April Goals revisited

In a follow-up to April's goals, let's see how I fared for April.

1) Finish the Everyday Tweed sweater. Done

2) Finish Jaybird hoodie. Yep! Even finally got that button added. Sweet.




3.Add fringe to sideways garter stitch scarf. Now that puppy is done. It's been patiently waiting for over a month.



4 & 5) April, sadly, has not been the month of socks. I finished the first sock of M's pair, but I have hardly touched my Cherub Thujas. I really do want them done. Must focus on this for May. No pictures, sorry.

6) My goal for knitting many dish cloths, well, three for this month, was not quite met. But I did knit one dish cloth, and a handknit kitchen towel (with a button tab closure), which used up 2 skeins of dishcloth cotton.






I'll cover all the specifications of the FOs in a post, soon to follow. The April goals were quite challenging and even though they weren't all met, I'm pretty happy with myself for staying focused on my goals. Now to see what May will bring. :-)

Nacho your Hacho Everyday Tweed

Finally a finished object around these here parts! I know some of you have been waiting for me to finish this sweater and show you the FO. I am still a bit reserved on the sweater, as I may rip out the bottom hem and make the sweater a tiny bit longer. Other than length, I really love the sweater and have already worn it twice. Just as I worried about finishing the sweater during the spring, we had a freak snowstorm and I wore it and then during cooler weather last week, I was able to wear it again.


Here's a view from the front:


The back:


and the side:


Project Specs:
Everyday Tweed
Yarn: Mirasol Hachoin colorway 303 Coral Reef
Needle size: US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Lace circulars
Dates: 01/01/08-04/06/08

No modifications were made and I followed the pattern as written. I do think with top-down raglans, I am going to have to start trying on the sweaters are regular intervals and perhaps not increase as often as the pattern calls for in the chest area. I have a bit of gapping, extra fabric on the raglan increase/decrease lines at the shoulder, but it's ok. In the future, though, I'd like to alleviate it. I did alternate skeins every two rows, but I don't know that it made a major difference. The yarn is variegated and it did pool/muddle in places, so I'm not sure what the alternating did for it. But once I started, I felt it best to remain consistent with alternating the skeins.

Shh . . .Don't Disturb Me

I'm blocking. Soon to follow, a finished Everyday Tweed.

April Goals

Hmm, there were no March goals. It just seemed like life was way too busy to make any challenging goals for myself for this month.

For April, I will try to push myself a little bit, but not too much. School is still busy, but good.

1) Finish Everday Tweed. I'd like to see this done and perhaps get a wear or two out of it.

2) Finish the Jaybird hoodie. Actually all the ends are woven in, just need to sew a final button on it and call it good.



3)Add fringe to sideways garter stitch scarf.

4)Finish Caribou Cherub Thujas. I finally picked them back up again and have been working on them, slowly. They are knit on size 3s, so they go a bit faster than regular sock yarn.



5) Knit at least 3 dish cloths. We're getting low on the dishcloth supply. Actually we have dishcloths, but the Sugar 'N Cream and Peaches 'N Cream cotton yarns are not colorfast. Some of them are worn out and it's time for new ones.

6) Finish the 1st sock of M's pair.

I guess that's about it. I'm tempted to list more, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Hee.

WIP it Up

Dear Readers,
I didn't mean to leave you for so long. Even when I think I will post more frequently, such as Spring Break 3 weeks ago, that's when I didn't post at all. Life just feels so busy most days that it's hard to sit down and post, especially with no pictures. I can only post sporadically, so it seems. I guess I can only do my best and post when I can, however infrequently that may be.

Thanks to everyone for the votes and comments regarding my Charlotte post last week. I appreciate all the thoughtful comments. I always like to hear people's reasons and theories behind their choices. Currently, I believe I will go with Set 3 v2. The first set definitely screams my colors, but I also love those two skeins of Trekking (purple & orange) and I think I would like those to be socks instead. And I think I will like the set with blues/turquoises towards my face and the brownish-blue-green and purples/greens towards the bottom. I haven't cast on yet, probably not until a bit later in the summer.

I seem to have quite a few things on the needles lately. Some of which is bugging me, because it feels like too much. The past 10 days or so, I've really not been feeling the knitting love. I felt like everything on my needles was boring and I didn't want to knit anything. I was still knitting, but it was more a labor of love than anything. Especially because I cast on for a few new items without getting close to the finish line on any current projects.

One I cast on for the beginning of the year, but it's barely gotten any love, is a pair of socks for M. I recently told myself I could finish them for a deadline, but as the time is approaching, it doesn't appear that will happen. Although the socks don't look too far along in the picture below, I have turned the heel and knit past the gusset increases and am well into the foot on the first sock. Since they're for M, I have more stitches than my usual 64 and the cuff is at least 8 inches in length. The colorway is variegated shades of grey. M wanted black socks, but I'm too young to go blind, so this is our compromise.



In the vein of lemming-like behavior, I recently cast on for the Trekking is for Necking scarf using some stashed Colinette Jitterbug in the colorway Raphael. I love the colorway, and of course, am enjoying the yarn. I made my scarf a bit wider than the original pattern, by 2 repeats wider. I love using my sock yarn for something other than socks, because I have so much sock yarn. But alternately, I don't love knitting a scarf on size 4 needles. That part gets old quick, especially, where it feels like I'm not making any progress. I have knit more on it, so it's a bit longer, though not much. It's all Kim's fault that I cast on. After seeing her pretty scarf, and then Michelle also cast on for one and it sealed the deal for me. I like the scarf and I'll continue to knit on it, but there's no hurry.



I've also cast on for Hypotenuse, a Knitspot pattern, but there's not enough progress to show right now.

One project that's never seen the light of blog is my Everyday Tweed sweater. I'm using Mirasol Hacho in color 303, Coral Reef.



The body of the sweater is actually finished now. The neckline of the sweater is a deep scoop neck, which requires picking up of many stitches around the neckline. I finished the body this past week, but haven't worked up my nerve to sit still and pick up stitches yet. It will happen this week though.



So perhaps, just in time for spring, I'll have a finished wool pullover? Haha, that's how it goes. Besides it'll be right on time for next winter. If I thought I could deal with knitting wool in the summer, I'd really think about knitting sweaters and other cold-weather accessories. That whole lack of a/c kills that for me though. This year I'm not much into knitting summer tops for myself. I have a couple of things I want to knit this summer, mainly because I have the yarn in my stash and I'd like to rid myself of the rest of my summer garment stash. I do wear a number of my knitted tops during the summer, simply because I work in an office environment and I assume at my new job, it might be chilly in the summer if I wear a sleeveless tank. However, once outdoors or at home, the tops feel too hot with no a/c to cool me off. Anyhow, enough of a ramble for now.

Until next time . . .

Looking Back - February Goals

Things have been so busy. I have to apologize for not getting back to many of you on your comments on my last post. It is quite a relief and thrill to be done and have the diploma at hand and resting atop my fireplace mantel.

I finished my first Master's level class this week and of course, there was a paper with it. Uikes, the school work never stops.

On to February's goals. I'm gonna make this post short and sweet, as it's late and I'd like to post today tonite, erm, morning, whatevs.


1. I was to finish the Jaybird hoodie. No such luck. Actually the knitting is all done, but I have yet to weave in the few ends and sew on the button. I should get that done this weekend or next weekend

2. Finish the second Mary Kay sock. That is done, yay! I have a pair of socks, with ends woven in and the whole nine. Whee! This is yarn dyed by Mary Kay with her yarn, colorway Grasshopper. I'm happy these are done.




3. Working on Thujas. Well, I wove in the ends on the first sock. That's about it. Cast on for the second sock, but haven't been too interested in casting on the second one right this moment. Oh well, there's always this month.



4. The goal is to finish both sleeves for the Everyday Tweed sweater. It is done, but I forgot to take any pictures. Hopefully soon.


Well, although those were my goals, I also finished a couple other items. I knit a facecloth for my Special Swap partner. This go round was a spa theme. In addition to the package, I knit her a face cloth out of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. I don't know if I would want to knit a garment out of it, but definitely nice for something small. Or perhaps a garment for a little one? I dunno, but nice stuff to work with.




And lastly, Maryse spearheaded an effort to knit squares for Elisa's dad, who's currently residing in a VA hospital with no familiar items of his own. I read a lot of various concerns that befell knitters and I always want to make something or do something, but circumstances don't always allow it. Sometimes time is a factor and I just don't get to doing those things, but somehow I made the time for this and I felt better for it and I hope when the afghan is completed, it gives Elisa's dad a lot of comfort and love, while he recovers.

I knit both squares following Lucia's basketweave scarf. I just knit the squares. One with the original pattern and the second with the variation. They were quick and fun and were easy to complete in an afternoon.





And that's it for me now. I'll be back by the week's end with my March goals. I'd like to get them up a little sooner than the middle of the month this time.

A Little Bit of Everything

Boy, howdy, I keep thinking I would make it over to ye olde blog, however, I can't access blogger at work, so unless I get the post written up at home, no blogging will ensue.

Thanks everyone for the comments on Juliet. I do like it and have worn it a few times since it's been finished. School has been slowing my knitting down. Some nights after class, I am so tired, I just surf blogs, but can't actually sit down and knit or post. Mentally, it's exhausting. Probably that combined with my new job, a lot for my poor little brain to handle at once, but both are going well, so that's something, right? :-)

I do have another FO to report, but the ends haven't been woven in yet, so that might take a little time. Just a garter stitch scarf I whipped up with some leftovers. I'm pleased with it.

Right now, I've been working off and on the Jaybird hoodie for my friend's son. After I "completed" the body and knit a sleeve, I realized I was running out of yarn when I started the second one. Although the yarn has 687 yards, b/c I made the body far too long (after the sweater was on hiatus b/c I didn't want to rip back), now I'm running out of yarn. So I ripped the body back to the right point, but worked the second sleeve as far as it will go. Now I have to find my place in the pattern for the body and finish it, so I reclaim the rest of the yarn to finish the second sleeve and sew on a button and I'll be done. Sad, but true. This sweater is trying to become the death of me, but I won't let it. I really want to be done with it.



Socks have seen a lot of the precious knitting time that I have of late. I can knit while I read, so a sock is ideal for this type of knitting. I really felt the need to cast on for something new. I wanted a "quick" pair of socks, really instant gratification, but I'm not sure why, you know, since we knit and all. Not much is quick. About a month ago, I picked up some Wool in the Woods Cherub yarn, which apparently produced by Cherry Tree Hill. It's pretty stuff and 100% wool, but a bit thicker than fingering. I'm knitting it with US 3 needles on 48 stitches. It's working up well in the Thuja pattern (from Knitty). I've been using the eye of partridge heel flap and that turns out so pretty with hand-dyed yarns. It's a wonder to me that I haven't used it before.



The Mary Kay socks are moving right along too. I finished the first one and gave it to her a few weeks ago. Since she had foot surgery right before Christmas, Mary Kay has been wearing a walking cast. I felt bad for her the night I saw her at knititng as she was wearing a short sock on the foot without a cast. Since I was kitchenering the toe of the first sock, I gave that one to her. So this pic really is of a second sock, really! Although it looks pretty similar to another pick I put up of the first sock.



In between all of those, I'm also working on a new sweater, Everyday Tweed in some Marisol Hacho yarn. Really gorgeous stuff. Right now, I'm at an awkward part, so I'll put up a picture when it doesn't look so strange.

I was recently tagged with a cute award. I'll be back with that by the week's end.

Happy Friday everyone!