FO - Shaped Pullover by Natalie Wilson

It's finished! I've already worn it a couple of times and received compliments on it, so I guess I didn't do too badly on it. I substituted yarn, which threw off my row gauge, and I ended up having to stuff the sleeves into armscyes that were 2 inches too long (you have to end the neckline on a certain row because of the center pattern). Oh well, it's done, I like it and I'm on to other things, whoopee!

Shaped Pullover by Natalie Wilson

Well, I'm not progressing as fast as I would have liked, but I think I'm going to like this sweater. The yarn, Plymouth Jeannee, is really soft and comfortable.

I may have downloaded the free Berroco bunny pattern that just came out in time for Easter...

Stuck in scarf hell

The boys have asked for scarves. I made Skye an atrociously-striped one out of stashed woolease. He loves it, since he picked the colors. Am now making Cael an OU scarf out of stashed Woolease. Boring! I want to start my Shaped Pullover by Natalie Wilson (see pic at left). I bought Plymouth Jeannee in white for it at Gourmet Yarn last week and I am DYING to start it! Sigh.

Zipper Installation - Central Park Hoodie

Step 1. - Whipstitch a grograin ribbon as backing to give the zipper something firm to rest on. It helps stabilize the edge so that your zipper doesn't rip out and ruin your knitting. (2-3 hours).

Step 2. - Pin the zipper in place to the ribbon, check/admire alignment, then whipstitch the edge of the zipper to the ribbon. (1-1/2 hours) Woo hoo!

Central Park Hoodie -- 99.9% Finished

The Central Park Hoodie is knitted and sewn up. All that's left now, is, well, er, um....THE ZIPPER. I have never sewn in a zipper before and I'm afraid. Very afraid. In fact, a year or so ago I actually knit Samus on knitty.com and quit during the I-cord finishing because I knew the zipper was coming up next and I was unhappy with the way my picked-up stitches looked along the Saxon braid at the bottom AND I didn't care for the yarn (so many excuses...) so I just chucked the whole thing. If this zipper messes up three weeks worth of knitting so help me I'll....Anyway, pics below. The pics turned out really purple, for some reason, so I had to adjust the color back to barn red. So no, I DON'T have lime green shag carpet, it's just my feeble attempt at color correction.

WIP - Central Park Hoodie

I started the Central Park Hoodie during a soccer tournament in Kansas City. I'm using the recommended yarn, Takhi Donegal Tweed in Barn Red. I really like it, and I'm not much of a tweed person. Anyway, back to the tournament: 5 hours in the car up and back plus KIPing in the lobby after supper (we lost, by the way, but my son still managed to score 3 goals, yay Cael!). I managed to knit almost all of the back on that long weekend. I have since finished all pieces and am now following the alternate directions (pick up and knit all around both fronts and hood, rather than each side separately) for the front ribbing. Progress on the ribbing is SLOW....

Bought the zipper, some grosgrain ribbon and thread today. I've never sewn in a zipper before, we'll see whether I do it or someone else does (grin). I plan to use these two helpful links:
sewing in zippers from the Knitlist, and Chicknit's zipper tutorial. Wish me luck!

FO: Michael Kors Cabled Tunic

Woo hoo! I finished the Michael Kors Cabled Tunic, didn't run out of yarn, the darn thing actually fits, and I am a happy camper!

Modifications made:

• Used Elizabeth Zimmermann's technique for rounding the squared-off bindoff edges of a neckline (dec last stitch on previous row before bindoff then bindoff one less on the bindoff row, it rounds out the square "jog" from one bindoff row to the next).


• Fudged the recommended number of stitches for the cowl to let the twisted knit stitches line up with the knit stitches of the ribbing (probably more trouble than it was worth since the cowl hides it, anyway. But I know it's there. :)



• Used recommended needle size for first 4" of cowl neck, then increased one needle size to 5", another to 5.75", another until the 6-1/2" were reached. This increases the ending diameter of the neckline so that it has room to fold over without being tight. My neck rolls over nicely and doesn't try to crawl back up.

Caston the CPH last weekend during a soccer tournament in Kansas City. Finished most of the back during the 5 hours up and back. Now that's quality knitting time! :)