100th Post...Creative Fun!

I was having some creative fun yesterday, so I made these!! We have a very short time left to make a decision. And with these, I don't even have to say who I am voting for, because you already know. I encourage you to VOTE FOR CHANGE!!!

Wanna get your hands on some? I just made an update to my ETSY store! 50% of every sale will go towards the campaign.

So who is the proud owner of these sets? They were given to Jen, as part of the Sit N' Knit Neckwarmer Exchange. I think she likes 'em!!Here is a closer look at her Crofter's Cowl. The yarn I chose for this cowl is Malabrigo Silky Merino in the "Ankara" colorway. I used size 6 needles. The pattern calls for 2 pattern repeats, but I did 3 repeats, just to make it longer. I had just enough yarn, as you can see from the picture in my previous post. The cowl is created by making 2 pieces, and then grafting it together. I had to rely heavily on that book, my personal knitting bible, in order to get through the kitchener stitch/grafting technique.

I will definately be making a second one for myself. When I can give a gift that I would like to have for myself, I am overjoyed because I know the recipient is getting something that touches my heart. This cowl is super soft, and very cute. I also have a teal leather jacket that will match it perfectly. Yay!!

Speaking of matching perfectly, I received this beautiful cabled, button-up cowl from Limonene.

Here is a close-up shot. She also got me some Raspberry Ghirardelli chocolate treatsas well, and I am going to savor every single bite of it. The cowl matches the bag that Chicagopurl bought me for my birthday. I mean it is a perfect match. I have been trying to break away from all of the pink, and add some more colors to my wardrobe. This cowl is perfect. It is supersoft, and I love it. Thank you once again, Limonene!!!

Since the weather was a bit chilly today, I decided to wear my Central Park Hoodie. My very first sweater. My labor of love. I looked down at my arm and saw this horror of all horrors.

Here is a closer look at the damage. I don't even know how this happened. I am suspecting that the yarn just wasn't properly spun in that area, and it just popped. It doesn't look like a moth had a feast. And, since I am Meka the Mothslayer, that wouldn't happen anyway.

So, I became a sweater surgeon today. Although it may not be perfect, at least the hole is closed and I don't look like I am wearing a bummy sweater.

So, the lesson of the day is... always keep a few yards of sweater yarn, because you never know.

Oh, you want some knitting content? Wicked sleeve #1 is almost finished, but there isn't a picture yet. Rhinebeck is in 13 days, I gotta finish this baby soon. I am not missing another deadline!!!

I also am celebrating a milestone today. This is my 100th post. Since I am feeling generous, I think I want to do my first contest. The prize will be a set of 10 stitch markers in the size of your choice (worsted, chunky or bulky) made with a picture of your choice, and matching swarovski crystal accents. Here are the rules.

1. Comment for your first entry.
2. Mention the contest and link to this post on your blog for a second entry.
3. The drawing will be on October 28th. 1 week before the Presidential Election. Good Luck!!

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

Finally, some progress!!!

I am finally making some progress on my Central Park Hoodie. I am up to the point where I am working on the hood.
Here are some pictures of the shoulder seams. I crocheted it on the wrong side using the Single Crochet stitch.

I lined up the stitches with the padlock shaped stitch markers.

Wow!!! What a neat seam for my first try. This is why it is very important to bind off loosely.
The seam from the wrong side.
Now it is starting to actually look like a sweater.
Progress on the hood, about 4 inches.
I added the cable to the center of the hood. It looks better this way.

Only 7 more inches to go!! Woohoo! You think maybe I can finish this before the week is done? Although there were many distractions while knitting this sweater, I am all excited all over again, and I am still in love with the color.

Blocking done!

I finally blocked my Central Park Hoodie. What took me so long? I guess I hesitated because it was the first time blocking a sweater. I actually steam-blocked it, and am happy with the result. Hopefully it will knit up perfectly, and I won't have to re-block it. We will see.

Here are the before pictures

And here are the after shots!

The sleeves.

The back

The front left and right pieces Now it's time to seam the shoulders, and carry on with the hood!!! And, I got these supercute buttons from M&J Trimming on 6th Avenue. Unfortunately, they were not on sale :-(

Today I had a stash increase. I bought these skeins of yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool on sale for $3.50 each. Shipping took only 2 days, and the customer service team was very helpful and friendly. I would definately order from them again.

I am going to make a vest out of the pink variegated yarn (YoYo), with the solid color (Lolly) being used for the border. The leftover pink variegated yarn will be used to make a hat for my God-daughter Symara, and the purple yarn (Hula Hoop) will make a hat for her sister Carissa. These girls are a year apart, and always want to have the same thing. Whew!! Good thing they like different colors.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

Here is a picture of my progress. These are the sleeves that I am knitting two at a time, and I feel like a knitting goddess because I have managed to do it without tangling the two skeins.

The Bad:

Being a Perfectionist sucks!!! I was happy knitting along, and got to the decrease for the sleeve cap and then realized that my stitch count was off after I did my binding off. What is my problem, you ask? I was supposed to do the increase 10 times for the 36" size, and the dummy that took over my head when I read the pattern initially read the "9 times" for the 32" size. I will chalk this all up to the fact that I hate writing in my magazines, so I didn't circle or highlight the number that corresponded to my size. And yes, I could have photocopied the pattern, but I seem to always lose those things. So, now I have the grueling pleasure of frogging approximately 20 rows of stitches.

The Ugly:

I read the chart wrong, and have done the cable twist every 8 rows, as opposed to every 10 rows. I have completed the back, front pieces, and the sleeves (almost). So am I supposed to take this out??? Not for a minute on God's great earth am I going to even fathom that notion. Every fault is a fashion, and the cables are consistent with each other. So I'm keeping it. Ha! Leave me a comment. Let me know what you think.

Central Park Hoodie Progress - Part 2

Knitting, frogging, and knitting again after you read the pattern, and finally get the decreases down. Here is the left and right front pieces of my hoodie. I am about halfway through the armhole openings. Next is the neck, and then off to the sleeves. I can see a dim light barely shining at the end of the tunnel.

Here is the finished back, on stitch holders

Central Park Hoodie Progress

So, you must be wondering what's going on with that Central Park Hoodie??? Well, Making 4 hats in between the time I started the hoodie has set ma back a bit, but now that I have cleared those tasks off of my list, I can focus on finishing my sweater. Here is the play by play.

I am using Cascade 220 yarn in this beatiful teal color because I found it to be softer than the Donegal tweed that the pattern originally called for, there were more skeins of this particular color at my yarn shop (Knit-A-Way of Brooklyn), the price was cheaper than the Donegal Tweed, and the owner special ordered the remaining skeins that I needed. When you are working with a budget, you are always mindful of cutting costs. And having a really nice yarn shop owner is also a plus..(Cita, you Rock ....uh did I spell your name right... well for those of you in blog land, her name is pronounced Cee-Tah!!!) There have been no modifications made to the pattern, and I am doing the 36 inch pattern size, since I wear a small. I actually want it to fit close, and true to size.

Here is my swatch. I think the row gauge may be off by two more rows, but since the pattern requests knitting to a certain length, I don't think it will be a problem.

This is the lower ribbed portion of the back of the sweater. Knitted using size 6 needles - 26 rows - 4 inches

I then changed to size 8 needles to knit the rest of the back, and begin the cables, which I must say, for my first attempt, are coming out quite nice. Week #1

This is about 60 rows of cables. A few more rows, and I start the arm shaping. This picture shows the true color of the yarn, with natural light. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this color. Week #2

Week #3- More to come. I have to catch a ten hour flight before the week is over, so I am sure that I will be bringing back a lot more pictures from my trip. Hey, I may even finish the whole sweater. Stay tuned.