Mom's Birthday Knit

My mom's birthday is coming up in February and I have been searching Ravelry for a pattern to knit. I need to find a pattern that will work nicely in a cotton or cotton blend since she gets hot easily in sweaters. I have found four sweaters that I really like and can work them in either Knit Picks Main Line or Knit Picks Shine Sport. Below are the pictures of each and my color choices for each one. Please let me know what you think. Click on color link below to see colors.


Tie Cropped Cardigan in color Crocus


Vogue Bell Sleeve Jacket in color Dusty Lavender in picture


Green Tea Raglan in color Cocoa or Blueberry


Bianca's Jacket in color Butter Pecan or Cocoa

Here is a picture of my mom so you have an idea of who will be wearing it. Thanks in advance for the input.

Stole Update

I just finished Clue #3 of the Secret of the Stole KAL. Tomorrow Clue #4 comes out and will mark the halfway point of the KAL. Unfortunately, I am not really enjoying it. Mostly because I am working on 2 things right now that are both tedious and it is really taking the joy out of knitting.

I have been determined to keep up with the clues and finish with everyone else but I am so tempted to quit. The pattern is working out nice although I like the looks of the MS3 Stole better but it is requiring about 12 -16 hours of knitting a week. After I get both of these stoles finished, I probably won't do anything lace for a long, long time.


Clue 3 finished


Clue 2 finished


Clue 1 finished

The stole seems like a big commitment right now since I am trying so hard to work on the Dale of Norway baby set for my friend. When I chose the baby set, I thought I had a full six months to work on it but the shower is 2 months before the due date. So I only have until Dec 1st. It is progressing but on #1 needles the process is sloooowwww! It take about 4 hours to get 1" done ... I am so glad I chose to do the smallest size.


Progress so far


Close up of weird short row shaping on romper.
There was no way to keep shaping in the stripe pattern.

On a better note, the MS3 is in hibernation until at least next spring when I decide to knit the wing. I like the MS3 pattern so much better than the SOTS pattern. On the MS3, I added about 12" and knit and alternate border. I really love how it is looking and am so proud of it.


Clue 4 finished with added length and border


Close up of the alternate border that matches sides.

Anyway, I thought I'd give a quick update on my knitting since I haven't made an entry for awhile. I have been a little lost in the Ravelry world when I am not knitting ... I have been able to organize my knitting and dream of new projects. The dreaming of knitting something else has been so much better than the reality of what I am currently knitting. Right now, I am actually looking forward to folding about four loads of laundry.

Jasmine Cardi Finished

I recently finished this cute little cardigan for one of my mom's who is expecting in November. I really like how it turned out eventhough it wasn't that fun to knit. I slightly modified the lace since I didn't like the picot edge. If you aren't a fan of finishing work, I would would choose a different project. The lace edging is knitted lengthwise then sewn on. It took me several tries to like the looks of the sewing and I am pretty good at finishing work. I do like the looks of the finished cardigan.



Pattern: Jasmine Lace Edge Cardigan from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding.

Size: Up to 3 months

Yarn: Sirdar Breeze Cotton-rich DK Shade 0070 - It is actually more of a Bubble Gum pink in person not nearly as neon. Only used one skein.

Needles: Denise sizes 5 and 6

Modifications: Worked even instead of the picot edge.

Since I have a child care in my home and have a new baby, I was able to try the cardi on a 10 week old baby. It fit very nice and looks like it would maybe fit up to 5 months which is good. All babies are different but it is nice to know that it will fit a baby nicely.




I found the cutest bunny buttons at Joann's. Here is a close up of the button and lace edge.




I originally chose the bunny buttons because we where reading Peter Rabbit. I wanted to buy a book to go along with the gift and thought Peter Rabbit was a little to grown up. I remembered that my niece, Chloe had a favorite book about a bunny, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. I was excited when I found out it was one of the current Kohl's Cares books.



Since my mom has taught me presentation is everything, I took special care choosing the items to go with the cardigan and wrapping it in a special way. Here is a picture of my gift which is ready and waiting for baby.

What a Man, What a Man ..... What a Mighty Good Man

I thought that I needed to take a minute and brag on my man. Eventhough my blog is mostly about knitting it isn't really the true love of my life. I am lucky to have what I think to be one of the best marriages out there. I am sure that God made Duane especially for me. We have so much fun together.

He buys me flowers and sings to me!
We are quickly approaching our 10th Anniversary and my hubby brought me some of the prettiest roses.



He brought them home on the 10th Anniversary of when we met and had a nice evening planned. We had a great evening and he even sang me the song that he wrote me for our first Christmas together.

He works on my car!
This weekend he spent all day Saturday and Sunday working relentlessly on my mysterious van problem. I think that he is up to about 10 days working on the problem. The problem is that something is draining my battery if it sits to long without being driven. He has replaced the battery three times, replaced belts and fuses, removed and tested alternator, replaced wires, removed bulbs, chased and tested wires ... and yet I still had to jump it yesterday! We have sure got our monies worth out of the booster. If I wasn't so anti car payment, I'd be thinking about getting a new van.

He helps me with my knitting!
Duane compares looking at my knitting books and magazines to me watching the History or Military channel. I think all his tanks look the same eventhough he can tell me in detail about how wrong I am. He thinks all my knitting looks the same and I can tell him in detail how he is wrong. So our joke is do you want to see what tank I'm working on.

Eventhough he isn't greatly interested in my knitting, he is always willing to help me try to solve my knitting problems. Especially when it comes to math. I don't know how everyone else is but does anyone look forward to the pattern reading. Decrease 56 stitches evenly over your 180 stitches on needle. And lets make it more interesting shaping follows and it is worked in the round so it must be even on both sides. Duane helped me crunch number and draw diagrams while I knit, frogged and re-did math. Have you ever wondered what a three, yes I said, three hour row looks like.



He makes me laugh!
Duane is also great at making me laugh, spinning me around our living room dance floor, tickling me till I scream so loud I am sure the neighbors will call 911 and making me feel more loved than I could have ever imagined. I am so looking forward to our next 10 years together.

Mishaps and Funnies

Since I have just been plugging away at my current WIPs and life has been fairly uneventful, I thought I'd share a few of my knitting mishaps.

My Biggest Mishap



This sweater was intended for my oldest step son, Mike. I substituted yarn by actually knitting this double stranded which by "my math" should have worked. I kept thinking it seemed big but when I would measure it, it seemed okay. I should have followed my gut instead of completing it and doing all the finishing work.

Being fearful that it might be to big, I had his younger brother Nate try it on. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw how it swallowed this 6'ish about 240 lb boy. Nate had fun posting this on his My Space calling it the Subway Diet sweater.

I have yet to knit Mike another sweater. I finally have unraveled the whole sweater, splitting it back until single strands and rewinding it.

My Ugliest Mishap

Somewhere along my knitting journey, I have discovered that I am not a novelty yarn kinda girl. But before I came to this realization, I started this which began as a prayer shawl. I had seen this yarn at Hobby Lobby and had to have it. It was silky and fuzzy and soft and in the skein the colors looked great. But as I knit it the colors didn't seem to go so well together.

I also realized that I would never be caught dead wearing this blob. It lived in my UFO cubby for a long, long time. I finally decided that I needed to do something with it. I thought about whether it could be made back into yarn and made into something better. But after much thought I decided to just finish knitting it.

Once finished, it wasn't long enough for a shawl and not big enough for a throw. I really didn't know what to do with it. The next day my problem was solved by a four year old child who thought that it was so soft and beautiful and would make the greatest Rapunzel hair. My knitted "hair" now permanently lives in the dress up box. I am hoping soon I will forget how much time and cost was involved.

Ballwinder Mishap

I finally broke down and spent the money to order a ballwinder after winding 440 yards of lace weight by hand. I quickly became a winding fool trying to organize my stash. Then I got this brilliant idea that I could wind a current ball of yarn from a WIP into a center pull ball.

To do this I had to get the yarn attached to my project out of the way and thought putting it around my shoulders would work nicely. It didn't quite work the way I thought and I quickly learned the limitations of my ballwinder.



It probably won't surprise you that I gained respect for a drill press on my 12th birthday much the same way except it didn't stop winding until I had a nice bald spot. You would have thought I would have learned.


And a Funnie as promised

Day 1: Lyssie Lou (4 yr old girl whose name has been changed for FUN) says as petting cat, "she is soft .... like YARN."
Day 2: Lyssie Lou says after petting cat with a look of revelation on her face, "I know what cats are made out of .... YARN!"

I love this child, she might not be mine but I have sure rubbed off on her over the last four years.

This is an excellent example of why I love to spend my days with children .... they make me laugh and I can act like a complete nut with them and they just call me Funny Angie and laugh.
How many jobs are out there where you get to hug and kiss on the clients, play and act goofy and they actually pay you for it. I think that I have the best job in town .... you may have to remind me of this when I am doing my taxes.

MY KNIT ALONGS - Part 2

Mystery Stole 3



The Mystery Stole 3 group is closed to new members at this time. If you missed out on sign ups for this group, don't worry, you didn't miss out on knitting this design. Pink Lemon Twist is offering the design in a traditional format since the Knit Along is over. Click here for the Swan Lake pattern.

They are already planning for Mystery Stole 4 in late Summer 2008 and this will be announced through the Pink Lemon Knits group as well as the blog, Pink Lemon Twist.

This KAL has been my first experience working with lace weight yarn and beads. I had done some lace work on both the Josephine top and the Campanula top which had charts. At first, I hated it but as soon as I got used to working with the yarn I really enjoyed it.

Although this KAL is over I am still working on Clue #4. Clue #4 was a larger clue because we had 2 weeks to work on it. But this was the Clue in which we decided to add length. Because I have plenty of yarn and am not a small person, I decided to add about 12 inches and do an alternate border before beginning the wing section.

Since Secret of the Stole is beginning and October 5th, I am working hard at finishing Clue #4. As soon as I finish this clue, I am going to put it aside until I am finished with the new KAL. I really want to keep up this time around.

Here is an updated picture of my progress so far. I figure that I am a little more than halfway done.



Here is a close up of the beads. They don't show up as much as I would like but they do grab the light and reflect nicely.



This KAL is really what has made me see the benefit of KALs. You can get all kinds of help in the discussion groups. You get to share your work with others and see others work which is always inspiring.

Pinwheel Sweater KAL



This KAL is not really active anymore but you can still visit and view the archives. There are a lot of great pictures and helpful hints.

I started my Pinwheel sweater in November 2006. I had bought some yarn off ebay that ended up not being a good of a buy as I had thought. I ended up with a bunch of odd ball skeins of sport and worsted weight wool from Norway. I had ordered the yarn in hopes of making a Norwegian sweater out of real Norwegian wool but there wasn't enough of any of the colors for one sweater. I soon after found the pattern for the Pinwheel sweater on the Elann website.

A lot of people omit the sleeves and make Pinwheel baby blankets. I've seen several and think they are a great idea. You could use up left over yarn easily for this project making it really stripey and colorful. I also thought for the child's sweater pattern you could change the amount of rounds so you only use six colors and do a rainbow colored sweater. I tend to create new projects when I get close to finishing a project.

I worked on it quite a bit this weekend since I was home sick. Here is my progress.



I am currently about 5 rounds into the 7th and final color. It is like 430 some stitches a round. I am so greatful for the 60 inch cord that goes with my Knit Picks Option needles it helps so much.



This is one of my favorite tips from the KAL website. You knit up the armhole with a different color waste yarn instead of putting the stitches on stitch holders or scrap yarn. When you are ready to knit the sleeves, you just pickup the stitches and remove the waste yarn. Like this ...



It works just great and was really easy to do. I will definitely remember this trick for future use.
I am getting so close to finishing this that it is hard for me to work on anything else. I get like that when I can see the end in site. I am sure it will be part of my wardrobe this fall.


Monthly Discloth KAL



This group holds 2 KALs per month. They send an email to the group with about 7 lines of a pattern a day and continue to email the pattern for about 7 days. After 7 days, you’ll have a dishcloth to use or pass along.

1st of the Month KAL: These KALs have a monthly theme and usually have a picture of something pertaining to the month/season. Usually a solid color is best for pictured dishcloths.

16th of the Month KAL: These KALs are usually a repeating pattern of some type. They try to incorporate a “new” stitch. Maybe something that you haven’t tried yet. Variegated yarns are usually good to use for these KALs. For these KALs, feel free to ask as many questions as you need to get your answer and get through the KAL. There are some wonderful knitters in our group who are more than willing to help. This is a learning experience KAL.

They have past dishcloth patterns to work on at your own pace. That leaves the rest of the month for knitting tips, help, suggestions and just chatting about knitted dishcloths. They also exchange dishcloths for the fall, winter, spring and summer if you choose to participate. They have fun with knitting year round.

This is a very active KAL with lots of members. I don't knit the dishclothes every month but do when I need a small project with quick gratification. If you do all the KAL you will have 24 dishclothes ready for Christmas presents. They make great gifts by themselves or you can add a hand soap or lotion or make a whole kitchen theme gift basket.

I hope you enjoyed my entries about my KALs? Have you ever joined a KAL? If not, why don't you give one a try? Maybe one of mine. If so, what KALs are you part of? Is there a new one out there I should try?

MY KNIT ALONGS

As you may have noticed, I was finally able to figure out how to add buttons to my blog. Oh Happy Day! There has been such a learning curve figuring all this out. Plus, I started blogging on my old PC in which I couldn't use any updated features and then we got a new PC and I had lots of new stuff to learn.

Oh yeah, I was talking about my buttons. Right now, all of my buttons are for KAL that I currently belong to. I thought I would give you a little info about each one and my progress.

Secret of the Stole



This is a group for the new Secret of the Stole KAL (knit a long) that is beginning October 5, 2007. Along with knitting a stole, several lucky members will receive prizes along the way. Membership will be closing for this group on October 4, 2007.

The stole is a combination of lace and beads and the pattern is by Nautical Knitter. Those who complete the Secret of the Stole KAL will have a beautiful stole to wear for New Year's Eve festivities.

As you can see this group is still open and I decided to sign up because I enjoyed the Mystery Stole 3 KAL so much. I am really going to try and keep up with this group and finish with everyone.

Here are my goodies for this project.



My Knit Picks order. I ordered the Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint which is a super, sof baby alpaca. I also ordered the new Harmony wood interchangeable tips in #4. They are so smooth and pretty. Take a closer look.



Because this yarn comes in hanks and I don't own a swift or ballwinder, I had to hand wind my yarn. I used a chair with a swivel bottom and a presciption bottle. I put the end under cap and began winding.



I ended up with a nice center pull ball of yarn. Yeah!



This picture shows all my tools for this project except for the pattern hints I will recieve weekly soon. The beads are a pretty irredescent silver which catches colors of pink, blue and green.
Here's a close up.



And finally here is a picture of my swatch. I didn't think to add the beads to the swatch which would have been nice to see how the show up.



I am really excited to start this KAL and my goal is to first complete my MS3 up to the point I start the wing and then put it aside to work on the Secret of the Stole.


Red Sweater KAL

A knit along for those needing a little splash of color in their lives... namely RED!



Join this knit along if you are in the mood to knit a wonderful red sweater. Any red sweater will do, any shade of red, any pattern you want—just so long as it's red.

By the way... There's no time limit to this KAL. This isn't a race or anything like that, either. We're just here to knit red sweaters! :-)

I joined this KAL for 3 reasons.


1) I love red! It is most definitely my favorite color.


2) I love knitting!


3) I have nothing in my wardrobe that is red and hand knit.


Therefore, I must join although I have 6 WIPs and at least 30 projects waiting in my stash closet. Since none of those projects were red, I had to go buy more stash! Which I love doing about as much as knitting. This is what I bought.



The Patons was on sale at Michaels for $3.79 this week. I am trying to decide between these two projects. What do you think?



I am leaning at doing the vest because I am afraid the Patons wool may be too scratchy against my skin. But I have yet to knit an adult size Aran sweater. Isn't knitting great there is always something you can do that you've never done before and you can spend your entire lifetime challenging yourself.

I have decided that I won't be casting on for this KAL until either my Bonsai Tunic or my Pinwheel sweater is off the needles. I'm going to try and keep my WIP to six or less but I think I have seven items on the needle now. EGHADS!

Buddy Walk 2007

Today entry is about my soon to be nine year old niece, Chloe. The above picture is her with her mom Lisa. Chloe will be participating in her 8th IDSF Buddy Walk. Chloe was born with Down Syndrome and has had to work very hard to reach every developmental milestone. Most people who hear we have a member of our family with Down Syndrome immediately say, "They are so sweet and loving."

While Chloe can be those things they are not the adjectives that first come to my mind when discribing her. I would say she is strong willed, determined, stubborn, independent, sensitive, girly and very, very flexible. She is part of the Deveaus Darlings cheerleading team. She loves to practice and will stand in front of anything with a reflection, i.e. mirror, TV, patio door and practice getting her moves just right. She has a smile that can light up a room.

Chloe's biggest challenge has been her inability to vocalize. As Chloe's aunt, I hope and pray for the day that she will be able to communicate with her friends and family whether through talking or a machine. The only benefit of this has been to her little brother who can blame everything on her saying, "Chloe did it!" We would all jump for joy at hearing her say, "Did not!"

Chloe's mom, Lisa is an active mom always on the go and a wonderful advocate for Chloe. She has fought hard for Chloe's rights making sure that she can get all the help possible. Nothing comes easy for a family who is touched by Down Syndrome and by sponsoring Lisa & Chloe Hipkiss in the Buddy Walk you are helping to raise awareness and funding for research.



Chloe with her mommy and brothers! They all love each other bunchies!

My Knitting Journey

It's funny sometimes it seems like I get lots finished when I'm knitting. I seem to crank items out much to my own amazement but lately that is just not the case. I feel like I am knitting just as much as normal but nothing is getting finished. Maybe my WIPs are just larger projects than normal, maybe my right arm is a little sorer than normal and I know my house is a lot cleaner than normal. No matter what the reason I decided I needed to give myself a pep talk and share what I am accomplishing instead of what I am not. Especially since knitting is not supposed to be a chore or job, each project is a journey toward completion much like life. I can choose to enjoy the journey and not get so rushed to get to the end.

The Pinwheel Sweater

I started this in November last year and worked on it during most of my weekly Knit Nights. There are seven color changes with 2o rows each color change. I am half done with the sixth color change. I drug this back out this week since it is getting closer to cool weather. Since the tendonitis in my right arm is acting up lately, I am trying to relearn to knit using the Lorilee Beltman Continental Knitting Method . I am hoping that if I can switch between my right and left hand I will avoid the flair ups.

Danica

I started this for my brother last Christmas. It was really fun to knit and the entralac was not near as hard as it looks. It became a UFO because I didn't like how the back looked and wasn't sure how to finish it. And knowing my brother would really like a Dicks gift card better it just became the easiest solution. I do think I want to finish this but not sure if I should knit a front and back a like and sew together or maybe a simple stockinette back in blue. Any thoughts?

Bonsai Tunic

I am up to the armhole shaping on the back of this top. I have been working on this more off than on for about a month. Normally, I finish something like this in a month but not this time. For some reason, I had to frog a lot ... I think it was my lack of paying attention to pattern. I may get it done this Fall if not ... there is always the Spring.

Mystery Stole 3 ... A.K.A. MS3

I hated this when I started it. I planned on never, ever, ever knitting anything lace again. But I felt the same way about knitting about six years ago. I determined to finish the 2XL Hooded
Sweater out of Homespun ... my first project ... no one told me that my first project was supposed to be a scarf. Actually, if I would have done a scarf first I may never had stuck with it so I am glad no one told me. Anyway, now I am truly growing to love knitting lace. It is truly different and watching the patterns unfold is wonderful.

I would only be about 30 rows from finishing Clue 4 and beginning the wing. Except that I decided to add length and do the alternate border. I didn't finish this with the group but I am so glad that I joined the MS3 KAL and began a love affair with lace. How romantic am I ... A Love Affair with Lace ... wouldn't it make a great title for a lace book.

Jaywalker

These socks are living in my car right now. I have about 10 days in each sock, so you can tell I've been doing most the driving lately. I have seen so many pairs of these on the web but I like mine best. I am not trying to be prideful but I love the funky color and think it is perfect with the funky zig zag pattern. I am also so excited that the second sock is working out as an identical twin ... this is a first for me. If you can't tell this is the newer Knit Pick sock yarn Felici in the colorway Aurora. I am really enjoying making these and am so tempted to make a pair in every colorway ... but I have so many other skeins of sock yarn that are just waiting to become socks.

Baby #1

This sweet little top is Jasmine Lace Edge Cardigan from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding . There are some cute patterns in this book but I am disappointed because the binding broke as soon as I opened it ... hopefully a little glue and clamping will fix it. Anyway, this has been a simple, fairly quick knit and I love the pink. This is for one of my mom's who is due the end of November. I will be so excited to add a new baby girl the first of the year to my childcare. Check out the buttons.

I so love these buttons ... they are perfect for this cardi. After seeing Miss Potter, I had to read through the Beatrix Potter series. We have been reading the Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit and Friends before nap each day which has been such a treat. So big sister and brother will be excited for the new baby to have Peter Rabbit buttons and they promise to keep the present a surprise. I think I am going to buy a cute stuffed bunny to wear the cardi when I gift it. I forgot to mention how much I loved the movie, if you love movies set in old time periods and true stories it is a must see.

Baby #2

This really should be a stealth project and I may get found out by posting this but you would never believe how many hours of knitting I have done on this project to get it this far. Here are a few clues.

1) It is worked on sizes 0 and 1 needles.
2)On the last row of ribbing I had to work 40ish increase evenly.
3)Each leg is 98 stitches across which means it is 196 stitches each row since I am working them at same time.

I will never be able to explain how bad my hands ached after finishing the ribbing. I had to almost completely stop knitting for a week until they were better. There is probably about 20 hours of knitting here so far. Did I mention that this is going to be an entire outfit with matching toy? Did I tell you how glad I am that I have until mid January to finish? Did I tell you how much I adore the soon to be mom? You probably figured that out because you wouldn't knit something like this for just anyone. This will be a treasured heirloom and worth every minute of the blood, sweat and tears that will most likely be shed.