photos....or not lol

Because I keep getting hounded for pictures of (especially) $1.50, I will take a moment to explain that it is not entirely due to my being lazy; Jim hijacked the camera for work a few weeks ago and I haven't seen it since. :P

I need pattern-finding assistance.

I was over at a friend's house yesterday and she had on this gorgeous cardigan/wrap thing and of course my immediate thought was: I could knit one of those! My friend is a bit of a clothes-horse, so I didn't even bother asking where she bought it since it is very likely that it wouldn't be something I could afford. Instantly I remembered having seen a pattern somewhere that was awfully similar, but I'll be damned if I can find it now. I suspect I could create a pattern myself, but...*is lazy*.

My main problem is this: I don't know what to call this...thing. It's sort of a cardigan, but not totally (though I suppose *technically* it is). It resembles a wrap or poncho, but has more definition than that. I am going to try my utmost to describe it and if you've seen something similar or can help me better define this thing, please let me know.

It was a deep v-neck in the front that closed with only one large button at the chest. So, the bottom half was an upside-down V. It had sleeves, but they were very loose and came down into points at about halfway between the elbow and the wrist. The underside of the sleeve (where the seam is) was shorter and ended at about the elbow or just before. They either flared out or were just extremely wide the whole length. The length of the piece was about hip-height. I'm fairly sure there were side-seams, but it was wide fitting, similar to the sleeves. It almost looked like a poncho, but with two front pieces instead of just one and seamed up underneath the arms.

FO Hollah

$1.50 is done and blocking as I type.

Can I get a "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"?!

the knitting gods do not like me today

OH LE GODDAMNED SIGH.

I am *THIS* close to finishing $1.50 cardigan. And guess what?

I ran out of yarn. I have approximately 450 stitches to knit (plus a BO) and I Ran. Out. Of. Yarn.

Why is this? I do not know. I bought extra. I bought LOTS extra. I suppose I should've bought LOTS AND LOTS extra.

Crud.

I was going to restrain myself and not give in to the Knit Picks sale. Now? Alas. I am not paying more for shipping than one stupid skein of yarn so I shall have to purchase something to enhance my stash.

alkhfs;dhfsafh

Apparently I only post now when I have questions. This is actually something I've thought about for a long time, but only now thought to ask y'all.

Knitters more famous than myself (specifically I'm thinking of the Yarn Harlot and Kelley who owns Knit Picks - I listen to her podcast) always make reference to knitting while they're out to eat or at movies, over at a friends' for a get together, etc.

Now. I am all for knitting during stolen moments. I can't tell you how often during my day I pickup my needles when my hands are (rarely) idle and knit a row or two. I also take my 'to-go' knitting (currently a plain sock) to Scoot's swimming class (I sideline there and don't swim) and whenever I go to my parents' or the in-laws'.

I am not abject to knitting in public at all. Cripes, I've NEVER cared if people stare at me funny for anything, so why should knitting stop me?

My problem is this: anytime I whip out my knitting (around people I know, I mean now), I get a bit of the evil eye. It's like people don't understand that I am a multitasker: I can knit and carry on a conversation with you at the same time (unless I'm doing more complex knitting, in which case, I only do that when I have peace and quiet at home anyway).

Since I've started knitting I cannot let my hands sit idle (which is why if my hands are baby free for a change, I'm on the computer or knitting most likely), so it is very difficult for me to just sit and talk to someone without doing something with my hands.

Er, anyway. My question is for any of you that have opportunities to knit around non-knitters in a social situation, do you?

Here's a question for fellow Ravelers: has anyone figured out how to delete a project? I had stopped knitting my Tulip socks because I decided I really didn't like them all that much anymore, though before frogging, I wanted to let them sit a bit. I was looking at them again the other day and I really think they'd be better off frogged. So...I want to delete it off Ravelry, but can't figure out how, short of just changing all of the info in it to suit another item.

As I've already shared with some of you, I reached a bit of an impasse with part of my $1.50 cardigan because I didn't have enough fully alert time to devote to just sitting and knitting a large chunk (for me it was easier to do that with this section because there is SO much going on with it...to pick it up and put it down repeatedly would've been too confusing). But I'm past it now, though I definitely fucked up the decreases a bit, so I have to take a gander at the neck edge and compare it to the other one and see if it will make a difference or if I can fudge it and just add more decreases over the next chunk (it's in a lace pattern and is way too confusing to try to explain how I made the error).

I cast on some lace socks too that will be a gift becasue I want to take them with me this weekend for our trip (plus my plain stockinette socks I'm knitting for myself).

My $1.50 cardigan is coming along nicely. The decreases in the lace pattern are tricky and it took my full concentration one night to do the majority of the armhole on the left front. I'm on the right front now and I'm hoping the decreases will be easier when I get to them. Ditto the sleeves.

I cast on a pair of plain stockinette socks (using the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe) in some hand-dyed yarn I bought earlier this year (Lovesticks, colorway Heels on Fire, from Etsy) because I needed a portable project. The cardigan is too tricksy to just not give my full concentration to and I don't feel like doing anything difficult when I've got my hands full with the cardigan. Plus I will need it to bring with on our trip to the grandparent-in-law's in a few weeks.

FOs and WIPs

I owe pictures. Alas. I finished my felted needle case late last week. It's functional, which is all I really need it to be. Of course it doesn't hold all of my needles, but I put the ones in that I don't have equivalent size circulars in (I love the Knit Picks Options so much, but I still only have the 'starter' kit. Eventually I want to have all sizes available in it, plus the non-interchangeable circs in the smaller sizes). So soon enough the felted needle case will be pretty defunct anyway.

I also can't remember if I mentioned I made two small felted boxes with leftovers a few weeks ago.

Today I finished off the garter stitch wrap cardigan for my friend's baby-to-be. I will be blocking it tonight after Scoot goes to bed and hopefully will be able to do the seaming and ribbon sewing-on on Monday.

Fall is approaching. We've had gorgeous weather the past few days and today *is* the first of September, so I really need to get crackin' on my $1.50 cardigan. I'm really in a knitting mood lately (like, it's *all* I want to do, not just one of many things I want to do), so I'm hoping if I focus on it now that I've got the baby sweater out of the way I can make some good progress on it, because I've barely made a dent.

Ravelry has really helped me realize how many projects I have on the needles! (Erm, plus a little stash organization last week pointed me in the direction of a few projects I tucked deep down)

I've actually been doing some, well, self-cleansing I suppose you could call it. Trying to conquer various WIPs and books that I'm partway through. Sometimes I do think I'm slightly ADD. Or not so slightly. I can't actually sit without *doing* something.

Anyway, I did two felted boxes that I've been wanting to do for ages with stash yarn (no photos yet). Those weren't actually WIPs, but just quick projects I wanted done. I also decided to finish the felted needle case I've had languishing on needles for over a year. The body is done and felted; I've only got to do the cabled bands that get attached to it now (I'm about 1/4 way through the first one). Those are knitting up super quick though, so I'm sure I'll have this project done within a week (probably less depending how much knitting time I have).

Next up I'm going to finish the mittens I started last winter.

Bookwise I finished one book that had about 50 pages left in it yesterday and last night. I'm going to finish up a second one today hopefully as that only has about 30 pages left in it.

OK, theblacksheep, I'm sure you are probably twitching right now from all of this, so I'll stop. ;)

Photos, Take 2

OK, this is seriously ridiculous. I don't think there is a way for me to post all of my photos in one post and not make it look like crap. So, instead, you get a link: http://flickr.com/photos/73058545@N00/sets/72157600689064392/
That is to all of my FOs. For pics that haven't been posted yet, you can see Mesilla, the Jaywalkers, and the first bmp sock.