Silk Shrug- Ruffle Sts All Picked Up!

Well, I got to the second sleeve seam, ends weaved in and all. It's starting to take shape...
It took me a while to get those ruffle sts picked up (it's pretty close to 2 sts per every 3 rows) as I kept losing count! It would be a good idea to put some markers in along the way so you don't have to keep starting over at 1, like I did far too many times... ugh... but eventually I did end up with 300 sts and I was ready to roll.

I'm snowed in this weekend... so maybe I can even finish this by Sunday night, then I could get it to blocking. Wouldn't that be fun?!

Silk Shrug- Seams Are Coming Together

I've been working on this shrug (Silk Shrug, designed by Bobbi Intveld, for Blue Sky Alpacas), in kiwi, for what seems like way too long. This is the second of these shrugs I've made- the first was the wedding shrug, frantically whipped out in a mere 10 days. I rightly promised myself never to do anything so foolish as that again... it was painful, and that's just wrong. When knitting gets painful... well, it really is just wrong! This shrug has been much slower going, it's taken like... forever. Mostly because it has not been my top priority- I've got my needles in many a project right now, and with my 'adult ADD', especially when it comes to knitting, I put things down to pick up something else all the time. It keeps me from getting bored. It also gets me a little overwhelmed every now and then when I realize how many unfinished projects are calling out to me... so in the name of project completion I think I just may stick to this shrug until it's done! I got one sleeve and side seam done this afternoon, when I stopped to take these pictures...

Knit in Blue Sky's Alpaca Silk on size 4's, there's a lot of stitching to this piece. It's knit 'up' one sleeve, across the main body, and 'down' the other sleeve. The body, with its 40 more stitches is where it gets painfully slow- probably not to a patient knitter, but to a knitter used to baby sweaters at a larger gauge... at 8 rows to the inch, every inch of body is a lot of knitting, but once you get across to the other side, knitting down that sleeve is almost like sliding downhill.
After casting off the cuff of the second sleeve, what you have is a very long, slightly odd looking, scarf-like object, which basically gets folded in half (the long way) and seamed. I have one sleeve seamed in the photo above with the body and second sleeve laying open. The baby was added as a special bonus...
Just for fun, here's a close-up with a little sleeve seam detail. Seaming is tedious, but it's also a clear sign of approaching project completion and the euphoria that comes with it!


All that's left is the fringe... a mere 300 sts done in the round... but it's on size 9's to get an open, lacey kind of look, so it goes faster than one would think. I can almost taste the finish...
ali

Pretty in Pink, Little M Style

Wow, sub-zero weather and a houseful of sick kids can really put a cramp in my blogging style. I think I'm finally coming out of the fog I've been sleepwalking around in. Time to start filling up this blog with pics of knitted projects. The only problem is that at least half of my projects are for up and coming patterns and I don't want to post pics until they're published. The other problem is that half of my knitting is done for Blue Sky Alpacas, either store samples, pattern testing, or pattern designing. I am determined to actually knit more projects for my kids this year, and perhaps, maybe, quite possible, even for me!
I need to get going on more baby things, because, well, I have a baby...

Isn't she cute?!

Well, babies grow so fast that if I don't get a couple of pictures in soon, it'll be too late... So in the interest of preserving memories of my baby in one of the very first baby sweaters I ever actually finished (a couple of sisters ago...) here she is, looking pretty in pink!

I admit it, that's acrylic... it was made before I discovered real fibers... while I was buying my yarn at Walmart... no offense to Walmart, it's just not the place to buy yarn! I just finished a variation of this sweater in Blue Sky Alpacas' Royal... oh my, it's scrumptious! Not machine washable, but scrumptious nonetheless, I can hand wash to get a feel like that!
That's all for now, warm winter beanies coming up soon,
happy knitting,
ali