It's been a long time

It's been a long time since I've posted; I didn't knit as much as I would have liked to this summer, and then the one thing I did knit was a gift, so it needed to be secret.

But the gift was given yesterday; a sweater for my cousin Cora's kid-to-be. Cora loved it; her mom called to say it was the favorite gift from the shower. I'm pretty pleased with it. It's "Cotton Candy" from "Rowan Babies" in Rowan Denim natural and navy blue. I made a few modifications. For the button holes, I bound off two, then cast on two in the next row. I also made the pocket bands shorter, two rows instead of eight. For the collar, I picked up stitches around the neck (after sewing everything together) instead of sewing that as well; I also made it shorter, about 4cm instead of 7.5. After knitting the pieces, I sewed them together on a sewing machine--much easier, and better quality as I suck at sewing by hand.
I think there's an error in the pattern on the sleeves, though Rowan doesn't have a correction on their website. I don't have the pattern with me at the moment to compare precisely, but I increased every 6th row instead of every alt 4th. As written, I couldn't get up to the right number of stitches in the 12cm it's supposed to take. My sleeves are 17cm, so they're longer, but it was the easiest way to correct it.

Oh, my litte neglected blog...

So I haven't written in a while. I was hoping that I would have an FO to write about, but... yeah.

Life has been a titch tumultuous as of late; I graduated, moved a couple times (minor moves, but still) started a semi-new job. But I digress.

I'm working on a lilac hat, like those crochet beanies that were all the rage a couple years back, except I'm knitting it (duh). I'm making the pattern up as I go, we'll see how it turns out. It's my first real venture into lace, although it's a very simple lace that doesn't look very lacy.

I'm also working on something pink for a friend/coworker with pink hair. And that's all I'm going to say about it.

I'm working at a summer camp, and I brought some yarn with me, mostly leftovers from other projects. My goal is to not bring any yarn home with me, except in FO-form.

I have an actual sweater!

and the fit is near perfect. I still have to weave in ends, but I'm really proud of it. The color isn't quite true in this picture, there's a really pale seafoam green in between the pink and the nacy blue, but other than that it's right. I did much more waist shaping than I had planned, and it does look kind of weird in this photo, but that's the way my body is shaped, and the sweater is for me, so really, it's just right. I am the way I am.















Then I made a hat out of some of the leftover yarn. I really like navy blue with yellow, I decided.

Updates

Earlier I mentioned that I have a few projects I'd like to finish before moving this weekend. One of them is done, the gray "throw blanket," which ended up being smaller than I had imagined, so it's really more of a lap blanket. And it's hot as hell in a hand basket. And pretty ugly, and rhombus-shaped. I may be "accidentally" losing it in the near future. And it will get found in a donation bin.

The bag for my cousin Anna is coming along. I'm making the pattern up as I go, and it's been interesting. I hate sewing pieces together; instead, I've been picking up stitches where a seam would otherwise go. It's been working all right, I guess. I'm working on the shoulder strap, the last part.

And the oft-mentioned Hermione sweater is coming along rather well. I decided to make it short sleeved, since it'll be summer soon, and after that I'll be moving to Southern California. I'm down to my belly, the end is in sight!

In other news, I finished my French thesis today. That was exciting.

Since I'm moving in less than two weeks and currently have 3 projects on needles, I should probably finish at least 2 of them. Up first is a throw blanket, just basic stockinette, with some gray acrylic yarn that I'm trying to use up. It's really shiny, so you can barely see the stitches, which is why I'm doing boring old stockinette. Which also makes it boring as fuck. Number 2 is a brightly colored bag for my cousin, and matching bags are on order for her sisters. Strangely, I don't think her brother will want one. The last one is the oft-mentioned sweater. That will in all likelihood not be finished before graduation/moving, or at least not until the French thesis is done.

Hermione, cont'd

I frogged it last night. I'm sinking so much time into this, I want it to be just right; the way it was, it was so loose, I wouldn't wear it. I adjusted the numbers, so I'm doing a 38" bust instead of a 40;" my actual measurement is closer to 37" so there should be just enough ease.

I'm also changing the stripe. I was doing five rows gray and 2 rows color; now I'm doing 4 rows each, I already like it much better.

In other news, I chopped my hair today. I donated it to locks for love, so they took about 10" off. The jury is still out; I catch myself in the mirror and I like it, but it's still weird to not have all that hair.

Hermione

So, I tried on the sweater last night. Not because it's finished, but because I could. And I swim in it. 2 inches give somehow became 4, or maybe 6; there's one armhole that's not an a stitch holder, so that arm was in the body of the sweater, and it was still too big in the body. I'm trying to decide if it's worth frogging, or if I should just give it away... Argh.