Started a new project on my trip. Ordered yarn from SpinBlessing.com and she got it to me super quick and was very patient with me emailing her a bunch of times :)

The pattern is from Dale book 160, Pattern # 13. I changed the colors to purple roses instead of pink, and the background yarn is white instead of off-white (this was based on the yarn availability at the time and I think it worked out well). The pattern calls for Daletta yarn, and i’m using Baby Ull for all colors except the green. I liked the Daletta green much better than the greens avail in the Baby Ull.

I hope the scallops at the bottom block out mostly flat when it’s done. They are having a huge tendency to curl right now.

Ok, so it’s only a baby sweater; but at least i finished it!

Pattern: Dale 16209 (book 162)
Yarn: White is Bebe Lang superwash & Multi color is koigu
Size: 3 month
Modifications: Cast on more stitches for sleeves than pattern called for. I thought the cuffs would be too tight with what they had, and ballooned too much when doing all those increases after knitting the ribbing. other than that it’s knit just like the pattern says.

Satisfaction Rating: 5 stars! Love the pattern! It really does take only one skein of Koigu; and I might have been able to make the next size up given that I had about 1/4 ball left when I finished. I loved the Koigu yarn and think the colors look great against the white background. I hated the background yarn (the bebe lang). It was thin, not tightly spun enough and didn’t fill in as well as I would have liked. Next time I’d sub Baby Ull (which is what the pattern calls for; but I was stash diving when I started making this)

Normally I don’t like to wait to block before sewing together (too impatient); but with this, I’ll have to measure out the sleeve holes before cutting steeks, and it seems like a really good idea to get that measurement perfect before doing the cutting. I love the colors of the koigu - and I think it looks great with the white yarn as a background in this sweater. I have also finished the sleeves; and should be done with it soon. No hurry - I don’t have a specific baby in mind for it :)

I’m particularly impressed that I somehow managed to make the sleeves have a green stripe at exactly the same point on each one in the middle of it.

What can you do with one skein of Koigu? Not much.

One sock? Nah.

A pair of socks with a different color for cuff, heel and toe? Maybe, but I originally bought this yarn to make a baby sweater.

So, after some digging - I found a dale of norway pattern that said it only takes one skein. I love how the colors look knit up as the 2nd color in the fair isle. I’ve started the major patterning on the top of the body of the sweater, and still have quite a bit left. I’ll measure the ball before I start the sleeves to make sure I use less than half for the first sleeve.

KV 2.0 update (but not really)

My house has been a bed of sickness for forever it seems.  First my Dad was sick while he was visiting at Christmas, Mom got sick right after they got home from visiting; and I got sick last week (starting with a three day migraine), and it’s this lingering horribleness that makes you tired all the time but without enough concrete symptoms to really make you feel like you can call in sick and halt attempting to be a part of day to day life.  If you can get a nap mid-day it’s not so bad.  Today we spent with everyone trying to get a nap when they could. I got mine in late afternoon.  The husband was sick today so he was a complete slug and slept all afternoon.  The poor kids didn’t get a trip to the park on the only sunny day we’ve had in forever.  Also, as a result of all this sick I haven’t spent any time on Knit Visualizer stuff - and if I have, I’ve stared at my computer without much useful happening.  I really really want to be done with it.

Did I tell you? I finished something! This was one of two Christmas projects I knit this year. It was actually finished before Christmas, but I didn’t put it under the tree because there were already SO many gifts and toys I didn’t want to drive the kids crazy :)

This is a baby sweater that I’m knitting out of Koigu KPPPM and some plain white fingering weight yarn. Normally the pattern is just a two color one, but I only had one skein of this Koigu; and the pattern says it only takes 50g of the contrasting color to make a 3 or 6 month size; so I’m hoping it’ll be enough. I can modify the pattern on the sleeves to leave a bit of the fair isle out if needed to make it work out.

The pattern is from dale baby designs nbr 162, pattern 09. There’s no name for it. It will have a small repeating heart motif up on the chest when I get that far. Does anyone want to propose a name for me to call this sweater?

In other news

My son wore the sweater I made him for Christmas today. Yay!! It looks great on him, the sleeves just have a little bit of extra length to them so he can grow a bit more, but not much; and the length is perfect (again, just a little room to grow). Pictures of that later. Also pictures later of the new toy that will show up on my door step later this week, cross your fingers! I’m annoyed that UPS didn’t work today as it would have shipped out today had they been working. I suppose they do deserve a small vacation after the christmas rush; but still. :)

The Yarn:

The beginning:

I’m making the 6-8 year old size. I’m surprised it’s not bigger on him! There will still be a neckline pickedup and knit up (a simple rolled edge), and this way I can knit down until it’s as long as I want it to be.

Is it lame that my kids know what their hand knitted gifts are before they get them as a wrapped present?

Here’s the finished sweater; modeled by the girl herself. She hasn’t worn it very much, which disappoints me but I know these things go in phases. Hopefully she’ll start wearing it before she grows out of it :)

I’m starting up on Alex’s cow/pig/sheep sweater in hopes I can finish it for Christmas. (hahah. Let’s all laugh now). Can you tell that there are no sleeves on it yet? Alex was eating yogurt at the time, and what you can’t see is that he’s holding his spoon in midair waiting for me to finish with the picture.

I had finished the body before, but it wasn’t quite long enough. I added in the 2 inches of corrugated ribbing on the bottom to give it a bit more length. I think it turned out just right.

My daughter has been very sad that she doesn’t have a rainbow sweater. Since I was planning on knitting her a sweater for her birthday anyway, it’s perfect! I am using the “Supersize me!” pattern from The yarn girls’ guide to knits for older kids. It’s super simple, and exactly what I wanted to knit, and for once the gauge matches what I want to use. The pattern calls for doubled Koigu (expensive anyone?) so I’m subbing the Lorna’s laces worsted weight (not as expensive; but still spendy). The sock yarn shown in the picture might turn into a pair of rainbow socks to coordinate with her sweater. Here’s the progress I’ve made so far:

Isn’t that fabulous rainbow-y yarn? I hope i’ll have more pictures of the Alpine Lace shawl soon; but it’s still drying. It takes forever for things to dry here. I’ve sped up the process by adding a fan blowing directly on the shawl.

Blog it first, or Ravelry it first?

So I’m in ravelry and I’ve put this project in there as a WIP. I linked into my pictures in flickr, then I wanted to blog about it. It seems to me that I should be able to select a project, and say “blog about this” and it’ll let me pick the pictures to use and publish to my blog. For now I use flickr’s “blog this” button to do that from within flickr; but I can only choose one picture. I don’t like having to do updates at multiple locations. I suppose in Ravelry I’ll just update it when I get farther along; and I will only be linking in new pictures.