hippo hippo hippopotamus!

When L was just a newborn baby, we got a wonderful gift, a book called "The Spectacular Adventures of Sophie and Sebastian." It is a story about a hippopotamus, Sophie, who wanted to skateboard. Even though L was really too young for the book, I often read it to him. Now, he often pays attention from start to finish, and really loves that story.

In the book, Sophie is a purple-gray hippo with "hefty proportions." So I grabbed some 100% cotton yarn from Twist.... Yarns of Intrigue.... in "Lavender Gray" and "Iron" color, and made this Hippo from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book.

If I haven't raved enough about this yarn, please forgive me. I normally don't like to use cotton for my project because it hurts my hands/fingers since cotton doesn't have memory as many animal fibers. However, this yarn completely changed my attitude towards cotton, and now it's my go-to for toy knitting. 

I finished this project late at night. The next morning, I brought the book and this hippo to his bed before waking him up. The silly grin on his face... I love making toys for him!

The pattern by Susan B. Anderson is, as usual, super easy to follow and clearly written. This is the second pattern I tried in the Itty-Bitty Toys book; my first was the Doll set. 

What I found helpful was the row counter that goes on your finger. I bought a 10-pack a while ago, and I don't usually use it for my garment projects because often the directions are "knit evenly until x" but with toy knitting, it's essential to keep track of your rows. 

Sewing FO: The new Sorbetto pattern by Colette Patterns

Colette Patterns is my go-to sewing patterns. They are simple enough to be easily adaptable to fabric choices and other modifications you want to try, but interesting enough to make you want to make multiples of the same pattern. From a cost conscious hobbyist's perspective, a pattern that keeps on giving makes sense.

And in this case, it's even better because Sorbetto is a free pattern. There was a short-sleeve modification floating around on the internet, but finally, they came out with newly graded Sorbetto pattern, with the official short-sleeve pattern. The new one has a simpler dart-line pattern for all sizes, the short sleeves look perfect, and still very simple. 

I bought this 1.5 yards of Kaufman Chambray Union Dots Indigo fabric from Fabric.com when L was born. I thought I would go back to sewing soon so I bought it to make a summer top, but it ended up in my hibernating stash for a couple of years. 

When I saw that Colette came out with the updated Sorbetto pattern, I looked through my stash and re-discovered this chambray fabric. PERFECT.

I love how Sorbetto uses bias tape to treat the neckline. It creates a fool-proof, strong, easy neckline and I love how you can go traditional or funky with the bias tape choices. 

MeMadeMay is turning out well this year, I've already finished 4 new tops in the last 2 weeks!

I always finish the project...even if it's 2 years past due

Two years ago, when I was approximately 8 weeks pregnant (I had just found out), I attended a friend's wedding. And I had *plans* to knit a big beaded lace stole for her wedding. But this plan kept getting pushed aside as I progressed in my first pregnancy, and then the birth of my first squish, then a month long trip to Korea to see my dying mother, and then almost moving to Pittsburgh for hubby's work, and then... you get the picture. Life happened. 

But, you know, it's always better late than never. Rather than designing it on my own, I bought a pattern from such a talented designer, Boo Knits, called "Out of Darkness." It's beaded, and it's my favorite shape of shawl, crescent. And the way the edge is done, with beads, looks so sexy. 

So I cast this on 2 weeks ago, and I love it. I skipped all the beads in the beginning, went with the Stockinette stitch option instead of the garter body like the sample. In the last 2 lace sections, I started beading. 

Pattern: Out of Darkness by Boo Knits 

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Lace

Needles: Hiya Hiya Sharp US 6, 7, and 8 (4.0mm, 4,5mm, and 5.0mm)

Crochet hook 0.9mm for the Size 6/0 glass e-beads

If you're new to beading, see how I use my crochet hook to thread the glass bead. 

Beading one stitch at a time. Silk lace shawl. #handmade #knitstagram #laceshawl

I am 18 rows away from finishing this thing. As most lace shawl projects, the more you progress, the more stitches you work with. It'll get slower but I am happy to be able to finish this!