Almost Finished!

The Throwback by Andrea Mowry

Sort of, if I don't consider that I still need to:  

Pick up stitches around the neck and knit the ribbing.
Pick up stitches on each side of the front opening and knit the ribbing.
Weave in all the ends.
Wash and block the whole thing.

So there's a lot to do yet, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm also knitting some socks:

Basic sock pattern by Janet Stephens

I am halfway done with the second sock, so again, light at the end of the tunnel.

AND next!

Perfect Blend by Casapinka.  Twelve colors (Miss Babs yarns) and twelve different stitches.  That should be fun, but first, I must finish the sweater.  Says I.  

I might not be listening.

I Did It!

The pattern for Seychelles, which intimidated me for four years, turned out to be really easy, especially after two cabled sweaters I made.

State Fair Cardigan

Currant Cardigan

Each of these sweaters has patterning on the wrong sides of the knitting as well as on the right sides. It was a lot to keep track of!

The Seychelles wrong side rows were always just purl stitches. A breeze, and there were only 41 stitches per row, and only 20 rows per repeat section. 19 repeats but still, they were easy, so easy that I could work on them while I watched the new season of Endeavour. Yay! I love Endeavour, the prequel to the dull Inspector Morse series; the main character, the older Morse, was depressed, and I suppose he was such an effective actor that he made the show .... depressing. I never finished watching the series.

Anyway, here is the beaded lace portion of the project.

Now all that remains is to pick up a million zillion! stitches along the non-beaded side of this lace and knit the stockinette part of the wrap. There are (shudder) short rows to keep track of, but I think that is as complicated as the rest of the project gets.

This will be the most delicate thing I've ever had to block, and I think that will be a bit challenging. I'll be afraid I'll break the fine thread-like yarn!

A couple of years ago I bought two colors of laceweight Miss Babs yarn to make a particular pattern.  However, I think they sold me the wrong weight by mistake because the resulting scarf would have been the proper size for an American Girl Doll.  So I ripped it out and saved the yarn for future use.  Then I learned how to do an advanced search on Ravelry and looked for a two-color project requiring 400 yards of each color of laceweight yarn.  And there it was, the Pink Silk Mimosa, designed by Jennette Cross at Hill Country Weavers in Austin, Texas.

And here it is!!!  All finished and blocked.  I love it!

I ran out of turquoise yarn and could have taken out two rows in order to do the bind-off row, but I decided to use the brown and keep the extra length on the lace. This is the closest I have ever come to running out of yarn!

I had about 12 inches of turquoise left (and Baxter tried to eat it) and about six yards of brown.

Phew!

Obsessed I Am

Is that the title of a Dr. Seuss book?

Maybe not.

But if I WERE obsessed, which I am not, how could anyone blame me?

Look at this yarn (Malabrigo Rasta Arco Lily). The colors are gorgeous!!! And this is what the yarn becomes---even more gorgeous!!!This is the sixth---and possibly final---cowl.

Yes, I have made six, but only two are for me. The rest are gifts.

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And for inquiring minds, the final installment of Baxter vs Miss Babs:

The yarn has reappeared. DH found it Thursday night while I was at Knit Night. He said it wasn't a pretty sight, and I have taken his word on this.

So, Baxter: 1/Miss Babs: 0. Whew.

Bits and Pieces, Odds and Ends

Before yesterday, I had two of these lovely Miss Babs sock yarn samples. Now, I have one. And the label for the second.

Did I make something out of the absent ten yards of sock yarn?

No, I did not. But Baxter, who apparently has very good taste in yarn (he seems to prefer 100% merino), did. He made a snack out of it.

I was re-organizing my yarn stash because it was taking up the entire floor of a closet where I also keep gift-wrapping supplies. I used to keep my stash in baskets out in the open, but Baxter found that easily-accessible stash of yarn too tempting to resist. So into the closet it went.

While I was putting the yarn into a hanging sweater holder, I heard a gagging sound and turned around to find just the tag from one of the samples hanging out of Baxter's mouth. GAAAAKKK!

The previous time Baxter ate yarn, I called the vet and he said that I needed to watch Baxter for signs of depression. In a cat???? How????

He said a depressed cat doesn't play and doesn't eat.

So I have given him several doses of Petromalt, a vegetable oil diet supplement, which is supposed to help the cat either barf (or otherwise extrude---I don't want to know how) hair and (I hope) yarn balls.

In the meantime, he is VERY active, and VERY interested in food. My fingers are crossed...

And now, for knitting-related news of the non-disgusting variety:

I finally finished both of the Flap Happy Hats for my two older granddaughters but I really need to learn to consider the consequences of my decisions. The four-month-or-so project that was my Sasha skirt comes to mind, and now these hats come to mind.

I didn't even put all the pom poms and tassels on these hats that the pattern called for because I got very impatient with all the fiddly bits.

But I did at least make them different: different colors, different numbers of pom poms and tassels. Now the girls will have no reason to argue over which hat is whose.

I can hear their mother laughing already.