Paper Dolls amost finished!

Yippee! This time around, my paper dolls sweater has knit up quite easily. At the moment, I have only to graft the armpits and weave in just a few more ends...and block of course, but I never count that part.

I knew I had to take action to counter the lumpy yoke issue from last time. After knitting the body I quickly decreased from the size 8 to size 7. I knit the chart up to the doll's shoulders (or thereabouts) and then decreases in between their heads. By the time i was at the pattern's first decrease round I was already well below the given stitch count. And hooray! It fits me perfectly! I really think that the yoke needs to fit quite snug in order for it to look its best. The dolls all sit flat and smooth, and there is not a pucker in sight!

I'm quite amazed with how quickly I knit this sweater (2 weeks I think), and it has given me hope that I may still be able to knit 12 sweaters this year...so long as most don't have sleeves....





...I am SO excited about the colours I chose! I found that I loved them more and more as I knit with them, and I really like seeing the speckle-y yarn knit into stocking stitch. All the wacky colour changes really stand out, which I love!

The next sweater on my list is a test knit for a friend on Ravelry. Its an adorable little t shirt with puff sleeves and thin stripes...so cute!
I'm planning to knit it in my Merino Fingering, a soft and squishy superwash merino fingering weight yarn. I THINK I've narrowed down the colours, but can't seem to settle on even the most simple decisions recently...we'll see. At the moment, the selections are a more-gray-than-usual robin's egg and a new brownish-green colour called Woodland.



I haven't been spinning at all, I've only had time to feel guilty about not spinning! The mohair/wool I talked about in my last post is lovely, but there is just to darn much of it. I'm losing interest! Of course, this spinning slump has NOT prevented me from doing some fiber shopping! The latest purchases are from an Etsy seller called Cloudlover69. Here is her lovely shop. I scooped some superwash merino in Calico






and alpaca/merino/silk in illustrus. So pretty!



That's all for now!

a lot of stuff all at once.

I am SUPER excited to let you all know that I finally got my act together this week and listed my first items for sale on Etsy, fun!

After the Frolic (which was a great success btw) it took me a few days to get back into the swing of things- its not easy to recover from such a fiber frenzy - but when I did, Etsy was my first priority! I was spurred on by the encouragement from out-of-towers who can't make it to the shop, so hope you can find something you like...if not you can always message me to ask...I may have your dream colour squirreled away somewhere. I do have a nasty habit of hiding things, always thinking, "I'll keep this and knit something fantastic" but forgetting all about it moments later. Currently there is a smattering of spinning fiber, lace and sock yarns up, but keep checking in for more!

I know that I've already mentioned my Forecast in Dream in Colour Classy in the Black Parade colourway...and its finished! I knit the entire sweater in exactly 2 weeks, it was just that much fun!







OK, almost finished...it still needs buttons. This sweater was the perfect thing to knit after the sleeve agony of my featherweight! There was no point in me modelling it for these pics, it looks a bit silly when it's not buttoned up...as you might be able to guess from the ridiculous picture above!

I made just a few mods:

- knit to gauge of 18 st over 4" instead of 16 st over 4". I just can't handle loose saggy sweaters, it looked like some people's were a little see through!
-lengthened the body a good 3-4 inches before the ribbing
-knit 3 stitch instead of 5 stitch bobbles (as most people have it seems). The 5 stitch bobble was so huge that it was all you could see in the swatch!
-knit the buttonband in seed stitch to match the collar instead of that silly horizontal rib.

This sweater fits me PERFECTLY and I just can't wait to wear it, but deciding on buttons is a bit tricky...I'm leaning toward some very plain metal buttons at the moment. What do you think folks?
Oh yes, and I have to say that I love Classy; this was my first and certainly not my last time knitting with this lovely yarn.

My Forecast success has spurred me on ( haven't yet given up on 12 sweaters is 2010...though I am still considerabley behind...) and the next sweater up is Paper Dolls take 2. When the lumpy yoke disaster struck with version one I vowed I'd give it another shot, so I am. This time I'm knitting it from my own yarn, Viola Sock. I'm using Cinnamon Spice as the main colour with Nut Brown and Robin's Egg as the 2 accent colours. I flew through the ribbing and I'm into the body of the sweater...really I just want to get to the real action at the yoke!





I've been spinning just a bit lately. At the Frolic I saw vendors that I'd purchased fiber from last year (and haven't done anything with...) so I decided to start spinning one of last year's buys; Wellington Fibers wool and mohair blend. So far its spinning up great, there is quite a lot more colour variation that I expected...though I may not have captured it very well in this pic...



I just love how bright and sunny this colour is!

This year at the Frolic I managed to stay away from fiber, but yarn was a different story! I am now the proud owner of 5 skeins of Peace Fleece in the colourway Ancient Fern



A cone of Habu 100% silk tweedy lace stuff (amazing right?!)




and the most beautiful Japanese book on fair isle that I have ever seen!



This may not be new to everyone out there, but the charts are all 3-D...it so easy!


I want to knit this dress if its the last thing I do!



Well thats all for now. Sorry this post has been all over the place...once again, I really need to blog more!

Frolic Bound!

Sorry for blogging even less than usual lately...so much yarn and so little time! I'm just here to tease you with some pretty yarn pics. I'll be in the Naked Sheep's booth at this years DKC Frolic, and I'm psyched!
I've been dyeing and tagging like a mad thing for about a month now, and I finally think I'm ready. So here is a look at just a few of the goodies I'll be bringing to the Frolic...



... A new sock (or whatever you want to make) base. 100% squishy superwash merino!









Fancy Lace; a huge 1300m skein of alpaca/silk/cashmere lace weight yarn. This is the stuff I knit my featherweight from...the one I keep complaining about! Its finished, and you can meet it Saturday at the Frolic. The yarn is BEAUTIFUL, my knitting skills...a bit slacker-y to say the least!




Fancy sock...similar fiber content to Fancy Lace above, but a light fluffy fingering weight. I knit the Purl Bee's Cashmere Rib Cowl from one skein and think its the greatest thing on earth....of course its too hot to wear it at the moment!



And I am very excited about the fiber I'll be bringing...here is a peek at 2 of my
favourites...






that's all for now! I hope I'll be back soon with a knitting update; there is quite a bit of knitting news!