Works In Progress

Lest someone should think I'm a fairly lazy knitter, todays blog will dispute that idea. By lazy, I mean quickly done, instant gratification projects. Actually, I prefer the very complicated challenging projects. That's probably why I end up designing my own stuff so much. I love the challenge of making a picture in my mind become reality in yarn. I do the smaller projects to rest from the larger project because they get intense. They also are not real portable cos I have to pay attention to what I'm doing. I can't gab and work on these items without frogging everything I've done when I get home. I have 2 going on right now-larger projects that is.


I didn't take photos of the sweater I'm making for Tommy. But I have a pic of Morgan in his. Lots of cables and whatnot. You'll find this pattern in Dogs In Knits by Judith L. Swartz. In fact, it's the sweater on the cover. I'm making one for Tommy in navy blue Gatto superwash wool from Lana Gatto yarns (Morgans is the same yarn, but red of course). I thought it would be fun for them to have semi-matching sweaters. The yarn is wonderfully soft to the touch, and knits like butter. As dog sweater books go, I love this book. Not only does it have awesome sweaters, but it has blankets, toys, and even dog biscuit recipes.

The second major project is in Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses. This book is out of print, but you can still get it on Amazon.com. This is one of those 'coffee table' knitting books I love to look at just cos the patterns are so awesome they inspire me to keep knitting.


This is the sweater I'm making. It's called Margaret Tudor in the book. It's a challenge, to say the least. Lots of cables, twists, bobbles, and even lace. On the current piece I'm working on, the pattern repeat is 44 rows-too long for my poor pitiful brain to memorize. I love it! It's made of several strips that will be sewn together when I get it done. It requires 56 pewter buttons too, which I am waiting to purchase when I get to near-finished on the sweater.


This is what I have done so far- 1 3/4 strips. The pattern calls for Alice's Scottish Fleet yarn, but I detested it so I didn't get any when it was still available. It's way too scratchy for me. Instead, I'm using Silke Tweed from Garn Studio yarns in a beige/taupe tweed. It's a lambs wool and silk blend that has a wonderful feel to it.



Here's a detail photo of the bobble part


Now it's confession time. I've bought some sock yarn. Arrgh..don't anyone tell dear hubby! The last thing I need is more sock yarn! I have 2 huge boxes of the stuff in my stash. It will take me the rest of my life to knit it all. But when you see it, you'll understand. It's in the most scrumptious shades of blackberry purple (let it be known now that PURPLE is my favorite color). I found it on Etsy, which is an evil place similar to Ebay, except every thing is Buy-it-now. No bidding wars. There are people selling hand painted, hand dyed yarns there. Like I said, it's EEEEEEvil! I also found a truly awesome unique lamp work pendant. I'll post a pic when these items arrive.

Have a great day.