Wednesday, June 14, 2006

FO-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Now this is what I call a finished object!

Ends all woven in, buttons securely sewn on, all blocked and ready to rumba!

I've found that, in general, I'm a process knitter -- I don't mind ripping back, I don't mind if things go a different way than I planned; it's all about that yarn flickering through my fingers and the wonderful feeling of making a stitch. But this yarn, which is really very pretty, was no fun to knit. Acrylic yarn didn't work well with my aluminum DPNs or my circular Inoxes (Inoxi?), and it just doesn't feel quite as good when knitting (though the sweater is nice and soft). So this became all about the FO, and I have to say I'm really pleased with it now that it's done!

The pattern for this is a basic one off of knitting.about.com. I used it as a way to learn about raglan construction, and it was a great way to do so, plus it yielded a lovely sweater for my friend Georgina's new baby.

Not to be outdone by the sweater, may I present Miss Sundara Yarn Coronet?

This pretty much used up the ball -- actually, I stopped it a couple rows short of what the pattern called for because I was nervous. In the end I did have enough yarn, and I think I'm going to see if I can make a bobble of some sort for the top with the little bit that's left.

Sorry no action shots, but it's still blocking/drying. It's not exactly flattering on me -- I kind of have this pinhead thing going on where the bottom of my face is much larger than the top, so huggy hats, while practical for skiing and snowball fights, are not really ideal for that 'hot chick' effect. But I love the hat. The hat is SOFT. I want to snuggle up and take a nap on my hat. Mm, hat.

And yah, I see the one bad stitch on the lower left quadrant. And no, I don't care :-)

In other news, my Secret Pal-ees got their boxes (2nd for Secret Pal 8, 1st for Other Secret Pal) and they seem happy. I've already bought the goodies for the next set of boxes, plus I just shipped some more things to my OSP because she is having a bad week. I really like this SP thing. It's helping a lot with my desire to spend my entire paycheck on crap I don't need, owing to stress. Instead, I can spend it on my SPs, a much better use of the money. Yay, SPs. :-)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the colors on that hat!

Becka said...

Gorgeous sweater and hat!! I can't believe you've only been knitting for a few months!!

Anonymous said...

Both projects look great!

Earin Marybird said...

No, I didn't see the "bad" stitch. We women are so hard on ourselves. :-(

Acrylic is just so different to work with. For a baby garment though it's so practical. I too love the feel of the yarn sliding through my fingers. My fingers that do things while I knit without me having to really think much about it. Now counting - that takes all my brain!

sillyewe said...

Wow, you have only been knitting a short time? Good for you! The cable on the hat looks terrific! I know the acrylic just doesn't do it for me either, but you have to hand it to acrylic for being so baby friendly, eh? It looks really cute. And I bet your secret pals are loving you. I did it once before and really enjoyed it. May have to go the next round when it comes up. :0) Thanks for the comment on my bird. She's a handfull!!! :0)