i've never been good at following direction, so...i need to make sure i do the same thing on sleeve 2 that i do on sleeve 1.

size 6 needles
provisional CO
knit 7 rows
purl 1 row
switch to size 7 needles
knit 7 rows
knit first and last row together
knit 10 rows
decrease round
knit 37 rows
decrease round
knit 26 rows
increase round
knit 16 rows
increase round
knit 16 rows
knit 18 rows

11.22.2006


11.24.2006


11.26.2006


needless to say, i'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. i love getting so much done in such a short period of time.

update - 7:24pm
i'm about 15 rows away from separating for the yoke and sleeves. woo hoo!

i've made a teensy bit of progress on the hourglass sweater that i'm making for myself. i actually brought it with me to the insanity that is day-after-thanksgiving shopping this morning.


aside from getting a bit more done on this, i'm hoping to (finally) organize my knitting stuff. it's bad. i don't think my stuff has ever been in such disarray. tsk, tsk. maybe i'll start that tonight.

last night, i ordered yarn from knitpicks for another xmas gift. woo hoo! somehow, a few other items managed to jump into my cart, too. hehe...

first off, xmas gift #11 is pretty much done. i just need to cut off the ends. yay!

in other news, since i need to buy yarn for my other xmas gifts and don't have anything else to work on, i decided to wind up some of my noro cash iroha and start on the hourglass sweater from last-minute knitted gifts. woo hoo! i'm hoping to swatch tonight and get a good start during thanksgiving tomorrow.

i just picked some knitpicks andean treasure out of my stash and...wow. why haven't i been knitting with this? it is ridiculously soft. lovely, lovely stuff. i've been wondering what to use to make xmas gift #7 and i think this is it.

anyway, the simple, but sort of interesting thing i'm doing with the andean treasure may end up being a pattern. we'll see if it works out.

pattern: the ubiquitous panta
for: me!
started: 11.20.2006 (evening)
finished: 11.21.2006 (afternoon)
yarn: <1 ball of plymouth yarn encore worsted in khaki
needles: susan bates size 5 silvalune circs


please excuse the hair and face. i wanted to hurry and catch the last bit of natural light for the day.

i love it! this was a great, fast knit. it was so fast, in fact, that i only have one single progress picture.



i'm not sure what else to say. i used some leftover yarn and i can't wait for the weather to get cold again so that i can use this. the pattern was great because its directions were based on the actual size of the head to be fit. for my giant head, this is great.



so, yay!

::one down
xmas gift #8 is done. woo hoo! i just finished weaving in the ends a few hours ago.

::one started
i just started a panta for myself. i'm using the yarn i have left over from xmas gift #6, so yay for stash-busting!

::one to frog
i've decided that the bell sleeve shrug just isn't something i'll end up wearing. so, i'll need to find another project to make with this yarn.

while at the thrift store last weekend looking for random fabric, i ran across this...


now, i'm not really a poncho sort of gal, but i thought it was handmade, so (obviously) i couldn't just leave it there. then, i saw this...


yup! handmade. by helen russell. i couldn't leave it there. the price?

$2.50.

which makes me sort of sad, knowing all of the yarn that went into all of the stockinette on this huge thing...


not to mention the time spent on the mounds of fringe.


i soaked it in eucalan and it was good as new. i like the garter stitch along the bottom. i sometimes forget about good ol' garter stitch, but it does look really cool.


there's a lovely pattern of leaves all around the yoke.


and two sets of buttons to keep it closed in front.


however, the best part for me is definitely the label. it was sort of falling off, so i just cut it out and reattached it after the shawl was done drying.


thanks, helen! i don't know who this was made for, but i'm going to enjoy it!

is it the eucalan in which xmas gift #4 is soaking? i think so.



it's pretty creepy-looking unblocked, but in a fun sort of way.

pattern: the heart-breakingly cute baby kimono from mason-dixon knitting
inspiration: the embroidery detail was inspired by this blog post.
for: the baby-to-be of a woman at work
embroidery and patch by nadine
yarn: ~2 balls of lily sugar 'n cream in white
needles: size 8 straights



a pretty straightforward little pattern. i didn't really like the feel of the sugar 'n cream once i was done (i didn't have any problems knitting with it.), but hopefully it will soften up once it's been washed a few times. i'm so glad i saw the blog post linked above because the little patch of color adds a lot.

does anyone have any advice on how to block socks?

this is looking much better than it did last month. yay!

::finished
x01 - debbie bliss cashmerino aran in charcoal
x02 - valley yarns bershire in eggplant
x03 - debbie bliss pure silk in 04
x04 - debbie bliss cashmerino aran in pea green
x06 - plymouth yarn encore worsted in khaki
x09 - debbie bliss cashmerino aran in evergreen

::started
x05 - berroco ultra alpaca in cranberry mix
x08 - cherry tree hill supersock in green mountain madness

::to do
x07 - need yarn and pattern
x10 - need to figure out what yarn to buy

(i'm still open to the possibility of 2-4 more projects being added to this list.)

just some pictures...

x04


x08

i ended up finishing xmas gift #6 last night and blocked most of it. i went ahead and blocked the other end this morning.

why, yes! i do need another blocking board. why do you ask?

x06

i really wanted to finish this today so that i could block it before bed, but apparently knitting a moderately complicated pattern while playing scrabble isn't something i can handle. so, the revised goal is to get a few more rows done tonight and finish this puppy up by tomorrow night.

and, as you can see, isa is being a huge help.

x08

just a quick picture. i like the pattern i'm using and the yarn is nice. i'm not 100% sure about the pooling, but...i guess i'll just have to see what happens.