Picture Gallery

A quick backtrack...here are all of the projects that I haven't mentioned up to this point!

Dad's Hat for Christmas. Groovy Tuque patterm, Patons Classic Wool.

The Knotty but Nice hat. Patons Classic Wool. Lots of compliments at school. Started and finished on Christmas Day.

Down-to-Earth Russian-y hat from Hattitude. Took two tries, as the first came out too large for any human. Made with the chunkiest Wool-Ease.

Cabled Hat of Awesomeness. Malabrigo Chunky. Finished in a day. Beyond soft and warm.

First sweater ever! An EZ seamless, probably the Saddle Shoulder, thought the Hybrid keeps tempting me. It's still in pieces :P

An attempt to re-cerate a pair of my mom's old gloves, the pair she bought years before they became so fad-y. Probably will frog it-I want an orange hat, and the second swirl repeat came out looking like a mutated crescent moon.

Gloves for Becca, cabled and ultra dense. Too dense to knit very fast though, meaning she's had to wait a week or more. Whoops! Oh well. She's paying me-I may as well do a good job.

My mom's socks have yet to be photographed. I feel as though I'm stalking an elusive wild animal for the good of modern science...will get to that eventually.

Slippery Socks are Finally Finished!

Yes, it's true. I at long last have a pair of woolly, cabled, hand-knit socks for myself! I have only ever made one full pair, for my mom to lounge around the house in, and they ended up with the toe of the second sock much smaller than the rest of the pair. (I think it was my excitement to finish them that made me grip my working yarn extra tight, and I can't blame myself for that so my mom will have to manage). I will post pics when I can locate the whereabouts of my camera, which seems to have mysteriously disappeared.

As to the updates to my W.I.P's list...

The cute amigurumi dog is no more, I am sorry to say. I ran out of the necessary orange yarn, and since the whole point of me learning to do this was to use up scraps I refuse to purchase more. The Trellis Cardigan went horribly wrong, as I set it down for a month without noting where I was past the armhole decreases and it turned out wonky when I tried to figure it out for myself. Little Zoe will just have to do with some sort of hat for her first birthday, or whatever else I can whip up on a $5 budget. The Esperanza Cardigan is still on hold, and will remain thus until the mercury plunges. There is no way I could stand knitting in 90 degree heat with an extra-long sweater back trailing over my lap. Not gonna happen. (Unless, of course, my parents suddenly decide to acquire central air).

On a brighter note, I started a pair of socks for one of my bff's. They are yet another Knitty pattern, Froot Loops. They have a bit of cabling to keep it interesting like Slippery, but these cables are worked over a repeat of seven stitches and four rows and thus is much easier to memorize and execute. I have the first done, and cast on for the second last night. I hope they finish soon, as I have two more skeins of Kroy sock yarn in a playful colorway, and my first ball of Lion Brand Sock-ease to try out calling my name. It's back to the sticks for now...I hope my sister can work the fire extinguisher-the bamboo needles are starting to smoke!

Lakeside Knitting

My parents decided to take a trip to the Adirondacks as a celebration of their 15th anniversary, and as a result my sister and I have been on a vacation of our own. My aunt lives in Florida, but last year bought a summer home in the finger lakes as incentive to visit more often. This is where I have been spending the last week, either curled up in the hammock with a good read or purling away on the deck. It is beautifully calm, and the perfect place to work on some summer knitting.

What am I knitting this summer? Well I have decided to begin what should have been started a long time ago. Though I have been knitting for three or four years now, I have never finished a sweater. Not even a baby cardigan. I was shocked to realize i had been so lax, and decided that my cousin's daughter was in need of a little something to keep the chill away on her first birthday. And with a bit of tan acrylic I indirectly inherited, I began the Trellis pattern from Knitty. I got past the armhole shaping on the back when I realized I was being both cheap and lazy. Cheap for not investing in some decent yarn for such a monumental knitting leap as a first sweater, and lazy for skimping out by knitting a garment for little people. I have until September for her birthday, and set it aside in favor of a project for myself.

My next choice was the Esperanza Long Cardigan from the 2005 Pattern-a-Day Knitting Calender, in Lion Brand Homespun Windsor. It's been going super fast on size 10 1/2 needles, and I have to say the foot after foot of stockinette isn't nearly as monotonous as I thought it would be. The color is so delicious I have yet to get bored, and I think that this will be the perfect sweater intro (plus it will give me practice with knitting set-in pockets!). My biggest concern now is the seaming...I'm afraid I'll ruin all of my hard work with my iffy hand-sewing skills! But I shouldn't worry prematurely-it's time to go back to the needles. Have a wonderful Fourth of July!