Thanks to the long drive out to Webs on Saturday and some successful knitting at Knitsmiths on Sunday, tank girl 6, or smooch 2 depending how you're counting at home, is taking shape. I'm just below the start of the armholes and neck on the front and am thinking that this tank had better become interesting real fast otherwise it'll be a real dud. I've gotta find something else to punch it up. Don't know what yet, but I'll let you know when I've figured it out. I guess I could have planned this tank more before I started it. Oops.

In addition to not really knowing what to do next on this project, I'm also beginning to sense a sort of general knitting ennui coming over me. Too much of the same thing, I fear. It may soon be time for a big change. Tank girl may be getting restless, but she is always excited to see finished tanks from her knitalong buddies! And yesterday brought two new finished smooches. Hooray!

This sweater (well the baby it's planned for) isn't due until the winter, but I just had to keep knitting it since it's so adorable. The little heart came out so sweet and the writing isn't bad at all - sometimes I find knitted lettering to look a bit crappy, but the letters here are kinda neat. I did stranding across the back for the letters because I just couldn't deal with the alternative. But even with the stranding, I still have all of this awaiting me!

I'm surprised to discover how much I really want to make these pipsqueak sweaters for my boys. NOW. I'd planned to make them eventually, but now that I've got the modifications all worked out for using all seasons cotton instead of sport weight cotton, I'm thinking, no time like the present. (Quick, before I o.d. on all seasons cotton!) So, I'm working on getting the yarn together that I would need. I've got the blue yarn from my first attempt at Smooch all ready for the body of the "little star" sweater and some red still leftover from my first tank girl tank for the heart. That leaves only yellow and white to rustle up. And then I'll be sure to knit 'em right up and toss 'em in the basket with the other baby knits that I don't feel like finishing. Notice: no progress since the last time I showed that picture. Apparently, I don't heart finishing baby sweaters.

Another knitalong. I heard talk in blog comments here and there about a possible knit-along of Bonne Marie's awesome new ChicKami. Then, Gina brings yarn to Knitsmiths on Sunday to cast on for it and a knitalong was born.

Let's go, tank girls! Get the pattern (this one's easy as pie to get your hands on: no scouring all the L- and not so L-YS's and no sending away to France), and get started with us. I'd love to know who all's in, so I can follow everyone's progress. I love me a good knitalong! So, let me know and I'll put you on the little list here and come visiting at your place. Or, if you don't have a blog, I'll be happy to host a progress picture for you. Just keep on tankin'!

Happy 4th of July from tank girl!
Have fun, be safe, and let freedom ring.

Actual sewing content!

I've been busy working on the boys' kwikies and fast pants. I finally finished a second pair of grey kwikies so the boys can match. They went real fast this time. I think I'm getting the hang of this! And as the weather is getting warmer and the sun stronger, I figured another two more pairs of white fast pants were in order. They're just the thing for running around on the playground on a hot day, or eating ice cream on the 4th. Loose and fun, light and, most important, easy to wash!

Next, I fixed the fast shorts that I needed to make. Someone had sent us one pair of shorts for the boys (why?!), so I decided that I should sacrifice one more old t-shirt so that they could have an even number of shorts. I think they ended up so cute and B seems to like them too.

And the most exciting of all, remember this fun banana shirt that I wanted to salvage the material from? I removed the sleeves, leaving me with a rather odd muscle shirt and enough fabric for the first pair of banana pants. I've still got the waistband and hems to do on these, but they're going to be great!

Thanks to all those who sent birthday wishes. Sharing a birthday with the Declaration of Independence is a good cure for self-importance. But, with the help of hubby, I managed to treat myself to a relaxing and special day. I even received a few nifty, knitty gifties.

Hubby got me the tiny knitty tee, which I totally love. What fun! And I finished up my simply smooch tee, as a gift to myself. Nice and plain. Perfect for a hot day, watching the boys play by the fountain in the park.

And perhaps best of all, our landlord installed the air conditioner, making knitting during the hottest days possible again!

Every day it's another project that draws me in. After seeing Claudia and her sister (both of whom just finished ChicKnits Ribby Cardies) at Knitsmiths Sunday before last, I've been anxious to swatch up the yarn I had dog-eared for a Ribby Cardie of my own. I got this yarn back in January for free(!) in exchange for some acrylic yarns that I donated to a shelter in the area. My concern is the usual one that arises when using stash yarn: will I have enough? I knit up one skein (of thirteen) to see how far it got me. Result: I made it up to the elbow of a sleeve. Anyone out there have a feeling about how well this bodes?

ChicKami update: I'm almost done. After perusing the stash for the appropriate yarn, I decided that I should use a few balls of all seasons cotton I'd bought on sale and which didn't seem to go with anything but each other. Some math convinced me that there should be just enough to somehow mix the two colors and have it all come out alright. Then when considering how to redo the numbers for the larger gauge, I decided to cut out the waist shaping. Blame it on my first tank girl top, which I was wearing at the time and which I have fallen in love with all over again 'cause it is sooooo comfy. I was overcome by the need to have another top just like that one. So my chicKami will be more of a comfyKami. Should have pictures for you tomorrow!

In other chic-y news, Bonne Marie has started a gallery for the very chic garments created by her oh so chic readers. What a great idea! We'll have to send pics (or at least links) from the ChicKami knitalong over to her.

It came out a little less chic than it's namesake, but here it is: my comfyKami.

Although it was originally inspired by the chicKami pattern (which I will have to make according to the pattern someday!), I redesigned it to more resemble my first tank girl top. I knit it straight and at a much looser gauge than the other tanks I've knit this summer, so it has a light and loose sort of feel. The all seasons cotton is so soft when knit loosely. Since I was working with oddballs of two colors, I wanted to do some fun stripes. Borrowing Kerrie's great reversible idea from her reversible tank, I tried to make each side interesting, so it could be worn as the front. Here's the other front and a side view. What a fun, fast little project.

I'm looking forward to all the other chicKamis from my fellow knitters-along:

Gina
Marrije
Kerrie
Nelson
Sharlyn
Brenda
Robin
Rachael
MKaye
Alison
Cari
Leigh
Melissa
Shannon
Katrina
Deb

Bring on the chic!

It looks like Claudia, generous and selfless as she is, will be sacrificing her tiny tank to give us lesson number one in knitting don'ts. And now I give you lesson number two....

I'm starting the first of the pipsqueaks sweaters without having all the yarn. Let's review. I had four skeins of all seasons cotton in a lovely shade of blue. Smooch required six, so I set about ordering the extra from my local yarn store. While waiting for the yarn to arrive, I, well, didn't wait, but cast on and finished the back. The yarn is on its way, I think, what could go wrong? Oops, that color is discontinued and can't be ordered anymore. A brief attempt to acquire more online fails and I start over on Smooch with new yarn. I wash and rewind the blue yarn, excited to put it to use in the first of the pipsqueak sweaters for my boys, the little star sweater. The blue might be enough for the main color, but I don't have any yellow. And although I've got enough red left over from the baby version of the sweet heart sweater, I don't have any more of the main color. Do I wait to cast on with the blue until I've got the yellow or until I am assured that I can get my hands on the now discontinued color needed for the other sweater? Nah. The yarn on it's way, what could go wrong?

Three finished projects in one week. I'm on a roll! Of course, the sweet heart baby sweater here just needed some finishing, like sewing on these adorable buttons! I'm so pleased that this little experiment in readjusting for gauge and resizing worked. I really hope that our cousin likes it. She comes from a family full of knitters, so I was really feeling the pressure to turn out something well made and unique. Still, this project has reminded me of how much I love knitting for babies on the way. Which reminds me, don't I have another baby gift around here in need of finishing.....

Had enough ta-da's for this week, so now it's time for some to-do's. I've got so many projects in finishing and planning stages (funny, not really anything on the needles!), that I need to take a moment to write them all down and get straight what order to tackle them all in.

1. finish the co. of minimono & co.- why did I stop work on that hat with just one earflap to go?
2. finish native - all those ends, ugh!
3. start the boys' pipsqueak sweaters - yeah, I already started, but I'm waiting for the rest of the yarn
4. start phildar top for next knitalong - I'm knitalong-less at the moment, oh no!
5. finish the second giranimals jacket - in case I'm feeling industrious
6. start working on the second bug sweater - in case I'm feeling really industrious
7. stop obsessing about the ribby cardie - wash swatch to test yarn and then let it go until August
8. and don't even think about cleo - you don't have the yarn for it, so don't even go there, girl!

(And here's what the other list makers won't tell you.)

#1 and #3 are strong contenders to finish. #2 is a real wildcard; she might get out of the starting gate alright, but could come up lame. Even money on #4 and #5. #6 has an outside chance given good conditions, but #7 and #8 are longshots. Anyone care to do a little wagering?

Busy with the boys' birthday today. Won't be much knitting to report on tomorrow, but I'll be sure to share a bit of the cake with you all!

The boys had a great birthday, complete with balloons and a fire engine cake! I hate to say it, but the fire dogs were the yummiest part.

No new knitty gifts for the boys this birthday, but they did wear their lederhosen that I knit for them last year. And the mailman brought the yarn I need to make their pipsqueak sweaters. Yay!

In other birthday news, some belated but awesome presents arrived for me, including Vintage Knits, Burda and Ottobre magazines, and lots of fabric for sewing projects.

Birthdays are good.

Knitting group was lots of fun this week with visits from Sandy and her Smooch and Claudia with her tiny tank. Boston knitbloggers rule (make hang ten gesture here)! Since I don't have much of anything on my needles nowadays, I brought.... (drumroll, please) native for a little session of weaving in ends. I've still got a ways to go, but at least I've made another start on it.

So here comes the deal. While I continue plugging away at these ends on native, I get to start the ribby cardie. You see, Deborah wrote to join the knitalong and mentioned that she's already got the ribby on her needles. After some "why can't I" whimpering, I cooked up this plan. Now that I've got the yarn for the boys' pipsqueak sweaters, I'll focus most of my knitting on that, but I'm going to allow myself to knit one piece of the ribby cardie each week (a sleeve, one front panel, etc.) up to the point where the yoke should begin. So when the rest of the ribby cardie gals can join in in August, I'll still have the yoke and neck and front bands and zipper and other finishing to do. Still knitting along, just doing a little homework over the summer.

So for those of you wagering at home, that's #2, #3 and #7 from the to-do list moving to the active pile.

After taking a wee break for the big birthday, I'm back to my regularly scheduled knitting in front of the tv. Yesterday, while watching a few episodes of Coupling, I finished up the back of the little star sweater and cast on for the front.

Man, am I having a hard time recreating the same gauge. As I was knitting all those tanks, my knitting got tighter and tighter but then I switched to loose, loose, loose for the comfyKami. Now my hands are a little unsure about where this project was in the range between. I generally like to knit tightly because I know that I can produce nice, even stitches that way. When I decide to knit more loosely, I have to concentrate more to maintain that evenness. I have to be sure that with each wrap approximately the same amount of yarn "falls" over the needle and each finished stitch "slips off" the needle but without any pulling or gaping. Loose knitting should be like an exercise for shaping up the control freak in me - learn to relax and let go a little - but it doesn't work so much when I'm trying to match the gauge of something I've already knit. EXACTLY. Aaaaaaaaaa!

One sleeve down. Amazing the progress you can make when you give yourself permission to do something you really want to do. Doesn't it look narrow?! That ribbing is certainly doin' it's thang. But I'm not worried, 'cause I washed the part that I had already knit (the lower quarter of the sleeve) and the yarn softened up a lot, loosening the rib action as well. You can see that that lower section appears as wide as the middle, which actually has about 10 more stitches. I was worried at first that the sleeve might be tight, but the part that was washed drapes very nicely around my wrist and I expect that the whole cardigan will end up being very comfy.

I still have no idea if the yarn is going to last for the whole cardigan. The sleeve (up to the armhole where the yoke will begin) has taken just a smidge less than two skeins. Of thirteen. So that will be three skeins for each sleeve, but it's a raglan so I should need less on the body pieces above the yoke than usual. Right?

Ribby reckoning:
completed: one sleeve (to armhole begin)
skeins used: 1 9/10
skeins remaining: 11 1/10

Next week: one of the front panels.

I'm used to this with my knitting, but now I've got an overload of sewing projects. One birthday and I suddenly have something you could call a fabric stash and a lot of exciting patterns to make. (Okay, I know I've still got two projects unfinished, but I'm beginning to think that I won't like dressy and it's too hot for me to get excited about long pajama bottoms, even if they are groovy.) And no more sewing for the boys - I'm talking fun summer patterns for me! Now the problem is deciding where to start. Should I make this little stripey top or maybe this lovely strappy top or perhaps this lacy flowery blouse?

I've still got to look through my new Burda magazines to see if there isn't a pattern in them that just has to get made. So many possibilites - how can I ever decide?

Yet another Boston area knitblogger made it to Knitsmiths this week: Shannon from La Gringa Tejadora . With Kerstin and Sandy getting to be regulars, that means we've taken over about 40% of the group. (Mwaahaaahaaa.) And both Shannon and Gina wore their newly finished ChicKamis!

In addition to seeing all the amazing things that the gals have recently finished, I always seem to pick up something cool at knitting group too. Last week, one of the Knitsmiths brought in some tweedy wool to give away. A lot of it. Plus, an almost finished sweater. Wool in need of a good home? How could I refuse? Only one little problem - this wool seems to have run into the smelly end of a few mothballs. Any tips on how to rid it of the odor? (I've already got a few Bounce dryer sheets in the bags with the wool!)

And in another clearing out the closet moment, Nancy brought in this little gem: a pouch of yarn! I'm embarrassed to admit how cool I think this is. It's OLD yarn from Bernat, but the yarn's not the really cool part. It's the bag, which is like a little bread bag. Check out the instructions for the pouch. And here's the hi-tech closure. It IS a bread bag! It's both hilarious and kind of clever. I love it!

In addition to Gina and Shannon's newly finished ChicKamis, there's been a lot of other action going on in the summer knitalongs of late. Both Bonne Marie and Steph just presented their finished Smooches today! Deb finally finished her Pagan tank after having so much trouble with it (hooray!) and Marrije finished hers (impeccable, like all of her knitting!). And there's more: Sandy has started her wannabe sweater and Clémence is kicking off the other Phildar knitalong. Woo hoo!

Can I just stop and say how much fun it has been this summer hosting these knitalongs and following everyone's progress. I've gotten to know so many new knitbloggers and blogs and it's been fascinating to see how so many people can work on the same project but have it turn out so differently each time. Thanks everyone for making it such a great time and keep on knittin' along!

I finally began the lettering on the little star sweater. I'd put this off for a while because my evening tv has consisted lately of foreign language films that require a bit more attention than two-color work will allow.

This is how far I was during last night's less demanding tv schedule. I decided to do stranding again. Not sure why I'm so nervous about duplicate stitch. I guess I'm just worried that if it doesn't work out I'd have to reknit the whole piece. With the writing done, it's on to the actual star now. That'll require some real focus with all the ends needed for the intarsia.

And speaking of ends.

I've now woven in ALL the ends on the back of the native sweater. I celebrated by eating the rest of the boys' birthday cake (including a couple more fire dogs). Oh, I earned cake alright: before, after. I feel good about getting the sleeve ends woven in this week. And then I have to knit the front and sew it all up. This time, I'll be weaving in the ends periodically as I go!

Looks like it's going to fit! I pretty much made up the sizing, since the gauge called for in the original pattern was so different that I couldn't really use their numbers at all. It looks like it should be a good 3 year-old size, which means the boys could get a year out of these pipsqueak sweaters. Fingers crossed. I've already had to pack the aran sweaters away because they're now too small and I'm not ready to do that again anytime soon!

Without any further ado (what ado? I forgot about this project for three months!), here's the co. of minimono & co. One earflap to go and I put the thing down. What was I thinking?! Luckily, it usually takes nine months for babies to be born and another two or three before they're really going outside and wearing anything more than a onesie. Despite the delay, this set should make it in time for the baby's arrival. Just in time.

One front panel done and also looking very, very narrow. But the ribbing widens easily to the right size without looking too stretched out, so I'm still feeling like this will fit after washing and blocking. The pieces actually knit up really fast. I can see how you can get spoiled working at this gauge (3 1/2 st./in. - sweet!).

Ribby reckoning:
completed: one sleeve and one front panel (both to armhole begin)
skeins used: 3
skeins remaining: 10

Next week: the other front panel? the other sleeve? I'm undecided.

New sewing project alert! I've cut out the pattern pieces and pinned them out for two summer projects from the new stash.

I realized I had enough of the purple striped fabric to make a skirt (one that will perfectly match my purple tank and the Phildar top when I make it). I still really liked the simple lines of the pattern I'd originally planned to use with the striped fabric, so I decided to use it with flowery fabric, which is my favorite from the new stash.

In old news I finished up the last of the curtains. I love the way the light glows when it comes through these curtains. The living room finally has that nice home-y feel that curtains always bring.

Several people have commented that I should start something new, since I did technically have a finished project last week (the hat from minimono & co.). Of course, I've still got a few other projects in the active pile (e.g. - native, the pipsqueak sweaters). Nevertheless, I agree with you! I should start something new. But it should probably be something small, 'cause my finished project was so small. Hmmm.... small. How about a tiny tank?! Perhaps you've seen Becky's and Claudia's? Becky was so thoughtful as to send over a few skeins of that fun ribbon yarn for my birthday, so that tank girl can have a tiny tank too!

Here's the tiny swatch.

Get it wet, watch it grow. Apparently the ribbon yarn stretches quite a bit after washing. I sure hope Becky and Claudia are right about this! I'm planning on knitting it at a slightly smaller gauge and count on it stretching out to size.

PS - In other news, Kerstin, of At My Knits End, has moved her blog. In case you missed her redirect last week, her new address is: www.crazydaisy.us. And to all you ComCast-ers out there, welcome back! Glad that your ISP can now access my page. I missed you!

Seriously, look ma! It's your native sweater back on the needles. That's right, folks, all the ends have been woven in on the back and sleeves and I've cast on for the final piece, the front. Won't be long now. Until I put it aside again. (Ha, ha. It's a joke, ma!)

Finished the back of tiny tank last night! I went down a needle size and am knitting kinda tight to prevent total see-through-ness. This was indeed the perfect project to start after finishing the minimono baby set. I knit the chenille for that so tightly that I developed a little callus on my index finger from pushing each stitch off the end of the needle. Now, after finishing the back of tiny tank, I see that I've got the same callus going. I'll have to switch back to the boys' pipsqueak sweaters for a while to heal up for the front!

I'm following the numbers for my size, but am knitting at a smaller gauge, so I'm really counting on tiny tank to stretch out a couple of inches. The 4 in. swatch stretched almost 1/2 in. after washing, so I'm hoping for at least 1 1/2 in. here. I guess I can always add a couple of stitches to the front, in case the back doesn't stretch as much as I'm expecting. It's so scary to purposely knit something to the wrong measurements!

Here it is in the sink. So blue. So lovely. Oh, please fit me, please. Let ya know tomorrow!

Only had time this week to start the back of the ribby cardie. Thus, the ribby reckoning remains unchanged. Next week: the finished back, barring the discovery of other fabulous and irresistible tanks!

Speaking of irresistible tanks, I'm happy to announce that the back of the tiny tank has passed the stretch test and come out a perfect 41 body-hugging centimeters. I'm thinking I might like it a little longer though. I'm going to go ahead, make the front, sew it all up, slip it on, and if I still really think it's too short, I'll cut off the cast on edge and add an inch of ribbing at the bottom. 'Cause I can!

Meanwhile in other knitalong news, MKaye has sent along pictures of her finished projects. Here she is dancing in her ChicKami and posing in her sophisticated Smooch tank. Great job! And one of the original tank girls, Stonering, has finished her Pagan tank. Check it out here!