Put-off update...

I need to blog but have to get pictures of everything I've finished first. Per usual, I'm flying through small projects more quickly then I can write about them. (And thanks to pregnancy, I'm usually too tired to blog in the first place.)

Let's see, since my last update, what has changed? Tempest still needs buttons. I'm horrible when it comes to getting those sewn on. I still need to sew the last three onto my Wicked Cardigan as well. That lace scarf I mentioned ages ago has been blocked, but the ends are not yet woven in, so one of these days I'll do that and get to photographing it.

Made and finished a yoked baby sweater out of the aMAIZing yarn I purchased while back home. It was odd to work with. Never worked with a ribbon yarn before, let alone one made out of corn. Since my hands get sweaty, it got to be rather sticky. It also rubbed funny on my fingers as it was passing over. Can't say I'd work with it again, though it was pleasant enough, I suppose. I decided to leave out the contrasting color and the three skeins of the violet I had were just enough to make the sweater with mere inches to spare. (Try to picture the sweater without the ever-so-flattering fluorescent lighting upon it. The color is much more lovely in person and contrasts beautifully with the wood buttons I already had laying around.) I modified it to only button on the top and am not sure exactly what size it is as my gauge was off--ha, imagine that. However, it was a happy incident as it is large enough that I do not have to worry about it being too small for a newborn; though that's the size I made.

Other finished projects include a felted sausage dog that I need to take pictures of...there are plans to make two larger ones. One for DS and another for DD when she gets here. I've been trying to think of special things I can do for him to prepare for the arrival of his sister since so many things are coming into our house for her these days.

Also finished a pair of Zombie socks in the last of my Black Purl yarn from Lorna's Laces. They turned out really well...once again, no picture at this time. Will need to bribe DH with cookies and see if I can't get him to be sweet and take some for me.

My current project is another yoked baby sweater. Not sure if I'll leave it as-is or modify it. I think I want to add some sweet little frilly ruffles to it and girl it up a bit. And I believe, like with the first sweater, I will not run buttons down the entire front, just the top. With a newborn, why futz with all of those buttons? I'm already over half done with this current sweater, it's been a very fast knit, and am looking to finish some other small projects and clear some yarn out of my tote. I think spring forward is on that list, as well as another foliage for my sister with a beautiful alpaca yarn I purchased but is impractical for here. Then the two larger sausage dogs (already linked) and I'll likely knit some more toys.

I'm not sure I want to start my February Lady sweater before September and will likely wait a bit longer on her (I managed to score enough Malabrigo in Hollyhock for it, YUM), but I have plenty of yarn to work with for now. Had a bit of a buying spree for my birthday and my tote seems to be full again. I shall end this post with pictures of my favorite acquisitions of the spree; the ones I keep opening up my tote to pet and admire for their beauty.

First, the Malabrigo. Such a yummy color. One of the things I love about knitting my own clothes is the greater variety of color I can get into my wardrobe. My love of color is also tempting me to learn how to do my own dying so I can get exactly the color I want. One expensive and time-consuming hobby at a time!Second is this absolutely fantastic Elizabeth Bennet sock yarn by Yarn Love in Strawberry Shortcake I managed to score. It's a wool/bamboo/silk mix and it feels so silky and nice. The colorway is just beautiful as well. There's a subtle graham cracker color, lucious pinks, and it's topped off with a creamy color. There's another short sweater pattern I plan to make with this. It's just too lovely to make into socks.

Tempest is wrapping up...

This one has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, let me tell you. Between heavy altering, realizing my row gauge was way off, and some sloppy seaming that led me to think the sleeves were sizes too small, I've been through just about every kind of knitter's angst this week. As can be seen in the photos, I have ultimately prevailed and with limited problems and trouble to myself... so yay?

As can be seen in this photo, sometime between my first front piece and my second, my row gauge went off into a world all its own, causing me to wonder if I was going to have to frog the whole thing and restart. I had hoped that if I decided to finish off the cardigan with some garter stitch along the bottom to stabilize it instead of the recommended way in the pattern, it might fix the whole thing and make it as if it never happened. I put the garter rows on this morning and my thoughts were correct: one would never know that one side was so much longer then the other. (No pictures of the latest details, going to wait until I finish before posting more up.)Everything else has fit together very nicely and I've been many kinds of pleased. True, the cardigan is still a bit on the long side for me despite taking 4" out of the torso, but it's not so long that I look like a child playing dress up in my mother's clothes. I can't wait to get the button band on and the buttons and see what it looks like completely finished.

I also heavily altered the sleeves and took almost half the sleeve length out. As written, and with my row tension, I would have ended up with sleeves inches past my hands.

All in all, a good knit, I'd like to do another with the stripes I do believe, and I'll post up more on this when it's finished.

Tempest is moving along...

Much more quickly then I would have imagined, honestly. In less then two weeks, I've finished the back and the first front piece with very little time put into it.

It's been an interesting knit to say the least, I had to pull about 4" out of the torso and probably could have done with pulling out a bit more. I'm not sure who the pattern was modeled after, but she apparently has lots of torso. It's supposed to be blocked wider and taller--and I *am* knitting smaller so it could be blocked as it should--but it's looking like it honestly doesn't need it. Especially in the vertical.

I'm very much relieved that I didn't do it with stripes the first go round; I'm going to have to rewrite the entire striping portion of the pattern when I make another. And if this fits well, there will be another. I'm already imagining what colors to do it in as I should have quite a bit of Smooshy to destash and therefore, give me yarn money and room in my tote!

I don't believe it will take anywhere near the amount of yarn I originally imagined, either. It should have taken between 1100-1200 yds, I'm thinking I can do it all in 2 skeins of Smooshy which would put it in the 900 yd range.

The first picture is more color accurate, but this gives a better idea of the pretty varigations in the yarn. It reminds me very much of sea glass and it's quite lovely to look at.