And More Progress!

Such a fun knit! I could knit the body of this sweater for days!




But it looks like I'm at the armholes




I have to decide on a closure treatment...I was thinking of a 1x1 button band but now I'm not sure. Maybe I'll do some kind of a stockinette version - maybe with a facing?




And the collar? stockinette too?



I'll be heading out to the beach for the weekend. This is of course coming with me. I'm sure I'll be making some headway.

Have a nice, long weekend.

Progress!

Progress on my sweater!

I'm knitting it in one piece. Kind of designing on the fly. I have a very good idea of what I'm doing but just in case it wants to be something different....I'm open!


However, I love it so far. It's exactly what I imagined. (Which is always a bonus!)




I love the yarn too. Bamboo/Silk. The feel, the drape, the color. WINNER!




I just watched all of the DNC speeches back to back. Great job!

New Projects

I finished the Garter Stitch Blanket...I haven't taken a photo of it yet. Let me just say that it's HUGE and it's HEAVY! But it's done!!

I showed the red swatch the other day of the openwork leaf pattern. I liked it. I didn't love it. So I went stash diving and found some Ella Rae Bamboo Silk. I have a bag of it. Which means I have 900 meters. Again, I hope I have enough yarn.

I'm thinking of something like this....This is VERY rough. Basically it will be a openwork leaf pattern body with ribbing around it.



Here's the swatch of the new yarn....

I like it better. The drape is amazing....




It's heavier than the other swatch I did but I think that will just open up the stitches better.



My quick project for Knit Simple is currently in the washer getting a soak. It was a lot of garter st. But it's also finished! I'm going to block it today and work on the finishing tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll be starting this sweater today on my way to work. I can't wait!

Blocking and Swatching

The knitting is finished. It looks great. I'm just waiting for all of the pieces to dry so that I can seam this baby together.

It's roughly 64" x 94".... That's big!




I ran out of one of the colors so I had to improvise at a corner. I think it's fine. I'm actually going to switch one of the segments around so that the colors work a little better. But all in all, it's great. And it's finished.....It's a really boring knit at this size. I think as a baby blanket it could be super cute.

So just the seaming and the i-cord edging are left. It will probably take up a lot of time but I'm happy about no more garter stitch for a while.




While it's drying, I've swatched for my Marc Jacobs inspired cardi....

I'm using a silk/merino blend from my stash!!!! Hopefully I'll have enough yarn. I have a bag of 10 balls but each ball is only 85 meters. However, it's going to have short sleeves and it's a lace pattern....Plus it's going to be a size small. I think it should be fine. I'm trying to use up every scrap of each yarn that I pull out of the stash. So this should be good for that!

I'll be sketching on my way to work tonight. But the swatch is exactly as I planned. It's just a basic Openwork Leaf Pattern from A Treasury of Knitting...(the blue one). This photo stinks. I'm really happy with the way the swatch looks!



I also pickd up a quick knit for Knit Simple. GARTER STITCH! ugh. Oh well. The yarn they gave me smells like perfume. Weird.

Going for Gold!

Sheer Determination is pushing me along.

I've complete the first of two Section B's.



I can't fit all of the pieces in this photo. This thing is BIG!!

I'm looking forward to blocking and seaming. Well I'm looking forward to starting and finishing the last piece but after that I can't wait to do the finishing. Seaming Garter stitch is like a dream come true. I'm thinking I'll just do mattress st. like Elizabeth Zimmerman suggests but I may play around with some other options. But most likely I'll put on a good movie (or the olympics), get out my trusty needle and start sewing away. Good times. SOON.

Keep on Knitting, Baby!

I'm over half way through the first of two Piece B's.



I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER make this again!




I mean, I would really, really have to like someone A LOT to knit all of this garter stitch again!




My fellow subway riders clearly think I've LOST MY MIND.

B O R I N G

OK, so maybe this wouldn't have been a good knitting olympics project. I'll be done in a couple of days. However, I could pass out from boredom before I get to the end....

I'm on the 1st piece of Section B....It forms half of the outside section. UGH! (and it never ends!)

I'm not a huge fan of garter stitch. And though I don't have a photo, I switched to stockinette at some point last night and had to rip back about 20 rows. D'uh! I guess I knit on autopilot. I'm shocked that I'm actually purling the last st and slipping the first st on every row - without watching or thinking. CrAzY, that mind of mine...

Anyway, these crappy photos show a matching corner - section A on the inside and B on the outside.





The color difference between Section A and Section B




And another random shot




Yes, the pattern is easy. And yes, the pattern is genius. But NO I DON'T LOVE IT! (Blasphemy, I know!)

I'll be VERY happy when I'm finished. If I had it in me, I'd stop now and move on to my Marc Jacobs inspired cardi. But it's OLYMPIC time and there will be no quitting! I'm not even pulling that pretty red cashmere out of its hiding place...

How about this beauty...



It's from the Fall 08 collection of Chanel. Pretty lovely...Loving the pintucks....hmmmmm.

EZ's Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket

I finally went through my stash last week due to inquiries on Ravelry about some stashed yarn. And I have to say it was well worth the time. While I was looking for the yarns in question I was also looking for any unfinished projects that I had buried. I found the yarn and surprisingly I only found 1 unfinished project! Snap! The bad news is that I've used up the yarn for the project. It's a beautiful blanket using Aurora 8. The good news it that I can get the yarn anywhere! And I'm pretty far along. Maybe 1/2 way??

While I was in the boxes I found a ton of EcoWool remnants. Enough actually for the Knitted Garter Stitch Blanket from the Opinionated Knitter(I think I have enough??!). A blanket I've been wanting to make for a long time. I just haven't had the time in the past few....years?

I cast on the other day. Maybe the day the Olympics started. And I've completed both Piece A's. The smaller of the two sections. They form the inside of the blanket.


When turning the corner the options were to just knit and turn the piece around and work back, leaving the holes that are created or wrapping and turning. I got the impression that EZ just turned in a very no muss no fuss sort of way. So that's what I did.



Creating a little design feature at the corners. Giving a little definition. Oddly refreshing to knit. Boring garter stitch and then suddenly some action at the corners! lovely!




The yarn has created a super squishy, gorgeous, warm, BIG piece of knitting.




Because I have all of these remnants I was able to find colors that are one shade different. So the center pieces (A) will be the lightest. While the outer pieces (B) will be one shade darker and then the border will be one, maybe two shades darker than that. I think it will be really pretty. Plus because of the garter stitch-ness there will be natural shading happening. I have no idea what I'm making this blanket for. I don't need it. I don't have anyone to give it to. I think I'm just making room in my stash!



I guess I could have signed on to one of the knitting olympic sites. Because I did start this on opening ceremony day. eh, whatever.....

Oh, I've increased my stitches from the designated 24 to 36. My gauge was different than EZ's due to my yarn choice. (Actually, I'm assuming my gauge was different but I didn't do a swatch) So I upped the stitches. Thus knitting 36 ridges instead of the 24. It's very simple, this pattern. Anyone could knit it. I mean why knit a scarf when you can get a beautiful blanket?

I was at work the other night and someone came in with a very pretty sweater on. It turned out to be a Marc Jacobs cashmere beauty from a few seasons ago. I've sketched my own little version of it and will be swatching in a few days (after I finish the blanket, of course.) I have some red cashmere in my stash (found it the other day) that I'd really like to unload. Seems like the perfect pattern. It's a lace -y -ish sweater with some solid ribbing to hold it's shape....More to come on that.

Photos on the dress form...

I just took a couple of photos of the blocked dress.

This is the back:




The side:




And the front:

"I'm Taking The Train" dress

I started taking the train home at night after work. I decided that since I get out of work so much earlier now than in the past that I would try it out. Well, guess what? it's super easy and it only takes about an extra 20 minutes. AND I save 30.00! Since I started saving 30.00 I decided to start my own matched savings program. I now add another 30.00 to my tin can whenever I take the train. So, that's $60 every night that I take the train. If I work 5 nights. Yes, I save 300.00....Cash!! Sweet!!

I decided to knit a dress. And I decided that I would only knit it on my way home on the train. It's a very rough version of a Rebecca pattern. I used my bag of black Rowan Calmer. I never got near gauge so I just winged it. Here's the bottom. A pretty simple stitch pattern.




And here it is finished. I thought I had some pictures of it on my dress form. Hmmm.




I'm now working on a REALLY CUTE hat for knit.1. I'm using a gorgeous pink/light raspberry color of Manos. I can't wait to show pictures of that.

I'm also about to start working on a blanket that I started a year or two ago. I have a bunch of squares completed. I'll take some pictures and post them.