monkeys

If your a fan of Knitty, knit socks or are on Ravelry you have probably heard of the monkey socks by Cookie. I have this wonderful sock yarn by claudia handpainted in the "eat your veggies" color way that I love. I think, infact, I'd be shocked if I didn't buy it at Yarnology. So I was searching online for a good project to use that yarn for. It's been tucked away in the stash for awhile and I do really love the yarn so I feel like it needs to be laying around in a ufo state rather then tucked in the stash box. Or..even better a finished project.
I did a search on Ravelry to see what others have done with that yarn and that's when I was reminded of the monkeys. It's the most popular sock pattern on ravelry
4941 monkey socks are listed as projects it is in 2629 ques. That's a whole lot of monkeys.
Now 4941 is an odd number and I really feel like when twalking about socks we should talk in even numbers so I have added Monkey socks to my project page. Well I ever finish them? One of them for sure that's easy but two??
Today was a day of waiting, I spent hours waiting to get my car services then I spent more time waiting at the hospital. So, with all this waiting it's little projects that work best. How about a evangiline arm warmer in Malibrigo. I made one today. I just have to do the thumb and start the 2nd one. I might not even do a thumb but just bind off instead.

stackable cats.

I love this pattern. What would I do with them? no idea, but I love them. It's hard to see in the picture but the little white one has brown patches. It's so cute.
I didn't get any knitting done this weekend. I

have been ridding my bike and I haven't fallen off ,YEA!!

I need to go to the car place to get the snog check done this week so I am picking a small portable project that doesn't take too much attention. You know how it is, you don't want to listen to other peoples conversations or be distracted by the people around you but it's almost impossible in a place like that. So I need a project that keeps me busy but that I won't completly mess up on when I am thinking to myself " did she say, what I think she said"?

What I should do ,of course is pull out one of the sock projects that needs the 2nd sock. Maybe I will. I do still have that malibrogo yarn though... I guess will just have to see.

started, sort of

I started something new, well kinda. I really just did the swatch and then set it aside. I looked at the pattern and the chart is tiny. It's like a tiny little 2 inch graph with 24 rows. I think it would be a good idea to have that enlarged so I can read it without going blind. I want it to be big enough so I can 1: mark on it and 2: look at it ,in a glance just to remind myself, when I have it almost memorized. So for the weekend it's on hold. I'm not telling you what it is but I will say it's something from the last pattern post.

Finished pictures

Here it is. Done!!

Front top close up

Button close up

Sleeve close up.

Info:

Pattern is the vine lace top down cardigan by Sweaterbabe.com

Yarn is Malibrigo chunky in sealing wax, I bought 10 skiens and used all of 6 and a small amount of the 7th

I made the smallest size.

Modifications, my guage was slightly off so I have a smaller finished project. This was perfect for me, I had done the math and found that the smaller guage would give me a closer fit. The 40 inch bust on the original would have been huge on me.

I made the collar much smaller, half as many rows I believe.

I replaced most of the sleeve ribbing with the lace pattern and increased the length of the finished sleeve.

I did not do the pockets. I know I would never have used them and I didn't think they were needed.

I recommend the pattern, it was easy and well written. Thier were a 2 errors but I think they have been fixed, and they were not big problems to begin with.

Pattern love

You know how sometimes you will just see a pattern or yarn of fabric or garment and think """Ohh I love that"". That's how I feel this pattern. It's a Teva Durham pattern and I am always fascinated by her designs. It would probably look absolutly terrible on me but I keep looking at it and thinking I love that. It's on size 9 needles so that's good and it's in one of her yarns. River, I think this is one of the yarns I was so in love with the other day. What do I love about it? It's big and slochy and the lace panels on the arms and around the top are super cool.
Then there is this one, also by Teva. I really like it as well. This one is done on size 11's. That would go pretty fast. It's very large though. But maybe it could be scalled down. The smallest is a 45 1/2 inch bust. If you went down a needle size or two...

Then there is the lush and lacy cardigan that I have mentioned a few times. I love the front of this and hate the back. So...How about getting rid of the peplum "gasp" in the back and knit it flat. I think it would be so much better. So this is a maybe...am I tired of knitting sweaterbabes lace panel sweaters though. Shouldn't I be doing something summer and spring like?

Ages ago I posted this picture. It's from Antropology. I thought it was the coolect thing and when Knitty came out with nob hill I thought wow that's kinda similiar maybe that would be cool. I hated the way Nob hill felt after I finished it. It was too bulky and uncomfortable to wear.

This though is still on my mind. When the tilted duster first came out I thought the top of that looked somewhat like this. Apparently I'm not the only one because a couple of people have made the top of the tilted duster, with out all the body ,and it is very similiar.

So..why and I looking at patterns ? The malibrigo sweater has been knit and is now waiting for the dreaded blocking. I also bought the buttons so thoes will get sewn on as well. I might take a preblocked picture for everyone just to hold you over untill I get it completly finished. I started this super chunky giant Rowan sweater at 2 am this morning...don't ask.

It will be done very quickly on size 17 needles. It's kinda a problem pattern but I think it will be ok.

The name is too long

The weather has been really nice lately, very warm and spring like. That figures, because I am currently knitting this big chunky warm sweater.
It's called the Vine lace top down cardigan. The name is too long and I have to look it up everytime I want to say it because I can never remmeber it so I'm renaming it, lets call it the Malibrigo sweater untill I can come up with a better name.
Here is a picture of the pattern. I got it from the sweaterbabe website. She also has a blog.



In case you have forgotten I am using this yarn. It's Malibrigo Chunky in a color called sealing wax. This yarn is wonderful. If you haven't had the chance to use it yet but have the opportunity to get some you should. It's my current favorite yarn. It's even softer then the Rio that I love so much.

I started the sweater on wed, but only did 6 rows. I wasn't sure about the buttonholes because the first button hole is missing from the pattern, I did finally see that if you read further down the 2nd buttonhole is listed so you can just follow thoes directions. I know I know you'r supposed to read all instructions before starting a new project. WHTAEVER, I can't do that. It's just blah blah blah untill I actuall have needles and yarn in hand.

Anyway, I didn't really do much with it on thursday because I took Shalom ( to restart) with me to knit group.So what I have done so far was mostly done on friday and saturday evening. I stopped on row ....75 of the sleeves becaes I really need to be able to try them on and adjust for my long arms. The pattern has you finishing the sleeves before you continue on with the body, that's actuallu pretty clever because I don't like to knit the sleeves but I love to work on the body. Like I said though I'll have to wait and finish them when I can be sure of how long they need to be.

It's a pretty fast knit. The yellow dots in the picture are pins holding the sweater closed so you can see the lace pattern. My gauge was slighty off on this pattern but I felt like because the smallest size has a 40 inch finished bust and I don't I could still keep going. It won't have as much ease as the pattern does so mine will be more sweater like where as I think hers may be intended to be more coat like.

Side shot just because.
This pattern is alos by sweater babe. Alana at nevernotknitting and I were talking about this one. We both think it's really pretty. I'm concerned about the peplum in the back though. There are some really cute ones on ravelry though. It's also done in pieces so that would slow down the process but it's very pretty. I wonder if you could do it in the round and take off the peplum?

opps

opps. started another project...maybe two even.
I went looking for a yarn for Blush by Kess Tay. It was in the newest Magknits. Oh but don't bother looking for it there because crazy as it sounds, just what....two weeks after the newest issue came out they took down the site. When I contacted Kess she said she would have it posted on her site so go check it out there. I didn't find a good yarn for that pattern but I did find a great yarn for the Vine lace top down cardigan from sweaterbabe. The color is called sealing wax but I think it should be called saffron or cinnabar or something spicy.
I started it right away, and except for the 15 pages of pattern and the flipping back and forth between pages I think it's going to be pretty easy. I am ever so slighty off on gauge but the pattern tells me the finished bust on the smallest size is 40 inches that's a great deal larger then my " finished" bust size so I should be fine.

Ages ago I wrote about the Giselle pattern from Stitch diva studios. I waited patiently for the pattern to come out and the imediately purchased it but then I couldn't find a good yarn to use. It looks like I may have found one. Thanks to Alana at http://nevernotknitting.blogspot.com/.

I am going to swatch soon and then will see if it works. It's actually the same yarn I

tried to use for the Basalt tank, but couldn't get it to work. I would have just got more of that color and then use what I have but they didn't have it anymore. I don't have nearly enough of that to make a sweater so I bought enough in a different color. This will proabably work out well because the problem with the yarn was that it was too flowy and drapey for the complicated structure of the tank. The Giselle cardigan needs to be drapey and soft.

It's done!!

This is Talia from the newest Knitty.
I used Manos del Uraguay in Thistle. I have a ton of yarn left over but I don't remember if I bought 4 or 5 hanks. I have two left over. My cousin made the pretty beaded necklace. I'll have to take a better picture of that.
I was afraid it was going to be too tight across the bust but the lace section really opens up when you block it. The dress form is bigger then I am in the hips and waist

but it still fits me well. Tried to take a close up of the cool buttons I have been saving for years. They have seahorses on them.

Yea!!! Happy dance!! Now what.

Yarn Yarn and more yarn

My favorite yarn shop is going out of business. It's very sad. On the up side I have been able to get some great yarns for cheap. This was the bag of yarn I originally pulled aside to buy during the big sale. I added a few others since then. The manos I used for Tahlia, the rio for slipper boots, the cashmere just because.

In the picture you can see: grey Rowan wool cotton ( for the pullover in crochet me) Black Rowan calmer (for the pullover in knitting nature ) Purple Cascade Eco wool (for central park hoodie if there is enough) Dark red 2 skiens of Rio de la plata ( for another cabled hat, maybe the stitch diva one) Kollage Dreamy (for a tank either my own design or the stitch diva cecilia chemise) Red Schlana bamboo yarn ( Ok I have no plan I just really liked the color of this yarn)

In knitting news Tahlia is soooo close to being done. I just need to finish the neckline edging and figure out how to block it. Ohhh and get buttons, I'll do that tuesday.

learning something new

This is my bike. Very cool, don't you think ? They spent alot of time at the bike shop fitting it and adjusting it to my size so it fits me like it was made for me. I love it. I can't wait to take it on a long ride, one with lots of hills. These are my new pedals. Great color, totally matches the bike.

These are my totally cool ridding shoes, also match the bike. They are very comfortable.

Only one problem, these shoes clip into thoes pedals. So you are attached to the bike while ridding. There are all knids of advantages to this. That's what people are telling me anyway. This is the street, this is what you land on when you don't get your shoe unclipped from the pedal before comming to a complete stop. This is why I love the bike the shoes, but NOT the pedals.

I landed good and hard. I hate the idea of being attached to the bike and I wish I had got back on and went for another ride after falling yesterday. Now all I can think about is hitting the ashalt if I can get unclipped. I'll get it figured out though because I'm not one to quit. I like a challange, I just don't like to be bruised and scraped.

Thankfully, I've got D to help me practice the clips before I hit the road again. Oh and because it's raining I can put it off another day. Otherwise wish me luck and stock up on the band aids.