Sunday, April 15, 2007

She did it! she did it!

"She said that she would do and indeed she did!" (refrains from My Fair Lady) I finished my Dale St Moritz .. only need to block, weave in the ends - and insert a shock cord (if someone convinces me I need one)..

Just finished it a half hour ago. The collar took forever.. 4 3/8 inch of ribbing which you fold over and tack down.

Here is the final product - not the best photo but I will take a better one (with me in it) once it is blocked (someday in the distant future):



And here are some details from the front:



And more from the back:



Thanks to everyone who encouraged me through my moods to toss it aside. The only change I made to the pattern was to shorten the sleeves 1 inch. I'm petite and I knew I would drown in them if I didn't.

Now - as much as I enjoyed it I don't think I'm ready to dive into another Dale - my shortterm future is shown below as I did 5 repeats of my Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I will do another Dale someday. In fact - I have a Kashmir kit in magenta/rose which I adore - as well as Torino and the Foxes. Someday when I'm back into heavy wool winter mode.



But for now - I'm in lust with Victorian Lace Today. So many shawls to do!

Ricki

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Thank you Lucy Neatby!

I am a HUGE Lucy Neatby fan! I learned about her on the Yarn Harlot's blog and immediately bought her instructional DVD's. Ever since I have been using her 1 step bind off techniques where you don't need to pass one stitch over the other. But this AM - I used her provisional crochet cast-on method. Yowsa! So much easier than making a crocheted chain and hoping you are really working in the back bump.

Its hard to explain but here is a general photo. You wrap the yarn around the needle while you are making the chain and then - you just knit off the needle with your real yarn. This gal is so smart!



And here is the start of my Melon shawl from Victorian Lace Today - page 146. I'm using "melon" colorway of Sea Silk yarn. Yummy! Love the colors and the texture. This yarn is so soft. I was planning to use the "lily pond" colorway but last night half of one of the hanks got all tangled up on my swift when I was using my electric winder (and I thought the winder would SAVE me time). The rest of the yarn and the "melon" worked just fine. I was close to tossing out the rest of the hank but decided to wind the rest manually - took me 4 hrs today!. Anyway - by that time - I wasn't interested in working with it anymore.

So - I haven't done much yet but here is the start after one repeat - did I mention how much I love this yarn?


This will be a fun project. The pattern is symmetric so I don't have to keep going back to the chart every few stitches. I promise - Dalers - that I will finish St Moritz - when my light blue skein arrives! I promise. Of course- I'm not saying how soon that will be!

Have tomorrow off to get my car cleaned up enough to take it to the dealership to discuss a trade-in and financing. I already found a great loan from Roadloans but the dealer wants to try to do one better. I'm not that great at negotiations - but it feels good to have a loan in my pocket.

Snowing here in Denver.. not surprising - we had snow in June one year!
Ricki

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Running out of yarn!

I think the probability of making a mistake when finishing a sweater is inversely proportional to the amount of yarn you have left.

I was making great progress today! Tacked my facings down, sewed the steeks (and YES - it was a lot easier than my previous crocheted steek adventure), cut the steeks, seamed the shoulders and then my luck ran out. I started to seam one of the sleeves and when I finished - one section just looked awful. I should have just let it be. But not me - no siree! I thought I was snipping the seam yarn but soon realized it was the sleeve facing. And all my efforts failed to patch it up. SO - I unseamed it all and unraveled the sleeve past the point that got messed up.

But guess what.. no more light blue yarn. I dont have a clue how I went through all the light blue yarn. I went thru my stash with no success - so I just ordered one skein on the Internet. In the meantime - I am taking a break on St Moritz. I think it needs one from me too! Some days its better not to knit!

Tomorrow is another day and a new pattern! Plan to do the melon shawl in Victorian Lace Today.. using Sea Silk in either melon or lily pond. Haven't decided yet!

Ricki

Sunday, April 1, 2007

The Joys of Home Ownership!

I'm not going to bore you with another photo of sleeve 2. Guess what - it looks just like sleeve 1!! I'm on row 68 out of 75 and then I do a fold line and a bunch of purl rows.

I would have finished it by now but "nature calls". That doesn't have anything to do with my bathroom habits - but its my garden. I have a huge backyard which needs a lot of work every spring. This AM - I bought 6 big bags of mulch - and spent a couple of hours pulling out the weeds (aka grass) that I didnt' bother pulling last fall I applied half the mulch and will do my other flower beds next week. Then I have to fertilize everything. Sigh. My oldest sister is a big garden afficionado - I used to love it too but lately - with so little time to knit at work - I resent that it gets in the way of my first love.

So that's my excuse this week. That plus working thru 3 out of 5 lunch breaks last week. Its so hard to take a break when I'm not going to make a deadline. On the other hand - when the deadlines become unrealistic - why bother killing myself to make them.

Did anyone see "Elvis" last night on Showtime? Its the same guy who is playing Henry VII on the new Showtime "The Tudors" series that starts tonight - Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Wow - is he gorgeous and he was "Elvis" in the movie. I enjoyed it last night and plan to DVR "The Tudors" starting tonight.

And so it continues.. I will get the sleeve done this week - and then the question is - do I have to dedication to do all the finishing. You see - as The Yarn Harlot says in her latest book (which I notice has MY St Moritz sweater on the cover) - there are two kinds of knitters - process and product. I am definitely a process knitter - I love the movements - the feel of the yarn - and creating a finished product that I can wear is not a high priority. Its something that just gets in the way of my being able to knit again. And please don't tell me to do both at the same time. I don't have enough time to do one of them!

Have a great week!
Ricki