Doing the Funky Llama

Designing is a lot of work. This may be more obvious to some, less thick people than me, or it could just be that I’m approaching the whole thing in a crazy, haphazard way and that is why I’m driving myself crazy. But it’s all good. I’m learning and that’s the important thing! It’s a labor of love at this point. Here’s my progress on the armor inspired gauntlets I’m making at my husband’s suggestion. My husband is like, ‘well, the rivets need to be at the sides of the arm’, ‘this will overlap here’. You’d think I was making the real deal. It’s good to be authentic, I suppose. I actually have a better understanding now as to how this thing actually functioned in real life, amazing. All I have to do is make the knitted stitches!

I decided to do the little bobbles all around the bottom, to mimic the rivets that would be on a real metal gauntlet. I’m using size 4’s with worsted weight wool for a nice, dense fabric. I really hope these are going to be super cool when finished. I’m also wondering for sanity’s sake if I can get away with using a thinner yarn for the woman’s version, to avoid writing all the line by line instructions out again. We shall see.

What’s that? Of course we went hiking again this weekend! Here is Sydney under those huge crazy vines. David took a couple shots of the Rock Towers, there are different ones there each time. These reminded me of mushrooms! We worked up a sweat this time, it was pretty nice and warm this weekend in NC. Please don’t hate me since my daughter was modeling my Chardonnay I had Saturday night. It’s called “Funky Llama”, I couldn’t resist. It was really good, and I don’t usually go for Chardonnay.
In lieu of the modeling shots, here is my finished Beryl sweater. I’m pretty happy with it since I sewed up the button band. The cotton was just not laying right and the buttonholes already wanted to get gapey. So I just sewed the buttonbands together and viola! Much better. I think I’m becoming way too much of a perfectionist knitter. At least that’s what my LYS owner (Lindsey at Purl’s Yarn Emporium) tells me. The Queensland Pima Fresca yarn is very snuggly and soft, I do think I’ll get some use out of this one.

We watched the movie “Click” with Adam Sandler on Friday. What’s with his movies now? Why do we need the sad serious part in the middle? What’s wrong with just funny? I don’t get it. I think I’m in need of some seriously good comedy, suggestions welcome.

Hope you have a great week, be back soon!

Knitting Wit De Fishies

Awww…..crap. I’m running out of yarn, again. You would think I’d learn by now, shouldn’t 1000 yds. of worsted weight yarn be enough for a baby blanket?? Well, granted, I’m making a big baby blanket, aiming for a size of about 40” square. Called my LYS, they don’t have it. Called the one across town, they don’t have it. Argh! I will find it, oh yes, I will. Just wait and see. I know, enough talking….how about some pics?? I’m doing this is 5 colors of Berocco Comfort, strips of cables that will get sewn together.

I picked up my Ruffled Jacket last week with renewed determination to figure out those darn sleeve caps. Let me just tell you, I couldn’t have done it with my “Sweater Design in Plain English” book. Great book. If you’re planning on designing any sweaters, I highly recommend it. So I plunged ahead and finished the first cap! Now I’m on the second sleeve. I would say I could post a tut on how I figured it out, the only trouble with that is I’m knitting the sweater on an entirely different gauge, meaning it wouldn’t work for anyone following the pattern straight from the magazine.

I’m craving garter. Is that weird?? Today and yesterday I’ve been swatching for possible sweaters in garter stitch. Could be the fact that I’m in the process of cleaning out my closet and found some luscious little yarns I’ve had tucked away =;) Naah, I’m sure that had nothing to do with it at all. One of the sweaters I’m considering is the Shawl Collar Tunic by Mari Lynn Patrick, from the Fall Anniversary 2007 VK. It’s a cute striped pullover with a big kangaroo pocket in the front. Seems like it might one of those great transitional sweaters for me.

I bought the Dayflower Lace Camisole pattern from Knititude. This is one I saw a while ago and I still love it every time I see it. I’m thinking I’m going to make it in Classic Elite Wool Bamboo, happened across 2 balls of this in my LYS clearance chest, this is some lovely stuff! Great sheen, and I’m sure it hangs like a dream. I need to finish this blankie so I can work on other stuff!! I need to on other stuff!!

We went hiking again last weekend, gotta love this Spring weather. There were these huge gnarly vines hanging all over, they were cool. We saw this neat tree that looked like it had a built-in planter. Then Sydney found the ‘tree seat’, a perfect child-sized spot!

Almost too Gorgeous to Knit

I said "almost".
You would think these pics were from last fall, but they were actually from our hike last weekend. Some mushrooms that have hung on until now. (Or do some last all year??) I don’t know what is with my recent fascination with fungi, but I think they are so cool. The flowers are my ‘birth’ flower, Lily of the Valley, for the month of May. I believe they are relatively scarce, they have a few bushes of they here outside of the Folk Art Center and I couldn’t resist taking few shots of them.

Well, the plant life seems to cooperate better than the knitting as far as camera ops. Here is my Beryl cardigan in progress; this is a shot of the shaping at the side. The lovely pink that I’m so infatuated with seems to be a bit camera shy, as I can’t quite capture the detail of it.

Finished one of the Spiraling Leaves Fingerless Gloves by Lynne Vogel. This is a fun pattern that produces a gorgeous result with sock yarn. I’m sure I will get a lot of use out of these, and I hope I can finish the other soon.

Lastly, here is a shot of the gauntlet I’m working on designing for men, inspired by the armor patterns in my husband’s blacksmithing book. I’m using Ella Rae Classic in a steely blue gray, this one is a real challenge for me, and the design is constantly changing. Hopefully it will turn out well.

Hope you are all enjoying this Spring weather. Be well.