Tuesday, October 23, 2007

I present to you a little girl version of Juliet. This sweater was originally intended for my almost-three-year-old daughter, but I somehow was off on my gauge despite the fact that I took the time to make a swatch. So... this first little Juliet will be going to an older niece for her birthday. Yesterday, I purchased some yarn to make a second one that hopefully will fit my daughter!

The yarn is double stranded Bernat Satin Sport (listed as 22 spi on yarn label) in Meadow and Bernat Softee Baby (22 spi) in white. I didn't purchase the pattern, but instead went by pictures alone, those on the pattern site and ones that bloggers have posted. Already I can see that my version is different in more than one way. For example, I used YO raglan increases. Since I had no idea how the increases right before the lace section were spaced, I just did my own thing. Also, I guessed on the lace pattern and the spacing between each lace panel. I placed a K1 P1 K1 column in the center of each lace panel. At the hem I did four rows of garter stitch, the last row being the bind off row. Since the borders of the lace section curled in, I decided to edge the entire sweater in Lionbrand Vanna's Choice yarn in Taupe (a worsted weight yarn). I did two rows of single crochet, turning the work before doing the second row (I'm not a proficient crocheter, so I'm not sure if turning the work is standard.) The buttons are from JoAnn's. The button loops are crochet chains sewn on the edge.

If you click on my 2006 and 2007 knitting galleries at the right margin, you'll notice that I've added a few more FOs to the 2006 Gallery and finally added the 2007 Gallery. The 2007 Gallery has a few more FOs to be added: Blaze and a hopefully finished Fifi. I say hopeful because I might have to re-knit it if it's too small. There are a couple of baby items to add to the gallery as well. Coming soon!

Last year I read (and re-read for some books) through all of Jane Austen's works (well, OK, specifically her six major works). I really enjoyed seeing both the Colin Firth and Keira Knightley movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. I just LOVE the music in the Keira Knightley version! I rented it to watch this week, which has been and will be rainy -- perfect movie watching weather. Before having Ian, my 4-week-old, I was reading Jim Harrison's Legends of the Fall which also includes two other stories before the said title. I was in the middle of Revenge, but haven't picked up where I left off, yet plan to soon. Speaking of Ian, gotta go now!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Still Knitting, Just B-U-S-Y

Three months since my last post!!! I'm way behind in taking pictures of my FOs and haven't had much time to post either. I'm lucky if I get to sit at the computer longer than ten minutes before someone needs me. I'm amazed that I still squeeze in any knitting time considering the constant demands on my attention! My reading and Sudoku time has been severely cut short (due to the extreme distraction of my newborn and toddler), but luckily I can manage to occasionally mulitask while knitting.

The last time I didn't post for a while, I had been burned out from too much knitting. Then I got pregnant with my second child and was nauseous for several weeks. Since that post, I had a baby boy and have been trying to keep up with my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter while caring for him. Though I don't have any FOs to show with this post, I thought I'd mention that I'm organizing and editing my pictures and adding them to my Flickr gallery. So, they will be appearing sometime in the near future (however, notice that I don't even bother to predict when!).

Until then... Ciao :-)