Adventures in knitting...

After knitting two projects (the longforgotten shrug, and the neverending poncho) I feel the need to knit something small and meaningless.  Well, maybe not meaningless, but small.  I was thinking some mittens for the kids or perhaps simple ear flap hats from littleturtleknits.com.  Whatever it is, I must be able to finish it in a week, or I might just explode or dye from boredom, whatever may come first!  I need my muses back for encouragement.  Where for art thou ol' knitting ladies of Bangor?

Oh my word.  I never thought that the cut little Sidar pattern poncho would take so long!  Kathy seemed to have forgotten that part when selling it to me.  it is turing out rather large, but I think that once I sew it up it should fit.  It might be a little big, but that is alright, Lexi can grow into it.  I am at the last part of the pattern where I need to knit 8 more inches.  This has taken sooo long to do!

  

I have done alot more on it since this picture.  I need to take a more recent one.  I will put that on my to do list.

Here are the kiddos in their costume!

 

Oh how I will miss all of you!  I have grown to love CitySide and just can't imagine another knitting store taking your place.  Thank you all for befriending a youngster like me and tolerating and even loving my children.  I shall keep in touch, don't you worry. 

I have been working on the strawberry hat in between unpacking boxes and chasing the kiddos.  It is almost done!  This week I will try and find a suitable ribbon for it.  The poncho is at a halt at the moment, but only until I settle down a bit.  And the shrug, the dreaded shrug, well I will finish it some cold winter day.  Some day!

I miss you, I really really do!  Can't wait until you plan a "Fiber Frolic" down here in Virgina!

 

I know it has been a while since I have written on this blog.  We have been pretty busy preparing to move to D.C.  Lame excuse I know, but at least I kept on knitting right?

I put aside the Twisted Float shrug for now.  Right now I am in the "I hate it and I will never wear it" stage.  It always passes.  I am just waiting it out.  At the moment I am half way down both sleeves.  Someday. Now that I have finished all my other projects, maybe I will finish this one too.  Brian will have a hernia if I try to start another project before we move, so this would be a good time to finish.  I am thinking I might slip in a crochet project in there though.  Hehe, just don't tell him!

I finished that secret project I was knitting.  After I give it away I will post pictures.  Besides that, I finished a lacey sweater for my baby girl.  Let me tell you, this was so fun to knit!  And it was quick too!  The colors will compliment her red hair perfectly.   It is made out of 100% cotton.  I can't wait for her to wake up to try it on her!  

 

Well I am about half way finished with both sleeves.  I regretably had to set it down even though I am so close!  I have a gift I am knitting up that I reeeaaally need to finish.  I will pick it up again soon and finish this baby!

Whew! I am excited to be finally be finished with the body! All along I have been so unsure of the sweater since mine looked so different than everyone elses. Now that I bound off all 464 stitches (yikes!) I feel like I have accomplished something unique! I have spent $28 on this project using all of my left over yarns! Yeah! Now I can't wait to finished the sleeves!

Well, it's getting there!  I am on the lapel now and I am just starting the final float pattern in the body (hopefully!).  After that I will put the edging on it and I am done with the body!  Yeah!  The end is in sight!

I am really starting to like it again.  The ladies at my favorite knitting store (www.citysideyarnco.com) really encouraged me today.  My thursday morning knitting group is a group of really inspiring and nice women. 

It is really getting hard to take picures of this monstrocity!  The only place now it the floor!  So, without further adeu...

You know, I really go through mood swings with this sweater.  There are times that I love it and I love the way I interpreted the pattern and how hippy it looks.  The other times I am ready to throw it aside and I tell myself I am never going to wear this and why and I wasting my time.

Sigh...  Right now I am loving it.  The hardest part is picking the colors.  The wrong color choice could just ruin the whole project.  Now I only have 4 changes left before I finish with the body.  The last two were a given so the only choice left were the 2 before it.  i think I have it squared away now! 

I added a little bit of the sparkly yarn to the center.  That part has really bugged me.  Now that I wove that one strand in, it doesn't scream at me anymore.  I like it!  I might add it in the center rounds, but I am not so sure.  Now that I like the center the pink/blue/beige interchanges don't bother me as much anymore. 

The darker beige is what I am doing next before I do the lapel rounds.  I think it will set the stage for the pinks and purples to come.

So, with out further ado, the pictures!  I can no longer fit it on my table, so the couch will ahve to do!  The color in the pictures actually show up really good! 

Well, I am past the armholes (the contrasting purple yarn) and onto the lapel!  Almost done with the body!  I have to admit that I am having my doubts about this sweater.  I do like the colors, but as with any project, I am just not sure of it until it is done.  It looks so different than everydody elses!  Mine has distinct rings whereas everyone elses is more blended.  I guess it will have more of a hippy look!

I have added the brown to darken it up some more and show off the varigated pink.  So far with this project I have only spent $14!  I am using all of my leftover yarns for this project (yes, I had a lot!).  So, I am limited in my choices.  The $14 I spent was to get anothr skein of the purple that is in the center.  I want that color to go around the edge to finish it off. 

I also added some sparkly yarn that I just found in my yarn stash.  I had bought this a while ago with intentions of making a scarf with it.  It matches perfectly and makes the colors in the sweater pop!  I have another skein of it as well.  So, I think that I am going to weave it in periodically in the center to make the other colors pop and make it look more interesting.  I will see what the ladies at the yarn shop say!  I get to go Sunday so brian can take the kids and I can have some me time!  yeah!!!

It is really hard to take a pictue of it streached out because it is so big!  S, the big picture does not do it justice!

 

 

Okay, the last pic was seriously whited out.  Here is a better picture.

So, I took the shrug to the CitySide to make sure I was doing it correctly.  I was!  Yeah!

I decided to lighten it up some and put in a few neutral colors.  That really perked it up!  The hardest part for me is deciding which color to put next.  I am using all of my leftover yarn for the sweater.  I am almost to the armholes.  I am told that that is a difficult part. We will see.

This is what I am working on now.  It is from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005 issue. I haven't worked on this much the past week, but since Brian is gone I can work on it into the wee hours after the kids go to bed.  I hope to get the majority of it done before he comes back.  I am a bit worried about how it is turning out as it doesn't look like the picture, but I need to just keep going and not rip it out.  So what if it doesn't look exactly like the picture!