The End Is Near: Sophisticate

I had the best of intentions to finish this sweater on Christmas vacation. Yeah right, lol!

I did manage to finish both sleeves whilst traveling. (Sorry about the low light, our days are too short to get good photographs!) Here is the back view. And don’t worry the sleeves are the same length, I just didn’t get the sweater laid out very well.

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And the front view:

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All that’s left is to pick up and knit the button band and shawl collar! All in glorious knit stitch so it should go fast!

I have been knitting the medium size as that is what fit my measurements and gauge. However, trying this on (pre-blocking of course) it’s a bit tight. It fits, but I was hoping for more of a loose cozy sweater. I probably should have knit the large size or gone up a needle size on the medium. Live and learn! It will still be a lovely sweater.

That reminds me, I need to find some coordinating grosgrain ribbon! I want to reinforce the button band so that my button holes don’t sag. I’ve never done this but I have seen it lots in the blogging world. It always looks so sharp and sneaky!

This is Stashbustin’ #38 for those keeping score. I hope to finish this in the next couple of days to wrap up my 2013 year!

Holiday Hangover

This pretty much how I feel….

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I’m all Christmas’d out. Don’t get me wrong I loved every minute of it. But I’m exhausted!!! I spent five wonderful days with my husband and fur babies at my parents. It was a delightful break from the “real world” but boy did we work hard.

In five days we completed the following:

  • Butchered out 1 1/2 deer
  • Made 10 lbs of deer jerky
  • Defrosted and scrubbed all five of Grandma’s refrigerators and deep freezers (and threw 3 trash bins of crap away)
  • Baked 20 loaves of rye bread
  • Cooked three family dinners
  • And celebrated two Christmases

I got almost no knitting done, which was NOT the plan with five days off of work. I did manage to read a few chapters in the Yarn Whisperer. I took my Abalone and Sophisticate with me in hopes of finishing both. Yeah right…

We got just the slightest hint of snow so I took advantage and had some lovely walks with the fur babies. It was a nice way to take a break from the full house of shenanigans and to walk off all the holiday goodies! The dogs also LOVED the snow! Just FYI, I came home with three abominable snow creatures, lol.

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Now I take you back to your regularly scheduled knitting!

Secret Santa: The Conclusion

The exciting conclusion to Secret Santa 2013!!

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A bath set and clue #7

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A candy bar and clue #8

And finally a grand puzzle to decipher my clues and reveal the identity of my Santa…..

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And it was my coworker Michelle!! My reward for figuring it out was…….YARN!!

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Merry Christmas to all! I’m off to my parents for an old fashioned Christmas of my childhood 🙂

FO Friday: Oops I Forgot!

I had a craft fair about a week ago and though I don’t normally do custom orders around Christmas….I got suckered into one. The customer filled out the request sheet and I filed it into my purse….and promptly forgot!

I feel awful. I whipped out my needles and knit like my life depended on it. I did these two quick cowls in one evening. They are now safely in the mail to their recipients. And I now I can move on towards Christmas!

These are one of Soulemama’s Wavy Weather Cowls. Its a great easy pattern that is very well written. Perfect for a last minute Christmas gift!!

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Abalone Update

I’m onto the second skein on my Abalone! This simple knit has been going to work with me every day and getting some serious lunch time knitting.

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Being a stockinette body…I had to use the clips to keep it from curling so I could take photo, lol! Don’t worry, it will get a garter stitch border to sort out all the nasty curling. This Knit Picks Brava Bulky has been a dream to knit with. I just love the feel of the wool/acrylic blend. And the color is divine, even in stockinette!

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This is sort of a present and needs to be done in January. This will probably be my Christmas traveling knitting so I can be done with it by my deadline.

How are your deadlines coming?

WIP Wednesday: Sophisticate

Remember this cozy cardigan from long ago? Yep, it’s finally getting some knitting time since it fell to the bottom of my WIPs back in November.

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I finished the waist shaping and bottom hem in no time back in October/November. Then it fell to the bottom of my priorities. I know exactly why,. I like my sweaters to go past my waste. But I didn’t measure carefully enough when I was working the stockinette body section. I switched to garter and was several rows in when I realized it was short. Instead of ripping back I worked 3 inches of the garter border at hem instead of the pattern written 2 inches. I made the sleeve to match so all in all I don’t mind the deviation. And at least it won’t make me look like a short torso freak.

I picked it back up these past few days and I finished one sleeve and started the other. I’m making modifications from the original pattern. It is written for a totally tapered sleeve. Which is fine for a garment you don’t intend to wear anything but foundation garments under. But I want to wear this as more of outer sweater/jacket. So I’m omitting some of the decreases around the elbow.

You can see in the photo sort of what I did. I worked the first four decreases, then worked four repeats without, and finally worked the last four decreases. These makes it loose fitting on my arms and bell out slightly at the cuff. This way I can fold up the cuffs I’m working or cooking. I’m praying to the knitting gods I can make the second sleeve match (I took notes, fingers crossed).

I hope to finish this one by the end of the year, but if I don’t oh well. It’s my sweater so who cares? This is Stashbustin’ #38 for the year if you are keeping score.

Happy Knitting!