Wonderful Weekend Knit

I found this pattern from Sweater Babe called Quick Shawl Collared Shrug and after showing it to Miss America we ordered some Knit Picks Swish Bulky. I whipped this up while watching football this past weekend. The pattern calls for ribbing on the capped sleeves but we opted out of that. It is so soft and she loves it so much!

Busy Me = Quiet Blog Me

I've been working all this past week teaching in 6th grade science - next week too. The teacher had to have her rotator cuff repaired and instead of a one day simple sub job this is real work with me teaching all about the earth's layers and tectonic plates. Blogging has been far from my mind. Anyway, I do have some FOs and some WIPs.

First, is my Christina Sweater (rav link) which used up every bit of yarn I had purchased (Cascade 220 in colorway Pacific). I didn't have enough to do the i-cord edging so my wonderful, talented friend Kimberly put on a crochet edging using the "crab" stitch. It worked perfectly and I was left with 2 little one inch balls of yarn!

I had some yarn I purchased a while back - Artful Yarns Fragrance in the Joy colorway - the color has more purple than it looks like here. I'm knitting up the Basic Chic V Neck Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns - this yarn has alpaca in the blend and should be delightfully warm.

I cast on a shrug for Miss America using Knit Picks Swish Bulky...

And a scarf for my mom using some leftover Debbie Bliss Cathay.

So, that's what I've been up to. One more full week of subbing and then I hope to have a day or two to myself!

The Whole Picture

Here it is! I wore this all day and LOVE it!

It's All In the Details

When I first saw Mountain View Cardigan I fell in love with the sleeves - they were unlike anything I ever saw before...so it was the details that got me for making this cardigan. I love the sleeves, the buttons I found that are pretty yet don't take away from the waist detailing. I love the lace panel on the back too.

Next, getting a good picture of the whole thing...not just the details. This took a long time to make - I used Knit Picks Stroll and have vowed NEVER to make such a fine gauge sweater again! Too hard on the hands.

Drive Thru

Before the summer started, my godsister expressed the desire for some girly colored sweaters for her daughter. She has an older brother and navy blue sweaters with a pink skirt aren't as fun as a purple sweater with anything. So we went onto Knit Picks and found some colors and here is the result using Wendy Bernard's Drive Thru.

Next I have to get a picture of her wearing it - hopefully when it isn't so darn hot.

I cast on another project of mindless knitting - Chic Knits Basic Chic V-Neck Cardigan using Artful Yarns Fragrance which I picked online up during a sale at Webs. I still have my Mountain View Cardigan to finish...perhaps this week I'll do the required neck short row shaping I've been avoiding for MONTHS!

Request Granted

I mentioned a while back a friend's son requested another pair of felted slippers - I had made him his first pair and he literally wore them to pieces. Since it was a request, I granted it and even let him pick what colors...he chose red and blue.

Here they are hanging up to dry after 2 days of not drying very well in the humidity. They go in the mail tomorrow and I'm hoping they will fit.

Three Days of Rain

A three day nor'easter lets lots of things happen...school supply shopping, clothes shopping, watching movies, and of course, knitting!

I whipped this Shalom Cardigan up for Miss America in 3 short days. Okay I admit I made it prior to the storm and just sewed the button on during the storm - I really made a pair of felted clogs and cast on for two new projects.

After the nor'easter I realized that there might be sea glass at the beach and indeed there was...here's the haul which includes 2 very rare pieces - red and orange. Yesterday Miss America even found yellow!

Finish-itis

After my last post, Beth commented on my urge to cast on a new project - "castonitis" and wondered why we don't get "finish-itis". Considering this project was waiting for buttons and I had them and was too lazy to sew them on, I took Beth's musings to heart.

Here is my Mondo Cable Cardigan FINISHED with buttons. I got these at JoAnn Fabrics and really think they go well and add a bit of interest. I looked at silver, wood, horn, matching dark plum and ended up with these funky ones.




Here's how it looks on - love wearing wool with shorts and a t-shirt.

I did however give into castonitis and started and finished a Shalom Cardigan for Miss America. It's blocking now and after we get a fun button I'll show you pictures. It was a fun, fast, mindless knit.

Now, back to my finish-itis - have two sweaters almost done and need to finish them.

Last Wallaby

Here it is...my last Wallaby for a long time. I'm Wallabied out. This is for my godsister's eldest child and since he's visiting next week my timing couldn't be more perfect. I have to find a little something to put in the pocket for a surprise.

Now I have a case of castonitis - I think I'll start the felted slippers my friend's son requested. I'm a little overdue on them.

Needs B&B

All this needs is B&B - not bed and breakfast but blocking and buttons.

Presenting my Mondo Cable Cardigan done in Araucania Nature Wool - which is now on sale at Webs. The color isn't quite true in this shot but unfortunately the pooling on the left sleeve is. Doesn't bother me too much as I intended this as a sweater to throw on over jeans.

I should have another done one in a week...see I have been knitting but not blogging about it.

No I Haven't Fallen Off the Face of The Earth

I am still here...I'm still knitting...I just haven't been blogging. I've had a rough couple of weeks due to a volunteer job I do during the summer. I coordinate the tennis program for a small club we belong to and there was a situation where we had to let a tennis pro go and I ended up in a firestorm. It really sapped a lot out of me...I couldn't smile, I couldn't be a good mom, I couldn't even knit happily for a few days. It was bad but the dust has settled and I'm slowly getting back to myself.

I have been knitting a lot on my Mondo Cable Cardigan and my Christina Sweater - I'm on the second sleeve on both so there is little to show.

In the meantime, the new Twist Collective is out and it ROCKS! There is so much in there I want to knit.


Metro by Connie Chang Chinchio

My favorite - Issara by Anne Kuo Lukito

Acorns by Carol Sunday

What to do when it is too hot?

Yesterday afternoon as I was watching our son get slaughtered in a tennis match I had my knitting in hand (just like baseball I knit during tennis matches too). I'm working on my Christina Sweater in Cascade 220 in a gorgeous colorway called Pacific.

There was a breeze and some cloud cover and I was fine - then the sun popped through and it suddenly got very hot. I put down my knitting and said something I rarely say "It is too hot to knit".

This summer is one of record heat - today is going to be a scorcher. We don't have air conditioning - just ceiling fans. It is really hard to hold fiber in the heat...what is one to do? I want to knit, I enjoy the rhythm and ability to multitask...no idle hands.

I'm afraid today will be a no knit day - hard for me but I don't want to resent my lovely wool. What do you do when it is hot and you want to knit???

Sometimes People Don't Understand

As I've mentioned before, I knit at all of our son's baseball games. In the summer, I knit at all of our kids' tennis matches.

Yesterday afternoon a woman I know had a conversation with me that kind of went like this:

She: Estella, who are you knitting that for?
Me: This one is a cardigan for me.
She: You can't possibly wear all the sweaters you make.
Me: I don't always knit for myself - my daughter gets a lot of sweaters. I also knit for children of friends. My godsister buys the yarn and I make things for her kids.
She: You should sell your finished stuff. You could get at least $150 for what you are making now.
Me: Yes I could but it would never cover the cost of my time.

People don't understand what it would cost laborwise to make a sweater. While some sweaters are fast knits and done in no time, they too would be very expensive if we were to put a price on our time.

What is our time per hour worth? How many hours do we spend knitting a project? I wonder - should I have a stop watch that I put with a project so I can see exactly how much time I work on it?

Not to mention there is love put in some sweaters...no price can be put on that.

Ten on Tuesday

As you know I don't regularly do a 10 on Tuesday but this week Carole had me challenge myself. The theme is 10 Things You like About Where you Live.

You ask yourself "why is this a challenge?" - thing is I don't really like where we live. We are there until the kids get through high school then I think a serious conversation about where we should live is going to happen as I'm not very happy in our town.

So, what do I love????

1. Our Library - you know this as I write about it often. It is downright wonderful and has been a big part of our lives.
2. Our school system - it's great and frankly that's why we live in this town.
3. Our parks - we have wonderful parks which have fields, pool, trails, etc. We use them a lot.
4. The small town feel of the downtown part of our town. However, this is changing as greedy landlords push out the mom and pop business and we get more big chain stores. It's quite frustrating.
5. The Nature Center - this is where I take the dog on very cold or rainy days. I love seeing the change of season and in the winter the animal tracks are so fun to follow.
6. The countryside around us - it is lovely with hills, old stone walls and of course lovely homes.
7. Our church - I've been through rough patches with our church in the past with some clergy changes but now it is back on track and very much a big part of our lives.
8. Our home - we renovated our home about 10 years ago and it is a lovely haven. We just put a deck on and that is my new favorite place to be.
9. Our proximity to NYC - I love to go into the city with the kids on a long weekend. I majored in art history and a trip to the Metropolitan Museum is one of my favorite outings.
10. I don't have family here...why would that be a good thing? Because I'm not emotionally tied to this town and when we do move I think I'll be just fine with it.

Phew - the last one was a stretch but it made me think about our town and find what I DO like about it not what I don't like about it. Thanks for listening.

LOVE these buttons!

I just whipped up this cute little cardigan for a friend who had a baby girl - it is a pattern I found on Knit Picks called Cardigan Rose. It called for 3 skeins of Knit Picks Swish DK which I got in their "asparagus" colorway.

I popped into Joanne fabrics and found these very fun buttons - really makes everything pop and makes the sweater very girly. This was a fun project and I do hope the parents get a kick out of it.