FO: Puff-Sleeved Cardigan

Another sweater done! My finish goal date for my Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan was tomorrow, October 31st. I wasn't sure if I was going to have it done in time for my trip to Indiana this weekend. Alas, it is! A good friend told me a couple of weeks ago when I first blogged the beginnings of this sweater that I could definitely have it done in two weeks. I know I can knit fast, but at the time I just wasn't sure. The actual knitting was done Monday and the buttons were just added.

Pattern: Puff-Sleeve Feminine Cardigan, Fitted Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style; Colorway - Pine (8.25 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 5
Started: October 10th
Finished: October 27th (With Buttons - Oct. 30th)

I am so thrilled to have another successful sweater! It really is relieving when it fits the way it's suppose to fit. I love the yarn color and I can understand why this yarn was chosen in the book to make this sweater. The Merino Style knits up to be a fabulous fabric and makes the sweater feel like there is substance to it. I think I could definitely wear this through the winter with a nice shirt underneath.

I had a hard time picking out buttons for it. I originally wanted to use a clear button but couldn't find any in the 2 stores I visited. I ended up with a creamy pearl button. It doesn't yell, "BUTTONS!" down the front of my chest which is always nice.

I made no modifications to the pattern. I did however come across a mistake in the Lace Chart for the Peplum. On Row 17 the K3tog should be a K2tog. This is the only way to get the pattern to work correctly. I don't know what others have done when they encountered this, but there isn't any errata for the chart and I know someone who heard back from the designer stating there wasn't an error.

All in all I just can't wait to wear my sweater tomorrow!

Porom Love

Told you Porom would be an FO very soon! I have to say that I really love this hat. The pattern is simple to knit but yet looks complex. There is just enough *slouch* for my personal taste. The yarn was wonderful to work with and makes a beautiful fabric. Here's my self portaits. Better than the ol' couch showing it off, eh?

Pattern: Porom by Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DKW (Used approximately under 200 yds out of 250)
Needles: Size 6 & 8 16" Circs; Size 8 dpn's
Started: October 21st
Finished: October 28th (only 3 days of knitting)

Got another good one for ya next time!

Knitting With Rhinebeck Goodies

The question of the day is - How many days went by before I couldn't resist knitting with Rhinebeck yarn? Answer: One whole day after I returned home. To my credit I did finish the Leaves of Grass socks before starting with the new yarn.

I am knitting Porom by Brooklyn Tweed with the Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DKW yarn. Mr. Flood recommended a 3-ply DK yarn for the pattern. I bought a 4-ply DK yarn. I understand why a lighter weight DK yarn is used. It helps with the drape of the slouch in the hat. A heavier yarn would not result in a good slouch or any slouch at all.

So isn't this blue gorgeous? I'm only wishing that I had bought enough to make a scarf and mitts. LOL That's ok. I don't need to be all matchy matchy.

I've actually made more progress than this picture shows. I worked on it more today and probably have about 5% more to do. Will be an FO very soon. Watch out for it!

Anklet Socks?

My latest FO socks are called "Leaves of Grass Anklet Socks". Of course I don't do anklet socks unless they are my running socks. So I have renamed them "Leaves of Grass Socks". I got the pattern off a free website, but there isn't a picture of them there. I first found them in Ravelry when I was searching the hundreds of socks pattern for SOS08.

You can't see the pattern well in these pictures. I tried to get a good photo, but had little success. If you go to my Ravlery page there is a pic of when I first started them and the pattern can be seen really well.

Since I was converting the pattern to a full length cuff sock I took the liberty of having to be a little creative. The original pattern has you knitting a 5" rib cuff (which just sounds wrong for them being anklet socks) and the pattern is only on the front of the sock. I knitted a 1.5" 2x2 cuff and had the pattern on both the front and back of the sock. To make this look nice, instead of purling the first and last 5 stitches on the front and back, I knit 3 and purled 2 on both ends. I didn't change the rest of the pattern. I am really happy with the end result.

Pattern: Leaves of Grass Socks
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (P53937) (2)
Needles: Knit Picks Fixed Size 1.5
Started: September 16th
Finished: October 20th

Rhinebeck Memories - Part III

What can I say now that I have totally decompressed from my Rhinebeck adventure? It was an incredibly awesome experience. I have never seen so much yarny goodness in one place and so many people with the same passion as myself. It was tons of fun with lots of good laughs with old friends and new. I am looking forward to next year for sure, especially when I have my sis there to enjoy it with me. Until then, here are my final pictures from the weekend.

The beautiful fall colors that landed in my yarn purchases.

The craziness of The Fold (STR yarn) after I stood in line for my little purchase.

While waiting for Shameka to make her STR purchase she told me where to find Brooks Farm Fiber.

In this picture if you look at the yarn on the top left hand of the display, there is my yarn purchase. On day two this display was no longer there.

Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm yarn display in one of the barns. This picture was on Day Two because too many people were standing in front of it on Day One. This was jammed packed full the day before.

And of course this is the yarn that wanted to come home with me so bad. I must have stood there for half an hour holding it while discussing with Misa, Shameka, Michelle and Sophia whether it should be purchased. I decided to leave it behind, but I am still in love with those gorgeous colors. I can always order it down the road if I find the right pattern to go with it. There is enough yarn to make a whole sweater and then some. Btw, the colorway of this yarn is "Fall Leaves". Go figure.

Then there were all the animals. Unfortunately this is the only picture I took of them. This Llama caught my eye. The owner convinced me to let Mr Llama to give me a kiss on the cheek. (Shameka has the picture of the kiss on her blog.) I only agreed after he told me it would just be warm air on my skin. I could have stood there all day petting Mr. Llama. He is sooooooo soft.

Oh all the spinning wheels...

...the February Lady sweaters...

...and the Sleeping Beauty at the Sheep Cheese Demonstration. She informed us that she was counting "Stitches", but in reality she was counting "Sheep".

The Ravelry party was a huge success. So many people turned up at the Elks Lodge. So many in fact that the police showed up and lots of people had to move their cars off the side of the street. Fortunately, Shameka and I managed to pull here litte car into the tiny gravel lot when we arrived.

The first 400 hundred Raveler's got little goody bags. Very cool and I am not quite sure what I will do with the lavendar yarn that was in my bag.

The Bob cupcakes...

The knitters...

The craptastic photo of the Yarn Harlot sitting behind me...

Finally all the raffle numbers sitting before me and none were winners...

Rhinebeck Peeps- Part II

Today I am home sick. Ugh. I think it's from the Rhinebeck cold weater, lack of sleep, too much dry heat, non-nutritional food consumption (chocolate creme brulee, maple peanut brittle, maple cotton candy, dip/cheese sampling, hot pretzel...mmmm and all very yummy), etc. etc. So needless to say, my brain is not really functioning for a creative and witty written post (not sure if it ever is), but I wanted to share what few photos I have of my fellow knitting friends (some old and some new).

Shameka and I chilling on a bench waiting to head over to the Ravelry meet-up.

My new friend Yvonne and myself waiting for the Sheep Cheese Demonstration to commence.

Kim hanging out on the other side of me.

New friends Michelle, Sophia (blogless) and Misa!

Finally there was a request for a picture of me modeling my Rhinebeck sweater. Angie, even though I dislike this picture of myself, this is for you!

I will have one more post to wrap up my Rhinebeck adventure!

Rhinebeck Exhaustion - Part I

WARNING - Heavy Picture Post

I am no longer a Rhinebeck Virgin after this past weekend! I now understand why everyone goes crazy over fiber festivals. What can I say? How about, "Wow!". I came back totally exhausted, happy to be in my own bed and with goodies that I think is a respectable size considering this was my first adventure. I went with a list of certain things that I wanted. I got those and then a few little extras. I remained within my cash budget and went home with $31 in my pocket.

So here is my haul. It all fits so nicely in these few bags.

Now here is my haul all spread out on the table. Not bad, right? I believe being out amongst all the fall colors I tended to fall in love with them in my fiber choices. Of course there is one exception with the blue yarn.

1) Brooks Farm - Mas Acero (3 skeins - 400yds ea.); SW Wool Silk Viscose. This will become either Sahara or Simple Knitted Bodice.

2) Blue Moon Fiber Arts - STR Lightweight; Colorway-Gingerbread Dudette. The Fold was the first stop that we made. Oh My Gosh! It was crazy!!!! I had to stand in line just to get close enough to see the colors and make my choices while hands were grabbing all around me. Then I had to stand in another long line to pay. I was very self controlled with the amount I purchased here.

3) Persimmon Tree Farm - "Pot Luck" Yarn (250yds); Colorway J5; Mohair/Wool. This yarn was one of those little extra purchases. I saw the colors. Fell in love. Thought I would make a scarf, cowl or hat. Not sure yet.

4) Malabrigo Silky Merino - Colorway Viena (478) 150 yds. Another extra purchase and couldn't pass up for $10! This will become a cowl.

5) Shelridge Farm - Soft Touch DKW; Colorway - Navy; 250 yds. This is the only yarn in the non-fall category. Trust me though, the original color in my hand was a fall color but I made myself put it back. This yarn will become Brooklyn Tweeds Porom.

6) Golding RingSpindles - I purchased one of their "Learn to Spin Kits". This is something I definitely wanted to purchase at Rhinebeck. I spent the first day looking at all the spindle choices. My last purchase on day 2 was this one. The book included in this kit really spells everything out for a beginner. I am excited to give it a try.

Here's a closeup of the spindle. Isn't it gorgeous? They had so many on display and each one was beautiful.

7) Food Purchases - I bought a bag of Maple Cotton Candy (de-li-cious), Maple Sugar to make this creamcheese dip that we couldn't get enough when sampling and a bag of Maple Peanut Brittle (I don't care for nuts but this was a little taste of heaven to me). I also bought some Mint Cholocate Fudge.

8) Smell good purchases - I picked up two body sprays from Merriweathers and 4 different soaps from GotSoap.com.

9) Finally reading material. On day two Misa showed me this magazine and the sample of the cover scarf that was on display. She wanted my opinion if I thought this was a scary lace knit. I assured her that this was not scary and that as a first lace project she would be fine. I however could not walk away from the booth without purchasing the magazine so maybe one day I could make my own. Of course I had my enabler next to me saying, "It's only $6."

So that's my haul from Rhinebeck. My next post will contain all the pics from those I met and the sights I saw including the Ravelry party!

Buttons Anyone?

I am doing the FO dance of joy! I finished my Top-Down Raglan Cardi tonight and she is blocking as I type. The only thing she is missing are buttons. Since I am not leaving for Rhinebeck until tomorow afternoon between 1p and 2pm (Miss Shameka? Are you reading that?), I will head over to the little fabric/notion store in my neighborhood after my morning run to pick some up. I will be wearing this cardi this weekend!

Pattern: Top-Down Raglan Cardigan, Cosmicplutoknits.com
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay (1.5 hanks); Patons Classic Wool (2.25 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 9
Started: September 28th
Finished: October 16th
Mods: Knitted the body longer than called for in the pattern (just including more waist shaping increases); Started the contrasting yarn on sleeves immediately when picking back up sleeve stitches (I wanted a nice even black dividing line going across the body)

Would I knit this again? Absofreakinglutely! This was also a half stashbuster sweater. The Manos has been hidden in my stash for a few years.

I am off to Rhinbeck this weekend and I am so excited. This is my first festival ever and, while my sister will no longer be there to experience it with me this year, I plan on having enough fun for the two of us!

Hey MB, guess what came in the mail today? :-)

Cardi Time

A few weeks ago when I was "Fall" cleaning my apartment, I came across a box that had some yarn in it. After a moment or two of wondering what the heck it was for, I remembered I had purchased this yarn back in March. Of course, I needed to look at old posts to figure out what I was suppose to knit with the yarn.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to use this yarn for that particular pattern anymore. I went to Ravelry and decided to see what others were knitting with this Knit Pick Merino Style yarn. Lo' and behold I noticed many were knitting the Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits. This is a sweater my sister had knitted months ago and I knew I eventually wanted to knit this for myself. I thought at the time I wanted to use a yarn that had a "sheen" or "silkiness" to it. My mind was quickly changed when sis didn't like the outcome of the bamboo yarn she used for hers.

Last Friday I decided to cast on for my own cardi using the yarn that was hiding from me for months in a box under a table in front of my very own eyes. It really is amazing what you can find when you really clean things out.

So this is what I got for a few days knitting. I had to go down to a size 5 needle to get gauge. I am about 88 stitch increases from getting to the point where I put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn (11 more rows to go). At this point I will have 410 stitches on the needles. I feel like it is taking forever, but I guess when you think about how I only started it Friday night and have gotten to where I am now, it's not going too bad.

Quick update on my Top-Down Raglan Cardi - one sleeve done, one to go, have to purchase and sew on 9 black buttons.

Just Need 2 Things

Sleeves are what this sweater needs! I completed the body of my Top-Down Raglan Cardi on Friday evening and was going to start the sleeves. What stopped me? Can you believe that the huge collection of circular needles which resides in my home does not contain a Size 9 16"? I can't! I mean, everything other size seems to be there. Did this mean I was going to have to lug myself out to the store to get them? Nope. First thing Monday morning I emailed my knitting peeps, Kim and Tawana, to inquire as to their needle collections. Kim came to the rescue. I even got to choose between metal and bamboo. Thanks Kim!
As you can see in the pic, needles are inserted in the first armhole and ready to go! Knitting will be done in no time. Now I just got to get some buttons!