A Giant Leap for Knit Kind

Well I did it - I cast on for Arrowheads once again from Knitting out of Africa. I did attempt to go continental but found it too awkard so I'm back to throwing, just like in my first attempt. I am trying to knit this a lot looser, so hopefully things will work out better. We'll see.

You can read about my original trip to the frog pond a yeear ago with arrowheads here. Funny - I just looked at the date from my frog pond post - Jaunary 22, 2007. I cast on my second attempt on January 20, 2008, 2 days less than a year after I ripppppped her out!!!! Like I said - FUNNY.


I also just cast on for a baby sweater for a co worker. She's due in mid March. She's having a boy!! I'm using the Lion Brand Pattern # 60554A: Cotton-Ease Hoodie, although I'm not using Cotton-Ease. I was going to originally, but the yarn was not on sale and I was feeling cheap at the time and I am not real friendly with S, so I went with a cheaper yarn (besides I like the color better). I'm using Bernat Berella "4", a worsted weight in the Grey Ragg colorway.

Too cold on the shoulders...

Here's a picture of my Princess Wrap with the buttons sewn on. The sweater is a bit too wide in the neck line to the point where it falls off my shoulders if I am not careful. (...exactly what I feared would happen with this type of design...). I was thinking of knitting some kind of edging along the neck, but instead, I may just sew in a "thingy" in each shoulder that hooks around under the bra strap to hold the shoulders in place. I think that will be easier than trying to figure out an edging that will look right.



WRAPPING THE STATS
Pattern: Wrap Pullover by Cecily Glowik
Source: Classic Elite Publication #9084, Uptown Knitting
Date: Cast On 11.22.07 // Cast Off 01.10.08
Yarn: Classic Elite Princess, 8 skeins; Classic Elite Duchess, 2 skeins; Privileged Plum
Needles #1 - Sleeves & Body: Size 8 US (5.0mm), Clover Bamboo circular needles, 29"
Needles #2 - Hem: Size 10 US (6.5mm), Clover Bamboo circular needles, 29"
Note #1: Knitting sleeve/body two at a time
Note #2: Knit the smallest size for a smaller neckline, but added an extra inch for total width
Note #3: For bottom hem, knit the smallest size, but cast on 4 extra stitches (see note #2 above)

Fetching

I'm in between projects so decided to make something quick. Because my hands are always freezing, I chose Fetching from the Summer 2006 issue of Knitty. These will be perfect for typing away on the computer at work. HOWEVER, I do find the yarn a bit scratchy on my hands.

This is actually my second pair of Fetching. I made my first pair a little over a year ago for a friend of mine at work. You can read about it here, here & here.

Cleo - my little miss "Tortie-Tude"

FETCHING THE STATS
Pattern: Fetching
Source: from the Summer 2006 issue of Knitty
Date: Cast On & Cast Off Left Hand 01.12.08 // Cast On & Cast Off Right Hand 01.15.08
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, Sapphire Heather (100% Peruvian Highland Wool); 1 skein
Needles: Size 6 US (4.0mm), Susan Bates Silverado circular needles, 32"
Cast On: Cable Cast-On
Method: Magic Loop
Cast Off: Did not follow pattern for bind off (pattern called for picot bind-off). I did a basic bind off. I tried the picot bind off but found it too curly.

Guest Knitter

I have a guest knitter featured today - my Mom. She just completed a feather and fan afghan with a little help from a furry little cutie-pie.















THE STATS
Source: Stitch Pattern Library from Lion Yarn
Yarn: Red Heart worsted medium 4 ply, Painted Desert
Needles Size 9 US (6.0mm)

Almost a Wrap

My Princess Wrap Pullover is now blocking. She came off the needles Thursday night and hit the blocks this morning. Once I've seamed her, she & I will take a trip to JoAnn's to pick out some buttons.

The picture below is how she'll look once the seaming is complete. I put the pieces together just to get an idea of how it would look - it's almost like a puzzle.

Pre-blocking // Pre-Seaming

The construction is pretty cool. You knit from the sleeves, starting with the cuff, and you increase and just keep on going into the body, knitting the body horizontally, completing each half of the body in one piece sliced vertically down the middle, so that you are knitting the front & back in one piece, with the right & left sides of the sweater as the two separate pieces. However, I knit both right & left at the same time. CONFUSED????? The bottom band is knit separately and is knit in a slip stitch pattern.

Here's what the pieces look like as they are blocking.

Blocking

Each of the two larger pieces will be folded in half length wise to form each half of the body (right & left). The diagonal side of each piece is the neckline and the longer straight edged part is the sleeve. These two pieces will be seamed into each other to form the body of the sweater.



The bottom band will be sewn on last.



WRAPPING THE STATS
Pattern: Wrap Pullover by Cecily Glowik
Source: Classic Elite Publication #9084, Uptown Knitting
Date: Cast On 11.22.07 // Cast Off 01.10.08
Yarn: Classic Elite Princess, 8 skeins; Classic Elite Duchess, 2 skeins; Privileged Plum
Needles #1 - Sleeves & Body: Size 8 US (5.0mm), Clover Bamboo circular needles, 29"
Needles #2 - Hem: Size 10 US (6.5mm), Clover Bamboo circular needles, 29"
Note #1: Knitting sleeve/body two at a time
Note #2: Knit the smallest size for a smaller neckline, but added an extra inch for total width
Note #3: For bottom hem, knit the smallest size, but cast on 4 extra stitches (see note #2 above)