They Grow Up So Quickly

I'm ashamed to say it's been about two months since I've posted any pictures of my little girl. My how time flies when you're defending your knitting from a kitten. I can hardly believe how grown up Macy looks now.

I found a batch of pictures I took in mid-July and found these. Here she's enjoying one of her favorite pasttimes: pissing off Murphy.She's really good at it.
As far as knitting goes, I've started a new project. It's Cloud, a cardigan from Rowan's Calmer Collection. I've been wanting to make this sweater for almost a year, since I stumbled accross superstarra's on her blog. I just love that lace panel on the bottom and the nice fit that the ribbing gives it. I really like Kim's designs and eventually I'd like to make Loll and maybe Air too.

Ah yes the ribbing. Miles and miles of 2x2 ribbing. This picture was taken about a week ago and I'm now about 3/4 through the back. After my Apricot Jacket and a couple of Noro Striped Scarves I wasn't really that bothered by the prospect of miles of ribbing. I wasn't, but Cloud is starting wear on me, just a little. I'm hoping that once I get the back done (the biggest piece) it'll all seem downhill from there.

And as you can see from the photo, I'm back to my old friend Cotton Fleece. Calmer's just not fitting into the yarn budget right now, and I was just curious to see if the Cotton Fleece would work. I didn't even swatch really, I just checked the stitch count in Apricot, which is made in the same yarn with the same 2x2 ribbing around the waist and realized it was going to work. Unless I've missed something!

And the Winner Is....

My Eyelet Cardigan is finally done!

It's taken way too long. I started it back in the middle of June a few weeks after we got our kitten Macy, and I guess I underestimated the effect she would have on my knitting. I've had to work around her quite a bit, waiting until she's asleep or distracted to get a few rows in here and there. She's pretty much convinced that everything, and for that matter everyone in our house is here for her entertainment. My knitting in particular seems to fascinate her though: the yarn, the needles, the sweater that (to her) looks like a tangle of yarn just waiting to be attacked. It's been quite a battle, and she's a worthy adversary, but I have emerged triumphant.

Here are the specs on the sweater:

Yarn: 4 skeins Blue Skies Alpaca Dyed Cotton in periwinkle

100% cotton

150 yds/skein

Needles: size 7

Pattern: Eyelet Cardigan from Blue Skies Alpaca

This was a pretty fun knit, kitten wrangling aside. I'm really pleased with the fit. The only changes I made were to the ribbing. After reading the comments of others who've made it, I decided I liked the idea of the ribbing matching up with the eyelet/cable pattern. I adjusted the ribbing accordingly. (Thanks Ravelry!)

I think if I make this again, I'll skip doing the cuffs on the sleeves. They're just a little too heavy for this weight yarn, especially for a summery cotton sweater. The yarn feels nice and soft, but it's loosely plied, so I'm a little concerned about how it'll hold up. We'll see.

Oh and here's another little distraction I had acouple of weeks ago. I decided at the last minute to knit a little hat for a friend's baby shower. After looking at a few sample baby hats in my LYS and checking out some hats on Ravelry, I cast on and kind of made it up as I went. I used Tahki Cotton Classic in blueberry and bright teal, size 6 needles. It's a little puckered looking at the top where I did the decreases, but overall I think it turned out okay. It just took a couple of days. I had never used Cotton Classic before and I really like it. The color selection is amazing, and you've got to love a machine washable yarn.