Keeping my word...

As promised, a post with pictures!

Here's the beginning of my modified version of the lovely Ms. Japel's Minisweater pattern. I'm going to knit it as a full length sweater, rather than a cropped wrap, depending on how fair my three skeins of yarn will go. The yarn's a little fuzzier than I'd like (was a gift), but oooooh boy, is it soft! If the sweater doesn't work out, I'm tempted to turn it into pillows.


And here's the gray hat. "Felt me," it says. "Fellllt me!"

So much to do, so little time...

I wish each day was 30 hours instead of 24. Or I didn't need sleep to function. Or I was independently wealthy so I didn't have to work. Although I suspect I'm not alone in any of those things.

All those projects I talked about in my last post? None of them are done (the green/orange sweater is almost to the point of wrapping up the stripey section and picking up stitches in green to knit up to the shoulders, so that's good), but I'm still antsy to start something(s) new. I have two skeins of a red mohair blend, and I want to see how far they'll go in the form of some sort of simple cap-sleeved number. And I have black, gray, and light gray angora blend stuff that I want to turn into a stripey raglan. AND I want to polish up a design from several years ago. And and and and and!

I've gone from "I don't know what I want to knit next" to "I want to knit EVERYTHING. Right now!"

Man alive, if you don't knit, this is boring. In the interests of trying to keep a readership of at least two or three, um... contractor guy is coming to the house today to look at the Rustic Attic. And it's November. How the heck did that happen so quickly?

My next post will have pictures. I promise.

Major Progress in Sight?

Knitting has been slow this week. Have done nothing on the green and orange deal, *defniitely* nothing on the white boatneck number from fitted knits, and the gray hat is knit up, waiting for me to weave in all the ends so I can try my hand at felting.

[I did finish a very unimpressive project over the weekend: a 3 hour red skirt hemmed by hand for use in my Rock Lobster Halloween costume. Crafty, yes. But nothing to write home about. And *darn it*, the batteries in my camera died before I could get a picture.]

Anyway, the progress on the horizon: I now have the money and time, and at least three contact names, to start addressing the Rustic Attic in earnest. Good timing, too, because the MiniBedroom is getting on my last nerve. I have to make some phone calls, get some estimates, and FINALLY get going on this renovation project. These are going to be some stellar before and after shots, let me tell you!

Knowing my indecisive self as I do, I should probably start choosing a paint color oh, yesterday. Trim will be white, but suggestions for the walls are welcome.

Update, yo

Alright, here's what's up, in semi-list fomat:

- MUST weave in the ends on the cotton hoodie. Must. As much as I don't wanna, it has to be done.

- Have got about half of the waisty part of Candy done, and I'm contemplating learning how to graft stitches so as to connect the cylinder in an unobtrusive manner. If that's even possible when you're dealing with a cast-on edge... Hmmm, will research...

- I also cast on for a hat, which I'm envisioning as a felted brimmed number with a satin decorative ribbon. But, since I've never felted anything before, it might turn out nothing like I'm expecting.

- Completely non-knitting: I joined a gym again last week! This will cut into my available knitting time, but will be ever so worth it in the long run.

- And I think I need to come up with a clever idea for a Halloween costume. Don't know if I can (or ever will) top the year I was a "Garden Ho(e)," but ideas and suggestions are welcome!

Finis!

The cotton hoodie is done, and it fits!

I still have to weave in many of the ends (ugh), but I don't care: it's a fall day, and I'm wearing it. I'll definitely have to weave in the ends (ugh) before I wash it, though, because those suckers are tangly! The yarn is rather splitty, so in addition to the tangles there are lots of teeny tiny errors where one strand of the yarn didn't make it all the way into the stitch with its friends. I don't care; it fits well and is comfy. Yay!

Hood: yes. Seaming: not so much.

The verdict is in, and the green cotton pullover will in fact have a hood. AND, in the context of knitting the hood, I learned how to do a three needle bind-off! Hurrah! Any time I can minimize seaming, that's a good, good thing. And the side seams have been done for a week or so now, so I won't have to trudge through them when the sweater is *soclose* to being wearable. Just the sleeve seams, which were not knit in the round because, well, I dislike dpns even more than I dislike seaming.

I've also cast on for a new project: Candy from knitty... a couple years ago? It's the pink wide-necked cardigan with cranberry vertical stripes around the waist, but I'm knitting it in green and orange, 'cause that's what I've got that needs to be used up. And I'm knitting it as a pullover with an ON-the-shoulder neckline, 'cause I'm defiant like that and refuse to knit projects without modifications... also because I'm concerned that a button band will be all bunchy and bulgy and nobody likes that. The goal is for a sweater that's as flattering as possible.

Sweater in Pieces

Here's a shot of the first finished piece of my I-Think-It'll-Be-A-Hoodie sweater. It's the back of the sweater, and the center stitches are on a circ to be used later to knit the hood. I also have the front knit to a few inches past where the armholes start, but I figured a picture of that would be pointless, because it looks pretty much like the back.

This is the first sweater I've knit in a long time that's going to require a lot of seaming. I've been knitting everything in the round (hurrah! no side seams!) but I needed size 3 needles to get the right gauge for this project, and I only have size 3 straight needles, no circs. I'm pondering whether I want to force myself to learn how to do mattress stitch to seam this sweater, or whether I should keep on keepin' on with my standard "eh, just do some sort of running stitch and it'll be fine" method.

Oh, in other news, I passed the bar exam. I don't think I've posted about that here yet, but I screamed it from the proverbial rooftops, so you've probably already heard.