The Baby Sweater?

I never could get the photos of the baby sweater uploaded on Tuesday, so I am going to try to upload them today. You can sort of see the cables in the photos. The one on the left is the finished back, the on the right/below is the start of one of the halves of the front. The pink stitch holder is where the pocket is. The yarn is Plymouth Encore, which is 75% acrylic but which is also machine washable and I think it can even go in the dryer. Both things are very important (more machine washing than drying) for baby clothes I am told.

I have also been working on my second of Eunny's Bayerische sock. Nothing photo worthy yet.

Oh, for those of you in Boston, can you believe this weather? I am not a fan of cold, but even I am wondering when it will really be cold. I came to work today without a coat or a jacket, I just wore a handknit. What is up with this? It is the end of November, after all.

Vest Update

Since it has been a very long time since my Eunny vest has made an appearance on this blog, I thought I'd show you the progress I've made. Our last class is this Saturday, when we will be cutting steeks and picking up stitches for the neckline. I'm busily trying to finish my vest before then. Once the fair isle part is complete, finishing up the trim shouldn't take too long. It will be the kind of thing I can do in front of the TV, so I should have a completed vest soon after Saturday.

Anyway, here's what I have done so far. You can see the neck steek going up the front and the armhole steeks going up the sides.



Here's a closeup of the neck steek:




I wanted to show you how fair isle decreases work. This is one of the things I've found truly fascinating about this whole process. If you reverse the normal slant of your decreases (i.e. do a k2tog instead of an SSK) and do them right up against the steek, they don't interfere with the pattern.

I have about 16 more rounds to go. About 5 rows from the end, I also I have to set a back neck steek. So, I'm close to the finish line, but not quite there.

My Ella Rae yarn came on Monday - I got it from WEBS for a really good price and I plan to use it for my Ribby Cardi. I swatched the two colors together to get an idea how they'll look. I'm really excited about the combination. The photo is making them look a bit more contrasting than they actually are, but it's pretty close

Been Awhile

You may not have noticed but it has been about 2 weeks since I last posted. Fortunately, K has been doing an admirable job carrying the blog weight around here. Over that time I have have a trial (which is why I didn't post at first), started karate (I have had 2 classes), had a spat with blogger, and had a lovely, peaceful Thanksgiving holiday which involved wonder food and a lot of down time.

Even though I haven't been posting, I have been knitting. I bought some Great Adirondack Merino/Silk yarn which I used to create my own version of the Rowan Birch Shawl. The yarn is coppery, brown, and green. Since the yarn is denser than KidSilk Haze, my shawl lacks the ephemeral quality of the original. My version is also Trapezoidal rather than triangular. This is due in large part to the amount of yarn I had versus the amount of yarn called for in the pattern. I have decided that I like the trapezoidal shape since the bottom of a triangle doesn't really add to warmth or usefulness

As far as Holiday knitting goes, I made a single sock out of ArtYarns for one of my friends (yes there will be a second sock as well). The pattern is the Buffalo Sock (I think that is the name) from the current IK. The sock knits up incredibly fast.

I also started a cardigan for my newest cousin. The pattern is a seed stitch and cable sweater designed by Debbie Bliss. My cousin is about 5-6 months right now, I wanted to make the sweater large enough that he can grow into it and wear it for more than a day, so I chose the 12-18 month size. I have serious concerns about the size though. While I have gotten the correct gauge, 4 1/2 st per inch, the back measures about 15" across. The pattern claims that the sweater is for a child with a 27 1/2" chest, the front halves are each almost exactly 1/2 the size of the back (stitchwise) and there appears to be about an 1 overlap on the front halves, so I don't see how this will be anything other than way too big. Since I don't have children though, and since Debbie Bliss does lots of designs for kids I am going to hold on to crazy optimism for now. Apparently Blogger doesn't want to let me post pictures of the sweater right now. I may try to add some latter on.

PS, sorry if I am rambling and not making a ton of sense. I am very tired right now, I went to see Amanda Palmer, from The Dresden Dolls, at the Paradise in Boston with The Bitter Knitter last night and was therefore up past my bedtime.

Very Image Heavy Post

Well, I did it! I learned to sew!

The big day was Saturday. Cora graciously donated several (over 8!) hours of her time and her considerable expertise to teach Dis and I how to cut and sew our skirts together. Before actually sewing our actual pieces, we practiced stitching on scrap fabric for an hour or so. We ended up getting a lot done. The only thing left to do is sew in our zippers, hem, and attach our decorative items (I'll be attaching a ruffle to the bottom and a ribbon to the skirt itself). Here's what I have so far for the skirt:



We have lined our skirts as well, which basically involves sewing two complete skirts, but the results are well worth it. A skirt like this would probably cost nearly $100 at a store.



And would ya look what matches it perfectly? I guess I'm going to have to rip out the sleeves and finish this sweater after all!



What's weird is that, with the flash, the sweater looks like a different color, but it's actually a 100% match to the darker color in the skirt. Bizarre!

Here's an action shot of me cutting out my lining, which proved to be a slippery proposition:

Finally, Cora's cats are soooooo adorable. They pretty much have to investigate everything you're doing, and have a tendency to make themselves at home in all of your stuff. On Saturday, Jeb basically made himself at home and took a nap amongst piles of patterns and fabric and pretty much slept all day, despite all of the activity around him. He awakened briefly for his close-up.

We have a winner!

Giselle says, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Great news! The Bitter Knitter correctly guessed that I am knitting knit and tonic's School Spirit Sweater for my niece for Christmas! I really had doubts that anyone could guess it from such a small sample so I'm very impressed. The Bitter Knitter really knows her Internet patterns! The prize was either Alpaca cloud from knitpicks or 4 balls of mercerized cotton yarn from elann in a pink color. I don't think either of those are a suitable prize for this winner, so it would be great if she could email me at thepurlygate@gmail.com and we could work a more suitable prize.

Anyway, here's my progress on it so far. I'm only a couple of inches from switching to the contrast color. It's a really fast knit!

Another Quickie Blog Contest

I was kind of bored yesterday...I guess you could say I was procrastinating. I knew that if I stayed home all day, I would have to do homework, so instead, I decided to go "out". I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do, but I took my 40% Joann's coupon with me. I ended up at Beverly Fabrics in Clairemont and looked at some really pretty fabrics. However, instead, I ended up using the coupon for Mason Dixon Knitting and 3 balls of Sugar and Cream to make the Ballband Dishcloth.




It was a really fun knit. It took me the entire evening, but it was very satisfying to be able to knit an entire FO in one sitting. I really like this pattern and will definitely be making another one at some point.

I also started the sweater that I'm making for Savannah for Christmas. I did some vascillating on the pattern choice, but I think I have finally come up with something that's a good match for the yarn. I thought it was a good opportunity for a little blog contest. There are 4 balls of peachy/pink Lara from elann (100% mercerized cotton Dk weight yarn) OR two balls of Alpaca Cloud in a light blue (100% alpaca laceweight from Knitpicks) for the person (besides Cora, who already knows) who recognizes this children's pattern. Hint: It's being knit from the top down and it doesn't come from a book.

My first self-designed sweater!

I finally finished the soul destroying baby sweater, also known as my first design ever. It's nothing complicated, or anything, and I borrowed heavily from a couple of sources, but it still took a bit of math, so I'm calling it mine. Anyway, here it is:

Stats:

Pattern: My own, but borrowed heavily from the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.
Yarn: Classic Elite Flash, don't know the colorway, but it's got turquoise, lime green and grey in it
Size: 26" bust, which I think is a 2T
Needles: size 5 and size 7 Knitpicks Options circulars
Date started: 10/13/06
Date completed: 11/18/06
Description: This is a bottom-up raglan sweater that was knit entirely in the round. Each of the pieces were knit to the armholes and then joined and knit in one piece to the neck. There are hem facings at all of the edges. I think that's about it!
Overall thoughts: I'm really happy with the way it turned out, although I am concerned about the length of the sleeves. I have had this "concern" with other stuff I've made for Savannah. Since I "borrowed" the dimensions from The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, I can only assume they know how to size a sweater for a child. All I know is that the sleeves on sweaters I've made from patterns in the past have been too long. We'll see.

I think I'm slowly coming to the realization that socks may not be my favorite thing to knit. However, I have been dying to work with my Mama-E sock yarn ever since I received it. I'm trying something new so that I can actually make use of it. I'm making a scarf, the Misty Garden scarf from Scarf Style. I think the colorway was called Fall Foliage, so I'll probably call it my Fall Foliage Scarf. So far, I think the pattern is a really good match for the yarn. It isn't nearly this bright in person.

Photos, as promised

I promised photos of some actual knitting, and I happen to have some. I wore Bristow to school yesterday and I have to say that I'm very pleased with it. For the first time, I altered the pattern to fit better. I used my row gauge to recalculate lengths on the sleeves and in the body. In fact, I completely redesigned the sleeves. I also used the row/stitch gauge ratio to pick up stitches evenly around the buttonbands and neckline. I also did calculations to make sure the buttonholes were evenly spaced. It was an enormous pain, but since the sweater fits, I guess it's necessary. I didn't have to fiddle with it all day, I didn't feel uncomfortable in it - it felt more like a store-bought sweater. There's no one here to take my photo in it this morning, and I completely forgot yesterday, so I present this really bad photo that I took quickly before my camera battery died. Depending upon the weather, I'll probably wear it on Saturday.

Here are the stats:

Pattern: Bristow from the winter 2005 knitty
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8, 12 balls plus a little from the 13th
Size: Small, 40" bust
Needles: Size 5 addi turbos and size 7 addi naturals
Dated started: 9/14/06
Date completed: 11/14/06
Modifications: mentioned above
Overall thoughts: I really like this pattern. The cable pattern got really tedious by the time I did the second sleeve, but other than that, it was fun. The sleeves are way too big as written. I removed one inch from the width, but if I could do it over again, I'd remove at least 2 inches.

Next up is Joe's sweater. Since it's been a while since this project has made an appearance on this blog, I'll give some of the facts about it. The pattern is Avast from knitty, and I'm knitting it out of Naturespun in Ash, with the contrasting hem facings in Plumberry. On Sunday night, I joined all of the pieces together on one needle and began the yoke. To start with, each row had 340 stitches. I've decreased that number by 88 so far, but each row is still really long and it's sucking up yarn like crazy. It's nice TV knitting, though, and it's good for unwinding, so I'm not too bothered by it. Since I'm on a dealine, though, I'm sensitive to how long it's taking. So far, the raglan seam is about 3 inches long, so I have a ways to go, but the rows will keep getting shorter and shorter.

Yesterday, I took advantage of WEBS' sale on Ella Rae Classic Wool and bought enough in contrasting colors to make Ribby Cardi. Since I'm so easily amused by color, I may make this my next project.

Accessories

Since I am out of yarn for my Seasons of Darkness sweater I basically am without a sweater to work on. I have started Pearl Buck, but that is my knit in the office sweater, and there hasn't been time to knit in the office.

In the absence of a sweater to work on I have been plugging away at accessories. There was the scarf and the socks that I recently blogged about, now there is one Urban Necessities convertible mitten (missing the cap) to your left which I made last week, and a sock to the right. The sock will be a gift and is being made out of 2 colors in part to make sure there is enough yarn to make the matching sock. The blue yarn is Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn that I received from the Tea Swap and the red yarn is Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn which is left over from the sock I designed over the summer. The pattern is my own (I will get a better photo of the stitch I am using latter) and uses a picot cast on, a Welsh heel, and a toe that combines a "pointed toe" with kitchener stitch to close it up instead of continuing to decrease until there are 4 stitches left. I must admit, this sock has put me over the top. I am starting to get sick of making socks, and I still have the match to make, another pair to make, and 3 matches to make for myself, urgh.

The best news of my day: I called GMAC to find out if my car was paid off or if I owed one last payment (the coupon said Remaining PMTS: 1) and my car is PAID IN FULL!!!!!! I am still doing a little happy dance.

Crafty, crafty

I had another fun weekend! That's two in a row! As great as that is, it always makes it harder to get back to business on Monday. On Saturday, Dis, Cora and I went to Joann's to buy our lining, zippers and notions for our first sewn skirts. The big sewing day is going to be over Thanksgiving break - Cora is generously donating her time to help us learn. I'm getting really excited about it!

After Joann's Cora and I continued on up to Alpine where we visited a fabric store that is going out of business. It was a really nice store and it's a real shame that it's going out of business. Since San Diego isn't a very crafty kind of place, there aren't many nice fabric stores out there. They had a decent selection, but by the time we got here, they were kind of picked over. I found a couple of things that I really like though. When we got to the register, she ended up giving us the fabric for free since we were military dependents. In fact, she wanted us to send any military people that we knew to her store and she would give away fabric to them, too, so if you fit that bill, let me know and I'll try to find out the name of the shop (I can't remember). Anyway, this is some of the fabric I bought. I thought they coordinated well, colorwise.

I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it but I'm thinking of something along these lines. I know that whatever I do with the striped fabric, it should be small so it's not too busy. Otherwise, I may just do an apron since you can get crazier with that, patternwise.

After fabric shopping, we continued up to Julian, which was really packed! We had a great time visiting the shops, eating pie and actually feeling some crisp, fall weather.

Regarding knitting, I bought buttons for my Bristow but haven't sewn them on yet. I did, however, cast on for my Big Kureyon sweater and I'm really liking how it's knitting up. Hopefully, by Wednesday, I'll have photos of both. I also put my husband's sweater pieces on one needle and have started the yoke. So, it's not all sewing and fabric 'round these parts.

Can You Spot the Mistake?

I was knitting along on the second sleeve of Bristow, getting extremely tired of the pattern, the yarn, everything, and I finally reached the sleeve cap. At this point, I'd already seamed up one side of the sweater and put on the neck and button bands. I figured if I knit the entire evening tonight, I could finish the sweater in time to wear it this weekend. Then, I looked down and noticed a mistake. I couldn't believe it. I was totally crushed! It happened when I picked up the sleeve after not working on it for a few weeks. I'd gotten out of synch with the pattern.

Naturally, I hemmed and hawed about fixing it...not fixing it. I asked people how noticeable it was, examined it very closely, from a distance, thought about it in my sleep. I even stepped away from it for a day to think about it.

In the end, I decided to go ahead and leave it. I decided I didn't really notice it and I hoped that it wouldn't bother me too much once the sweater was completed.

I finished the sleeve and got ready to bind off the last few stitches, and I realize the I'd made it a couple of inches too long, and the source of this error occurred right at the spot where the first mistake was.

So, after all that, I had to rip the damn thing out anyway! Psych! There's no mistake.

Sorry, that was more for the benefit of the people I knit with at lunch today, Kris and Dis. After the drama I brought to our knitting group today, I thought I'd have a little fun with them.

Btw, I knit feverishly all night threw a few movies and finished the sweater, except for the buttons. I ran out of steam for that - I need to sew on nine of them. Photos next week.

*&%! (Expletive Deleted)

I had planned a relatively short post on Season of Darkness for today. I had planned to tell you all that I ran out of the background (main) color for the sweater. I had planned to reassure you all that this was not unexpected and that I knew from the moment that I started that I didn't have enough yarn, and that I had already ordered more from Circles at the time I started.

I had also planned to share my newest finished sock, made from Cherry Tree Hill Sock yarn. I was going to complain that I made my bind off a scosh too tight. Not so bad that it cuts of circulation or anything, but tight enough to make it difficult to get on.

Unfortunately between the end of my usual Wednesday night knit group and the time I went to bed I discovered a disaster (of sorts). After months of languishing I decided to knit a row, or two, of my Wedding Ring Shawl. This shawl is being made from gossamer weight silk yarn. The yarn is extremely fine and came on a cone. The fact that it was on a cone meant that there would be no ends to weave in, which I thought was a wonderful bonus. The yarn is just slightly thicker than a spider web. What I discovered when I picked up my cone, and my shawl was that some of the slippery silk slipped off of the cone and tied itself into multiple knots. This is how the yarn looked after I spent at least an hour last night working on it and 15 minutes or so this morning working on it. The knots are tiny and they are tight. I haven't been able to loosen the "core" knots at all. This morning I broke the yarn on either side of the tangle. I don't know if this was the right decision, I don't really want to have to weave in ends in this shawl, but I just couldn't fight the knot.

An Almost FO

I finished my beret yesterday. In doing so, I satisfied a knitting itch like I've never had before. When I saw the pattern in the new IK, I knew I immediately had to make it. Since I pulled the magazine from my mailbox on my way to work on Friday, I couldn't get the yarn right that second (much to my dismay), but before the weekend was over, I had purchased two balls of Kathmandu Aran tweed yarn in color 125 (a teal blue tweed with flecks of light blue, green and burgundy). I originally wanted a pink one, and I still do, but this yarn was lovely so I decided to make this one first. The pattern was fun - a bit more knitting than an ordinary hat, but a good knit all the same. I asked my husband to take a photo of me in it, and we had a bit of trouble. I'm one of those blue-eyed people whose eyes always look like I've been possessed by the devil in photos, so we decided to do it with the flash off. Hopefully you can see it well enough. I'm hoping to get better photos when I wear it to Julian on Saturday. I haven't put a topper on it yet - I think the icord things in the IK photo would make me look like Alfalfa, but I'll have something picked out soon. Anyway, here are the stats:

Pattern: Tweed Beret from IK Winter 2006, size small.
Yarn: Kathmandu Aran, color 125, about one and a half balls
Date started: 11/6/06
Dated completed: 11/7/06
Needles: Chiao Goo bamboo dpn's, size 8, and Susan Bates aluminum circular needles, 16", size 8.
Overall thoughts: This is a great pattern - it fits really well. It was fun to make, too. I plan to have at least one more more in pink.

My husband brought home a huge box with a foot locker in it. Princess has immediately turned it into her throne. Isn't that just like a cat?

At the moment, I'm working on seaming Bristow - remember that one? I really want to start a new sweater, so I need to put this one to bed. I've finished one side and I really like the fit. In a perfect world, the sleeves would bit a little more fitted (this, even after I took out an inch in width throughout). But all in all, I'm pleased so far. I'm really looking forward to finishing this now, and I feel reinvigorated.

Winner!

I posed the question to you all, how many sweaters (kids or adult, sleeved or sleeveless) have K & I finished since we started this blog and many of you gave us your guess. We had guesses from 1 to 25,000 (though 25,000 was obviously sarcastic). The real number of sweaters that we have finished is....30! This means that our contest winner is Trek. Trek, please email us your address at thepurlygate@gmail.com and I will send you your prize, a skein of Olive Lacy Lamb. Thanks to everyone for guessing.

On Friday I came up with a plan for holiday knitting. My original plan was that I was only going to knit 1 gift, for my mother. Somehow this one gift idea was expanded and I am now knitting gifts for 5 people. In order to make it possible that I can get this done, I am not knitting anything major. There will be 2 pairs of worsted weight socks, one hat, a sweater (or maybe a pair of socks) a lacey scarf, and a baby sweater. This still seems daunting to me, but I have a decent start. Over the weekend I managed to finish one of the worsted weight socks (it was started a couple of weeks ago) and get over 1/2 through the second sock. The socks are for a man with size 13 feet, I bought 3 skeins of Artyarns (was it ultra merino or super merino?) and made the sock toe up. I finished with the first skein of yarn and then started the second sock. When I finished the second skein of yarn I divided the third in half and finished the first sock. I probably could have made the sock a small bit longer, but I wasn't sure if I had enough to do ribbing and more of the pattern (a 2x2 garter rib with a twisted stitch over the knit stitches).

I also started the lacey scarf. I am making this scarf for one of the few friends that I exchange holiday gifts with. I hadn't planned on making this friend anything, but since I am now going to be making her husband a hat and a mutual friend a pair of socks, I felt obliged to make her something too. I am not 1/2 done the scarf, but I am near 1/2 through it, which isn't bad since I started on Friday and didn't really work on it on Sunday. The pattern is the Trellis Scarf, poorly photographed in the Spring, 2006 IK. The only hitch with the patter in that you have to occasionally knit 7 together, making 5 stitches into the k7tog.

Coming Thursday, Seasons of Darkness delay...

Shop 'Til You Drop

This weekend, instead of doing a lot of homework and having a little bit of fun, I had a lot of fun and did a little bit of homework. I much prefer it that way. On Saturday, I had my Eunny Vest class where we learned to cut steeks. Disentangled has already written an excellent description of the class, and since my swatch didn't turn out as pretty as hers, I'll leave it to her explanation. As usual, there was a lot of giggling and being snarky and a little of our knitting Jedi master, Dave Kraft, lambasting the latest Rowan offering. A good time was had by all.

Afterwards, Dis, Cora and I went fabric shopping for our newest venture - Dis and I are going to learn how to sew! I was told that sewing is the new knitting, so I guess I'm just the ultimate sheep...baaaaa!!! The truth is that I always wanted to learn how to knit, and when J learned, I asked her to teach me. The same goes for sewing. Maybe I'm a trend-setter, not a trend follower. Yeah, that's the ticket. The sad part is that I don't even know how to sew yet, and I already have a fabric stash. I couldn't decide between three different fabrics, so naturally I got them all. Since we're starting out using quilting fabric, it's much cheaper than knitting at this point. I'll be doing three projects for around $40. This fabric is going to be a simple A-line skirt with probably a bit of lace peeking out at the bottom.

On Sunday, the same ladies accompanied me to Alpine for a little yarn shopping (aren't I just the little domesticated gal?) Lori's Frames Fibers and Frills has really become one of the San Diego area's better yarn stores. I had several Christmas projects in mind, as well as a hat for my husband and a beret for me (from the latest IK - what a great issue!), and she had just the perfect yarn for everything. I got a lovely tealy blue tweed for my beret that will go perfectly with my dark navy blue coat (for those chilly SoCal days ;), and this lovely combination for a scarf for my mother-in-law. I need to start making ugly Christmas presents so I don't always hate giving them away so much. That being said, though, why does alpaca yarn feel like cashmere in the hand and like prickly heat on the neck? Hopefully, my mom-in-law isn't as sensitive in this area as I am. She lives in the icebox better known as Chicago, so maybe it won't matter, since the itchiness seems to dissipate in the cold. Despite the crappy photo, the scarf is turning out lovely, and the colors, which range from plum to olive green, are lovely together.

That's about all. Thanks for your entries in the contest. We'll be announcing the winner tomorrow!

Contest Reminder

Just a reminder to folks to enter our blogiversary contest by taking a guess at the number of sweaters K & I have finished since we started this blog. Sweaters include any kind of knit top, sleeveless or sleeved, child or adult.

I will be announcing a winner on Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

New FO's

Wanna see something scary? This is what I look like when I first wake up in the morning, although I'm not usually wearing a newly completed man's cap. Yes, I actually am wearing a hat, even though you can't see it because the wall in the background is too dark. But there's no one here to take my photo and my husband, the intended recipient, is not here to model, so c'est la vie. Oh, and you gotta love the crooked picture in the background. Anyway, this is my latest creation.

Stats:

Pattern: halfdome from the Summer 2006 issue of knitty
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, color 6248 and 6247, way way less than one skein each
Needles: size 3 addi turbos and size 5 addi turbos
Date started: yesterday
Date completed: today (I really love quick knits when I'm swamped)
Overall thoughts: I love, love this pattern. It fits great, works up quickly and has great style. This is my second one.
Modifications: none. I considered knitting it in the round (the pattern calls for knitting it flat) but I didn't have needles long enough to do magic loop and I truly hate dpn's.

I think that about sums it up.

I also have a question about my other latest FO, The Hodgepodge Scarf. I ran out of one of the three colors of Silk Garden that I was using, so I just continued with the other two for a couple of inches and bound off. The question is, does it look weird? Every time I look at it, it bothers me, but I also like the length it adds (I prefer longer scarves). Am I being too anal retentive? You can be honest. It won't pain me much to rip out a couple of inches, but I don't want to do it and lose the length if it looks OK. I welcome your suggestions.

Anyway, happy Friday!

Il Pleut

Four years of high school French has left me knowing that when it is raining, "il pleut". That is what is happening this morning. Of course my rain jacket was in the office, and not at home. My rain hat was safely with my rain jacket, so I (and one of the sweaters that I have finished since this blog started), have gotten a bit wet. Okay, enough whining, onto some knitting.

Despite the ankle of my Trekking sock being snug, I continued on with the sock and finished the first one. With the leg finished it doesn't feel as tight as I first thought it would be. I can't seem to get a good photo of the design in the sock. I made this sock with what I was calling a star toe, but which is, I guess, actually a pointed toe. I continued the increases until there were 9 stitches per increase section. Then I found 2 nine stitch patterns that I alternated across the foot then eventually up the leg. One nine stitch pattern is a coin/cable pattern and the other creates a zig-zag ribbon design. I ended with a simple 1x1 ribbed cuff. I am tired of this sock, which I knit on size 0 US needles, so I don't know when the second one will be made. Fortunately, I already have a couple other socks in the queue, so by the time I roll back to this, it will be fresh again (hopefully!)

Is It November Already?

My goal for the month of October was to finish the body of Joe's sweater to the armholes and one sleeve to the armholes. When, by October 10th, I was finished with all of that, I decided to amend my goal to include both sleeves. Well, I didn't quite make that - I'm short by 2 inches. I'm staring to get excited about this sweater. There's a chance I might actually finish it in time for Christmas!

In other news, I did end up skipping school last night to spend Halloween with my neice. I've been basically working on midterms for the last 10 days (I'm getting another one tonight that's due Monday), but I turned in the latest one yesterday at 4:30 and after that, I felt like I was ready for a break. Savannah was dressed in her Cinderella costume and looked adorable. It was well worth missing two lectures.

I wanted to clarify our contest a little bit. When we're asking you to guess the number of sweaters we've knit, we're including baby sweaters, tanks and long-sleeved adult sweaters.

When I was over at my mom's last night, I picked up the yarn that she bought for me to make Savannah a Trellis for Christmas. I think it will be a really good color for her. We've been trying to name the color and we can't quite seem to do it. Do any of you have an idea what the name of this particular shade of green is?

Christmas knitting is really starting to become pressing now, but not downright urgent. My usual pattern is to claim I'm going to take it easy this year and then, at the last minute, decide to knit a bunch of stuff. I'll try to refrain this year.