vest for hubby that's smooth as buttah



Strike from Rowan #27 and Rowan's buttery wool/cotton

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Speaking of handknits that aren't getting worn... remember the brown butter vest I knit for my husband last year? Yup, it has yet to make it out of the closet. I love this vest and would wear it myself, but it's way too long and baggy. So, it will seed the pile for the next rip-along. If I ever make it through the ten projects I'm currently working on or have waiting in the wings, I'll frog it and make the women's hooded version of this vest for myself with the recycled yarn (and the two balls I had left over and have never used!).

So what have we learned? Hubby is not a vest person and mom is not a hat person. Still not convinced about that second revelation, I finished my mom's new big hat during her weekend visit. She says she'll wear it. We'll see (and, no, she did not remember to bring the first hat and mitten set back).

I ran out of the green Rowanspun Chunky yarn, which didn't match my mother's black gloves anyway, so I added a touch of black on the crown and around the ribbing. I used Rowan's new Yorkshire Tweed, which has the exact same color flecks in it as the Rowanspun and so coordinates very nicely.

Speaking of Yorkshire Tweed. Remember the lace pattern that I swatched up last week from the Jess sweater in that book? Fellow Knitsmith Carrie thought the pattern looked similar to one of her rip-along projects, which was a sweater from a vintage Rowan book. Well, compare for yourself. A Yorkshire Fable, circa 2003 and Rowan No. 4, circa 1988. Busted! Glad Carrie brought in the "original", because I really love the cardigan version from the old Rowan book. Don't you?

Finally put down the tanks long enough to finish my husband's birthday vest. He likes it (yay!) although he's not used to wearing vests. I think it looks quite good on him and am pleased that he might be able to wear it more often than the warm sweater I made him when I started knitting. Of course, I have slipped in on myself and if he doesn't love it, I'll be wearing it for sure. And if he does love it, well then I'll just have to get some more of that buttery smooth wool/cotton yarn and make my own.

No progress pictures today. I am sorry to say that my digital camera is no more. It only manages to turn on and take black pictures now. I guess I ran the thing into the ground. Or perhaps I let it fall on the ground a few times too many! What ever the reason, it's a goner. Now I've got to contend with no internet connection and no camera for the knitalongs. Poop.

Despite not being able to photographically record my progress or get to the computer to blog about it, I have been knitting. I finished the body of sweetness up to the yoke and did the side seams for my husband's vest. Maybe I can finish one of these two by next week before the knitalongs begin. I'm in no rush though. I've decided to relax through the summer knitting. The yarn won't go bad if I don't get something done. I can make it next year. And the pressure's really off to start on the boys' summer shirts, since I can only get giant short-sleeved t-shirts over B's cast!

To do by next Thursday:

• Figure out how to use video camera to take knitting pictures.


• Call in miracle and get RCN to install our phone/cable/modem. (That's right, we've also got no phone or access to Nick Jr!)


• Finish either brown butter or sweetness (ugh, all those ends!)


• Decide on stripes for Pagan and do some swatching already.


• Find time in day to at least check blogs of fellow knit-alongers!

Have a good weekend everyone. And if I don't get a chance to blog before then, happy mothers day to all you moms out there!

I did get a little knitting done right before the move started. I finished knitting the front of brown butter and had just noticed that the decreases on one side of the v-neck would have to be redone, as it ended up being a bit longer than the other side, when I had to put it down. Since then the move has taken up all our free time, which with one toddler in a cast has considerably dwindled, we took an evening off from the moving tonight to relax and watched the tape of Manor House. After reading some of Kathy's posts about it, I was sorry that I had missed watching it when it aired. Even though I should have been working on redoing the shoulder shaping and seaming brown butter, I went ahead and picked up my "sweet" little top for a bit of instant gratification. The last few days have been stressful and I'd really missed the knitting, so I indulged myself.

On a technical note, we don't have an internet connection in our new place yet, so I'll be blogging less frequently until we do (maybe every other day). And I won't have access to the computer at all during the day, so I won't be able to follow up on emails very speedily. Sorry! I hope to be back online daily when the knitalongs start up. Now, off to see more of Manor House....

While thinking about which summer top I should make next -- what about this one, which I've already got all the yarn for? --, I've been working away dutifully on brown butter. And I made it to the armhole decreases! Sooner than I thought actually. I'd been knitting and knitting, shooting for 40cm and when I finally got there and compared the piece to the finished back, it was too long! Thankfully one of the Knitsmiths figured out my error. The 40cm was to be measured from the cast-on edge and I'd knit the front 40cm from the ribbing. That meant that I had to rip out a few centimeters, but I didn't really lose any ground, since I'm still at the armhole decreases. So it's all good!

If found, please return to alison at the blue blog.

I did manage to sit down for a bit yesterday and work on hubby's brown vest. I even made it to my goal of three inches, but I'm still overwhelmed with how much there is left.

I've got so many other projects piling up. Correction, I've got too many other projects. I would call for another month long finish-fest, but some of the projects can wait. For example, giranimals II just needs the embroidery and seaming, but no one's going to wear it before September. And even bugly could wait until the end of the summer, since it's also for cooler weather and is sized up. Plus, I've got some summer sweaters planned for the boys (remember this?), which I should get cracking on if they're going to be done during the warm weather.

Yes, thoughts of summer and summer knitwear have overtaken me. I'm compiling a list of possible tops for the all season's cotton, so be ready to vote next week!

I'm now ribbing and no longer ripping. The front of the brown butter vest is finally underway. Getting this piece started has been such a nightmare! I've had a least four failed attempts, several due simply to stupid miscounting. Argh! The vest is supposed to be done for hubby's birthday (that's two weeks, for those who are counting). Can she do it?

I have to admit that I'm having a hard time staying focused on this project. The 4mm needles seem so small in comparison to the 5mm's that I'm using for the tank top and since the vest is for my man and not one of my two-year olds, it's like gigantic. Plus, I'm knitting it continental style, and although I am getting much better using my left hand, it's still quite a bit slower than using my right. It just seems like it will be an eternity before I complete the endless rows of the body and make it to the armholes. Miles to go before I decrease.

Note to self: next time make socks for hubby. on big needles.

Hubby's birthday is right around the corner, so it's time to pick up that vest I started so long ago and get cracking! I've finished the back and will be bringing the rest with me on vacation next week. We've got a 12 hour car ride, but I'm not sure I'll get any knitting done, since whoever's not driving is on baby-entertainment duty and I know the boys don't find my knitting all that entertaining.

For those who are curious, we're going to a boardgaming convention in Ohio. Last time we went was two years ago when I was six months pregnant with the boys. There are lots of pics of us at the convention here. Boardgaming is my other hobby, but since the boys were born I've become more of a homebody and don't get out to play very much. So next week, I'll be putting the knitting needles down for a bit to catch up with my gaming buddies. And when I'm not gaming, I'll be out with the kiddies finding fun stuff to do in Columbus. Whew, I'm tired already!

Warm fuzzies = making progress on a project. And the stockinette therapy from the night before last brought me almost to the armhole openings on the back of my husband's vest. Daria wrote yesterday about that moment when the rows of stitches start to become a fabric before your eyes and how rewarding that is. It happened and it was good.

Warm fuzzies = cute animal faces on baby clothes. And here's a sneak peek at the giraffe on the first giranimals jacket. I'm almost done!!

Warm fuzzies = yarn arriving in the mail. And yesterday the rest of the Phildar Legende came that I need to make the second giranimals jacket. As I was needing some soothing, I cast right on and finished the ribbing on the back! Ooohh, alpaca.

Warm fuzzies = going to the yarn store. And so I went and visited all the lovely yarns at a good yarn and even bought a few of the fuzziest for a little friend. And for myself, I got these neat little sweater shaped double-pointed needle holders. Funny, huh?

Warm fuzzies = seeing my boys in their handmade sweaters. And since I still decide what they wear, I put their stripey vests on them yesterday. Cute, cute!

I had a bad, bad day yesterday, which I am pretty sure will continue over into today. I just couldn't muster up the energy last night to do any finishing work on the two sweaters waiting to be completed. I needed some simple, straight knitting to calm me down, so I picked up my husband's vest for some stockinette therapy. I'll probably need to spend some more time with it tonight to work through the stresses of today as well. I'll post a progress picture tomorrow.

Still taking a break from all the finishing work on the boys' sweaters, I've been doing some actual knitting! Here is elizabeth back on the needles again. Right now I'm just getting into the raglan decreases on the first sleeve. The yarn coming out the side there shows you how far down I took out the seam. I ripped back to about an inch above that. There was a little bit of a line at the point where I ripped back and started reknitting, but I pressed it a bit and now it is hardly noticeable. In general I was able to recreate the gauge surprisingly well (close up pic here).

I've fallen in love with this yarn all over again. It is just a dream to work with, so smooth and soft. But I still don't know what I was thinking buying it in white! Where did I imagine I could wear this sweater? I hardly ever leave the house without the boys and when I'm at home, fuhgetaboutit! Maybe I can wear it to the Knitsmiths. Every week. Ha, ha.

Thankfully, I was much more sensible when choosing yarn for my husband's vest. The brown should be more forgiving and is really quite lovely. After starting the ribbing last Wednesday, I picked up the vest again last night and knitted enough so that it's on its way to looking more like the beginnings of something sweater-y than just some needles with a bit of yarn hanging off them.

Yesterday, I got to meet up with some other Boston area knitbloggers - Kim and Amy - to do a little knitting (what else?). Kim had the idea a couple of weeks ago and when we settled on the day, I hadn't realized that it was my wedding anniversary. Ooops! But hubby let me go out to meet my new knitbuds and we saved the cake for when I got back. To make it up to him, I started working on his brown butter vest, but I barely managed to get half an inch knitted. Chalk it up to too much fun chatting and too little accurate counting. And the fact that a man's vest is like gigantic! I think my sense of scale has been all thrown off working on the baby stuff so much. Size warp! Maybe I'll try to work on this vest once I get all my current baby stuff to the finishing stage, so I can readjust.

New stuff that will most likely interfere with my plans to finish last year's UFO's:

• hotties: Dava, our Knitsmiths' founder made this hot water bottle cover from Rowan #28 and it was so amazingly beautiful that I decided I had to make it. I'll be knitting two (as always), but this time for my two great Aunts.
  
• greensleeves: I've been thinking about and planning this since I got the yarn at the Knitsmiths' yarn swap in November. Dava brought her new swift and ball winder to knitting group on Sunday and I wound all the skeins into balls. Now I'm really itching to start this project.
  
• brown butter: This vest for my husband, in Rowan's smooth as buttah wool/cotton, should be completed by his birthday (May), if I can just settle on a pattern!
  
• the blue sweater: Although this is the blue blog, I have yet to knit myself a blue sweater. I've seen a few fellow knitbloggers (Becky, Kim, and Clemence) work on sweaters in Giboulees, a fabulous bumpy yarn from Phildar, so I bought myself some for Christmas, in blue. I'm obsessing now about what exactly I want to do with it.

Q: "What about those Dale sweaters?"

You didn't miss anything, I haven't worked on the bugs in a while. Shameful, I know. I put the first one down to focus on Christmas gifts. The mutssjaals are the last of the gifts, so I hope to be able to continue with the bugs in January. I'm now planning to have them (I have to make two, of course) done for the boys' birthday in July.

Q: "Are you continuing to knit continental?"

I haven't done too much continental knitting recently because I was knitting tiny stuff on double-pointed needles under deadline (holiday gifts). I did knit the Kureyon hat continental though, since I didn't want it to be one of those tight hair-mussing sort of hats. When I get to greensleeves, I plan to knit that continental (I did the swatch that way). Ditto for the brown buttah for my husband.

Q: "Can we see more pictures of the boys?"

OK, no one asked, but I'll throw some in anyway. Here they are with their blankies (the first things I knitted for them!) when they were feeling a little under the weather recently. And here's my favorite blankie picture of them all.

Q: "What no update on the mutssjaals, or whatever it is you're calling them?"

You've seen through me. I pretty much took a non-knitting day yesterday, so no news to report on the baby hat/scarf. But I'm gonna go check out Becky's site now to see if she's started hers. So join me!

All done with the hat and mittens set. Looks pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Kinda sad to part with them, but working with that yarn again made me want to wear my new year's sweater from last year a lot more. And I have concluded that it is even better than I remember. It was only the second sweater I made and I'm ebarrassed to say that it was much more successful than some of the later ones.

Alrighty, bring on the next project! I did a bit of swatching for the vest for my husband. That Rowan wool cotton is absolutely amazing, so soft and smooth - it's like buttah! But before I can get to the brown buttah, I've got the baby mutssjaals to make. So this weekend, I'll be swatching the Cascade 220 and mathing up the pattern. Fun.

I am so bored with these Christmas gifts, but they have got to be done this week, so on I go. I've finished another pair of baby tiger socks and have begun some matching mittens. Man, will I be ready for something new (or old) in January! In an attempt to console myself, I bought some more yarn for yet another project. I picked up a bag of Rowan wool/cotton in a beautiful brown for a vest for my husband. I'm so excited to try out this yarn, as I have seen so many other knitbloggers make beautiful garments with it.

And unrelated to knitting, but too funny not to include, the boys got some cute little baby backpacks from Oma for Nikolaus (December 6th, when German kids get little stocking stuffer gifties) and they just love them! They demand to wear the backpacks ALL DAY LONG. Sillies!