Playing catch-up

In August, I finally got around to finishing February Lady.  And I got to wear her in August too. The building where I work is plain frigid in the summer, to the point where having a wool sweater on hand is a pretty great idea. Here is an awful shot of me wearing it:

And one that I took as it was blocking.  Looks pretty dang good, eh?

And my favorite part, the buttons that I bought 2 years ago at the Great Lakes Fiber Show. I wish I could get my hands on more of them!

And just for fun, a candid mug shot that I snapped when I wore it again recently:

Next up: the sweater that I started knitting for Eric last year. This is me modeling it as soon as it came off the needles. February Lady snuck in on the pic, too: 

And one more as it was blocking. 

Luckily he loves it.  But hopefully he will let me borrow it sometimes :-)

Beautiful sunset

Great way to wrap up an awesome day.

First one ... DONE!

She's beautiful, right?

This is my first completed sweater of 2012 -- FINALLY!!! It's called "Paddle" and it's by Classic Elite Yarns -- you can buy the pattern from your local yarn shop or this link. I had a lot of fun knitting this, and was really proud to wear it last week.  People said that it looked like a store-bought shirt! It took me close to 8 weeks to knit it ... not because it's hard but because life gets in the way sometimes, despite our best intentions.  My trusty dress form, Tippy, models it beautifully, doesn't she?

On to #2!

I'm still knitting!

See? Here's proof:

That is the TGV (High Speed Knitting) shawl from Ravelry. I started that one on Easter Sunday and finished on the following Saturday. Clearly the speediest knit of the year so far, and very satisfying.

The 12 Sweaters in 2012 (Rav link!) is still moving along, and I currently have 3 sweaters on the needles right now.  The one I was knitting for hubs, which then became mine, has been sent to the frog pond for myriad reasons. Let's just pretend that never happened, shall we?  Currently I'm working ever so slowly on:

• Kurasun Vest: The back piece went fairly quickly but as I was working the left front, I realized I didn't care for how it was turning out and frogged it.  The plan is to add a few extra stitches on each edge so that the hearts won't get cut off with the arm hole shaping.
• February Lady Sweater: I'm FINALLY close to finishing the yoke, putting the sleeve stitches on waste yarn and knitting down the body. This one took a while to determine the gauge, and figure out which size to knit based on my gauge. I think I'm finally on the right track. I am making a few modifications to this sweater to make it a bit less "swingy," and will also shorten the sleeves and add a neat button tab element.  I'm using these buttons that I got from the Great Lakes Fiber Show in 2010. 
• Paddle: This cute tee is a knitalong at my LYS.  It'll be a nice summer top, and if I can manage to make quick progress on it then maybe I can wear it to the above-mentioned fiber show next month ... ?  

Yesterday I also started another TGV shawl in purple Alpaca Sox yarn from Classic Elite.  I found out that Kathy, a friend and former coworker of mine, passed away a few days ago. Her memorial service is next Sunday afternoon, and it was requested that attendees wear "casual purple" dress (purple was her favorite color).  I picked up this lovely soft yarn at my LYS yesterday. If I knit fast enough then I'd like to wear it to the memorial, but mostly to  send healing and comforting thoughts to her family with every stitch.  The yarn is warm, the color is like a jewel, and the knitting will be easy-going and fun, just like Kathy's personality. 

Now that caffeine and breakfast have been consumed, it's time to get out my knitting and make progress on *something* today.

Happy Sunday to you!

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IMAG0317.jpg, a photo by mzundercover on Flickr.

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There's nothing like starting over

Remember that sweater that I was knitting for my husband?  Well ... I've had to start over.  Completely. From. Scratch.  Essentially, even though I begged and pleaded for him to try it on before I got too far along, he kept saying, "Nah, it'll be fine, just keep going."  Over the holidays I got up past the armholes and MADE him try it on.  Know what he said?  "Um, I'd like it a little bigger."  GAH!  So instead of frogging what I had, I just cut the yarn and started over.  This time I am using slightly bigger needles and knitting the next size up.  That should give him PLENTY of ease since he's a guy that fully believes in layering (it's not uncommon for him to wear like 4 shirts at a time!).  I'm making decent progress, though, even though I may not be completely finished by the end of the month.  With a vacation day today and a holiday on Monday, I foresee plenty of quality knitting time in my very near future!