And the cardi wins it

Thanks everyone for your votes. The Bless cardi won, not by a landslide, but won nevertheless. I was still debating about Libby, but in the end decided against it. It is a nice design, but I am no longer excited by the pattern and feel that while the pattern is cute, I'm no longer feeling love. Bless it will be, but it will have to wait a little while.

Because I joined the Knitting Olympics hosted by the Harlot. Yes, I'm a joiner:


And I'll be competing for Team USA in the sweater event:











In my event, the sweater, I will not be knitting Bless, but rather the Hourglass sweater, instead. The point of the Olympics is to knit something that would be a challenge to you (personally, whatever that is for you) and complete it in 16 days. Knitting Bless wouldn't be that much of a challenge as it's on large needles in bulky yarn, we're talking sz 10.5 and sz 11 needles. It won't take long for that sucker to get done anyway, except for the zipper! Anyhow, I will make the Hourglass sweater, and it's done in a dk-weight-ish yarn and that might be more challenge appropriate and it's all the round for me, which is fine and I'm not using the Felted Tweed that I mentioned might become an Hourglass sweater. Instead, it's yarn from the stash that's been waiting in the wings for its moment. I present to you,

Jaeger Luxury Tweed in the colorway 827, china pink.


And in other yarn disclosure news (no, don't get excited, I didn't buy yarn!), but this was one of my exceptions when I signed up for the Stashalong, that I had 2 yarn purchases to pay for that had been on hold for quite a long time. One was the Felted Tweed yarn a few weeks ago and the other was some Jo Sharp Silkroad (worsted weight) from
Zenifer. We met up at Cathi's a few weeks ago and I received the yarn, but Jenifer refused any sort of payment! So it wasn't an actual yarn purchase, but a gift! Thanks so much Jenifer. I love the color, Ricepaper and can't wait to make a sweater out of this yarn.


EDITED TO ADD: I somehow added buttons that dropped by KAL buttons down to the bottom of my screen and at this point, I can't figure it out, but I will eventually.
Thanks. Unless of course any of you have suggestions, always open to suggestions. Oh and the poll has been closed to any new votes for the cardi vs. sweater.

P.P.S.: I removed the two buttons I added just for aesthetic purposes, but still can't figure out why the template dropped down like that.

Sweater vs. Cardigan

I've been thinking how many of my sweater projects as of late have been cardigans, although I really prefer to have more pullover sweaters. I've been going back and forth in my head about my next knitting project and whether or not I should do another cardigan or do a pullover sweater. As I'm working on a sweater for M right now, to start another sweater, I am thinking it should be something quick.

My thoughts on cardigans have been, I love being able to take one on and off, especially being in variable climates, such as over-air-conditioned offices, in the basement of my house where I'm always freezing. Those type of areas make me enjoy being able to take a sweater off or quickly put it back on. The dilemma I face is that while I love wearing sweaters, I am fearful that with handknit sweaters I will get too hot wearing them, unless perhaps knitting a dk-weight sweater will give me moderate warmth, but I can't really say at this point. Fingering weight would probably be closest to what a machine-knitted sweater feels like in warmth to me, but I don't have a great desire to knit sweaters on 2s and 3s. So-o-o-o, all of this to say, hmm, not sure which sweater to knit next.

And there are certain sweaters that I will definitely knit, no matter what (provided they aren't bulky) and I have purchased more yarns (not lately, Stash-along of course) that are dk-weight, rather than worsted. Definitely a dilemma, but only in my mind and it's obviously not that critical.

I purchased some yarn in '03, Rowan Cork, which is now discontinued. The color I purchased is called Heather, a pretty magenta color.

Originally when I saw this sweater, Libby, I felt like I had to make it. Now I'm not so sure.


The other choice is Bliss:



Now this yarn knits up on big needles, size 10.5 and 11 needles are those that are called for to get gauge.
Stephanie of A Cunning Plan blog knit the Bless cardi and mentions that the yarn, while chunky, is lightweight. So if I were to make a pullover, it shouldn't be overly warm, despite a (kind-of) bulky knit, which I am usually opposed to. So whaddya think?

EDITED TO ADD, I'm not able to put the blog poll on my blog, as I wanted to, so here is a link to the poll itself. Sorry.
Take My Poll

My current obsession

has been the fair isle jazz scarf from Scarf Style. Michelle hosted a few of us at her house last weekend so we could all work on Fair Isle Jazz together and especially to get a couple of us, myself included, up to speed on the fair isle section. There was a group shot of the scarves all together.


And this one is mine of course:


It was fun working on it as a group, at home, I find I have to not be doing anything else to work on this scarf, so that part isn't so fun, but I do love the scarf and being able to see the next motif emerge. Don't mind my puckering, I'm hoping some of that will block out when it's done.

Last weekend I had a long weekend and wanted to start something quick (famous last words, right?!) and started on this cabled scarf pattern, which is easy to memorize, although the scarf is cute, it is a tad bit skinny, but I love the changes of color in Noro.


Sorry about the photo quality, it is pretty crappy, you can't see the cable pattern, although you can in real life. I will try to take another picture in daylight later.

I've put a few more rounds in on the sock, although not too much time has been spent on it. I cast on for M's sweater and have been working the interminable twisted ribbing on this sweater on size 3 needles and am close to the 2.5 inch mark. This is the boring part to me, not the miles of stockinette with no shaping, that part is great to me. I'm soon hoping to get to the stockinette part.

And I finally cast on for my i-cord gloves, pattern courtesy of Nona. These gloves are addictive. You start out knitting the fingers as i-cord tubes and then connect them to the body (hand) of your glove. It sounds liked fun to me and a more top-down method, if you will. So I finally cast on yesterday. The picture below shows one finger, but after the picture was taken, I was on the second pinky finger and am now on to the next finger and it's finished too! Whee! Just 7 more to go!


I got some new books in and I'll post over the weekend about them.

Gotta run to work, so that's all you get now.

Why I haven't Blogged recently

Besides not having much time to post as of late, from my last post at last week's end, my major goal was to get the baby sweaters all seamed up. However, I was having too much fun to really sit down and concentrate. When I finally did b/c both the boys were gone Monday and Tuesday nights to various sporting events, I thought I will have all this time to do it and no one will be at home. Hah! Fat chance! Instead, I did laundry, cooked, watched a bit of tv and then became frustrated when they came home and I wasn't done yet and couldn't concentrate on the task at hand. However I did manage to pull it together and get one of them finished for Chason. This cute little sweater will be winging its way to my nephew today, with a belated Xmas gift toy and something for the parents too! I just love this sweater for him. I believe I'm going to make him a pair of baby mittens with matching stripes for him too. But that will happen later.

Without further ado, here's the finished sweater:


Project Specs:
Pattern: Raglan Sweater from Debbie Bliss' The Baby Knits Book
Yarn used: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease
Needles used: Size 8
Completion time: September '05-01/3/06
And yes the pattern is really that simple, but I simply had no desire to sew up the sweater. After these two baby sweaters, I'm taking a break from this pattern. I bought a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern the other day for a baby sweater in the round that I think I will like working with much better. I just don't want to sew in seams for a baby sweater. Just too much work for little people!

And yes only one of those buggers is done, but the green one just needs the side seams sewn up as well as the sleeves and some ends sewn in, but that one should be done by this weekend. I no longer work with the parent, so no guilt on that end except that which is created by me.


Just to prove that I am still working on Spork, a progress photo:



I cast on the third and final color last weekend at knitting at Border's and kept working on it intermittently throughout the week. All of a sudden I was at the end of the ball and the funny part is, this ball got me a lot more yardage than the previous other colors, so I assume my gauge changed, not that I bothered to check you see, it's going to be felted anyway. I do need to join one more ball for half an inch, but I'm not sure if I should bother for half and inch or not? I may just not.

I did finally sit down like a good girl last weekend and worked on the buttonhole band for NSS and it's done now. I was concerned that I didn't have enough buttons (9), but I just wasn't spacing them apart well enough. With guidance from my friends at the helpful LYS, I got them done and then I gathered up all my stuff and dropped it back off for them to sew in the ends (Gosh, I'm so lazy as of late!), sew on the buttons (b/c the last sweater, the buttons feel loose to me) and sew up the hem (b/c I'm a little concerned about this one). So hopefully in a few weeks time I'll get it back and debut it.

I also finally cast on for M's sweater. I'm sure he's happy b/c he's been bugging me about that one for awhile. It's twisted ribbing for 2.5 inches, so right now, not much progress has been made on it, so no pics today. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

The sock is also getting some love (due to the work environment, I got lots of time to knit in the slow evenings). I'm on the second sock and have picked up stitches and am working on the decreases through the foot section after picking up stitches. I've got a lot of the foot to go, but it's all a stockinette roller coaster ride from here.


This weekend I'm going to cast on for the Fair Isle Jazz and knit on it with a bunch of friends and I'm excited to get my hands on those beautiful jewel tones. It should be a lot of fun.

Lastly I heard about this from another blog, that this week is DeLurking Week.


I know there are a lot of people that come through and visit the blog, but don't always leave comments. Today is the day to expose yourself. Please drop me a quick comment and let me know where you're from. It's always nice to meet new people.

Full Yarn Disclosure

In interests of the Stashalong, I must present yarn that I purchased yesterday evening, however, this was part of my agreement of joining the Stashalong was that I had two projects worth of yarn on hold, one at my LYS (since November of last year) and some yarn from Zenifer. Since last night, one project has been purchased and the other soon, but I did feel guilty picking it up yesterday, but I was very matter-of-fact and circumspect while buying it. I looked around the yarn store and thought, how sad that I cannot buy any for awhile. I think I will stay out of yarn shops for awhile, unless it is to buy needles or patterns. No yarn! The yarn that I did buy was Rowan Felted Tweed in color 150, Rage. 10 balls in a dk-weight. I think it's bound to become a Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, provided the gauge works out and all. I really would like at least one pullover, since I've been knitting all cardis this winter.


In knitty progress, I did finish the M2 earflap hat and have a model to boot.



And a second one to show the pom-pon. Why is it that I just suck at doing pom-pons? I had to have M do it. Even with the handy pom-pon maker, I still screwed the pooch on that one and just wasted a lot of yarn. I'm having M make one for my hat next, he just doesn't know it yet. I don't think he expected this much crafty fun with my yarn to be had by him! (heehee!)



Project Specs: M2 earflap hat
Pattern: Kittyville hat, without the ears
Yarn: Gedifra Cordilla 50% alpaca/50% wool(discontinued, I believe) in blue, green and one stripe of orange (from stash)
Needle size: US 7

The recipient, M2, seems very happy with the hat and it matches his new coat. I went with the Gedifra Cordilla a) because it was from stash and b)the alpaca/wool mix is pretty warm for the head. This is my second time knitting this hat and I like it. I was thinking of making it for myself but realized I would look ridiculous.

Since it is full knitty disclosure here, I also started a project, the sideways garter stitch scarf in Aracaunia Nature Wool and Lamb's Pride Worsted in fuchsia.


While I love the fuchsia color and the Aracaunia, these two together are not working for me. And when I questioned M about the color choices, he said, "Those are two colors I would put together." Not that he would wear fuchsia and all, but still, it wasn't doing it for me, not feeling the love, so last night I ripped it out. Which is great, b/c I found a pattern via ScoutJ that I think I will use some Noro I have in stash for it instead and I think I will be a lot happier with it.

And to show you the productivity of all that hard work at my new job during the holiday lull, one finished sock. I am also sitting with people instead of formal training and listening to phone calls and other folks do crafty stuff there or just read in the slow time, so it was cool for me to knit. The second sock is already past the ribbing, but it will probably not go as fast as the first one.



Tonight the plan is to do the buttonhole band for the NSS cardi and then have the ladies at the LYS tack down the hem, sew on the buttons and weave in the ends. I have a lot of stuff I want to get done knitting-wise and just don't want to deal with the finishing stuff right now. I'm also casting on for the front of the 2nd baby raglan sweater so that I can hopefully sew those up this weekend and send out to the parents.

And that's all the knitty news fit to print here!

Looking toward a new year, looking back on the past

Happy New Year to everyone! NYE (during the day) was spent with knitting friends on a yarn crawl and there was yarn bought by me. I had a bit of buyer's remorse, but it's all gone(the remorse) now. Colorful Yarns was having a sale on Cascade 220 (which I heart). I really only wanted 3 skeins of a red color to make the Midwest Moonlight scarf from Scarf Style, but they did not have the right red for me and somehow I was coaxed (not really) into buying yarn for the Jazz Fairisle Scarf out of the same book. Can you tell I like jewel tones? That added to the fact that all my knitty friends tell me to buy jewel tones whenever I want to venture to other non-jewel tone colors.


The magenta is to for the Midwest Moonlight scarf out of the same book since I couldn't find the red that I wanted.



When we made it over to String, I picked up some brown Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk to make the gloves in Handknit Holidays. Margene advised me that the Koigu used in Nona's Icord gloves were not KPPM but Kersti instead, so I will use the KPPM I have at home to make socks instead. Now I have to get Handknit Holidays too, but the brown alpaca and silk is so yummy, I just enjoy petting it. I also scored with some Opal Uni, which I'd not seen at any of the LYS' here, so this pretty shade of teal/turquoise? followed me home too.



All of this shopping was done just under the wire so that I could join
Kim's Stashalong. I'd actually been doing pretty good with using stash yarn for the past 6 months, when I was unemployed. Although there was some Cotton-Ease purchasing in the early part of summer (as I still had some of my severance pay and the Cotton-Ease was cheap!), but then as summer turned into fall, not much yarn was bought, save a ball needed for a project in progress and then in late November when I bought yarn for projects to take to Louisiana. But I did feel I needed some small projects to knit on (mittens, hats, gloves) and the amount spent was minimal. But since I got a job, I already went to String the first day last week and then more shopping this week. I do still have some yarn on hold at my LYS and some yarn to purchase from Zenifer, but those will not count against my yarn diet, as I've already declared that I will purchase those, but only that yarn for the next 3 months. I do plan on going longer than 3 months, but perhaps like Michelle, it will be 3 months at a time. There will be lots of projects being knit all from stash, but this is really to knit from stash and not purchase more yarn.

Some of thelocal girls will be knitting this around the same time, although Michelle has already started it and then got Cynthia hooked on the madness, which drove me to buy yarn for it yesterday and then Stacey too and then one of the String owners yesterday! What madness!

All in all yesterday was a great day and I'm happy to be employed and able to buy a little yarn, to start some new and exciting projects for 2006.

The year of lists (and knits)

The year that was 2005 was fraught with changes, transitions, deaths, births, and new friendships. 2005 was the first year that I started blogging even though I'd been blogstalking others for years. Blogging has been very interesting as a form of communication and learning more about myself and others. By blogging, I was able to better categorize my knits and see just what I did accomplish knitting-wise, although it's not really to see how much I did and then to try to improve it for next year, but just to see what all I did. If left to my own devices, my poor little brain just forgets it all.

What I accomplished knitting-wise this year:
1 poncho
baby blanket for Chason
Baby hat and baby socks for Chason
Blueberry Waffle socks (for me)
Earflap Cap (hat from Kittyville) for M2
Nursing shawl for sis
Tempting
Donna
Summer poncho
Rio Tank top
1 Katia Bonita tank
2 OSWs
1 Thandi Mohair Scarf
Clover Lace Rib socks (for sockapalooza pal)
2 baby raglan sweaters (one for Chason, one for Kieth)
M2's shorty socks
1 pair fuzzy feet
Hippy-chic cardigan
1 pair cabled rib mittens
M's hat
my hat
1 pair of handwarmers


WIPS carrying over to 2006:
1. Spork
2. Marilyn NSS cardi
3. M2 earflap hat v.2.0
4. baby raglan sweater
5. Sideways garter stitch scarf
6. Regia Strato stockinette sock (top-down)

Knitty resolutions for this year:
1. Knit more socks (I have enough yarn to make 24 pairs of socks!) Last year, I really slacked on the socks. This year, I want to make at least 8 pair of socks. Pretty ambitious, I know, but the sock stash needs to come down a bit. If I don't make a significant dent in it this year, the sock bin may be revisited later on and some sock yarn sold or traded or just given away. There is alot of self-patterning yarn and I know some of that I'm just not as keen on anymore.

1a) Of those 8 socks, at least 3 pair should be knit using some sort of pattern and not just self-patterning and self-striping sock yarn, but an actual pattern. I think Jaywalker will be coming up soon.

1b) I have enough yarn to make two pairs of Lorna's Laces socks as well as 4 hanks of Koigu KPPM to make socks. This year, I want to make socks using one type of each yarn this year. Yarn is to be used not to just rest in the stash for ages, especially the purple variegated Koigu KPPM which has been resting for at lest 4 years, time to be used or get gone!

2) Most of my resolutions are really related to socks. I do want to knit more sweaters, but I must start and complete M's sweater this year. I also want to finish another if not 2 sweaters for me by this winter's end. Libby from Rowan Cork Mag and Cavern Cardi from Cosmicpluto. I don't really want to go too much further than that, as who knows what I will want to finish my next year's end.

3) Knit more for Chason. Whatever that takes, it needs to be done. Once I finish something else, I do plan to make a pair of baby mittens for him.

4) Knit a pair of gloves. This is slightly frightening for me, so I definitely want to do it this winter.

5) Learn more techniques. I would really like to feel more comfortable with short-rowing, so I will probably apply it to socks as I'm thinking I might like the short-row heels better than the heel flap. With the making of the Jazz Fair Isle scarf, I will get to practice fair isle a bit more and I will be happy to do that. Practice cabling more (perhaps cabling without a needle) and learning to knit backwards. Those are the goals thus far, who know what else may be added.

6)Also knit the Debbie Bliss V-neck Tennis sweater this spring.

7) Make more cardigans, see the Cavern cardi above as well as for Spring/summer as I am always cold.

8) Make and finish a Clapotis.


Personal resolutions:

1) Treat those I love better. Keep in touch more with friends and family.

2) Exercise more. For health's sake, I need to work out as well as trim some weight from this body. I am simply not meant to carry this much weight and I got off-track earlier this year and never really got back to what I was doing. Now is a good time to start.

3) Cook more homemade meals and eat healthier.

4) Make time for myself and M.

5) Read more.

I think that's enough for now. If I keep going, there will that many more things that doesn't get done for next year.

Things are looking up

First of all, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa to those that celebrated. Things are/were pretty merry for us this year. Santa came to visit and one child was the happy recipient of an iPod nano (and no that wasn't for me!). And I had a job offer the week before Christmas, so Wanda was a very happy girl as well!

To celebrate the new job (which I started last Friday), I bought a little yarn! Really just a little, but String had some luscious Lorna's Laces in the Shepherd Sport (or Worsted, I can't remember) and some Koigu jumped into a bag and followed me home!


The Lorna's Laces is the Shepherd Sport in Valentine colorway with no plans just yet for it. Perhaps a scarf? How could I resist the beautiful colors of Valentine? And the Koigu is so pretty to me, I just loved it. I was debating between the two and finally decided to just buy both. The Koigu will be a pair of gloves, using
Nona's pattern for I-cord gloves. I think it's an unique way of knitting gloves, with credit to Meg Swansen, and I want to try this "top-down" method of knitting gloves. Seeing the fingers done as i-cord makes gloves seem less scary to me.

In other stash enhancement news, I missed the sale at a LYS in town that was having a sale yesterday. For 2 hours, the sale was 30% off, but after getting up early to work at the part-time gig at EB on Monday, which was supposed to be only 4 hours of markdowns for the huge day after Xmas sale, I ended up being their for 7 hours, with no lunch break. Therefore getting up early yesterday for the sale was just unthinkable for my poor, tired body. And in case you're wondering, I started the new job on Friday (1/2 day), then had Monday and Tuesday off. Today it's back to the salt mines!

I have been knitting and was knitting somewhat fast and furious until mid-week last week and then it just slowed down. We were trying to get all the last-minute gifts together and my bf waits to the last-minute to shop for things anyway and it drives me crazy! Anyhow, in between all of that, I had 5 interviews last week (the week before Christmas!), which was really strange to me, but nonetheless that was a good thing as a job offer did pan out. And just in time before the unemployment bennies ran out completely.

M2's hat is not finished, although this is the result of 2 days' worth of knitting:


This is using the "Official Kitty62 hat", and no, it will not have the pointy ears. But it is a great basic pattern with earflaps and icord dealies hanging down. I made one earlier this year in red/blue stripes, but he has a new winter coat and that hat doesn't match. I'm pretty close to the top and doing decreases now, so I'll soon be finished. I just need to switch over to dpns and I haven't done it yet.

On Xmas day, I started a sock, just so I would have something small and portable to knit, so yes, there is another project on the needles, but this is not nearly as distressing as an actual sweater. I've decided to keep the sock in the car, in the case that I need some emergency knitting, when I'm not prepared I'll have something handy. The colors are very pretty and it's Regia Strato.



And just to show you that I have been working on Marilyn NSS, here's a progress photo of that second sleeve:


And that sleeve has been finished since that picture was taken too. I guess it's time to get the other buttonhole band done and then I'll be done with the knitting. That's my goal to get this thing finished before 2005, so now I know what I'll be doing tonight, working on the buttonhole band. After that's done, then I can block it and begin sewing in ends, but no seaming to be done. And of course tack down the hems. I've never done anything with a knitted hem before, any suggestions on how that's done?

Other than that, I really want to get M2's hat done soon, maybe by next week. As well as finishing the baby pullover and doing the seaming work for it and the other baby pullover for my nephew. Then I can cross a couple more off my list and have one more to do. But I'll be pleased to have these finished.

Well off to work and all that. I'll try to post again by the week's end. If not, best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

And the winner is . . .

I neglected to mention in the last post, of my little mini-contest (thanks to those that entered) that the winners are Joanne and Carola! No points taken off for googling the answer, that's why I gave the hint! I figured most people wouldn't know that off the top of their head unless they happened to live there. I'll be getting some packages in the mail soon. Well at least to Carola. Joanne lives in the Denver area, so I'll have something for you soon too! Thanks for playing all!