I fly through most knitting projects. Full size sweaters typically take me on average about two weeks. Baby knits can be whipped up over a weekend. A hat, just a few hours. So yesterday I thought about the dress I was knitting my goddaughter and I wondered why it has taken me 2 months and I had only gotten about 4 inches of progress made. I didn’t like the pattern. So I looked at the project and looked at what else was in my library and I said this shouldn’t be this hard and I frogged it!
I felt such a wave of relief when I did that. And then I decided to make the Summer to Fall dress instead and you know what?
Last night I got all the way up to finishing the back panel of the dress! That’s about 10 inches of knitting that I finished and in the last 2 months I could barely get through 5 inches in the other pattern. All I’ve got left is the front of the dress to knit. It’s like a block was lifted. I wasted all this time because I felt like I needed to finish something and then realized I was the only person putting that pressure on myself. I can always just knit something else if I don’t like it. And once I let go of what held me back I was moving full steam ahead. So I hope to finish this over the weekend and then I’m thinking about knitting a few toys after making Wasabi the Whale the other weekend. It’s also Bark in the Park for the Nationals at the baseball stadium so we’ve taking the dogs on an adventure and seeing how they like baseball. Wish me luck and say a prayer that Cher is a polite dog the entire time we’re there.
Category: pink
Stitching Status: Decisions, Decisions
So I’m currently working on a pink dress for my goddaughter I started ages ago (April to be exact). I’ve got 10 inches of stockinette stitch for a good 200+ stitches and I’m forcing myself to push through it to get to create a box pleat (my first time). This better be cute when I’m finished because it hasn’t been a pleasure and it’s probably why I’ve laid it down a million times for other projects. I haven’t taken any pics of it so instead you get pictures of the dogs.
Whenever there is thunder Cher finds a way to squeeze herself behind me in the smallest space. She doesn’t care what’s going on and she just has to feel safe behind me. I don’t mind at all.
And this is Jellybean with one of her favorite toys, a pink dinosaur. I like to think they’re having peace talks after she flung that dino around and nibbled it all over.
I’m also still contemplating what to make with my 4 skeins of bright pink Berroco Modern Cotton. I’ve thought about making this top but I think I’m one skein short. There’s also this free pattern but I’m not sold on making such a simple top. I may just pull out my sketch pad and see what I can come up with on my own. Fingers crossed. What are you guys working on right now?
FO: My Technicolor Dreamcoat
I’m renaming my Royally Striped cardigan to my Technicolor Dreamcoat. I feel like it’s a fitting name, don’t you?
So this is a magical Stephen West sweater pattern. How he came up with this construction is beyond me. The finished object after blocking is just a little big (I made the large) but I love it because it’s like a cocoon and I’m just wrapped up in squishy colorful goodness. It was what I had hoped my Boothbay cardigan would be but unfortunately that one sat up on my butt in a horrid way. Fortunately for my BFF Jess it fits her perfectly so I’m not mad about giving it away. And now I have a proper replacement for it!
For this project I used four colors of Miss Babs Yowza I had in my stash and on the back panel I finally got to use my HiKoo Abracadabra yarn that changes color from white to purple. I bought this yarn maybe 2 or 3 years ago but couldn’t figure out what to make with it and as I was pulling this together I had the brilliant idea that it would be fun to add to the back panel.
Here’s the back on and then here’s a better look at the color change. Also remember this is the back panel I put on the wrong side and was easily able to fix it. You can’t even tell!
This was as much color change as I was able to get since my house is always in the shade. But you can see it is a little lavender. It gets darker but I didn’t have the time to wait it out or patience.
This was an extremely satisfying knit. Lots of garter stitch and the short rows but without wraps! And now I’m plotting making an orange, purple and pink version for my cousin in the size small with my stash. I could even see myself making it in a more neutral color palette in the medium to make it more of a wearable to work piece, but who am I kidding? I’m going to wear this bold version to work too. I love it. Now I wish it was cold again because this would be a great transitional weather piece. Now the pattern does say it can be worn on either side but I’m just a bit too short to wear it with the navy portion as the collar but that’s fine with me. I like it this way the most. since it highlights the fun stripes with the short rows.
And if you’re ever wondering what it’s like for me to photograph these things and why I’m always smiling it’s because I’m super distracted. Yesterday it was because of Jellybean and…
My insanely silly husband. But hey, they make life that much sweeter. Cher decided to just sit this one out and watch us from the sidelines. So yeah, this is a happy and colorful sweater that I have already wrapped myself up in while we binge watch TV. I have a feeling it will get a lot of use. Have any of you tried this pattern or another West Knits wild pattern?
