I love this little dress! Like everything I’ve knit recently, it’s making wasn’t without a near-disaster. It was almost ruined when I put it on the little ungrateful toddler and she had a screaming fit and yanked at it so hard that she totally stretched out the buttonholes and I was afraid for the hand-stitching. Luckily it survived (with lots of buttonhole reinforcement) but not until I took a time-out from her,’ though lying down on my comfy bed while’ mentally fixing I dress I just finished making and trying to tune out the sobs of “mamaaa, mamaaa” and little toddler fists pounding on my door is not very relaxing.

I shouldn’t have been too surprised. She was crying just seconds before I took this picture, I thought she was going to ruin this sweater with the yanking at the neckline the first time I put it on her and she even had a fit when I first made her wear this little cardigan and it’s made of cashmere and silk! What a terrible mom I am. She doesn’t cry about new store bought clothes so I’m trying really hard to not take this personally. At least she gets over it and is usually more cooperative by the second wearing.

The pattern is the Two Summer Sundressand it’s pretty darn clever. The straps can uncross to add a little more length and the straps have 2 buttonholes too. This one can grow with the kid. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash so the whole thing can go in the washer. I will definitely make more of these, although I may have to try machine sewing my knitting, something I’ve been avoiding. I hand-sewed the skirt to the bodice but it was a little tedious.

Finally, a sunny day and a willing husband! Here are pictures of the cardigan I finished last month. I would show you my face but it was sunny and I’m all squinty. I love it (the cardigan, not the squinty face). It’s so simple and cute and warm but not too warm. It’s just a basic top-down raglan and I saw the horseshoe lace pattern on this cardigan and loved it so I added it to mine. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to close it so I employed the knit-now, decide-later method and as it turns out, I can just shove the buttons through the knitting so no buttonholes are necessary. Simple and easy.

The best part?’ I got this fabulous hand-painted yarn (blue mountain fiber arts icelandic) in a yarn swap! The color in the first pic is more accurate. Someone took my crap and I got this. It’s hard to imagine it being someone’s crap but then again, that’s probably what someone is saying about my unwanted yarn.

One more thing I love- signs of spring!! It really is coming.

I like this picture of the new team waving bye to Bush.I’m happy for our country and eager to see what Obama does in the months ahead.

As for me?’ I’m one year older and hopefully wiser and probably a little heaver due to the delightful coconut cake Mike made me from scratch. He really is the best.

I’ve been knitting’ more sweaters. Today is my mom’s birthday (Happy birthday, Mom!) and I knit her this fabulous little cardigan. It is both good and bad that we are about the same size. Good because she lives in another state so she couldn’t try it on and see if all my modifications were going to work. Bad because the sweater now fits me perfectly and I really want it for myself! I’m happy to give it away because my mom deserves it and I know she’ll love it.

It’s Bianca’s Jacket from IK, and from the moment I saw it in the magazine, I knew it would be perfect for my mom, though I made some big changes. The yarn is Ella Rae Shibu (90% silk, 10% viscose). My gauge was off so I had to account for that. Luckily I could get the right numbers to have the lace pattern work out right without too much fudging.

I knitted the body straight, instead of a-line because that’s what my mom prefers. I also made the cuffs narrower then the pattern called for. The jacket is pretty short as written so I added quite a few inches to both the sleeves and body. The sleeves are now bracelet length and I’m hoping they’ll be that length on my mom too because I think it’s really pretty.

Oh, and the best part about this little sweater?’ It only took me 3 weeks to knit! (Better then 2 years, right Mike?)’ I then had to carry it around with me for a week while I looked for buttons andI thought it would never dry after I blocked it so I still ended up putting it in the mail at the last minute.

It started about 2 years ago with Mike picking out his yarn, and hours spent finding The Right Pattern. He settled on the Spartan Pullover from IK, but wanted it to be a cardigan and the design at the bottom to be a little simpler. I did the alterations, started knitting and it became apparent that the size wasn’t working. I frogged it and refused to start on it again for a while. I eventually scrapped that pattern and that led to more time spent finding The Right Pattern #2. Mike’s a little particular but I don’t really mind because the end result is that he wears his handknits and loves them. Here’s the first blog mention I can find about this sweater. ‘ The sleeves I say I’m done knitting were part of the frogged version. That was almost 2 years ago! Apparently I started on this final version back in May. Pattern #2, the winning pattern, is Avast from Knitty, but when I started knitting the cabled band that goes around the bottom, we both decided that it was a little wimpy. I found some better cables and pretended to let Mike pick, but I vetoed his choice and went with this one because it’s what I wanted to knit. Hey, the knitter should get some say in the matter. In fact, I don’t even think Mike would remember that this wasn’t his fist choice except that now I’m reminding him.

Have you knit a sweater for a grown man before?’ It’s a lot of stockinette. There were many times this got pushed to the back of the line, like when little sesame was born, or when summer came around (for the 2nd time) and I realized he wouldn’t wear it right now anyway so why hurry finish now?

The weather got cold again and the guilt grew, as did the demands from Mike that it be finished. I started working on it again then realized that any simplicity caused by knitting it in the round (no seams!) was completely offset by all the turned under edgings (so many seams!). It was worth it because the edges look awesome.

Then there was the blocking, the measuring and the ordering of the zipper (all easy) followed by the waiting for the custom zipper to arrive (hard because we’re both fairly impatient at times).

Finally, every last edge is sewn under, ends woven in, pesky armpit holes sewn shut, zipper sewn, more edging seamed and he’s worn it twice in a week! Ahhh.’ The relief of being done, and of it being a success, is fabulous.

I opted to forgo the hood and I’m really happy with it. I used just about 5 skeins of Cascade 220. I didn’t do the i-cord edging either. Instead, I did 2×1 ribbing, so it isn’t very obvious ribbing. I liked the neat edge that the i-cord gives but didn’t want to deal with trying to get it not to roll. I also changed the sleeves a little by not decreasing as much. I did 10 decrease rows instead of the 13 (I think) the pattern called for. I did one sleeve with the specified decreases and it was way too tight at the wrist. I also lengthened the sleeves and body just a little. Here I am cutting down my Christmas tree, being careful not to get any sap on the sweater! For the collar, I just picked up stitches did 2×1 ribbing as well and continued the cables to the edge. have I said that I love this sweater?

I also have been furiously knitting a stocking for the babe. I really wanted her to have one this year, even though she wouldn’t know the difference.This is me knitting furiously at about 2 in the afternoon today. I wouldn’t let Mike open his stocking until she had hers all done so I was under some pressure. I decided on the stocking from this year’s holiday IK. I used Wildfoote sock yarn (double-stranded) in red and white and also a little bit of Knit Picks Essentials in the cranberry color. I used the darker red for the middle few rows of each chart. I didn’t do the top row of snowflakes and put her name on it instead. It needs a good blocking but I love, love, love it and am so happy I finished it before Christmas was over!

So, I took another picture. This is a different day and it was really cold and windy and I just wanted to hurry up and get the picture taken. That’s why I have a stupid look on my face. But you can see the buttons on the side. When I knitted the sweater, I didn’t think about having to sew on 14 buttons. 14! I hate sewing buttons but I managed to get it done. I also knit Mike a new hat since he claimed his grey one doesn’t match his brown coat. Apparently green is a much more fashionable choice. He wanted a tank on it so that’s what he got. It’s made with a mystery alpaca yarn. I lost the label. If you need to know, I can probably figure it out but you probably don’t care that much. He likes it and now he doesn’t have to be a walking fashion faux pas with his grey hat and brown clothes. I also knit a cardigan for sesame. Well, it started out as a cardigan for my coworkers baby. Her shower is in a few days. I kept thinking of things to add to the cardigan to make it cuter and tonight I realized I needed to keep it. I’m not really that close to this particular coworker and it just seemed too nice to give her. It would have felt awkward to give someone I don’t know very well this little cardigan that clearly took a lot of time and effort to make. So sesame gets it! Since I do need a gift, I’m going to part with the Miss Dashwood I knit for sesame. I have another skein of that yarn so I can knit another for sesame.

I used Bernat cotton tots and followed the pattern for the kimono cardigan in the summer 2005 issue of IK. The Ik cardigan is in garter stitch but I don’t really like knitting garter stitch so I altered it for stockinette. To keep the edges from rolling, I sewed satiny blanket binding to the inside edges. It’ll be soft against little baby’s skin.
Last but not least, little sesame will need socks- cute socks! This pattern was also in the summer 2005 Ik but several similar baby socks are free online at Interweave Knit’s website. These are with Wildfoote sock yarn and I used size 0 needles. Before I knit them, I thought these might become my baby shower gift of choice (I have 3 pregnant coworkers!) but that won’t be the case. I realized I don’t like using size 0 dpns, and I like cabling using size 0 dpns even less. It sure made for some cute little socks, though!

I’m still working on the diamond trellis scarf, one repeat at a time. My new project is the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I’m not really knitting it as a shawl, though. I’m using Devon from Elann. It’s 100% wool that they call unshrinkable. That seems like it should mean superwash but they say to handwash it. It’s really soft and nice to knit. The color is called mineral green but Mike insists it’s blue. Whatever it is, I like it! It’s sport weight so I’m making a light blanket instead of a shawl. I love the look of shawls but don’t really see myself wearing one anytime soon.

Speaking of femininity, I mentioned last time that I have a solution for my too-big, super-feminine “modern bustier.” I haven’t yet fixed it, though. I need a little distance from it right now. I’m mad at it for being too big but it’ll eventually show up fixed.

I have a backlog of pictures to share with you so my letter M is going to be a couple of things- Monolith and Mt. St. Helens. In the last week, I’ve been to both of these famous Pacific Northwest landmarks. Last weekend my mom came up from California and we had a girl’s weekend at the beach and went here.It’s Haystack Rock, the 3rd largest Monolith in the world. A monolith is a feature that is made up of a single stone or rock (what’s the difference?) and this one is 235 feet tall! It’s in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Supposedly, puffins live on it but I didn’t see any. My mom and I had a great weekend and it was so pretty at the beach! Today, Mike and I went to Mt. St. Helens – the volcano that erupted in 1980. It used to be pointy on the top but that blew off in 1980 and covered the area in massive amounts of ash. This web site has some cool pictures of it erupting.

Today we went to the Ape Cave Lava Tubes. It’s a giant underground tunnel that was created by a lava flow when the volcano erupted somewhere around 2000 years ago. It was so cool! We climbed over huge boulder piles, navigated out way around puddles and had to wear sweatshirts and long pants even though it was 80 degrees today (it was cool 42 degrees in the cave). All of this in total darkness. Well, we had headlamps and a mag light but it was still dark! When we turned of our lights, I couldn’t even see my hand when it was inches form my face. It was cool. Here are the best pictures we managed to take. I have a new knitting project but I think I’ve posted enough pictures for today and there’s really not much to show yet, anyway.

In other news, I’m behind in the ABC-along (again) so here is my F photo. F is for Farm Fresh. I belong to a CSA, which stands for community supported agriculture. In my case, I’m a member of the 47th Ave Farm in Portland and every 2 weeks inthe winter months and every week in the summer months I get a bunch of seasonal, locally grown, organic produce. Here is part of today’s share.
Clockwise: Sprouting broccoli florets, rosemary, broccoli raab (actually not related to broccoli!), the prettiest head of cabbage ever, an entire salad bowl of kale and purple broccoli. We also got potatoes, onions and parsnips. I love veggies!
Support local farmers and get organic veggies by finding a CSA in your area!

Pattern: Jesse’s Flames from Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation
Yarn: Lions Brand Wool-ease. Not my favorite yarn but the sweater is soft and arm and Mike likes it. What more do I need?
Changes I made: A lot. My guage was really different than the pattern. Luckily I like math so it all worked out. I made it a little longer because Mike wanted it that way and left out the red stripes around the cuffs and neckband because, again, Mike wanted it that way. He really wanted the yellow edging around the flames that the sweater had but when I started duplicate stitching it on, we both agreed that it looked really sloppy. It wasnt my fault (really!), it’s just that the yellow didn’t cover the black very well so it didn’t look crisp and nice at all. Looking closely at the picture in the book, you can tell it looks kind of sloppy there, too. That’s not a good sign. Mike was disappointed about not having the yellow but I think he’s over it now. If you’re thinking of making this, I recommend knitting the yellow in intarsia even though it’s only one stitch wide. You’ll appreciate it when it’s done.
What I learned: How to do intarsia! And that it’s not hard! Although I think that more colors would challenge my coordination. I also have come to the conclusion that neckbands suck. I have never knitted one right the first time and this was no exception. Maybe someday I’ll get one right on the first try. I also learned that knitting something as complicated as a sweater for a man is really interesting. I loved knitting for Mike but the next thing he’s getting is a smaller project.

I finally finished my gyrid top! Here it is! I didn;t mean to not show my face in the pictures but I was using the self-timer and that one happened to be the best picture of the shirt but I didn’t have it lined up right to get my face.
The finishing was the hardest part because a lot went wrong! Nothing I couldn’t fix, though. I seamed the sides and knitted the neckline a few nights ago and then tried it on, expecting it to be fabulous and was very disappointed to see that it bunched a lot around the bottom of the waist. It was pretty bad. That was the biggest problem and it was totally my fault too. I discovered after I had knitted a fair amount of the front that there was an error in the pattern and instead of knitting for 3 inches before starting the waist shaping, I should have only knitted 1 1/4 inches. I didn’t want to start over, naturally, so I assumed it wouldn’t really matter only to discover that it really did matter. So, when I thought I was done I had to go back and rip out the first 15 rows on each piece, and reknit the bottom edge. The result is that it’s about an inch shorter than it was originally but it’s okay. I also had to knit the neckline 3 times because it was too bunchy and scratchy and then it was bound off too tightly and didn’t stretch enough but I finally got it right!

Here are the details:

Pattern: Gyrid from Elsebeth Lavold’s book ‘The Viking Knits Collection’
Yarn: Silky wool (actually the same yarn the pattern was written for- that hardly ever happens!)
Knit for: My lovely mother
Changes I made: I made the armholes 1 inch shorter that the pattern was written and added 1″ to the body to keep it the same length. I also knit the bottom edge and neckline with size 5 needles instead of size 4. I picked up way more stitches around the neckline than the pattern called for because it was too bunchy with the ‘correct’ number of stitches. Finally, I added a cable detail on the back because it was too boring for my taste. The cable pattern was from the same pattern book.
Lessons learned: Look for errata BEFORE starting a project! That was a hard lesson. Because of my error I unraveled from the cast-on edge for the 1st time. I learned that it’s much more tedious but less difficult than I had thought it would be.

That’s all, folks! I hope my mom appreciates it come Christmas!