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.

If its worth doing, its worth doing right...

After much soul searching, and consulting with the knitting expertise of MamaBee, I've decided to rip out the neck AND the shoulder seams, and try this over again. Instead of doing a matress stitch seam for the shoulders, I will do a three needle bind off. And I'm going to alter the neckband instructions a little.

It's not going to be fun. Ripping out stitches in kid silk haze is like pulling yarn off of velcro.

But its the mature thing to do.

Here's some before photos:

Almost done!

I'll try to post some photos tonite, but I am ALMOST done with "sweater number two". I seamed the shoulders, and started working on the neck band. I'm afraid to say I may have to rip the neck out and start over, having already done this once. I'm finding it difficult to cleanly pick up the stitches from the bound off edges around the neckline. It's making the neck look terribly sloppy.


Two frustrating things about knitting sweaters:

1. when they don't fit (I'm still holding my breath on this one - it seems a little small!)

2. when the pieces look nice, but your seaming and finishing doesn't.

sigh.

Sleeve

Ha! See what I'm capable of, when I really apply myself?



I've finished the first sleeve, and may be able to polish off the second one by early next week. Wouldn't tha' be somethin'.

Note to self: all future sweaters shall be short sleeve, not long sleeve!

Sweater Update

So, I HAVE in fact been knitting this summer. Just look! I'm almost done with the front of the sweater. Then its on to the (short) sleeves.



Today the new fall issue of Interweave Knits arrived. Sweet!

Hot in the city...

Hot in the city TONITE!

And yet, I'm contemplating doing a little more work on my knitting. I'm making good progress on the front section of the Maggie Sweater. I've completed the split/divided front opening, and now I work each section of the neck separately.




It was definitely a little cooler here in Salem than in Boston, but the heat finally caught up with us.

Ugh.

Hungry? You might enjoy this photo of the italian feast DH's great aunt prepared for us on our recent jaunt to DC. It was STUPENDOUS!

What have I been doing lately?

Sorry for my absence! I've been very busy at the new job (going well), and taking advantage of the warm weather to get a few things done around the garden.

Last sunday I began Rhonda's crochet class at my LYS. I never learned to crochet, and there have been many times I've chose not to work on a knitting pattern because it had crochet finishing. No more! We are working on a scarf that will have a wave pattern.



Lest you think I've been neglecting my knitting... I'm still plugging away at the
Maggie Sweather, aka "sweater number two". Here's a peek: