Thursday, July 06, 2006

knitty kind of day...

today it's all rainy outside, and all i want to do is sit and knit. yesterday, i got out of a doctor's appointment early and had about 45 unexpectedly free minutes, so of course--i went to the yarn store. my favorite person was working, and i basically sat with her and sewed up my baby sweater while she was knitting away on a beautiful lace shawl. remarkably pleasant way to spend some time, if you ask me. i was pleased to discover that she has a knitting blog, as well as a second blog about her life aside from knitting. my circle of knitting bloggers expands yet again...

see that the garter stitch cardigan is complete except for the buttons. i have some mother of pearl buttons for it, but i am not yet convinced that they are not too big, so i have been hesitating to sew them on until i get a chance to make a second pass of the local fabric stores in search of more. and check out the little hat i made to match the sweater. i am not yet sold on the fabulousness of this hat, but am hoping i will like it more after i get the little blue flowers embroidered on it. i think i am going to block this whole set as well, just so it looks neater and more finished. soon, i will be able to give this to an actual baby.

today at lunch, i started these lace pillowcases from weekend knitting. i tried them last year, too, but that was a miserable failure. i think there were two problems: 1) i didn't have any experience with small needles and tried to blithely go from using almost entirely size 11+ needles to knitting lace on some size 3's--mistake, and 2) i think i did not yet have enough experience with the different types of stitches you have to use (yo's, ssk's, etc.) to knit lace to be able to back up when i messed up. i started and ripped out the more complex of these two lace pillowcase patterns about six times before i just gave up. but now, i think i am ready for another go--i certainly got enough tinking experience with that damned clapotis, and i have gotten more comfortable with smaller needles, so i think i am ready for this now. and this time, i am going with the simpler pattern, too. today, i got through one repeat without messing up, and so far, it actually looks like it's supposed to. i know it's only ten measly rows, but i am still pretty pleased with myself. :)

5 comments:

Emma said...

Adorable cardigan! The lace pillowcases will be beautiful. Good thing you gave them another try!

Rachel said...

Cute baby sweater! It looks so comfy! I can't wait to see the hat with flower embroidery.

I followed links over from Emma's blog. She's quite the commenter! She found me out of nowhere too!

Maureen said...

Love the cute baby sweater. I keep flipping through that book loving many of the projects! You might have helped kick my butt into gear with your FO! Love the color too! Your lace project is coming along! Keep at it!

Anonymous said...

Oh I love that cardi, it is sooo cute!!

gray la gran said...

pillowcases ?! i think we're on the same wavelength :) i'm going to sew some though. i did consider some kind of crocheted lace insert, but i don't think it will look good with the fish fabric. hmmm ....