Entering the home stretch - another project done!

Pattern: Cherie Amour, modified to become a skirt
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky
Needles: Size 13, 9, 8 Boyle Circs
Started: August 8th, 2008
Finished: August 23th, 2008
I just finished weaving in ends on my Hiipie Tunic Turned Skirt - and folks, it is fantastic! I love how soft it is, and it holds it's shape well dispite being a little heavy. The lace at the bottom keeps it from being too warm. Also, the hint of purple in the color will go nicely with the plums and grapes I've seen for fall. I can't wait to buy a new top to go with it!

I had to bind off SUPER loose to allow it to stretch as much as the fibbing does.

Here you can kind of see the yoke "pannel." Next time, I think I'll start those decreases sooner and make the yoke a little deeper.
Ta Da!

1st Gold Medal Finisher!

Alright! I finished my Toddler socks, which turned out to be more premie than toddler. Here is Zeke modeling them for me:


And here they are in all their glory. I thought the stripes matched fairly well. However, I do believe one is a row shorter than the other one. It's barely noticeable, but it kind of bothers me.

Pattern: Stephanie's Fixation Baby Socks
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Needles: Size 3 Susan Bates
Started: August 8th, 2008
Finished: August 20th, 2008

I still have 38g of this yarn left. One could easily make 3 or 4 pairs from a single ball. Enough for me for now though - I have to finish my other projects!

Steady as she goes

Neil took this picture of me this afternoon. Apparently, I knit in my sleep now.

I'm up to the gusset stitches on my Tiger Pants. I'll finish that and graft tomorrow, and then start on the legs.

For only 5 days into the knitting olympics, I think I'm doing quite well. My biggest obstacle will be if I don't pace myself on the longies and the socks. I know I can get those done lickity split, but if I do I will have only the tunic to finish out the competition. I prefer to have more variety in my knitting day to ward off boredom and sore hands.


I'm crusing right along on the Hippie Tunic - I'm now up to the ribbed waistband. Two days of 2x2 should cheer me up to go back to the lace pattern....
...Oh, great. Just realized I forgot to change needle sizes three rows ago when I switched into the ribbing... Argh! I'm going to have to rip that back and switch needles. :( At least it's only 3 rows.

Great Expectations

With all this knitting olympic fever in the house, I decided it was time for some ground rules. Specifically, ground rules related to the other people in my house, in support of my knitting. I found a great list of Support Team Roles and Responsibilities, published by Megknitficent. It clearly outlines what I expect of DH and the kids during this period of extreme knitting.

What event is this?

I had to break out my calculator today. Apparently my math is rustier than I thought, because I had figured out the short rows for my Tiger pants and the repeats for my Hippie Tunic all wrong. Apparently I was planning on knitting dresses for Zeke and I, instead of pants and a tunic. I had 78 rounds for Zekes pants instead of 35 (forgot to divide in half for front and back and allow for short rows in back), and I had 31 repeats of the lace pattern instead of 31 rounds in the lace pattern for the Hippie Tunic.

I discovered all this when figuring out how much knitting I need to do each day to finish on time. With my incorrect numbers, the task seemed very daunting. Now that I have everything worked out right (hopefully), it seems much more manageable.

I'm nearly finished with my first pair of baby socks!

I think the next pair I'll knit a little bigger, as these are a little short for my big footed baby. Have I mentioned before their shoe sizes? At 37 months, Jackson wears a toddler 10. At 19 months, Nicholas wears a toddler 6 (he has very thick ankles). I have no idea what size Zeke is, but I figure he's on par, since his feet are quite long. These socks will work for him for a little while, but not too long.


I had to rip back a few rows on these to reposition the short rows. Can you see how beautiful the Malabrigo stitches are? They're so uniform and smooth... I love it.

I'm about 10% done with the Hippie Tunic. I need to knit aproximately 15 rounds a day to finish before the Olympics are over. So far, I'm on track.

I love the pattern. It reminds me of a crochet afgan my mother once made. I think that's how I associate it so well with "hippie." I do keep thinking I should have knit it in hemp...

Keep watching, I hope to have my first FO tomorrow!

Opening Ceremonies

I watched the beginning and ending of Opening Ceremonies last night. It was spectacular! I saw the 2008 drummers (that's two-thousand eight musicians/artists) with the syncronized drumming. I loved the colors - the gold and red together. I may have to look for some yarns in a similar colorway. Anyway they were all together, perfectly syncronized. Their drumsticks and drums lit up as well. It was REALLY cool.
I cast on for Tiger Pants and for Hippie Tunic. Pictures are forthcoming - a friend borrowed my camera for a wedding. Anyway, casting on for Tiger Pants was hell - my figures were off. The directions say you need an even number of stitches, but I found I needed stitches divisible by 4 for the 2x2 ribbing. I ripped it out 3 times before i finally got it right. I'm now past the ribbing and the first set of short rows, and it's looking good! I have no doubt that it will be finished in time.
The Hippie Tunic didn't give me quite as much trouble, except that I cast on a little tight and the first row is a lace pattern row. I had a hard time with the ssks and k2togs. That I also had to rip back about 70 stitches on. I believe that when you first start a project, it is important to start it right to build a good foundation for what is to come. I insist on fixing small problems that I would probably let slide later in my knitting.
I'm going shopping later for needles for the baby socks. I have to decide if I want to Magic Loop them or use DPNs for size 3s. Any preferences? Maybe bamboo?
Oh yes. I went to AuneGirl's for the Opening Ceremony for the knitting olympics. It was a great party! HiLite had some music selected, and she and AuneGirl had a torch ceremony all planned out. I made some Sweet Taffy Apple Tartlets for everyone.