The 100th Post

How fitting to have the 100th post on the last day of 2008. A short run down of the projects that have been underway these last few weeks. I now have only 1 item to complete...the Shaped Edge Sweater that has been one of those UFO's since the beginning of the year, way back in February. If you feel the need to read about the early history of this poor sweater you can go here, more here, and finally. Oh, and who could forget about the Finishing Class at Purl Jam...where my sweater's seaming was begun!

When I put it away last March I only had the one sleeve left which I kept pushing to the back burner until this last week. I had nothing on the needles and no excuses for not pulling it out. Funny too because it hasn't taken long...maybe 2 days to get the sleeve done and join everything so I could knit the collar.

All I have left to do is finish the seaming...maybe later today? Maybe.

Other projects done:

Two Felted Slipped Stitch handbags for my sister & aunt......

A dozen or so felted snowmen....just forgot to get a photo of everyone together.

I also did a narrow ruffled edged scarf for Oldest GF...a new Hokie!

She also deserved a pair of Hokie Jaywalker's...
love the patterning of the Scarlet Fleece Sock Yarn!

A really cute set of mini mittens I used as a Christmas Tag on my sister's handbag...

More Edge & Some Sock

Finally finished one of the sleeves on the Shaped Edge Sweater. I think it took longer to do that sleeve than it did to knit the front or back. I wonder why? I've been knitting on this for at least a week. Who know's it might be longer than that since it seems like it's taken forever. I have been really trying to clear out this last item so I can move on to some fun knits...just not working fast enough obviously.

The Edge is looking pretty good now that I have a sleeve to fit in with the back & front. One problem may be the sleeve length once I actually get to the point of putting this thing together. I didn't modify the length since I do have long arms, but this sleeve sure does looks loooong. I may have to roll them back and have a cuff if that happens...I will not rip an entire sleeve back just for length...that's crazy talk at this point.

Since this has taken so long I've been rethinking the order of other projects... maybe I should go ahead with some tank top patterns instead of the 2nd sleeve. Afterall, it's time for warm weather things! The 2nd sleeve hasn't been cast on so I won't worry about not remembering where I am in the pattern. Yep, I've talked myself right into it, next up will be one of the tank tops I'd like done before it gets too hot around here.

As for progress on our neighborhood 1st sock knitting group...I've gotten past the heel flap a week or 2 ago and am now waiting for the group to catch up. Since everyone else is only an inch or three into the cuff portion of their socks I just may go ahead and finish sock 1 and start the 2nd sock. I think I should be able to jump ahead and still have a sock to demonstrate the heel flap when they get to that point.

Then both of my socks will be done when I finish teaching everyone how knit socks. We may get together this weekend and see how everyone's is coming along with their knitting...maybe I'll be able to get some progress pictures to post.

The Edge Update

The Shaped Edge Sweater is coming along...fairly slowly since my lace addiction is a fever pitch at the moment. Over the last couple of days I had more time with the Edge since the designer was looking over her lace pattern for the error.

I actually took the sweater on our recent ski trip thinking it was the easiest project for "mindless" knitting. Alot did get done once I sat...rather stretched out on the bed for knitting time. By the time dinner was done and coffee time was over I didn't have much time to knit before crashing. I did get the front done up to the decreasing for the sleeves...I only added about a quarter to half inch to the length. The pattern called for 13" before starting the decreases, but I thought I'd like it a touch longer & since I needed to end on row 1 I added another repeat.

A night or so ago I finished up the decreases up to the top...the k1p1 knitting is rather mindless, but it's going well and I don't find it the least bit boring. I'm increasing my speed with the process and hope to have this project completed before too much longer. If I can stay away from the lace consuming all my brain power.

I've even cast on for the back and have about 2 inches done on that so it's moving right along. It won't get any wear until fall unless the weather suddenly turns cold again, but I'm loving the feel of this yarn , Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran.

Of course yesterday a friend and I paid The Yarn Lounge a visit on their third birthday celebration. A 20 % off sale is hard to pass up and of course I bought more than I had originally planned. I wanted to order some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in the color Rue, but didn't like the color compared to the Nymph already in stock. I did, however order a neutral color called Teddy Bear which is a nice shade warm shade of kahki for one of Chick Knits patterns called Aleita Shell...in the new Interweave Spring 2008 . I even bought enough Rowan Felted Tweed in Rage for a sweater that was on display...Martha from Rowan 28. The texure of the sweater is what I was attracted to...I hope I'm up to the challenge of actually pulling this one off.

Once again my eyes are surpassing what my hands can possibly do in any reasonable amount of time, but then again I love having several projects going at a time. For some reason I have never figured out I seem to finish them all within days of one another which is pretty cool.

Progress on the Knitting Front

Progress is being made on a test knit for Laura at Dragonwingarts. I'm up to chart 5 of 15 so I'm almost 1/3 finished with the shawl. I'm still enjoying the knitting even through some boneheaded mistakes on my part. You would think that counting would be easy at my age wouldn't you? Evidently 8 is too large a number for me to knit & count at the same time. Might have to count out loud as I knit the stitches...that'll drive DH crazy won't it?

The Edge sweater is also coming along. I'm up to the armpits & starting the decreasing for those. The front really should be done by midweek and I'll post pics when there's more to show. I'm thinking the sweater will not be worn this season unless March gets really cold. No need to be much in a rush to finish I don't reckon.

I really like the shape of the sweater. The diagonal 'shaping' looks to be very flattering...I hope so anyway.

Excitement & Expectation...maybe

When I realized that I was down to only 2 projects (Her Ski socks and 1/2 a Monkey sock) I decided I needed to cast on at least 2 more projects. I've gotten used to having multiple projects to work on during the evening hours. TV just is not interesting now that football is done unless my needles are in hand.

There are times I feel like having an intense, pay attention to type of work and then there are those evenings that the brain is shot (or body) and I want the so called "mindless project". A couple of nights ago I cast on the Edge Shapped Sweater from Out of Town by Debbie Bliss. I first saw this sweater knit up at one of my all time favorite yarn shops, Mosaic, in Blacksburg back in December. The owner, Gina, was kind enough to track down whose pattern it was and order the book for me. I bought the yarn, Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran in a charcoal gray color, at Mosaic around Christmas and now that all the projects that had been hanging around are done it's time to get busy with the sweater.

If I am lucky maybe I can get this done in a couple of weeks. So far the knitting is fairly simple 4 row repeat so I cannot say that the mind is being taxed to the limit. I must say though that the excitement of casting on a new project makes me very happy. I'm keeping the expectations in check, but so far the yarn is behaving well and feels yummy in my hands.

Shaped Edge Sweater

I started to swatch for the Shaped Edge Sweater from Out of Town by Debbie Bliss. I'd really like to get started and hopefully finish before the Spring weather comes...yeah I know that's not going to happen, but I'd like to. I should have started last month when I got the pattern book from Mosaic

Looking forward to working on this though. I'm using Sublime rather than the called for DB Cashmerino Aran...kind of glad the shop didn't have enough stock of the color I wanted to use in the DB after reading comments on Raverly and other sites regarding it's pilling problem. The Sublime feels very similar to the DB Cashmerino Aran which is the one thing I loved about the sweater- the softness. In the "granite" colorway...better get busy!