Just a quickie! The Featherweight cardi is finished, I just need to weave in some ends and give her a bath!

I finished it at TAFE yesterday afternoon, and as soon as it was done, I tried it on. I know it’s cropped and only has three quarter sleeves, but three different people asked me if it was for me or Em. Really.
Next project has been swatched and will hit the needles today!

A couple of weeks ago, I finished a hat that Em had asked for some time ago.

Specs:
Pattern: Bonnie by Kim Hargreaves, from Heartfelt
Yarn: Rowan Bamboo Soft in 102 Almond (Shade now discontinued), 2 balls.
Needles: 2.75mm
Mods: The pattern calls for a crochet band, but seeing as I can’t crochet to save my life, I went with the knitted alternative, a moss stitch band. I’m actually thinking about ripping it out and changing it to a 1×1 rib. The moss stitch has no elasticity. A friend suggested some elastic, and I might try that first.
I thought it was going to be a quick, in front of the TV knit, but it tricked me. It’s knit flat and then seamed, and I thought about doing it in the round, but there’s lace patterning on both sides, and I was too lazy to try to adapt the pattern.
It’s a nice hat, very pretty and chic, but a little more hassle than I prefer in a hat pattern! Em is happy with it, though, so all in all, I’d call it a success.

And she looks so cute in it, doesn’t she?
Apart from that, it’s all Featherweight, all the time. It now has a body and sleeves, and the neckband/collar is all that remains.

(Less than stellar picture is brought to you by the iPhone, courtesy of a lack of batteries for the big camera)
As you can see, it is almost done. It has occupied 100% of my knitting time. Well, what’s left of my knitting time after I waste hours trawling Ravelry looking for the next project, that is.
There’s been no Twinkie update for a long time, as has been pointed out. She’s a bit cranky, but otherwise well. We’ve been having some yard work done, and she’s not happy about it. She refuses to go out the back unless we pick her up and force her out. And when we do that, she goes and hides in the long grass to let us know how displeased she is.

She’s a bunny who doesn’t deal well with change!!

So I do actually knit the finished projects I show here. I’ve not been very good at showing the progress type pictures of late, have I?
I’ve been trying out Project Monogamy lately. It’s very unlike me, I get bored far too easily to stick to it for very long. However, it’s very productive. Makes sense really, don’t know why I’ve been so surprised!
I’m currently working on the Featherweight Cardigan. I saw Ailsa’s and straight away decided that I had to make one. And we all know that I’m not lacking for laceweight yarn! So I had a dig through the stash and surfaced with some Dream In Color Baby in “In Vino, Veritas” (Love that name!) that I’d acquired from The Loopy Ewe some time ago. It’s a heavy laceweight, made from Australia Merino. Nice and squishy!
I swatched, somehow got a needle size three sizes than recommended, and cast on. A sane person would have figured then that 3 sizes smaller could be problematic, but I’ve never been known for thinking things through.
After knitting for a while, I began to think that maybe it was looking a little small. So I measured it, and sure enough, I should have been using bigger needles. I was feeling particularly lazy (again, not unusual), so instead of frogging the whole thing, I decided to get clever.
I was using 3.25mm (US3) needles, so I pulled out a 2.25mm (US1) needle and threaded it through a row of stitches quite a few rows back.

Then I just frogged it back, reknit the stitches onto the bigger needle, and didn’t have to worry about losing any stitches anywhere. (Still recovering from the Cap Shawl debacle here).
I decided to rip it back to that point for a few reasons. I could have just frogged it and started over, but like I keep saying, I’m inherently lazy. I then convinced myself that because the cardi is knit at such a loose tension, having the first few rows around the neck in a tighter gauge will help add stability. (Yes, I can justify anything). At any rate, it worked nicely, the armholes are still deep enough, and it’s pretty much flying off the needles.

My camera hates this colour for some reason. Of course, now that I’ve mentioned how quick it is, something is going to go horribly wrong. Stay tuned.
Mind you, I’m seeing the benefits of this project monogamy stuff!

Another project that’s been finished for a while and just awaiting pictures is my Lacy Kerchief Scarf.

Again, thanks to Ailsa for the pics. I really love this scarf!

Specs:
Pattern: Lacy Kerchief Scarf by Lisa Daehlin from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005. (Also available online from their store)
Yarn: Knitabulous FIftyFifty (50/50 Wool/Silk, fingering weight) One skein, 400yds.
Needles: 3.75mm
Mods: The pattern is written for worsted weight, and I can’t imagine how huge it would be! It’s 180cm long in the fingering weight on 3.75mm needles! I worked the pattern as written, although I left a repeat out in the middle because I thought I’d run out of yarn. (And I would’ve!)

Love the yarn! I asked Ailsa to dye some pink yarn for me ages ago, and this is what she came up with. I don’t know if there was an official colour name. Maybe she should call it “Whining Donna”. In any case, love the colour! Ailsa recently used the FiftyFifty to make her Featherweight cardi, and it also looks gorgeous for that project.
The pattern is not too bad, although the lace is an 8 row repeat, and the increases/decreases happen in 6 row repeats, which gets kind of confusing! I took it along to the Sydney Knitters Christmas get together, and it didn’t work very well with champagne. I thought I was on the home stretch, and on the train on the way home, I realised I’d made a mistake in the pattern about 40 rows back and had to rip it out. Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward and reasonably quick.
It took one skein, so around 400 yards – highly recommend as a sock yarn type stashbuster!

So I’ve been in a little knitting slump of late and don’t have an awful lot to show.
Fortunately though, I went down and helped Ailsa out with her yarn store stuff today, and she took some pictures of my finished projects for me!
Finally, I get to show off Rosa.

Isn’t she just beautiful? I’m so pleased with it, I think it may be my favourite finished project yet!
Specs:
Pattern: Rosa by Kim Hargreaves, from the Thrown Together book.
Size: Small
Yarn: Rowan 4ply Soft in Tea Rose. I used just a smidgen more than 5 balls.
Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Pearl, 1 ball.
Needles: 2.5mm and 3mm.
Mods: None.
I knit it exactly the way the pattern said, and I’m over the moon with it. It was super quick for me, too. I started it just before we left to go on holidays in December. We were away for a little under two weeks, but all the car time gave me the opportunity to do the front, the back and the sleeves. After I got home I only had to do the neckband, seaming and ruffles. I think those bits took as long as the rest of it did.

But I’m so happy with it that I can’t even put it into words. If I was to change anything at all, it might be the ruffles. The pattern calls for them to be knit separately and then sewn into place – I’d probably pick up stitches and knit them outwards. Seeing as I have a few more of her ruffled designs in my queue, I might try that next time.