sigh

well i had a crisis at work that started sunday morning and lasted thru last night... it was a long stretch... so no knitting since friday. will make up for it soon as i plan an evening in front of the tv watching among others the season finale for judging amy, a fav show. and then a bbc presentation of ice house with some great acting. that should give me a lot of knitting time! and some relaxation too!

did get the new knitters - seems smaller and again i dont see much that i am interested in making - probably cause i looked at during the four day marathon called work this weekend- will give it another shot tonight.

well, i decided to make a little cap to go with the first baby sweater - so i tried a few patterns and then went back to the one i used for one of the wool sweaters for my nephew - its a debbie bliss pattern from her quick baby knits book. pretty simple and i am doing it in the sweater pattern - double moss - and got about 5 inches done watching the season finales of will and grace and er... neither too exciting imho.

ok so now i am going to go play with my web pages..

last nights progress

progress on the second cousin's baby sweater - fronts divided for left and right and all of back done (on holder to wait for joining with fronts). lucky me ran out of yarn at the end of the back - got so much done watching yanks - really old (20y) but full of interesting actors - eichorn, gere (boy is he young here), redgrave looking radiant, and devane (not quite up to the rest). set in small english village during the push right before the second front (ie normandie invasion). good local color and beautiful settings - filmed entirely in yorkshire.

so today i am going to sew all those buttons and seams and do laundry and errands- a housekeeping day. off i go.

wednesday update

ok so i finished the first sweater for the new little cousins - last night - while watching gilmore girls, the guardian and judging amy - all great shows! - sewed the first sleeve in and then knitted the second sleeve and sewed it in and then did the sc edging and decided to make buttons. its pretty cute if i may say so myself. (ok i AM getting a camera sooon and can put photos). the double moss stitch gives it some nice texture and the mutli colored yarn makes nice waves of color.

so today i cast on for the second sweater - tried to figure out another stitch to use but after perusing the volume one of walker's treasury realized that i only really wanted to do some lace or cable patterns and hate doing those unless in the round... so since i didnt want to experiment with steeking on this little cotton baby sweater - i am back to making the same one above BUT with a few changes - am not doing the buttonholes as i go - will do a seed stitch band all around the sweater when finished and add the buttonholes then - this way i just concentrate on getting the body done - should get some done tonight - if i can stop revising my blog templates and/or teaching myself html - by redoing my webpages.

also found some buttons i have to use for the aran cardiagan (the red one) and really am going to finish those sweaters tomorrow so i can mail them to the mom before he outgrows them all! the last photo is scary he is getting so big!

was going to do some garden work today, but really bad allergies hit in the late afternoon - someone is doing work on a brownstone across the street - i couldnt tell what they are doing but it sure is creating a lot of dust and debris and with the weather being cool i had my windows open and now am paying in spades . yuck. oh well, knitting double moss doesnt require to omuch concentration (just counting to two) and the body is a fairly large piece of work to do..

moving on

ok, i still need to get buttons for the red aran cardigan - work was such sat that i didnt get out of my office much less the building all day - so no visits to the good notions store on west 57th...

but last wed i started on a little sweater from the baby book that's my latest fav... this one is for the first of two cousins born in the last two weeks - a little girl, sara kate, born to my cousin molly. i am using some of the sugar babies lily yarn i got on ebay (i love ebay for cotton yarn) its called baby dreams or something like that - its a multicolored yarn in pastels and white - i havent knitted anything this light in awhile and keep washing my hands to keep it from getting grimy - of course there was a wee bit of adjustment to the tension and weight of this year which i have never used. i took the basic garter sweater pattern from the baby book (see above) and adapted it - adding a seed stitch band with button holes (although i keep forgetting to do and then ripping back) and used moss stitch as the body - its a little more fancy (i get bored with garter stitch). i finished the body by thursday night and seamed the shoulders together - and started the sleeves. one is done and i am working on the second one. its a fast little sweater. and thats good since it would be good to get them done and to the mothers this month.

and then i need to finish those other baby sweaters for my nephew.... and get them in the mail..... he is getting so big already...oh well, its a long night here at the office ...

well, i did work on the sleeves of the aran cardigan - took a deep breath and cut off about two inches (they were really too long for this size) and then added about one inch of seed stitch border. looks a lot better now. more in proportion to the body. also finally figured out the way to sew the seams so they look invisible - about time - have to credit that new baby book which i am glad i bought. not only good basic and elegant baby patterns but some really well thought out and clearly presented techniques - even for some i already know, i find more info and tips in their descriptions. i love the tone of the writing too. it seems like a fun book to have put together. anyway, so i have that done - now to buy buttons (or see if i have any in the button tin) and then to sew....

i will have to get into some kind of zen mood today to get the sewings and finishings done (including something for another important person (shh)) but since i have these new cds from a great british folk singer, kate rusby, i have an excuse to sit and sew and finish.

confession - i spent most of yesterday and night working on updating my website - its really rudimentary now but a beginning. i started sunday and now its become very fascinating... onward to pick out a webeditor. (now that's serious, yikes).

just checking out the "blog this" posting process... no knitting progress sat and sun (well, working 28 hours in two days will do that) but i did xerox, uhm, copy patterns from my latest knit book - the new baby book from nichols and malcolm... some neat quick and elegant looking baby items and with two MORE baby cousins (one last week, one due this week) thats two more sweaters..

ok the goal for the next two days is to FINISH all those sweaters for the nephew and get them in the mail....need to sit and sew seams and buttons... also need to buy a new camera (digital?) to take photos of them and the garden - which has gone into OVERDRIVE in the last two weeks due to the warm snap and then spring and ... well, lets just say there are lots of buds popping out... need to feed them roses (tomorrow) and add compost ... well, thats for the garden page.

ok, so i stayed up most of the night again - but i finished the little red aran cardigan - and well, it looks pretty ok if i say so myself. of course work was too busy today for me to get away to the notions store on west 57th, sigh, but i can look at my little cardigan while i am doing my computer work... and remember that there is another world...while the phones ring off the wall.

notes for next time
the sleeves are little too long - almost the same length as the body - either make them shorter (i may cut the edges and redo these...) or make the body longer (i did try adding some more border but at 2 am it didnt work - either i was too tired or ... probably too tired and it wasnt a good idea anyway).

need to make the fronts a bit bigger - i didnt really allow for the overlap and for any decreasing at the neck - luckily the shawl collar helps to hide that - but next time i will make a wider first panel so i can decrease it - just a little i do like the shawl collar - maybe needs to be a bit wider next time too.

didnt steek cause its cotton - but i need to figure out some better way to do this with cotton - i will have to experiment - i did the tahki cotton classic in the round and havent cut it yet - so i guess i will find out how cotton takes to steeking... nothing like jumping right in as a newbie steeker.

so maybe tonight i will redo those sleeves' length - although i already did the sc edgeing - and after all maybe his arms are longer (its hard to design for a baby thats thousands of miles away.. in louisiana)

need to review that size chart i have at home in my sofa knit bag.

next project (as if i need another new one) is for the new cousin baby girl - born this week... another southern baby - dont know about making a wool sweater. although with a/c prevalent in the south maybe... well have to see - am going to check out the new nichols/malcolm baby design book (cant remember the name now ) and see what may appeal to make quickly.

being inspired by a number of other knitters' blogs... set up this as my own contribution. and to help keep track. will be pretty rudimentary for awhile until i get a scanner, etc.. and learn more about templates and html, etc. more to come.

to catch up on WIPs
current WIP - a red cotton Aran of my own design for my new nephew
made from Brown Sheep Cotton red (bought on ebay) took a pattern outline from a little vogue book and adapted it using XOXOs with four stitch cables and a valentine heart cable (from another book) - the heart goes down the center back - the cable/XO/cable goes along each of the fronts and along side the heart on the back. the sleeve has the same pattern as the fronts.

knit the fronts and back as one piece (segmenting off each of the fronts and back for finishing on their own). joined the shoulder seams and then tried to knit the sleeves from the armholes - but too small for my 16" circs and dont have any smaller - didnt feel like doing them on dps so am making them separately (ugh except they are small and go fast) finished the first one in an all nite knitting session last nite - several EGRobinson films on tcm...

so tonight want to finish the other sleeve and get them sewn in and then take it to work saturday to the button place (greenberg and hammer) to pick out buttons. nephew's father is in town and it would be fun to give it to him to take.

other WIPS for nephew
several other sweaters - some are done some need seams sewing and buttons put on ... i seem to lose interest at that point - partly because i need to get a new table to be able to put all the stuff out on (my little round table broke and i need to replace it). some of them are in wool so he may not be able to wear them now (he lives in louisiana) and they may be too small next year - so have to reevaluate them and maybe give them to others (another cousin just had her baby this week and another one is due anyminute and a friend done the street had one a few months ago, so no dearth of recipients).

the last sweater before the red aran is a green tahki cotton classic aran (pale green really pretty) and its almost done too - i think i need a sleeve to finish and then sew seams - and of course pick buttons - maybe i will get that done tonight too. but at least i can take it in to pick out buttons tomorrow.

other WIPS
laprobe to finish for mother (was birthday, then xmas and now mother's day present - just have to finish the last few rows and then sew and cut the steek (i did it in the round out of Classic Elite bravo). need to do that early next week to get it in the mail in time for next sunday.

future WIPS
the two bags from the Alice Starmore collection on www.virtualyarns.com - thistle and heart - am thrilled to have them but dont know when i will start them as i seem to be in a baby sweater/aran mode for now, but its nice to see the box sitting there with all the lovely yarn... along with the other three boxes from VY with yarn for a wrap and a scarf.... no sweaters ordered yet . maybe later this summer for the fall.

ok need to go and enter stuff in needletrax - bought a few weeks ago and havent set up yet.

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