She's got good taste in yarn

Thanks to my readers for the helpful comments in my last posting. I'm looking forward to checking out Rhonda's next class in February!

I decided with the holidays coming up, that one "palette cleanser" project was not enough. I used a gift certificate DH gave me last year to buy this book (I now have the complete set!), and started a lace scarf project. It's knitting up fast, since it is sport weight alpaca (frog tree, becoming a new fave for me), and I'm using size 8 needles. Instant gratification, people.

Speaking of yarn. I think we all know that Patches has a taste for the stuff. DH awoke early one morning recently, and went downstairs to make the horrifying discovery that Patches had broken into my good yarn basket. He found two intact balls of frog tree alpaca under the kitchen table, and the entrails of my really nice (green colorway) Malabrigo wool spewed throughout the first floor.

Its very upsetting to think she was probably planning it for weeks. BAD KITTY!

Palette cleanser

Well, I finished the sweater. I tried it on, and I kind of like it, but it is just a little bit too short, and just a little bit too boxy in the shoulders for my taste. I'll give it some time, but I'm afraid what we have on our hands is yet another sweater I don't want to wear!

UGH!

I finally used a gift certificate DH gave me for Valentine's, and while I'm waiting for this to arrive, I thought I'd treat myself to a palette cleanser, if you will.

I picked this embroidery up...



Eventually, it should look something like this....


Are you stressed? About the economy? Patches wants you to stop being stressed.



She thinks you should go take a nap. Right nowwwwwwwwwwww....

Almost

I can't believe it. I'm almost done with Sweater Number Two. It just needs the ribbon at the top of the neck, and a little final blocking, and it'll be ready to go.

The ripping out of things and frogging was definitely worth it. The seams are much better executed, and I think I got a higher quality result by doing things the "right" way.

The sleeves were pretty tricky. I ended up using a mattress seam to sew them in, as the technique the pattern recommended was a bit tricky.

Despite all my grumbling, I think I might tackle my third consecutive kid silk haze sweater, as my next project. I'm contemplating knitting this in KSH.

Progress

Sorry for my long absence! My blog has definitely been increasingly neglected. However, my plants and sweater have not!

Check out my dwarf banana tree. Yes! It actually produces edible bananas, like the ones you get in the grocery store, only half the size.



My dwarf fern tree lends a tropical feel to the abode:



I've made significant progress with the sweater. After ripping out the shoulder and side seams, and frogging out the neck, things are beginning to look up. I taught myself how to do the the three needle bind off, and the matress stitch seam technique. The difference in the quality of the seams is significant. I have seen the light. I was worried the sweater would be too small, but it seems to fit better now. Although, you can see from this photo that it is desgned to hit very high on the waist.