An October day

I'm working on both a pair of socks for Elaine for Christmas and a hat for Sue for Christmas. After that I only have Ken's sweater. So, there should not be a problem getting the Christmas knitting done. Elaine's socks are moving right along. I just started them before I went to WV and today I worked on them during the department meeting and then this evening while I was watching CSI. Sue's hat is to do with a pair of mittens. Both are black and white to go with her black coat. She maintains that she doesn't want a hat, but she just might enjoy a hat during recess when it's so cold during the winter.

I am looking forward to getting to something for me. I do have a sweater picked out, but it's waiting until all the Christmas knitting is done.

Finished sweater

I forgot to post the sweater that I was making for myself. Here's photo of the "renaissance pullover". I liked it much better once I put a jersey under it. Without the jersey it was too clingy. It is very soft and I love the color.

I  also like it against the back ground of the dining room carpet! I continued to work on Kylie's sweater last night and it is going along quite quickly. I'm almost done with the right front up to the shoulder.

A Beautiful Sunday

The weather's beautiful and the knitting's good! My Sideway's Cardigan has been blocked:

Of course, now I have to sew it together and that's  a daytime event. I was going to do that this afternoon, but the weather conspired against staying indoors. Perhaps next Sunday--after Kendra and Sue's birthday party on Saturday.

I've also started Kylie's birthday cardigan. Here's the almost completed back. I've finished the back and

the two sleeves. I wanted to finish the easy knitting first. The two fronts have a rather complicated cable along the opening and then up a hood. It's an adorable pattern--I just hope that it's not too small.

The end of February Vacation

It's almost over, but the knitting has been flying. I've been watching the Olympics every night and knitting along with the watching--which can be a trick! I'm nearing the end of the cardigan for Carly's wedding. It has been an amazingly fast knit, but I should have realized that size 9 needles and lace would translate to a quick knit. Of course, last night I totally messed up the decreases on both sides of the front--read 4 for 3 for the number of decreases at the neck edge. So, ripping out both sides--oh well. Here's a photo of the back a few days ago:

I'm planning to knit this afternoon, since we are babysitting this evening and there won't be time to knit. I am pleased so far. I really like the yarn--much nicer than most cotton yarn. It has a warm feel to it. Too bad that it's discontinued.

February vacation

What a lovely week! I've started a cardigan to wear to Carly's wedding in April. I'm using the yarn suggested--Tahki Sky which happened to be on close out at Webs! That's a good thing about making up a pattern that is a few years old. The yarn is lovely--a soft cotton, organic yarn that is a pleasure to use.

The pattern is just challenging enough to be interesting. I kind of go back and forth in my knitting between ridiculously easy to much more challenging. The Renaissance pullover--which I am just now finishing--was really easy to almost boring. The three stitches in this cardigan are much more interesting. I've done the three bottom parts--wanting to knit all the parts that required a particular stitch. They were all knit side-ways. Last night I picked up the stitches on the back and am knitting upwards in a stitch that looks like crochet when you're done with one repeat. I'm planning to wear this over something black with black pants. The intended event is the Rehearsal dinner.

Of course a lot of this knitting is going on while I watch the Olympics. We've been taping the late night events and then I watch it in the early evening before that day's events begin. I told Ken after the Opening Ceremonies, that for the next Olympics in two years I want a big screen TV!

New yarn

I've gotten several shipments of yarn this week. First I got a shipment of Classic Elite One Fifty for Carly's Christmas stockings. They hadn't sent two of the three colors and after calling and straightening things out they sent the rest of the yarn. Then yesterday there was a big shipment of Northampton for Sue's Christmas hat and mittens for next year, and Plymouth Encore for a new sweater for Olivia--probably for next fall at this point, and Lamb's Pride for a future baby gift sweater. That was to get the order up to $60 so I would get the 20% reduction. Oh, earlier I had gotten the shipment of Tahki Sky for the cardigan that I want to make to wear at one event for Carly's wedding in April. From what I've read in Ravelry, it's a tricky pattern and will require my constant attention so as not to make mistakes.

I was able to continue on my periwinkle pullover at Ken's tennis match last night and then while we watched a show afterwards. It's coming along nicely. I'm working on the upper back at the moment. One thing that I've noticed is that the purl stitches are better defined when I'm working back and forth rather than in the round. Go figure--

Odd day

Well, today is Martin Luther King Day and I'm home--along with Ken. It snowed last night and we ended up shovelling--along with JD--this morning. Then I went to a have a massage--how's that for odd. I've made cookies and done housework--no knitting, although I think that I'm going to sit down for a while. I'm very pleased with the sweater that  I'm working on, but I've decided that I don't really like alpaca. It's heavy and doesn't have the memory that wool has. I'm using an alpaca, wool mix, but it's still heavy. It is easy knitting, however, and it's great for watching TV. Here is my progress so far. I do like the color and it is going very quickly.

I'm already thinking about my next project--a short-sleeved cardigan to wear at Carly's wedding. Ravelry is so good for keeping track of what you want to work on, along with everything else. I've decided to inventory my needles in preparation for buying more Signature needles. lol

Busy week

Received my new Signature dpn's this week. It turned out that I had not finished the order for the circular needle and now have to wait until Feb 4 to order it. The company was so overwhelmed with orders for the new needles that they have closed orders until then. Back to the new dpn's--at first I wasn't too impressed with them, but after an evening of finishing a sock, I am in love. They are smooth and slick at the same time. They are also warm--like my Harmonies. I changed from the Harmonies to the Signatures mid-sock and didn't see a difference in gauge. My plan is to research what size needles I use most of the time, and then to slowly add those sizes of Signature needles to my collection--which is large enough!

I was able to share my Masterknitter experience with the knitting guild on Thursday evening. Diane B. and I shared our experiences and our notebooks. I had never gotten all of my material from the course together--it filled three Roche Bros bags. The group seemed to really appreciate our talk and we all agreed that it would be fun to have me and Diane share what we've learned in another program. That's for next year.

On the actual knitting front, I'm working on a sweater for me! It's the Renaissance sweater that was in my queue on Ravelry.

I'm using an alpaca/ wool mix from Valley Yarns. I'm not convinced that I like the alpaca. It just doesn't have enough body. The other issue with this pattern is the actual stitch that is used. It's a mosaic diamond stitch and there were issues with the definition of the purl bumps. When the purl bumps were going in one direction they were very defined, but in the other direction they receded into the background.I finally figured out that I need to loop the yarn around the stitch very loosely when the new purl stitch is part of the diagonal going to the left. Sounds complicated but it works! I changed the pattern to be all in the round and that makes the stitch pattern much easier to follow. I had planned to use my new Signatures, but that was not to be--I'm using my Harmonies which are also very pleasant to work with. I had started out with the Options, but they were too slippery.

Two caps

I managed to finish Olivia's cap this evening while watching another version of the Night in the Museum. It was a good knitting movie. I could follow the action without interfering with my knitting! It took three tries to get a pompom that looked good and was fluffy enough for the hat, but I finally succeeded. I'll take it over to her tomorrow.

As soon as I finished Olivia's cap I started one for myself to match my mittens. I don't really like working on a 16 in circular needle, but it is easier than dpns for this many stitches. And here is the finished cap--

I ordered a set of Signature needles last night. It's quite a splurge, but everything that I've read says how wonderful they are. I ordered one circular needle and hope that it will be the right size for the sweater that I'm going to knit after the hat. Now, I just have to wait for them to arrive. From what people have been posting to Ravelry these needles are a dream and a lifetime investment. I'm hoping that they arrive by the end of the week.