5!!

Umm.  Yeah.  That does bring my works in progress (WIP) up to FIVE.  I will finish this this weekend.... and then the other four quickly... and then I'll go back to my one (or maybe two-- with one in the purse) at a time.

1. Pebble Vest in Monsoon
2. Flowing Lines
3. Socks
4. Missoni Cowl
5. Pixie Hat for GabGab

Maybe I should be doing some prioritizing....

Pebble Vest

When I gave this Pebble vest to the mother of the newborn in summer 2010, I didn’t think she liked it. (She did like other gifts she got that day.) Fail. I thought it was cute, but I guess I didn’t have a read on her. Oh well.  It was the third Pebble I had made, and so I sort of stopped making them after that point.

About two years later (in spring 2012), I saw the vest on an unknown little girl at my local library. Huh? I "ended up" sitting next to them for a small performance that was going on…. because maybe someone used the same yarn and pattern, but not the buttons??? So, yeah, I was angling to see the buttons. They were the ones I’d selected and used! After the performance, I told the mother that I had made vest. Turns out we have a friend in common-- the mom I gave the vest to in summer 2010.  She then told me how much she loves it! She has even gone so far as to have a knitting aunt in Mexico copy the vest and make a larger size for her daughter. Not such an epic fail after all.

All of this is to say that this weekend I've dusted off the Pebble pattern and am again knitting one for a new mom.  I'm a little nervous, but I do love the pattern so.  We'll see how it goes.

Gemini the Second

So with a week of this...

I managed to finish this...

While Little Boy Blue played in the sand and water, with cousins and alone, with additional aunties and grandma to watch him, I knit.  I knit on the beach, on the dock, on the couch, in the wind and in the calm. It was a lovely time away with my family.  The cousins had a fabulous time.   The tears ramped up towards the end of the week.  It seems that you can only sustain that level of play for a few days.

It's Knit Picks Shine Sport yarn that I've had in my stash for over a year.  I knit it up at the 22 stitch/4 inch gauge that Gemini required, and though I had gauge I ended up with 36" instead of the 34" bust I thought I'd have.  It's fine.  I love the feel of the fabric the yarn creates.  It's so soft.  I've worn it for a day and I know it'll be in the rotation until the weather gets too cold this fall.  Love.

Gemini the First

So I started my first Gemini on a camping trip in June.  Checked gauge for the first four-five inches. I know... I'm "supposed" to knit a swatch and check that, but I haven't found my gauge to run true on swatches.  So I pick a small part that I'll need to knit anyway--in this case, the neckline and yoke-- and just begin with the needle size I think I'll need.  And truly, I had gauge.  22 stitches/4 inches.  But somewhere along the way, I didn't have gauge any longer.  However, I had stopped being worried about it.  It wasn't until I was trying it on to determine if I'd knit it long enough that I realized it wasn't going to have negative four inches of ease.  In fact it felt a little roomy...

Pull out tape measure.  Check gauge.  20 stitches/4 inches.  Measure width of NEARLY FINISHED garment....  38 inches.  Which means I have zero ease.   I finished it anyway.  I wore it for a day.  And then I passed it off to my pregnant sister.  She'll wear it for the fall, and then return it to me.  I simply can't bear to frog it without any wear.

I've become extremely interested in waste in the fashion industry.  I have a minimalist shopping philosophy  (reduce!), and I've always been a mostly thrift store clothes shopper (reuse!).  This feels like I'm moving in the right direction.  And this sweater is made with recycled yarn (recycle!).  It was originally a lovely summer sweater that I knit in the summer of 1997.  I distinctly remember knitting it on the plane to Japan where I was going to start my first "real" job.  My current struggle? Can I continue to buy new yarn it I don't ever put it in the waste stream?  Can I just keep reknitting the same yarn from one project to another?  And what about the things I give to others?  Can I ask for them back if they want to "get rid" of them?  Will folks admit to getting rid of hand knits?  But no one keeps baby sweaters forever, do they?

Pumpkin Complete.

Not the world's most fabulous photos, but she'll do.   This actually turned out quite lovely.  And I adored hearing the mother say it was her favorite color.  It is actually a beautiful shade of auburn-y- orange-y-ness.  Really a beautiful fall sweater.  The pattern is Sunnyside and I think it may be my very favorite pattern EVER.  Since it was my second time making this, I didn't run into any problems.  I remembered all of the button holes, and knit the lace pattern correctly.  But I think my favorite part is the picot edging.  Stash minus 427 yards.  Woo-hoo.

Yarn In... Yarn Out

What will this become??

So I had all of the ideas and made all of these lists... and the simple fact is I have more stash than I know what to do with.  It doesn't fit in my BIG box in the basement.  So it's time to work on knitting it down.  I've already gone through and given away the yarn that I don't want to knit... so now I just need to knit what I have.  I'm re-resolving this.  (Yes, I resolved at the new year and it didn't last.   We'll see how long it lasts this time....)    

No more yarn buying... until the stash fits in one BIG box.  (And longer if I can make it.)

3 months= BIG HEAD

The Little Boy has outgrown all of his winter hats!  I never dreamed this would happen.  I can't believe back in December I was actually sad that they were never going to fit during this winter.  How wrong I was.  So yesterday during nap, I cast on for this little pixie hat with really big yarn on really big needles.  I finished last night.  And a pre-first nap tired little boy modeled it this morning.

Hot Pink #2

I finished this vest for Little Miss I-don't-turn-four-until-9:30 AM.   And this is as close as we got to getting it on her.   T looked at the vest and said she figures it'll fit her in about fifth grade.  I've got to get this gauge/yarn weight/etc figured out.  

Kicker is... the sweater I'm knitting for the soon-to-be 7-year-old niece is looking like it will be too small.  Sigh.  Tonight's a good night to frog, isn't it?