IF: Stormtrooper

This week's Illustration Friday prompt was "Storm." You would think, given the recent New England weather, I would have lots of inspiration in that direction. It turns out not so much.

No 2 pencil on Moleskine

Yes this is a bit of a regression in that I abandoned color. Honestly I am just grateful I finished anything at all. It turns out that the extra time stuck at home has just lead to a lot of discovering how much I can get done when I am not being interrupted at work all the time, rather than the crafting I thought I might do. But despite that, this sketch is still out before deadline!

Grey Steps - Baby Booties

Despite all the blog content recently, there actually has been some knitting going on. There are a number of babies expected among my family and friends recently, so I have been on the lookout for great baby patterns. (Got any great recommendations for boys? I am not huge on dressing children along gender lines, but I recognize that people do often have preferences in this regard.)

In my poking around on Ravelry, I was super excited to find this baby booties pattern as a great gender neutral pattern *that I think might even stay on little feet for more than 20 seconds*. Crazy! The pattern has half brioche stitch around, with garter stitch soles, resulting in a lovely thick, squishy fabric with good elasticity.

 

Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK

Yarn Supplier: WEBS

Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm

Pattern: Blue Steps - Baby Booties by Regina Willer

Modifications: none! (well other than using a DK weight...)

Oh winter, why do you make it so hard to manage to find decent light for knit photography? In trying to make sure this shot got in before we lost the light, I totally missed that the cuff of of one was not quite lying flat. The cuffs are the same length, I promise!

I did the soles with a magic cast on, since I was already comfortable with it. The whole pattern is super clever though, and in the end that meant no seaming and only two ends to weave in. Nifty! They were a really fun, quick knit, and by the time I finished the first one I had memorized the pattern for the most part. And the result is super cute. I think this may become my new standby pattern for this sort of thing.

Meanwhile I have been flipping through my library looking for more baby boy acceptable knits. Anyone got some great suggestions to point me in the direction of?

Spinning Wheel

Seriously, I was not sure if I was going to make this week's Illustration Friday post, but as the prompt was "wheel" it seemed like it would be a shame to miss. My poor Ashford Traditional has not seen any use in longer than I want to discuss, but at least it can have a brief moment back on the blog.

Crayola colored pencils in aqua green, black, light brown, mahogany, maroon, yellow orange in Moleskine

I admit that I want to fuss with this one still, but just getting it out for the week was the important thing. I had lots of trouble with the color, and looking at the scan it could use some more color built up on the treadle. But hey, more practice with color is always good.

Now I just need some time to do some actual spinning on my wheel as well. We will see.