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Happy Easter Everyone!

Zen and minimalism

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum
Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn: Austermann Inka Color in Burgandy
Mods: I dismissed the ribbing around the bottom edge of the sweater and sleeves, as well as lengthened the arms. I ended up using the hourglass sleeve pattern to the sleeve cap, then the minimalist pattern from there on up. Not as kimono-y as I was thinking, but I really like how they turned out!

I wasn't sure if I'd quite hit zen with this sweater, but I wore it today and I LOVE it. It's warm (which is good) and snuggly (also good) and not nearly so itchy as I thought it'd be (very very good). I think I need to find a proper closure for it, then it will be all good. Closure is good for zen.

What to do now?

Believe it or not, there's nothing that I'm dying to knit at the moment. I started the Indigo Ripples skirt from IK in a nice springy pink, but it's a LOT of stockinette and there's nothing good on tv right now.

So instead I went to the fabric store and found some bad-ass 70s print stretch cotton twill that will become a nice spring/summer skirt. A *wee* bit heavy, but that's not entirely a bad thing considering how freaking high my office turns up the AC in the summer. What's this about saving the world? Greenhouse effect? Bah. Let's keep the office at 67 in the summer.

Despite my renewed love of 70s print cotton twill, I can't have only *ONE* project on the needles. As I perused Ravelry with my 2 year old niece (babysitting time), I managed to find my way to the pattern browser for toys, at which point Baillie started pointing at patterns saying "Ooo! Look at that! Auntie! I will knit this, you will knit this, I will knit this... "

So much for only one project on the needles. :D

The Yacht Club

Pattern: Drops 100-32 Short cardigan with ¾ sleeves knitted in moss sts
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Baby Silk
Needles: US 7
Mods: Many. Primarily for gauge, but overall I just loosely followed the pattern above and made the rest up as I went.

I do love this little sweater. It's going to be perfect for those little summer evening chills. I even found little flower buttons for it - they're so freakin cute that even my husband likes them. It needs to be washed and blocked, but I think this will become a summer favorite. I'm thinking of making one in black... though perhaps with proper gauge this time. Not only was I translating between centimeters and inches the whole time, I was also trying to adjust for my gauge, which was way off. In the end, though, I'm happy. Quick knit too!

As for Glee - well, I'm sad to say that I think Glee will have to be completely frogged and restarted. I finished it to just below the bust and finished the sleeves to try it on... no dice. It's tight across the neck (which is a deal-breaker) and it's a bit stretched and tight across the shoulders. So it's going to go into the "redo" pile. It will eventually be an adorable little cream colored top, just not right now.

Which leaves me time to work on my minimalist cardigan! I have slated time tomorrow to work through the sleeve pattern and try to figure out what I want to do. I'm leaning towards the "kimono" look - loose and floppy - though not too loose and floppy. Like the hourglass sleeves. What do you think?

Soooo.....

The fabulous thing about knitting entirely from my stash is that I feel absolutely no guilt when buying knitting accessories. For example - the spring 2008 IK? Yup. Bought that with no problem. Need size 7 dpns? No sweat. Buttons? Hey - splurge a little and buy the glass ones.

I am DEFINITELY a fan of this. I wonder if I can find yarn gnomes to keep me all stashed up?

Bah.

The cropped cardigan needs sleeves, but the main body is done. How freaking fast did this go! It's knitting up as fast or faster than my sad little minimalist cardigan - who at this moment is peeking out of my knitting bag sighing *sleeve me! sleeeeeeeeeve me!*

I shall be knitting nothing but sleeves for a week. THEN I will wear cardigans galore.

Aren't there drugs for that?

I appear to have the common but painful disease startitis. My Moss Stitch Cardigan sits sadly on the back of my chair, Glee stares mournfully out of my knitting bag as I cast on for yet another project.

Last summer I realized that I had not a single "daily-wear" dress in my wardrobe. No - they are all formal occasion/wear to wedding type dresses. Say what!? How could this be?! I don't know how it happened, but it did. And since this discovery, I have been determined to rectify the situation. So!

During the recent family visit, I was fortunate enough to purchase an Anthropologie dress on mad sale. I got a thumbs up from my husband (who's picky as hell), a thumbs up from the brother-in-law (also picky as hell) and the ever-important thumbs up from the sister-in-law (who has fabulous taste). So out came the checkbook, and out I walked with this little number. As I admired the lace sticking out of the bag, I realized that an adorable little dress needs an adorable little cropped cardigan for those potentially chilly spring/summer nights. Who could argue?

Ergo, I have cast on 100-32 Short Cardigan with the 3/4 sleeves.

Despite my poor, sad little already-started projects, this is somewhat of an occasion for me. The sweater is cropped (which I typically hate) and 3/4 sleeves (which I typically hate even more) but it's perfect for this dress.

And so I embark on a new clothing experience.

Although I did finish knitting SOMETHING.
Booties for baby B. Knit whilst watching Blades of Glory and trying not to laugh beer out my nose (this is a very painful experience. avoid it if you can).

Where's Waldo?

Bwa ha HA. Do you see me? Lookit lookit... there I am!


Dave's brother and his wife are in town and so we took a holiday to go ski. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was gorgeous... sunny, warm but not too warm, and we had nice fluffy snow to ski on. Plus - no lift lines, the chutes were open (as you can see from the photo above) and my darling husband finally caved as I egged him on to do crazy and ridiculous things. On this particular jump he was a little wobbly mid-air, but he stuck the landing beautifully! On another jump he got about four or five feet up, totally biffed the landing, and some teenage snowboarder came up behind us saying "Dude - are you alright? That was GNARLY!"

I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.

One more gratifying picture (the camera was somewhere down by his knees to get this shot... nice and steep. MMMMM)

And now on to knitting!

My friend Gena is having a baby soon. For her baby shower I figured I'd try my hand at baby knits. The result? They ROCK. So quick! So freakin CUTE! I will knit many more baby things in the near future. I love them. Love love love love love. Next I think I will try booties. Maybe a cap. Maybe other yummy patterns I happen to find. Even better... they don't take up super lots of yarn... so all those orphan skeins I have in my stash? Yeah. Baby items. Fortunately, I know plenty of people who are having babies soon (my sister being on of them) so I have much fodder for cute baby knitting. YAY!

Finally!

A nice sunny day with husband home and no pressing business. May I present:

Pattern: Perfect Turtleneck by Paton's
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in a cream color
Needles: US 10
Mods: Obviously there are no sleeves and the turtleneck is not so turtle-y. I knit the main body mostly to pattern. For the arm area I picked up about 80 some odd stitches and did a k2p2 for edging. The turtleneck is also to pattern, just made shorter.

I *LOVE* this yarn. It is soft and squishy and super warm. Once spring hits this is going to be a big time addition to my wardrobe.


The minimalist cardigan is coming along. The body is done... I'm just trying to sort through how I want to do the sleeves. I've got super long monkey arms and I've spent most of my life with sleeves too short. So I prefer full length sleeves, if I can get them.

Once I sort through the sleeve pattern, the minimalist cardi will probably be done in short order. I can 't believe how fast of a knit this is - particularly since this moss stitch seems to go SO SLOW. But whiz-bang, you've suddenly got the front panel, and whiz-bang, there's the back. So far I've spent maybe four evenings of knitting! A sweater in a week? Not bad. Not bad at all.

:D