Sunday, February 21, 2010

Winter, Winter Go Away

Winter, winter go away. Please let spring come back to stay...

As a dyed-in-the-wool (pun intended) knitter, you would think that knitting while the snow fell, and fell, and fell some more would be the time of year I live for - NOT SO MUCH! Real knitters knit all year long - rain or shine and heat or cold.

I have been been knitting away, and even taking a picture or two, but my conspicuous lack of posting has not gone unnoticed, albeit by some folks that do not update their Ravelry profiles I might add.

I made a Little Miss Valentine for the little girl next door, and in time for Valentine's Day no less. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture. You will just have to trust me that it came out exactly like the pattern picture - although some folk's LMV dolls seem to stray from that standard. Yikes, that is another story in and of itself.

In December, I knit the Drifted Pearls from the Rowan Lima yarn. The Lima is a chainette yarn. I was a bit nervous to work with it at first, but it knits up like a dream, and it is incredibly soft.





In December, I also knit a Scoop Neck Cardigan by Nashua in the green Daylily yarn. I wore this to a dance I went to in December. I added one black snap at the top corner where the right front crosses the left, and this was my mother's suggestion as that little point wanted to flop forward. Also, this sweater has two very cool, but really expensive, buttons that are black lacquer and leaf-shaped. I have never in my life bought buttons that cost $7.95 A PIECE! However, I had my little frequent flyer card filled at the knitting shop and got the pair for free, well sort of...





In January, I knit the Red Herring scarf for Mike out of Plymouth's Dream Baby in a solid azure blue that looks like a soft gray in certain light. This yarn is wonderful to knit with, super soft, but I did end up "killing the yarn" as this pattern (even with the moss stitch edge) has a propensity to curl. The iron did the trick, and Mike has worn this several times. This pattern was not hard, but knitting a 60+ inch scarf in fingering weight yarn is daunting, plus the fact that this was the fourth of fifth incarnation of a scarf for the hubs made me curse it the entire time I was knitting it...























I am currently knitting the Lace Panel sweater by Plymouth. Encore Worsted is the recommended yarn, and I had enough Encore that is almost identical in color to the pattern pic. I am about one-third finished, and this is the photo from the supplier. This sweater is supposed to be somewhat close-fitting, but Encore is not really the best choice for a fitted, next to the skin sort of pattern. Once this is finished, I plan to tackle two baby blankets for a raffle, but likely not consecutively though.



I have been very busy as of late with the two jobs, Mike's favorite uncle who is terminal and 100 or so miles away, and we have been taking dance lessons on Sunday afternoons. We are now working on 40s swing for an upcoming dance in March. We are not arrogant enough to say that we are good dancers, our goal is just simply not to embarrass ourselves and to have a good time.