a finished sweater and some random stuff

My dishcloth mania seems to have abated. I'm actually picking up other projects. I got the ball of yarn I needed for Ivana's socks, started them and then had to rip them out because my gauge for Panda Cotton has changed (huh??) and they were too huge. Meanwhile, I finally put the buttons onto the Baby Surprise Jacket I was knitting for my cousin's baby. She's three months now so I hope this will fit her through the fall, at least. (Ravelry details)

baby surprise jacket

My friend Jennifer was admiring the sweater at Sunday's Boba Knit and commented that she liked the yarn so I destashed the rest of it to her! I was pondering what to do with it since I has swatched a few things with it for myself and didn't like the way the color pooled in an adult sized sweater but I have boys so I can't knit it for my kids. I'm glad she wanted it, I was looking for someone to give it a loving hand. I think that this destash should count towards my purchase allowance. I'll see what Kristi says. If it does count then I have used up or gotten rid of 1265 yards or 24 oz of yarn and only purchased 182 yards or 1.75 ounces. I still have to figure out if it makes more sense to count by yards or ounces. In any case, I am currently allowed a purchase of 450 yards or 10 ounces of yarn. I don't need yarn right now (do I ever?) but it's nice to have a small buffer anyway.

The random stuff in the title is not knitting at all, it's jewelry. I was digging through my bead stash looking for a charm Tracy needed for her Ravelympics project. I really thought I had it, but i was wrong. Instead I discovered a bunch of beaded bracelets and some bead and wire stuff that I made years ago.

It's gotten me thinking about making stitch markers to sell on Etsy again. Thinking, thinking.

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I’ve been remiss, but busy

Karen noted today at BobaKnit that I haven't posted much recently. It's not because I haven't been knitting, I have! Niels is out of school and Stefan didn't go anywhere, and is napping even less since our schedule has become more loose, so I haven't had much online time. Sorry about that! Here's what I've been up to:

1) In the past week or so I knitted a Baby Surprise Jacket for my cousin Betsy's baby. This yarn started out as a February Lady Sweater (more on that later) but it just wasn't working, which is too bad. The yarn itself (All Seasons Cotton, of course) is so nice and squishy in garter stitch, but that variegated purple just wasn't working for me. Now I know why you can still get the variegated shades even though they have been discontinued for a while! Anyway, it makes a darling baby sweater. I might even knit her another sweater, or maybe one for Vibble, because she certainly knows how to rock the hand knits, since I have six or so balls of this yarn left! Remind me not to buy a bag of yarn just because it's cheap when I'm not sure I like the color, okay?

almost FO

So the sweater just needs some buttons and I'm not sure I love the crochet button hole I added at the top after I realized that I started too far down with the buttons. We'll see if that changes. (Ravelry project details)

2) The Ribby Pulli is almost done. I need to weave in some ends. Something about this yarn does not lend itself well to ends being woven in, or rather, ends staying woven in so I'm splitting the plies in two, tying a well placed (I hope) knot and then weaving in the split plies in a way that they won't show on the front. It's tedious to say the least. Also, I'm not sure my bod can handle this sweater. It's very va-va-voom, which is good on some parts and not so good on others. I know you all get my drift, right?

another almost FO

I am pleased with how the bust darts turned out. I think they are well placed and do a good job of making the back longer than the front in just the right way. (Ravelry project details)

3) I started the February Lady Sweater, twice. I started it in the above purple All Seasons Cotton and I was so in love with it that I found myself browsing CucumberPatch on eBay for colors I liked on sale. (Ugh, this is why I need to stay away from her store, I just bought her last bag of Military All Seasons Cotton because it's the yarn I used for Erik's sweater and I have six balls of it left and with another bag I can certainly knit something for myself. That yarn is addictive.) Anyway! For the February Lady Sweater I realized that I should stash dive rather than buy something new so I am using the soy silk I bought at my first stitches which has already been knit into two different projects, neither of which panned out. Third time's the charm, right?

not anywhere near being FO

I am, of course, changing the pattern a bit. I'm making it a v-neck instead of a crew neck. I'm also adding more stitches to the front with the v-neck and I'll decrease them away under the bust. I'm lengthening the garter stitch section over my bust instead of ending it right above, or in the middle. I think that's it. Is that enough? (Ravelry project details)

This picture also gives me a chance to show off my adorable Ravelry Daily Dose of (plant) Fiber bag. I really like it. I think I'll get more use out of it than I would have out of the shirt, since I wasn't fast enough to get the shirts when they first came out.

In non-knitting news, I'm preparing for our trip to the Netherlands. We leave in just over a week. Well, there is some knitting news there. I was debating which projects to take. I think I'll take the Lady Sweater, a couple of sock projects and then some of my oddballs that I've gotten for swatching and my Barbara Walker treasury. I want to design a sweater for myself from scratch rather than constantly changing other people's designs.

I was going to say that I had truly non-knitting news: I'm trying to get myself to bike again. Lisa, a BobaKnitter, recently upgraded her bike trailer and generously passed on a Burley trailer that someone had given her to me. She thought she had forgotten a piece so I hadn't tried it out. She looked around for it and told me recently that she thought that the piece must be in the trailer itself, so I gave it a shot today, and it was in there. Last week when Niels was at my mom's I had taken Stefan to the library in the bike seat but he didn't like that. I'm not sure if it was my backpack in his face, the fact that I was really low in air for the first half of the ride or the wobbliness of riding on the back of a bike pedaled by someone who hadn't ridden a bike in (oh my god) 13 years. In any case, he wasn't interested in getting back in that seat but he and Niels were both excited to try the trailer. Its tires needed air too, so our first stop was the gas station and then I just rode around our neighborhood a bit, trying to get a feel for the bike again. It was fun. I'm going to try to bike over to Niels' gym camp tomorrow to drop him off. It's right by his school so it will be good practice for the fall! I have been eyeing the Xtracycles (I like the Electra Townie one) and I still think I want to get one eventually. There is not much room in that trailer for both kids, besides, I really like the idea of having them closer to me.

The way all that is knitting related is that I'm hoping to lose a bit of weight and then the above va-va-voom-y sweater might fit me better and I can wear it in public! Wish me luck.

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finished february baby sweater

The February baby sweater I was knitting is finished. Niels helped me pick out the cute wooden buttons. I hope the recipient likes it! (Ravelry project details.)

february baby sweater

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the knitting, it is done, maybe

I think I'md one with the knitting on Erik's sweater. I was afraid it was going to be incredibly huge, but it turns out he is incredibly huge. I have to weave in several thousand ends, of course, but I've at least kitchenered the underarms and am working on all those end

giant sweater knitting is done!

The only thing I'm not sure about is the neck. I did exactly what EZ suggested in the pattern guidelines and just knit a few rows in another color on smaller needles and turned that under. It looks slightly unfinished to me. I'm going to leave it as is for now but if I still don't like it when I'm closer to being done with all of the ends I will pick it out and add on a neck band of some sort. I need to go into Ravelry and see what kind of neck bands other people did. I do also think the neck could stand to be a touch smaller.

Okay, I'm probably going to pick out the neck and fix it, just not tonight.

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some days it doesn’t pay to knit

I was trying to convince myself that since I finally came out of the knitting black hole with the body (I swear it was 16 inches forever and then jumped to 20 inches), that I could finish Erik's sweater by Thursday, our anniversary. To that end, I took the three pieces of it to BobaKnit this afternoon, prepared to join them and start decreasing for the yoke. On the plus side, I did actually manage to join them and begin the decreases. On the minus side…

d’oh!

I know, you're looking at it wondering what the problem is, right? I'll give you a hint, look at the decreases on the sleeves. Yes, they are both facing the same direction, to the left. Now look at your arms, do your thumbs both face left? I thought not.

We decided that it must be Janice's fault for not noticing that I was doing it, since she has an eye for detail. Oh, and she left early, so we all got to blame her. It's good to have a scapegoat.

Now, if you need me, I'll be on the couch, disconnecting the sleeves and trying to at least reconnect them tonight so that I will have made some progress on this sweater tonight.

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just keep knitting

I'm still alive and still knitting. And knitting and knitting and knitting! I picked up my wrap sweater again and am still working on Erik's sweater. I took it with me to the conference this past weekend and knitted in all the sessions. It is currently about 16 inches long. I thought I only had 2 inches to go but I held it up to Erik last night and I think I have more to go. He's just so darn tall.

My wrap sweater is coming along nicely, though. I am to the waistband on the second front. I'm going to try to do a top-down set-in sleeve from Knitting from the Top. I hope I can adjust the technique for the texture.

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okay, I’m knitting again

I am still working on the Starghan, but I am also knitting again.

big star

I've actually made quite a bit of headway on my Lotus Blossom tank. I have finished the front and am working my way up the back. I think it looks pretty good so far. I have high hopes for it. I might try to add some short sleeves, if I have enough yarn. I doubt that I will, though.

The Husband Hybrid is also growing. Both sleeves are done and I'm about 4 inches into the body. I need to knit 18 inches of body before I can connect it all. That's going to take some perserverence! Wish me luck.

4" down, 14" to go

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don’t worry, I’m still knitting

I made another crocheted wash cloth today at BobaKnit. Anabel helped me understand what was meant by a  "long dc" and Karen reassured me that I'm not crazy, that different patterns word which stitches to skip differently. I'm not even sure that makes sense right now! I'm really pleased with how the colors turned out in this one. I like how in crochet you get splotches of colors rather than stripes with the variegated yarn. It's pretty cool.

I'm still knitting, of course. The Husband Hybrid is farther along than the picture here. At this point I have finished the second sleeve and am past the point where I knit the cast on edge into the work. So now I just need to knit and knit and knit for about 18 inches. That's 220 stitches for 18 inches. Oh my.

Just in case I didn't have enough knitting in a circle, I cast on for a stockinette sock at my parent ed class for Niels' school. I wanted something I could just knit that was more portable. Mission accomplished! I don't have a clue what kind of heel I'll do. I figure that's nor important for at least a couple more inches.

Not pictured, but still getting some knitting attention is my Lotus Blossom Tank. Too much attention, actually. I put in two sets of short rows for the bust and I think I went overboard. I slipped it all onto waste yarn and tried it on tonight and the second set of short rows is definitely overkill. I'm going to rip back to before I started them and then it's just straight knitting on that for about three more inches. It doesn't sound so bad, except that it's 260 st around! Is it any wonder that I'm crocheting little dish cloths all over the place?

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lotus blossom and HH sweater

I have completed the lace part of my lotus blossom. I was going to say that I feel like I'm in the home stretch but those long boring rounds of stockinette are a snooze-fest. I'm determined to finish this top with enough time to wear it before it gets cold. I think I have at least six weeks, though. It shouldn't take me that long. (I hope this isn't famous last words.)

lotus short rows

I am also making great progress on the first sleeve of the Husband Hybrid sweater. I am knitting the sleeves first so that after I slog through the body I get to join the sleeves and start the exciting decreases rather than having to mini-slog through the sleeves at that point. It worked for Rogue, I'm hoping it works here too. I'm actually thinking of making myself one of these in one of my other colors of All Seasons Cotton. I'd want to make a V- or U-neck, though. I'll have to see how I feel about that idea after actually completing the yoke of this one.

HH sleeve

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