Marathon 26.2



AUTISM AWARENESS















Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Lacy Ruffled Cardigan

Once in a while, I must admit defeat. I attempted to make the Lacy Ruffled Cardigan from the January 2009 issue of Creative Knitting. It looks cute, form fitting. I thought it might be kind of a flattering cardigan to wear on special occasions. I had been dragging my feet on this project because there was so much sewing involved! The sleeves, sides, collar, cuffs and ribbons all needed to be sewed together. I hate sewing because my seams always looks so sloppy so I had been putting it off but I finally force myself to do it. (And on a positive note, my seams looked a lot better)!



I was very excited to try it on. It was not a pretty sight! Hubby said it looked terrible! He's always so supportive of my knitting so I knew when he said it looked bad...it's bad!



If I had seen this sweater at a store, I might be tempted to try it on. The design is nice but it's just soooo unflattering on me. The cuffs are way too big and the collar is too puffy. Oh well, you can't win them all! Now, I can finally move on to my next knitting project!

Here's a photo, and no I'm not wearing it! ;) Happy Knitting!







Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year and Mrs. Darcy Cardigan


Happy Chinese New Years everyone. I must admit that I'm not cooking anything special today. With hubby working such long hours, I decided we'll just do a simple dinner. Otherwise, I would of made him take me out for a great chinese dinner. Oh well, I'll have to take a rain check!


It feels so good to finish a project! I finished my Mrs. Darcy Cardigan. It's from here: http://ndieknits.wordpress.com/patterns-2/patterns/. I had to knit this because I LOVE the movie, Pride and Prejudice. It's one of my favorite. Anyways...I really enjoyed knitting this. I guess I'm kind of a simple girl. I like sweaters to knit that are simple. I like projects I can knit that relaxes me and not add more stress! I followed a fellow Raveler's modifications mostly (dharmabum), with a few modifications of my own. I didn't like how narrow the front was so I did 3 less decreases on the neck line. I also added one more button as an afterthought. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and it feels so warm! The sleeves are a bit long but honestly, I like it. It's a great sweater for a day like today ~ drizzly, 50ish degree day! (That's one of my pet chickens in the picture with me).


Happy New Year!!!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ribbed Cap



I have always wanted to try the NORO yarn. I finally bought a skein with my order with the yarn I needed to finish the shalom cardigan. I received a free pattern from Vogue Knitting that require 1 skein for the ribbed cap. Perfect! I casted on a few days ago and went to knitting. Half way through, I started to wonder if I would have enough yarn to finish. My gauge is probably off, since I rarely check gauge. I decided to go the 5" instead of the 6" before starting the shaping. Following their directions, my ribbing would not line up so did some slight modifications. It's a very easy hat. I think I would of prefer to do it in the round. The fit is disappointing, too small for me. However, it fits my daughter just fine. I love how the different colors play out on the hat.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Shalom Cardigan



I didn't realize that it's been over a month since my last post! December was a very busy month. We visited our families in New York. It was a short trip but during that trip, we saw a ton of snow. I had to drive during one of the snow storm! Boy, was I nervous. It's been YEARS since I've driven in the snow, or seen that much snow no less! Thank god for 4 wheel drive! I even got stuck going up a small hill but putting in low gear on the 4 wheel drive got the car moving again. Being such a short trip, I didn't get a chance to spend a lot of time with all the family we have there.



When we got home, I came down with the dreaded stomach bug. It was a terrible way to spend my Birthday throwing up and feeling so achy, just plain lousy. By the next day (Christmas), I was feeling better! I even put up the Christmas tree.






Jasmine went back to school today, after 2 1/2 weeks off! The teachers said she had a great day. I was very excited to hear that. She truly is such a blessing! I received these photos of her today. They were taken sometime in November at her preschool. I thought the photographer did a great job.






My knitting has been on the back burner. I don't get to knit as much. Some days, I even go without knitting, which is unimaginable for me! I finally finished the Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. It was a very, very easy knit. The yarn was a bit hard on the hands. I used a size 10 needle and 4 skeins of the Brown Sheep bulky yarn. It would of been finished sooner but I ran out of yarn. Our LYS doesn't have the bulky yarn so I was able to order it from WEBS. I'm happy to report that it arrived fairly quickly. The weather has turned cool again, so I'm happy to report that I may get some wear out of it yet!


I showed hubby my cardigan and he said "wow, that's really nice." I was thrilled that he gave me such a nice compliment! ;)














Happy New Years!