Wednesday, October 31, 2007

CPH 2 - Monogamous knitting???

During my first love affair with the Central Park Hoodie, I kept it on the back burner for months while I played with other projects. Now, my second time around, I am giving it all of the attention it deserves. I have pushed aside my Secret of the Stole, Snuggle Sweater, and Embossed Leaves socks......well, just for a little while.

So, here is my Central Park Hoodie with the right front portion complete, in all of it's glory. On to the back portion tomorrow!!!


Well, I am not totally monogamous with my knitting. I have been working on a secret knitted gift for a friend's birthday. I will post when the secret is revealed. I can only say that it is purple, and it is lacy.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Rhinebeck Spoils!!!

Spoils..hmmm that is a word that describes what you get after a war, when you loot and plunder the loser's terrain. Well, after this fiber frenzy, my body felt like it had gone through a war. Between no sleep, seaming, eating nothing but junk food, carrying heavy bags of yarn, and dodging people while still trying to work my way through the crowd as politely as I can, without knocking anybody out. ...Sheesh...Rhinebeck was hard work.

Here are the Spoils. And spoil myself I did. But don't worry. I got a few things for the people that I care about the most.


So, let's start from the beginning.


I drove to Kingston on Friday night and Sauniell and I shared a room at the Super 8. I toiled through the night, working on my Cenral Park Hoodie, because I felt that it was imperative that I wear it on Saturday. So, I sucked up my seaming issues, and just dit it until I got it to look perfect.
Here it is!!! This picture was taken at the festival.
Here are some more pics taken with my lovely blog family. I was so happy to see everyone. I met some of my "family members" for the first time, and we hugged and screamed like we knew each other for years. This knitting thing really has a way of bringing people together.

Me, Necia, RosiG, Jeanine, Tawana, and Sauniell.Monica, Kim, Me, and Yvonne
Me and Tawana, wearing our fabulous Central Park Hoodies!

Maribel, Chante, Nancy, and Me!
Me, Baby Cashew, and Ann-Marie. This picture does no justice to this child's beauty. Her eyes are soooooo gorgeous. She just made me melt when I saw her.


Jess and Casey from Ravelry. It was so cool to meet the people that changed the internet life of knitting as we know it. Thanks a bunch guys!
So, I have officially added way too much to my stash and will be knitting forever. Hey, at least I will be happy doing it. Hehe!!
Socks that Rock - Cobalt Bloom, Boysenberry, Autumn, Rocky Horror, Mustang Sally
Aussi Sock - Silver Anniversary, Faded Valentine
Brooks Farm - Four Play, Solana
Briar Rose Fibers - Sonoma
Here is the progress of my second Central Park Hoodie. Here is about 10 inches of progress.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Picture Update!!!

Hi Y'all. I finally got a new Camera, so I decided to test it out on what else?? My knitting, of course!!
First project up...Central Park Hoodie #1.
The seaming has left a lot to be desired. My ribs are lopsided, and I am totally not happy. I have until saturday morning to get this thing perfect and I am going nuts.Wacky sleeve, already attached to the wacky shoulder, which is even worse. The middle is not centered along the shoulder seam.

And here is my sorry side seam.

I redeemed myself with the other sleeve.
Now I just have to frog the bad seams and do them over.

Central Park Hoodie#2
To make myself feel better, here is the CPH for the second time around. I think the color variation is wonderful. It is done all in one piece, which is making this baby fly off of those needles. I have a little more than 8 inches here.


Here is my progress on the Secret Stole. Clue #3 comes out today, and I am still on Clue #1. I have about 20 more rows to go in order to be finished. I really didn't want to fall behind, but it is so hard to find quiet time to knit lace. The CPH is "mindless" knitting since I am so used to the pattern, and don't really have to rely on a chart. But, I am not giving up. My Secret stole will be complete in time for the last hint!!!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Just Checking In

I have not been enthusiatic about posting, because I still don't have a camera. ARRRGGGHHH!!!
Well, at least I found one that I like. I just have not had the time to go to the store to actually test it out. It is Sunday, the Lord's day of rest, and where am I?? At WORK. Well, I had to do it so that I could get next Friday off in order to relax for my drive up to Rhinebeck. I am so excited.

Onto the knitting news.....Here is my status report.

My stash has dramatically decreases because I gifted some of my yarn to my Mom's Godmother, who is about 80 years old. She crochets wraps for childern in her church. I took the big bin over to her house, and told her to dig in. She has limited mobility, so the fact that she was able to have yarn hand-delivered to her house made her very excited. I will do the percentage calculations later. Chances are, I have added as much as I have given away, since June. And, with Rhinebeck being less than 7 days away... who knows what will happen.

Secret of the Stole.
I am on Row 53 of hint #1. I just can't seem to find the right mixture of quiet, not being on a bouncing bus, phone not ringing time to work on it. I don't want to have beads spilling all over the place either. Hint #2 has been downloaded and is waiting in the wings. I am still excited about this project. Hopefully I will find some time before the end of the week to make some progress.
Central Park Hoodie #1
I bound off the buttonband with an I-cord bindoff, and it looks great. I seamed the right sleeve and side seam. I tried it on, and then I realize that my ribbing wasn't lining up properly on the sleeve or the side seam. Also, the center of the sleeve was not lining up with the shoulder seam. So, i decided to rip it out. I will make the sleeves into 2 separate tubes, then join them to the body. I already completed the left sleeve, and it is gorgeous.
Embossed Leaves Sock
The cuff of side number one has about 8 rows to go before I start working on the heel. I like this pattern.
Central Park Hoodie #2
I casted this on while I was going home on the bus on Either Wednesday or Thursday (can't remember, it is a blur now). Currently, it is my travel project, until it gets too big. I had some time to work on it yesterday, because I went to get a part replaced on my car and I had to wait 1 1/2 hours for them complete it. If I didn't have my knitting, I would have went bananas!! I decided to make it all in one piece, since the seams annoyed me so much on the first CPH. I am currently on the second cable cross row, which is about 6 inches into the pattern. In Trinidad we have a saying that goes " when it's nice, do it twice". The second time around is so much better.
Snuggle Sweater
She is relaxing in my closet. I have gotten near the end of the second 48-row pattern repeat. She is sitting nicely, and patiently waiting for my love.

All other projects are on the back burner until further notice.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Central Park Hoodie Update - with pics!!!

I decided to stop by my cousin's house today, and lo and behold she had a camera with a memory card that fits into my laptop. WooHoo!!! You know I got to snapping. Here are the pics of my work-in-progress. Don't worry...I will get a camera soon. My dream camera hasn't arrived in the stores just yet. I gotta wait about 10 more days.
This is what 328 stitches of pure MADNESS look like, halfway through the row. See my lovely stitch markers that my swap pal Carrie made for me. It only reminds me that I need to make some more quickly!!!And once again, proof that only Jesus is perfect. I found a boo-boo in one of the cables on the left front portion. It is the runt of the bunch, being much smaller than the rest. There is no way on earth that I am going to rip that out. The shoulders are seamed already. I can live with it.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Central Park Hoodie Update

Rhinebeck is 3 weeks away, so I am pushing hard to make progress on my Central Park Hoodie. Today, I picked up 328 stitches along the button band, altogether in one piece on one really long circular needle. I knitted up to the point where I made the buttonholes. Instead of the buttonhole that is descibed in the pattern, I used the one-row horizontal buttonhhole method, as seen on page 204 of "Vogue Knitting - the Ultimate Knitting Book". The buttonhole is a little more neat, and it is wide enough to allow room for my buttons that measure 1 1/8 inches.

Just about 4 more rows to go on the button band, and the seaming will begin!!! Sorry for the lack of pictures. I am trying to decide which camera to buy. Hopefully by next week I will decide.