On the Bandwagon

Well, I've jumped on the Daybreak bandwagon. There are a bunch of KALs for it and I've always wanted to make it so yesterday I joined in.

Jennifer gave me a lovely gift certificate to our LYS. So yesterday I trotted up there and found some Happy Feet yarn by Plymouth. The hard thing was deciding which color combination to get...so I decided why choose - get both!

I'm starting on the blue one first...perfectly portable for an upcoming trip with some airplane time. More on that later.

Thank you Jennifer!

Inspira-tion

I've been wanting to make an Inspira cowl for a while...so when Webs had Kureyon and Cascade 220 on sale I picked some up in a fun combination. Okay, I confess, I ordered another colorway of Kureyon thinking I'd make 2 if I liked how the first one turned out.

This is totally "potato chip" knitting - I love seeing what comes up next and how it looks against the main color. I cast on 188 stitches (vs. 144 called for) so it will fit over my shoulders a bit like my Tube of Warmth.

Another Winner

It has been damp and chilly here in the northeast for the past few days and this sweater is perfect - lightweight and just warm enough. I wore it teaching the other day and decided this one is another winner!

Who Me? I'm a Good Dog! I Promise!

So I went into the guest room (aka my knitting space) and found our dog, Missy, lying on my Summer Solstice while it was blocking. She was just on the edge and had a bit of a guilty look when I found her.
















Then she decided she needed to reposition and cover more of the sweater - look at how she won't look me in the eye. Funny thing is the sweater was still damp - not my idea of a comfy place to rest!

At The Same Time

When Webs had Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool on sale, I jumped on it and ordered 6 skeins to make Heidi Kirrmaier's Summer Solstice. I wish I had read the pattern ahead of time as it used the 4 dreaded words in knitting - AT THE SAME TIME.

While having a lot of stockinette, this pattern has wonderful design features that are fascinating and fun to knit. You start with the back yoke in the center and knit sideways then turn it into one sleeve. You then pick up the back yoke again which was a provisional caston and then knit the other side and sleeve. Then you make the body and then the whole collar.

My main modification is I did one more section of the collar repeat than it called for in my size. This gives a generous surplus at the front. I used just a tad over 5 skeins which let me have the extra up front as I wanted. It is blocking now - I wish I had finished this last week when it was so dry and crisp here - today it is damp and rainy and still not dry after 24 hours. I promise modeled photos when it is dry.
















Keeping track of various decreases on this was a challenge - here are my notes for the arm decreases which took place all over and at odd times. The one below which is on lined paper is from the body where you had increases and decreases. You see it was a lot of "AT THE SAME TIME"!

We Have a Clear Winner

In a landslide, Harvest Moon won the vote! It IS a lovely sweater and I probably would have picked it all by myself except I was currently knitting another Heidi Kirrmaier pattern (Summer Solstice) and was thinking I should branch out. I've ordered 10 skeins of Berroco Blackstone Tweed in a new color called Nor'Easter. Perfect. I think this will be my summer knit while watching the kids' tennis tournaments - lots of stockinette.

Let's Put It To A Vote

I have a wonderful gift card to Webs and they have Berroco Blackstone Tweed on sale. Now I need to figure out what to make with it...all these appeal to me but I'd love some input as you all know what I wear/make, etc.

So in no particular order:
Harvest Moon















Nuss



















Collins






















Baudelaire - and check out the details on the back...

UNCLE!

Yesterday I pulled out the sewing machine, scissors, needles, zipper foot...etc. I sewed the zipper to the ribbon as the pattern suggested. I hand basted the zipper in after pinning it very carefully. I sewed it on the machine. I zipped it up and then let the four letter words fly...the left side was higher than the right side because one has a firm seed stitch edge and the other is plain stockinette. It looked like hell.

So, I pulled out the seam ripper. I pulled out my supply of snaps and sewed on a snap at the top of the band. Sometimes you need to know when to say "uncle" and remember that this is for a 5 year old and it will be fine as it is. I must admit the 2 hours of precious time wasted left me grumpy for a while.

Simplicity

Simple things are sometimes the best - this cardigan is called Simplicity and it is simply wonderful. I used Jagger Spun Zephyr Wool/Silk which I got on sale at Webs...these little skeins hold a lot of yarn. I had 3 of them then I panicked and thought I wouldn't have enough and ordered 2 more...didn't need them as I didn't use all 3 skeins. Oh well, I'll make something else out of it.

Perfect layering piece for chilly spring days or summer evenings. I love it!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Where did April go? I can't believe the last time I posted was April 20th! Sorry!

Anyway, I worked all last week which makes it hard for me to blog...however I do get to knit and I have a few new items on the needles. I also have 2 things off the needles and here is one of them - May Flowers for my godsister's daughter. She turned 5 on May 1st and this is her new jacket (Morgan's Flower Garden) out of Cascade 220 and scraps for the flowers. It is not quite done yet as I have to put in a zipper...hopefully today I can get to the store for the materials.