Knitpicks Cable Pocket Shawl

I finally finished the knitpicks cable pocket shawl. I did the last leg of knitting and assembly during the Oscars last night. (BTW, I'm sure all knitters know by now, but Ocscar Nominee Ryan Gosling knits!) I've learned a lot of things along the way for use in making one for my mom.

1) I hate weaving in ends. I think I'm going to weave ends in along the way.

2) The pattern has you wait to finish the pockets at the end. I think I'll probably finish the pockets when I finish the panel so that the new last step is the 3 needle bind off.

3) Even when you think you are a pro, you can still drop a stitch in the 3 needle bind off. Which I did. Rather early in the bind off. I didn't realize it until almost the end. Panicking slightly, I decided to just finish up the bind off and sew the rogue stitch in. This does mean that the cables and stripes don't match up perfectly, but it's not really noticeable. And if you do notice it, you're standing WAY too close to me. Heh.

4) I was much too tired to do the happy shawl dance suggested in the pattern.

Now I'm just trying to decide if blocking will help it not to curl so much. It is very heavy.

St. Stephen's Hat and Cable Pocket Shawl Progress

I've actually written this blog three times and every time my browser has frozen up on me so here goes. I made this hat for my cousin in her school's colors. I'm rather proud of it because I designed it myself without the use of a pattern.
As for the pocket shawl, it's halfway done. I'm very pleased with how it's turning out. I just hope I'm able to finish it while it's still cold enough to wear it. Sometimes it definitely feels like the shawl that never ends...it just goes on and on my friend...

What I learned while I was on vacation:

1) You can actually get tired of knitting dishcloths. At home I've been working on the Cable Pocket Shawl from Knitpicks but didn't want to bring it with me to somewhat sunny Florida. So instead I brought a bunch of random Peaches n Creme to make in to dishcloths for my Mom. I did learn how to do a reversible cable which will come in handy for scarves. :)

2) You should always check your dishwasher before you leave and make sure there are no dirty dishes in it. Man it was foul. Some of them even had a nice layer of fur. Ewwwwwwwww.

So anyway, when I got bored I made an eyelet lace hat from a pattern I found on the internet. Funny story about that. I thought I was being so cool. The pattern was knit flat and I wanted to knit it in the round so I transcribed the appropriate knits and purls. Or so I thought. Turns out I did the exact opposite of what I should have done. I still think it looks cool. But the lower half is inside out. Heh.

Heartbreakingly Cute Kimono

So I finished the kimono and am generally pleased with it. It was my first time doing mattress stitch on garter stitch so I'm pretty happy with how that turned out. I'm not in love with how the seaming went under the arms but as I've been reading on the internet, I'm not the only one having problems. I think it looks too Frankensteiny but my sister assures me that no one will notice. Heh. Since it was for a little boy I did opt for the button instead of the ties. That part was easy. :)

Cable Hat

Just finished a cable hat from http://www.stitchcafe/freepatterns. I had splurged and purchased some Bliss cashmerino for a pair of "Fetching" for my friend and had a freak out moment at the end that I was not going to have enough yarn. I did. So I made her this matching hat.

Speaking of not having enough yarn. I was working on the Mason-Dixon kimono that called for 2 balls of Peaches and Creme. I ran out of yarn. With about 10 rows to go. Grr. So....another trip to Wal Mart.

Calorimetry

Finished Calorimetry from http://knitty.com this morning. The knitting was pretty easy, even the short rows (hee hee), but then the short row holes are part of the pattern. And I'm very good at making short row holes. I love the hat though, especially since traditional hats give me a headache. I used a purple skein of Paton's Classic Wool (I have a LOT of Patons. Can't resist $3.99 at Joanns.) that I can't remember what I purchased for, since most of the Patons was for J's soakers.

My 4 year old took the picture of me; a rare thing on my blogs as I tend to duck the camera on a regular basis. Plus it's a sweats and no makeup day.

Um. Oops.

Take a close look at the picture. Notice anything? Apparently I either need to drink every time I cable. Or not drink when I cable. When I put on my gloves today I realized that the cables looked tighter on the right hand. After further inspection, it is apparent that they are not tighter, but shorter! The left hand glove has one more round in each cable than the right hand. Grr. Not a huge deal, just means one glove is 3 round longer than the other. It makes it so I can tell them apart at least.

I finished the drawstring for the stripey doodlepants. J wore them yesterday without and after some good crawling, he started crawling out of them so I'm glad I finished it. I have just enough yarn for a matching hat, so I'm kind of knitting on faith and hoping I don't run out. Heh. He does seem to like them though. Usually getting him dressed is sort of an olympic sport and yesterday he would hold his legs out to put his pants on. It's probably because he was cold, but a mother can dream, right?