Sweetness and Light

The shower was today… and the sweater was the first gift opened!! I swear I had nothing to do with the arrangement of the packages, I swear! It just happened to be sitting right in front of L when it was time to open the packages.

I think they liked it Although they didn’t know it was hand knit until I told them. That was a bit awkward… I had written the washing instructions on a card tucked in the neck, but hadn’t mentioned that it was hand knit. So while L was handing the sweater over to her husband and looking confused as to why I’d write out the washing instructions, I blurted it out rather uncerimoniously. Yug.

So here’s a few snapshots taken right before I wrapped up the little sweater. Of course, I thought I would finish up last night, but as I was watching the obligatory distraction movie–last night it was The English Patient–I fell asleep, drooling, with my head lolling from side-to-side. I took that as a mild hint that it might be time to go to bed. I finished just in time to pack up the sweater and the kids in the car and head on out to the southern suburbs. Here’s the overall picture

A close up of the lace detail

The last minute addition of the embroidery

And the lace edging…blocking is dope!

Final notes on my first matinee coat: I really thought the final sweater was a lovely little thing for a baby girl. I had my frustrations with the pattern, but in the end, I think this is one of my favorite FO’s. I didn’t make many modifications other than to add a picot edge–my first!–to the neck line, and I knit it up in a tighter gauge so that it would fit a newborn. I used a grosgrain ribbon to tie it all together, although I would’ve really preferred a silk ribbon… unfortunately, I’m having trouble finding that here in town. I used a variegated DMC cotton floss to embroider the little bullion roses; if I could’ve found natural silk, I think I might have tried some ribbon embroidery on the fronts. We’ll see how the Cathay blend yarn holds up after a few washes, but I have to say that after it was blocked, I couldn’t believe how soft and smooth and light the sweater felt. It was rather splitty, but the sheen and the drape of the knit fabric was just marvelous and makes me think there might be a Cathay garment for myself in the near future… what a beautiful summer fiber.

Tomorrow I cast on for JJ’s sweater… guess I better figure out what pattern I’ll use. Off to Ravelry I go!!

Once Upon a Time…

… a young woman,

err,

a young-ish woman, began a blog, having visions of vast amounts of spare time and devoted readers. Then one day as she sat typing up her latest entry, she realized it had been a while since she had seen her children. Or her husband. In fact, it had been quite some time before she had seen the light of day, or taken a shower, or even changed her clothes. Her teeth were a bit fuzzy, and she couldn’t quite remember the last time she had a meal worthy of mention.

So she took some time off.

Ok, fer real, like, really really real… I never considered that being the mother of two toddlers, or the owner of a house, or the wife of a travellin’ man, or the instructor of a class, or the provider of meals, or the seeker of other adult company could impede so thoroughly on my hobby life. Sheesh! Who wants to shop for spinach and yogurt when there’s a stash that needs a little busting?

I do have news to report: I have started a new baby sweater! It’s a little lacy… which is really my first official go at lace, and I have to get it done by next Saturday, when it will be gifted at a baby shower. I’ve already completed the back piece and I’m going to cast of the two sweater fronts tonight….right after this post goes up. I swear!! I’ve been reading a few posts about knitting two socks at once, and I’ve decided to try it with my sweater fronts. All the posts I’ve been reading talk about knitting two with the magic loop though… I’m not going to do that. I can’t get into magic loop… it leaves me twitching for some reason. I’m fine with dpns or using two long-ish circs. I think it’s like peanuts and peanutbutter… you don’t find many people who like both. Anyway, it’s the matinee coat by debbie bliss… turns out, she’s written up two patterns named the matinee coat, the one I’ve chosen does not have a seed stitch upper jacket.

I’ve using some debbie bliss cathay that I had lying around; it was not my first choice. I found a new little yarn store close to my parents’ home… ok, it’s new to me and in it was some gorgeous homespun shantung from a local spinner that I absolutely fell in love with… so I brought some home with me.

unfortunately, the gauge was terribly off for every sweater I had in mind for this particular shower. In the end, I decided to stick with my original sweater choice–I wasn’t sure the yarn would be great with the lace, but I wanted to try–and find a new yarn. And it took a huge amount of effort on my part, but I went to my stash to find something suitable instead of visiting the LYS. It took the better part of a day to figure out what to use, and it left a huge portion of my floor in disarray.

I got it back under control after the kids wen to bed, but I picked out three other yarns that will be used for a few quick projects before I’m allowing myself to go back to the store.

ha! that was a good one… almost believed myself for a second.

My husband doesn’t read this, does he??