Marie Grace Designs

Flutter by...

So I've been neglectful of the blog once again but I'll tell ya I have sunburn, poison Ivy, a bee sting, and freshly turned flower beds.

I have well feed baby goats that aren't so little and I have Goosers that no longer warble but rather honk a weird honk like a 14 year old boy in the throws of puberty with a crackle in his honk voice.

I have an elder son with his first part time summer job and an elder daughter returning today from her first week at summer camp.

I have a new puppy which I've neglected to mention because his arrival meant the departure of our Terrier. Dear Darwin moved in with a single lady who lets him sleep in her bed and spoils him rotten which is what he wanted all along. Farm life was not for Darwin, and he quite clearly told us so yet still I felt guilty when it was time for him to go.

What I don't have is enough time. Enough time to knit and plant one more Spiderwort, and take one more walk with the puppy, and help the boys glue one more piece on their models. There's just so much to do while the sun is shining and the bees are buzzing.

I did manage a little something but I need to get it edited and formatted and posted here. Its a plain little summer top for little girls but being that I can never leave well enough alone I embroidered the one I made and you could, too.

So here's to summer and grills and burgers and puppies and butterflies.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer.

Tess Knitting Pattern

Its been a while since I've indulged myself with a top-down raglan so here ya go... a summer cardigan for the girls.

So many of the little dresses I've sewn for my girls over the years have had square necklines so I decided to let this raglan keep its inherent character by not shaping the neckline at all. Just cast on the required number of stitches, work some easy garter stitch trim, and start shaping the raglan seams. You will be rewarded with a classic neckline requiring no effort at all.

Since the entire piece is worked from the neck down you can customize the finished length. Older girls might like a slightly shorter cropped version that hits just at the waist while little ones will benefit from a longer more traditional fit.

I chose soft colors for stripes and natural wooden buttons to keep with the relaxed feel of sunny summer days but I can also imagine some brighter color combinations or even a solid color with just contrast trim.

Sized to fit all the girls from 2 to 14 this is a pattern you can use over and over again and it just doesn't get any easier than a top-down raglan!

Sizes:
2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) years.

Finished Measurements:
Chest:23 (25.5, 27, 28.5, 30, 32, 33.5) inches.
Length: 10 (11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18) inches.

Yarn:
Blue Sky Alpaca’s Skinny Organic Cotton
100% organic cotton

65 grams/ 150 yards per hank.

Main color 2 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3) hanks.

Contrast color 1 (1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2) hanks.


Needles:
US#5 (3.75 mm) circular needle.
US#5 (3.75 mm) double point needles.

OR the size needle you need to obtain appropriate gauge.

Extras:
Waste yarn for holding stitches, stitch markers, tapestry needle, 5 buttons (.5 inch).

Skill level:
Easy+

Skills Needed:
Raglan shaping, using double point needles.

Gauge:
20 sts/28 rows = 4 inches over stockinette stitch.

Price: $5.50
Your printable pattern will be immediately downloadable in Adobe PDF (v5.0 or later) format

The one that got way...

So last weekend was my birthday and I suppose it has me in a well... not a funk... more like a tantrum but quieter.

See, I do my duty. I wash the dishes and I wash the clothes and I wash the floor and I wash the front porch.

I bite my tongue and I keep my cool (most days).

I pay the bills and I budget the numbers and I make sure everybody has shampoo and the toothpaste they like.

But damn, its a tough job being a grown up and with every passing birthday it becomes clearer and clearer that this is what I have become.

With all the typical stigmas that come with being a wife and a mom and a homeschooler well what am I supposed to do?

So I've been rebelling quietly.

I didn't do housework over the weekend but rather suggested we go fishing (we caught pathetically dinky fish and had a blast).

I've been walking barefoot and around here that means my feet are dirty and I just don't care.

I called Mac Daddy at work and suggested we grill outside for dinner and would he bring home some beer (on a Tuesday). Its no big deal really except that he usually brings the beer and I never ask and the burger I bought to grill wasn't in a big lump with a "family pack" sticker on it. I bought the already seasoned already shaped-like-a-burger ones that cost twice as much and taste twice as good.

I ate marshmallows out of the bag and didn't watch to see how many of them the kids ate.

See this grown up always-play-fair stuff takes a lot of energy. Energy that I think some days I'd rather use to kick the pile of laundry aside (cause you know it will be there tomorrow anyway).

Next up in knitting...

A sweet button up cardi for all the girls...

Lark Knitting Pattern

I heard ya! More stuff for the big kids!

Here's a vest... not a stuffy vest but a play vest reminiscent of a good 'ole hoodie. I don't about your kids but my kids love the hoodies!

Sized to be roomy and casual Lark is a great vest to pull on as they run out the door. The front pocket was Son The Younger's idea.

Lark is knit from the bottom up in-the-round. It was important to me that the pocket be a nice addition, not a major knitting disruption so it is knit along with the vest body.

Minimal finishing consists if seaming the shoulders (3 needle bind off), tacking down the pocket lining, and working ribbings around armholes and hood.

I love the idea of swapping around color combinations to please everyone. Son The Eldest wants grey and black, Daughter The Eldest wants lavender and green, and Tater... well, Tater wants pink... of course.

Sizes
2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14) years.

Finished Measurements
Chest: 26.5 (28.5, 31, 32, 33.5, 35.5, 37.5) inches.
Length: 14 (16, 18, 19.5, 21, 22, 23) inches.

Yarn
Vermont Organic’s O-Wool Classic.
100% certified organic merino.
3.5 ounces/100 grams per hank.
198 yards/181 meters per hank.
3 (3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5) hanks Main Color.
1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) hank Contrast Color.
Colors shown are Oatmeal (MC) and Slate (CC).

Needles
24 inch US# 7 (4.5 mm) circular needle.
24 inch US# 6 (4.0 mm) circular needle.
Longer circulars may be used for larger sizes.
1 set US#6 Double point needles for armhole ribbing on smaller sizes.
Short circular size US#6 (4.0 mm) for armhole ribbing on larger sizes and pocket.
OR the size needle you need to obtain appropriate gauge.

Extras
Stitch markers, waste yarn or stitch holders.

Skill level
Intermediate.

Skills Needed
Working in the round.

Gauge
18 stitches/25 rows = 4 inches over stockinette stitch.

Price: $5.00
Your printable pattern will be immediately downloadable in Adobe PDF (v5.0 or later) format

Play time...

One things for certain... its that time of year when its almost impossible to keep a kid focused on math or spelling or anything else that has to do with sitting still.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and they've been cleaning the pool and airing out the cabins down at the park.

I'm stocked up on sunscreen, bug spray, granola bars, and hair clippies.

Do you remember years ago when it was normal for parents all up and down the block to yell "Go outside and play!" or "Get out of my house for a while, you're driving me nuts!"

I can distinctly remember taking a vote to see which mom we thought was most likely to let us go inside for a drink of Kool Aid rather than yell at us to "Shut the door! You're lett'in the flies in!"

Then about dinner time you'd hear those same moms yelling again, this time because they wanted you home for dinner. Their voices were on the breeze from far away and all the kids would stop at the same time and your eyes would get real big (like somehow bigger eyeballs would help you hear better).

And your buddy would say, with just a bit of dread in his voice, "I think that was my mom. I gotta go." and he'd be off like a shot because he knew that if he wasn't there before she yelled again there was no way he'd be back out after dinner.

Ah, yes. The joys of summer. The dirt, the bugs, the toys in the yard your dad would run over with the lawnmower.

So with that whole "go out and play" thing echoing in my head I thought it would be a good time for something casual and fun. Something even the boys would like and actually wear. Something fitting for summer or any other time depending on where you live.

When I asked my boys what they would want in an everyday sort of knit I was told they wanted hoods and pockets and nothing fiddly like buttons. So that's what they got and you can have it too as soon as the pattern is all nice and pretty and ready to go.

And speaking of playing... I've been playing too. I'm all over some top-down kid's stuff and not just the raglans (though I love them, love them I tell ya). Some lighter cotton stuff which is really saying something because I normally have a hard time finding cotton I really like.

I'm good with Cotton Fleece and Frog Tree Pima and my newest cotton love is the BSA Skinny Cotton...