So, this evening, while watching Dancing with the Stars, my favorite guilty pleasure, I finished knitting my second Gingerbread Baby Sweater. This one is for my friend Elise's new baby, which isn't due until April something-or-other. I can't wait to surprise her with it this Friday!

Also, I actually figured out how to post a two-page pattern to blogger! It's a long, involved process which I will not bore you with. Changing a document from .doc to .jpg is mentally painful. Suffice it to say, figuring this out took me the better part of two hours and lots of tech advice from my brother, Josh (thanks, bro!).

Does anyone know how to upload .pdf files to the internet? That would make posting patterns much easier!

So, without further ado, I present to you the Gingerbread Baby Sweater pattern. I'm going to keep working on it, so that I can change the schematics to fit larger sizes, but for now, I'm very happy with the result.

I realize that the picture is small. It's only posted here for affect; if you actually want to print it out, click on the link in my sidebar under "My Patterns".

Check out my blog at : http://alohaknitter.blogspot.com

End of Summer

I had a vision of myself wearing Norah Gaughan's pentagon pullover on the beach this summer, but it wasn't to be. Autumn in Melbourne is very mild and lovely, so it might still get an outing - if I can just get through the finishing.

Almost there...

Almost FO

My little red cardigan is just about done. I have a few more ends to weave in, and I need to go button shopping this evening. It has been languishing in my UFO pile for a long time, but I'm on a roll this week. Three finished sweaters, all started months ago. It feels good to finish up a bunch of stuff and to be able to start fresh and guilt-free on new things! Action shots to come soon.

My first red sweater for 2007

baby sweater for Dulaan
pattern: winging it
yarn: Idena Twins (color #320)

Red is my favorite color, which makes it all the more curious that most of my projects for 2007 to date have been either green, blue or black. This sweater is my first attempt to restore balance to my knitting world.

Jean Frost Jacket

Someone commented that they would like to see pics of the jacket in progress. Sorry that I posted last week without being at home where my camera could record my progress. So today I can do that. Here is the back and both fronts finished. Working now on the sleeves. Hope to finish them this week and will post a completed jacket soon.
The strings on the left front mark button placement. I love the way the buttonholes are worked into this pattern.

Sorry that the picture is dark, the color is Barn Red, using Knit Picks Elegance a blend of Alpaca and Silk, that is truely delicious. It is great on the needles!
Hopefully a finished jacket next week. Any suggestions about buttons? Not sure I want metallic gold. Any thoughts about making the buttons out of yarn?

Pictures of the Slow-Coming Shrug

Here 'tis (along with a happy fuzzy red purse):

You can see that there's not much done, but there is some done! After all that frogging, at least there is a heart rising on the left corner.

And here is something else red that I am about to rip out:


I made up the pattern for these heart socks back before Valentine's Day, and now I can't find where I wrote it down! Is there ANYONE as scatterbrained as me? Anywhere? (We did have a massive house cleaning, though, and I have a feeling that, to anyone but me, my little test scribblings looked like trash.) Anyhow, I don't like the way that the yarn looks knit up... it's too bumpy? or something.

Hope everyone is having a good time knitting their red sweaters!

It doesn't want to be a UFO

I have this lovely red vest, called Chines Red from Folk Vests that I started a while ago. A medium size while ago (2004) when I look at the ages of various UFOs that are hidden around in boxes and bags.

Admittedly, it doesn't look like much in the picture, but it should not take me all that long to get it finished. That is if I can crank up the courage to do it.

While I was deployed, some small flying creatures took up residence in my studio, un-noted by the rest of the family. I came home to find suspicious "munch marks" in yarns, roving and batts.

Would you believe I was not a happy camper?

Industriously, I cleaned up everything. This vest was started in 2004, when I decided to do a number of vests out of this lovely book. And I really like red, so this was one that I didn't change much. Just knitting in one piece to the armholes, I am actually about 10 cm past there. Then my job got in the way for 6 weeks of fun and frolic in Korea. On my return- the m*ths were back and had eaten one ball of yarn for this vest.

I just put it away. And now, without a ball band from the original yarn, I have to figure out which yarn I used and where I put it.

Other option of course is to frog the whole thing, but that seems like a shame. Encouragement is obviously appreciated.

-Holly
Heidelberg DE

Frogged, But Beginning Again

I started the red shrug for my pregnant friend Abby several weeks ago, after a vision of her cute preggo belly sticking out beneath it spurred me on.

I got halfway through the back, started the pattern for the "random heart" and then realized I had only increased on ONE side instead of BOTH sides. :-( I didn't handle it very well. I'll admit it-- I cussed, I screamed. I threw the sweater down. It took me three days to get the nerve up to frog those rows out (rippit, rippit) and then four days to start knitting on it again.

But I am trying! I am throwing myself back in with zeal. (OK, maybe not zeal, and maybe not actually THROWING, but I am knitting on it between socks...) Send your knitting spirits my way, please, so I can at least get through the back of the darned thing.

Part of the problem here is that Abby isn't due until September, so there's time. But not really. These babies show up FAST. And I want to get started on some blankets and toys and layettes and... well, lots of knitting left to do, right?

This is my first post, since I frustrated myself with the darn thing before I even posted what I am making. I am creating a "Random Heart Shrug" from a pattern that the local yarn store created with red Diakeito Diavoyage (#705). The heart is movable, and, per request, I am putting it on the lower left back.

Thanks for letting me gripe in public... ;-)

Still knitting

My red sweater is coming along slowly. I've finished the fronts and back. Am working on the sleeves at present. I did some short row bust darts for the front, using Maggie Righetti's book on sweater design to work out the way to do the darts. The pattern for this jacket was slightly off after finishing the darts, but I think they will work. I'll post a picture at a later date. Here is the pattern for those that remember I'm out there knitting a red sweater!

Red sweater FINALLY started

Well, I finally decided on a pattern and cast on for my (first) red sweater. It's the Shawl Collared Cardigan from the December 2006/January 2007 Knitnet. The pattern calls for Wool-Ease Chunky, but I'm using Lamb's Pride Bulky that I got a great deal on from the Sheep Shed Studio. I've modified the instructions to do the sweater in one piece up to the underarms, since I hate seaming, and I changed the gauge from 3 to 3 1/2 sts per inch, because I preferred the fabric I was getting at that gauge. It's all mindless garter stitch right now, perfect for TV watching or taking to "Stitch Therapy" at a LYS. Stay tuned...

I'm Back.

I have picked up my Debbie Bliss Circular Cardigan and actually have made some good progress on it. I have 528 stitches on the needle, and the Alpaca Silk is slippery on the Addis, so I need to be careful when I put this baby down. I intend to do some serious knitting on the sweater this week, so pictures will be forth coming.

Anne, my thoughts and prayers are with you.