Apple Swap

Now that my swap partner has received her package I thought I'd share the knitting I did.

Mel, our amazing swap organizer, had us do a swap centered around Apples. We had to knit the Apple Hat, the apple from Finger Foods (a great pattern set found in Itty Bitty Toys),  and the Apple Washcloth. These are all Susan B. Anderson patterns and a joy to knit.

The Apple Hat was a super easy little hat to knit. I love this one for a  newborn. It's so cute! I knit mine to fit a 1-2yr old as per my swap partner's request. It fit Mr. Man (he has a little head) but I couldn't get a picture of him with it on.

I did the stem differently than the pattern stated. Instead of changing to brown to do the i-cord, I stayed with the Spud and Chloe Sweater in Grass and wrapped it with a bit of leftover Spud and Chloe Sweater in Rootbeer. I was able to wrap the top of the stem a bit more to look like an apple stem. I think it worked, I just hope it survives a toddler.

I also adjusted the leaf. I found the one in the pattern too small. This is what I did...

Leaf pattern
CO 3
Row 1 - k1, yo, k1, yo, k1.
Row 2 and all even rows - purl
Row 3 - k2, yo, k1, yo, k2
Row 5 - k3, yo, k1, yo, k3
Row 7 - k1, ssk, k3, k2tog, k1
Row 9 - k1, ssk, k1, k2tog, k1
Row 11 - ssk, k1, k2tog
Row 12 - p1, p2tog, slip 1st purl st over
cut yarn and purl thru last st.

Isn't this Finger Food Apple hilarious? I have to admit this set of patterns I skipped over many times. I just never really thought finger food puppets were something I wanted to knit. After making this apple I've completely changed my mind! Mr. Man likes playing with the one I got in my swap package from Raelynne, so now I may have to knit the rest.

And this last pattern was the one I had the most problems with. This cloth calls for chenille which I've never knit with and I really wanted to use stash yarn in this swap (I did with all three projects). So I used good old dishcloth cotton. The green trim is Mission Falls cotton, a nubbly yarn that I inherited from someone.

Now my crochet skills are not great and when I tried to do the chain edging the nubbly bits just looked uneven. I really try for a polished look for my knits and for the most part I can achieve that but this cloth about did me in. I left it for so long in a partially finished state. Then one night I had an idea. I would crochet around the edge of the entire apple and chain a leaf onto the cloth. I started over and knit the entire cloth in one color. I'm still not super pleased with the edging but it's done and gone now. Hopefully Tara (my swap partner) just uses it!

I try to include in all my swap packages: some yarn, patterns, goodies, a book or two, something Canadian, and a card. This time I made some dried apples and put in a jar of Crab Apple Jelly that I made last fall. I hope Tara likes all the stuff in there!

I had such a fun time creating the package and receiving one from Raelynne! I'd post about it, but she's done a series of posts on her blog about all the great stuff so I'll just encourage you read her posts. Fabulous stuff!

Happy weekend everyone!