Airy Update

This is how much help PH was while I was agonizing over whether or not to finish the Airy Wrap-Around. Actually, I should be glad that he is as disinterested in my knitting and in my yarn as he is. He hardly ever bothers me while I'm knitting, unless he just wants to climb into my lap. He doesn't chew on needles or yarn, or carry my things around the house. He's much more interested in birds and feathers.

I began by pinning Airy Wrap-Around out to block it, but it was hard to do it that way because of the length of the wrappy parts. So, eventually, I unpinned it and let it hang. It really didn't change all that much, maybe because of the acrylic content. I tried to stretch the back out a bit. I'll try to get a picture of it wrapped around me tomorrow. Oh, and I did get rid of all those leaves after I saw them in this picture!


Here's the Rabbit Ears Raglan. It's my own design. I wasn't sure how much yarn I had for the sleeves, so I made them short. However, I think I may have enough to make them three quarter length. I may put a band of the cable pattern where the sleeves end, now, and then extend the sleeves from there. I knitted the neck up into a scoopneck style and then frogged it back. I want it wider, more ballet-like. I think I'll put just a few buttons at the top. The yarn is a linen/wool blend. It has a nice, almost rustic, texture.

I spent some time tonight knitting a design swatch. It looks pretty cool so far, but I'm not tellin' what it is, until it's done. So there. Heh.

Another finished UFO!

Ha! Bit the bullet and went ahead and finished the Airy Wrap-Around sweater. It's blocking now. We shall see....

Warts and All That

Today was a shopping day for DH and I. We had to go to a specialty shop and get some of our favorite Irish teas, (Bewley's and Barry's), before we ran out. We drink a lot of tea. Next, we shopped for our friends' wedding in which we are both participating. I got some funny stuff for the bridal shower, as well. DH even suffered through a stop at an oriental grocery store with me. Well, actually, he waited in the jeep and played bluegrass music while I bought miso and other Japanese goodies. Then, we stopped and ate barbeque. Of course, I brought some mindless "car knitting"! I worked on a Kidsilk Haze scarf. Plain stockinette. I'm going to felt it with beads or hazelnuts so it will look all warty. Perhaps I'll go for "bubbles" or "berries", but most of these usually just turn out looking plain 'ol, warty. The color is gorgeous, though. It's a very saturated raspberry/cherry red. Delicious...and, yet...probably...still warty.

Egad!

St. Brigid! Check!

Introducing, St. Brigid!!!





It's done! It's done, and what's more? It's finished!!! It feels so good! I took it over to Natalie's Super Bowl party and wove in all the ends, then, Jennifer took the pictures. (Well, I thought I wove in all the ends. We celebrated, and then I found one end that escaped my notice, so I wove it in and we had to celebrate all over again. Yay! Gotta love friends who will cheer for you twice like that.) Love the blue background. I look pretty happy, though I am unmakeupy and shiny. Don't really wear makeup much these days, anyway.

I think it turned out pretty well. The sleeves could be just a bit longer, but the overall length came out fine. I'm glad that I added the braid edging, it really helped the length. It finishes the somewhat unfinished looking edges, too.

Speaking of unfinished edges, I took a bagful of projects over to Natalie's tonight. See.

That pink, Cervinia Softer, is an almost completed Airy Wrap Around sweater from Fitted Knits. When I checked on Ravelry, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of people who have made this sweater that are thrilled with the results. I am vascillating between finishing and frogging. I tried it on at Natalie's and we found a way to tie it that seemed to look okay. It would mean that I could actually finish the last wrap-around tie right now and it would be done. However, only one side would actually wrap around my waist all the way. This eliminates the extra bulk, but I don't know.... The back of the sweater seems short, too. It's also strange that the back has all these lovely cables at the bottom, but they are completely covered up by the wrap-around part. I don't know how this yarn blocks out, either. It's fifty percent mohair and the other half is acrylic. Natalie suggested I take it to S-n-B on Thursday, and get some opinions. Maybe that's what I'll do. Perhaps, until then, I'll work on finishing a sweater that I designed that I'm calling the Rabbit Ears Raglan. I still feel like I need to finish some more things before I start on a new sweater.

Anyway, all in all, a great evening. DH and I had a wonderful time eating tons of delicious food and watching big screen TV. We were charmed and entertained by Natalie's beautiful little Abyssinian, Pixel. As Karl Childers would say, "No bigger than a squirrel. Mmm hmm." Plus, there was a special appearance by, Trooper, the usually, scaredy-cat, but also, ruggedly handsome, tabby boy. He was brave and sociable tonight. I snuck him some treats.

So, until tomorrow, when I shall post some progress on the next lucky UFO's hoping to become FO's!

Sleep Induced Poetry

Got one cuff sewed on, and one grafted and ready to sew on. Sewed the neck on, then took it off. It was too big and did not lay at all right. Now I am too sleepy to continue. I'll have to finish on the morrow.

PH is staring at one of the baseboard heating units. Just staring.

Hey, how 'bout a haiku?

PH is staring.
Just staring at the baseboard.
Could it be a bug?

Okay,...I think I better go to bed. Sheesh!

Trekking Along

Went ahead and finished these Trekking XXL socks tonight after the ball.















I like the ombre shading of the colors in this Trekking yarn. The colorway is 100 and I used Knitpicks Harmony dpn's. Nice needles.

The braid trim is all blocked and dry. I decided to go with the soak and squeeze method since I wasn't going to get to the sewing today. I made the pieces of trim extra long so as I sew them on, they can be frogged back to fit. I did provisional cast ons so I can graft them together. Tomorrow, I hope to have a finished St. Brigid to show you. It's about time, I think. This finishing your projects stuff is fun!

I Can See the Finish Line! (If I Squint)

Well, I did get the cable trim done! Yay! I didn't get it done as early as I thought I would, though. Somehow, other things kept getting in the way. All pleasant things, though, like taking and uploading more pictures for Ravelry and talking to a friend in France. Altogether a pretty relaxing day off.

The trim is blocking right now. I hope that it will dry super quick because they are thin strips. I'm not sure if I'll get to attach it all tomorrow, because it's going to be a busy day at work and I'm going to a colonial ball tomorrow night. Hmmmm... I probably won't have time. However, I am determined to have it done by knitting night on Thursday.

I am really happy that this blog is fulfilling one of the purposes I had desired for it. Posting about finishing certain projects really gives me the incentive to get them done. It's helping! At this rate, I might just go ahead and finish the Airy Wrap-Around sweater this week.

I've also noticed something that I'd like to start doing on Ravelry. Some knitters use the note section of their specific projects like mini diary/journal entries to document their progress. I think that's a great idea. They date the entries, so you can keep track of when you were knittng on what. People always ask "how long did it take" to knit suchandsuch. I never know what to tell them because I have a tendency to put projects down for lengths of time while I work on something else for a bit. I think I'll give it a try with the next project I start. Hmmmm...which will be...what?


Sleepy, kneading cat says... "Let's go to bed!"