It's worse than I thought...

Yup, I think I have a major loser here. Oh it wasn't the pattern itself, which was very well written! No. It was the yarn. And my gauge. Darn that little gauge swatch. It totally lied to me.

Pattern: New York Cardigan

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish dk - 11 skeins

Needles: US # 7 & 9 circulars

Notes: Yeah, what a disappointment! I just love the sweater design but I think the yarn I used grew way too much and is too heavy for this large of a sweater. I wanted it to hit at the top of the thigh or so but it goes almost to my knees! Oh well, I guess it happens. The yarn is incredibly soft next to the skin so I'll probably just rip it and use it for something else. You would've thought I would've noticed it before getting to the end but adding the collar and then blocking it really did it in. I'm actually not too sad about it...I'm ready to move onto something new!

Road Block

Ugh! Sometimes knitting "builds character" as my dad would say.

The thought of having a finished knit was so exciting I jumped right into seaming the collar onto my New York Cardigan. Then it became more and more apparent that the collar would not be long enough. I pressed on to the bitter end hoping it would stretch and magically fit. It was only a delusion though. And to make it worse, I have very little yarn left and I don't know if I'll have enough. Wow, do I sound whiny or what? It's been sitting in this state for weeks now and it's time to do something about it. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have tons of quilts in progress that I can't wait to show you. However, one particular custom order ate up a lot of my time last week!

A lady asked me to make a keepsake quilt for a fundraising auction for a 1st grade class. She sent me the "word patches" on which the kids had written all kinds of inspirational words on. I sewed them all on in the style of a ticker tape quilt, which was quite a feat considering how large this quilt ended up.

It took almost as long to trim off all the loose threads after washing as it did to sew all the patches on!

back to health

Oh thank goodness we're all starting to get back to normal around here. The virus really took it's toll on all of us and I am so sick of being sick and being around sick people!

Anyway, I was able to get some knitting done!

All that's left is to seam that long shawl collar onto the main body of the sweater! I can't wait to get this baby done!

In the meantime, I've been playing with stacks of fabric.

I'm looking forward to getting some new quilts started soon!

Happy New Year...

Better late than never, right?

I was going to write a post about my knits from 2010 but after looking at the three sweaters and three scarves (one of which was knit and gifted so quickly I never got a picture it) that I made I decided that I could latch them onto a different post. So, there you go.

After a 3 or 4 week break due to the holidays I am back plugging away at my New York Cardigan. The good news is that I'm done with the body of the cardigan but the bad news is that the shawl collar (that you knit in two pieces separately and then attach) is taking FOREVER! F.O.R.E.V.E.R. I'm knitting both pieces together so they will be identical and I feel like I've been working on them for weeks now. Look at how much I still have left to go! They've got to be the length of the hem to the back of the neck each and this sweater is long, it goes well past my behind.

Okay, enough moaning. Maybe I'll have a bit more time to invest in it this week.

I have been busy finishing up this quilt for my cousin to give as a wedding present to one of her friends. She told me their style was sort of shabby chic but also modern. Hopefully this will suite them.

I love how it came out! I used a fat quarter bundle of the MeadowSweet 2 collection (from Hawthorne Threads, of course). I'm in the midst of writing up a pattern for this design as well so keep a lookout for that!

one thing always leads to another

In other words, how to justify buying yarn.

It started innocently enough. I've been trying to use up my stash yarn and I have about 650 yards of some really pretty dark grey tweed Queensland Kathmandu worsted. It really wasn't enough to make a sweater so, after I saw Peaknit's gorgeous version, I decided to make Hawthorne. Fast forward to the part where I am trying to cast-on 311 stitches!!! The pattern calls for a 32" circular but I thought I could maybe get away with a 29". Nope. No way.

Of course, that lead me to Knit Picks for a 32" circular needle. I couldn't just order that one thing. I didn't seem very efficient.

Into my cart jumped 11 balls of Swish dk in squirrel heather to make a New York Cardigan.

It has been ages since I have bought yarn for a new sweater! I was so excited when I got it that I immediately cast on and am now almost halfway through the body of the sweater. :)