One down, one to go
Well, here is a progress report on the crochet bolero I'm currently working on. I don't want to make my other two fellow crocheters feel bad, but I have one half done! I told you it was addictive. Plus I have the advantage of not having any other projects going on at the moment, so don't feel so bad. Like this I can let you know about any problems I might run into on the way, which wasn't many so far. I just had to make my yarn fit the pattern, so basically I just changed it to 201 stitches to cast on, because of my thinner yarn. Not everything is going smooth. I also had to unravel a good two rows, because I missed some stitches. I guess I could have just cheated and made up for them in the next row, but I wanted to make it right. 
So, on the left you see the right half of the bolero. It's kinda hard to imagine, but that's why I folded it for you to get a better feel for it. The cast on row will be the side seam and the shorter side will be the front. The other peace will be worked the same way and then seamed together in the back. I hope that makes it a little more logical. Well, stay posted and check with the other two girls Kim and Sabine (she has actually published some of her own sock patterns on Mag Knits). I can't wait to see how theirs will come along. Now I have to email my husband, so he won't feel so neglected.
Labels: Crochet
Socks and more
Here is a post worthy picture of my sister's new socks, modeled by my now 10-year-old son. My god, his feet are almost as big as my sisters?
It's a simple two knit two purl cuff and a short row heel with another one as a toe and then closed up with the kitchener stitch. As you can see, any patterning would have been a waste of time, so we'll just let the colors do the talking.
Here is a picture of my latest project I'm working on, while I'm waiting for the UPS man to come to my door. It's s crochet bolero form an online yarn magazine.
It's Kimberly's fault. She is my, in this case, my crochet partner in crime and enabler for this project. Last thing we knitted was the Bonita Shirt and is was fun doing it together and giving each other moral support, when the pattern was giving us grieve. Also the little friendly competition keeps us going, instead of putting it down and doing other things in the meantime. This is what it's going to look like:
I just had to play with the pattern a little bit to make it work with the thinner yarn I am using, also it would have been a little too short for my taste. Other than that it's a pretty simple pattern and putting it together shouldn't half the trouble that the last project was. I'll post more pictures as it progresses and if I have any more sleepless nights, like I had last night, this bolero will be done in no time at all. Also go check with Kimberly and see how she is doing on hers. Labels: Crochet, FO, On The Needles, Socks
In Limbo
I'm not sick, I didn't disappear, I'm just in limbo. It's that feeling you get after you have finished a bigger project and don't know what to do next. I check my list, I know you all have one, but nothing speaks to me. I do have one thing, a sweater I saw on Laurie M.'s blog, that I have to make. 
Oh, you ware wondering about the Fair Isle and all the yarn and so on? Well, the fair isle is still on, but the yarn is on ice or better yet in a back and packed away. I know, I made a lot of fuzz about it, but I guess I have the yarn, but it wasn't the right project for it. So I add it to my stash and wait for the right timing. This one is different. I'm not going to change a thing. I just bought the pattern off of ebay and not I'm going to order the yarn from webs and take advantage of their sale going on. Hopefully the yarn and the pattern (coming from Canada) will be here at the same time.
In the meantime I've been knitting along on some really boring, except for the color, socks for my sister. She sent me the yarn, but the colors change so much, no pattern would show up and worth knitting. Once I'm done with those I'll post a picture, but until then, they are not blog worthy.
Lets hope the mailman drinks red bull and gets some wings and delivers my stuff fast to me. That will be my B-Day present to myself, I guess.
Happy knitting.
Bonita Shirt = FO
It's done, it's finished, I'm mostly happy with it. I washed it, threw it in the dryer, but still I'm not so sure if I should wear it just like this without a top under it. This is just the poser shot for all of you to see, but it the lacy look might cause some distraction to other people. :) Also I think the sleeves are a little puckered and if I did it again, I would have just made them longer and set them in like regular sleeves. With the arms down the look good, but once you move them they remind me a little of those princess dresses with the big puffy arms.Now I'm off to post this picture at the Interweave KAL, since it's from their 06 Spring issue.Labels: Bonita, FO, IK KAL
Another test run
OK, I took some of the advise given and cooked up another bath this morning. This time with only 5 colors, one time with the red/pink as a background (bottom half), once with it as the x and Os (top).I'm leaning more towards the top half, but somehow it looks a little christmasy. The grey and pink combination in the bottom seams to wash out just as much as the green and pink before, so that's a no-go. I guess since it's x and o pattern the pink/red color scheme will make it a valentine's sweater for next year?
Here as a comparison the other swatch with the green and the blue. Somehow, with only the grey and the cream it's missing something. The Zing is gone, something to pep it up. Any suggestions? Trust me, nothing will offend me and the advice I got last time helped me change some things around. I got until after this weekend to decide what I want to do, so there is absolutely no pressure there what so ever.
Thanks for the advice
I wanted to thank you all for your honest opinions on my color choices. I knew there was something off, but what, I still haven't found out. I'm definitely sticking with the red/pink color scheme, sorry, but the rest of them has to change. I just don't know yet, if that will be in the foreground or in the background. I hope that I can play with the colors a little more, maybe on the computer with a grid, all high tech and so on, and then head over to the store one more time to exchange or replace what I decided on. Bear with me, I'm new at this. I did do quilts and only had a couple of really ugly ones (which of course won't see the light of day ever again), but this also involves color work and mixing and matching and I can't believe that I failed so miserably this time. But it's getting better. I'm getting better. My grumpy mood seems to be gone and I hope to show you something productive in any form here soon. Oh, btw I just signed up for the IK KAL. Button will follow in the sidebar. I can't even make up my mind there, which one to choose. :(
Honest opinions please
So this is what I came home with from the yarn store today. What do you think? Honestly please! I'm not so sure about the color combinations. As balls they might look good, but knitted up I'm not so sure if they like each other. The light part kinda reminds me of strawberry/kiwi? I guess it could grow on me, or maybe should I change a color or two? I didn't have as much choices with the purple as I wanted, so I went with the red/pink color scheme. They did have a grey I could have substituted for either the green or the blue, but it was kinda dark. I'm so in the mood to drive there right now, even though I know exactly that she is closed by the time I get there. Please let me know what you think, because I really want to get started on this. I guess that answers the question why companies sell kits? So people like me don't have to get a headache.
Labels: Fair Isle
Caution
Beware, I found yarn, not stay tuned for the swatch. I'll get right to it. I wonder what you think. (I wonder myself) Cross your fingers.
I'm getting there
Sorry, no progress pictures this time. It's not worth it, but I'm happy to day that I stayed up until midnight last night just to finish the body of the Bonita shirt. After two times knitting back and redoing the shoulders I finally had it done and even too, to mention the least. This morning I sewed together the shoulder seems and tried it on. Success! It fits, nothing pinches on the arms and the neckline is nice. Not too tight and not to revealing (unlike a top I knitted last summer). I do have to say though that I'm going to have to find something to wear underneath, because it's kinda very lacy. Since I did throw the swatch into the washer and even into the dryer and still ended up with a good gauge I might think (don't scream about cotton, shrinking and so on - I said "think") about washing and drying it to make the stitches pull together a bit and make them less "see through". We'll see how it looks like when it's all done. I'm trying really hard to stay up after finishing this post and get at least one sleeve done and I might actually have a chance there, but my heavy. sleepy eyes might win this fight. Thank god I can knit without looking at the stitches all the time. I think it might help though, if I was awake when I'm doing this, right? Happy knitting and Happy Easter to all of you, if I don't have a chance to post again before the Holidays are over. Labels: On The Needles
Color Options
OK, this is what I've been working on today. I don't have the stash resources like some of you semi-pro fair isle knitters, so I have to pull out the trusty color pencils and graph paper. The pattern is the Bauhaus Fair Isle sweater from the latest IK issue, but I wanted to change the colors a little more to my liking. It was too dark for my taste and I am leaning somewhat to the purple side. Now this is only a rough draft of what I might want to get, but that all depends on what kind of yarn I come up with. In a couple of days I'm heading to one of our LYSs that has a sale and I'll see what they have to offer. If not, I guess there is always mail order.
Bear with me
May I present my patriotic panda pooh bear:
And smile for a close up please:
Well, how do you like the little guy? Sorry about the name, but you really can't call him Pooh anymore. He was supposed to be patriotic, so I guess that hits the spot. He is already gone to his new home and my friend was more than happy. He'll give it to his girl friend and I hope she'll like him too. So now that I have no more distractions for now I'm working again on the Bonita Shirt and it's decision making time. Is it long enough for the arm hole? Do I have to knit more? If I pull on it just a bit I'm right on track with the de- and increases. I put it on one of my favorite shirts that fits kinda snug and it's longer than that, so I guess we are good to go. So I guess I'm on to the next step. It doesn't look any different than the last picture, so I'll keep you in suspense until I have a little more to show for. Also go check out Lolly/Kimberly's blog and see how she is doing on hers. It seems she didn't have as many distractions as I did and she flew right by me. Labels: Crochet, FO
