I'm just going to post one picture. It will show you the current progress of my sweater and the amount of yarn I have left to complete said sweater. Just a couple of notes: I actually planned the sleeves to be about the length they are now...they may end up becoming cap sleeves instead. The back is about the same length as the front panels. The length from the top of the collar to the (current) bottom of the back is about 11.5 inches. Go ahead...grab a ruler and put one end at the base of your neck. Feel free to weigh in, but every stitch I complete feels like one step closer to ultimate failure.
The suspense.
socks
Don't know why I tend to finish lovely warm socks in May but...
And this time they happen to be the tallest socks I've ever knit. These are also my own handspun from C*EYE*ber Fiber. Love them. (might have won something at MDSW with them too:)
These little green socks below have been completed since Sheep and Wool which is amazingly quick sock knitting for me, especially since, after the heel, these were not movie knitting. Although I don't really care about being fast, this MIGHT have something to do with the needles. I MIGHT have fallen down in front of the Signature needles booth and to help revive me they MIGHT have let me buy a set of sock needles. AND I MIGHT someday stop feeling guilty about it. (When I think about how many pairs of socks I'll knit on these in my life time, it almost seems worth it...almost.)
I still haven't shown a MDSW haul...maybe soon!
Crisis Averted
I don't even know how to explain what just happened. The other day, Ellery found one of my dpn's and took it to Caleb. He told her thank you for giving it to him and returned it to me.
So today while she was at Mother's Day Out I worked on a little sweater vest I am making as a baby gift for a shower in a week. All I have left is to pick up and knit the side ribbing on the two armholes. But between now and then I have 30 hours of scoring and Caleb will be out of town the entire time.
The project has been going so smoothly thus far. But the picking up and knitting is a bit of a challenge because the decreases happened on those edges. I spent an hour today just getting the new stitches picked up and correctly spaced on the dpns. I did just a little bit of the ribbing pattern before I had to leave.
I forgot to put my work away when I went to pick Ellery up.
We had been home like five minutes and I was straightening up the house. I realized that I had left my knitting out and went over to pick it up...All 4 needles are gone. Just gone! I asked Ellery, "did you touch my needles?" She responds, "yeah I put them over there..." By over there, she meant on the side table. Poor thing, I think she was just trying to move them and follow Daddy's direction. I didn't yell at her or anything, but she could tell by the look on my face that this was not a good thing. She started rubbing my back and saying "It's okay Mommy. It's okay. I love you." And she kept kissing me. I have never seen her act like this before. Really, it was sweet.
Anyway, so I picked up my knitting and attempted to get it back on my needles. I figured I should just rip it out and start over but it was so darn hard to get those stitches picked up. So I thought I would try fixing things first. Would you believe that after about 5 minutes of putting stitches back on I counted and every single stitch was there, totally unharmed? Even the ribbing stitches are there. And now, I made sure to get the number of stitches on the needles a little more even too.
I have no idea how she managed to get those needles out of the very tight stitches without totally destroying the work!
Cable 8 Top
The cable 8 top. I finished it right after I got back from Baltimore and have worn it several times, including on Go Texan day with blue jeans and boots. I really like it! In the picture it looks like the bottom is slanted but I promise it is not. Ellery insisted on getting in the picture with me and standing the same way.
Unfortunately the pictures of the my other to FO's are also on Caleb's computer but he only sent me this one. I'll put up pics of the baby hat and not-quite-super-long wrap soon.
I am working on a baby gift. I dug around and found a pattern for a little boy's sweater vest that is knitted in the round. I found some yarn that I like for it in Seattle. I checked and double checked that my gauge was correct but now that I am almost finished on the body of it I think it is going to be huge! I checked my gauge again and it is right. I guess this is just the risk entertained when knitting something for the first time as a gift. As long as the neck and armholes are proportionate I don't mind giving them something that fits a 2-year-old. I mean, toddlers need clothes too. I just don't understand what I've done wrong.
spring cleaning
Cleaning out the knitting basket! Done stuff that needs posted. Isn't it funny, projects don't feel done anymore until I've posted here!
DONE: hat
DONE: sweater
DONE: hat and sweater!
DONE: felted bag
DONE: the cherry blossom mitts!! so they were a Christmas present, so sue me
Obsession...
...thy name is skein winder...
found this at a little local antique shop for next to nothing (they tried to give me nothing but I said, "no, that thing beside it please")
I just want to sit and look at it all the time!! I keep telling myself if I'll go spin, I can actually use it to wind yarn instead of just look at it but I'm too obsessed to leave it.
on a roll!!
The new sweater!! I had all the pieces done last spring/summer but it wasn't the weather for finishing a wool sweater:) Plus I've been daunted by the idea of a zipper. Wasn't sure my sewing machine could handle it and actually, an hour, a whole spool of thread and one bent needle later, I WAS SURE it couldn't handle it. In the hands of a more experienced sewer it might have worked. I mostly spent time trying to get the tension right on the machine, which wouldn't have taken so long with more familiarity with my machine. But even after the tension was right, I still couldn't keep it straight. All of that is really ironic of course because I thought the problem would be snagging the knitting but even after a dozen tries (really) the sweater itself showed no signs. Wool is the coolest stuff ever!!! "Want to put a machine driven needle through me a hundred times...no sweat baby"
Crazy for my new sweater!!
Before another month goes by...
I keep thinking, I'll finish this one more project and then I'll post them all, which is such a stupid thought in so many ways, not the least of which is I hate posting multiple items because it takes so long to up load them. It was just a creative procrastination technique obviously.
So, without further project completion (although, really, a zipper and a sleeve and there's two new sweaters to show!! ok ok, I'm posting, I'm posting).
The wedding gift blanket. It's ok that I finished it in October and didn't post it until 4 months later because giving it to them in October was 4 months later than the wedding. So at least I'm consistently untimely.
Christmas presents!!! Only two this year: Pierce's Sheldon and my cousin Natalie's Anemoi mittens. Nothing very exciting but you've got to admit, Sheldon's got the Snoopy dance goin' on!!!
I did design and knit a fingerless mitt/mitten combo for her too but only one is done. Of course, I think you've both seen it. I've been working on it so long that Abby had time to move back and Brandy's been to visit. Sheesh.
Weird Math
This is the eyelet edge baby blanket I knitted for our new niece Abigail. It was finished one week early. But Abigail came three weeks early, which makes the blanket two weeks late. Oh well. It was fun to knit though by the time I got to the very middle the rows were so long I only did a one or two in a sitting.
I got in trouble this morning.
On Fridays Ellery goes to Mother's Day Out. Today in an effort to squeeze as much joy into the few hours as possible (not that it isn't a joy to be with her, but you know what I mean) I went to the coffee shop before the yarn shop so that I could enjoy my drink while browsing. In Denver this would have been even easier since the coffee shop WAS the yarn shop. Anyway, I was looking for yarn for a blanket for Caleb's sister's little girl who is due to arrive in January. I found some great Mission Falls 1824 cotton for a little eyelet blanket. As we were counting out the balls, I said, "here let me set my drink over here." And she responded, "actually why don't I put it on the table? I'm really not comfortable with you having it in here." And suddenly I was back in kindergarten when that kid with the wart asked if he could borrow my blue crayon and I responded that he could but that it wasn't sharp and then Mrs. Lipsey yelled at me for talking! I felt awful. I apologized and she said "oh don't worry about it, it's okay" which was nice of her, but also not really true because if if really was okay she wouldn't have said anything. Anyway, I was really embarrassed but not angry because I totally understand where she is coming from. And to make up for it, I bought the book with the pattern in it too. I never do that; I always check them out from the library. I'm tempted to never show my face in there again but she really is a very helpful lady. Without Jen to ask my simple questions it's important that I feel like I can talk to the owner.
I need to get started on the blanket. I doubt it will be ready in time for whatever shower she has. I am just hoping it will make it there in time for the birth. And I've got two months. It's not like we're approaching a busy time of the year or anything.
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