I think I will start this off with what the Knitmore Girls call: "When knitting attacks". A while back, last summer to be exact, I knit the Masquerade Cardigan by Louisa Harding. Despite thinking I got gauge and holding the pieces up numerous times to see if they fit, the cardigan ended up being too small for me. It went into time-out for a good two months, because I just did not want to deal with it. About a week ago, I decided that the cardigan really needed a new loving home and offered it to one of my favorite knitting podcasters where it now lives. If you want to see it in all it's glory just watch the first few Minutes of Stockinette Zombies Episode 16, where you can see Megan wearing it. It made me so very happy to see her wear it! Yeah!
The cardigan-fit-mishap has, however, by no means deterred me from trying to knit another garment. This one was "requested" by a friend of mine, that one weekend decided that I was going to knit him a sweater. And so I am. I am about half-way, maybe a little more, through the Joukahainen by Kristel Nyberg. It is a really really fun knit. And I could not be happier with how it is turning out. I am checking gauge constantly on this one and hopefully it will fit. Currently I am knitting everything up to the row before you decrease to join arms and body together so that I can take it with me to the city and have said friend try it on. We will see how it goes. And I will post pictures once it is more than rows and rows of gray stockinette ;) I have to give a big virtual "Thank you" though to the authors of The Perfect Finish - A no-nonsense guide to finishing techniques for knitters of every level which was edited by Kara Gott Warner. I picked this book up in Mid-January and read through the instructions and tips section in one weekend. It was so helpful and enlightening. Just the little things that you basically go "Why did I not think of this before" after you read them. Anyway, I think that without this book my swatching for Joukahainen would have gone terribly wrong and probably jeopardized the entire project. So give it a look if you get a chance.
I also finished three pairs of socks. All for me, as I am so in love with my hand-knit socks that I don't really want to wear anything else anymore. The first one is a Cookie A. pattern from her book Knit.Sock.Love.. The pattern is called Cusp and is knit in some Knitpicks Stroll Multi in Sunset.
The next two socks are plain vanilla socks with an afterthought heel in self-striping yarn. The first pair I call my sock-monkey socks made out of Hiwassee Creek Dyework's Sassafras Sock base in, wait for it, the color Sock Monkey (yes I know I was very creative in the naming of my socks, right?). I absolutely love Christy's yarn. And I may have ordered two or five more skeins of it ;)
The other pair is also from Hiwassee Creek Dyework's yarn. This time it is in the Twinkle Toe base in the colorway Black Ice. So creative as I am they are my Black Ice Socks. And I also love this one... LOVE!!!
And I am happy to say there is even a stuffie to report. I knit another giraffe from Sarah Keen's Knitted Wild Animals. It was a gift again. So Mr. Giraffe is no longer with me, but found a new home with a newborn a few towns over. It is really amazing I have now knit 6 out of the 15 patterns, three of which I have done twice... I just really enjoy making these and they are so perfect for baby gifts.
And that is all for tonight I think. More coming soon....
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