Arisaig is Finished

8 months, plus or minus. Finally Arisaig is finished. I used the same yarn and needles as suggested in the pattern. The only mod was to make the ribbing a little bit longer. I have big arms, so had no problems with my sleeves being too big for my arms. But they were too big for the armholes and I had to rip back 1.5 inches to get my sleeve in there.

This was my first seamed sweater. Seaming? Not really that bad. 80" of tie? Not really that bad. The worst and slowest part of this project were the sleeves.

I think it looks good on me. It feels good to wear it and i think that this sweater will get a lot of use. I'm so pleased with myself - an entire sweater with all this lace, on #1 and #2 needles - it's done and I did a good job. Well done me!

hard at work

sorry for the radio silence. i've been hard at work. working on a project I can't blog about yet. working on moving the bike shop. Working on all those little things involved in moving a business. Working on planning a couple of bike events in our town. Working on doing a good job with my 'pays-the-bills' job. Working to keep my soap customers happy. And still trying to be a good mama and give my little Star Wars fan the attention he needs.

Here he is recreating the final battle of Empire Strikes Back

I have to be honest. There's not much time for anything else. The house is a pigsty. The laundry is suffocating. Used to be I was at least home a couple of afternoons to deal with the house, now I'm working at the shop. I'm trying not to let it get me down, I wish I had 30 minutes a day to keep up with things. But you have to choose, dinner or cleaning?

Never fear. I'm meeting someone on Monday who will hopefully help with the housework. And I think I'm going to have a stay-at-home-mom friend help me with the soap business.
What I have been slowly finishing is my Arisaig. It was put on the back burner for the special project. But I've finished that and now I'm finishing the ties and the seaming. should have some FO photos in a little while.

80" of 1x1 rib over 7 stitches

malabrigo booties

are these not the cutest things? Little baby booties out of malabrigo with itty vintage buttons.
They were so quick to knit, I swear I had the first one finished in the time it took my husband to cook his breakfast bacon. I want to try them out in a not-so-varigated colorway and make them a smidge bigger. These appear to be newborn sized. They might also be nice in cotton for spring/summer babes.

and, so you know i'm not slacking. here's the sleeve. i'm getting about an inch done every night - so not far and not fast, but it's still moving along.

this is taking forever.

Oh Arisaig. You are taking forever. I cast on in August. Little by little I've completed the right front, the left front and even the back. Then I put you aside for a while. For months you languished in my knitting basket - not sleeping, still a work in progress, just not progressing.

Last week I pulled you out wondering just how much I had to do and low an behold I've only got to finish TWO sleeves to be done. Two little sleeves. Narrow things without many stitches, what was I waiting for. Let me tell you something, those sleeves are little devils. All lace, no ribbing, it's taking me forever! I thought that I might be able to breeze through the sleeves before resting again on this project. But nope. I think, after I finish sleeve one it will be time for a little break again. At this rate this sweater will be done in time for wrap sweaters to come back around in style - in 20 years.

and there's still the matter of the trim and the blocking and the seaming. sigh.

you may have noticed a little more posting from me. I took the past two months off from the soap company. Having trouble finding time to do it all. In fact, the soap business is officially for sale. But I keep getting emails from customers who NEED to have salve or lotion or something, so I had to open my doors again. And of course, talking to potential buyers has made me more excited about the business.

So, until I have someone who wants to love it as much as I do we're back in business. I think i'm going to work on refining it a bit more and concentrating on the products that I do best. But it is nice to feel wanted by customers out there.