Marathon knitting weekend!

I finished! Crazy full-on knitting weekend is over, and the gift has been wrapped and ready to pass on. No more late nights and headaches! Thanks for all your encouragement in the comments, it didn't go unnoticed :)

Do you wanna see?

There are some other photos on my Flickr page too.

Ok, the details. I've loved the pattern [Rav link] for the booties since I first saw it, and i'm working on another pair for someone else now too. I changed it a little though, as the first one I made was huge - I followed the Chuck Taylor adaptation, and then took out some of the rows along the bottom as the foot came out too tall - taller than my foot even! I also made the tongue of the shoe a little longer, going by some other recommendations, and just used a single piece of yarn for the laces, rather than an i-cord, purely to save a little time - it still works just as well. I found some felt stars at the $2 shop and hand-stitched those onto the side, just like the real Chuck Taylors. I did try out the circle as per the pattern, but I just couldn't get it to work.

The jacket was a last minute addition, and was based on a free Lion Brand pattern [Rav link]. I'd found some cheap ribbon when I got the felt stars for the shoes and I wanted to add that somehow, so I did a row of 'k2tog, yo' about an inch from the bottom on all the panels so the ribbon could be woven through, the used some more for the bow at the top to tie it all together - I think its a nice finishing touch. I used a different weight yarn to that suggested in the pattern so I didn't following their sizing, rather judged it on the size of a little top i'd already bought, and sadly it came out wider than I'd planned. I'm sure baby will grow into it. I'm looking forward to working with this pattern as a base again - maybe stockinette or lace, and adding the sleeves as well (I just ran out of time for this one!).

The booties took about a week and a half all up. I started knitting the vest on Wednesday night and finished on Saturday night, working on it in any free time I could find! Last night working on finishing the booties it all got a bit much and I nearly fell asleep, so i'm looking forward to an early night tonight. Next on my list is to finish my bag, which I have to do painstakingly slowly by hand, as its too much for my little sewing machine to handle, with four layers of fabric and two layers of knitting. I promise to show you pictures of everything before it leaves for the roadshow! My Squeeze Me shawl is coming along well too, it almost spans two needles now. It wasn't widening as much as I wanted it to, so i'm adding in extra increases as I go along. I haven't even used half a ball of yarn yet! Do you think it needs tassels?

~Happy knitting!~