My First Sweater

I know I've talked about it, but I finally cast on for it Sunday. I'm making my first sweater. I fell in love with the Shifting Rib Pullover when I saw it in the Winter 2007/08 issue of Vogue Knitting and I've finally cast on. I'm so excited!!!


I'm using the yarn I bought on the last NCEE meet-up:

(Cascade 220 Heathers)





I started on it Sunday evening; and here's my progress as of Monday:






It's really coming along!! I am doing much better than I expected. Here's where I am so far tonite:



Ciao, gotta get back to my needles!! ;D

Nearly Perfect Day

I had a nearly perfect day Saturday. I got to meet up with my NCEE (North Carolina Ebony Elite) ladies...who will be known as Neicy going forward (LOL, Stacey). We met in Winston-Salem and had lunch at a great little spot called Sweet Potatoes. The food was GREAT!!! I'll definitely be going back there.

There was an arts fest going on while we were there...great booths and some Awesome shops on Trade St. We did our yarn crawl... We started at Knit One, Smock Too. Great shop and the ladies in there were very sweet. Not to mention my daughter loved the dollhouse they have in there.


Neicy and them at Knit One, Smock Too...



Next we went to Knit Picky. It is in the cutest little house and the comfy, red couch is DIVINE!!! I picked up some Cascade 220 Heathers here...

(obligatory yarn porn....)


The crew again...


Then we stopped for ice cream......

Toni, Deborah and Mr. Ryan...


Nik, Nayomi and Laila....



Renee, Stacey and Wendy




Great day, right? So why "nearly perfect"? Because Ms. Migraine visited me again. I felt her coming on the way home and by the time I got in the house, my hands were shaking so bad I could hardly hold my cup to take my meds....sigh. So I crashed for a couple of hours to find that my DEAR, SWEET, WONDERFUL hubby went to......

Yes, that's a Ganache box!!!!! He got a turtle cake...YUM!!!!!!!! I love this man!!! So, my day took a dip, but ended up great! Ooh, here's the cake....

TTFN!!

Baby Bolero is finished!!

I did it!!! I love it!! It's sooo tiny, though...It looks like it should fit a doll...LOL! As a matter of fact, I borrowed my daughter's Cabbage Patch to test it out. It's nearing my bedtime, so this will be short and sweet. Here are the pix:

front:


back:






And the money shot!! This is my granddoll-ter, Brown Baby:



Whaddaya think?

Hello!!

I have been B-U-S-Y. We finally finished spring cleaning. I pulled out the steamer and did the carpets last weekend (YAY!!!!) I also finished with my online course, so I've got a break from that for a week. AND I've been knitting!!!

I am making the baby bolero for my friend Lucy's little girl. I love the pattern. It's working up pretty quickly (seriously, I have only been able to knit in stolen moments here and there and I'm almost done - in less than a week). I see many of these in the future for all my friends and relatives that have wee ones. Like I said, it worked up very quickly, but I did get a few shots of the body and sleeves. I plan to put it together tonight. Here are some before shots:

Here is the body with the right front worked:

Here are some shots of the body and sleeves:

I LOVE this detail on the back:

Until next time...

Des

The Nautilus Hat Redux...

Call it my stubborn Leo pride....I just can't let go of that hat. You know, the one from January. http://queendbw.blogspot.com/2008/01/sigh-hat.html I'm compelled to finish it. And thanks to my good friend Nik, nikknits.blogspot.com I can.

Nik had a post last week about Magic Loop with a handy-dandy video!!!! http://youtube.com/watch?v=BtBSmxGomPk&feature=related

Tonite, I'm frogging the hat and tomorrow we begin again....

Des

Random thoughts about knitting

I am so excited!! I learned a new skill yesterday, thanks to Knitty Gritty. I can now do double-knitting (so that things are reversible)...YAY ME!!!!

I have also made a test swatch of my next project. I will make the ribbed cable pullover from the Holiday issue of Interweave Knits. This is my most ambitious project yet, so wish me luck.

Also, if you could please take a minute and sign this petition, I'd really appreciate it: http://www.petitiononline.com/1234lulu/petition.html

The first knitting show I'd ever seen, Knitty Gritty (on DIY network) has been out of production for quite a while and we're trying to convince them to produce new episodes.

Thanks and have a Happy Easter!!!

Spring Cleaning

...is my most favorite chore of all (NOT!!) Nevertheless, it must be done. I went through the kids clothes, toys and closets. We'll be making a drop at the Goodwill shortly. Best of all, though, I found a box of yarn (doesn't that sound pathetic) in my closet. Now to explain, we've been in NC for almost two years, but I still had about four boxes in my closet that I'd never unpacked. Three of them were full of books and the last was full of crafting stuff!! YAY ME!!! Now I get to catalog and assign projects for each (cause you KNOW I don't remember what I bought them for...LOL).

We were going to do some yardwork today too. But hubby had a meeting this am and barely beat the rain...maybe tomorrow.

I'm SO glad we're finally letting go of winter!!!!!

TTFN!!

Des

The Neckwarmer Button

I have had several people ask me about the button. I love it too!!! I got it from This & That. It's my LYS here in Greensboro, located on Cornwallis Drive.

This button is listed as "#465 Wood Toggle E3028". But they have lots of great ones...I'll be going back, so don't clean them out!!!

Des

The Neckwarmer is done!!

I finished it! I love it!! I almost don't want to give it to my friend!! Thank you, Stacey, the pattern was a breeze; worked up really quickly. And the blocking was nothing to fear, either. Here's a pic of it:

I REALLY like the button!!! Here's a closer look at it:

I would post a pic of me wearing it, but I'm already in my bed clothes and nobody but the hubby should have to see that...LOL!!!! This will definitely be my go-to pattern for when I need a gift in a hurry. I see that some of my stash will be disappearing too!!

Now if I can just decide what to make for Luci's baby girl...

My visitor...

I planned to finish the neckwarmer last night, but I got a visit from Madame Migraine. Sadly, we go waaaaay back. Thankfully, she doesn't visit nearly as often as she used to do.

So, I'll be finishing up tonite, while I watch Idol :D

This project will be another first for me...I've never blocked anything before. All of the larger bags I made were felted, so no blocking required. Thankfully, I have the internet (namely, Ravelry.com) at my disposal.

I'll share the final result tomorrow....

Des