April UFO Resurrection

No photos today... You wouldn't see much of a difference. Except that I have COMPLETED (!) the back of Fay. I have started the front and have done the bottom lace detail, the waist decreases and am increasing from the waist shaping. I'm enjoying this pattern and Rowan 4-ply Soft is great to knit with. Unfortunatly, I still have more than half of the front and two entire full-length sleeves.

Jarrett is still on the side lines....

Baby Knits Planning

I'm happy to say that my little sister had her second baby at the beginning of this month. Her first boy and he is such a cutie! So I'm planning some baby knits for my little nephew Owen. I won't be out to see them until August at the earliest so I've got lots of time and he's got some growing to do too. Anything I'll make him will be for a size 12 months anyway so he will have room to grow. I have a feeling he'll fit a 12 month size before his first birthday.

I bought this Debbie Bliss Book when I first learned to knit in 1994. It has a lot of cute patterns and I'm SO glad I hung on to it after all this time.



This is the yarn I'm thinking of using. The Grey should be quite familliar to those who have visited my blog before. It's Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in "Mouse". I'm quite confident that I'll have lots left over from Jason's cardigan. The other one is the same yarn in "Drizzle". Love it! I bought this yarn for myself and would like to make something fitted similar to Salina. I could totally do another Salina. So I may have enough of this left over to do a little something for Owen.



This is the pattern I've wanted to knit ever since I bought this book. In fact, this is the pattern that I bought the book for. The book really has a lot of neat patterns and covers a larger range of sizes... 1 yr to 10 yrs. You don't find a lot of patterns for 7 to 10 year olds.



So what do you think? Mouse or Drizzle? Liz? How about Mouse?

Old to Me, New to You!

Here's a sock that I made last year. I can't remember when I started it... probably in the summer. I finished it in September I think. This sock does have a mate I just haven't taken a picture of the pair.



The yarn is Lorna's Laces "Mixed Berries" and I love it. Reminds me of the Super Man colours.



They are a bit roomy for my liking but they are very comfortable and warm... I usually put them on after a long day at work after comming off City Transit and walking home. I need to warm my feet up.

Update on Jarrett....
The first sleeve is too baggy. The second sleeve I fear may be too tight but I believe in my heart that it can be blocked out. My verdict is to rip out both and knit them cuff up and flat as the pattern told me to. But they are going to have to wait while I digest this change of mind. Jason is happy that the sleeves will match and that they will both fit so he is giving me my time away from this project without mentioning Jarrett... for a while.

UFOs -March Update

Well here it is the end of March. It's been quiet around here this month huh? Well that's okay... I've been a bit busier than usual. I do have some progress pictures on Jarrett though.



Sleeve number one is done. I had to rework the decreases because the original pattern is for cuff-up, knit-flat. But the length is perfect.

I even managed to start sleeve number two. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Jarrett is comming along nicely!

The Green Month

It supposed to be Green right? St. Patrick's Day is a couple weeks off. I have always loved the colour green... when I was 6 and 7 years old I remember that green was my colour. I had an outfit that was green -green pants, white blouse with green flowers, the best part of it all, a green vest to match the pants. I loved the outfit so much I'm sure I wore it a couple times a week. Probably even two days in a row (I was a kid and didn't care... and really, I still don't)! Of course then my "favourite" colours turned to pink and mauve and then to baby blue. In highschool it was navy. Now I'm lovin the green again. And when given a choice between the yellow, blue, green and pink cup, Sebastian chooses the green one too.





The sweater fits him perfectly... which means that next year it will be too small. But hey, you know what I thought? Since it's knit from the top down including sleeves, I can always add a couple inches to the length when needed. Probelm solved. Not that there was a problem. I still am going to add that hood so you'll see a FO soon. Just in time for St. Patty's.


Shy Sebastian... So cute!

UFOs -February Update

I can't believe that today is the last day of February. And I don't mind a bit. Winter is starting to get to me. I need warmer weather. So here is what I have done to turn my UFOs into FOs.



I guess I would say that I doubled the size of Fay this month. I knit enough on it to not have to constantly be looking over at the pattern for every row so it's getting faster. I'm still loving it but just don't get to spend a lot of time with it.

And here is Jarrett. Still looking like he did last month... but I knit 1 row on the sleeve last night. I had Jason try it on just to make sure that we chose the right size to knit and make sure there is enough room in the arm holes. Everything seems fine so I feel I can continue on.



That's what the hold up was with it. I just wanted it to fit well. I wasn't sure about it for a while so I didn't want to go any further just to end up having to rip it all out --or never be worn.

So we'll see how busy March is and that will determine how much progress will be made on these two beauties.

Camo Cast On

Since I have been making some excellent progress on Fay, I allowed myself to start a pull-over for Sebastian.
The pattern is the Child's Tunic from Knitting Pure and Simple and I am making the size 2-4. This is my first top down sweater and I am very impressed. I see more of these in my future!



Love this yarn! It's Artyarns Supermerino in "Green Multi" 131. I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn for the hood... I'm planning on going to the Knit Night tonight at my LYS and could pick up another skein along with the new Interweave Knits Magazine.

UFOs

Before January ends I should update what I have done for my UFO Resurrection 2007. Here is lovely Jarrett...



The last time you saw Jarrett he was only a back. between that time and December he had grown front panels and then the growing had stopped. Mostly because I wasn't sure how I wanted to tackle the sleaves. I had an uneasy time with inserting Salina's sleaves and wanted Jarrett's to be better. I ended up short-rowwing them in and so far am happy with the results. Now I just have to figure out the decreases.

I have also been slowly working on Archernar



It's a great pattern and I was able to take it along to the Tuesday Knit Night at Make1 and not have to rip anything out.

Finally, I have made slight progress on Fay.



I love this sweater but I need dedicated and uninterupted knit time with it. I finished about 10 rows the other night... but honestly it's just been sitting there since I don't know when. Actually, I do... ever since Jarrett was cast on for. Hopefully soon I can finish up Jarrett and get moving on Fay.

Freshen for 2007

Nevermind my sad attempt at a title for this post.

These are some of the boxing week bargans I came home with last week. I need a fresh new colour to knit with in between working on hubby's Jarrett. I LOVE this blue! Love it! Especially after all that red and green we all dealt with. A nice fresh New Year Blue.


It's turning into a scarf... not that it's needed at the moment with this warmer than usual winter. It's going to be nice and soft. Thanks to Yvonne at cogknition for the pattern for Achernar!

My So Called Scarf

Love this Scarf!! I used one skein of Malabrigo and I have to say that this is the softest scarf most will ever feel. I could have made it a little longer but the person who will recieve this has a little one and a little one on the way.. last thing she needs to get strangled by it.



Pattern: My So Called Scarf free pattern from Sheep In the City found here.
Yarn: Malabrigo 1 skein
Needles: 8 mm straight Areos
Recipient: My Sister! Merry Christmas!!

Salina

At long last, I made time to download these pictures of my finished Salina to my computer. I love this sweater! I've been wearing it out more than I thought I would and it just so happens that it is very comfortable!! I've done almost all my Christmas shopping in this sweater.

A close up on the great buttons...


Pattern: Salina by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan's Vintage Style
Yarn: Rowan's Felted Tweed in Herb (146) 5.25 balls for XS size
Needles: Addi Turbo circulars 3.25mm and 3.75mm
Mods: I increased the length of the body by 1 cm before the waist shaping as well as the sleeve length by 1 cm just before working the increases. I also sewed down the buttonhole flap at the bottom because my 5 cast on stitches seemed a little tight and pulled up a bit. I really enjoyed knitting this sweater. The felted tweed made the plain stockinette stitching interesting. And I LOVE moss stitch! I could knit this again... although, if I were, I think I would figure out how to make the arm holes not so big. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the turn out.

Warm Woolies All Around

I made this ipod sweater way back in February. Jason needed something to protect his precious ipod so I volunteered my services. I used some left over Lett-Lopi from a sweater I made way back in 1995! I bought a skein of Atacama varigated 100% alpaca yarn to stripe it. He loves it. So do I.

Blankies for Babies

I'm really REALLY slow at getting gifts out. I really don't know what my problem is but I know that I inherited this trait from my mom. It's really awful... I have good intentions but some how I have set backs when it comes to following through. Our next door neighbours had a baby near the end of September and I'm just getting around to gifting them. When I had our baby a year ago, she made us a blanket and a snow suit for her. In return, I'm knitting a little hat and sewing a quilt. The hat is just about finished and I got the quilt top done last week on my days off.



This quilt is mostly purples and greens. All the blocks are pinwheel blocks. I just need to put a border on and then I'll back it with flannel and bind it with flannel. To quilt it I may stitch in the ditch or stitch 1/4 in from the block seams. I'll see what I feel like doing.



This next quilt top was put together the same night as the purple and green one and it is for friends of ours that had their first baby in August. I've already gifted them with a hat identical to the one above. This quilt is made up of pinwheels and square in a square blocks. I'll do the same and use flannel to back it and bind it.



With the cold snap Calgary has been having, these babes I'm sure could use the extra warmth. Daytime temps of -29C with a windchill factor making it close to -40C. Exposed flesh freezes in 2 minutes.

Erin's Cardigan

Pattern: 28b. Blouson from Phildar's Pitchoun ete collection 2006
Size: 6 years
Yarn: Phildar Aviso in Campanule (7 balls) et Blanc (3 balls)
Needles: 4mm & 4.5mm Addi Turbos

I finished this cardigan a while ago... maybe in early October. She was able to wear it for her school pictures. I enlisted my mother to sew in the zipper and 4 broken needles later it was in. Thanks Mom! One little difficulty that I (we) had was getting the zipper in. The side trim is very thick and the sewing machine didn't like going through all that knitted fabric. But it fits her and she likes it a lot.

Salina is Seamed!

I finished seaming Salina last night while watching TV. I really had to think about how to sew on the cuffs on the sleeves because they are ment to be folded up. I got the first sleeve on okay but I guess my brain was a little preoccupied when I was pinning the other cuff to the sleeve and I ended up having the seam on the inside of the sleeve. So this morning I was back at it and got it put on the right way.



I bought these buttons a while back for Salina. I found them at WalMart. Unfortunately, Calgary does not have a great selection of retailers who sell great buttons. When I went to visit my family in Ontario one of the things to do on my list was to go to Ottawa Street in Hamilton to pick out some buttons for my husband's Jarrett. I found some great ones made of petrified wood! They did cost a little bit but he really likes them. So do I. I'll post a picture of them next time. These are my buttons.



I love how they blend with the different colours of the felted tweed. Speaking of felted tweed.... it sure does smell like a barn in my basement! The sweater is blocking right now. Fortunately, we have some nicer, warmer weather and I can air out the house.

Let's just get Real Here...

Okay, so I'm definitely NOT going to make my goal I set in my previous post. Working this past weekend really sucked everything out of me and I really didn't do much after eight. Oh well, I guess I have something to take with me to Ontario to work on while I'm chillin' at the Folk's place.

I'll amuse you with this little quiz I took. My results are actully quite amusing as I graduated from the Funeral Director and Embalmer Program. Heh heh. Yep. That's right.

action=take&quiz_id=1589>What Disney Ride Are You? The Haunted Mansion You're probably dead...at least on the inside. You're the Haunted Mansion!!

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Salina

I have been working on Salina from Vintage Style off and on since March. Not really being in a rush to get it done, it was worked on slowly when I needed something else to do for a while. I'm using Rowan Felted Tweed in Herb and I'm doing the XS size with a few modifications.



As you might be able to see, I'm knitting both sleeves at the same time. I am lengthening them a touch and want them to end up being the same. So to avoid any error, and to get them done seemingly 'quicker' they are both on the needles.

My goal now is to have it done in time for my trip to see my family on the first of next month -just under a week away and I'll be working four of those days. We'll see if I can manage it! I love a challenge.

Yay Me!!!

Here but not Here

I will not be posting for a while as I am preparing to write my board exams in about a month from now. No Knitting = No Blogging. (Well I shouldn't be anyways.) After this month long study break I may have to make one of these.

Kendra's Daisies

This is my 2 year old Niece in her new jumper. As you can see, she has lots of room to grow in it over the fall, winter, and spring.