Finishing

I have actually been getting some stuff finished lately. I finished the sweater from knit 1, but it is a little big. I have thought about trying to felt it a little, but then it might get too small in the sleeves. After that, I finished the matinee coat from the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino book. It looks really cute, and the edging is great. Now I am trying to finish a pair of socks made in a cotton wool called Opal.I think these will fit really well, and I only have about two inches of ribbing left. After this, I need to finish the twisted kisses scarf and hat, and I will have finished all my ufo's, except for a poncho and a shawl that I plan to rip out anyway.

My new craft room

Today I didn't do much knitting, but I finally moved all my craft stuff upstairs to my new craft room. Doug and I switched craft rooms (he draws and needs storage space for all his geeky collections) so now I am upstairs. He had a friend over, so I got them to move one of the couches up. It was tricky since the stairs are small and cramped, but they got it in the room, so now I can sit in there and knit. Mom and Catrina (my sister) stoped in today, so I took some pictures of Hayden (my neice) in her cashmerino coat. She is so cute, and looking more like her big sister every day. After I got everything moved in the room, I decided to make some little socks to match the coat, with the left over cashmerino. There is almost a skein left, and the socks are tiny so I should have enough.

N.J., are you out there? If you comment, I will post a picture of the quilt I made.

Hayden 

Cashmerino Coat 

close up  

one inch left 

Finally some time to myself

Last night my sister and her husband got home from their vacation in Cuba and I droped off my 2 1/2 year old neice Ryan. I had forgotten how much time it takes to accompany someone to the bathroom every time they need to go. Shannon is only 4 1/2 but it a huge difference. Yesterday I started the One Button Cardigan from knit 1, and I am almost finished the back.I am a bit blog challenged, since evidently this is coming after the pics instead of before; but that's O.K. I guess. I hand dyed the yarn with food dyes. It was a tan colour before. I got the yarn out of a sweater from Frenchys. If you've never been to Frenchys, you are missing out. It is a thrift store, but with tons of clothes, and they are in big bins divided according to what they are. So, if you are looking fo sweaters to frog, you head for the women's sweater bin (there are lots more there then in the men's.)and dig in. Everyone has their own method for going through the bin. My mother is a Frenchy shopper extrordinere(?) so I do it her way, and push all the stuff to one end and sort through one sweater at a time. Everything is priced by type as well, and women's sweaters are just under $4.00 Canadian. I knitted this on six mm needles and got 14 st to 4 inches. I get lots of really nice yarn this way, and it is great for felting, baby things, small stuff, and sometimes sweaters if the sweater you frog is big enough. I will show some more stuff later.

The Never Ending Baby Sweater

O.K. so I guess that since the point of this is to say I'm finished the cabled coat with hood, from the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book, my title is kind of a lie. It did seem like it was never going to end. This is the first sweater that I ever started, and the second I have finished. I am happy with how it turned out, dispite a few small "changes" from the pattern. I started this before I really knew anything about knitting, all I had made were a few scarves and a pair of socks. I didn't know that the yarn was fine and the ribbing and cabling would make it take forever. Once I started reading blogs and actually knitting the thing, I started to get a little nervous. A lot of people don't like Debbie Bliss patterns, so I worried that the pattern was wrong or that it would be the wrong size, but it turned out great. I made the 9-12 month size, and it fits the baby now with the cuffs turned up and if the sleeves were longer, it would fit her 2 1\2 year old sister too. Ribbing is miraculous! I really love the cashmerino it is so soft and great to knit with. I would like to try the heavier gauges, but I have heard that they pill and look bad right away. I will try to post a picture of the baby (my sister's) wearing the coat, tomorrow, if I can figure out how.

Testing, testing, one two three...

This is a test to see if I can do this blog thing. Surely I can if so many others do. Right? Right?