Pretty little sweater!!

Here it is ~ the next project. Oh wait didn't I want to make Weekend Getaway satchel next.

There was a problem, I got an email from my lovely yarn store owner over the weekend - "Yarn Clearance" it said. I had hopes of going in and finding all the ugly stuff I would never want anyways. Or if there was something good, it would just be one or two balls of something that would be useful to have one or two balls of. That way I would avoid huge expensive yarn purchase for nothing. Then I saw this Madil. I was digging around and found this grayish to whitish color that there were 8 balls of. I thought this is nice, but what could I do with it. There isn't so much (as each ball is only 45 yards) and I don't really need another bag. Then I saw behind the multiple baskets filled with clearance yarn a huge stash of yarn in these cubbies. Also on clearance.

There was even more Madil in this really pretty greenish to creamish sage like colorway. It was the type of color I LOVE!! Very similar to the Manos fishbowl bag that I still have not finished (that damn lining!). So there were about 20 balls in this color. So then Meg (LYS Owner) comes sauntering by and says how much she loves this yarn. And I say yes me as well, but what to make with it. Good yarn shop owner that she is, she says I have the perfect pattern for a fitted cardigan that is soooo cute. I say let's have a look. So she spends a good 5-10 minutes digging through pattern book after pattern book. She does not give up and I have to say I am pleased. I fell in love with it. I love the cables at the bottom. It is easy (super easy) so I can do it. AND it knits on size 15's. This sweater will take no time.

So she rings me up, just over $50 (I know not really so much money) which includes 12 skeins of the Madil, one skein of the best alpaca. I used it to make a pair of felted fingerless gloves for Kyle for x-mas last year and have some left that I am going to add to the new green skein. Who knows what for, but it was to soft to pass up. And the pattern. I came home and all I wanted to do was start the sweater. But no, I must finish I DO. The wedding is going to be coming up in about 9 weeks. Not to far away. So I must make myself busy with that shrug.

Changes I have planned for the Madil sweater so far-
-Add an extra repeat of the cable design to the sleeves and body, I am pretty long!
-Add some extra sts into the body, I am still working out how that will affect the cable pattern,it is over an 8 st repeat.
-I may try to combine the back and sides and knit them as one piece to avoid seaming them up I will probably try to do the same with the sleeves. I am not sure on how well such a thing would be, but I will try reading up on it to see.

And here are the pictures:

Pattern - Soooo pretty!!


Yarn and Pattern


Close up of yarn for sweater


Swatch of Madil. Nice and thick!!

Here are some I Do pictures:

I am excited to be done with half of I Do. Even with all the problems I've run into with it. It is going to turn out nice I think. But I don't really want to talk about it because I am excited about my new (next) project!!


Opening for back


One half finished and progress on side two


back view

I know the wolf shorts are hideous!! But they are my summer sleep shorts. When I walk in the door after work I put them on right away. I had hoped to crop out all existence of them, but they made an appearance here. Enjoy!


back view


front view

I will say that I am looking particularity shiny with sweat, it has been very very hot!! And, I'm looking rather fat. I really am going to lose at least 10 pounds for the wedding. My ultimate goal is to lose 30. Uikes, that seems like a lot. I never really will, but I think about it. I just want to lose some of the flabby bits.

Weekend Getaway Satchel... Oh how I love your flowered ways!!

Rhiann-Knits

Ohh, a trip to Barnes and Noble to get the most fabulous cup of coffee from Jessica (the worlds best coffee maker - thanks for moving back from Texas so I can enjoy your expertise!!) and I grabbed some knitting magazines to look through. And, oh my god, am I in love or what. I bought the new issue of Interweave Knits, it is full of some great patterns. But the ONE that caught my eye is the Weekend Getaway Satchel. It is beautiful, it is huge, and is must be mine. I have already been pondering yarn options, I checked for a KAL and found one, several people it seems are considering Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks. That was the option I was thinking about using. It takes so much yarn I need to use the cheapest possible option.

Seeing this and wanting it inspired me to start busting ass on I Do. Because I absolutely must not start any other projects until it is done. I have a very definite deadline for that project. I don't think Kyle would like it if I told him we had to postpone the wedding because I haven't finished knitting my shrug. He would say "what is a shrug, we are not postponing it AGAIN!" So this project will have to wait. I am sad and feel the need to cry because I want it!! Maybe it can be my honeymoon travel bag. Since the honeymoon is not until next June at the earliest, I have plenty of time.

If only I had a yarn angel who bought it all for me, and a work angel who made money for me. Then I could stay home and knit beautiful things for everyone I love.

What Color Crayon Are You??

You are

What Rejected Crayon Are You?

~ OR ~

You are

Progress on I Do

It has been crazy for the past week and I've done no knitting. It saddens me because I was plowing along on I Do like crazy and now nothing.

I had good reason, my sister (from Alaska) was in town from Fri to Mon this past weekend AND we threw my mom a 50th surprise birthday party. The party went great. All except for the nearly record breaking (maybe it did break a record) high temperatures. It was 109 degrees. And we had the party outside, at 5 pm. Plus my parents don't have air-conditioning, they are probably the only house in all of Fresno without it. So it was hot. My mom ended up jumping in the pool (fully clothed) which meant the whole family jumped in the pool. Then some other people jumped as well. Somehow this led to a lot of people leaving, maybe there was a fear of them having to jump in or being thrown in.

It was a great party and my mom had NO idea it was coming. My dad and I have been sneaking around like crazy trying to get it together.

The worst of my being SOOOO busy is I missed a yarn sale at my LYS. I think everything was 25% off. That is unbelievable. I kept trying to get my sister to go over there with me, but we were always so busy. She was in town for her 10th high school reunion so we were shopping and getting pedicures all the while preparing for the surprise party. Oh well it is probably better I didn't go because I am BROKE!! So bad, I have no money. None! And planning a wedding and fronting money for my brother and sister for the b-day party has me strapped. Oh and only working half a month so I could go to Alaska did not help my financial status at all. So while I would have loved (LOVED) to get some yarn on sale, I don't really need it because of the 20 projects I already have going, my semi-huge stash (I just went from one large tuperware container to two) and the overwhelming I Do. I am good for awhile.

Oh but to have some new yarn. Actually I just got a catalogue from knitpicks and want to buy and make so many of the cute things in there. The prices are just too affordable, it makes it too easy.

Argh.

Well on with the pictures to update I Do


Insert Wedding March here. It's I Do


This view shows how long it is.


Another View of I Do.


It is hard to set a caption for this many pictures of the same thing!! Here is I Do, one more time

My new shoes! SO CUTE! They gave me HUGE blisters on Wed. but I still love them.  

I Do

Here is what I have done so far on I Do. It doesn't look like much, but I've been working on it for what seems like non-stop for three days now. My hands ache so bad. The first round was miserable because I always cast on pretty tight and the first round is not so fun for me when it is normal. BUt on this beauty it is purl 2 tog, yarn over all the way around. That almost killed me and I did not know if I would be able to continue. But now I have completed the first 36 rounds and am so excited to be well on the way (okay, barely on the way, but moving in the right direction). So this really is for my wedding and the color is so ORANGE. But I love orange (sorry Tara, I know it was your fave first!) The orange looks amazing with Kyle's green shirt. Yes green! He will also be wearing shorts. Asking him to wear pants just seems wrong, all Kyle would wear if he could is shorts! And if my wedding is anything, it should be people the way they like to be. (Uh-Oh - does that mean you (Tara) will want to wear a different dress? You can if you'd like).

Well, between school, work, knitting this, knitting everything else I knit at the same time, planning the wedding, blogging, watching movies and semi-studying, I have NO TIME for anything else! What should I give up??


Progress on I Do



Pulling on it to show the lace work.

I DO!! On the arm.

Felted Slippers are done!!

They're Done!!



Finished Felted Slipper



Finished Felted Slippers (Why are knees so ugly??)

How fantastic, here are the final pictures of the felted slippers. It was cooler today, lower then 100 degrees, so I was able to try them on without dying from unbearable heat!! But what I really want to know is what is up with my knees. I think they may be one of the ugliest body parts. They are so wrinkly and bumpy. Anyways, no one would have looked at them but now everyone will be examining them and commenting on how ugly they really are. Well... Yours are ugly too!!

Kyle's Needle Felted Snail

Kyle was very interested in me putting the finishing touches on my cat, so I asked if he wanted to make one. He said yes and thought he could make a snail with what fiber I had left over from the cat. It turned out great, he spent a lot of time on little details. I don't think I have the patience for what he did, but then he does bonsai which is about the longest time spanning hobby ever. So here is what he did...


Snail in progress


Kyle's Completed Snail

Needle Felted Cat

I took a needle felting class last week on Tuesday and this is my end product. It is going to be a birthday gift, I won't say who, I don't want to spoil the surprise. It was pretty fun, but I don't know if I will continue to make things through this method. I like felting knitted stuff, but this is a lot like sculpture and I pretty much suck at that kind of stuff. But is was fun and I'm glad I did it.

Completed Cat 1


Completed Cat 2


Flat Cat


Cat in progress

Other projects I am working on...

I Do from knitty. I have been swatching like crazy to find a yarn substitute. I have some light creamy orange yarn (I have no idea what it is) that I bought from Webs (a cone of it) a long time ago. It turned out to be a much thinner yarn than I expected (like a fingering or sport weight). But the orange color is nice and would go good with Kyle's shirt (green). I am trying to make sure the wedding stays casual. Otherwise I am thinking about buying some white wool from Knitpicks to make it. Speaking of weddings, can I register for yarn as wedding gifts?? THat would be ideal. Kyle doesn't need anything, or he can register for a new bass or something that he needs/wants.

I just want to say one more thing today...


I LOVE THREE DAY WEEKENDS!!