No three day weekend for me.

For alot of people this is a three day weekend but for me I have one day off. One day to do , who knows how many loads of laundry, buy groceries, wander the isles of the hardware store with the man of the house, and spend quality family time with Gin, and still knit something. I doubt any knitting will get done. I made brownies after work last night so Gin is pretty happy . I started the laundry first thing this morning so that's on its way. Now it's off to do some shopping. This is the sleeve of the vogue sweater, laying on the partially done body. I would love to get another repeat on the 2nd sleeve done today.

Here we have the brocade sweater. I am ......to the part were you need to start the waist shapping. This is going to knit group this week. I have my fingers crossed that I am going to knit group this week. I could probably get a good portion of it done there.

STRESSSSSS

I have some stress. I have alot of STRESS. I really should be knitting. Knitting is a good stress reliever. I haven't had time to knit though, because I have too many stressfull things to deal with at the moment. If I did have time to knit I would be doing the following projects.

Currently on my needles and in an active stage I have:
The vogue sweater it's #28 in the newest vogue. I think I have been calling it the green cabled sweater. i have the body up to wear the sleeves get joined and one sleeve and 1/3 of a sleeve.

The walk in the Woods. Still working on the back. Please ,please tell me I left a note of where I left off.

The brocade sweater by weaverknits I have about 4 inches or so. I just pulled this out again today to work on it. It's a super easy mindless quick project. This will probably be my knit group project when I get to return to knit group.

Trinity the vest...I have it on hold. No real reason.

I swatched for the "estes vest" in interweave and for the "favorite cardigan" from custom knits.

The red hat for Ginna is a nightmare. I am so confused. I don't know what I did so it's hidding for now. I can't have knitting stress. that would just put me over the edge.

top goals right now are the brocade sweater, and the vogue, just because they are both enjoyable to work on.

Custom knits, Love it.

So I got an email from the "yarn place" letting me know that the yarn I ordered for the pea coat is on backorder for " about" three weeks. So I decided to look for a new must knit next project and of course I had this brand new book just waiting to be checked out. It even has the new book smell. So here is my review on my new favorite book.
Custom knits by Wendy Bernard of knit and tonic. First of all it's a nice size book, hard back 168 pages. The paper is a nice thick quality and the pictures are really pretty. The layout is nice with a big full page picture facing the page featuring the important info. At a quick count there are about 25 patterns. Mostly sweaters with I think 1 scarf, 1 shawl/wrap and two hats. The really cool thing about the patterns is that each one has a "make it your own" section. In this section wendy gives Ideas to change the pattern to fit you. Many of the patterns are shown in more then one color or style. Another wonderful and I mean wonderful thing is that these sweaters are made out of yarns that are easily available.
These are not great pictures I know but I wanted you to be able to see some of the designs. If your on Ravlry just type in either custom knits or wendy Bernard and you can see the photos much better.
This was the first one that I really liked in the book. It's called Ingenue and its made with Karabella Marble on size 8's. It's a simple little pullover sweater with a wide neck and a neat little lace stich around the cuffs, neck and waist. I think it would be a easy to wear comfy throw on sweater. It like most of the sweaters in here , is a top down in the round knit.

This one is in my favorite MALIBRIGO!! (ohh and if only Heather hadn't taken back all that georgous malibrigo she had this would be great) I thought this one was also a nice simple classic easy to wear pullover sweater. Nothing crazy just plain ole sweater but I like it and would wear it. Like I said Malibrigo worsted yarn on a size 7 and 8. This one has set in sleeves, top down in the round boby.

I wish I had a better photo of this because it's really pretty. It's called slinky Ribs. I love the scoop neck and the rib detail on the bust. Cute little short sleeves. This is Elsbeth Lavold silky wool on a size 6 and a 4. I made Gin a pair of knuck out of this yarn otherwise I would have had enough to make this sweater. This one features short row shaping and top down in the round.

Lettuce coat. This yarn should look familiar if you read my blog. I used it to make my whisper cuff cardigan. This is the worsted version rather then the chunky but basically same yarn same color. This has a rib that starts at the waist and runs all the ray down the coat. It's knit on a size 9 so even though it's a coat it would be a fast knit. The sleeves are super cute with the rib and the little buttons. I would totally make this.

This is my FAVORUTE!! Funny it's called the favorite cardigan and no it doesn't have to be worn off the shoulder in fact I think I read that the model did that and it wasn't knit that way.

This one is a cabled cardiagn. ( love cables) It's made with Artyarns supermerino on a 7. I think it's dark brown. It has a fairly wide rib on the bottom and the sleevs have the same cable as the body. It might be too short as written but the joy of top down is you get to keep trying it on as you knit it. So I think this might be next.

There are some other really cute pattern as well like you know how you have always wanted the perfect vest to wear over you button down shirt while your sitting on the counter in your underwear eating cereal? Well your in luck because there is one in the book. I also like a sweater called Jane but I it's got that "your sweater is too small" look to it.

So I haven't knit anything yet so I can't comment on how well the directions are written but it does have schematics for each pattern. I do wish that it gave the size of the garment shown in the picture as well as an alternate yarn info for example any wortsed weight yarn with a gauge of..... whatever. But not many books do this so, It's not a complant just a comment.

I like the book, I think it's a good purchase. It has a recommended price of 27.50 but I bought it from amazon for 18.15. It is a hardback and it's a nice quality book.

In knitting news. I started a hat for Gin. She wants the devil hat. It's a pain but going pretty fast. Today I said

" hey Gin this seems kinda...I don't know small, maybe ,do you suppose you could try to....well try it on...?

( GIn) Sure...ummmm how?

( Me) well I guess that's what it's suppose to look like.
(Gin) Your not going to take a picture are you?

(Me) what a great idea.

Poor poor Gin

Sydney got in a bad cat fight, he's been limping around for a few days. We think he got hurt. That or he's just super super smart and knows that if he fakes it he will get the "good" cat food and lot's of extra love.
Spoiled ? My cat? NOOOOOO

It's time for Fall patterns

The new Fall interweave has come out and even though I am reading lots and lots of negative reviews for it I have a few patterns that I like or I have labeled as maybe. I kinda feel like if a magazine has two or more good patterns and at least a few good articlea it's worth the purchase. Now that you can easily spend $7 on one pattern, paying $6.99 for a magazine seems ok to me.
So here are my thought and opinions on just a few of the patterns in here.
First off is Teva Durhams pea coat in red. I love the stitch pattern , the texture and yes the color. Funny because I showed it to my husband and he said ' that's cool but maybe not that color". I love that color!! It's not something I wear alot of but I want it in that color.
I thought it about it over and over and decided I liked it enough to make it , so the yarn is on order and yes it will be red.

This one is called the backstage tweed jacket and it's by a designer I'm not familiar with. At first glance I really liked it but then the gapping on the front started to really stand out for me. I also don't know about the way thoes shoulders are hitting her. It's too big for her but is thatand the gapping the only problem? So ,this is a maybe but probably not.
I like this one but I seem to be the only person I know who likes it. It's called tweedy waistcoat and it's a Deborah Newton pattern. It's made with Rowan scottish tweed Dk. Not a soft yarn but I think I have some of that yarn already in a soft blue color. I would need to find a color to go with it. I would also want to add a button closure or toggle or something. So this one is a maybe.

I love this one. It's called the estes vest but I have renamed it the bluberry cable vest. I am using Malibrigo chunky in blue that I bought for something else but changed my mind on.

I wish it were done in one piece but it's in pieces and I don't feel like rewritting the pattern to make it one piece. So when I finish the green vogue sweater this is next.

I even did a swatch. I even did the swatch in pattern. You can't really see it in the photo but it's a fun pattern.

So I got myself all excited about the vest and the red sweater and then this came in the mail. I haven't opened it yet. What if it's full of great patterns ? What if it sucks? It's too much pressure for me today. I'll sit it aside for now. Or maybe I'll just flip through the pages super quick. No, Ill wait.

Today was a rough day, so Gin and I went on an adventure. We had pizza for lunch, I was really happy that the man of the house was able to meet us there. We had a good time and the food was great.

Then we went to the not so local yarn shop and I don't know, maybe it's the yarn fumes, maybe it was Gin saying oooooo, these are cool but I bought not only a sock book but......

Sock yarn. Lorna laces jungle stripe. I'll have to post a picture of the socks because you really have to see them. The pattern is called Monterey, named for a california town not too too far from here. Anyway Gin talked me into this yarn to make that pattern. I said ...ok but what are you going to do with only one sock?

She also talked me into a hat and fingerless gloves in this Crayola red color. The hat we had already talked about and the gloves will probably be like the elysians I made for the olympics because she loves mine.

Oh and yes incase I had forgotten to mention I did finish my ravelympics projects. I did only one flippant sock thingy and have decided not to make the other. It doesn't stay on. It rolls under my foot as I walk so it's a done deal for me. I'll be frogging that project.

whisper cuff cardigan

I finsihed this one awhile ago but was hoping to have a closure for it before I took finished pictures. Instead a bribed Gin with pizza and got her to model it as is.


The pattern is from inspired to knit
The yarn is malibrigo chunky and the sleeve inset is Berroco seduce.
The color is lettuce.

Sleeve inset.

A moment for memories.

My Grandmother passed away today. She was one of the funniest people, I had the most fun wiht her growing up. Here is a picture from the 1970's with her dog Sybil, an english bulldog.

Ravelympic projects

That can not be a comfortable position. Have you ever tried to sleep like that? He has all his limbs curled under him. It makes my muscles hurt just looking at him. Poor guy, he had a fox tail in his tail and I didn't get it all out, and didn't know I didn't get it all out untill it got infected and icky and nasty. So he has a little bald spot on his tail where we cut the fur off to get him fixed up. It's healing fine and he's happy again.

In Ravelympics news: I finished one project. It was a very fast knit, just a few hours for each glove. I used Debbie bliss cashmerino aran weight. I've used this yarn for several other projects and I really like it. Thanks to Gin for modeling them.

This is the helix glove pattern. I have one done except for weaving in the ends. I actually made a whole other glove using a rowan yarn.....wool cotton I think. The gauge was all wrong. I don't know what I was reading or thinking or what? But I made some strange comprehension errors. I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with it being 1 in the morning when I started them. I was watching the olympics. Anyway this is project #2 and they go fast ,but I'm seriously tired of knitting them.

Project #3 was a peer presure pick. My good friend has turned into a tawashi fanatic and has started checking out all things tawashie so I had to join in the fun. I made these two fishy Tawashi in about an hour. The red one is actually two fish sewn together but the blue one is just one. I think I like the two layers better so I'll probably make another blue one and sew then togther too. They don't have eyes. I don't really feel the need to make the eyes but I might do it anyway.

Progect #4 yes another green project. This is a flippant, it's a flip flop socklette thingy. It's on size 2 needles and may never get done. I worked on this at knit group and this is as far as I got. Now I will admit I did help other people with projects and I did stop to eat so maybe this is good progress on size 2 needles, but dang!! What was I thinking?

I'm pretty much over the thrill of all these projects and would really rather go back to knitting my sweater from the fall Vogue mag. It's also green. Here is the sleeve started.

Hmmmmm, the whisper cuff cardigan that I finished last month was also green maybe I should pick another color for my next project. Anything but green. Maybe a nice blue.

But for now there will be no talk of new projects. I will finish these four things ( well maybe not the flippant thingies) then I will finish the vogue sweater and then walk in the woods. Then we can talk about new projects.

new fashion

It's the latest in Fall fashion, the fur stole. This is much better then the tradition version, no animals are harmed this way and if you happen to spill a few crumbs on your shirt no problem, instand vacumn.

Crazy, I know but this strange cat loves to be carried around like this.

In case you don't know, this is my silly daughter, Gin and our crazy cat ,Sydney.

Have you joined the Ravelympics, if you knit you should. Starts Aug 8 and ends Aug 24th.