Just an inch extra

There are a few types of knitters out there.

There are those that start on one project, and zoom off, finish, block and voila. One project every week or two. I think Jesdmill of Green Apples Knitting Blog is one of them - the rate at which she finishes projects are amazing.

There are also those knitters that have 7 WIPs at once, and slowly, painfully manage to finish a sweater in say... six months.

Me? I'd say i'm an in between. I usually start off a project with full throttle excitement, and I'm even pretty good with getting on and seaming etc. But I never really *finish* a project quickly.
There's the Phildar Moss Green Cardi who is still waiting for buttons. There is the Pink/White Heart Vest (above) that is still waiting for my left arm cuff to be completed. And of course, there's the Norah Gauhan Capecho that is just waiting for a neckband.

New resolution: finish a project's details before starting a new WIP (this doesnt include already WIP projects! teehee).

Anyways, so i've reswatched and restarted my Phildar Swing Jacket. I'm absolutely loving the fabric that is being created by the New Zealand Aran Pure Wool. It's a nice dense fabric, but the texture is still there. mmmm yummy.

But anyways, I was moving along quite contently (albeit a little slow), and remembered that I have the cutest little brown swing jacket hanging in my wardrobe. Curious, I decided to pull it out and measure.

Uh-oh. What a difference. There's about an inch and a bit each side of the hip. Granted, the brown jacket is a little more wider and swingy than I would like, but is my little Phildar Swing Jacket going to be a bit *too* small?

Dilemma Dilemma!

What will it be?

Apologies for not posting lately - I've been caught up with life and my dad was sick the week that just passed, so haven't been able to do much else except worry :)

Lucky for me, today is a public holiday for us perthians. Being rather sleep deprived for the past 5 days, it certainly is one that I have been looking forward to. I managed to (almost) finish up my moss green cropped cardi that had been sitting in my WIPs pile unloved and untouched because of that rather annoying set in sleeve fiasco!!

Moss green cardi is looking a little bit bubbly at the moment - and I take full blame for that. You see, I wasn't really paying much attention when I was seaming and ended up with bits that were too long, or too short for that matter. The cardi is being blocked at the moment, and we'll see if that fixes the bubbling - if not, then I'll have to reseam (boohisss)


So, with Green Moss Cardi almost out of the way, and Norah Gauhan's cardi still still puzzling me (sizing issues), I started to knit Phildar's Leaf Sweater.

Unfortunately, the sweater is knit with reverse stockinette as the right side. I started doing this, but kept worrying about thoughts of me wearing an inside-out sweater. So I frogged, but decided that I still wanted a bright fuschia sweater of some sort, so started knitting this:



I love the little white "hearts" that are popping out of the pink knit. Although, I'm thinking a sweater in this colour will be a bit too much, so I'm thinking of turning it into a vest. This will be the first time I come up with my own "pattern" (derived of course, from a number of other patterns)... But i'll keep on knitting and see what my heart decides.

Progress Pics

Living in Australia, I dont have the luxury for wearing wool and knitted goodies for the majority of the year.. So when people ask me why I knit in summer, I just say to them that it's to build up my little winter knits for those few months when it gets cold enough to wear them...

On my current projects list (and yes, I have failed in my resolution to only have 3 WIPs at a time), is Norah Gauhan's cabled cardi from Vogue Knitting's latest magazine.. I have to say that these little pentagons have just been a delight to knit - amazing to watch them come into shape, and I have loved seeing my cardi base grow as I've continued to add stitches on...

At the moment I'm up to pentagon #6 - and feverently trying it on as I go because I've heard stories about the ill fit of it from Craftster... Some progress pics:



On another WIP , my Phildar Cropped Cardi *was* coming along nicely until I did my left sleeve. After casting off, I measured it against my armhole and realized it was way too short - I had missed by 2cm!! How frustrating.. so now I have to frog back that little bit and fix it up ... :( I know that will take me ages though because like a lot of other knitters, I hate redoing something .. the fun just isnt there!

That's all for now ;D

A new project!

I don't know about you, but I'm a little embarassed by my passion for knitting. I know that it's no longer the hobby of grannies anymore, but when people ask me about things that relate vaguely to knitting, I tend to mumble my answer with hope of not being laughed at.

Take for example, when my good friend Tuan asked if I wanted to go watch their new basketball team play their very first game at the local rec centre. After enquiring about what day it would be (monday), I quickly apologised and told him I wouldn't be able to make *any* games in the future. Being the natural thing to do, he asked me what I have planned on Monday nights, and I said to him with pleadingly embarassed eyes "well, I can't lie to you because you're my good friend.. but I knit on monday nights with a local knitting group"... to which Genevieve (another friend who was present) replied "I would've lied instead"... *hangs head*


But anyways, what is this beautiful looking thing you see? Besides that gorgeous blonde girl, it's also my new project. I am still waiting for my wool order to arrive, but I decided to try and do a destash project, and this is it. The Rustic Wool in Elm that I'm using knits up perfectly to gauge with this cute little cardi and so, success! The yarn is lovely to knit with and I've been putting the resulting fabric next to my skin and I love the warmth minus any itchy wool characteristic.



I've finished the 10cm of 2x2 rib (very boring knitting), and am now starting the main part. I'm not sure whether I like the reverse stockinette body, so I might just flip it over and use the stockinette side as the "right side" .

Also, tomorrow is monday, so i'm hoping my yarn order and the cute little yarn winder my bf got me will be on my doorstep when I get home from work...