Apricot Jacket Complete!

The 26th! Where has my February gone? I feel like I lost a couple weeks in there somewhere because the beginning of the month brought a visit from the flu fairy, first to my husband, and then a few days later to me. We were over the worst of it after a week or so, but we both still have some residual coughing going on at night. I'm just thrilled to be feeling normal again, at least for most of my day.

While I haven't been blogging much I have been knitting. The big news is I finally finished the Apricot Jacket I've been working on (for entirely too long.) I've been having a difficult time photographing it though. It seems like every time I've had the opportunity to take pictures lately it's been overcast. I try to get some better pics soon.

The color is pretty off in the first two pics. It's really much closer to the color in the the photo of the pieces being blocked.

I'm really pleased with how this sweater turned out. It was a lot of work and the pattern was pretty much a nightmare as many knitters out there had forewarned but it was worth it. In fact I have to mention that I'm very grateful for all the tips and advice that was available on the Internet. Blogs that were especially helpful: The Lint Knitter with lots of info and I love how she rates and reviews her projects and D-Made Knitting Gallery for her chart correction that I'm sure saved me hours of frustration. I knit the larger size because of gauge issues with the Cotton Fleece, an idea I got from Night Owl Knits.

Pattern: Apricot Jacket from Rebecca #27
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in New Age Teal - 5 skeins*
Needles: Size 6
Modifications: Shortened sleeves and overall length

*If I'd been a little more careful and hadn't minded weaving in more ends, I could have done this sweater with 4 skeins.

This was my first time working with Cotton Fleece and I have to give it a big thumbs up. It was a little splitty, but really that would be my only complaint. At 215 yds and around $8.00 a skein it's a good buy and it comes in dozens of colors. It drapes nicely and I think the wool content (20%) will keep it from getting baggy. I can't wait to see how it wears over time!

Home Stretch

Thanks to all who left such nice comments about my Peacock Bag! I've been enjoying it all the more with the lining in it. It's nice to be able to throw a knitting project in it and not have the knitting needles poking out of it!

FYI jennyslash, the fabric isn't a Liberty print (although thanks for the compliment - you must think my fabric stash is of a higher caliber than it is!) It is a Westminster/Rowan Fabric designed by Carla Miller, called (not suprisingly) Peacock Feathers. I found it at Thimble Pleasures in Carrboro.

Just a quick update on the Apricot sweater. After putting it on hold for a several weeks for Christmas knitting, it was a little hard to get back into it. I was in the middle of the first sleeve and it seemed to take me forever to finish it. Between the stupid mistakes I was making and trying to figure out just how long I wanted it to be, I was really having trouble staying motivated. When I was almost through with it I just got a bunch of safety pins and pinned the edges together so I could try it on. I really helped to see how much of the length was going to be drawn up when it was stretched around my arm. It also just looked good! Just seeing that little piece of the sweater on me really made me want to finish it. It just took a couple of days for me to get the second sleeve about half way done. Here's what it looks like.
I'm hoping I can start blocking at least some of the pieces this weekend. Can't wait for this baby to be done!

Proud as a ....

I've been getting quite a bit of use out of my green/blue/teal entrelac tote bag. It's been my go-to bag for carrying my knitting projects around. I've been meaning to line it for the longest time though, and I finally got around to shopping for some fabric for it last week. What do you think? The colors are perfect and I really liked the whimsy of the peacock feathers. As I was working on it I realized I finally had a new name for this bag, something a little catchier that "Entrelac Bag #2." It's now the Peacock Entrelac Bag. It's hard to photograph the lining well, but I'm very happy with the results.
My cat Murphy is pretty happy with it too. This isn't the first time she's noticed how much it smells like her kitty pi bed.

I decided not to put a plastic canvas circle in the bottom of this bag as I did in my Sorbet Entrelac Bag. I found that I kind of liked the slouchy, unstructured nature of this bag when I was using it unlined, so maybe it's just as well that I waited to "finish" it.

New Year Update

Thanks for all the birthday wishes folks! I had a very nice, low key kind of day. I spent the last couple of days of 2007 reflecting on the past year, remembering the happy times we had with the two pets we lost, and appreciating all the more the four that we still have. I am so fortunate to have my husband, my family and friends and that we all are in good health. Thanks for the well wishes for my Dad too, by the way. Turns out he had an intestinal blockage that required surgery. He spent ten days in the hospital, but he's home now and on the mend.

I've also been thinking a lot about all the people I've come across on my travels over the Internet. You all inspire me, amaze me, and just crack me up! I think of many of you as my friends now, so get used to having me around.

On to knitting news! I finally finished my husband's Christmas present (the Noro Striped Scarf) a few days ago, just in time for a bout of warm weather. It's been in the 70's the last couple of days but of course there's plenty of cold weather left in the season.

This one was made with two skeins each of Silk Garden #86 and #206. I'm even happier with the colors in this one than the first one I did. The colors in this one are a little brighter and more varied. I think what I was happiest about though is the fact that there was only one knot between the four skeins I used so I had many fewer ends to weave in.

My Apricot Sweater project was officially shelved for the little bit of Christmas knitting I did, but I'm back to working on it now. I can't help thinking I should be working on something more suitable for really cold weather though. I did a little birthday yarn shopping and found some Berroco Ultra Alpaca on sale and bought enough in a periwinkle blue for a sweater and a few various single skeins which would easily be enough for a scarf or mittens. I don't have any specific patterns in mind, so for now Apricot it is.

Birthday Wish

It's my birthday today. It's been a very pleasant day, beginning with sleeping in, a leisurely breakfast of coffee and a muffin, lots of time wandering through blogland and Ravelry, a yarn purchase, and a nice dinner out with my DH. We're back home and I'm now looking forward to coffee, birthday cake, and....the Carolina game. Perhaps I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm a huge fan of the North Carolina Tarheels (the men's basketball team) and I think it was mighty nice of them to schedule a game for my birthday.

Anyway, if I could have one wish come true today, it wouldn't be a wish for world peace, or my team to win, or even for more yarn. I would make a wish for my Dad. He's been under the weather lately and more than anything I'd like for him to get well. Well I'm off. I've got some candles to blow out.

I'm Back!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post, though I should hardly be surprised. I'm enjoying my first day off in two weeks. Did I mention before that I'm in retail? Most of the year I work behind the scenes as an office manager, doing the scheduling, payroll, receiving, some buying and generally putting out fires as needed. But as Thanksgiving approaches I'm needed more and more on the sales floor as extra help. Of course I still have all my regular work to do too, so 60-70 hour work weeks are pretty much the norm for me in December. I'm not complaining (though my feet still are!) I just wanted folks to know my lack of blogging lately hasn't been due to a lack of interest, just a lack of time.

I did manage to finish the Silk Garden project I was working on, the Noro Striped Scarf which I gave to my father yesterday. It's made of two skeins each of colors #221 and #226.

This was my first project with Silk Garden and I love it except for all the knots. The knots are really aggravating. Six knots in four skeins and three of the knots joined very different colors. I made the mistake of not rewinding the the skeins into balls first, otherwise I would have been able to foresee some of these problems. I tried to avoid having very abrupt color changes and after weaving in far too many loose ends for such a simple knit, I was pleased enough with the end result to immediately start another one for my husband. I'm even happier with the colors I picked for his scarf, #206 on the left and #86 on the right.
Unfortunately this is about as far as I got on this scarf which was meant to be a Christmas present. Fortunately my hubby was quite understanding, especially when I explained I waited for him to fall asleep first every night so that I could work on it in secret. I was having trouble staying awake long enough to work on it after my long days at work. So here I am, stuck having to knit on a fun project with beautiful yarn on my first completely free day off in weeks. I think I'll go get to it right now.

Stealth Knitting

A couple of weeks ago I bought four skeins of Noro Silk Garden, two of #221 (the browns and turquoise) and two of #226 (the blues, purples, and grays.) Can you guess what they're for? I would go into detail but they're for a Christmas present. Let's just say a nice man in Brooklyn inspired this project. I'm about one third of the way through and though not a great challenge it's been a very fun knit. I love watching the colors as they change and intermingle. I find that I'm eager to just get "just a few more rows" done before I put it down, and it's all the more frustrating that I have to sneak it in when I'm the only one home, or awake.

I've got pictures on Ravelry so if you're interested check them out. I'm listed as knittingin there.