Becky - she is done!

I had to wait a week for 16 inch size 3 needles to finish the armholes. They finally came today and I finished it up this afternoon. Haven't washed/blocked yet. I'm a little nervous about the ends staying put. I left long tails that I won't clip until after the bath.



This is my second straight pattern converted to knitting in the round. So easy that I just don't get why the pattern wasn't written that way to begin with.

Here's a list of what I'd like to get knit this summer -

• Picovoli in Hempathy or Silky Wool
• Tomato in Knitpicks Comfy
• Martine in Knitpicks CotLin
• Finish Birds Nest shawl
• Finish Heartland shawl
• Finish Shoulder shawl

I'm also working on a modified BYOB from the summer issue of knitty. I had Cotton Ease leftover from my Yoga Hoodie, Cache Coeur, and Salt Peanuts, so I'm using them to make a knitting bag. Since it won't be for groceries, I'm leaving the mesh part out. I'm using the leftover cotton ease in big stripes to minimize ends needing to be woven in.

I need to swatch the lovely Knitpicks Comfy I hope to use for my Tomato -

More FOs

Salt Peanuts from an old Interweave Knits. I used Cotton-Ease (again) and knit it in one piece to the armholes. After using short rows and a 3-needle bind off on the shoulders I knit the sleeves from the top down. Only seaming required was joining the collar at the back and sewing it down. Using a ribbon to tie it as the pattern calls for makes the collar want to roll, so I tried a pin and that seemed to work.

This is anther Lizard Ridge dishcloth for a knitting friend's birthday -

And this is my favorite of the ones I've knit so far -

I also did a solid one -

This is what I've been working on since Sunday - it's hand-dyed alpaca from Rivanna River Farms -

The colors are not showing up well - pretty aquas and soooooooooo soft! I showed great restraint at the Sedalia Fiber Festival as this was my only purchase!

New Pattern! (sorta)

I said I'd probably never publish another pattern, but I'm not sure this counts anyway since it's basically the same one with different yarn and a couple of rows of garter stitch. I've put it on Ravely as a free download. My Ravelry username is LAylor13, or you can search for "Lizard Ridge Dishcloth." I have not been able to get a really good shot of this particular one - the colors look washed out no matter where I take the picture, and now that it's been in use for a few months, it's all faded anyway -

Pedicure Socks and Cache Coeur

I think she (DD) likes them. Doesn't make me want to knit socks though.


Finally done and I wore it today. DD wants to borrow it, so I guess that's a compliment.

After all that tedious edging, the bind off was too tight and I had to REDO THE WHOLE OUTSIDE EDGE!!! I couldn't use dpns like I did on the second underarm (which worked great btw) but since there were soooo many stitches packed on they didn't get all crossed up on the cable like before. Plus I used my Harmony interchangeables instead of my Addi Natura's and they are smoother so the stitches moved along more easily. I bound off with bigger needles and it came out much better. I didn't make the ties, but decided I did want a front closure of some sort and found a pretty silver dogwood blossom pin that belonged to my grandmother that's perfect. The color in this picture has a strange purple cast - the actual color is more like the progress shot a few posts ago.

I started yet another project in Cotton Ease - (I really should have washed something to see if it holds up. Hope there are no nasty surprises on laundry day) Salt Peanuts from Interweave Knits Spring 2004. This one is heavily modified. I knit the body in one piece to the underarms which was easy to figure out - I just took out the selvedge stitches and combined all the instructions. When I divided for the fronts and back at the armholes things got hairy. Someone on Ravelry said "Holy complicated shaping Batman!" I couldn't have said it better myself. Migraine inducing, and I'm not sure I got it exactly right. There was some vagueness in a spot or two that I may or may not have interpreted correctly and may or may not have done the same way on both fronts. I tried it on after doing a 3-needle bind off for the shoulders and it seems to be okay. (Small rant: why would a pattern chock full of short rows NOT use them for the shoulders? No biggie to figure out myself but I did find it odd.) I've picked the stitches up for sleeve #1 and am using Barbara Walker's method to knit the sleeve cap from the top down (more short rows.) I had to redo it once - my gauge is a bit tighter when only knitting (no purling) so I had to go up a needle size to keep it from being a bit snug.

I've also made one Christmas present mug cozy from leftover gold Aurora 8. Picture to come eventually.

Hmmm, after my recent rip-fest, I'm not sure what's left on my to-do list for this year. Let's see!

1. Shawl-collared vest COMPLETE
2. Fix DH's sweater DONE
3. Finish Tangled Yoke DONE
4. Toggles on CPH (will wait 'til fall)
5. Finish Malabrigo sweater FROGGED
6. Finish Silky Wool sweater FROGGED
7. Finish Cotton Patiné top FROGGED
8. Bird's Nest shawl (UFO - 33% completed) (will work on this summer)
9. Heartland shawl (UFO - maybe 15% completed) (ditto)
10. Lamb's Pride cardigan FROGGED
11. Einstein coat (UFO - about 60% completed) (will pick up in the fall)
12. Celtic Knot FROGGED

That's 8 UFO's/projects dealt with since the first of the year. I'm not positive I will finish the shawls or the Einstein this year, but I do plan to make some progress anyway.

No regrets so far about the ripping out. I think it has freed me up to knit some stuff that I can wear right now. As soon as I finish Salt Peanuts, I have a ginormous skein of Sugar 'n Cream in a pretty cinnamon shade to make a summer top with. I really like 'Becky' in Debbie Bliss Summer Essentials which I'm going to try to find at the LYS tomorrow after Yoga class. Gotta love Ravelry - I never would have found that pattern otherwise.

I finally got around to 'registering' as a designer on Ravelry. I have a tiny little pattern I plan to put on as a free download as soon as it get it all polished up.

More frogging and a new project that's already done!

I frogged the Silky Wool sweater and tossed the cotton patiné top. I tried the Silky Wool sweater on and wasn't happy enough with what was already knit to keep on. The cotton patiné top I would have worn if I'd been able to knit the sleeves, but I really didn't like it as a sleeveless top. I didn't frog it because of the fading.

One pedicure sock is done, I'll post pictures when I finish the other one - I'm about 1/2 way through now. The Cache Coeur is being edged. Which is very tedious. And involves picking up lots of stitches. And doing this cool 4-wrap stitch which is a complete pain to slide along the circular cable up to the needle to be knit. I literally spent hours coaxing the stitches along for one side edging. I think when I get the energy up to tackle the next side I will use a bunch of dpns to do the wrapped stitches. This may take awhile...

I started and finished a mug cozy in a day.

Can anyone say "Christmas presents"?

And, here's a better picture of the back of the Yoga Hoodie -

Completed: 1 Started: 2 Frogged: 1

The Yoga Hoodie is done - I love it! Here's a shot before blocking -

I cast on for some Pedicure Socks from knitty and the Cache Coeur from Weekend Knits.

Ravelry is really getting my knitting organized! It's so nice to have all the things I want to knit stored in one place, plus a stash inventory and a list of other peoples' projects to check for tips, problems, yarn substitutions, etc. (That's how I decided to knit the Yoga Hoodie with the Cotton Ease in my stash.) At first I was putting everything I wanted to knit into my queue which got huge fast. Then I decided to only put things in my queue that I expect to knit in the (fairly) near future. The rest are listed as favorite patterns. I've also enjoyed clicking on the yarn tab to see what others have made with yarns I have and how they liked them. I haven't participated much in the forums yet, although I do have several areas I keep up with.

The Malabrigo sweater is no more. Rather than just ripping back to the armholes I decided to rip it all the way out and return the yarn to the stash. Not sure right now what I want to knit with it.

Time to check on the goals for this year again:

1. Shawl-collared vest COMPLETE
2. Fix DH's sweater DONE
3. Finish Tangled Yoke DONE
4. Toggles on CPH
5. Finish Malabrigo sweater FROGGED
6. Finish Silky Wool sweater (UFO - needs sleeves)
7. Finish Cotton Patiné top (UFO - seam and knit edging for armholes)
8. Bird's Nest shawl (UFO - 33% completed)
9. Heartland shawl (UFO - maybe 15% completed)
10. Lamb's Pride cardigan FROGGED
11. Einstein coat (UFO - about 60% completed)
12. Celtic Knot FROGGED

So I've dealt with half of my list - either by finishing or frogging. Hopefully I'll get 5-8 done this spring and summer and finish up the Einstein and CPH this fall.

New project alert!

I actually cast on for this a little over a week ago. It's the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie from WEBS. I've never knit a sweater from the top down before, and I'm loving it! The hood is done, but not seamed yet, the sleeves are done, and last night I started on the lower body. Can't wait to get to the cable in the center back. I hope to have it done to wear to my knitting group next week.

I finished the back panel of the Not-so-warm Einstein and put it away for the season. It's not good to knit with a big old pile of wool in your lap this time of year! The other day I pulled the warm-weather projects out of the bin -

Silky wool swearter - 2 strands knit as one - 1 of rust, 1 of brown. Just needs sleeves.

Bird's Nest Shawl. One third done. Two strands of KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud.

Heartland Shawl. Henry's Attic Monty 3/9.

There's one other project I forgot to photograph - a cabled sweater in Cotton Patiné that has had a traumatic childhood. I knit all the pieces, but the sleeves faded (not sure why - I don't think they were in the sun...) so much that they don't look like the same yarn. The current plan is to leave the sleeves off and make it into a sleeveless top. We'll see. It may end up in the trash.