So close...

So close to finishing the little baby hooded cardigan that originally started out as a guernsey sweater - ha ha ha, therein lies a story. I start these projects and just keep improvising, it's a thing I have. Nonetheless, this is exciting. I love the cranberry color and the feel of the yarn, so although the first time I knitted the sleeves, I was wondering if it was just that I'm unfamiliar with the relative size and proportions appropriate to knitting a baby sweater, but I had in fact picked up too many stitches for the armscye. I went back afterwards, frogged out, and started again with a better number and now they match. Much better. Now I'm just knitting the hood; I was considering doing just a little collar but since the cardigan seems large enough to use as a little "coat" then a hood seems appropriate given that winter is just about upon us. I've got some really cute little buttons, and I'm going to make some i-cord loops to go around the buttons for the closures. Very excited to be approaching the finish, so I can move on to making the little booties from a pattern I saw. *eek!*

Tulip Toes in progress

These little socks crack me up, so I'm doing them in a lavender color for my baby niece.

sweaters...at last!

So, my ravelry queue of projects is laughably long - and seriously, it's true I'm working on most of them all the time - which is why none are finished! Obviously, there are only so many hours in the day.

I don't know about anyone else, but I switch projects depending on whether I just want to cruise along with stockinette stitch, or follow a more complex pattern, or what. That of course means that I've made sporadic and uneven progress with each project. Which is alright, I guess, because they all seem to change in priority anyway.

Currently, with the onset of cold weather (heat's been on a couple nights in my building) the wool is more appealing than it had been previously. I finally cruised through and finished my red and brown striped hiking sweater, very thrilling! I've christened it by wearing it to the office a couple times now, so it's officially a garment. I still have to take the final pictures though to post on ravelry.

I'm also making progress on several baby projects, now that that due date is upon us...I'm just psyched to have a niece now, hee hee! Then I'm hoping to finish off my cotton jacket for the office (I do enjoy doing cables) and then I think the rest of my time will be taken up working on the cardigan for dad.

These hooves look like leaves to me

Spent some time this weekend chez Mum, the two of us sitting in the back yard, in the shade, knitting. My part of the conversation consisted of mumbling numbers and "Slip, knit two together, pass" and "no, no. where was I?"

Some recent revelations include: I apparently knit using a combination of "Eastern" and "Western" techniques, given how I approach knit and purl stitches. If you're interested, this concept is covered in several different books, usually a "history of knitting," and I read about it in a friend's copy of the History of Hand Knitting, although I see that Samurai Knitter discusses it in a thoroughly humorous and instructive manner.

This gets really cute, I now realize, when I follow some of the more interesting patterns, such as the leaf pattern from the Super Stitches stitchionary. Actually, it's called "Horseshoe lace" - but honestly it looks like leaves to me, so I've been using it for a sweater pattern that's in progress.

After a while we decided to head over to the DeCordova to see the 2008 Annual Exhibition, which had some great stuff from people like Mark Schoening and Yana Payusova, Lea Gauthier, whose work deals with food, agriculture and the interaction between people and food through plant growth, and another artist, Niho Kozuru, whose statues were inspired by New England architectural details, but were made from some colorful polymer material that really made me (and other exhibit attendees, I gathered) think of yummy jello... Also, "Moving Through New England" - selections from their permanent collection - some amusing paintings if you're a local, since many were from the 70s. My favorites were "Beach Peas" and an image of the Providence River on a very calm, foggy dawn.

I think my next museum jaunt should be to catch the "Keepers of Tradition" exhibit over at the Museum of Our National Heritage (and hey, it's free, which is never a bad thing.)

Until next time,

How is that again?

I just found out this morning how to pronounce (knitting pattern designer) Nora Gaughan's name. See, that's the trouble with only ever seeing things online or otherwise in print. I was thinking it was "Gowan," as in Rowan - but, it's not.

It rhymes with 'dawn' - so it's pronounced 'Gon.' I was guessing how it was pronounced, but the owner of one of my awesome LYSs had hosted a book-signing with Ms. Gaughan, so I take her word for it. In addition, thanks to this shop I actually own a signed copy of Knitting Nature (which is itself a pretty cool book).

...and now, I have to go knit.

And for my next trick...

July2408 067, originally uploaded by Margo and George.

I'll figure out how to make an article of clothing using the colors of this vetch.

Cinnamon-colored summer cotton sweater

cinnamon sublime sweater, originally uploaded by Margo and George.

So instead of the wool projects, I've been racing along, working on this one instead. And a baby sweater as well, but I'm keeping that one under wraps until it's time to send it to the new parents. Then I'll post final photos for that project. In the meantime, presuming I don't knit decreases where I should have increases...I hope to finish this little short-sleeved summer cotton/soy sweater (shirt?) done while the warm weather lasts. The yarn is "Sublime" - which the hand of the fabric is, but the yarn...is not so much. It's worth pointing out that inasmuch as it's wonderful to knit, it is also highly prone to splitting, and it has knot(s) in each and every skein. I'm composing a grumbly letter to the manufacturer on this one. Still, the fabric has a great drape, once you figure out what to do with all those knots.

Too Hot for Wool

hiking sweater, originally uploaded by Margo and George.

I'm so close...so close to being finished with this sweater, and yet even with all the rain, I can't cope with that much wool in my lap during the hot months of summer. It's just too much. Still, by September it will have cooled off enough for me to finish, I think. Just that last little bit of sleeve...