More plate cleaning

Only in recent weeks have I realized just how many unfinished projects I have! Or had, because I'm gradually working my way through them. The one I'm finishing up now is yet another sweater from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners: the "jacket with seed-stitch bands." (It's a simple five-button cardigan.) This was the first knitting book I bought, which explains a disproportionate number of my projects have come from it. The designs are nice and streamlined and--if you can get past Bliss's annoying practice of listing only her own yarn, which is sold by weight without yardage marked anywhere on the package--not terribly frustrating to make.

I'm using her baby cashmerino yarn in a lovely chocolate-brown color--partly because I adore brown, partly because I don't like dressing Sylvia in "girly" stuff all the time (she has a few pink items, but mostly her wardrobe tends to earth tones), and mostly because I bought this yarn on sale two years ago at my then-local yarn shop, where it was in the $4/ball bargain basket. Two years ago I finished the back of this sweater (in the 18m size), then got maybe a dozen rows into the left front before putting this project away. I resurrected it again five days ago and decided just to restart the left front piece. I also undid the two bindoffs at the top of the back piece, instead moving those stitches onto two different stitch holders. After doing the three-needle bindoff on one shoulder of Anouk, I've decided I'm never going back to seaming shoulders again if I can help it. The three-needle technique is so sturdy and simple--no need to line up stitches for seaming, 'cause all you need to do it pair them off on the needles, where they're easily visible!


Here's where I am right now. The seed stitch isn't easy to see because of the dark yarn and the lousy camera. It's along the bottoms of both pieces, and along the button band of the left-front piece (which is on the right of the photo). The cat, Beowulf, is giving me a dirty look in this photo because I took it right after yelling at her to stop playing with the yarn tails.

Cleaning off my plate

A little over one year ago, I started working on a sweater for my then-unborn baby. I had lots of bits of Debbie Bliss's baby cashmerino yarn left over from the patchwork baby quilt (a.k.a. "the Frankenblanket") I'd made, so I figured I'd use it up on another project in Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners: the boatneck sweater.

Actually, I'd already made one of these sweaters for the baby, in a lovely russet-colored merino yarn from Mission Falls. Since that one is in the 12m size, I decided to make the next one in the 18m size. And with only small amounts left over of different colors of yarn, I knew that stripes would be the order of the day.

I finished the front and back of the new sweater last March or so (mostly while Jan and I watched our way through all three seasons of the original Star Trek series), and I carefully counted my rows so the striping would be identical on both sides. And then I put this project away and didn't return to it until about a week ago.

I thought I might have enough yarn to do one sleeve entirely in light mauve (as you can tell by the photo, that wasn't the case, and dark mauve had to pinch hit at the end), but I wasn't sure what to do about the second sleeve. I brought this project to a local knitters' group (the first meeting I'd attended, actually!), and they gave me this very helpful advice: "Why not do the other sleeve in stripes? Everything doesn't have to be symmetrical!" Wow, what a brilliant idea. So the second sleeve has the other three colors in it--and I had just enough yarn for it, too! So now this sweater is all ready for Sylvia to wear next winter!

Anouk completed (sort of)

Two days ago I sewed the buttons on the Anouk pinafore I started a little over two months ago. And this morning Sylvia wore it for the first time. It looks cute on her, but I need to make a few adjustments (which is why I'm not posting a photo of her in it yet)--namely, moving each of the four side tabs about an inch down. The pinafore is a bit big on her (I did make it in the eighteen-month size, and she's only about ten-and-a-half months old now), and it was so long and billowy on her frame that it made it hard for her to crawl, walk, and go about her usual exploration of the world around her. So I took it off her. We'll return to it in a few months...

Woof! Woof!

I finished my dog blanket for the Southwest Missouri Humane Society. Even though it mean having to weave in lots of tails, I decided to skip the monochromatic look and go for stripes. Besides, "lots of tails" seems appropriate for something destined for a dog!

Sock success!

Last night I finished my first sock! (Well, it's 99% finished--I still have to sew in the tails.) Grafting the toe closed was so neat. It didn't look like it would work...and then voila! it did! The sock fits pretty well, too. Now I just have to make another one...

Button woes

I finished the Anouk dress a few days ago--well, everything but the buttons. The ideal button for this dress, I think, would be something round, in an antique gold finish, and with a bee motif on it. Those buttons do exist...but unfortunately they haven't been made since the Victorian era and are currently going for about $13 (plus shipping) each on eBay. Anouk needs five buttons, so those aren't an option (at least, not until I win the PowerBall...then I'll hire highly skiled artisans to custom-make buttons for me whenever I need them!)

Last Thursday I went to my local yarn store, hoping to find something that would work for Anouk. The store had lots and lots of nifty buttons in stock, but nothing that really suited the dress. Everything was either the wrong design or the wrong color. And there were no bees whatsoever. I ended up getting five of these rather plain (but nice) light-mocha-colored buttons, figuring I could always go the generic route. But I wasn't completely happy with them, and decided to give myself a little more time to find something better.

And this morning I hit pay dirt! No bees, alas, but I did find this cute little leaf buttons at a JoAnn fabrics shop. They're an amazingly good match for the green yarn in the dress, and the leaf motif works with the intarsia flowers to get a whole garden theme going. Now I just have to sew those puppies on!

Turn, turn, turn

While hearing the Byrds sing in my head, I successfully managed to turn the sock heel last night! You can see the result here in this "gotta take the picture as quickly as possible before the baby grabs the yarn" photo. When I read this part of the pattern, it made no sense to me. Short rows? Decreases all over the place? Huh? But I took the leap of faith (I figure Sally Melville knows what she's talking about), started knitting, and--amazingly enough--it worked and produced a little pocket where my heel goes. Nifty!