March 2010

March! As of today it's going out like a lion, blustery and sleet.  A great day to stay in and knit.  It was a busy month and I have a few finished projects to show for it. 

First as I promised last month - a Paper Bag!  Knit with Katia's Paper.  It's pretty cool stuff.  This would make a great beach bag or market bag.

Then, our knitting weekend.  What fun!! We knit, we ate, we knit , we ate, we knit... ok, you get the picture.  It was great fun and I made a lot of progress on my Harlequin Jacket from Jane Slicer-Smith's book, Swing, Swaggr and Drape.  And when I got home I continued on and finished it.  Well, nothing that big goes without a story... I finished it at work on a Tuesday morning in time to model it for Sit 'n Knit.  The arms were a little long, but I was willing to live with it, it was DONE!  And a customer says to me, "Are the arms supposed to be different?"  Argggggh!!  In my haste to finish, I had left out a color section on one of the arms.  Ok, no one else noticed, so I'll leave it for now and fix it when I come back from vacation in April.  As the day wore on it made me crazier and crazier.., so, I took the sleeve out and took it home and over the next two days, I fixed the sleeve and decided to shorten both as long as I had  it apart.  So, the moral of the story is...I don't know...don't hurry and pay attention.  But, I love it, love the colors, Love the jacket. 

Then I finished up the bathing suit cover up I had started last month. It is knit with Katia's Colibri.  I like it and it pretty much turned out the way I wanted it to. (always a good thing and sometimes a surprise)

I had ordered new colors in Plymouth's Kudo and when I did, I thought would that be cute in the popular top down sweater pattern.  Of course when the yarn showed up I had to try it.  So, about a half an hour ago, I finished it!  Love it amd while I was making it I had to use my coupon and Kohl's to buy capri's and tee shirt to go with it.  Just a side note, I used these really cool buttons.  They are made from recycled paper (from Spin A Yarn), but they can't be washed.  So, I sewed a smaller button to the back of them and poked them through the knitting rather than sewing them in.  This way they can easily be removed for washing.

And on the needles, among other things, is a black short cardi.  I bought a black a white skirt and a white top and got to thinking (always dangerous) it needs a little something.  So this blob is soon to be a sweater. 

Then the Lonco drawstring sweater and then hopefully catch up on a few more unfinished projects cluttering up the knitting bag.

So here's to spring (coming soon!).  Don't let the sunshine keep you from knittng.  Until next month, Nancy

February 2010

February, a short month, but busy.  I actually feel like I accomplished a few things this month, not the ufo's in my knitting bag, but other things.  We have gotten a lot of our new spring yarns in and they are so tempting and samples need to be made; any other excuses??  So here we go..

I did finish the Cabled Rib Sweater made with two strands of sock yarn held together.  I used Aruacania's Ranco.  A solid and a multi. This is a great way to enjoy all the beautiful sock yarns without knitting socks on 1's.  Two strands of sock yarn = worsted weight.  So I got to enjoy these beautiful yarns and knit on 8's.  I love the color effects you can get by mixing yarns.

Then new yarn shows up....We got a yarn called Bombay by Katia.  It is a self striping cotton in great colors.  So, I pictured (in my head) a little girls sun dress and an adult summer cardigan.  The little sun dress has a cute ruffle around the neck and the Cardi uses a slip stitch pattern to break up the horizontal striping a little. I am pleased with the way they turned out.

Another new yarn is a Lace Weight from Noro, Sekku.  I had to try this out too.  I started knitting it in my Lucsious Lace scarf pattern, but as with all Noro yarns there is some thick and thinness to it.  It did not do the yarn or the pattern justice, so, rippp... I then decided on a simple feather and fan pattern - perfect.  Feather and Fan is such a simple pattern, but works well for so many things.

I also needed to get a sample made for July's Knit and Knibble, so Beaded Bookmarks were in order.  I wrote the pattern and charts and knitted 3 of them.  The knitting went very quick.  I knit all three in one day (ok, it was a snow day and I had a little extra free time). I used Panda Silk on 2 of them and Ellla Rae's Lace Merino on the other.

We won't discuss or show pictures (again) of the unfinished projects in my bag (Lace Stole, 2 socks, my husbands sweater), because they are still there and not much has changed.  But I didn't let that stop me from starting some new unfinished projects...

First, is a bathing suit coverup I am making out of Katia's Colibri and Plymouth's Wildflower.  This will get done, I need it for April.

The knitting guild is having it's annual Knitting Weekend later this month and we are knitting something (of our choice) out of the new book Swing, Swagger and Drape.  I am going to do the cover sweater and so this weekend I did some swatching and started my first one and a half miters for the sweater.  I wanted to make sure it is going the right way and I uderstand the pattern before we go.  I am knitting it from a new yarn from Plymouth, Merino Superwash.  It is really a nice yarn and I am doing three colors, Charcoal Grey, Grey and Pink.  Will this be done by the end of March??? .....

And a swatch for two more new yarns.  Lonco, a fingering weight cotton by Araucania.  Hopefulley will be a drawstring top one of these days and Paper from Katia.  Yes, paper...to be a Bag.

It has been a busy knitting month and March promises to be the same.  I am really looking forward to the knitting weekend and 3 days of KNITTING!! (and great company, while doing it).

Happy Knitting to you, until next month,  Nancy