The Central Park Hoodie is done!!!

I started this sweater last winter. Um.... yeah.

Well it didn't take me a year to knit - but it did hibernate all spring and summer only to be brought back out again this fall when the weather started to get cool again.





That's alot of wool!



Stats:

Pattern - Central Park Hoodie from Knitscene Fall 2006
Yarn - Araucania's "Nature Wool Chunky" - purchased at Webs online.
Needles - Knit Picks Options in sizes US 9 and 10.
Alterations - lots! I made it a size larger than the pattern and a bit longer too.

Comments - I am so in love with this sweater. I have been wearing it almost every day in place of a jacket and let me tell ya - it is warm!!! I have to thank Jolene and Amie for teaching me to seam correctly! It really made a huge difference on the finished project.

Wanna see the back?

ok!!



Do I look happy?



NO?

Well, let me dance around for ya to express the joy of wearing my first handknit sweater!!



Thank god it's finally done!!

And as an added bonus - it fits!



PS - Thanks Jolene for the cool t-shirt from Rhinebeck. I didn't get to go - but I love my shirt!!

Do you believe in magic....

"Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart
How the music can free her, whenever it starts
And it's magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul
But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll"

Or as E put - "Block and roll!!"

I am in love with blocking!!! I blocked my Mystery Stole last week and it was pure joy. I was worried that it wouldn't be long enough.... boy was I wrong!

I let is soak (in Soak) for half an hour and then used my new Knit Picks blocking wires to pin it out. The only way I could fit it on the queen sized guest bed was diagonally!




It just kept growing and growing! It really bloomed like crazy. I love the Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool Silk so much. Thanks Cheryl!








Proper photos and stats as soon as I can get someone to take pictures for me! (hint hint!)

Since I loved blocking my shawl so much - I looked around for something else to block and look what I dug up! My long hibernating friend - the Central park hoodie!



I started this last winter and I put it down when it started to get too hot to take the HUGE amount of wool on my lap. But now that the weather is getting cool again - I can indulge in some more cable love and maybe finally finish my hoodie!



I worked on it all weekend - and I'm proud to say - the body is seamed. the hood is 90% done and I think I may have to add another inch or two to the sleeves before I can attach them! I can't wait to show this baby off!

Oh yeah - my boys wanted to say hi too....

Bailey needs a haircut something awful! You can't even see his eyes right now!



And Hurley, as always, just looks cute and wants to play....

Weekend update

This weekend was so great! The weather was beautiful! On Saturday - Coleen and I hit the Sugarloaf Craft Festival at the MD fairgrounds. We didn't buy too much (gotta save for Sheep and Wool!) but I did buy a cool purse/backpack for me and one for my mom.

I also planted a new garden near my patio. I bought a dogwood tree on Friday and some other plants and finally put them in a new garden bed. I don't know about my other MD neighbors - but my yard is nothing but rocks and clay. It is virtually impossible to dig in my dirt! I had to use a pick ax to get a hole even close to big enough for my tree. I imagine I was quite the site - covered in mud and swinging a pick ax like a lumberjack! Hehe!


But - it's all worth it in the end.





I still have to add a few more plants and mulch over everything. I am also going to add a stone border around it all. I'm pleased with the progress so far.

Here are some of my new babies:

Bachelor's Buttons


Drumsticks


My new dogwood tree:



The rest of my yard is in bloom too!
I love the color of these tulips...





My magnolia tree is still blooming.



I love these purple/blue flowers on my Trevi Fountain This picture kind of reminds me of the water falling in the actual Trevi Fountain in Rome...



There was also some knitting accomplished this weekend. I am onto the sleeves of my Central Park Hoodie. Slow and steady - I can't wait for this project to be finished! I'm getting very excited!

My knittin love is fickle...

I have been way too unfocused lately to finishe anything - but that doesn't mean I haven't had time to start anything new - no-siree-bob.

I have been a kniting fool lately - with all kinds of things on the needles at once. And I am working on all of them I swear! But I can't seem to focus on any one thing lately!

Here's what I should be working on:



My Central Park Hoodie is slowly coming together. The back, the left front panel and half of the right front panel are done. But I seem to have stalled out.... I need to get going before it gets too warm to wear it!

In the last month or so - I have also been working on a top down raglan sweater (in blues for Project Spectrum) some Anemoi mittens (also in Blue!) two different pairs of socks, the Tuscany Shawl:

(which I am going to rip - because I don't like the way it's coming out...)

and way too many sewing projects!
I made these up last weekend...





Not to mention that I keep seeing new things I want to make - practically daily. I just bought Simply Knitting magazine:



It came with a prize too - a magnetic needle case with needles and pins included. I love british mags for including these little things - it's like the toy suprise in cereal - except for grown ups!! But anyway - inside it has patterns for the cutest little barn yard animals!



I need to make them! I showed it to my gals at knit nite and Coleen needed to make them too - go look at her cute cow!



Isn't it adorable!

Silly

Get a bunch of knitting gals in a room together and there is bound to be silliness. Laughing, joking, sarcasm, and down right silliness. Here is an example of said silliness:





The reason this is such a bad blurry picture is because I was laughing way too hard to hold the camera still!

Last night I got together with Sarah, Jen, Coleen, Jolene and Erin for bit of knitting. We ate, we knitted, we shared stories and had a grand time!


In all seriousness - I am very lucky to have gotten to know such a great group of women. Thanks ladies!

Sarah made stitch markers for everyone too - aren't they cute?




I love the packaging - and the sheep stamp is just perfect.

While I was there last night - I worked more on my Central Park Hoodie. Over the weekend - I managed to finish the back, and now I'm not working on one of the front panels. I realized that I had somehow managed to put an extra row in every cable repeat in the back panel. I realized this because when I went to do the first cable on the front panel - it didn't look quite right. Why? When I pulled out the back to look at it and compare - I found that it didn't match! I went back and counted the rows in the cable chart and wouldn't you know it - I added a row (two actually - a knit and a purl row) to each repeat.

Well - I guess if I'm going to do the pattern wrong - I better be consistent! Because there is NO WAY I'm ripping out the entire back. I actually think I like it better the way I did it!





I also did some more spinning over the weekend. I worked on some of the silk roving Amie gave me. I am very proud of this yarn so far - it is much thinner and more consistent than my last batch.

I can't wait to spin some more! Even my hubby was interested in the spinning. (Which is more than I can say for his interest in my knitting!

Yarn, jewelry and more!

I am sending out the prize package today for Knitty Mama. I hope she likes it :)

Here are all the goodies she will be receiveing for winning my Got Labels? contest:


My hand dyed "Dreamsicle" yarn, hand made stitch markers to match, a little purse to keep the stitch markers in (made by me), two funny farm animal erasers....



and some earrings to match - to wear with whatever you end up using the yarn for. Yes I made these too.

I had a crafty day yesterday - full of jewelry-making and sewing! Fun! I love making earrings - I tend to give most of them away to friends as gifts and usually make up a huge batch in one sitting. I think I made about 15 pairs of earrings and 5 sets of stitch markers yesterday. Jolene - I made some for your fund raiser too!

In knitting news - I have started the shoulder decreases in my Central Park Hoodie yesterday! I love this yarn soooo much! Did I already mention that like 50 times already! But really - I do. I got to knit on it a little bit today over my lunch break - a rare occurrence indeed!


Some other knitty gals and I went out for a fiber lunch. My co-worker - Giants Knitter and I met up with several knitters who work near us - Sheila, Kathy, Kathleen and their friend Theresa (?) - (I'm bad with names - sorry if this is wrong!!!) She is a crocheter - but we let her hang out with us anyway. They are all bloggless too - the shame!

Anyway - this makes my third visit to the new yarn shop in Hyattsville - the Tangeled Skein. I didn't buy a thing this time - but instead sat on one of their comfy couches and knit on my CPH. I have the store memorized at this point and gave directions from my perch. You want cotton yarn? - it's over there. Bamboo? - around the corner. Everyone was suitably impressed :)
I actually remembered my camera this time too - will wonders never cease!

This was my view from the couch:





We had a great time at Franklins too - Gotta love those onion rings!

And the winner is....

Congrats goes out to Knitty Mama!


She won a skein sock yarn hand dyed by me! She was chosen with my highly scientific process of me numbering everyone who added a comment and then asking Giants Knitter to pick a number between 1 and 15 :) She picked 12 and there we have it.


There will also be some other goodies in the package - but here's a look at the yarn.









I am calling this colorway "Dreamsicle" because it reminds me of those frosty treats I used to eat as a kid. (which I think were actually named Creamsicles - but we always called them Dreamsicles)


Man I could go for one now actually - it's always sweltering in my office!

In other news - I have been busily working on my Central Park Hoodie. I am more than halfway done with the back right now. Here are some pictures I took over the weekend - but I think I've done about 4 more repeats since these were taken.



I just love this yarn - it's working up very quickly and I am definitley not bored with it. The cables and the subtle variations in the yarn keep it interesting and fun.




I hope everyone has a great week - it's finally starting to warm up around here - so hopefully some of our ice will melt soon! I did wake up to the most beautiful sunrise this morning - I thought I'd share....