Wishful Knitting

Well, it was fun while it lasted! I got sooooo many little projects finished in anticipation of the Ravelympics.....but, well, I am out. I will admit defeat in the boards on Ravelry today : ( I will definitely try again next year, but the sweater of choice didn't get out of the starting block, so to speak. Here's how it's coming along: During the peri-olympic time frame, we took a 4 day trip to Dublin, my daughter lost her first tooth, and I had to finish 20 hours of Continuing Education. The trip was fun, and Dublin was lovely, but I got zero knitting completed. My daughter lost her first tooth on Valentines day- which means she REALLY wanted, and has been patiently waiting for her tooth pillow- how long can I make her wait???!!!! The CE is self-explanatory- can't knit and read very well! So, that's how the odds stacked up- not looking good. For the actual sweater- my very generous and thoughtful Mom gave me some Malabrigo Merino a little while ago. It is luscious...

The Ravelympics (trying to knit a sweater in 2 weeks, which starts at 3 am local time tonight) has spurred me to finish off several long-languishing projects and to tie up some loose ends, if you will : ) It has been my goal to make a garment for my nephew. There have been a couple of hats, but I wanted something more substantial for him. I don't know if the little fellow was ever able to wear the baby bunting I made for him- his size was a little "healthier" than I had anticipated, so if it fit at all, it was probably for about 10 minutes. Enter the cabled vest: Moose seemed like a good model- I don't care for those pictures with creepy-looking dolls in them. The cables seem to allow for more stretch in the middle- just where a little one might need it if he had a bit of a Buddha belly... The pattern is on the PurlSoho blog , and it is VERY well-written. I don't think I have ever knit such a thorough pattern before. It knitted up pretty quickly. I learned a new t...

I made these back in October- and the girls loved them. The pattern is excellent and I love the way they turned out. The first one I made, I added more stitches because I was concerned it would be too tight for H. The rim of the hat seems less forgiving after you attach the leaf section. So, in my infinite wisdom (!) the hat turned out to be much too big. So, I sent it to the Great Pumpkin in Ohio! (Nannio- you know who you are!) As she loves all things Halloween, this probably fit right into her repertoire....although I am still waiting for a photo! I definitely recommend this pattern- it's clever in the increases and how the leaves are attached. Details: Yarn: Italian market variety- 70% wool, 30% acrylic. Size: large Needles: size 7 Pattern: Patrick's Pumpkin Hat I see I should block them to make the leaves stand up, but they didn't care and wanted to wear them right away- cant' argue with that : ) Ravelry link

Come and join the craziness : ) The challenge is to knit a project during the Olympics. We cast on during opening ceremonies...which is posted as 3 am in Italy, but I need to double check that. Then you have 2 weeks to finish the project. I have been yearning to knit my Malabrigo from Nannio for a while now, and I have decided to jump right in. I will attempt to make this cardigan: February Lady Sweater . I oscillate between feeling confident I can knit a Lacy sweater in 2 weeks and feeling like it's mission impossible.....

This cardigan has been giving me GRIEF! (The alternate title to this post could be "Never knit any project that promises to be simple, fast, or quick.") In the beginning, I let H pick out the colors...I am not crazy about the very pale rose, but, it was her choice. When reading about the pattern, several folks said the sleeves ran small- so I increased the size and knit along happily. Alas, it was too small, and a sleeve with no ease looks ridiculous! By then, I had also finished the yoke because at this point I was excited about doing some color work. I liked this initial arrangement of colors on the yoke, but did I write down the sequence? Heavens no! Why, I was going to remember it, of course! Friends and dear ones tried to convince me to finish it up at this point and give it to my younger daughter- the sleeves would fit. I thought I could, but in the end, I wanted to fix it. Ribbit Ribbit Ribbit........the first of many dips in the frog pond. Then, I re-knit the sleeves ...