I've made a sweater

My sweater is finally finished.... Pictures were a little slow in coming, but you get a ton of them. It is stretching out, and curling too much, I need to block it still and maybe it'll help.






Also whipped up a DROPS headband in Alaska which I am going to give to my friend Julia for our Christmas gift exchange. It was a really easy knit that I finished in one night, and is pretty cute. I will probably make one for myself soon...

More Christmas Knits

A few of the smaller items I made for Christmas gifts...

Top: Mistake Rib Scarf for my dad, made with Paton's Classic Merino Wool.

Middle: Utopia Hat for my friend Mary, made with Classic Elite Renissance and a little of the Patons. I absolutely love how this turned out and I know Mary will love it too.

Bottom: Wisp Scarf for Jamie, made with Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I didn't put the buttons on it because I didn't think you would wear it like a caplet. I really love how this turned out, too. I think it will actually be pretty warm. I just love how mohair looks.

Peaks N' Valleys

Sock number 1 for my Mom. Lace pattern "Peaks and Valleys". Knitted with hand-dyed fingering weight yarn my Mom and I dyed last year at Christmas time. Time to start number 2! I always have SSS pretty bad, but I'm motivated to finish this before we get home in two weeks. I think I can do it!

Lace Leaf Pullover

Pattern: Lace Leaf Pullover by Teva Durham

Source: Loop-d-Loop

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky (6 skeins)

Needle: US 13

This was the first Christmas project that I completed. It is supposed to be knit in two pieces in the round... knit the bottom half and then the top half and then graft them together. This is because there is supposed to be a leaf motif near the bottom of the sweater and you knit it this way to keep both of the leaf motifs pointing toward the middle of the sweater. Well, I tried this, but my grafting looked like crap, so I decided to just leave off the leaves on the bottom and knit it in one piece. It is a bit short, so I am going to make it longer for Molly, but otherwise I am very happy with it. I hope Molly likes it as much as I do!

There are lots more Christmas knits, but I will do them one at a time so its not too much of an overload...

Another Knit Along!

Merry Christmas, Jamie! We hope you had a wonderful, snowy Christmas. Ours was wonderful, but not nearly snowy enough (in my opinion, anyway).

We were talking about doing another knit-along and wanted to see if you are interested in joining...

This time we want to make a sweater, the Tree Jacket, from Zephyr Style. Its not a jacket at all, its a really cute top-down sweater knit with worsted weight yarn. I already have yarn at home that I am planning on using... either a brown tweed that I just got or else dark red Cascade 220... I'm not sure yet.
It should be a fun sweater, and fairly easy. We hope you'll join us... the last knit along was really fun!

We're planning a big photo shoot today with all of our Christmas knits, so be ready for lots of pictures 'here soon'.

Jill & Molly.

Where Did My MoJo GoGo?

So, 4 days until Christmas. I have two projects to finish up. Well, one really hasn't even been started, but I won't think about that... And my knitting mojo is gone. I have not picked up the needles all week. Not even at the Cast Aways meeting last night. Uh oh. It all has to do with the fact that I have a deadline, and *must* finish these things, so I just don't want to. I usually don't force myself to knit if I don't want to. Its supposed to be fun, right? But, these circumstances are different. So, I am hoping that I run across some mojo somewhere between Alabama and Wisconsin (and preferably closer to Alabama) tomorrow.

I have been doing a lot of kinda fancy stuff lately and all I am interested in right now is mindless stockinette. Thats what I want. All I can think about is casting on for some plain old stockinette socks, but I haven't, trying to tell myself... if you just finish this one thing, then you can do whatever you want! It isn't working. Instead I just pet my yarn. Petting my yarn is one of my most favorite things to do. I love yarn.

And speaking of yarn, I have entered all my stashed yarn on Ravelry, and once you do that, you can download that into an excel file and calculate how many yards of yarn you have.... uh, my number is close to 20,000 yards. This is getting out of hand. I have been trying so hard to knit only from my stash, but with the holidays, I had to buy some yarn, and then Yarn Expressions had a really awsome sale where I got a whole bag of Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed for 60% off. I just couldn't pass it up! And then I lose my knitting mojo...

Merry Christmas, Jamie!
Molly, I'll see you tomorrow!!!!

Keeping People's Dishes Clean Since December '07

I absolutely cannot believe that it is the middle of December already. The weather here has finally cooled down a bit, but it still doesn't feel like winter. I have been working on finishing up my Christmas gifts, so there isn't much to post because they're SECRETS! However, I made a couple dishcloths to add to gifts. I love these things... they are the best dishcloths ever. I found a bag of kitchen cotton at the thrift store a while back, so I have lots of colors to choose from when I make these.

Last Thursday at knitting, Cheryl gave us all awesome Christmas presents. She dyes yarn & she dyed each of us our own special colorway. She had written words to describe us on little tags that she read aloud and we had to guess who she was describing. It was so sweet, and I love my colorway - its so me! However, she did forget to write 'bossy' on my tag...

Keepin Folks' Heads Warm Since December '07

The first hat was supposed to be for my friend Dave but it turned out a little tight, so I'm going to give it to my friend Joelle for Christmas. The second one is my second attempt, and it's for Dave. Both original patterns, and my first time with cables, so I'm pretty dang satisfied! The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy. A hat like that for $2.71? Not bad!!






Also a sweater update... I am soooo close. But with a calc final Friday, I probably won't finish until the weekend. Also notice the sweater is displayed on none other than.... my beloved blanket that I FINALLY got returned to me last weekend, with a nasty note, after three months of trying to get it back, after giving it to Brian the DAY he stopped talking to me/answering calls/ and went back to his exgirlfriend who he now lives with after moving to Chicago and moving back again three weeks later, (that's the short story, Jaime, if you haven't heard). Oy. It's super warm and cozy though. I'm so glad I got it back; isn't it beautiful?


Anyway, with the sweater, do you know if I block it if it will keep the bottom and the neckline from curling? If so, do i necessarily have to pin it down to something or can i just shape it and hope it stays? I don't have an ironing board.

First Snow!

Hey girls.

Well, it happened. Finally. After a questionable year of snow last year and drought for the summer......we....got.....24 inches! I realize this is a shot in the bucket for you two Great-Lakers, but for a Mountain state girl like me, to get 24 inches of snow that actually sticks for 4 months is a pretty big deal.

We had two good days of skiing, and wanted to go back Monday but could barely walk. So we rested and I finished knitting these hats for Kane's sister. She lives in Vermont and it's been ~10 degrees over the last few weeks or so. Again, I know, normal winter weather for you 'Sconsin girls....but it's a big shock for her.



More malabrigo worsted....this stuff is like crack! The same pattern, too. I pretty much have the recipe memorized now.

Hope you both are doing well. And Jill, I meant to tell you that Kane and I thought the freestyle gingerbread looks just like the cabin we want to live in some day!

Retractable Roof ?

The Gingerbread Party was a success.... lots of sugar (including a yummy chiffon pumpkin pie my friend Katie made), potent drinks (homemade eggnogg from Joel and chocolate peppermint martinis), sheep (there happened to be a live nativity scene a the church down the street and they had live sheep!), Chrismas music, and lots of laughter and conversation. We made approximately 5 gingerbread houses. I say approximately because we made three from kits, one of which fell apart, and two other freestyle ones. The one above is the one that Michelle and I made. The one on the left has " stained glass skylights" (i.e., melted jolly ranchers) and also ended up having a "retractable roof" (i.e., the roof fell off in the end, and after that happened, the structure pretty much collapsed). The last one, I'm sure you can tell, was a freestyle one... complete with mailbox! Anyway, we had a good time figuring out how to make these things work!

And now for the knitting content:

I finished my Carolyn cardigan over a week ago, but didn't ever have time to block it or take good pictures. I finally got to blocking it last night, but it will take a while to dry because it is 75 degrees (!) out and really humid. Where is winter? I am wearing a t-shirt and flip flops today!

I also used up all the yarn that I had for my blanket. I had to order some more today... I just need one more square and then yarn to put it together and for the border. I also blocked the squares because they were very lumpy. So are knits everywhere in my house right now. I am really loving how the squares turned out. It is going to be hard to give it away, but I think the recipients will really appreciate it.

Happy Friday!

Its finally Friday! Its been a long week, ya'll. I finally got my paper finished, and I am on my way to getting published. YEA! I have had a great week, actually... lots of progress made. I have a new found love for my apartment and in particular, my bed. I have taken to waking up, letting Frazier out, peeing, making some coffee, and crawling back in bed with my computer. It has proven to be a very productive format for me... lots of squishy pillows, flannel sheets, fluffy down comforter... and the lack of internet really does wonders for my work ethic!

Rachel & Matt are getting married in January and I have started making a blanket for their wedding gift... I am crocheting it. Crocheting is so much faster than knitting, let me tell you! It is going to be made up of a bunch of crocheted squares that I will then sew together for blanket. I had a bunch of Mission Falls 1824 Wool in a variety of colors that are working perfect. I think this is going to be hard to give away. I am excited about the wedding - I think it will be lots of fun. I am going with Michelle & Joel and Lisa & Federico. No date for me because I didn't get an invite for a guest, but my friend Cheryl has hooked me up with this to-die-for gorgeous black vintage dress that I'm going to wear. I should be able to snag a groomsman with that, don't you think?

This weekend the knitting club girls & I are sponsoring a Gingerbread House Making Party. It has turned into a big thing - I think there are going to be sixteen people there! Who knew so many people got excited about making gingerbread houses? I'll take lots of pictures to show you next week.

Have a fantastic weekend!

SNOW!!

Here is my end of the week update... First, 6 inches of snow! It makes things sooo difficult, especially getting places....I really hate winter, even if it is "pretty."


The street in front of my house


Then, a sweater update....so close...


Next, knit out of necessity: a neck warmer for biking that goes halfway up my head. Only problem, is it is a wee bit tight. When i take it off my head, I've always got a moment of panic (see photo) when I don't think it's going to come off at all. But it does, and it does the job.




Next is a black tank top that I had gotten bleach right on the boob and it turned red. I found some bleach in my house and decided to continue the pattern throughout... and here's how it turned out. Pretty cool, huh? Just like in the stores....

Inspiration

The weekend before Thanksgiving my friend Cheryl, who has an online vintage store, was part of a big vintage market in Chattanooga. Michelle and I went for the day to check it out. I looked at lots of stuff, but somehow managed to buy only one thing: a button! It was almost overwhelming, all the vintagey goodness. Anyway, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to wear an amazing vintage sweater that I recently was given. It is a fair isle sweater that my grandmother knit for my mom about 50 years ago. I have had it for about a year now; it has been sitting on the shelf in my closet, I take it out once in a while to admire it, but I had never worn it. Vintage Chattanooga was the perfect place for its debute.

The sweater is a wool cardigan with five colors: cream, brown, green, rust, and yellow. There is a fair isle design on both the front and the back, the design on the back is simpler than the one on the front, but still beautiful. I have always thought it was amazing... but once I started looking at it closer, I saw all the intricate details that my grandma included. The finishing on this sweater is amazing - you can tell that she was a perfectionist. There is grosgrain lining on both sides of the button band and all of the button holes are finished with thread. The buttons themselves are beautiful, nothing that could be found in a store these days. The seams are all perfect, and she even put seam binding on the shoulder seams to prevent them from stretching. I posted more pictures on my flickr account, if you're interested.

I am finishing up a cardigan of my own, the Carolyn Cardigan from Knitty, and my grandma's work inspired me to take more care in finishing the sweater. It won't be as grand as her sweater, but it will be wearable. I finally learned how to do the mattress stitch (using this tutorial) for seaming. I don't know why I was so scared of it... it really wasn't that difficult once I figured it out. And it really works wonderfully. The first few seams weren't the best, but once I got better at it, I could hardly tell where the seam was!

I am almost finished with it... I had a hard time finding large wood buttons, but finally I found some at Walmart (!). They only had five and I needed seven, so I will have to go to another one today to see if I can find two more (There are 5, yes 5, Walmarts in the Huntsville area!). But, the neck/collar is really wide and I don't like it... so I think that I might take it out and try to make it smaller and more fitted. I'm not sure how to do that, but I'll try to figure it out. If I do that, I think that I might just put 5 buttons on the sweater instead of the seven the pattern calls for. It doesn't really need seven buttons anyway. This sweater has taken me almost 6 months to complete. I knit the first sleeve three times before it came out the way I wanted it. And now I might redo the collar... but I think that it will be a really great, wearable sweater, so its worth it. And Grandma has taught me that its the little things that count. Even if no one will notice them but me and her :)

Thanks, Grandma.

My first sweater....

The pic I've been waiting to post for a long time. It's the Venus pattern by Kate Jackson, with some kind of Noro yarn that has been discontinued. I casted on more stitches for the arms because the gauge was way off and I didn't want short sleeves. It's pretty soft, the yarn has some bunny fur in it. I hope it doesn't look like a Cosby sweater.

It looks like you guys had a nice Thanksgiving day. We did too. We had some new friends over to eat, drink wine and talk. It wasn't the same as having family, but still very nice.

The sweater was completed last night during the annual viewing event of ASPEN EXTREME. We're definitely ready to ski now. Heavenly is blowing snow right now and we're thinking a snowstorm is on the way (possibly) Monday/Tuesday.

Hope you girls are awesome. Hugs!

This year's Thanksgiving involved...

Originally uploaded by wickjill

two of my favorite past times: Knitting and stuffing my face. Yum.

Thanksgiving in the Eastern Sierra

Happy Thanksgiving! Pics from our trip to Yosemite last weekend and knitting in one!
I made Kane's hat last year with fleece lining and I made mine this past weekend in the park.
I'm thankful that both of you are doing well and hope you both can come visit sometime.

Have a wonderful day full of thanks!

Hugs!!!

Legwarmers!

...that was quick....

A Package!!

I got a package!! Fun new yarn, which I will have to find a project for... don't worry. Thanks Jill!!
Other highlights of my weekend- starting a dozen new Christmas gift projects... baking for an excuse to have the oven on because it's cold in here!! Have you ever made mom's cornbread recipe? Delicious. And molasses cookies. Oh, and i got my hair cut again.