Fuzzy ballet sweater complete!

Today I sat in front of the tv watching the inauguration and finishing up my sweater. I think that it came out really well. It is really soft and cozy. At first I was intimidated by the idea of having to sew all the pieces together nicely, but it ended up working out pretty easy and was not a problem at all. I really enjoyed knitting this one and I would definitely make another one sometime.

I am a tight knitter!

No, I don't mean "tight" like the appreciative slang term. I mean my gauge is way off...

Late last night I started on a new sweater. I think I found the perfect pattern to use up my fabdabulous Moda Dea Aerie yarn that I have had in my stash for who knows how long. I got it on clearance a long time ago at Michaels, I bought all they had which was 7 balls. I loved the mauvy pink color of it and the crazy soft feel. I had no idea what I would use it for but I knew it had to be something great.

The pattern is one that I had been eyeing up on Ravelry for a while. I finally ordered the book "Speed Knitting" by Kris Percival from amazon and got it in the mail yesterday. I am making the "Fuzzy Ballet Sweater". I was so into working on it last night that I had a really hard time convincing myself, even by 4am, that I needed to quit and go to bed. I started working on it again after I got the kids off to school. After doing about 30 rows or so, I reached the point where I had about 6.5 inches of fabric which is when I am supposed to start doing the armhole shaping. So I stopped to do a few measurements and sure enough I was way off. The pattern's gauge calls for 2.5 stitches and 4 rows per inch in stockinette. I was getting more like 5 stitches per inch on the recommended size 9 needles.

So I set that work aside and grabbed a 10.5 needle. (That's a nice thing about having purchased this Knitpicks Options needle kit, its easy to switch out stuff.) I knit up 4 rows with it and i was still getting over 3 stitches per inch. I ripped that out and switched up to a size 11. Now I am getting right about the correct gauge. The fabric is a lot different now, much lighter.

Normally I *hate* starting over on things. But luckily this yarn is so fun to touch and work with that I don't really mind. And the yarn is happier at this size anyway, so that makes me happy. Well I'm off to work on it some more, or maybe to take a nap.... zzzZZZzzzZZZ

(Photo taken last night before the start-over)

Penguin for Lance

I put this adorable little dude together today. I plan on sending him to Lance as a surprise. Shhhh! Don't tell him!

Kyuuto!

I received an awesome book for Christmas from my cousin Laura called "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi". According to my book, in Japanese "kyuuto" = "cute" and "amigurumi" = "small crochet animal toys".
I really wanted to get started making something on New Years Day, and my mom happened to have some yellow yarn. The "Little Duckling" pattern seemed a great choice for my first try. I just finished him today and he turned out great!



My duckling ended up being a good bit larger than the one in the pattern. The author must have used laceweight yarn or something. I used worsted/aran and a G-sized hook which made the fabric really dense and stiff for holding its shape. My duckling measures about 7.5” tall from top of the head to bottom of the foot. He has 12mm brown safety animal eyes that I got at JoAnn. I put a small ziploc bag filled with "poly-pellets" in his body section for weight. The rest of him is stuffed with poly-fil.

The crochet itself was pretty easy. Lining the parts up and sewing them on where I wanted them was more of a challenge. He turned out really cute and I am proud of my first amigurumi.

Yarn buying spree

Yesterday while sitting around watching football on TV and looking at sale ads in the newspaper, I found out that ALL the yarn was on sale at Michaels' this week. So naturally I had to go check that out. They didn't have that large of a selection, but sure enough it was all on sale, some 70% off. So I bought 3 more colors of the Patons Brilliant that I used for my bellydance top. I got black, dark brown, and dark purple. They were 2 for $3. I also got some Patons Lacette that was 2 for $3. I think I could feasibly make some socks out of it since it seems about the right thickness. Each skein has over 200 yards, so 2 skeins of each color should make a pair of socks. I got black, light pink, and a pretty magenta type color.


I bought some red and some white Sugar N Cream cotton to make another kitchen towel for my mom to hang in her kitchen. I will have to work on that this week while I am here.


I think I finally have this Pomatomus pattern figured out pretty well. I've completed one pattern section (22 rows) and it looks really pretty. I was having issues with doing all the yarnovers at the beginning of the rows but I figured out why and it seems to be going ok now. Here's a pic of the progress thus far:

Kitchen Towels

I managed to finish the 2 kitchen towels I was working on just in time for Christmas. I decided to give one to each of my grandmas. They seemed pretty happy with the gift, and I am sure that knowing they were handmade by me made them even better.

Bellydance top complete

Well I finally got my top done and wearable. It only took me like 4 months lol. Every month I thought to myself, "I need to get this done so I can wear it to bellydance night" and alas it never got finished. This month I actually got done in time. I ended up adding rows to the sleeves until I had 110 rows on each. That took me to nearly a 3/4 length sleeve. I made a twisted cord from the same yarn as the top and used that as a drawstring tie at the bottom. I will probably eventually put a trim around the neckline and the sleeve cuffs and maybe add a button or something for closure, but it was complete enough to be worn out dancing. Here's the completed top, just in time for the holidays:

I completed another knitting project this week, but since that one is destined to become a Christmas gift, I won't post about it until after the holidays.

I plan to take my Pomatomus sock pattern with me during Christmas vacation to give me something to work on in my spare time. Here's the "Londonberry" sock yarn colorway that I am using for it:

I have been spending a lot of time reading lately due to my obsession with the "Twilight Saga" books by Stephenie Meyer. Therefore I have had to split time between reading and knitting and haven't gotten a lot done on the knitting side.