Actual FO pics!

I know that I'm really bad about posting FO pics. Once a sweater is finished, I usually want to wear it right away and no one is home to take a picture. I don't want to put a picture up of me wearing a sweater at the end of the day, when its all wrinkled and stretched out, so I usually never get around to it (like in the case of my Hourglass sweater which has been done for weeks and I've worn several times). Anyway, I decided to post wrinkled, stretched out photos of Remembering Honey:



Stats:

Pattern: Remembering Honey, pattern from Spring 2003 IK
Size: I made the 41.5" bust hoping, based upon my swatch that it would be 39", but alas, I don't think it is.
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease, Strawberry Cream, 5 skeins
Needles: Size 7 addi turbos and size 5 addi turbos
Modifications: I added short row bust shaping because I think it adds shape to a sweater. Otherwise, sweaters on me can end up looking like sacks. Other than that, the only thing I did was make a different size based upon my gauge. Oh, and I omitted the bobbles on the sleeves because it called for a cable needle and I was too lazy to find the right size dpn. I generally don't use cable needles.
Overall thoughts: The gauge that is called for in this pattern is very unusual and from what I've read on the blogs of other people who have made this sweater, very hard to get. I just got a gauge and then made the size closest to that. I checked row gauge to make sure everything else would work out. Even though it came out bigger than I thought it would, I think it fits pretty well. I'm very happy with the final product and I've already worn it twice!

The photo was taken at a vista point in Encintas, near Common Threads and Black Sheep, where I spent Saturday yarn shopping and eating really good Italian food. The weather was crap, though, as you can see.

Finally Did the Neck Extensions!

All done! The best thing about Cotton-Ease? I blocked it in the washing machine and dryer, and it came out really soft!

I'm going to wear it tomorrow!

Movin' Right Along

I've been putting all of my knitting focus and energy into Remembering Honey lately. That doesn't bode well for my class project, but I'll worry about that later. Anyway, with all of my free time, I've been knitting on the first sleeve. However, free time has been a bit hard to come by, so I've done the best I can:



I think the lace part at the bottom, while a total pain in the butt, turned out to be pretty design. I think I'm going to like this when it's finished. I was hoping to have the first sleeve done last night, but I ended up staying up until after midnight doing homework, AFTER yoga. So much for a relaxing evening.

I'll leave you with this image: a man and his cat. Ain't it precious?

Hourglass is finished!

My goal was to complete the finishing on Hourglass and have it blocked by the time I left for Stitches. I finally did that last night and it's drying right now.





I was in such a rush to wash it last night that I didn't even try it on first although I did try it on throughout the finishing process. The neckline is very wide, much wider than it was when I tried it on when it will still on the needles. Also, the hem on the neckline doesn't have elasticity, so it's prone to stretching out. I'm considering threading some elastic thread through the hem so it stays on better. I'll have modeled photos for you, hopefully from Stitches!

I'm also making very slow progress on Remembering Honey. This will make a good travel project for my trip.



I leave for Stitches tomorrow afternoon and I'm getting excited! Will any of you be there?

I Did It!

I overcame almost a year's worth of inertia and picked up Starsky again. I had no idea where I was in the pattern, couldn't remember what cable I'd chosen, what size needle I was using, or what size I was making. But I sat down yesterday for about an hour and sorted all of that out and charted out my decreases to finish the last piece. That's what caused the hiccup in the first place. Decreasing for the neckline and the armhole at the same time took some planning. Anyway, here she is blocking:



The lighting is bad because the weather in San Diego is quite atrocious. I know, we deserve it because it was 80 degrees here over the weekend while the rest of the country was buried up to their a&%#es in snow.

I've decided that when it comes time for seaming, I'm going to use another yarn because Polar has literally NO twist to it, so it looks at risk for shredding and breaking. I picked up some Patons Classic Merino in a color that I think it close enough. We'll see how it goes:



All of this virtuosity (i.e. finishing Hudson without starting something new, finishing Hourglass and picking up an old UFO) got me thinking. I should start a new project! So, I started Remembering Honey from the Spring 2003 issue of Interweave. I'm using Strawberry Cream Cotton-Ease. I felt, given the delicate lacy femininity of the pattern, the color was appropriate. I'm loving the little lacy bits at the bottom. They look like crochet, don't they?