Two Hundred Sixty-Two

Two Hundred Sixty Two - 262 - that's how many bobbles are on the Debbie Bliss Sailor Collar Cardigan, and I had to do a bit of nip/tuck action on each and every one of them. Seaming now, pictures to follow later in the week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are getting ready to head over to my brother and sister-in-law's house, as soon as the rolls come out of the oven. I've been checking them every few minutes, and just realized I turned the oven off after the first time the timer beeped! No wonder they weren't getting brown!

I'm baking, in case you were wondering, two dozen yeast dinner rolls, made from scratch. I just took the Candied Sweet Potatoes out of the oven, and am about to wake Sweetpea from her nap. Monkeyboy has been playing Star Wars with his Lego guys all morning, and we are ready to eat! Tonight, we will go watch the Christmas lights be turned on at Utica Square, the oldest shopping center in Tulsa.

Thanksgiving comes to our house on Sunday, when I cook a feast for BHE's family.

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA, Happy Thursday to everyone else :D

FO Report: Juliet

Pattern: Juliet by ZephyrStyle, knit in the longer style

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash, Fired Brick
Needles: KnitPicks Options, US Size 8
Started: October 16, 2007
Finished: November 6, 2007

Modifications: I knit this in single stranded worsted weight yarn rather than the bulky weight or double stranded worsted called for. I recalculated the pattern based on the gauge I got in my test swatch. I started off knitting the large size (with my adjusted number of stitches), and knit as far as binding off the sleeves and joining the body. I thought the sleeves were way too loose, and the body had a little too much room too. I checked the pattern and found the medium size started off with the same number of stitches as the large, so I ripped back a couple of inches, cast off a little tighter for the sleeves, joined the body again, and then the fit was perfect!

I also opted to have a single clasp where the garter stitch meets the lace, rather than the buttons across the chest. I thought this was a more flattering look for me. I hand stitched some grosgrain ribbon to the wrong side around this point of the sweater to give it some stability. Actually I measured around myself at this point, added an inch of ease, and added another inch to allow for both ended of the ribbon to be turned under. I then sewed it on by hand, and washed and blocked the sweater after that.

I can't seem to get a decent modeled shot to save my live, so this one will have to do for now :)

I have the best Secret Pal, EVER!!

Check it out! I received the final package from my Secret Pal, and also opened the "Surprise #9" package. Everything with the exception of the yarn was in package #9. There is a nifty little bag with cute beaded flowers on the outside. Jen mentioned the possibility of using the bag for my dpns, since I don't have a place to store them currently, but I think I might use it as a notion bag so I can carry it in my knitting bag and see it all the time! She also sent a big bar of Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate with Orange and Spices - YUM! Also some Chocolate Truffle coffee from Whittard of Chelsea - I can't wait to try this :) ALSO, some cute heart stickers, some butterfly and dragonfly tacks. Actually I can't think of what these are called right now, they aren't thumbtacks, but are metal with two prongs on the back that you bend in opposite directions to hold papers together. I'm thinking about seeing if I can use them as thumbtacks though - My company is moving in 3 weeks, and I'll have a cubicle, so I think these would be great to personalize my space. Oh! See that little gray, DPNlooking thing? That is a stitch holder, and I've never seen one like it before! The long skinny parts, one of them is a spring, and the other is rigid, like a knitting needle. The cap slips off one end, and you slip your stitches on to hold them.

Finally!!! They yarn you see? It is Wollmeise!!!! I never dreamed I would be able to find any here, with all the current demand for it! The color is Tiefer See, which is about half and half deep dark blues and greens. I LOVE IT!!!!

My pal is Jen of PurpleJenKnits and I look forward to getting to know her better, now that I know who she is. Go check out Thistle on her blog, it's a beautiful lace shawl she just finished in a gorgeous shade of purple (of course)!

Jen, thank you so much - You've truly spoiled me, and I absolutly love everything you sent!

Playing Catchup

My bloglines are down to 340 posts! Woo Hoo!

I've finished Juliet, she is blocking! I'm slowly making progress on the Alligator scarf, and my goal is to finish and block the DB Sailor Collar Cardigan by Monday (the next KNIT Guild meeting). As soon as the DBSCC is finished, I'm back on the Vogue Wrap Cardigan!

I haven't really made any progress on my current sock. A few stitches here and there don't add up to much. And I really mean a few stitches, not even all the way around. I've thought about ditching the whole project, but I'm so goal oriented, I can't allow myself to do that, LOL. Plus I've already finished the first sock. I just think I don't like knitting with this particular yarn (KnitPicks Dancing - discontinued). The finished sock feels nice, though, which is why I keep going, I guess.

Halloween

I got sidelined by some sort of nasty cold or allergies (still not at the top of my game, but at least its not the flu), so this Halloween photo is a little late. I still wanted to post it, since I mentioned the costumes a couple of weeks ago. If it's not obvious, Monkeyboy is Luke Skywalker, and Sweetpea is Minnie Mouse. I made Monkeyboy's shirt from a child's pattern for a karate uniform (I can get the pattern number if any one's interested), and he wore a t-shirt underneath and khakis.

Sweetpea's dress was sort of made on the fly, using a toddler dress pattern as a guideline. I changed the sleeves, made the bodice a few inches longer, the skirt a few inches shorter, and added a ruffled underskirt to make the top skirt pouf out more. The Minnie Mouse hat was a hand me down from someone, I think it came from Disneyland or Disneyworld probably. She is also wearing black tights and black dress shoes. They had a great time trick-or-treating, and she really played the cute card to get more candy. Who knew a 2 year old could be so cunning? She figured it out pretty quickly.