Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Finished Baby Surprise Jacket, Breeze, and Shawls

I was very happy to finish the Baby Surprise Jacket. I'm one who is not fond of seaming but the seaming of this project was not bad at all. I did become a little annoyed with having to weave in ends from the color changes. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons I shy away from color work.

I still haven't decided if I'm going to felt the sweater or not. Until I decide I won't be blocking the sweater or adding buttons.




Specs:

Pattern - Baby Surprse Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmermann, found in Knitting Workshop, the Opinionated Knitter, and there is a DVD devoted to this pattern

Yarn - Paton Classic Wool in three different shades of Denim. I believe I have enough left to knit another BSJ.

Modifications - None, though I may add a collar later

Began - End of June

Finished - Early September

Recipient - I knit this out of interest in seeing the jacket magic happen. Currently, there is no intended recipient.

Notes - The pattern is written in a chatty fashion so sometimes I wasn't sure if I was following the pattern correctly. I performed my increases in a manner that I don't like and when I knit this pattern again I will change the way they were done.

Satisfaction - I'm pretty satisfied. I'm planning to knit the pattern again at some point. I feel more comfortable with the pattern and EZ's writing style. I bought a skein of Sockotta to make a light weight BSJ for a newborn or a doll.
Now I'd want to try to tackle some of EZ's other items as well as writing a personal pattern based upon measurements but will probably wait until I have a few more items knit to use as a reference.



Meanwhile, I've cast-on for the Breeze footies at least 10 times. I keep doing something wrong. Either I drop a stitch, split the yarn, or knit the wrong row of the pattern. I think I'm back on track now. Photos will be posted...eventually.

Until I'm sure I won't have to rip again, I'll probably hold off on pictures. In the meantime, here's a photo of the first error which happened because my row gauge changed. I had a heel flap that was almost twice the size it needed to be because I failed to measure the thing and blindly knit the specified number of rows.



Maureen of Batty for Yarn asked about how I liked the Panda Cotton. Wholeheartedly, I love it! It's so very soft. Unfortunately, it incredibly splitty. The plies don't stay together well at all. The knitted swatch feels wonderful, though. Because the yarn is so soft, I'm a little concerned about durability but I'm told bamboo is strong fiber. I'm looking forward to finishing these footies!

Coming up are the Icarus Shawl and the Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl.

I've been wanting to knit a shawl for way too long and now is the time to just start. I have to choose the yarn for the Icarus Shawl. I have some Jaggerspun Zephyr in a few colors and I'll choose soon. I thought I had decided but, finicky lady that I am, I changed my mind.

For the FF Comfort Shawl, I decided to knit it in Cotton-Ease for ease of care. I want a worsted weight yarn for a thicker shawl as my office is always freezing. I also wanted something washable and to be able let my son who has ultra sensitive skin use it as a blanket on car rides.

On the home front, we had a birthday gathering for my son and once again we're swimming in cake.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Breeze Progress

I'm almost finished the heel of the first sock. My kniting time has not been as plentiful as I would hope but I am happy to be able to squeeze knitting in when I can. I'm knitting the Breeze footies in Panda Cotton. Although I really like the yarn, the cables are a little lost in the colors. My first choice to knit these socks was a solid color in this yarn but I discovered I hadn't purchased any.

The Panda Cotton is extremely soft but splits very easily. I've managed to work around this drawback.

I'm becoming somewhat of a one-project-at-a-time person. Since I don't get much time to knit, this is the only way I get anything projects finished.

I'm looking forward to seeing a finished sock. I'm wondering if the pattern in the foot portion will be lost in th yarn color as well. If they are, I'm okay with it. I just want to knit.

I haven't had a chance to upload the photos of the finished BSJ. ONce I have, I'll post them with pictures of the Breeze progress.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

...And there were pictures

A quick but photo-packed post...
(Click on any photo for a larger view.)

As promised, pictures:

First, the BSJ. This is a photo before the blocking and seaming.

I discovered what I was doing wrong on my increases but I will not be frogging. Plus, it's not too bad.

Next up, supplies for the current project, Breeze.

I'm swatching with 3's but will probably need 4's because I knit very tightly. I like the Panda Cotton in spite of the splitting issues.

Happy Birthday to....lots of us!

August is a big birthday month for us. We actually have a quite a few in July and September as well.

The first cake you see here is the cake from my husband's birthday party which turned into an event for five of us.


The second cake is my husband's personal cake. As you can probably tell, he's quite the Mets fan, hence the Mets cake.





Thirdly, my cake. A friend of ours surprised me with this adorable cake. I did not want to cut it.


Last, but not the least of the August cakes is the cake for another relative. It was made by the same person who made the hat and yarn cakes.


In case you couldn't guess, we're swimming in cake...and my son's birthday is in September.

Wishing you all happy days ahead!

Friday, September 07, 2007

Tomorrow, I think there will be pictures

I finished knitting the BSJ. Now I have to seam, weave-in ends and decide if I want to add buttons now or later.

I'm planning to post pictures either today or tomorrow, as soon as I find that doggone USB chord to upload the pictures. I could probably take out the memory stick to upload the pictures but I don't like doing that. I'm always to concerened about accidentally damaging it, inserting it incorrectly into the camera or the computer causing a jam, or mispacing it.

It's important now that I decide what to start next.

I went to Knitting Sisters to pick up some Panda Cotton to start Breeze socks but they had sold out of all of it and had not reordered any. I do have some in my stash but I had ear-marked it for a different project. I have some Jaggerspun in several shades to use for a shawl and the yarn for Cheesylove is just waiting...

Speaking of Knitting Sisters, they are celebrating their 4th Anniversary. I went Thursday specifically for the Annniversary Celebration and to look for Evelyn Clark's book and the Panda Cotton yarn.

Hopefully, I'll get the BSJ seamed today or tomorrow and will finally make the decision on the next project. I have no idea why making this decision is so tough for me right now!