Catching Up

Since coming back from New England on Monday, I've been trying to catch up with just about everything in life. Amazing how being gone for nine days can screw up the home situation. The lack of groceries, the overabundance of laundry, the dust bunnies, the dog hair, the mountain of mail, etc. Not to mention catching up at work on all the changes while I was gone. But there was much productive knitting and three projects were finished in the course of the trip.

The Twisted Cables Pullover was finished and was a major success. It fit the younger granddaughter perfectly and she didn't want to take it off. And hasn't taken it off. I was very pleased with the pattern and the Patternworks Bretton Heathers yarn. Hopefully it will hold up well with the use it's going to get. All the details are on my Ravelry page.

Altogether there were six sweaters and vests that made the trip and stayed behind. The little ones, of course, are for the new grandchild on the way, and the others are for wearing now.

The Glacier Scarf was also finished. How appropriate that I should finish it and wear it for the remains of the big east coast snowstorm! The Pink Carrots yarn is extremely soft on my neck and this is definitely going to be a favorite scarf. Again, details are on my Ravelry page.

There was much snowball throwing and snow hiking. There was also a first knitting lesson, using the Glacier scarf! There are more than a few three year old's first stitches in it, making the scarf an extra special treasure.

Another finished project and more lovelies next time.

Got My Wish

Things did slow down at work last week, finally, and I did get some work done on the Glacier Scarf. It's long enough now to set comfortably in my lap while I work on it. I'm hoping the work load stays this way for a while. I would like to get more projects done; not running so hard at work means I'm not as tired when I get home, and more knitting gets done in the evening then!

Case in point; the second granddaughter sweater is finished and put aside until we fly out there next month. Details on my Ravelry page.

So the third and last of the granddaughter sweaters is on the needles. This is the Twisted Cables Pullover, once again from "Kid's Knitted Sweaters and More". (All links are to Ravelry.) It's a top down raglan that I'm knitting from Patternworks Bretton yarn. It's a very soft superwash wool/nylon/alpaca blend and I'm very happy with it so far. The cable yoke pattern was easy to memorize and it's a very pleasant knit, at least at this point.

Hopefully the little girls will enjoy wearing these as much as I've enjoyed knitting them!

Plodding Along

It's been a busy week since coming home and getting back to work. The Glacier Scarf has gone back to work with me, but only a few rows have been accomplished on it. Work has been mighty busy; I wish it would slow down a little bit so that we could get a breather. One that doesn't involve taking vacation time. But it's good to be busy. While my job is hardly in any danger of being eliminated in the general budget crunch, it's possible that pay and/or benefits could be cut. I've been thinking a lot about spending and saving issues, lately, just like everyone else. We are in pretty decent shape, thank God, but I know that many aren't.

At home the Icarus shawl and the qiviut cowl have taken a back seat to the toddler sweater. The body is nearly finished and will only need a couple more inches. We are going out to visit the grandbabies in March and I want to have the sweaters finished. Don't know how the sizes will actually hold up, but I've checked on Ravelry and no one who has already knit these patterns has any complaints about the sizes being appropriate for the age of the child.

Just as an aside, anyone who isn't on Ravelry certainly should be, even if you don't want to post any of your own projects. The research capabilities of this site are phenomenal. Just about any information at all about yarns, patterns, etc, is almost instantaneously available.

And just so you don't think that I'm the only person in this house who works on projects, here's a picture of Joe's banana plant. This monster started out as just a little twig, but with lots of care it's gotten quite large. I'm just waiting to see if he can get it to fruit. Now that would be really cool!

Cable Vest

I've finished up the last of the Baby Cashmerino by making another Debbie Bliss vest. This is the third of the Alaska projects to be finished. The pattern is from Simply Baby (Ravelry link), the size is 9-12 months. The pattern calls for two skeins of the Cashmerino, but I'd read several comments on Ravelry that two skeins would not be enough. That was exactly what I found. Oh, I could knit the vest itself, but if I'd not had plenty of the Baby Cashmerino left over from the prior vest I would have been stuck for the neckband and armbands.

This is a very nice little pattern but don't try it without plenty of the yarn.

I finished this up on Dec. 14 and posted on Ravelry, but for whatever reason forgot to post it here. This is knit with Size 2 and 3 needles. Because of the cables, it took me about twice as long to knit as the last vest (mostly stockinette) did.

The first Alaska knit, the Noro Striped Scarf, went to Michael's fiance Carolyn for Christmas. It was an immediate hit. She will certainly need it when she goes back to school. As a matter of fact, she can use it here in Arizona. The temperatures are going into the 20's at night and I had to break ice off the car this morning just to open the door. That doesn't happen often! Just goes to show you how crazy the weather is.

Stay warm!

Projects

It's about time to do an update on the current projects. Three of them, anyways.

The Monkeys in Alaska socks are coming along. The first sock is finished, and the second is moving along slowly. This is my carry to work project and the second sock isn't seeing much knit time lately. This time I made the first sock with six pattern repeats on the leg and only five repeats on the foot. The fit is much better this time.

I'm using the rest of the Baby Cashmerino to knit the Cable Tank Top from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby. I had researched the pattern on Ravelry and found that knitters were having trouble getting the 9-12 months size out of the two balls of yarn called for. But since I have plenty of the yarn leftover from the Little Vest, I know I won't have a problem with this size. Since taking this picture, I have finished the back of the vest, and I only had 3 yards of yarn left over from the full ball of yarn I used for the back. So it certainly seems that 2 balls of yarn as called for in the pattern is cutting it pretty close.

Although I'm working nearly exclusively on the vest while at home in the evenings, I couldn't resist casting on for a cowl with the qiviut. I got a free pattern from the shop when I purchased the yarn, and that's the one I'm using. The pattern is not on Ravelry, but the designer is...perhaps I'll contact her and see if she is interested in getting this pattern listed now that there will be a project to pair up with it. The qiviut is wonderful to knit with!

We are away this weekend at Joe's church retreat. It's still in the 80's during the day in Tucson, so this will probably be my last shot at summer this year. I think I'll take the Monkey sock to work on. See you all next week!

A Baby Vest

First it was a sweater, now a baby vest. Little garments are the thing around here these days. Yes, there's going to be a new grandbaby in the family next spring, a new sibling for the two granddaughters. There's also going to be a wedding next summer, but that's another story. So far no knits are planned for that one.

This is Alaska project #2. Debbie Bliss "Vest" pattern from "Essential Baby". I used two balls of the Baby Cashmerino that I bought in Victoria, B.C. I did not use the entire two balls of yarn. This is the 3-6 months size. I enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It was very soft and had a nice texture that felt good on my fingers. It was a fairly quick knit for someone who only worked on it for an hour or so in the evenings.

Details on my Ravelry page.

Surprise! A Sweater!

I've been holding out on you all. A couple months ago I started working on a child's sweater, knitted in Cascade 220 Superwash. The idea, first of all, was to work on a sweater, something with actual construction involved. I also wanted to make it something that could be worn by the grandkids. Actually, to make something sturdy enough to last through a few kids. To that end, I went with the Cascade 220.

This is the Cameron sweater from Leisure Arts' Kids Knitted Sweaters & More. I was very pleased with the pattern. It was knit in the round with no sewing involved; the sleeves were picked up at the armholes and knitted to the cuffs. I really enjoyed this little knit. It used up two skeins of Cascade in teal, and part of another skein of light teal for the contrast stripes.

This isn't one of my Alaska projects. I didn't take it with me on the trip, because I didn't want anything fiddly with me. Since coming back, though, I wanted to get it finished up pretty quick so I could get going on more projects from this book. There are at least three other projects that I want to knit up for the grandkids. This sweater is a size 6 and is on the big side right now. But I'm sure that won't last for long.

More details on my Ravelry page.