Christmas Inspiration

I have seen many posts on various social media sites that remind everyone to "Keep CHRIST in Christmas" and "Jesus is the reason for the season". I totally agree. If he wasn't born in a manger, what would we be celebrating?

So, I have used that as nail inspiration today. The colors used are from Julep holiday gift sets, and some Essie, Maybelline, and Sally Hansen colors that I already have in my collection.

Julep: Gayle, Cindy, Amy, Heather, Lynn, Carly, Glenn
Essie: Midnight Cami, Blanc, Case Study
Maybelline: Paint the Town, Shocking Seas, Impeccable Grays
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure: Gilty Pleasure
Pure Ice: Free Spirit
Random silver glitter and black striping nail paint.

I used Midnight Cami as the base color, outlined the figures in Essie Blanc, then filled them in with various colors.

I have also made some progress on my Lemongrass Sweater. I need to do 24 increase rows for the size I am making, and I just completed increase #13. Hopefully, I can get more knitting in during the remainder of the week.

In the Christmas Spirit.

Last Friday, I attended an annual knitting holiday gift exchange dinner at BBQs with a small group of my friends. I graciously received a gift certificate to Knitty City. On Monday, I realized the sweater that I casted on was not going to work with the yarn that was variegated and had extreme contrasts in color.

I decided to jump at the chance to go to Knitty City and see what my gift card could get me. I intended on buying the Chuny Malabrigo Twist that the pattern calls for. However, I fell in love with Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras ( again). 6 skeins later, I'm getting ready to cast on my sweater a second time.

The sweater I'm working on is Lemongrass by Joji Locatelli. The gauge is supposed to be 3.25 sts/ inch. However, I get a gauge of 4 sts/inch with my size 10 needles. So, I decided to cast on for the XXL size. The amount of stitches divided by the gauge equals the measurement of the M size, in the bust. Bingo!!!!
Here is my sweater.

And for some added holiday cheer, I painted Candy Canes on my nails.

Adiri - My new friend

I feel like the worst possible knitter, because I did not have a hat and scarf/cowl set that I am 100% happy with. One that will cover my hair when it's sleek and straight, and when its full and super curly.

I received an email from a friend about the Adiri Slouch Hat by Julia Trice. She had just released it, and I absolutely had to have it. The next day, I went to Knitty City to get yarn. I fell in love with Malabrigo Rios in the Purpuras color way. I figured the slouch part would get filled up with my curls on my curly days, and just slouch on the straight days.

I casted on using size 7 needles, and continued using size 8 needles. I finished my hat in about 6 days.

 

 

 

NaKniSweMo Defeat

On Thursday night, I completed the body of the sweater. I was a bit delirious from all this crazy knitting and made a huge mistake.

The instructions said to cast on 74 stitches for each sleeve. The dumb thing I did was pick up every stitch instead of pick up 2, skip 1. So, I ended up with 94 stitches. I reworked the decreases and decided to just knit like a maniac.

By 6 PM on Friday, I had just enough time to finish the sweater, if I continued through to midnight. I had reached past the elbow. So, I decided to try it on.

EPIC FAIL!!! The sleeves were gigantic. If I intended to make a puff sleeve, and have a steeper decrease slope, it could have worked. But, I'm not making an old-fashioned sweater.

I decided to rip it out and really cast on 74 stitches this time. 2 decreases later, the sleeves look like they are a better fit. I'm working on them during the remainder of the week.

So, I failed at completing a sweater in a month. However, I learned a valuable lesson about following directions and sleeve construction. A perfect fit is always better than throwing on a rushed imperfection.