Monday, January 04, 2010

A New Year - New Beginnings

I never actually finished my Christmas knitting.

While my older daughter got a little knitted elephant (Elijah by Ysolde Teague) in her stocking, the younger daughter only got a skein of yarn and a pattern (Sophie by Ysolde Teague). The patterns are a joy to make. Well written and clear and you fill them up as you go so there is not a lot of finishing to do in the end.




They are both knitted out of Louet Gems Sport wt. yarn. This yarn is a pure pleasure to knit. Elijah (renamed Ellie) is knit out of a colorway called 'Cloud Grey', while Sophie is being knit out of a hideously pink color aptly named 'Pink Panther'. I love my daughter so much, I'm willing to handle this horribly pink yarn long enought to knit the thing :)

The gray yarn I purchased from a fellow Raveller (from Ravelry.com). It was marked 'For sale or trade' and I recommend you to look at Ravelry stashes for yarn. The yarn is both economical (compared to buying on-line, or even at a LYS) and since I don't have a lot of yarn shops near by and the ones that are here are not very big. Therefore this is especially nice for me to get yarn I would have to order anyways. Of course you are not guarantied exactly what you want and in the quantities you want, but this is a good place to look. I didn't find a skein of a pink yarn, but instead my LYS owner got the pink yarn from another yarn store for me. They sell yarn for each other if a customer is looking for something they don't stock, sort of a co-op.

The other Christmas present I'm not done with it a pair of mittens. They are knit on 2mm (US0) needles and somehow I managed to lose the needles, all 5 of them! I have no idea how I did it.

Sophie is also on hold right now because I also managed to lose my little red purse with knitting knit-knacks, including my tapestry needles. I need a needle to finish off the body of Sophie so I can start the legs.

Beside UFOs, I have one other project on the go. I had a big report to finish before the end of the year and I was working long hours, especially in the end. I ended up finishing it and sending it out on Dec.31st. As a reward for a job well done (or at least for a job finished in time ;) I cast on that evening a sweater for me.

I heard about this sweater from Jessica, a knitting friend of mine. She mentioned it on her blog, provided a link and I was enchanted. It is called February Fitted Pullover and is a version of the famous February Lady Sweater, which in return is a grown-up version of an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern for babies.

I got the yarn for the February Lady Sweater last spring, with the best intentions to knit it. It never even came close to my needles but when I saw the new version, I was smitten.



Taking a cue from another fellow Wednesday Library knitter, Stephanie. I started knitting a sleeve as a huge swatch. The gauge is measured in a blocked piece, so I wet-blocked the sleeve (still on the needles, a circular) and measured it. It had 15 sts per 4 inches instead of 17. I decided to rip it back and start over on smaller needles (4mm instead of 4.5mm - US6 and 7 or 7 and 8, not sure). The picture is off the sleeve as it is now, started over on the smaller needle.

I've been wanting to knit more wearable items for me. I think that's the big knitting emphasis I'm bringing into the new year. Hopefully, a year from now I will boast a few sweaters, cardigans and such that I can wear.

2 comments:

Harpa Jónsdóttir said...

Gleðilegt ár!
Mér líst vel á að þú prjónir eitthvað handa ÞÉR! Ég er núna að prjóna peysu handa mér aldrei þessu vant...

Sigurlaug said...

Rosalega er þetta sætur fíll! Verst hvað pundið er dýrt hér um þessar mundir. Já, prjónaðu nú e-ð á þig. Ég fitjaði einmitt upp á sjali á mig um jólin, fékk dokku í jólagjöf. Og gleðiðlegt ár:-)