Friday, September 21, 2007

You know it's fall...

...when I knit a big heavy sweater, and it's 80F. Only 4 days ago it was almost cold, and now another warm spell. I'm totally not complaining. I love the warm! Let's keep it warm! But, it is nice to know that I have an uberwarm sweater to chase away the chill, if it ever - not that it needs to - arrives.
I finished up my Cactus Blossom sweater last night at SnB. 13 days! well, I guess 14 with today for Blocking. Not to shabby! I'm posting fished, unblocked pictures today, but I will post the finished, blocked, on my body, with details pictures as soon as it is dry.

Well, then, what am I working on? Since I am the way I am, I cast on for not one, but two projects last night. I know, right?!
Project 1 has no pictures, but I can tell you about them. My Assistant, Lesley, has a pair of rainbow leg warmers that have HUGE holes in them., She really wants to repair them, or knit new ones. Since she has been knitting the same pair of arm warmers since MAY, I doubt she will ever actually get to this project, so I am making them for her for Christmas. I'm calling them "Rainbow Brites". They are going amazingly fast. I cast on at 12:00 last night, and in less than 2 hours, am almost half way through the first one! "What do they look like?" you may ask. Well, they start with a ribbed cuff in red, then go orange, yellow, green, blue, green, yellow, orange, then red again in ribbing. OMG are they loud! She'll love them!
Project 2 is a pair of gloves for me. I bought the yarn almost a year ago, with the plan to knit elbow length gloves to go with my winter coat. It's a 1960's coat, so it only has 3/4 sleeves. I wanted a suitably vintage pattern to go along with my coat, and fabulous yarn to boot! I found the "superyak" at School products, and it is a brown/black marl. The pattern in from www.knittingvintagepatterns.com It is the "ladies long gloves" pattern. SO far so good! I washed the little bit I knit at Snb last night, as the yarn is oiled for machine knitting. I needed to see if it was going to stretch or bloom, or lord knows what. It bloomed a bit, and softened up soooo much.

I'm planning a slight pattern mod, as the cuffs are great around my forearm, but will be loose when they get closer to my wrists. The pattern has a built in decrease at the wrist, but I need to slim down a tad sooner. I plan to use the same principal as I did for my Sockapalooza socks. I'm changing to a smaller needle after 4", thereby shaping with out deceasing. Smart. I probably will use the smaller needle for the hands too, as I have small hands, and the gloves are written for "medium" hands. what ever "medium" means.
Well, that's it. Next time, finished, MODELED, sweater pics; new yarn (I know. shut up.), and Rainbow Brites!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Costumechick is too modest to mention that her finished sweater received a round of applause at last night's Stitch 'n Bitch at Panera in North Haven, Connecticut. It's gorgeous!

KnelleyBelley said...

Rainbow leg warmers. I'm having a flashback! You're fun.

Wish I was there last night to clap for your sweater. See you next week.

Kate Jackson said...

Hi! I just got on Ravelry and saw your sweater today. I love it! (Maybe even more than the original?) It is so cool to see my designs knit by other people. I would love to see it on you!