Children's Neckdown Cardigan - done!

Wow! Could it be that I've completed a child's sweater in less than two months? Yes! The neckdown cardi for my daughter is complete! Here is the picture:



Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple Children's Neckdown Cardigan (#981)
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Primo in lavender (6 balls)
Needles: Denise and DPNs in US9 and US6

I really thought I was going to run out of yarn for this project. The body of the sweater ate up FOUR balls of the yarn and I was in a panic. But the sleeves ended up using only two balls so I ended up with two extra (wristwarmers perhap?)

So next up are some small projects. I have done NOTHING with poor Branching Out so I'm going to start up the 10-minute rule mentioned on KR. I must work on it for ten minutes before working on anything else.

Aside from BO I still have my Cherry Tree Hill socks, a chemo cap that I've frogged three times and a pair of socks I'm starting for DD. I also wound a ball of Hempathy for the Everlasting Bagstopper so I may be starting that as well.

Newly on the Needles

Well, now that my son's hoodie is complete I am moving on to two new projects.

As I mentioned before, Branching Out is my very first lace project. I have completed two pattern repeats and now that school has started again I'm hoping to have a quiet house where I can concentrate! I understand now the benefits of knitting from the chart but it requires my full concentration - at least this early into the project. So here is what I've done so far...



It's hard to tell from the photo but if I stretch it out I can see the pattern forming.

My other current project is a top-down cardigan for my daughter. I'm using the Knitting Pure and Simple Children's Neckdown Cardigan pattern and Filatura di Crosa Primo yarn. It's a heavy worsted superwash wool. Here's the start of that sweater...



My daughter is pretty excited about it especially since it's "puhple" her favorite color. And this time around the sweater should have buttons and buttonholes unlike my last attempt at a sweater for this child.

Top-Down Sweater - DONE!

Yippee! The topdown sweater I was knitting for DS is finished! I love topdown design - it is just genius the way the directions are almost like a magic trick. I did end up frogging that first sleeve where the pooling occurred so it does look better now although I see some spots where there is slight pooling. But my son is happy and it's done well before the cold weather will hit!

So here it is...



Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple Children's Tunic #232
Yarn: 2 3/4 hanks Lorna's Laces in Seaside
Size: 6-8

So next up is another Knitting Pure and Simple pattern for my daughter. It's the Children's Neckdown Cardigan and I've got Filatura di Crosa Primo in a lavender shade for it.

I also started my very first lace project. I decided to give Branching Out a try. So far it's been a little frustrating. First I cast on the wrong number of stitches and didn't notice til I finished the garter stitch border. Then I ended up with the wrong stitch count on row 7 and ended up starting over. But now I've got one pattern repeat down and I put a lifeline in. I'm going to move the lifeline every time I finish a pattern repeat. But the good news is I'm getting better at chart reading!

Pooling Problems

First of all, I am back from vacation! My husband and I took the kids to Disney World followed by a few days at the beach. We had such a great time! My daughter keeps saying she wants to go back and I tell her "yeah, me too!"

I'm still plugging away on my son's sweater but I've run into a dilemma. In finishing the first sleeve I ran into an area where some serious pooling started to take place. I saw it there, plain as day. But you know how it goes, you think "Next row, it'll stop...okay next row...okay next row is a decrease round surely the lovely striping will return"

Here's the sleeve in question:



See that lovely C-shaped pool? Now that I see a photo of it in the light of day, ripping it out seems like the only answer. *sigh*

I did find a yarn store while we were at Cocoa Beach. The store also sold needlepoint and tatting supplies so the yarn selection was not what I am used to at my two LYSs. But I did find some Wildefoote to make socks for my daughter and Mission Falls cotton for baby hats.



Here is the first hat:



I used the Children's Cotton Hats pattern from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" for the most part. I did omit the eyelet round and add some ribbing. The 2nd hat will use this blue in its stripes.