Little Trunks Knits

See anything new???

2012-01-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

So you may have noticed something new at the top of my Blog. It's a weight loss ticker :). My DH and I have been very frustrated with our weight and lack of energy lately. We both agreed to change our eating habits and in the process, hope to lose 30lbs. It's amazing how much better I feel cutting out major sugar and caffeine! I'm much calmer with the children and my DH too! My DH cut out all soda so far and he's lost a bit more then me. I'm very proud of him.

I don't have much on the knitting agenda right now. I'm knitting a sweater and pant set out of Mosaic Moon's Woodland Friends. I just finished a pair of longies on my "Winter" colorway. I have been working on a scarf for me out of Mosaic Moon's "Red Ming". I can't wait to finish it and be able to use it.

Christmas and New Years was fun here with the kids. Here are a couple of special picture that I took of them on Christmas Eve.

and Xmas morning...

Me Oh My

2011-12-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

I just can't keep up with posting on a blog! I have the best intentions but time gets away from me.

I finished a few things. Haven't started much. On my list is a pair of longies in my "winter" colorway for a custom, and a Chloe Grace in Shy Violet's "Butterfly" colorway with purple trim also for a custom. I'd like to knit my daughter a So Sassy sweater. I adore that pattern.

Here are some finished pics:

A hat for my daughter

An Ohio State University hat for my youngest son

A Cleveland Browns hat for my middle son

A Butterflly Dress for my cousin's daughter

And some action shots of the set I knit earlier this month.

Finished a few more!

2011-11-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

I finished this set :)

...and separate pictures

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I know it's coming but I feel like it's still sneaking up on me. We spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with my side of the family. There are quite a few of us that get together. We have two turkeys and tons of potatoes and sides. I'm so excited to see my family.

I've been doing a little Christmas shopping. Can't seem to find the LeapFrog LeapPad instock anywhere and I'm getting nervous. I've been trying for days. Hoping that the stores are saving their supplies for Black Friday and will be fully stocked.

Finally, some WIP pictures!

2011-11-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

Been tryin to get some much needed knitting done.

This is a WIP Cleveland Browns hat for my 9yr Joey. Unfortunately, he is a Browns Fan and requested these colors.

A shrug that I still need to block and sew on a button for.

And the matching Tiptoe Hat but its on hold until I receive more yarn.

A Mosaic Moon "Red Ming" scarf for me <3 I hope to be able to do some matching mittens :)

And lastly, a Butterfly Dress requested by my cousin for her daughter for Christmas.

Whew! That's a lot on the needles. I love keeping busy though.

Some Sparkly Winter!

2011-11-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm finishing this cute set for a customer. It's Swish worsted yarn in blue and white with some gray/silver sparkly yarn mixed in. Such a fun knit!

I'll be knitting a matching hat to go with this set too. Probably a Tiptoe Hat.

Katie and I will be stocking this Friday. Here are some of the items I'll be stocking.

Bayside Britches and a Tiptoe Hat

"Boys of Summer" longies

A random colorway I dyed up that I call "Winter". Stop on by and check it out!

Time to plant the bulbs

2011-10-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's getting so cooooold outside! I purchased some tulip bulbs to plant and now I just have to figure out where I want to plant them! I love the first signs of spring :)

Kids are still keeping me pretty busy. I have alot of new projects that I need to get moving on. I also have to plan a football party for this Saturday. Twenty plus 10-11 year olds over at the house. Am I nuts??? I must be.

Lots of Halloween activities coming up. What are your kids dressing up as for trick or treating? I have no idea what my children want to be. There is a Halloween dance, an open ice skate and a Goblin Gallop coming up. Love this time of year!

Next post will include some finished pictures of baysides and tiptoe hats.

Get out your Leaf Blowers

2011-10-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

Autumn is here to stay! My driveway is covered in leaves and my flowers need cut back. The weather is cooler and the nights are longer.

My neice is out of the hospital and recovering at home. It looks as though she will make a full recovery! Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. It's her third birthday today!

My boys are keeping me so busy these days! This includes my DH. They are playing football and soccer and Daddy is coach for two of the three of them. Doesn't leave much time for knitting. I don't have any WIP pictures to take as of now. I've pretty much stalled out and need to get my rear in gear.

I'll leave this post with a picture of my youngest son. He's 5 and his name is Kyler. This is the pumpkin that he picked on his field trip hayride. He was so proud of it! My Mr. Handsome :)

Be Thankful...

2011-10-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

My 2 year old neice is in the ICU. She was injured when a TV fell on her. How many items do you have that are not anchored to the wall that could be a hazard to your little one? Give your little one/ones an extra kiss tonight and be thankful that they are happy and healthy!

I finished a pair of longies

And I have a WIP picture of a cabled winter romper that I'm working on for a custom

Another WIP

2011-09-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is going to be for a future stocking. It's Shy Violet's "Airplane" colorway with some matching blue Cestari Superfine. I'm knitting it into some Bayside Britches and have some super cute matching custom buttons from Corina of Ayarina's Designs.

It's a pot roast day!

2011-09-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

With this cooler fall weather coming, I decided to throw a pot roast in the crock pot and take it easy today. I had to rip 8 inches back on the custom blue/white romper that I was knitting. I forgot that the customer had requested cables down the sides. Sucks to be me! It will look so darling when it's done.

I have finished the pair of longies that I was knitting and also knit up a cute little beanie hat for my neice. She's only about a month old. Love knitting the itty bitty things. Pics to come soon. It's rainy and ugly outside so the camera will not be coming out today.

Is it fall already???

2011-09-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Wow! I haven't posted on my blog since February??? I need to get better at this. What I've been working on...

A custom pair of longies that I dyed. The colors are black, avacado, butter and navy blue. I quite like the way these are turning out.

I also have this set stocked in my store!

The colorway is Pixie Stix with custom buttons from Ayarina's Designs.

Butterfly Sundress almost ready for release!

2011-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

I'm super excited to introduce my Butterfly Sundress. Look for the pattern to be released very soon!

Butterfly Stitch in the round TUTORIAL

2011-01-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

I've seen a few tutorials on how to knit the butterfly stitch flat but none on how to knit it ITR. This was frustrating to me when I would need it and couldn't figure out how to get those loose strands knit instead of purled. Well, when I finally did figure it out, I had to take pictures and share!

I hope this helps someone in the knitting world. Enjoy!

Butterfly Stitch "in the round" Tutorial. Here is the pattern portion of it

For rounds 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9

*Starting at marker, bring yarn to front of work. With working yarn in front, slip 5 stitches purlwise. Bring yarn to back of work. Knit 5 stitches. Repeat from * to end

For rounds 2, 4, 6, and 8 Knit

Round 10

Knit 2, *knit the loose strands and the next stitch together, knit 7. Repeat from * to last 7 stitches, k7.

For rounds 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19

*Knit 5, bring yarn to front of work. With working yarn in front, slip 5 stitches purlwise. Bring yarn to back of work. Repeat from * to end

For rounds 12, 14, 16, and 18 Knit

Round 20

Knit 7, knit the loose strands and the next stitch together, *k9, knit the loose strands and the next stitch together. Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, k2

And the picture tutorial:

Make sure you have enough stitches on your needles to be divisible by 10. PM and join your knitting.

1. After you place your marker, bring your working yarn forward as if you were going to purl-but don't purl.

2. Slip the next 5 stitches "purlwise" and "wrap" your yarn around those stitches by bringing your yarn to the back of your work as if you were going to knit.

3. Knit the next 5 stitches. In the picture, I've shown only the next stitch knit, but knit 5 :)

4. You will be knitting every other round

5. This is what it will look like before you begin to butterfly your loose strands.

6. Take your right needle and insert it under the loose strands as if to knit

7. And insert the right needle into the next stitch to knit it and the strands together
(I started to get lazy....I stopped numbering my pictures!)

8. Wrap the stitch to knit it

9. (it gets tricky here) Bring your needle with the new stitch on it (the right needle) back down through the loose strands and slip the stitch on the left needle off. If you don't slip that stitch off the left needle, you'll be creating an extra stitch.

10. When you bring your right needle back up, it'll have that beautiful little stitch on it!

See how pretty it is?

TIPTOE HAT knitting pattern!

2010-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

*edited on 12-29-2010 to fix the extra stitch in the earflap
*edited on 12-29-2010 to adjust the position of the skp

Tiptoe Hat

Designed and written by Jennifer Pimentel

Materials needed:

Size US 7 (4.50mm) 16” circular needles

Size US 8 (5.00mm) 16” circular needles

Three double pointed needle size US 8

One stitch marker

One darning needle

200-500 yards worsted weight yarn

Techniques Used:

CO=Cast On

BO= Bind Off

Linen Stitch=Knit 1, slip 1 with yarn in front

skp-slip one stitch purlwise, knit the following stitch, pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch

K2tog=knit two stitches together

Inc=increase one stitch

Gauge:

5 stitches per inch on size US 7 Linen Stitch

Measurements (head circumference in inches)

14” (16”, 18”, 20”, 22”)

*it’s important to measure your little one’s head correctly because the linen stitch in this pattern does not provide a lot of stretch.

Sizes: newborn (baby, toddler, child/teen, adult)

PATTERN

Earflaps:

Make 2-use solid color yarn

With size US7 16” circular needles or dpn, CO 4 (4, 6, 9, 9) stitches

Row 1 KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB

Row 2 KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB

Row 3 Knit

Row 4 KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB

Row 5 KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB

Row 6 Knit

Row 7 KFB, knit to last stitch, KFB

Row 8 Knit

Row 9-20 Knit

Snip yarn on first flap, continue onto the body of hat from the second flap

Stitches on each flap 14 (14, 16, 19, 19)

Body of hat:

Using solid colored yarn

From the second earflap, CO 25 (31, 34, 36, 41) stitches, knit stitches from earflap 14 (14, 16, 19, 19), CO 16 (20, 23, 25, 30)

PM and join in the round being sure not to twist work

Total stitches on needle 69 (79, 89, 99, 109)

Knit one round

Purl one round

Switch to Main Colorway

Begin Linen Stitch

R1: *k1, s1wyif* R2: *s1wyif, k1*

Continue Linen stitch until your hat reaches 2.5 (2.5, 3, 3, 3.5) inches from cast on edge

Switch to US 8 16” (5.00mm) circular needles

Switch to solid color yarn

Knit one round

Knit second round increasing one stitch for a total of 70 (80, 90, 100, 110) stitches

Continue knitting until hat reaches 4.5 (5, 5, 5.5, 6) inches from cast on edge

Crown Shaping:

If you would like colorway on the crown portion, switch to the colorway on row 7.

Row 1: *k2tog, knit 6, skp* to the end of round (56, 64, 72, 80, 88 sts)

Row 2-5: knit

Row 6: *k2tog, knit 4, skp* to the end of round (42, 48, 54, 60, 66 sts)

Row 7-9: knit

Row 10: *k2tog, knit 2, skp* to the end of round (28, 32, 36, 40, 44 sts)

Row 11: knit

Row 12: *k2tog, skp* to the end of round (14, 16, 18, 20, 22 sts)

Row 13: knit

Row 14: k2tog to the end of round (7, 8, 9, 10, 11 sts)

Row 15: FOR CHILD AND ADULT SIZES ONLY k2tog to the end of round. This will leave 5 stitches for a child/teen size and 6 stitches for the adult size.

Snip yarn and thread through remaining stitches. Pull lightly to close hole and weave in end.

Edging (optional):

Can be done in solid or colorway

With US 7 16” needles, pick up stitches along the front of the hat, along earflap, along back and along second earflap.

Purl one round

BO loosely knitwise

Braided Ties:

Cut 12 strands of yarn 40” long each.

Separate into two piles with 6 strands in each pile.

Pull 6 strands through the center of the earflap just above the edging. Double these strands over to make each side 20 “

Make sure the ends are even.

Take two strands from front and two strands from back (three times to make three strands)

Braid together

Tie a knot at the bottom and trim ends evenly.

I need I need I need

2010-11-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

I am in need of testers for my larger size Bayside Britches pattern. Let me know if you are available to knit this within the next month. Sizes 12-18 mos, 18-24mos and 2T.

Thanks so much! My goal is to get this out before Xmas but it's a very busy time of year so I'm not sure I'll be able to.

Ugh, allergies are killing me!

2010-08-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've been battling some fierce allergies these last few days. I'm starting to finally feel a little bit better. I've been working on a few things.

MM "Ravensong" one of my favorite colorways. I'm so excited to finally be knitting it up. Too bad it's for a customer and I won't be keeping these gorgeous puppies.

Some bayside britches on Retrobaby's "Glamour Safari". Another stunning colorway. I think I'm going to do some brown buttons, brown cuffs and a brown shirt?

And finished a matching headband to the DD "Ponies" longies I did last week

Grand reopening

2010-07-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

I'm working on getting my store reopened. It's had a make over and I have a new logo. I'm super excited! But it may have to wait. My DH is interviewing in California for a new job. It is 20 minutes away from where we used to live. Could it be possible to move from CA to OH in June then move back (OH to CA) in Aug? Crazy. We'll see how it goes.

I finished the Macaw longies

I have a couple of things on the needles right now. A Bay Harbor Hoodie for my 4 yr old son Kyler

and some DD Ponies longies

Settling in

2010-07-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

We're slowly settling into our home in Ohio. It's hard to move in the summertime b/c all you want to do is go outside and swim! I would say we're about halfway unpacked. My DH has an interview back in California tomorrow. Wouldn't that be crazy if we moved right back???

I'm beginning to work on customs again. Also started dyeing some yarn. It's nice to get back into the swing of things. I took the kids to Toys R Us today b/c they've been driving me crazy! They picked out some toys one of which is called Mighty Beans. They're quite interesting. They're like mini weeble wobbles and they have faces and names. Kids can collect them. I think they're cute! I'm hoping that they toys I got them will keep them outta my hair for a couple of days.

My DH approved a YARN CHEST :) My yarn is currently in those cheapo plastic drawer thingies. UGLY. Can't wait to pick out a nice wooden chest and fill it up!

Current WIP: Macaw w/turq trim

Wishing I could stay a California girl.

2010-06-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

About two years ago, my family and I moved from our little town in Ohio to Paradise. A midwest girl all my life, I had never been anywhere other than Ohio, Wisconsin, and of course Florida (for vacation). Then my DH was offered a job training in California. We would move across the country for two years, my DH would train someone at his job, then we would move back. At the time, CA seemed worlds away. But in this day and age with computers, cell phones, text messaging, email......I was never really that far away. You see, much of my family is in Ohio. I had never lived very far away from them EVER. The thought of moving that far away made me very nervous. After much thought, we decided to do it. So we moved our family of 5 across the country to Monterey, CA. A.K.A. Paradise.

It took some getting used to at first. There are really no seasons to speak of. It's pretty much between 50-70 degrees year 'round. The people's lifestyles are different. They actually EXERCISE VOLUNTARILY. I know, crazy huh? Everyone in Monterey walks everywhere. They eat things I had never tried before (artichokes and avacados). It took me about a year and a half to get the hang of this livin' in California thing. It helped that the ocean was less then a mile away. Every morning I drove along it to take my kids to school. Their school had the most beautiful view of the ocean. Even our front bay window had a pretty modest view.

But now our two years are up and it's time to go back. Our little family of 5 that moved out here will be a family of 6 moving back. My youngest daughter was born here. I guess all good things must come to an end right? I will sorely miss California and all the friends I've made. We leave in 7 days...

Summertime Bubble Top pattern

2010-06-06T10:34:00.001-07:00

*REVISION 6-7*
I forgot to add the decreases at the bottom of the shirt right before the ribbing. Fixed 6-7-10

Size 12 mos
Measurements: Chest 20"
Underarm to waist 7"
Backwaist (neck to top of back waist) 8"-9"

Materials:
3.5 ounces worsted weight wool
US size 7 12" or 16" circular needle (or size needed to obtain gauge)
US size 8 16" circular needle (or size needed to obtain gauge)
US size 9 16" circular needle (or size needed to obtain gauge)
US size 5 16" circular needle-for ribbing
Five stitch markers

CO-cast on
BO-bind off
KFB-knit in front and back of stitch

Gauge
Neckline 5.5 stitches/inch
Top portion of body 5-5.5 stitches/inch
Main body portion 4.5-5 stitches/inch

Neckline:
Using US size 7 needles (or size used to obtain gauge) CO 87 stitches
Row 1 – Marker Placement
Join knitting in the round being sure not to twist
K8, PM, K25, PM, K21, PM, K25, PM, K8, PM
Row 2 Purl
Rows 3-7 K
Row 8 Purl
Row 9 K
Row 10 *KFB* 8 stitches, remove marker, BO 25, remove marker, *KFB* 21 stitches, remove marker, BO 25, remove marker, *KFB* 8 stitches.

You've completed the neckline and straps. If it's easier for you, you can put the working section on DPN's for the next few rows until you join in the round again. I kept mine on circular needles.

Transfer the stitches to your size 8 circs (or size needed to obtain gauge). Beginning at your front marker, K to the end. Work 7 rows total in stockinette stitch doing a KFB at the beginning and end of each Knit row. You should end with a purl row. Snip yarn

Work the back side in the same manner as the front. Work 7 rows total in stockinette stitch doing a KFB at the beginning and end of each Knit row. You should end with a knit row.

CO 2 stitches and join in the round. Knit around the front side, CO 2 stitches. Switch to size 9 circs (or size needed to obtain gauge) and continue knitting in the round until your piece measures 6" from underarm.

*K1, K2tog* for one round

Make sure that you have an even number of stitches on the needles.

Switch to size 5 circs and begin K2, P2 for 8 rows or just shy of an inch. Bind off with picot cuff.

If you'd like a wider top, you can increase stitches throughout the body of the top. Be sure to space your increases a few rows apart. Usually 4 stitches per row will increase without being noticeable.

*pattern for personal use only.

Summertime bubble top

2010-06-05T21:57:00.001-07:00

Summertime bubble top
Originally uploaded by littletrunks

I'll be writing the pattern to this. It's a quick knit and super easy. I love it on my daughter!

Super Trim Soaker pattern

2010-04-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

I think that Spring is my favorite time to knit. All of those cute little dresses and sunsuits. Shorties and soakers instead of longies. Drying my wool outside. What could be better?

I'm so excited to debut my Super Trim Soaker pattern. It was really fun to write. Thank you to all of my testers and their input. Each one had some great ideas and ways to make the pattern easier to read and understand.

I'm currently working on writing my longie pattern with the optional "skirt". I also would love to get an overall/sunsuit type thingie written but it's completely from scratch and it's proving to be a little more challenging than expected.