I've sewn up the chickie front and back panels. Looks like it'll be just the right width for me. Maybe my math skills are improving! I did find a minor problem though - apparently I knit one front panel about a 1/2 inch too short. Rather than ripping out the whole armhole shaping and reknitting (I AM getting sick of the stockinette!), I fudged the seam and made it fit. It's not noticeable at all, but I'll have to do some similar fudging on the button bands, so that the size difference doesn't show up again there. And my final problem is that I'm having a heck of a time deciding on buttons for this cardigan. I'm thinking I may want some toggle buttons, but haven't really seen any I like. I've still got the sleeves to finish, so I've got at least another week to flake out on the buttons.

And blue is also back together. Fits okey-dokey.

That means I can proceed with the last sleeve (like my covering the bra strap pose?). Looks like I'm going straight from seaming overload to sleeve hell. Funny, for someone who declared a February finishing frenzy, I didn't really finish much! But I did do a ton of seaming though - banff, mya, chickie, blue, the sweatpants - and I sure am liking this new 'sew as you go' policy of mine. So look for some finished projects coming soon!

I finished my $30 brushed alpaca hat. I love it. It's soft and fluffy and has big stitches. Too cool! Unfortunately, it's not really cool outside anymore. Harumpff. Next winter, I guess. As predicted by Vanessa, I've got about 3/4 of the second skein left. Maybe I can use it to trim some gloves or a scarf, so I'll have a complete set in time for it to get cold again. And as we all could have predicted, there is now some new bulky, beautiful alpaca in the store. Am I a sucker for alpaca or what? Please don't let me buy any more.

Already?! As I mentioned the other day, the weather's been so warm that I can't really imagine getting any use out of my alpaca hat in the near future. In fact, it's been down-right spring-y. As a long-time Bostonian however, I don't believe for a second that it will stay this way, but still, spring here now and it's making me anxious to put away the wool and start making tanks! Which means that it's time to start my spring workout. This consists of pushing two 30 pound twin boys around town in their double-wide stroller, loaded with three bags full of diapers, snacks and toys. Once I'm in form again, I'll be able to do it without groaning on every 2 degree incline! And then I'll be ready for the tanks. I've gotten two workouts already this week! Here's what we did yesterday:

So what does tankgirl have planned for the warm weather?? Well, the Cardi-Raye-along starts mid-March. Then there's this lacy top from Vintage Knits - my entry in Supurlfluous' Vintage Knits-along (Laurin beat me to the punch - I wanted to run a VK-along this spring!). Other definites are Highland Spring from Magknits and another tiny tank. And then maybe a halter, like this one from Hollywood Knits or perhaps a Rebecca top. But wait, there's more: the Knitsmiths are cooking up a summery knit-along and I'll also be working on a couple of secret tanks of my own.

It's shaping up to be a beautiful summer of knitting! What will you be knitting??

In an effort to get out of straight stockinette hell, I decided to start the next baby sweater, Daisy from Pipsqueaks. I had planned on making the intarsia flowers like in the original, but the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino is so smooth, I was worried that things would be too slippery for me to control while doing intarsia. I also remembered seeing Leigh start a flowered cardigan from Miss Bea's Colors and really liking the textured flower pattern. So I just switched the intarsia flowers to textured flowers in the original pattern. I really like them. They're sort of subtle, but still recognizable and very pretty.

"Flowisies", by the way, is how my boys say flowers. It's very cute. I can't knit flowers for them, but when I do knit them, I get to hear the boys say "flowsies". You may have seen the flowsies last month over at Mary's site. After her "Virtual Spring", her site quickly moved up to S's favorite. He used to come up to me when I was browsing blogs and ask for the 'cat' (aka, Wendy Knits), but now only the flowsies will do.

Beginnings of the last blue sleeve. I can't wait to finish this sweater, block it (I'll take an extra centimeter anywhere I can get it!), and wear it. The yarn is so soft, I can really imagine wearing this right up against my skin. No need for turtlenecks and the like here. Just what I'd order for early spring: one soft sweater please, hold the layering.

Oh and can I get another sweatpant leg on the side?

Chickie's almost done! I've just got the crazy garter stitch 'sew as you go' (their instructions) button bands/shawl collar. Never done a button band like that - should be interesting. Speaking of buttons, the boys and I made it out to the Button Box in Needham, MA (and the neighboring playground and ice cream shop!). I found some toggle buttons I liked. Then later at my LYS, I was drawn to some pretty orange leaf buttons (I almost used these on the boys' giraffe jackets!). And then I found some neat flower buttons in my own stash. So which do you like best??

I think I like the last best, but I've only got two of them. Darn.

And look what the boys got to take home from The Button Box. Loose buttons for 50 cents a scoop! Fun!

With the mild weather we had last week, all this talk of fun summer knitting to come and seeing those pretty little flowsies on my Daisy cardigan, I am really getting in the mood for spring! I can't wait to get these last few winter projects off my needles and on my back so I can get started on some spring things! To this end, I'm declaring an early start to spring here at the blue blog. By March 15, I will finish blue, chickie and the sweatpants and cast on for at least two new, springlike projects! Wanna join me?

Got a spring-y project you're looking forward to starting? Maybe some colorful socks or a lacy cardigan, a sassy little top or a soft frilly sweater. Florescent stripes? Intarsia flowers? Eyeing some eyelets? Ready to dive into your cotton stash? Come on, it's a Spring Fling!

One third of my projects-to-wrap-up-so-I can-move-on-to-spring-things done!

I'm very pleased how this sweater came out, especially considering the mathematical mess-ups I had all the way through. I didn't have enough yarn to do the original pattern (from Phildar catalog #377) with big bell sleeves or the huge turtleneck. So I nixed them, knitted the sleeves straight and added a short collar. Then I suspect that my row gauge must have been off, since the armholes came out too short. Plus, Phildar ladies must have some seriously skinny arms, because those sleeves were tight! A bit of ripping and a few more stitches added here and there and it's a perfectly snug fit. Thank goodness the Giboulees yarn has some stretch. And because the yarn is a thick/thin bumpy yarn, the sweater is also very airy. It really is great for spring.

Got a lot of sweatpant knitting done over the weekend, but I've been ripping the last few hours worth. I finished the two pieces of the second leg, joined them to the first and as per the pattern started knitting the top in the round. After a couple of inches, it really started to look like pants, but that missing side seam was starting to bother me. I was doing the pant legs flat because I wanted side seams, but here I am on the widest part of my pants knitting in the round. Bad idea. I stopped knitting to think about whether or not I should rip out what I'd done on the top and reknit it flat. And since I'd stopped forward motion, I decided I'd put the whole thing on some scrap yarn, take out the needles and try 'em on. Good thing I did!

Yup, one leg was like an inch and a half too short. Heh, heh. Frogging back to the crotch to fix that leg and reknit the top in two pieces. Coming soon: sweatpants with complete side seams and (call me a perfectionist!) matching legs!

And that's what dishcloths are made of.

Melissa recently made some afghan squares with some left over Kitchen Cotton, using Mason-Dixon Kay's log cabin design. I'm so swiping that idea! I'd wanted to make some of the little flower washcloths from Weekend Knitting for my great aunts. Yes, the aunts I made the hotties for! But then I saw fellow Knitsmith Joann making one with double-pointed needles and five separate petals, it seemed a little 'fiddly-dee, not-for-me' (hers came out great by the way). So I thought, hey, I like the log cabin design, it looks fun, I don't mind picking up stitches as much as knitting separate little pieces and the Sugar n' Cream would make washcloths you could actually use (don't quite see the aunts washing up with beautiful chenille flowers). So, the boys and I went to ACMoore and picked out these colors.

And now I can join another knitalong!

And speaking of nice knitalongs, I've already received a nice comment and a fun little e-card from my Secret Knitting Pal. What a great program that Sandy set up! The boys enjoyed the little animated card too. So thanks to my secret pal out there, whoever you are!

Do you think Stacy and Clinton would approve of handknitted acrylic sweatpants?

But they're so comfortable!

Isn't that what the people always say? Well, now I understand. These pants are the silliest things ever, but I can't help it, I really, really like them! They're cozy and warm and it's just so cool that I knitted them. I'm glad that I ripped back the top and reknitted it in two pieces so I could keep the side seam. I think the side seam gives the pants a straighter look and keeps them from sagging.

For those of you knitting these or considering how to resize them, here are some details. I knit the pants flat - 4 leg pieces, then I joined the two backs and two fronts and knit the top in 2 pieces. To size them up to what would have been the next size, I cast on 5 extra stitches for each leg piece. I did the same number of increases as called for in the original pattern, beginning them as written in the pattern. I cast off two of the extra stitches with the other stitches cast off at the crotch and knit 2 together when joining the two backs and the two fronts. I also shaped the top a little to keep it from being too bulky (I needed leg room, not tummy room) by doing decreases at the edges after 4 inches and 6 inches. I must have spent an hour and a half making that bleeping tie for the waist. I'm not very skilled with the crochet hook and the one hook I own was considerably too small for this yarn, which, as we recall, is terribly splitty. But I survived the crochet/Homespun torture and miraculously, that teeny-tiny tie manages to hold up the rather heavy pants.

Overall, I found the pattern to be really simple - easy to size up a little wherever you need an extra centimeter or two -, enjoyable to knit, and the result is comfy, cozy and stylish to boot. When I'm wearing them, I feel like a hip momma coming back from yoga class. I'd even consider making another pair if I could come up with a lightweight yarn to substitute for the Homespun (can you think of any?). And then I'd love to take K's suggestion of trimming the cuffs with fabric. How cool would those pants be? Can you believe that I'm considering more of these crazy pants?! Don't tell Clinton and Stacy!

With little pink flowsies all in a row. I spiked the knitting needles with a little miracle grow and I'm almost done with the back of Daisy. It'll need a severe blocking when it's done though. If the piece isn't stretched across the sofa arm it looks more like a wadded up washcloth than a sweater back!

Hey, speaking of washcloths, I finished the first sugar 'n cream log cabin washcloth! It's so cool.

I spent forever knitting and sewing-as-I-go and ripping to tweak the sewing, then ripping and reknitting and resewing and ripping and retweaking the sewing and... and... and... ugh... after hours of working on the button band for chickie in an attempt to get her all finished up by the weekend, this is as far as I got.

One half of the button band. I had no idea that it would be such a pain. And that top part is actually quite a bit of knitting. But all that hard work was worth it, I hope. This side looks acceptable and I think I know what I'm doing now.

So where's the good chickie? Check out Kim's just finished and very yellow no sweat pants. I want some in yellow now too!

I made up with chickie and she's all finished! Thanks to some late night finishing sessions, I managed to wrap up chickie just in time to start my spring fling knitting as scheduled. Even though this cardigan is wool (peace fleece, baby!), the bright yellow color makes it perfect for spring. For spring in Boston, that is (more snow predicted for this week!). But I really love the color and the wool. There will be a lot more peace fleece in my future. Peace Fleece - it's the new all seasons cotton.

So cardigan details. I coverted the Nevis pattern from A Season's Tale from a chunky gauge to suit my worsted weight wool. Not too difficult, except for maybe getting the raglan decreases to work. That button band was a b**ch though, mostly because I wasn't sure how much to "stretch" the garter stitch while sewing-as-I-was-going. I would sew the band up only to see that it ruffled a bit on the outer edge, then would have to rip it out and reattach it. After three or four attempts I finally found the right ratio. The shawl collar works amazingly well for how simple it is to actually knit. Increase at the right spots and it just rolls right over perfectly, stopping just above that top button.

Oh yeah, I went for the leaf buttons. Thanks for your help on that one, everybody!

Are you flinging? I sure am!

Swatches for four, count 'em, four spring projects! The first (top) is some lovely Rowan summer tweed I'm considering for the Knitsmith's Knitalong of this fabulous cardigan from the latest Rebecca magazine (Silvia's already started this one - check it out!). Then, to the left, there's Rowan linen drape for this Vintage Knits lace top. Next (bottom) is Phildar plaisance and licorne for the delightfully colorful cardi raye. And finally, there's a little something fluffy for my own spring fling. Not quite sure yet exactly what I'm making with this GGH Esprit yarn, but I'm loving it already!

So flingers, anything on the needles yet out there? I declare spring officially sprung in blogland!

Just right for St. Patrick's Day. But what will it be? Dunno yet. Hmmm.... a green thing.

Inside = flowsies.

Outside = snow.

Finished the back of Daisy during the latest snow storm. I've got two front panels and two sleeves' worth of flowsies to get me through the last of winter. Better knit slow, just in case.

Presents going out.

I finished up the sugar 'n cream washcloths for my great aunts. Hope they like them! I've still got enough yarn left to make about four more (as long as I start alternating which color goes in the center).

Presents coming in.

My secret pal sent me this cute little sheep, along with a funny card and some yummy Dora the Explorer chocolate for the boys (that's pronounced D-O-R-A around here - spelling it out is the only way to prevent the boys from thinking it's Dora time on tv. Seems like I've spelled D-O-R-A so many times that I can't even say the name anymore! Me to my husband: "How about the boys watch a little D-O-R-A while you get the P-I-Z-Z-A?" Me to my husband yesterday: "Oh look, my secret pal sent the boys some D-O-R-A C-H-O-C-O-L-ah, you know!"). Thanks, for the laugh, secret pal!

(Hey, knitalongers, have you seen the latest finished knitalong projects? Be sure to check out Carrie's and Jessica's fun sweatpants, Erica's gorgeous Banff and Becky's fabulous poncho. And the first nearly-finished spring fling project I've seen: Sharlene's tank. And did you see the Smooch tank over at Oliewogs blog? Wowza! Beautiful knits, ladies!)

I know we're spring flinging, but there's snow out here and hubby's feet are cold. So yes, I'm knitting more big, bulky socks. I taught a sock class at my LYS recently, and it's got me knitting socks again. And I'm liking it. Plus, they're Peace Fleece. I couldn't resist. There's so much Peace Fleece around blogland these days (my chickie masala, Mary's grass roots, Sandy's zarya fog, Kerstin's moscow magic pink, Erica's samantha-katya pink...), I figured I needed more. For these socks I'm using negotiation grey (don't you just love these names?!). Check out the cool label that was on one of the skeins.

So the cardi-raye along is on. Haven't seen Angela's or Kimberly's progress yet, but here's mine for the record.

So I'm knitting along, loving the Phildar Plaisance yarn I substituted for the plain green color at the bottom and then I get to those first blue stripes.

They look good don't they?! Yes, I think so too. You like the sparkles? Yes, I do too. In a picture. I love this sweater in pictures, including the little sparkles in some of the stripes. But man I hate that sparkly yarn in person. It feels crappy to knit, it's throwing off my gauge, and I just don't like how it looks up close. I really don't think I'll like the finished product if I keep going with the sparkle yarn. So, I'll most likely be ripping back to the green and starting the stripes anew, sans what I like to call 'the sparkle shit'. It makes me sad, because I really like the effect it creates. Oh well, I guess I'm not a sparkle girl after all.

I can't hear the name fluffy without hearing Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping calling her fiance's fiancee's cat. I'm such a sap, I'd see that movie any day of the week and twice on Saturdays (especially a Saturday like last Saturday where I was in bed all day with a stomach bug). Anyway...

I'm making progress on my fluffy green spring thing.

I'm still knitting in the round. Gotta work out some armholes and sleeves and stuff, 'cause I ain't wearing it like this! It does feel wonderful against the skin though. Remember wearing your knits without layers underneath? Ahhh, spring.

Hey, spring is in the air over in the knitalong sidebar! Check out the links to springy projects underway. I'll be updating them regularly, so keep checking back! (And as always, I'm happy to post a pic if you don't have a blog or can't do pictures. Just send it to me by email.)

So I started the armholes and sleeves of the spring fling top and went to slip it on to be sure I'd gotten the fit right, and gosh darnit if it didn't look cute as a tank. So I finished it up and wrote up the pattern to share the fluffy goodness.

I've got lots of yarn left over and still plan on making a version with sleeves and collar of some sort, but hubby liked the tank so much, I had to do it. And as a tank, I can really enjoy how soft the Esprit yarn is against the skin. It feels fabulous on. Even if you don't make a tank, you all have got to make yourselves something fabulous with this yarn. 'Cause it's spring and we're worth it!

Back on track with the cardi raye. I ripped back to the beginning of the blue stripes (and have sparkle threads all over my sofa to prove it!) and first added several more rows of the green color to lengthen the cardi. I was concerned that the cardi would end up being too cropped for my tastes and since I was already ripping.... Then I restarted the stripes sans sparkle shit. Although I miss the variegated color effect, I love that the yarn is all uniform and the fabric is soft and drapey (instead of stiff where the sparkles were). Still, I can hear Chandra, Emma, Jenn and others' wise advice that I should live with the sparkles for a bit and give them a chance to grow on me. I'm not 100% sure that the cardi will stay this way. I suspect that too many stripes in flat colors will make the sweater less striking or throw off the color combination somehow, so you may see me back with sparkles at some point after all, ladies!

Why did I have to start with the back? I couldn't have started with a nice small sleeve. Ooooh, noooo.

Starting the front panels of the baby daisy cardigan. More flowsies! Knitting these flowsies is really addictive. It's like doing the color stripes on the cardi raye. Each flower (or color stripe) is relatively small, so I rush through it to see how it turns out and then I want to just start the next one. Before I know it that one's done and I wanna start just one more. It really keeps me interested and motivated. Despite the constant chart-following (and the sparkle/no-sparkle controversy), I'm having a blast! Plus, I get to say flowsies all the time.

Speaking of flowsies, have you seen the sweet spring flowers Georgia has been crocheting? She's inspired me to try using my crochet hook for more than just rescuing dropped stitches and scratching my back! Gotta see Claire from my knitting group for some crochet pointers and I'll let you know how I do. Crochet flowsies, here I come!

Now where did mommy put that bookmark for the flowsie blog?

Make socks not war.

Finished hubby's peace fleece socks. He slipped them on as soon as I was done. They're perfect for keeping his feet warm on our cold floor.

For anyone interested in making similar socks, I used Peace Fleece and US7 needles. I follow the numbers from a Reynolds pattern called Ragg Socks, written for Candide yarn at 4 st/in. I do 1x1 ribbing for the top inch and then switch to 3x1 ribbing for the leg. I like to continue the 3x1 ribbing over the top of the foot as well. To line this up well, I find it's best to start the 3x1 ribbing with 1knit and 1purl (the round will end with 2knits). That way the split for the heel is more centered over the ribbing than if you started with 3knits.

Happy peaceful sock knitting, man.

There's trouble in daisy-land. I finished the first front panel of the Daisy cardigan and realized that I had incorrectly spaced the buttonholes, so it was not possible to have a button at the very top of the neck. If it were my sweater that might be okay. I mean how often do I close the top button on my cardies? But this is for a baby, where the top button might actually be used quite a bit, perhaps exclusively. And I bought such sweet buttons that I'd hate to use even one less of them. So no fudging possible here. I had to go back and fix.

First I thought maybe I could just drop a few buttonband stitches all the way down and reknit the button band that way.

But the two row buttonhole that I used didn't really want to cooperate and rip back without serious ugliness, so I went ahead and ripped the whole thing.

There was much sadness, but I always try to do my ripping quickly, as soon as I realize there's no other choice, before I can get too attached to the work and what was good about it. I feel good about how it's looking now. It also helps that my first attempt at crocheted flowsies went well!

Now that I've got the hang of it, I'm addicted to making these flowers! Thanks again Georgia for the pattern. You've sold me on crochet!

More loveliness arrived over the weekend in the form of these stitch markers my Secret Pal made for me. They're blue for the blue blog and there's even a froggy one to ward off too much frogging! Hee, hee. Thanks, pal!

And there are some beautiful springy things to check out in the knit-alongs as well. Have you seen Sharlene's Ballet Neck Twinset? Meredith's chic tank? Or Kristy's cardi raye in progress?

Pretty, pretty.

Anyone interested a trade for an unopened pack of Rowan linen drape in the color Watermelon? After picking this up I realized I already have like 10 things in my spring/summer wardrobe in exactly this color. Doh! Rowan #31 and Rowan #29 both have lots of great patterns for this yarn. And I'll be using the same yarn in a different color to make this Vintage Knits top. You could knit-along with me!

I'd be happy to trade for a tank's or short sleeved sweater's worth of Rowan calmer, all seasons cotton, or handknit dk. Or anything else fabuloso that you suggest. Email me at the address in the left sidebar!

Update: Trade's all set. Got an offer I couldn't refuse. Thanks to everyone for the various offers I received. I hope I get to trade with some of you in the future!