Sweater = Done! Top Down, Set In Sleeve, & Seamless

The top-down-set-in-sleeve-sweater I started last month is complete! It was a dream to knit and fits Carol to a tee. You can see how the colors work with her palette. View Carol's artwork here.

The Stats:
Pattern: Top Down Set in Sleeve Method by Tuulia Salmela (no pattern yet, send Tuulia an email saying how much you want it!)
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 6
Started: 3 November 2008
Finished: 28 Dec 2008 (and that is with knitting the sleeves twice to get them to my liking.)
I love love love making a sweater this way. The set in sleeve fits nicely on the shoulders, the faux seams provide structure to the entire sweater. Best of all, you can try-on-as-you knit, to ensure it works!



Hat from the yarn leftovers:

Hat pattern: A modification of my own "Folk Art For Your Head" - but I used the "Lifestyle Top Down Hat" method.
Yarn: Same as the sweater above.
Needle: US 6

Happy Solstice!

 
May you be surrounded with light and love this holiday season!

 

 

Training Wheels

I am bound and determined to get lace right. I have waged a battle with lace for over 20+ years. Friends tell me to give it up, be happy to do texture, two color. But no, I want to get it right.

So, I'm using training wheels to figure out where I am. And they are:
 

1. Highlighter tape on the knit chart so I only work the row I mean to work.
2. Row counter at the beginning of the round, so I remember what row I am on.
3. Stitch markers, placed at each repeat so I double check that I have the correct number of stitches per repeat.
    

This is Anne Hanson's Spiralucious.
Yarn: Frog Tree 100% Alpaca, Type 2310;  Fingering Weight; Made in Bolivia
Needles: Lovely Fixed Harmony Wood, size 3US, from KnitPicks

I'm 50% done. Wish me luck.

Art Imitates Life Imitates Art

The Knitting Mama, aka Katie Kent, shows off her perfect timing with her tilted blocks scarf  (from Lynne Barr's book, Knitting New Scarves) in October 2008. Mother Nature supplied the same colorway as the scarf Katie dyed, spun and knit. MN's tree was sitting in Bellingham, WA.

Apologies for the less than perfect photo -- this was a serendipitious moment on the street when tree and scarf aligned, and only a point-and-shoot camera was at hand.

In other news, progress on current projects:

Spinning - Ain't for the Faint of Heart

Made at bighugelabs, click on the image, and save the big one for computer desktop wallpaper.