I’m so excited to announce that I’ve finally completed the Lindisfarne Scarf/Shawl. I used the pattern for the poncho but didn’t have enough yarn so pivoted. I still have some left over so I’ll probably make a matching set of fingerless gloves to go with my scarf.
It’s the busiest time of the year as the Christmas knitting and crafting bonanza is in full force. My coworkers – who have no idea I have a blog!!! – are all getting cowls except for the one who is allergic to wool. She’s getting a pillow. I wove towels for another friend since she can quilt anything but I have a new to me 4 shaft Leclerc Meco loom.
Then there is the most difficult and prized gift – a baby dress and matching Santa hat. This is the first dress that I’ve knit without a pattern and if her Momma approves, I’ll be posting a picture later. In the meantime, I made it knit up – starting with bulky white chenille like yarn but switching to knit picks mighty stitch which is only 20% wool. Mom’s don’t have a lot of time to hand wash wool knits. I reviewed a few videos and blogs to do the set in sleeves. Since the baby is in South Florida, I went with short sleeves. The pictures look a little off but hopefully it fits just right.
Gift Idea #16
This adorable ornament is cute enough on its own, but add the felted Christmas tree and the mini hanger and you can’t help melting. The instructions are fairly straight forward and you can sub in a different design besides the tree on the front of the sweater.
http://naturalsuburbia.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-sweater-jersey-knitted.html
After what I see as a disastrous sweater error (although my husband kindly says it looks fine) I’ve decided that I will move on to a felted bag before I go ahead and pull my month’s worth of work apart and try again. I can’t remember ever ripping a completed project before, which will be more of a pain because I already did the seaming. If anyone has any tips on the best way to do this, please let me know.
In the meantime, I want to get back to my bag project. I bought different shades of brown Galway wool with the idea of making a striped bag that would be nice enough to carry to work but casual enough to use anywhere else. I’ll keep you updated on that as I go.
So, I finished my misti alpaca sweater and after spending nearly a month and $40 on it, it looks atrocious. The thing came out short and wide even though I tried to lengthen it by adding extra rows. This is my first adult sweater (shirt) and I’m not really sure where I went wrong. The gauge was pretty close.
I’m really upset and am not sure how or if I can fix this. I wish I knew about knitting sweaters.
If anyone has any advice, please help. Until then, maybe I’ll stick to scarves, shawls and things that aren’t supposed to fit to my figure.
Two weeks ago, when I was still on vacation, we took a trip to the Miami area to run errands and so that I could go to one of my favorite knitting shops. The Knitting Garden is a very nicely set up shop with a comfortable atmosphere. It’s located off of Ponce De Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables. I bought four skeins of off white Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton and Silk blend. I was mentally drunk at the time (you know when you feel all light-headed and giggly but he haven’t had any alcohol and you decide to do something that is against your better judgement.) Maybe I was drunk on yarn, surrounded by all those magical varieties of soft shiny material that I could transform into useful objects. So I handed my credit card over and held my eyes tightly shut.
Last weekend, we went to Tennessee for my husband’s daughter’s wedding and with so much car time, I began knitting a shirt for myself. This is my first sweater/shirt for an adult. I’ve done shrugs and shawls as well as baby sweaters but never completed a sweater/shirt. The pattern I’m using is straight off the misti alpaca site. I’m definitely leaving off the cowl and probably the sleeves. I’d rather have the sweater longer. I tried adding on to the bottom rows but when I was done with the back, it still seemed very short. Hopefully after I block it, I’ll have more length.
Here are the pictures of what I’ve done so far. I love the soft material and think it will make a great light summer shirt to show off.
Knitwerks 