Whatever Lola Knits

I'm Knitting, I Promise!

And I'm even knitting socks of all things! For the first time, I am kind of in love - socks usually leave me a little cold, a little bored, they are so...small. But these are squooshy and stripy and wonderful! This is the ever-popular Charade pattern in Hazelknits Ice Cream Sundae, the custom colorway developed for Hilltop Yarn. Isn't it yummy?

I was questioning the pooling a bit but it's so lovely, and you never would have guessed from the skein that it would happen:

Ah well, it's too nice to fiddle with, I like it just the way it is.

I have also been plugging away on the last big piece of my Flutter Sleeve Cardigan - the back and left front have been done for a while, now I just need to finish the right front, the seed stitch button bands, and all of the finishing. It feels like an insurmountable task, but I think I'll actually finish the right front fairly quickly, now that I've really gotten going with it. The left front was fairly speedy through the short-row shaping under the bust and only slowed when I got to the sleeve, but that's partly because I had to concentrate so hard on not screwing up the shaping. Since I've done it once, I can match the right against the left as a visual cue, hooray!

And of course, I have another baby item still waiting to be finished - my soon-to-be-born second cousin Jackson will hopefully arrive after I've done the seaming and intended embroidery on the front of his Presto Besto sweater:

I originally wanted to knit the front panel in white and then use the world's most adorable fishbowl buttons (I have the orange fishies, but the bowl is a translucent light blue color, not colorless), so that you can see them against the knitted fabric, but then I washed everything...and that Cascade 220 Superwash bled EVERYWHERE. I rinsed and soaked and rinsed and soaked and still, the bleeding dye. So I knit the panel in blue and figure that a giant J on the front will do nicely, very boyish. (and maybe I'll go ahead with the white panel anyway, my cousin will want to be able to change them out, right?)

(You may notice that I'm getting back in the swing of blogging - thank the recent shake-up at work for that. My old-new job that I had been doing for the last 30 days has been eliminated, and my new-new job that I was mapped into will likely allow for a little more breathing room...let's hope, anyway!)

Back From The Great Beyond

Don't worry, I've been knitting in addition to slowly consuming all that is Ravelry. Here is my meager progress on Glee:

Knitting goes slowly when you're doing it on size 5 needles--plus, this top-down business? I think it might be for the birds! I will admit that I've gotten very comfortable knitting raglans from the bottom up--just make three simple stockinette tubes, join at the armpits, decrease until you can't decrease no more. Easy-peasy, right? Watching this grow at such a glacial pace is excruciating, but there you go. (Pls note: tiny dachshund stitch marker and coordinating beaded stitch markers from the Craft Pirate, so cute! I never get tired of using them.)

I'm also trudging along on a Monkey sock that might become arm-warmers instead:

My gauge is further off than expected and they're a wee bit tight around the ankle--but resizing the lace would be a) difficult and b) time-consuming. I think I'll just rip back to the last stockinette round before the heel (by the way, did you notice my beautiful heel? There is great joy in the successful turning of a sock heel, I must say), slip one lace repeat onto a stitch holder for the thumb gusset and move on. That sounds fun, doesn't it?

And if you think my knitting blabber sounds forced, that's because it is. I am in a mid-summer knitting rut! Too many choices, not enough time! I'm sure it will get better, it always does...and in the meantime, there is Ravelry. If you're on there, my username is my real name--let's be pals, eh?

The Purple Sweater Must Be Finished.

The Purple Sweater Must Be Finished.
Originally uploaded by maggi.m.

I WILL finish this. I started it in October 2005 and I WILL FINISH THIS.

Baby Sweater with 9 pound cat for reference.

Baby Sweater with 9 pound cat for reference.
Originally uploaded by maggi.m.

Finally, another finished object! November was an extremely busy month--between new job and Thanksgiving festivities, I'm exhausted! I did manage to start and almost finish this newborn-sized baby sweater during the Thanksgiving 4-day weekend. I am still one button short and am considering lacing a ribbon through the first garter stitch row in the yoke, but otherwise will consider this Complete.

Specs:

Yarn: Webs-brand Longmeadow, a cotton-microfiber blend. 2 balls (only a few yards leftover!) at $3.50 each makes this a pretty inexpensive project...prior to buttons, that is. I spent $1.70 each on the bunny buttons, but it was well worth it.

Pattern: Lace Baby Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. I LOVE this woman. The pattern was easy, fun and quick--only took about 5-6 combined hours of knitting and finishing!