FO!

Guess what I finished last night? Took me another 3 hours of finishing... that's about 6 hours total, just sewing/weaving/collar. Whew.



Now on to other things. Mostly Seraphim. When I was looking for a bag to put the sweater in for transportation, I located two Addi Naturas I didn't even remember buying. How sad is that? They are the needles I've been wanting to knit the baby fair isle sweater- it figures I already bought them. I'll probably work on that a bit this weekend, to ramp up for Autumn Rose.

Knitalong Happy

Seraphim continues apace- I've got 61 stitches in each of the stockinette pattern sections, which means I have only another trillion increase rows to go. Trillion may be putting it strongly. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, for essentially knitting stockinette fabric for most of the shawl.

Brian's sweater is so close to finishing I can taste it- I completed the sleeves, picked up and knit the neck, and sewed the sleeves to the body. I even wove in a bunch of ends. All that's left is to seam up the sleeves and the sides of the sweater, but that is apparently proving to be too much for me. After all, just the two small seams and the collar took me 3.5 hours. Did I mention this is a huge sweater? Maybe I'll go home and finish it tonight.

Or I could go to a new knitting group and work on Seraphim. Hmm!

In other knitty news, I have joined my third knitalong. MS3 is essentially over, though I have 3 more charts to complete before my shawl is actually done. Clue 4 has two charts, and then I have to do the inset piece to bind my two symmetrical sides together. My Autumn Rose fair isle can't get going until the yarn gets off backorder- presumably the 25th, and they will ship it after that. It's quite likely that the yarn will not arrive before I head out on vacation, so I will not be starting that until at least the second week of October. Then yesterday (care of Ravelry), I discovered the Anne of Green Gables Read and Knit Along and I'm in love. I truly adore LM Montgomery. I have all but the most recently printed couple of books- all lined up in a row of my bookshelf. The goal of the knitalong is to read two books a month, October through January. And knit something Anne-related while doing so. I'm suspecting I would like to knit a counterpane or a tablecloth. This is one nice resource for vintage patterns: the Antique Pattern Library. I could also just make some military-issue WWI era socks, but that's not the challenge I'm hoping for. I need to bear in mind that November is inside the KAL months, however, and I might not be knitting or reading a thing that month. If I decide to write another novel. I will probably try to read one of the books for that month in October and December, respectively. No worries.

Seraphim, apparently, is the right choice

OK, I couldn't hold out on the High Holy Day lace project.

First, I had seven dollars in my PayPal from selling some yarn. Seraphim pattern? Six dollars.

Second, I have two skeins of Schaefer Anne. Fingering weight wool blend, gorgeous. I was going to make a circular shawl (from a Schaefer pattern)- I even started it. And I just hated the pattern. It didn't seem clear, and it was bothering me.

Seraphim requires about 8 oz of fingering weight yarn. I have 2 skeins of the Anne- that's 8 ounces. Seraphim is pretty, and will look beautiful in a mildly variegated color scheme (which my Anne is).

Score. I wonder how far into the stockinette I can get, and still finish the second sweater sleeve this weekend? First sleeve? DONE!

I'll post a status photo at the end of today. For now, I think it's time to get some laundry going and cast on for this shawl. I even have the right size Addi Turbo lace needle, right with the yarn. It's bashert.

Sweater of doom

So. Brian is a nice guy. Fine coworker (sort of, we work rather tangentially together). But he's not tiny!



Front and back are complete. I'm just about done with the increases on the first arm. If I never see this denim bulky yarn again- it will be too soon. If I really bust my butt, I should be able to complete the sweater before I leave for Yom Kippur at the parents' place. So much for lace knitting; it's all sweater all the time around here.

My Autumn Rose won't even ship until after the 25th. I will survive, to be sure.

Apparently my sister has some good pictures that I had not yet snagged. First, knitting in action (Bobble Blue, as seen after her pinning ceremony):


My sister is a nurse now- so we have two RNs in the family. Like mother like daughter. I, however, am a knitter first and foremost. Here's proof!


Aren't we a cute little family.

I went to a new (to me) knit store recently- Knit Happens in Alexandria. It might have been on Rosh Hashana. At least I went to services first! I picked up a couple really cute things there, including Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport for the snowflake socks and two skeins of Rowan 4ply Soft for Endpaper Mitts. I think the yarn I was going to use for the socks (Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport) is instead going to become a Seraphim. Eventually.

Also at the store, I had my first Ravelry moment. You know you're overly web-enabled when you meet someone in a store, and only later realize you recognize them because you've been lusting after their FOs. I really need a knitted skirt, apparently!

Post Happy: the other stuff

In addition to the baby stuff going on around here, there has been a small amount of other progress. Not with holiday knitting, though. I am woefully behind, having not yet started.

I picked up the needles again for Brian's Behemoth Sweater. The back has been done for a while, so I'm trudging through the front in the hopes of getting it to him before the weather gets too cold. Here's the progress as of this morning- note the back is too big to fit in-frame, so I draped it over the bed:


It was noted at SSK yesterday that last year The Purloined Letter and I both worked on Adamas during the High Holy Days. Obviously, a new lace project is needed. The High Holy Day tradition must go on! I could finish the Mystery Stole 3 project... which is probably 70 percent complete... but I have to knit it at home, and that's frustrating. I could work on the Hanami shawl, but I just don't have it in me to do the basketweave lace pattern right now. I do have two good options!

First, I could knit the Butterfly dress- I have the book and yarn already. When better to knit it than now, in my (almost late) twenties. It's not the type of garment I envision wearing much past 30 odd. I linked to the KnitPicks page, since I purchased their yarn (in the green colorway, Tide Pool), and I envision doing it without beads. Beads are gorgeous, but I've read in numerous places that they make the project far too much of a hassle. Lace alone will do me!

My second option is to knit the Fiddlesticks Lily of the Valley Stole. Again, I have the pattern. I think it would be scrumptious in this yarn, which really is that bright:


I still have a few days to decide. Or I can chicken out and finish MS3. Or perhaps finish one of my numerous UFOs?!

Babies, Babies

There's been a lot of pregnancy going on. Not close to home, but in the family and friends arena. Let's recap my failure to actually complete a baby project... but first a review of the more successful baby gift ventures.

First up, the ginormous lavendar baby blanket. I prefer not to think how much time I spent on this. It was definitely over a year- maybe 18 months? Cry. It hasn't found a home yet. I should get a better detail picture- but imagine, if you will, lots of cables and lace in that purple blob.


Next, a blanket for my boss from last year. Cute! Aran! I love this pattern wholeheartedly.


And then a crocheted blanket for a coworker and his lovely wife- that was recent, it's in the archives.

Another blanket made a brief appearance. I love the yarn and like the patterns, but I think I'm afraid of the edging. It has been sitting lonely for quite some time now- I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done with the squares now, and just need to get my butt in gear to finish it.


Meanwhile, I decided to make a bunch of other baby things. First up is another version of the Aran blanket. Well, after repeat 3 of this one I discovered I had been completely destroying one of the cable patterns. Let me say this again. I knit an entire afghan in this pattern. And 3 more repeats of another one. And only THEN do I realize that I was reading it incorrectly! Lucky for me, this yarn is so sparkly and funky that nobody except a fellow knitter would ever be able to tell. Mwahaha. Here's the latest project pic, more than 4 repeats in (thanks to my progress at SSK yesterday):


I also started a bunch of baby sweaters. First up (and finally photographed!) is the coral cabled sweater:

I finished the majority of the body, up to where one joins the sleeves. And somehow I cannot knit the sleeves. Here's an example of wacky laddering and icky shaping:

So I frogged the sleeve, and am back to just the body of the sweater. Two years later. But look, pretty cables!


Then there's the blue sweater. I started this for Scott's baby, and sadly I realized after knitting the two fronts that I had made them for a girl. This yarn screams baby boy. Oops! Here it lies yesterday evening, photographed for the first time- back done, two fronts done, one sleeve done, and one sleeve on the needles:

And after the frog pond, here's the current state of affairs:

But look! Cables!


There's also the Baby Owl sweater- I have completed the back (and only the back):