knittin' knews!

my needles have been flyin' - not necessarily with knitin' but with froggin'. seems that the yarn that i am determined (never come between a knitter and her yarn!) to be using at this time has not been as cooperative as i would like! i can't blame it all on the yarn, i must take some of the blame for my apparent stupidity (like not checking exactly how much yarn was required for the project and how much i actually had in my stash!). so after knitting about two inches of the sweater with one ball of yarn, the light bulb goes on and i decide that it might be wise to check my stash and see exactly how much of this yarn i have available (and, at the same time check the pattern for the yardage needed - i can be sooooo dense sometimes!). after digging around, it took just a few seconds for me to see that this would not be a happnin' sweater with this yarn! arghhhhh!
so, where is this leading? well, i must tell you about ravelry.com (if you are a knitter, you must sign up for THIS website). i am lovin' it!! since i was a few balls short of being able to knit the aforementioned sweater i trotted on over to the yarn tab and entered the name of my yarn and "presto", just like that i had a gazillion examples of items made with that yarn. after sorting through a ton of wash clothes (what is it with all of those knitted wash clothes?), i found several sweater (or jumpers as the english refer to them) ideas that would accommodate my ball count.
soooo...off i go on my new adventure in knitting! oh boy!!! i'm happy now!

whaz up?

i mean really, where have i been!! well, unfortunately, not anywhere exotic but right here at my abode and within close proximity!! i am just amazed, more so each and every day, at how quickly time seems to fly!! gosh, seems like only yesterday when i last posted but it looks like it has been a couple of weeks!

whaz up on the knitting front? a frustrating adventure in knitting the cabaret raglan by norah gaughan from the book, the best of interweave knits. i frogged and reknit the front not once, twice or even three times but five times before i completed it without any errors!! i must say that i was just a tad psycho by the time i finished it correctly but, in hindsight, it was a learning experience and isn't that really what it is all about? a major accomplishment was that i knit a gauge swatch in advance! not really something that i do willingly or often but something that i really must do as i seem to knit very loosely. i ended up using needles two sizes smaller! with that tad bit of knowledge under my belt, i swatched my next sweater on needles two sizes smaller than called for and, presto, i had the appropriate gauge! yippee!! on my needles right now is the two-tone ribbed shrug from the book, fitted knits, by stefanie japel. i'm using a cotton yarn by cherry tree hill that is needling soooo nicely! just a pleasure to knit!

when not with needles in hand, i've been engrossed with another type of needle, that found in my sewing machine. i have a niece who will be walking down the aisle this may so in honor of this event i have been piecing a wedding quilt for her and her intended. it actually went together quite nicely - i'll post pictures when it returns from the machine quilter extraordinaire! by this time in my life i've figured out that i am a last minute type person (i must like the pressure!) so i'll probably by sewing on the quilt binding as i head to the wedding ceremony!! speaking of last minute operations, i am also going to make myself a dress for the wedding. i hope to accomplish that task next week! pray for me!!

sooooo french!

bonjour! ahhhh, mon petit!! here it is - beret gaufre by veronik avery, knit out of that fabulous alpaca yarn from whiteviolet farm alpacas, sisters of providence of saint mary-of-the-woods. soooo soft and oh, soooo french!! i love the way it fits (very slouchy!) and the way it feels - soft and lightweight and warm! and the best part - it's reversible!! the stitch pattern is so simple yet so stunning with a bonus - the wrong side is also a beautiful pattern! and a real no-brainer - row 1: k 1;p 1. row 2: k. that's it!! i see a great future for this pattern stitch - think sweaters, socks....

you may be thinking that it is way too late in the season to be wearing this hat but, oh contrare, apparently not so in the great northwest! after a week of delightful pre-spring weather, the real spring arrived cold and wet! and i mean cold - cold enough for snow! snow at the end of march - most unusual for this neck of the woods!! all of my daffodils that were standing so tall and proud the prior week were downtrodden and sullen throughout the week of wet cold. they did snap out of it once somewhat 'normal' weather made a brief appearance earlier this week but, alas, now we are back to rain, rain and more rain!! that's fine by me as i wouldn't have my beautiful garden and lovely plants if it weren't for the liquid sunshine! and besides, i did get the lawn mowed before the deluge began! yeah!!