Forecast Finished

May I present the first FO of the new year: Forecast!

Toby gives a high five - good job, Mom!

Pattern: Stef Japel's Forecast from knitty

Yarn: Cascade 220 Tweed in Dark Purple (color 610, I think). A little less than 4 skeins.

Modifications: The popular ones from the KAL. 3 stitch bobbles instead of 5, starting the ribbing at the elbow and just under the bust. Made it a little longer overall and calculated for a 34" size, between the 32" and 36". And I only added 9 buttons instead of 10, only because there were only 9 buttons left at the store when I bought them.

Verdict: I really like this one, even more than Arisaig. I feel like it's a flattering fit and texturally interesting. The yarn is soft, and I feel like this is one I can wear with jeans or nicer pants, too. The only thing I didn't like was the yarn bleeding on my hands while knitting it and that it's started to pill on me already under the arms and sides :(

What I learned: I had never made bobbles before. They were fun.

Would I knit this again? I'm not one for re-using a pattern when there are so many fabulous ones I haven't done yet, but I would certainly consider this as a gift for someone.

Block-a-thon

I decided to take the week between Christmas and New Years off from work this year. I've never done it before, and it's been a great week so far. I had some back-burnered projects that I wanted to finish, like some scrapbooking and a few home improvement things, but so far all I've done is slept in, knit, shopped and ate (not in that order, necessarily).

Wednesday I had what I'd like to call a block-a-thon. I finished knitting Forecast and she was ready for a good blocking. I've never worked with a yarn this squishy before, nor one that bled so much! I ended up not working on it if I knew I would be leaving the house later because the yarn left my hands purple and it took work to get it off.

So in the kitchen sink she went:

I added some vinegar in hopes of setting the dye. The water didn't turn too purple, just a little, and since I didn't want it to smell, I rinsed it out and re-dunked it with some Woolite.

LOOK OUT!

The suds made it bleed. big. time. Without agitating, I pressed the suds through and rinsed again. Then, I rinsed it with more vinegar again. So it wouldn't smell (again), I rinsed it with a little fabric softener.

That makes 4 rinsings total.

And, here she lies:

Just need to add buttons and sew in a few loose ends. Phew!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . .

Yay! A semi-cold front came through earlier in the week, and although it's not cold enough for snow, at least I'm not feeling like it's September around here anymore. The colder weather brought enough of a Christmas-y feel that I knocked out the very last hat for Christmas. Here's one I finished about 10 days ago and already gifted to its recipient:

Penultimate hat: Fun little J. Crew inspired hat with a single cable.

And the very last hat is also a first. It's for my hubby and is the very first thing I have ever knit for him. When I was wrapping up the Redskins' hats I made for my nephews, he grabbed the little one and tried to put it on. I knew he really wanted it, so I am trying to be a good wife for Christmas and have knitted it up while he's been out of the house, so he doesn't know it's done (let's hope he hasn't started reading the ol' blog!)

Last hat: Redskins for the Redskins fanatic. Too bad they are having a sucky season, but the Ravens aren't!

(Hehehehe, we have a little rivalry between me/my Dad/my brother and my hubby/my BIL. I am a born and raised Baltimore girl. Hence, I am a Ravens fan. My hubby was born and raised in Western Maryland where they get Washington DC channels, so they grew up watching the Redskins. And my dad and brother can real SOBs about it!)

With the Christmas knitting DONE, I have gotten back to a little knitting for moi. Well, at least for now. My mom's birthday is January 17 and I am going to attempt to knit her a sweater, though it surely won't be done in time. The yarn is still on its way from UPS. But, Forecast is moving along just swimmingly:

The oh-so fab bathroom, contorted arm shot.

It's hard to see the details since the yarn is so dark, but all I've got left is one sleeve and one side of the button band. And the buttons to sew on. And boy does this baby need a serious blocking. I'm thinking this might be the last FO of 2006. Or, the first FO of 2007. Either way, yay for a FO!

Some more Christmas FOs

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving. Thanks for all the nice comments about Arisaig. I wore it to work on Monday and my co-workers really liked it.

I am SO SO happy to report that I am almost done my Christmas knitting! The Thanksgiving long weekend gave me some free time to finish up some of that stuff, so first I present the Girlfriend Shrug:

It's for my seven year old niece. I used Knitpicks Swish in aloe, sunshine, bubblegum and ballerina. The sleeves are trimmed with some girly, eyelashy yarn I had in my stash.

Next up are hats #6 and #7. They are for a brother and sister:
Again, used Knitpicks swish. The girl hat was done using Grumperina's Odessa pattern and I added some little flowers all the way around. The boy hat was done in charcoal, sunshine, red pepper and capri blue. Am I sick of Swish yet? Not quite, but almost. It does knit up really nicely with even stitches and it's really soft.

And, last but not least, I did find time to start a new project for me . . . one I've been dying to start: Forecast.

I'm using Cascade 220 tweed in a dark purple. This picture really shows the little flecks of blue, red, yellow and green. I'm almost done the yoke. Boy, does this part go slooooow. Over 200 sts on the needle. I should reach the underarm tonight!

Pink and purple goodness

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since my last post. I'm slacking! At the end of July, I took a week off from work and Bill & I went to the beach with my parents. We stayed with my dad's friend in Rehoboth Beach, DE during the massive heat wave. We had a nice time despite the uncomfortable weather, and the best news is that I discovered a LYS in Rehoboth. It's called Knitty Gritty. We passed by one evening when they were closed, but I peered in the window and saw a TON of Cascade 220 yarn. I've been extremely undecided about what color Cascade to get for Forecast because the color of the yarn looks different on every website I visit. So, the last day at the beach, I stopped into Knitty Gritty after lunch and picked up some Cascade Tweed in a lovely deep purple. I was tempted to get the tweed in a bright bubble-gummy pink, but I will knit everything pink if I don't discipline myself. This is a color that I don't have any winter sweaters in, and it will look great with jeans or black/grey pants for work.
In other knitting news, Orangina is blocking right now and will have a finished post this week. I started the Prosperous Plum Tank over the weekend. I'm using some Rowan handknit DK in, what else, Sugar (pink) that I scored off of eBay. I can't think of a fruit that's pink colored, but since the color yarn I'm using is called Sugar, I'll call this my Prosperous Sugar-Plum Tank. I like it.
Lastly, Bill and his law partner were featured all over the local news last week for a popular case they are handling. Here's a link to the article that followed in the Baltimore Sun. He really enjoyed the few minutes of local fame!