Pattern: Chrissie (free pattern for Rowan members)
Yarn: Rowan 4 Ply Soft in Whisper

Monica: That’s what it felt like I was knitting while working on this sweater because I used size 1 and 2 needles. Originally I bought this yarn to knit a different sweater but as time went by I decided I didn’t want to knit that sweater anymore. Instead I chose a more wearable (for me) sweater. Although it probably didn’t seem like it took me that long to knit this, I felt like every stitch took a long time.

There is a small part of the top of the sweater–above my right boob–where I had knit 2 stitches together and instead of ripping back 10 rows I dropped the stitches down and picked them up. That part stands out a little but I’m going to block it one more time to smooth it out a little.



This is what it looks like on me inside and in the mirror. While I was taking my picture I had a moment where I thought that I had reversed the pocket placement and then I realized that I was staring at a mirror image. Duh! Thank you Lynette for giving me the buttons. She said she had lots and I told her I only need 3 and she sent me at least 20 of them.

Although these smaller gauge sweaters are more practical for my climate, I’m not sure I enjoy knitting all that stockinette. I could’ve knit this sweater in the round to make it less painful but I wanted to enjoy the full experience.

Filed under: FOs, Sweaters by Monica

Pattern: Basic 2×2 Rib and carried part of the rib to the foot
Yarn: Knit Too Crochet Too Soxx Appeal and Cascade Fixation in Red
Needle: Size 2s

Lynette: I’m not sure why it took me so long to knit this simple pair of socks. Yes, I do. It’s because I was working on multiple projects as usual. Anyway, I’m so happy that I finished them. They yarn is stretchy and very comfortable. The Soxx Appeal yarn has 208yds, and I thought I could knit a 7″ leg with the entire skein. I ran out of yarn right before the toe so I went to my Yarn Basement and grabbed the perfect yarn to complete the socks - Cascade Fixation in Red. I’m so loving the red toe.

Not only are the socks a nice accent to my feet but I was able to score a pair of the coveted Clear Converse last week.

On Ravelry, I’m a member of the I Love Chuck Taylor group and someone posted that the clear converse shoes would be available in Mid May. Last week, when I was shopping with my daughter for graduation/prom/luncheon, I just went to Journeys and the shoes were in. BINGO!

My feet are doubly happy!

Filed under: FOs, Socks by Lynette

Monica: So when it’s really windy all this fine grit flies around. Getting into your hair, your house if you have the windows open and your knitting. So that’s how I have to knit because it goes into my eyes and my mouth. When I go inside I head straight for the Q-tips so I can clean the grit out of my ears.

Besides the wind it was really nice outside — sunny and in the 80s. The dogs and I spent some time outside. Here’s Buddy sitting in the dirt.

There is a perfectly nice bed right next to where he is sitting but he is working on becoming the dirtiest dog in the west so he has to sit on the dirt. At least Ella uses one of the beds.

We have a few rose bushes in our backyard that the previous owners put in that aren’t looking healthy. One of them is being eaten by bugs and one of them has produced one rose Once they are done blooming we’ll prune them to try to save them. I hope we can save them because I want more pretty roses like this one.

Filed under: Garden, Miscellaneous, Puppers by Monica

Monica: Here’s the latest BSJ:

This one turned out different somehow. The 2 front pieces didn’t meet after I closely followed the pattern directions. I had to knit more rows than the pattern called for to try to get the fronts to meet and even then they didn’t meet so I couldn’t add buttons. I just knitted some i-cord to serve as ties on top. I must have missed something in one of the other steps because I tend to get overconfident and maybe perhaps didn’t read the pattern close enough because I figured I knew what I was doing after the third BSJ.

So you know that this means that I will have to make another one right? Just to make sure that I’m not losing my mind and making up things about this pattern. (I am losing my mind…just hopefully not regarding knitting patterns.) That one just might be the last because I’m running out of leftovers. I know I can make one of these not using leftovers but that would make too much sense.

So the other day when I announced that I didn’t have any pretty plants to use as a backdrop for knitting pictures Charlie and I went to the nursery to remedy that.

We planted some herbs and flowers in pots. Recently I noticed that something has been eating one of the herbs–the lemon verbena plant. Just that plant and none of the others. I looked around for signs of bugs but didn’t notice any. Later I was sitting outside and knitting while the dogs were laying around and I heard this loud chomping noise. I looked over at the pots and saw Ella’s big ole’ dog head over there. She was happily chewing away. I’ve been keeping a close eye on her and the plant is slowly recovering. I’m really surprised she liked that plant because it has a scent to it. Maybe I need to plant a salad bar for her.

I can feel summer is coming because we are getting some hot days now — the other day it was in the mid-90s. We got the dogs some outside dog beds so they don’t have to lay on the ground or the concrete.

For some reason Buddy really likes to roast in the sun. After 10 or 15 minutes he’ll move into the shade near me with his tongue hanging out and his fur will feel really hot. I’m sure we won’t be spending that much time outside when the temps are in the 100’s. In all the years I’ve known about Vegas and the 8 years my in-laws have lived here, no one has ever mentioned how windy it gets here. The week we moved here in December one day we had winds up to 65 miles per hour. Some people had roof tiles fly off their houses. This Tuesday the winds got up to 50 mph.

That is a picture of my Weatherbug plug-in that shows up on the bottom of my web browser. To the right of the “70.9″ is a tree being blown away. That shows up frequently on my browser. Much more than I thought.

Filed under: Baby Items, FOs, Garden, Puppers by Monica

Pattern: Creative Knitting Newsboy Cap - Issue July 2007
Yarn: Lion Brand Thick & Quick in Lemongrass
Needle: Size 11s

Lynette: These hats are like eating potato chips - really. They’re so easy and addictive. I knocked this pattern out in about 1-1/2 hours. Unlike the first time I knit this hat, I do not resemble the queen in this picture.

However, what makes me look like a German in this picture? Again, comments from my children. Maybe the smirk?

I also decided that this hat can be worn with or without the brim. Totally versatile. And I totally finished just in time for the changing Chicago weather. Yesterday as I was taking it to my friend, the spring temperature was in the 30s yesterday with cold rain.

She forgave me for wearing it to her house.

Filed under: FOs, Hats, Knitting for Others by Lynette

Pattern: Vine Lace Vest
Yarn: Knit One, Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in Borealis

Monica: I’m a sucker for yarn on sale and I have the stash to prove it. I bought this yarn 3 years ago when I was in Illinois. I didn’t have any plans for it at all but I bought it anyway because I had to have it because it was on sale. I thought I’d make a Picovoli one day but I never did. I can’t remember where I found the link to this pattern but I put it in my queue as soon as I saw it. After I finished the second BSJ I wanted a quick break and remembered this vest pattern. At first I was going to use some Cotton Fleece but I had more of that yarn than the pattern required.

If I made this again I would change the ribbing in front so that one side doesn’t end with P4 at the bottom and both sides match. I also don’t think one of the skeins I had was a full skein because I ran out of yarn before I could knit the entire neckband. Pattern calls for it to be 4 1/2″ long and mine is only 3 1/2″ long. I only had this much yarn left.

I don’t think it looks bad though. Here’s a shot of the back.

At first I was worried that the lace pattern wouldn’t show up on with the dark yarn but Gail suggested that I wear a light-colored top underneath to show off the pattern. I’m getting better about turning down yarn sales but there have been some great ones. I guess it would be unreasonable of me to ask these shops to hold off on sales until I knit some more stash. I just have to remember that there will always be more yarn on sale.

Filed under: FOs, Vests by Monica

Monica: I can’t seem to stop knitting these BSJs.

This one is a combination of orange and yellow leftover sock yarn. Funny but I didn’t think I had knit many orange and yellow socks but I had the leftovers to show for it. This one is going to another coworker of mine like the other baby items I made recently. They seem to be having babies at the same time there. Could it be something in the water?

I just need buttons and she’ll be ready to go. Yup, the third one is on needles right now. My obsession did wane a little bit and I have something else in the works too. That’s a post for another day.

Filed under: Baby Items, FOs by Monica

Pattern: Knit and Tonic’s Flair
Yarn: Cotton Ease in Charcoal
Needles: Knit Picks Size 7 Harmony circs

Lynette: I couldn’t resist adding this picture as my completed FO. I’m trying to avoid being tripped by Hershey running around. Here’s a normal shot.

All while knitting Flair, I complained to Monica that I wasn’t crazy about the color. I ordered CE’s new color charcoal online before it was on the shelves. So I thought it was mostly black and it is. Mostly. In person, I think the color looks a bit faded. It really stood out when I wore all black last week.

When I finished it, I originally bought buttons that I thought would compliment the jacket, and they do somewhat. There was just no flair.

Last week, my friend Barbara let me fish through her growing button stash and gave me these. Flair looks a lot better and brighter. Actually the color is growing on me a lot.

I complained about the color, but the pattern itself was great to knit.  So easy and mindless.   Wendy did a great job with the design.  So do I have to say it?  Yes, I will be making another one in a brighter color. And flair-ier buttons. I know it’s not a word.

Filed under: Cotton Ease, FOs, Sweaters by Lynette

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles from Knitter’s Almanac
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Cotton in Maize

Monica: This one is a request from Lynette’s mother. She asked Lynette to make a yellow baby sweater for someone and Lynette added it to her long queue so I offered to knit for her. I wanted another shot at a goiter-free sweater. This time I knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat as the pattern called for and it worked out better. I also added 3 buttonholes at the top only instead of continuing it down the sweater. (Lynette will add buttons for me later.) I made a matching hat by following the instructions from someone who posted a blog link on Ravelry. But I forgot the blog and there are 966 of these sweaters to go through on Ravelry and I was too lazy to find it. The basic pattern was 63 sts, garter stitch for 5 ridges and then start the lace pattern. After it’s the length you want, k2 tog on every stitch of the last row, cut yarn and pull through on all stitches. There is still 1 skein of yarn left to make booties but I told Lynette she’d have to make them because I’m bootie-challenged. I seem to only be able to make booties for babies with duck feet.

I’m slowly psyching myself up to knit another sweater for me. Since my last questionable FO, I’ve stayed away from adult sweaters. I’ve got more leftover BSJs in the works because I need to make room in the leftover yarn drawer but after that it’s time to attempt another adult sweater. (I think I can! I think I can!)

Filed under: Baby Items, FOs by Monica

Monica: I’ve always wanted to knit a Baby Surprise Jacket and because I knit lots of socks I always have lots of leftovers of sock yarn. The other day I pulled them all out of the bulging drawer and tried to group them into similar color families. Here’s the purple family.
So I cast on and it did look really odd as it went along. I doubled up the sock yarn and used size 4 needles. It’s a fast project and all garter stitch and I found these notes to be helpful with the knitting. When I was done it looked like this:

I have to admit that it took me a while to figure out how to get it to look like a jacket. And I wasn’t sure about the color sequence I chose to knit up but in the end, I kind of like it.

I need to weave in the ends and add buttons then cast on for a few more because that didn’t use up as much yarn as I thought it would. Although I need to save some for Lynette because she wants to make these socks.

Filed under: Baby Items, FOs by Monica