of him in the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square:

He calls it The Scarf of Many Colors and despite his efforts to hide it deep in the basement every spring, I always manage to dig it out the next winter. Here's another picture of my friend Carissa, modeling the first hippie hat I ever made, with only a hint of forgivable trepidation:

I guess you could say I have come a long way since those days; but I went years without making anything because I didn't know where to start. If you want to give it a try, please join the ravelry group and let's get something made before the holidays!