syncopated is finished

Here it is. Syncopated cap is done. Once I got rolling with it, the actual knitting went quickly and was amusing and challenging. There will be more fair isle in my future.

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!

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.

Puff Sleeved Cardigan - Fitted Knits

A second finished project in one week! this may be a record for me.
Project: Puff Sleeved Feminine Cardigan by Stephanie Japel in Fitted Knits (ravelry link)
Yarn: Auracania Nature Wool in a dark blue
Needles: Size 6 mainly, a little bit of Size 5
Notes: I swatched for this. really I did. I chose size 5 needles as the appropriate size to get the right fabric. BUT - for some reason when I went to knit this sweater, I picked up the #6's and cast-on and didn't realize my mistake until I was 1/2 way through the first ball of yarn. So I just kept going.

It's not too terrible. The fabric is a little too drapey for the pattern and the whole thing ended up bigger than necessary and therefore not really 'fitted.' The first skein of yarn was very different from the following skeins. I liked the first one best, very little variation of color. The bottom half is a little more varigated than I had thought.

The peplum kind of looks like an afterthought, it's a bit bizarre but I do like it and I'm glad I did it and it's done.

where are they now? revisiting past projects...

I thought it might be fun to take a look at some past projects and see what they've been up to lately. First up - Monkey Socks. I swear, when I knit these no one else had done them yet. I had the hardest time finding any FO's on the web to look at, and at that time Ravelry didn't exist for me.

I like these socks. the color is fabulous but I think they should have been knit on #1's not #2's. they're a bit saggy and baggy and you can see that we have some yarn breakage. i liked the KPPPM - but haven't really wanted to go out and buy more based on the performance from this sock.
Sock Monkey - yes, it's supposed to be a bear but somewhere along the way this got named 'sock monkey'. the pattern is from Jess Hutch's book of knitted toys which is apparently out-of-print and highly coveted. I'm glad I have a copy as my son loves this monkey. it gets loads of love and cuddles all the time and is close to becoming 'real' a la the velveteen rabbit.
It's made with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes which has held up really well, just a little bit of pilling. The eyes don't work so well. I got the kind suggested, but think that my knitting was a bit loose and they push in all the time which has led to some panic on the part of a little boy.