Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Picture promised of Sweater

OK, here goes... just shy of 4 1/2 inches of the bottom of the back of my sweater. I've been working on it for two weeks, although probably only about four-five hours a week or so. So I can see an improvement I'm using a measuring tape!



Here's the width... it's about 23-24 inches wide.. it's hard to measure while it's on the needles, but good news is that it should fit, I'll just keep measuring as I go so I don't make the same kind of mistake as I did with "a"s sweater.

And more washclothes

This first one is Lacy Hearts Ensemble from Cloth of the Week. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClothOfTheWeek/ If I'd known how much I would like the pattern I would have made it larger. I still may make another one...

I tried taking a close-up of the heart, not sure how clear it is... but I tried.


This one is Slip Stitch 2 Ensemble (me thinks they like the word 'ensemble') also from Cloth of the Week. I've done something similar for a baby hat... the bubble one, they're very fun to knit.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sweater progress

I'm making a short-sleeved sweater for myself, although I can't imagine that I'll have it done by spring. It's a slo-go project as I'm using thin yarn (very soft & shimmery) and tiny needles.... so I can do about three - four rows in an hour... and I'm going to add more rows at the bottom than the pattern calls for as I want it extra long (to cover my bulges from too-low jeans). I figure I should be able to post some progress pics to prove I am actually working on it... LOL

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

More washclothes (I know, boring)

Ok, two more washclothes... I'm thinking I might start making some bigger, then I might donate some to the Humane Society for the animals.... but I'm still needing a few more for my sink shining... so soon, but not yet. Sorry, that means your still stuck with pictures of washclothes....


2 Hip 2 B Square -- courtesy of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClothOfTheWeek/


Diamond on Lace -- courtesy of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyDishcloths



I'm going to have to work on contrast to help show off the patterns... My next one I just finished is Lace Hearts Ensemble, and it's pretty and I want to show off the pattern.

I picked up some "Peaches and Creme" yarn which is incredibly soft and pretty... only $1.29 at Walmart and enough to complete a couple of cloths each. My hearts that was my first project on it is going to be my washcloth for face washing, and I can't wait to do more. PLUS I'm going to start doing some bath puffs - this is too fun (although I'm sure it's driving you nuts).

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Washcloths


So, because the sweater has taken so long, and I'm about to start another long project, I decided I needed to tackle some smaller projects to get some little "hits" of something done. Plus, it'll help me with my flylady routine of washing my dishes... so, here goes, my first one. (I was supposed to make it in brown, but I had lots of green and figured it would be ok). Good way to use up my cheap-ie (nearly free) skeins of yarn from Goodwill! (Too itchy for clothing).

I've got two yahoo groups I've joined with KAL's - Knit-a-longs. Sometimes you know what it's going to look like, other times, you don't. I'll have a couple of more to post within the week, as I'm going back and doing the patterns since the beginning of the year.

Finished the sweater

OK, about half-way done with the finishing steps on the sweater, I realized I'd made a mistake on the second sleeve (the one I didn't rip out and re-do the second half. At this point, I had a decision. If I kept going and ignored the problem, there was a 50-50 chance that not very many people would even see the problem... and I still only had an hour or so of work to finish it. Or, I could rip out the sweater sleeve, and start a new one (faster than ripping out and fixing the old one since the mistake is in the beginning). This would take approximately another week or two to finish the sleeve (again) and another two hours to get it back to the point where I was when I caught my mistake. Could my mistake had been caught earlier - oh, yeah! So, lesson learned - pay attention to the details.

Now, as you well know, I'm not the perfectionist type... I like it done right, but then again, it's like... hmmm... which is the "right" thing to do right now given that I only have x many hours in the day, it's a children's sweater he'll only wear about a half dozen times before he outgrows it.... etc. I figured out that my biggest concern is that I would probably want to "FINISH" it right primarily so as to not have anyone realize that I screwed up. Well, I've decided I can handle that. So, LOL, it's done!

Even though it's still too big (but looks like it'll fit perfectly next fall), I did try to get "a" to model it for you. So, the good "shot" is of it on the hanger, and hopefully next week I can post the pics I tried to get while it was "on" the consstantly moving target. I'm going to have to use "A"s computer to set up the comedy slide-show. Impossible to hit a moving target!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sweater Progress

Still not finished, but I thought I'd show the progress. This is "a"s sweater. He turns five this summer (what the heck?!) and it should fit him next fall (if a little on the big side). The pattern is for raglan sleeves... so the front looks a little like a tank top - and I'm worried about how it'll all fit together, but so far, it's looking ok.

I've finished the front and back.




And a picture of the stitch pattern close up. I think it adds a nice touch.



Issues so far... I'd already knitted the front to look exactly like the back, had it nearly to the end when I realized I messed up. So had to rip out about thirty rows back to where you have to shape it for the sleeves and neckline. Only took an hour or so to re-knit that area, so not the end of the world.

Finished one sleeve, and it wasn't until I was working on the second that I realized I had mis-read the pattern a little bit (me being cheap, I didn't make a copy of the pattern that I could write on, which would have prevented this issue)... and it's about two centimeters shorter than it's supposed to be.. ugh! So I'm going to have to rip out about seventy rows (All the way down to where it's at it's widest!), good news is the sleeves knit up pretty fast, so it should only take two hours to re-knit the sleeve. I'm waiting until I finish the second sleeve and pin the pieces together to see how it looks before I do it in case I want to make other alterations. Bad enough doing it twice, I don't really want to do it three times.



About two-thirds of the way done with the second sleeve (I do think it'll fit together much better!), and I've caught a couple of mistakes I made in the knit pattern last night when I was working on it when I laid it out for this photo. So, good news is I don't rip anything out but the couple of stitches I messed up, down a couple of rows, and then I can fix them. Problem is I think one of the issues is about ten rows down.



Oh, well, live & learn.