Three panels down, three more to go!

Hi girls.
Hope your weekend/week together was nice. We got a late-season snowstorm Friday which dropped ~7-8 inches of snow. It was beautiful. Because of this, we stayed close to home this weekend and packed (a little) for our upcoming trip. I mostly did a lot of knitting. I knit on the skirt Friday, and a hat for a friend on Saturday. Sunday we met Kane's family for dinner near Cumberland, MD for his birthday which is tomorrow.
I'll post more pictures of the skirt as I have them and will post a pic of the hat that was such a pain. I followed the pattern to the letter, did my decreases at 4" and it was entirely too short. It's for a friend we go skiing with every year. Last year in Telluride he asked if I could knit him a hat "sometime". Just so happens that sometime was 1 week before this year's trip to Park City!
Anyway, Molly hope your trip home is safe.



Kane's family after his birthday dinner. From left: Jessie (Carrie's girlfriend), Carrie (Kane's sister), me, Kane, and his parents.

Hope you have a good week! ~Jamie

Two down and I'm ready!

I am really impressed. You got a lot done in one night, and it looks really nice! I can't wait to get started on mine - I've only got the first four knit rows done right now. However, I finished my socks last night and they look fabulous! I hope some sock weather turns up one of these days so I can wear them. And I finished my honeymoon cami, but it is too short. I have a rather long torso & I added an extra half inch, but that wasn't enough. So I am going to rip out the bodice and add another inch to the body. But first I am going to wear it at the beach and then rip and redo.
We are leaving tomorrow morning and we probably won't post while we're gone. But, you never know... Knit lots while we're gone & we'll try to do the same!

My progress....

As I mentioned yesterday I thought it was a good time to start the lace. Turns out, I was right. I needed the quiet. I did very well until the last two rows, which I had to rip out because I was getting tired and wasn't paying attention. However, I like how it's turning out. I kind of wish I had gotten a smaller gauge yarn, as this might show the lace detail better, however, I don't want to knit this forever, so I think this was a good introduction to lace. I'm starting my second lace panel tonight. I'll post more tomorrow if there is more.
Happy knitting,
Jamie

KAL

Hi girls,

Sounds like you are having a nice break and visit together. I got my yarn today, and I'm working on my gauge swatch right now as I type. I ended up getting the Rowan summer tweed, 70% silk, 30% cotton. I chose a denim-y tweed that will be nice for summer. I looked at various others, considered the Manos cotton stria, which was nice, but reminded me of a washcloth. So, it would probably be comfortable, but I couldn't imagine a washcloth and lace combination.

I tried a 6 and my gauge was loose, so I changed to the 5 and so far, it looks dead on. I'm glad the designer got back so quickly about the pattern shaping. I made a note of that. Tonight is going to be a good night to start, as Kane is working his last night at ski patrol. This certainly doesn't seem like a project I will be able to do with an audience, so I'm going to leave this home for my knit group. Which reminds me, what a nice knit group you have. They all look so friendly and young. I'm not sure if Bill told you about my knit group experience, but it was interesting to say the least. They were a bit stand-offish, asking tons of questions about where I get my yarn, telling me that they hate the owner of the yarn shop I visit frequently.... Nevertheless, I 'm going to give it one more chance. One of the nicer ladies said that a lot of the members were out the night I visited, so maybe I can sit away from the negative people. Anyhoo, I must get knitting. My first attempt at lace.....very scary..... ~Jamie

Progress...

Here is Molly's progress on the first lace panel of the skirt. It has been a bit frustrating, and not as easy as I first said. I think this is her third (?) try. I am on my second. Once you get the hang of the pattern, it goes okay but it has taken us a while to get the hang of it. I think this is common with lace patterns, at least in my very limited experience knitting lace. I think it looks fabulous, though! I love the texture of the yarn. She is working on the second panel now (there is 3 for each side of the skirt).
I got an email back from Kat Coyle, the designer, and she said to just adjust the decreases so the hip part is about 1 inch larger than your hips. (So if your hips are 39", then you would make the hip part of each panel 20", for a total of 40" around the hips). Then just follow the pattern for the waist shaping and it should all work out. I think that seems easy enough, but we'll see as we go along. I am trying to finish my socks before I start working on this one. I did work on it last night at knit club and thats where I messed up and had to rip out and start over. Its too hard to concentrate when everyone is talking. Since Molly was there, we took a picture of our knit club last night. (I'm holding Molly's knitting while she is taking the pictures. Hers was more interesting than mine.) Anyway, can't wait to see the yarn you picked out!

Our Very Own Knit Along!

Dear Jamie,
We wanted to write to keep you posted on our adventures in the south. Nothing too exciting yet...
Lots of Elvi in Nashville


You really aren't missing much, we didn't find anything that great in Nashville, although we did go to a yarn store - and neither of us bought ANYTHING! We did a little thrift-store shopping and got a few good deals, but thats it!

The whitewater festival was a bit of a drag. Not nearly as exciting as we had hoped. The playhole was lame, even from a laywoman's point of view, such as myself. Molly did get hit on twice, though, so that was pretty neat.


However, we have decided to do a little knit along of our own, and we want you to join if you're interested. We are going to make the 'laces and bows skirt' from the Knit Cafe book. It you don't have the book and don't want to buy it, I can copy the pattern and send it to you. There is a bunch of information about the skirt here (she refers to it as the daktari skirt). Since she had problems with the suggested yarn, we decided to try one of the substitutes she listed - we are using Jaeger trinity (its cheaper too). Molly chose a green color and mine is light blue.

Sooo.. if you're interested, let me know and I'll send you the pattern. Talk to you soon! ~Jill & Molly

OMG! You have to watch this

You must watch this. It is hilarious. Hilarious, I tell you.