FO Tuesday

Finally, without further ado, let me present to you,

Cabaret (Red) Raglan


from the front







from the back (where you can see the raglan armholes with yos to create the lace effect)





and lastly the unfortunate "boob" shot, but it does show the lace/cablework at the front which really makes this top




Pattern: Cabaret Raglan (scroll down for the top)
Yarn used: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Cherry Red (now discontinued), used 4.5 skeins
Needle size: sz 7 or 8 needles, unfortunately I can't recall and I'm a bit too lazy to look it up now

I love this sweater! I'm very pleased with the fit. I really didn't do a gauge swatch (bad, bad knitter, I know). I did check gauge later and found I was on target. I enjoyed knitting it, even though there was lots of stockinette, it's not nearly as long as knitting M's sweater. If I were to change one thing, it would be to add waist shaping to the pattern. I've never knit a sweater without before, so I decided to try it to see how it looked. I think the fit is good, but I would prefer a bit of waist shaping, so now I know. The sweater is very comfortable and I think it looks great on. It is very wearable, as I wore it to work today and I had no worries about the yarn getting caught on anything and with the slightly cooler temps today, I was able to wear it without getting too hot.

One change I did make was to knit the neck in the round instead of knitting flat, but once I picked up stitches to knit the collar flat, it wasn't working right, it looked goofy and after the third time, I was over it. I could just knit it in the round and it looked fine that way. The ease of sewing up raglan sleeves is a beauty unto itself. It turned out well and I'm very pleased.

Almost, Maybe, Promises

This weekend was great as far as relaxing, vegging out and general slothness could be. I thought I would get a lot of things done. I thought I would show you some new FOs. I wandered about to take pics for my introductory post for the Amazing Lace as well as the Trek-along. I changed my mind for the Amazing Lace project and decided to drop the Trek-along. I've washed the Cabaret Raglan sweater but didn't get around to taking a picture yet (but soon!) and finally got the last sleeve done on Blue Gable (after screwing it up 3 times), but have yet to weave in the ends.

What I can show you is the lovely yarn I received from Stephannie as a trade for yarn I sent her to finish up her Sunrise Circle jacket.



The yarn is Hoopla from Artfibers in San Francisco. It is an alpaca boucle, with just enough yardage to make a pretty scarf. MJ has a cute pattern for a garter stitch and loop stitch scarf which looks like it will work perfectly for the alpaca. Thanks Stephannie! I love the alpaca and I'm sorry it hurts your hands, but I love it!

I think I've mentioned before that I've been working a lot of M's sweater as well. I started feeling guilty about shoving it in a corner and not knitting on it for a couple of months and then I had the opportunity of training again at work and figured I might as well knit on something stockinette. The back is already finished and the front is coming along swimmingly, but it's not yet long enough.


It is at the length of 20 inches, so I just need to make it 8 inches longer and then I can bind off. I'll then leave the sleeves till fall. No need to knit on hot wool during the climax of the summer. I hope to wrap up the front in the next couple of weeks.

I hope to wear my Cabaret Red Raglan tomorrow as the weather cooled down considerably today and we are expecting more of the same tomorrow. If so, I'll wear it and have my photographer (M) take a pic for me.

Hope everyone that celebrated Memorial Day had a great weekend!

Not Much to Report

Hey all! After the last post, the Blue Gable is moving along swiftly. I've only to finish the two sleeves which I'm making a bit longer, about 2 inches longer then ribbing. I've actually finished the Cabaret Red Raglan last night, wove in all those ends. I have to say Cotton-Ease is a most enjoyable yarn to work with. It was nice and I've been enjoying working through some of the Cotton-Ease stash I managed to acquire last summer. I think the next thing on the needles using Cotton-Ease will either be a Sitcom Chic or a Scoop Du-Jour. I made the Bliss cardi to wear to work, but it isn't big enough for me to wear something else under it other than a tank top, so I need a bit more ease, silly me for not realizing it sooner.

I also decided to not finish the Why Does My Knitting Hate Me Part 2, because I never took a close-up of the crappy lace that was done on the first one to compare it to the second version after I ripped it out. So there's nothing to say for part 2, except I ripped it out and re-did it. But at the time, it seemed like both my projects were giving me grief. Now, they are behaving.

The Cabaret Raglan fits very nicely and the Blue Gable looks great too. I'm getting ready to cast on for some new projects, but don't have finished pics just yet. The Cabaret Raglan needs to be washed and then blocked, so hopefully a pic by this weekend, maybe two? Who knows, but to not just totally bore you, I do have some pics of yarn to at least appease.

I picked up some Claudia's Handpaint sock yarn a couple of weekends ago in a most delicious Plumlicious colorway:


I like it so much, I have a few more on hold at the LYS to pick up later. It's so gorgeous. I think it much too nice to actually make socks with, so I will probably use it for some sort of shawl. I've been really getting into lace lately. I plan to have a post later this weekend about my Amazing Lace project.

Other yarn that was purchased that same fateful day was yarn to make this Lotus Blossom Tank in this yarn:


And because Becky demanded that I show pics regularly of my nephew, here's a new pic where he had his first haircut. I don't like the baldheaded look, but nonetheless that is what he's sporting. My sister says that he always has his hands in his hair and usually after he eats his food goes to his hair next, so she cut it to resolve that problem and his hair needed to be evened out.



So sad, but he's still a cute punkin' head. I hope to post later this week about Lace and my project for the Amazing Lace. I'm very excited to knit more lace this summer. I still want to knit some summer tops, but I'm being more and more drawn to lace. I wonder if I'm insane or worse, but wish me luck.

The Saga of Blue Gable (Or Why Does My Knitting Hate Me? Pt. 1)

Oh my pretties, it has a been a little bit since Blue Gable debuted on the blog. It's a beautiful knit and the pattern is really simple. However, a little cockiness did seep its way into my knitting. I felt that based on reading the comments from several on the Green Gable KAL that perhaps the size I'd chosen might not fit. Since I'd already started and was really opposed to ripping out (must.always.avoid.the.ripping.out.till.last.resort), so I added a couple more rows of increase rounds and then had the bright idea to add increases not just in the raglan seams, but also a M1 increase right across the bust. It was very noticeable, but yet, I kept thinking it would block out, or it's not really that noticeable. It wasn't until a few people noticed it a knit night and I knew it was all over for this Gable. I attempted to drop back the stitch(es) and pull it back up, but unfortunately this was a waste of time as it left a visible line where the original added stitch had been. I even tried to wash and block it, but to no avail. I had no choice but to rip it.

In this pic, you can see where I dropped the stitch back.


In the second pic, you can see one stitch I picked up after dropping it.


After I ripped it back to just below the lace, I had to work all the increase rows again and then drop off the armholes. This occurred the weekend before last. I put all the stitches on the needles on Sunday and proceeded to knit all day Sunday from approximately 2 p.m. till 11 p.m. that night and more on Monday evening. I finally got back to where I was before and have made pretty decent progress on it. This was where I was this morning before leaving for work.



Since then, I've managed to put a few more inches on the top and am now at 10 inches from the underarms. I only have a couple of inches left and do ribbing and then to the sleeves. I'm really ready to have this top completed so I can cast on for new ones, yay!

This weekend I managed to fit in a quick visit to a new yarn shop in the area,
LambShoppe, which is a lovely store. They carry a huge amount of Debbie Bliss, I think every yarn that she's ever produced(I could be over-exaggerating!). I really went there with a singular purpose to find the sock yarn that Cyn showcased in her blog entry this past Friday. Specifically, I went in there looking for the Cherry Tree Hill. Well, as fate would have it, that was a one of a kind color and Cyn even told me later that she picked it up b/c she knew if I saw it there I would get it. How well does she know me? Apparently very well as I went in the shop specifically looking for it. But I was not able to leave completely empty-handed. One lone skein of CTH sock yarn followed me home. It was so beautiful, I simply couldn't.


On another note, look who turned 1 on May 14th (Mother's Day)? My little nephew, that's who!! Look at the mess he made with his birthday cake. He had a nice tummy ache after all the frosting and sugar from the cake.


Later I'll have another post with the second half of Why Does My Knitting Hate Me Pt.2?

FO Friday

Just a quickie post as I've had no time to post all this week. A pair of socks that have been finished for a couple of weeks now. Finally the second pair of socks to jump off of my needles. At this point, no new socks are on the needles.
Yarn was received from the fabulous Carola and they turned into shorty socks. I thought about trying to make them longer, but I had such a small amount of yarn left, I'm glad I didn't try it after all. I had just enough yarn to make those and I could have knitted another 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch make on the top of the leg, but that's it.


They are so cute and comfy. I love the yarn, Schoeller Stahl Fortissima something or other. The ball band has gone missing. The colors are crazy, but they are perfect for socks to wear around the house.

Other projects are being worked on, including M's sweater. While it's still spring and not hot, I picked up the ribbing again (k1tbl, pl) and got that done and am now into the stockinette body. I had training again at work this week, so I had two days where I was able to add about 5 more inches to the body. That sounds good except for the fact that I think the body of his sweater is like 25 inches. Blech. Oh well, but once I begin knitting with the yarn again, I remember how much I love knitting with this yarn, so there's something to be said for all that knitting on the body. I'll try to post again tomorrow soon with some of my knitting troubles. They'll be sure to entertain you.

Ta for now . . .

Something Blue

The urge to cast on for something new hit me a couple of weeks ago and the next thing you know, a Green Blue Gable was started. OMG, the joys of top-down knitting! I just love it. I don't know if it even matters what it is, just love the monotonous, row by row, by row. I know others are not in love with the constant knitting, but for me, it's a panacea. Especially when I can knit at work and not have to worry about what I'm doing. The circular knitting is great and it calms my nerves when I talk to customers sometimes. No need to be upset by a brusque tone, just keep knitting and calmly explain their options. Gotta love that. Since this pic was taken last weekend, there's been a lot more growth. Now I'm dropped the armholes, but I do need to try it on to make sure it fits. I hope so. I'm still loving this thing and the blue is just gorgeous! I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in the color Columbine, a blue with hints of purple.


I finished another pair of socks, in the yarn I received from Carola so that we can be twinsies in socks! A pic of that soon to come.

Progress on the Cabaret Red Raglan is coming along. I'm on sleeve island, which is not that exciting, but if I finish them up, I could have a new sweater soon, so hopefully that will be more motivation for me.

In a surprising twist of events on Saturday, after knitting on the sock at the lacrosse game, M and I watched movies Saturday night. We were watching Jarhead. As I have a distate of all things military, the beginning of the movie didn't move me too much and then there was a scene of some of the Marines branding another new Marine, I had to stop watching. Yes, I am a baby with watching certain things. I am especially squeamish and can't stand to watch any horror or scary movies at all, not that this falls into that genre, but still couldn't watch it. I picked up a book instead and read for the first 1.5 hours of Jarhead and left M to finish the movie. It was nice just to be able to read and be so consumed by it in a way I find hard to get into as much since I started knitting. Knitting makes me feel like I need to spend all free time knitting and I very rarely just pick up books although I do love to read, knitting has just become this all-consuming hobby now. I have to try to work more reading in. We'll see how it goes.

Check with y'all later.