Marathon 26.2



AUTISM AWARENESS















Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Kelso Lace Cardigan DONE DONE DONE!!!

I finished knitting the Kelso Lace Cardigan on Monday. The cardigan was a bit small so I really needed to fully block it. I anxiously waited 2 days and finally my cardigan is ready! I'm so excited. This is by far the hardest pattern I've ever done. I started this sometimes in the beginning of March. I did not know that doing 5" of the neck shaping and attaching sleeves would take so long and be so difficult. I think it was really hard for me because I had to figure out when to do the decreases, especially trying to get the right and left front to match. Honestly, I'm a lazy knitter. I like pattern where everything is spelled out for me. I want to be able to zone and watch TV while I knit. But...I don't always choose the easiest patterns. I just simply love lace and I have to work at it. It's well worth the effort and I'm proud to be able to actually knit this!


As always, I'll be trying to decide what my next project will be. I already have a few in mind. It will probably be the Molly Ringwald or the Path Cardigan. I realize that I have quite a few pattern I purchased and I need to use them! I'm also trying to use up the yarn in my stash before I purchase more...but we'll see how that goes. I'm already itching to buy more yarn!


Here's a photo of my kelso cardigan: (You can see the lines from the shell underneath...I probably should of wore another shell but the color was a perfect match)!


Monday, April 20, 2009

Easter and Knitting Slump



It's been well over a month almost 2 since I last made an entry into my blog! Where has all the time gone? Easter was good. My mother in law and nephew were here. Jasmine and I had an Easter party with her preschool. We also did the annual Antelleum Easter Egg Hunt. She did fabulous this year. Last year she picked up about 5 eggs (with some help from MOM) but this year, she had about 2 dozen eggs! With her being older, she understands now that your suppose to pick up the eggs and put them in your Easter basket! It was a blast for us. I love spending time with her and doing fun things like that.






I've been in a slump with my knitting. I started the Kelso Lace Cardigan (a pattern purchased from Ravelry by Suzanne Frary) in the beginning of March, March 3rd? I knew it would be a slow project because of the lace. I'm always to careful with lace because I have this fear that I'm going to leave out a stitch! I always go back and count my stitches after a set of lace to make sure I have the correct amount of stitches. What I didn't realize was that this was going to be such a hard pattern. I would of never imagined that the 5" of neck shaping would give me so much trouble. After a few times of frogging what I've done, I do what I normally do! Start another project. I decided to make the little lace cardi from the April 2008 issue of Creative Knitting. Little did I know, I would have so much trouble with that too. I think my confidence was down so I was having a harder time. I had to write out the pattern because there were soooo many decreases and I was getting confused with decreases I've done! I'm happy to say that there is a happy ending to this and I actually finished it last week.






It was a great feeling to actually finish a project. With my confidence up, I decided to pick up the Kelso Lace Cardigan again. (By the way, the designer was great when I emailed her with questions about the pattern. She also had suggested using a life line). So, even though I was still unsure of if I was doing it right, I decided to proceed. I didn't want to bother the designer again. After another few rounds of frogging, it just kind of made sense what the pattern was saying! I finally get it! Wow, I put in more life lines and plunged ahead. I've made some modifications along the way but I'm almost done with the neck shaping. I'm so excited and thrilled. I just had to take a photo and post my progress. I'm glad that my perseverance is paying off. I can't wait to finish this. This is by far the hardest project I've ever done!