There is knitting going on around here

There is knitting going on, but it is not terribly exciting. Want to hear the latest on my Not Cashmere Sweater? I was ready to seam the arms. I started by just sewing them up, but didn’t like how bulky the seam was after about 2 inches. So then I decided I would kitchener them as the pattern suggests. This involves picking up ~120 stitches and kitchenering them together. For. Each. Sleeve. I was concentrating so hard on actually performing the grafting that I completely missed the fact that they are completely different! (I must have picked up the stitches on different sides.) Argh! Seriously, what else can go wrong with this sweater? I’m so ready to just throw the *&^% thing into a deep corner of my closet and never see it again. The husband even told me not to work on it anymore, but I really want to finish the stupid thing. I’ve put too much time into it, and I think that I will actually wear it once it’s done. If it EVER gets done.


Awhile back my grandma was on a Bernat Boa scarf kick and made at least 20 of them. My mom picked out this yarn, but my grandma didn’t get around to making the scarf before her health got too bad to knit. So I decided that I needed to make the scarf for her, despite the fact that I knew I was not going to be happy with the yarn.

Mom's Scarf
Started: 18March2006
Finished: 24March2006
Bernat Boa, 2 balls
US 9 needles

I've been working on Rose, and brought her to Last Saturday Knitting. I'm almost to the point of dividing for the front and back. I'm planning on raising the V-neck, so I'm not sure how that's going to go, but I know it can be done.


Yesterday I went to a quilt show. I'll post a few pictures later this week.

Sew? I knit! Bag - The Beginning

I bought this pattern (McCall's 3136, I'm making the blue bag) ~3 years ago, but like many of my other projects, it was stuck in the pile of things to do someday. Now I have the motivation to get going on it! I bought some fabric today, so I'm ready to roll. The floral print will be the outside, the green is the lining. This bag is going to be used to store my cross stitch projects. I'd like to make a knitting tote, too, but I'm waiting to find the perfect pattern.

Ready for Takeoff-Dawn's Scarf

I was sitting with my husband on the couch one night. He was completely engrossed in the TV. I started working on my friend’s bulky scarf. After about three rows he looked at what I was doing, nearly dropped the remote while pausing the TiVo, and practically screamed, “What are you DOING? It looks like you’re knitting with MODEL ROCKETS! Are those really knitting needles? Are they giant needles for kids so they don’t shove them up their nose? If those were a bra, they’d be a triple E!” He was really disturbed by those needles.

Indeed, I was somewhat disturbed as well. I had to knit this scarf English style because it’s impossible to knit Continental with these giants. However, the yarn is sooooo soft, I’m about ready to knit myself a cocoon out of it.



I liked this scarf better pre-blocking (of course I didn't take a picture), but it's still OK. I hope my friend likes it!

Dawn's Scarf
Started: 13-Mar-2006
Finished: 14-Mar-2006
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Bulky, black
6 stitches across on US 25 needles

Finished Skirt!

I chose a rather ambitious skirt (Simplicity 5914) with 6 panels and a zipper for the first Sew? I knit! project. My fabric, a chocolate brown micro-suede-like polyester or something, started falling apart after handling the pieces a lot. In order to prevent extreme unraveling, I had to finish the seams with a zig-zag stitch. I'm sure I spent lots more time on this than others would, but it was my first garment and there was a lot of learning involved!


The zipper installation was time consuming, but successful! I’m so proud of this zipper! It’s called a “lapped” installation, where one side of the fabric overlaps the zipper. (This is one of the many things I learned while working on this project).



I have a finished scarf to show you, but I don't want to share all the FO's in one day! I've also been fighting with the Not Cashmere Sweater, and even had to go out and buy another skein of yarn last weekend. Luckily the LYS still had the same dye lot. Whew! I'm also about halfway through the body of Rose, but I'm trying not to work on that right now and save it for Last Saturday Knitting instead.

In other news, I got my hair cut today. Since I usually get my hair cut every 6 months or so, this is a major event.

Happy Weekend!

Return to Sender

I sent out a couple of little surprises on Monday morning. One of them came back to me today...

I either exceeded the 1/4" thickness requirement, or my letter was "uneven." Give me a break. Who knew there were so many restrictions? I know you can't mail anything square or overly large without paying extra postage, but too thick or uneven? Sheesh. My only hope is that the other letter went through without postage due for the recipient.

But I also got a package from knit2purl2.com. That made up for my postage due.

Around Christmastime, my high school friends and I had lots of discussion regarding receiving candles, body lotion, knick knacks, etc. as gifts and all agreed that we have too many. (One of my resolutions this year was not to set foot in Bath and Body Works unless someone specifically asked for something.) So when I met up with them a couple of weeks ago, I showed up empty handed, but promised to make scarves for two of them, and give the third a subscription to Cooking Light, my most favorite cooking magazine. I had grand plans of having the scarves completed in time to deliver them in person, but that didn’t happen. Instead I provided them with seven photos of scarves (stolen from blogs, of course) I would be willing to make and let them choose a color. It turns out that each of them chose the scarf I would have selected for them anyway! However, they both chose black!

Michelle, the one who once showed up wearing fake pearls for girls weekend at a lake cabin chose Branching Out. Dawn, who is totally no nonsense, chose a chunky garter stitch scarf. Assuming that I haven’t lost my touch with Branching Out, it should be a 7 or 8 hour project, and the chunky scarf will take less than 2 hours. No LYS in my area carries the Blue Sky Alpaca I needed, so I had to go online. Um, this yarn is YUMMY!!! Fortunately they also had Silky Wool on sale ($5.25!). While I was shopping I also had to throw a couple of skeins of Lorna’s Laces (my first!) into my cart. Whoops. I don’t need any more sock yarn right now, but I’m sure I will love it even if I can’t get to knitting it anytime soon. The color is Baltic Sea.

It's cloudy and I got home late today, so the photos are not the best. I wanted to show you Rose, but didn't get a good pic today. Here's the one from last weekend.

I'm almost done with the third repeat and should be on to the stockinette this evening.

Not really my stuff

This is not my FO:At my girlfriend gathering two weekends ago, one of my friends gave us all belated Christmas bags that her mom made. It's a great bag with a matching accessories pouch (wasn't I just talking about great handmade bags?), but I WISH IT DIDN'T SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL OVER IT! Oh well. I'll just have to use it for carrying my knitting around inside the house or in December.

This is not my UFO/WIP:This is a pillow my grandma almost finished. All that's left is the final seam. I've been entrusted to finish it since she will not be able to. She has numerous projects going on and hasn't touched them for several months. I have a couple of aunts who are kind of crafty. I hope that we can finish everything she started.

These are not my cats:
This is Buster, one of my mom's cats. He weighs in at around 20 lbs. He likes to sleep a lot.
This is Gabby. She weighs in at about 7 lbs. and due to her agility, she often beats up on Buster, even though he is three times her size and a few years younger. Check out those fangs!
This one is better. Isn't she cute?I currently have no cats of my own, but I would love to someday. I just need to convince the husband that pets are necessary. I always get jealous when I see cute kitties on blogs.

Busy

Unfortunately I have not been very busy on the knitting front. I was out of town the past two weekends. I saw my grandma for awhile each weekend. She's in the hospital, but doing a little bit better. She'll be moving to a nursing home as soon as space is available. I was able to see a couple of my friends for a few hours last weekend-it wasn't the full Girl's Weekend we had been planning, but it was still fun. I've also been working on a secret non-craft project for awhile this week. Today I had planned on going to First Saturday Knitting, but I developed a severe tickle in my left nostril and have been bonding with a box of Kleenex all morning. It doesn't feel like I have a cold, but there is something wrong and I'm really annoyed by it.

Kathy left me a couple of comments to address. I did knit the regular size Jaywalkers. I started with the larger size, but decided it was Way Too Big after an inch or so. I have size 9 1/2 feet, normal width. The socks are a slight challenge to get over the heel, but they fit.

She also requested a non-undulating picture of my UFO quilt. Here you go!

My sewing machine is still in the shop. I'm running out of time for my Sew? I Knit! skirt. I might cut the fabric tomorrow so that I'm ready when my machine returns.

I started the Whitby sock last weekend. In a totally boneheaded move, I knit with sock yarn rather than the heavier weight yarn the pattern called for. Although I thought it didn't look quite right, and I didn't bother to actually read the yarn requirement carefully, I continued to knit on for about 5 inches. It's painful to discuss.

I started on Rose (the sleeved version of Knitty's Soleil, which I am too lazy to link right now) a couple of days ago. It's moving along great. The lace pattern has not caused me any stress so far. However, my computer has caused me stress today and crashed in the middle of uploading the photo. So I present the finished Christmas Rose Bag instead.

Christmas Rose Bag from Handknit Holidays

Started: 12Feb2006

Finished: 23Feb2006

Yarn: Plymouth Galway 100% wool

Needles: 16" Addi Turbo, sz US 8 for bag, Clover bamboo DPNs, sz 7 for miles of I-cord