Here is Michael modeling his finished Brown Sweater.

I wonder what he’s thinking about.

If I had to do it again, I would use the same yarn (1824 Wool) but smaller needles. Although I have the right gauge for the pattern, the finished fabric is a little loose and stretchy for my taste. I also think the neck band is too wide (upon examination, it does look like the one in the pattern). Michael likes it a lot – he doesn’t seem to feel like he’s wearing an afghan. The pattern (Designs by Judith: Multiple Choice, Drop Shoulder Pullovers for Men) is in multiple gauges, so if I had wanted to use smaller needles, I certainly could have. But it’s finished. And he’s happy. So I’ve got that.

I should be working on the Denim sweater, but the company that sold me the yarn sent two different dye lots. This is a pretty big mistake for a yarn store. So I called them to fix the situation. While I was talking to them, I realized they had no idea what they were doing:

Them: So what do you want us to do?
Me: I would like you to send me send me one more ball of 05 and I will send you back this 04.
Them: Let me put you on hold while I check to see if we’ve got that.
Me (singing along): I’m on the top of the world lookin’ down on creation…
Them: I’ve got lots of 108 but no 05s or 04s. But we’re expecting a shipment soon.
Me: 108 is the color number. The number after that is the lot number.
Them: Oh. Well, all I have listed is the 108.

What I should have done is make her go back and check the stupid lot numbers. Instead, I have mailed the whole mess back and they are sending me some new. With any luck the numbers will match.

Which means I need another project. If you will recall, my first attempt at Remembering Honey (Interweave, Spring 2003) was sabotaged by unstable dye. The manufacturers sent me some new yarn in a different color and it has been in the chest for a while. I’ve pulled it out and swatched. I remember why it has been in the chest. The swatch that comes out half a stitch too small is a much better looking fabric than the one that comes out correctly. My choices are: A) Make it in too small a gauge and have it Just Fit or B) Make it in the proper gauge and get the Loose Knitting Willies every time I wear it. I opted for A the first time around, but this time I think I might go with B. I am starting with a sleeve to be sure I can stand it. As we all know, a sleeve takes less time to rip out.

I almost forgot, as par for the course, the aforementioned yarn company claims that Tomato Red Kool Wool has been discontinued. It’s still available on Lion Brand’s website so I can only assume that said yarn company is Crazy. I’ve got to find yet another place to order the dumb stuff. With luck, I will be able to get it somewhere other than their on-line store where it costs $4.99 a skein! RATS.

I finished the first sleeve and started the second one. But I am experiencing new obstacles in my knitting.

They chew the yarn, too.

I managed to get to finish the first set of increases before my feet went to sleep from the kitty weight (Abigail joined her for a nap). I was forced to get up and stagger in here to blog.

The yarn fairy came and brought my yarn order to Great Gran’s house and hers to mine (Thank you post office and UPS, outstanding work! Don’t you just love small towns?). We met yesterday morning to make the trade. Great Gran’s was more fluffy stuff for booties and some Lion Brand Color Waves to make this poncho. I ordered some of Bernat’s DenimStyle to sub for Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran which is quite nice but monstrously expensive. I’ll be making the “Family Tunic” in Weekend Knitting for around $20 instead of the reccommended $75. Quite a deal.

I picked “indigo” – I think it will look nice with khakis.

DenimStyle is really light and (dare I say?) lofty. I made a swatch in another color (I picked some up on sale for an as-yet-unmade scarf): it knit up sweetly and appears to be pretty sturdy.

The other half of the yarn fairy was supposed to be some Kool Wool for that red vest in Knit It! magazine. You know the one. Apparently, everybody knows the one. Red Kool Wool was sold out at two on-line shops before I found Yarn Supply. They’ve got free shipping on orders over $50 (that’s where the DenimStyle came in). I was still too late and now it’s backordered. They didn’t say ’til when so I’ll just be surprised.

Well, I finished the neck on the brown sweater.

But before you think I’ve made any actual progress, I’ve already pulled it out to re-do it. It came out way too loose and floppy so I am trying with smaller needles.

My Knitting To Do list is getting rather long:

• Put the neck back on the brown sweater.
• Make sleeves for the brown sweater and attach them.
• Re-Do the band on Great Gran’s red Gatsby thing. It came out like a drawstring bag and we’re just not happy.
• Finish the other 3/4 of a pair of baby booties for a friend.
• Finish the last AG cardigan – it’s on hold until the baby booties are done because you can’t use the same ball of yarn for two concurrent projects.
• Wait for the Yarn Fairy.

I might acutally get to work on some of these after I make the Lemon Squares for Friday. Great Gran and some of her little friends and I are going to the Festival of Flowers. I’m in charge of desert.

Special Sunday Edition

We ran down to Fairhope to play with the Davis Family today. Michael went sailing with the Davis Dad and I played with the girls (I include Davis Mom when I say “girls”) all afternoon. We played American Girls of course. Josefina was visiting from out of town. Here are the Davis Dolls in their new sweaters getting ready to go to the movies.

It’s chilly in the theater. From left to right we have: Christina, Felicity and Kit.

And here are the girls (I am not including Davis Mom in this particular usage of “girls”). They apparently Just Love the camera.

From left to right (girls not dolls) they are Georgia, Emily and Maggie. If you look closely, you can see Diane and me in the window.

I’ve finished the front of Michael’s brown sweater, I should have a neckband to show you directly. Impressive, I know. I’ve also picked my next three projects. To be more precise: I’ve picked the next three batches of yarn to order. One is already on the way! Thank you Great Gran!

And you thought I’d never get there.

I’ve never been so surprised in all my life. All of a sudden the endless circle of brown was 17″ tall. The stripes were more interesting. But I am dreading the very long very wide very brown sleeves that this sweater needs to be finished. Blah.

To entertain myself, I’ve been working on Elizabeth’s little white cardigan (I’m on the first sleeve) and Josefina’s striped one.

Just so you know: I am NOT weaving in all those ends. I plan to knot them and put a drop of Fray Check on top of that.

This might be my shortest entry ever. I am looking through my magazines and books and planning my next project. I’ve narrowed it down to about a dozen choices. My perameters are 1) No Cardigans and 2) For Me.

Michael’s sister, Jennifer, has been visiting us this week. She decided that a Fun Thing to Do would be making a sweater. This just warms my heart. The trick is, she only knows how to knit (we worked on a scarf which was magicaly transformed into coasters the last time she came to visit) and I was worried that the combination of a big project and learning to purl (tension problems) might be too much at one time. Luckily, in the bookstore I discovered Vogue Knitting on the Go: Beginner Basics. There’s a garter stitch pullover in there that is actually pretty cute. There isn’t even any shaping! Which is makes it unintimidating. Jennifer picked out a varigated yarn and we borrowed a solid blue from Great Gran’s Leftover Yarn Collection for the cast on edges.

The blue stripe on the bottom adds a little style.

I’ve been impressed with how much she’s remembered fromt he last attempt. She’s even talking about knitting at school. I’m so proud.

Jennifer also thought that a scarf for a friend’s birthday might be fun. She picked out this eye-popping, lime green, fuzzy stuff saying: “My friend likes bright colors.” She made it to about 5 inches before realizing that things weren’t moving fast enough (she needed it Thursday).

It’s finished now. Novelty yarn is fun, on occasion.

In personal knitting, the brown sweater is at 14 inches – onle three to go before exciting things start to happen. I finished the last of the Davis Girls sweaters.

A white one for Elizabeth and a striped one for me are all that remain. And then what will I make with all the leftovers? That Red Heart comes in Simply Enormous Amounts.

PS Dinah is visiting for a few days. She is on top of the refrigerator and won’t let anyone get anything out of it. I guess we’ll be eating fast food today. Gotta love those Egg McMuffins.

Little sweater number two!

Don’t get upset about the green towel. It’s so old, I’m impressed it’s still green.

So there’s just one more to go…no wait – THREE more. The green one for the other Davis, a leftover-stripes one for Josephina, (I can’t not make one for me!) and then a white one (prehaps with purple daisies) for Elizabeth.* I’ve typed up the Emily Ivey Envelope Special for public consumption. You can find it here. I did it as an html page instead of a pdf like my other free patterns, so it isn’t nearly as professional-looking. I emailed the creator of the original, but the address attached to the pattern no longer works. If anybody knows her and she is unhappy that I posted changes, tell me so I can take them down.

Now that I’ve made a couple of successful doll sweater patterns, I think I might be ready to try a sweater for a person. Might is only maybe, so don’t hold your breath.

I also knit up some little American Girl socks one evening this week.

They don’t take any time at all to do and just a smidge of yarn. The pattern is by Judy Gibson. She’s also got a wonderful variation for a lacy knee sock.

I swear to you that I’ve been working on that brown sweater. Just not very hard.

*Elizabeth has both Samantha and Felicity. She spent/spends a lot of her time being ill in various ways, so while she was little, Great Gran would send her something from Samantha’s or Felicity’s collections every now and then. They always came UPS, so when we’d be out driving around and she would see a UPS truck, she would get excited and say: “They found me!” There is a bunch of new stuff for Samantha these days (since Elizabeth got older and stopped getting doll treats in the mail), I sent her over to the website for a look. She says she wants it ALL.