Knit Diary

I finished my Sunrise Circle Jacket yesterday.

Pattern: Sunrise Cirlce Jacket by Kate Gilbert from Interweave Knits Web Patterns. I knit this as part of a knit along.
Guage: 18 sts & 27 rows = 4" ( I was off a bit from the pattern gauge of 18.5 sts & 28 rows = 4")
Yarn: 11 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Jewel. Love this yarn and the finished fabric.
Needles: 4.5 mm/US 7 addi turbos 24" and 32"
Start: 2-28-06
Finished: 3-25-06 (Included the blocking process, seaming, hemming and closures)
Size: 37"
Highlights: The back shaping is beautiful and ultra-feminine.
Lowlights: Too much finishing involved. The hemming, seaming and sewing in the snaps took me roughly 8 hours.
Notes: Instead of the toggle buttons (which I thought would be attract too much of the wrong kind of attention to my 'ahem' busty figure) I chose to use snaps as the closure for this jacket. I think I knit a size too large. The sleeves look really long in the picture, but it's actually too much ease in the armpit section that makes the sleeves look like that.

See more pics in the extended entry

Continue reading "Sunrise Circle Jacket - Completed" »

Posted by Sandy at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I finally finished the back of the Sunrise Circle Jacket.

I also ordered these buttons from the Sewing Place.

Look at the needle cases my friend made for me.

Here's the inside of the bigger one:

Posted by Sandy at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I finished the two front/sleeves of my Sunrise Circle Jacket.

I cast on for the back on Sunday.

Posted by Sandy at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's my completed Ene:

Pattern: Ene's Scarf by Nancy Bush from Scarf Style
Yarn: Blackberry Ridge Lace Weight Silk Blend in Samarkand Blue, 2 Skeins, plus a tiny bit of a third skein
Needles: 4 mm/US 6 addi turbos
Start: 2-10-06
Finished: 3-3-06 (Included the blocking process, which took one day)
Finished size: Pre-blocking - 50" wide across the top, 29" from tip to top
After blocking - 66" across top, 33" from tip to top
Notes: I ran out of yarn with 7 rows more to knit. The final size of the shawl makes me think that I knitted this really loosely. I think I would go down a needle size next time I knit this. Unfortunately I was unable to win gold for the Knitting Olympics, but I'm so happy with the results. The shawl warms you up when you wear it.

See more pics in the extended entry

Continue reading "I finished Ene's Scarf!" »

Posted by Sandy at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I swatched the two dyelots of the Silkroad Aran Tweed and there was no noticeable difference between them. So I cast on for the sleeve of the Jacket Tuesday night. The picture of the swatch didn't come out so I won't post it here. I tell you this yarn is beautiful. I love the speckles of Navy and lavender in the knitted fabric.

I start on the sunrise part of the jacket tonight.

Posted by Sandy at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am Bode Miller (kind of the anti-I am Tiger Woods?)
Button courtesy of Rose-Kim Knits.

Posted by Sandy at 01:16 PM | Permalink

Last night, I was well on my way to finishing Ene, then this:

ACK! I ran out of yarn with only 6 more rows of the chart to finish!

I guess I get a DNF next to my name. I hope everyone else fared better.

Posted by Sandy at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm progressing on my Ene, but I feel like I'm running down the Poltergeist hallway that keeps extending and extending. This is a picture of the first two charts and all of one repeat of Chart 3.

I'm taking advantage of President's day holiday and re-runs of Project Runway and I'm hopefully going to get a bit more of Ene done.

Posted by Sandy at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's progress on my Ene.

I wanted to get through all 22 rows of chart one by the end of this weekend, but only completed up to row 16. You can start to see the diamond pattern emerge. This is the fun part of knitting lace -- to see the pattern start to form on your fabric. Casting on was a bear, but I'm planning on smooth sailing from now on. (Crossed fingers and toes.)

Sadly, some of our Ene team has been Kwan'd (a la Michelle Kwan). I found out there are more Ene knitters: check them out on Mandella's sidebar.

Posted by Sandy at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I waited to cast on for Ene until 8pm, the start of NBC's broadcast of the opening ceremonies. (The opening ceremonies actually started an hour later after after all of NBC's mumbo jumbo.)

Neurotically counting stitches as I went, I finished casting on at 9:20pm. During the humanimation ski man.

I rewarded myself:

Two and a half hours later, this:

According to pattern, you cast on double stranded and drop one strand of yarn as you begin the body of the scarf. I had some problems with the double stranding and also I cast on too tight and the stitches were not moving along the needle smoothly. Argh!

I didn't want to go to bed without at least casting on for my project, so:

Needless to say, I'm kind of tired.

Posted by Sandy at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In preparation for the Olympics, I used the copier at work to blow up the charts.
Also, here's the first button I've ever made.

Ene Olympians are:
Leah
Mandella
Dyann
and me.

Because I'm a geek, I charted out the stitch count for the pattern. I also like to tick off the rows as I work.
Please feel free to use the chart and button. (Also note that you actually end up with 17 stitches at the last row of chart 4, not 19 as it says in the notes on page 31.)

For other resources, there's an Ene Ensemble and Scarf Style KAL. Lot's of good pictures of different Enes.

I hope everyone's still excited about the event!

Posted by Sandy at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've officially joined Team Wales.

I'm not from Wales or of Welsh ancestry, but what the heck? I rather knit for Wales than for any other team. Besides the two hottest babes in all the land come from Wales:

Yes, he's a babe.

I am actually knitting...trying to finish up the mini/cavern sweater. I'm almost done with the second sleeve and hope to have it blocked and photographed by this weekend.

Posted by Sandy at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just found out that at least two other Olympians will be knitting Ene's Scarf (really shawl with three charts and you have to cast on 375 stitches. ohmygosh!) Mandella and Leah are also knitting Ene. Let's go TEAM! WooHoo!

Posted by Sandy at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Challenged by Yarn Harlot, I've signed up for this .

I plan on knitting Ene's Scarf for the games. By the way, have you seen the freaky little mascot?

Weird.

Posted by Sandy at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday was a yarn bonanza: I also received this in the mail.

This is Blackberry Ridge laceweight silk blend in Samarkand Blue. So lovely.

I plan on knitting this:

I also ordered yarn samples and they sent me this:

Crazy!

Posted by Sandy at 08:57 AM | Permalink

This is the Weasley sweater I knit for baby j, my nephew. It was part of my Hand Knit Holiday Gift Along.
Yarn: Encore Plymouth Worsted, 75% Acrylic 25% Wool (Mama J doesn't do hand washing so this yarn was perfect. I'm not sure if it was the wool content in the yarn, but it blocked really nicely too.)
Needles: US 7 bamboo
Pattern: Blue Blog Alison pattern
Letter j pattern from Lismeta

Friday night, I went to Disneyland and rode on my favorite ride, which has been all done up for the Holidays.

This is a shot from Latin America:

Look at the goodies I got for Christmas! All ready for next year's holiday knit along!

The book on the right is Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton. Murder and Knitting...I can see it.

I love a murder mystery. Also love books in a series. I'll let you know if this is any good.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by Sandy at 05:07 PM | Permalink

I finished this hat, one of the items in my Hand knit Holidays Knit Along.

Pattern: May from Rowan Big Wool
Yarn: 1 ball of Big Wool
Needles: US 17
Took only a couple of hours to knit. Yeah!

Here's my progress on my Weasley sweater for by nephew, baby j. This is my first attempt at Intarsia. I have my letter j pattern from lismeta and helpful tips from Blue Blog Alison!.

Here it is 1 1/2 hours later.

And the back:

I think this sweater is a good one to start for beginning intarsia knitters. I'm liking how it's turning out! Yeah!

Posted by Sandy at 09:43 AM | Permalink

This is George, my Mother Bear Project bear. I finished knitting this on vacation in London, appropriately enough, on World AIDS day, December 1. I knit this for the Knit Unto Others KAL and the Hand Knit Gift Along. I missed the official Nov 30 deadline for the Knit Unto Others along by one day. I mailed it to Mother Bear Project yesterday. I hope he arrives safely. It was fun to knit. Thanks to the organizers of this knit along!

I really like him. Here he is without his scarf and face.

The box of chocolates in the back are Bendick's Mingles, mint chocolate treats. ( Bendicks is the official chocolatier for the Queen by the way.) This is one of the Yummy English goodies I indulged in. London was so fun! I'll share more later...

Posted by Sandy at 12:24 PM | Permalink

I've joined my first knit along!


I plan to knit a Weasley for my nephew, baby j. I'm using Encore Plymouth worsted in these colors.

My sister, Mama J, is not someone who has time for handwashing any knits. So I think this is an ideal yarn to knit a sweater for her kid.

The other items on my list are:
legwarmers (maybe from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, or a pattern of my own) for Mama J, my sister
two knit hats, one for dad, one for Best Friend
Last, but not least, I will be knitting a Mother Bear teddy bear.

I sent away for the pattern a while ago. I would like to knit one or two of these. You can send for your pattern here. I am also knititng the bear for this knit along.
I'll knit these on my trip and mail them out when I get back.

Yeah for knit alongs!

Posted by Sandy at 04:04 PM | Permalink