Mother-in-law saves the day?!?!!?

Just a quickie before I run out of work...

So Ken and I went to see Mama Mia yesterday (b'day gift for me from my parents last month) and we got stuck in "shut down your car you're not going anywhere" traffic as we were nearing the Lincoln Tunnel to come home.

Luckily (or so I thought) I brought along my current knitting project. Not so lucky of me, I forgot the actual paper-pattern for it - and remembered I was beginning a section where there were increases every so often (nearing the bust line). WHAT TO DO - having time to knit AND the project with NO pattern - sheer T-O-R-T-U-R-E!!!

I called my mom-in-law (for all intents and purposes - "Nana") and asked if she could PLEASE read me the pattern - and I walked her through where I needed and she had a good chuckle trying to decipher it for me - but I had read through things earlier so I had an idea of what needed to be done - just not the row numbers to do it on. In the end, I had the numbers and was able to knit for a while - in traffic and later when we were heading up the Henry Hudson to the GWB. Finally, my eyes gave into the lack of day-light and I put it away.

That's my little story for now. Maybe more photos tomorrow!

kc

But what if...?!?!?!

"But what if it doesn't fit when I'm done?" is probably one of the most frequent thoughts of any knitter. I say "thoughts" instead of "questions" because a question is something we might say out loud to another knitter - and I know it's easier to THINK I might be wrong, than admit defeat to my fellow knitters.

Sure, I rip when the pattern is wrong - FROG IT. When the gauge seemed to big (and I was right) - FROG IT.

But this time I'm not sure. I didn't want the sweater to be boxy - I wanted a closer fit. But DAMN, I'm a curvy girl and I'm just not sure how this pullover will turn out. I know I will inevitably get it on holders this weekend to try it on - or model it on my sewing mannequin - but WHAT IF...?!?!?!

Will I keep going with it? Will I gift it and ever make another one for myself? If I gift it - to whom? Can i sell it to recoup some of the cost?

Ah, TGIF!

Where it stands: I've finished the deep blue cluster section and am doing "shells" in a moss green - so far so good - the gauge seems dead on so I must be doing something right.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The swiper!

Sure, she's cute - but when mom's away the baby bug will play!

Here's a photo of her wearing one of the hats I made over the weekend - I found the other hat and the extra yarn laying on the floor in the office - when she was done with this one it was left on the floor of the front porch with the dog. That will teach me!

SUE IS AWESOME!

Mucho snaps to my friend Sue for the awesome sock yarn and "pattern a day" desk calendar - Sue...you R-O-C-K!!!

Sue and Patty knit MANY more socks than I do - and they're SO talented they knit using two circulars instead of dpn's like me. One of these days I'm going to have to learn their method because it looks so much easier than me fidgeting with the dpns all the time (plus, my guess is that the ladders disappear more easily). Sue also got a new sock book and we're thinking of having a knit along - they joke that I'll be done before them - but socks are not my strong suit so the joke may be on them!

As far as the pullover goes, i'm well into the second repeat of the 8-row cluster pattern and it's looking just dandy if I do say so myself. For some reason I've been getting easily distracted when I try to count the stitches on the st-st rows so I'm hoping everything is still on the up-and-up. Let's see if I can get a picture of the detail with my camera phone for you...

Also - I just wanted to send a shout-out to all our other fellow train-riders (if you've finally visited) - Lou, Rob, and Allison!

Textured Pullover from VK Holiday 2007

Yesterday I got through the 2x1 2" ribbing and increased the appropriate number of stitches going into the "cluster" section. I gave in and purchased the US3 circular before catching the train home. The 3rd and 4th rows of the cluster pattern went alright - except when i started to do row 7 I realized I had done row 4 *slightly* wrong. So I did what I sometimes do best - I ripped it all the back to row 3 - because it was easier to grab the stitches from row 2 rather than the decreases on row 3. I started again this morning and got *successfully* through rows 3 &4 and am on the st-st'ing of 5 & 6. More clusters tonight on the way home. Hooray!

The benefit of having purchased the 2nd US3 circular was that I could transfer off half the stitches to the other needle last night and measure to make sure the gauge was right - so far so good...but will it fit?!?!

Also, I've decided to make some socks as gifts instead of all hats - should starve off the boredom - although the two hats I did last weekend went super fast.

Ah, the weekend

I started piecing together the star sweater on Friday - and have decided that it will be for Abby and Charlie (and not Henry) so that it stays all in the family.


I whipped up two hats in Jaeger Merino for one of my bosses' daughters, and his wife. Four hats to go for the two clans. For the wife's hat I used a strand of the Jaeger with a strand of the CottonTots I had left over from the Star sweater. It's super cute and soft.


Started working on a new pullover sweater for myself...from the VK Holiday 2007 issue. I'm converting, of course, from side-knitting to in-the-round. I'm having a hard time working some of the numbers out, and since each section requires different stitch requirements, I'm also working on the proper gauging and sizing. And math was never my strong suit - URGH! On top of all that, i'm *this close* to getting the numbers right and then I can start the new section on the "larger" needles - but do you think I would have remembered to bring the larger needles with me on the train today - of course not! So now i'm in a dilemma as to whether or not I should run out and buy a Size 3 (3mm - not 3.25mm) circular needle for the ride home - since that's the size I'm pretty sure I will need. Ah, the horror!

Until next time!

Where it all stands

So it's been almost two months since my last post - I can't believe it!!!

Here's where the projects stand:

1. Finally finished the Ripples Skirt from Interweave (Spring 07). LOVE LOVE LOVE IT
2. Finished Matthew's "scrap yarn" sweater - and he loves it - which is all that really matters, right?
3. Finished the "Circular" swing/shrug/sweater from Vogue Knitting (Fall 07) - still not sure if I'm keeping or gifting it - looks like a perfect fit for Liz
4. Finished the Bryant's Pullover Vest from Interweave (Fall 07) and have gotten so many nice complements on it - hooray!
5. Made a hat for my nephew, Charlie, during our trip to Kansas City. It's blue and green and way cute on him
6. Currently working on a sweater for Charlie AND Henry (who is my sister's friends son who is 17 months old). Weird connection for a project - but my sister said that Henry is always giving Charlie his hand-me-downs so my sister wanted to give them back something - which will also then come back to her. I guess that all makes sense. Anyway, I was happy to oblige and make something "boyish". I chose the cover "Star" sweater from "Adorable Knits" and I'm on the last arm before putting it together and sewing in the collar. My guess is that it will fit Henry somewhere down the line - maybe next Spring/Summer - so I'll send it to my sister and she can give it as a Christmas present if she wants.

What's next?

Hats, hats and more hats. I've decided to make my bosses kids (5 total - ranging in age from 2 to 11) winter hats as a holiday present (since my bosses are too difficult and expensive to buy for!). I've got some patterns picked out so hopefully they'll be quick projects - yeah, right, I'll find some way to make them difficult I bet.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm figuring out a more efficient way to post pictures of everything - possibly on shutterfly or maybe even FlickR (although that may be too sophisticated for my laid back approach to blogging these days).

Until next time