2.25.2010

A tale of two shrugs and other stuff.

2 shrugs
This may be the first time where I have knit the same thing twice (socks excluded). And it wasn't terrible! These shrugs, DROPS design #98-47 are quite cozy and warm. I know I have some wool that would be great - I held the yarn doubled and that took 3 skeins of yarn. Being sample knits for Romney Ridge Farm, I used their yarn, and the hanks are around 200 - 225 yards each.

Whatchadoin?
(Jackson totally thought that my sitting on the floor waiting for the camera self-timer to go off was an invitation for him to snuggle on my lap.)

Red Shrug
Red Shrug

I think I have rediscovered a love for garter stitch. It's squishy and easy and you have got to love the texture!
Texture

Texture Close Ups
Even picking up the edging wasn't too bad. I will say that working for several hours with doubled yarn and US17 needles made my hands ache a bit. Worth it though. When I needed a break from that I have been working on a test knit - Caitlin's Cardi - for me, in Schaefer Yarn, Miss Priss, Thistle colorway.
Caitlin Test Cardi
Love one-piece (or, mostly one-piece / minimal seaming) sweaters, but the downside is that there are a lot of stitches. I feel like on the patterned rows it takes me an awful long time to knit across. I'm maybe 7 inches or so up the body - it's coming. With the shrugs done (deadline knitting) I have a bit more flexibility in my knitting schedule.

It is nice to have not just one, but two finished objects so quickly. And these are two of my Ravelympics events, though I've watched very little of the Olympics. I've been feeling a bit "meh" lately - I'm waiting on some leads, watching "Hoarders" and "How Clean is Your House" doesn't make me feel any better, the weather has been icky, Lorelai has been going through some HUGE developmental milestones that are exhausting to me (she's talking in near full sentences, with memory recall, and detail, and we're working on potty training.) and then my notions bag busted!

Busted Notions bag
The zipper pull came off the zipper-thingy. I had to cut into the bag to get at my notions (I credit my years on the high school costume crew for my abilities with a seam ripper)! I'm hoping I can salvage the fabric in some way, but I'm not sure.
Busted Notions bag

On the plus side, I do have a brand new notions bag. A fellow blogger, Samantha started selling project bags that she made on etsy. I thought they were great and left her a comment that I would love a dachshund fabric bag - well, she came through and it is fantastic! Then she let me know she had more dachshund fabric and would I be interested in it or another style? I said yes right away and we discussed the idea of a notions bag. Perfect timing, who knew?
Dachshund & Dachshund bags
There's a sweater in progress in the bag on the right, and I'll be filling up the notions bag ASAP!

Once I'm done asking Jackson to model.
Is it a hat?

4 comments:

sara said...

I love Caitlin's Cardi and I hope it will become available to the public. Jackson is a great model. I love how homey he made the shrug model shot look.

Ibunnysavetroy said...

thanks for the shout out (more like a blog out)! I love the pictures of jackson, I understand now why you want bags with mini him on it! He's too cute.

The Sweatshop of Love said...

Your progress looks awesome! I know it is a ton of stitches but I know I'd much rather deal with a ton of stitches than a ton of seaming!

Crochetlocket said...

hey! grab another zipper at joanns and just sew it in replace of the other one!! ;o) You can even do it by hand, rather than working with the zipper foot of the machine!!! go for it!!!!!!

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