Busy Month of November

November just flew by! I was looking at the date of my last blog entry and it was back in October... I've been busy, or trying to stay busy. I decided that I needed more adult activity and I've attended a few MOPs meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers). I've also attended my very first Knitting Group. It was a long drive, 2 hours but I wanted to meet up with people who share my common interest in Knitting.



As far as my knitting projects, I've been steadily working on some new and not so new projects. I started on the February Lady Sweater. This sweater took me about the whole month of November to complete. I think it took so long because the lace is so boring and I decided to re-do the front band on my feather weight cardigan (more on that later). The yarn I used for my February Lady Sweater is Plymouth Encore. This was one of my very first purchase from the LYS. I think I always had this sweater in mind for this yarn. Unfortunately, I'm not too thrilled with the color and one of the skeins had so many knots, it was awful! I did manage to finish my sweater. The modifications I made are to the underarm area (to eliminate most of the puffiness) and adding length to the sleeves. It's a very easy pattern , just tedious!

I also managed to re-do the front band to my Feather Weight Cardigan. I had made this cardigan in the summer using a lace weight yarn. While pulling on the band one day, I manage to snap the yarn...so I decided that this was a good time to re-do the band. I needed a break from my February Lace Sweater. I didn't realize that when I had picked up the stitches before, I did not pick up every stitch around the neck area. This time I did. I also decided to go with stockinette stitch and just do some rows of seed stitch to finish off the band. I was hoping this would eliminate some of the "curling". I switched from a size 6 needle to a size 7 needle for the seed stitch and used a size 8 needle for the bind off. I'm happy with the front being longer but I HATE the neckline now! I've decided for now, I'm not going to frog it and keep it as it. I'll probably wash it later and just let the neckline roll! (Yes, it still rolls w/o blocking). Here's a photo with the cardigan blocked:








My final project for the month of November was the Cowgirl, Astronault, Cowgirl Vest for my daughter. I usually only make projects for myself but lately, I've actually been making projects for other people. (I forgot to mention that I also made a pair of leg warmers for hubby somewhere between the February Lace Sweater and the front band of the Feather Weight Cardigan). I was inspired to make a sweater for my daughter because of preschool. I was noticing the cute outfits the other littler girls were wearing and I thought to myself that I could make something cute, if not cuter for her! So with that in mind, I searched for patterns and found this vest. I wanted to make this vest in a variegated pink/red combo but I couldn't find any yarn in those colors I liked. Instead I decided to go with a green theme. I had trouble deciding on what color to make the band, but with help from fellow raveler's and hubby I decided upon beige. The bottom half of the vest went very quickly. I was excited and looking forward to getting this done way before my mother in law's visit.... I wish that the rest of the vest went as well, but I had to frog almost every step along the way...After the decreases for each front side and each back side, the stitch count would not match up! I had to modify the decreases to make the stitches come out to 12. It was very frustating and my poor husband had to hear me complain! I feel guilty because the person was nice enough to provide a free pattern and it it a very beautiful vest! After a lot of perseverance and frogging, I did complete this sweater in a week's time. I'm happy with my color combination and I hope someday I can get my daughter to wear i for longer than a few minutes! If not, I'll always have something to show her when she's older, that her mommy lovingly made this sweater just for her!





Me with Hubby's Leg Warmers (With "X" and "O" lace pattern):

And finally my daughter's vest: (I actually found some cute butterfly buttons)!!!

Ophelia Done

It's been a busy week. Jasmine has the whole week off and our friends from New Mexico came for a short 2 day visit. (I was a bit anxious but it turned out to be great). Our kids got a long well. We had 2 days of beautiful weather so they were able to get out on the lake and go swimming! We also went to Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast. We won lots of tickets and traded them in for candy and trinkets. We ended it all with a delicious meal, cooked mostly by hubby. It was sad to see them go.

I received a package from my mom yesterday. She said her friend had knitted some items for Jasmine. (I had previously sent her a package with some of the yarn in my stash so I was curious to see what she had made). Wow, when I opened the package I found a pair of leg warmers (for me), a child cardigan and a child hat. She is so talented. I'm so impressed with her knitting skills and how she was able to mix and match the colors together! I wish I could knit like her! Here are the some photos of what she made ~ all without a pattern, I might add! (BTW, the pictures do not do them justice)...

Leg Warmers & Cardigan with cables:

and the hat...

I did manage to finish my Ophelia this week. http://amingledyarn.wordpress.com. It was a wonderful pattern! (I had so much trouble during my first attempt because stress + knitting for me = disaster, no matter how easy the pattern is). I love, love this pattern. The pattern is beautiful and it's such a fun, easy knit. It's knitted on a worsted yarn on a size 9 needle so it's a quick knit. I only used a little over 2 skeins of the cascade 220 yarn in a small (32"). If I had left off the i-cord, it would of been ONLY 2 skeins! The small size is a bit small so I added another 3-4 rows of single crochet along the front and neck. I also added buttons to the lower half of the cardigan. The only other modification was adding about 1" to the length. In the future, I would length the cardigan by another 1" or 2" and perhaps decreased 3-6 stitches on each of the front pieces as other people had suggested. What a great pattern! I enjoyed it so much, I'll be making more of her designs in the future.

Another photo taken outside to show better details of the cardigan...

Vine and Leaf Hat

When I saw the fall issue of VogueKnitting, I had to buy it. I love the beret the model was wearing on the cover. The pattern is called the vine and leaf beret by Angela Hahn. It's knitted on a size 3, 16" circular needle. (I have not used a size 3 needle for a project before). The pattern wasn't all that difficult since most of it was following a chart. I did make a few slight modifications, but overall the hat turned out just like the picture. It was a bit big so I washed it and put it in the dryer. It seems to be a better fit now.

I think I'm done with my hat phase for a while so I've been searching for a new project to start. I really wanted to make the vine yoke cardigan by Ysolda Teague but I'm a bit intimidated by the pattern. For some reason, I'm worried that it may be too difficult for me and that it was beyond my current knitting level. After some thought, I decided to try to Ophelia again. I actually attempted to make the Ophelia prior to knitting the beret but I ended frogging the rows I had completed. The pattern seems very straight forward and easy to follow so far. I only have 3 skeins of the cascade 220 so I'm making the small. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will fit, if not I'll be making some modifications by adding a button band!

Here's a few photos of my hat:

Maple Street Cardigan and HATS!!!

I had been procrastinating on my Maple Street Cardigan for a while now. I was a bit reluctant to finish this because I was afraid it wasn't going to fit right and the front band had to be seamed. On Saturday, I was determined to pick up my cardigan and work on it. Unfortunately, there was a power outage due to a thunderstorm. So instead, I worked on another hat! I had to finish my hat first but I did finally work on it on Monday. Instead of knitting the front band, I decided to crochet the band. What the heck, if it didn't work out I could always frog it and follow the directions then. I was surprised at how much I liked the crochet band. I ended up crocheting 5 rows of single crochet (approx. 1 inch) on each side. This gave me the extra inch or so I needed to make it a better fit. I also decided to crochet 2 rows of single crochet around the neckline to prevent it from rolling. I'm actually thrilled with how this came together. Now I'm wondering why I was so afraid to finish this!

The pattern for this cardigan is from the Fall Issue of Interweave Knits Magazine. The photo actually showed a cropped version and I decided I wanted it to be longer. I increased the length to approx. 24" and lengthened the sleeves too. The other modifications I made are: knitting the sleeves on a size 6, 16" circular needles instead of DPNs and crocheting the front bands and neck. I also left off the ruffles. I really LOVE the ruffles but in the end I decided I would get more wear from this if I left it off.

In the last few week I was getting discouraged about knitting ~ so I wanted to knit up something fast and easy. I decided to make some hats. So what if I don't really wear hats...? I started on the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat. I was thrilled that the hat was working up so quickly. I could finish it in 2 days of easy, no pressure knitting! How thrilling. And I was able to use yarn left off from my lush and lacy cardigan. I was hook. I immediately started on another one. This time, I made it a bit smaller since the first one was too slouchy. My third hat, I started during the power outage. It was kind of interesting trying to knit with a flash light! I decided to use the general pattern idea from the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat but add some lace to it. I still had the pattern from the #100 Little Lacy Vest so I used the falling leaves lace pattern. Making these hats were fun and I think it got me back on track to knitting!

Hat #1:

Hat #2:

Hat #3 (Not Blocked):

Ishbel DONE!!!

I should be working on my maple leaf cardigan but I've been working on a scarf/shawl called Ishbel. The pattern is by Ysolda. (I like her designs, the previous pattern I purchased was also from Ysolda called the Yoke Leaf Cardigan).

I've been looking at various shawl pattern for the last month or so. My mom really like shawls and I thought I'd make her one. I have not found a pattern I liked until I saw Crochetgurl's Ishbel. She can be found here: (http://www.crochetgurl.blogspot.com/). When I saw her Ishbel, I knew I had to make one for my mom...urrrr...myself! I am a selfish knitter, I admit! Being impatient, I found a skein of Berroco sock yarn in my stash. I have never used a black yarn for a whole project before. At times, I must admit it was hard to see the stitches without the proper lighting.

Before starting on this project, I tried to read up on the comments people have made on Ravelry. I'm happy to say that the pattern was easy to follow. I used mainly the chart and refer back to the written directions for the last few stitches after the pattern repeat. As usual, I obsessed about the shawl and worked on it a lot. I should of been working on my computer course! (I actually logged some time in today and got a few sections done already)!

I finished my ishbel yesterday and I tried to blocked it. I was disappointed that the blocking didn't take! I even attempted to block it today with an iron (yikes) but still, I could not get my edges to point out! Okay, maybe the third time will be the charm. I'm attempting to yet again, wet block this. (I think this is a nylon and wool yarn so it should block, right)? Anyways, if all else fails, I'll still have a beautiful fo.

The good news is that I started back on my Maple Leaf Cardigan last night. It's nice to knit with a worsted weight after working with a sock yarn. Hopefully, I can stay motivated on this!

I ordered some lace weight yarn from Knit Picks, I can't wait to get them! :) :) :)

(Sorry about all the typos folks, thanks crochetgurl for pointing out the wrong spelling of "Ishbel").

Almost Back to Normal

August was such a busy month. We took 2 vacations. We were away for a total of 20 days! We returned from our 2nd vacation this Sunday. The vacation was fun. It had been over 5 years since we've been to Las Vegas, my daughter's first - and her first time on the plane! The 10 days went very quickly! We ate at all our favorite restaurants, some were as good as we remembered and others not. We stopped by Chinatown several times to buy my favorite drink, boba milk tea. While there, I purchased a gold necklace with a jade and gold dragon pendant.

We didn't spend much time on the strip. We took our daughter to Circus Circus once so she could see the jugglers and play some games and go on rides. Other than that, we took our daughter mostly to the park to play in the water sprinklers. It was a very family oriented vacation even though we were in Las Vegas!

I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would. I did finish the body on the Maple Street Cardigan. I am currently working on the 1st sleeve. However, I did learn some new stuff on another craft ~sewing! My brother-in-law's sister's mother (there's got to be a better way to say that), taught me some tricks in sewing. She help me sew up a top and skirt. (I did do a little of the sewing but because we were pressed for time, she did most of the sewing for me)! We went shopping for fabrics and pattern which was a lot of fun. She helped me to sew and I helped her with knitting. It was a good combination!

Here are some pics of my projects:

top:

skirt:

Maple Street Cardigan:

I was so inspired by Crochetgurl's ishbel http://crochetgurl.blogspot.com/ that I decided to make one too! I have been wanting to make a shawl for my mom (or me?) but up until now, I have not found a pattern I liked. So between working on my online class (which I started yesterday) and trying to finish up on my Maple Street Cardigan, I'll be working on my ishbel too!

Ishbel (what I have so far...):

Happy ( belated) 4th Birthday, Vacation and Knitting

I been so busy, I thought I'd take a little time to relax and write a short blog! I got home yesterday about 12:30pm from vacation. We had been on vacation for about 10 days so it was nice to be home!!! I was able to get some laundry done, dishes, grocery shopping, (some) unpacking, hanging up clothes, and getting Jasmine ready for her 1st day back to school today! I'm happy to report she had a good day at school!

Vacation was a bit stressful, especially toward the end. It always is stressful running around trying to spend as much time with ALL our families and friends. We had several get together for Jasmine's birthday and we even took her to a playland. She got to ride her first merry-go-round, which she loved!

My latest FO is the Bamboo Cable Top. I took the bamboo cable pattern from the "READY SET KNIT CABLES" book and made it into a sleeve-less top. I decided to make this into a v-neck and kept the 2 garter stitches around the neck line. The back was done all in garter stitches too. I'm a bit disappointed with my seaming though. It's noticeable but next time, I'll knit this in the round to eliminate that problem.

Here's a photo of my top: