On and Off the Needles

Busy bee, that's me. FINALLY, I finished the never ending Wabi Sabi Sweater, aka Central Park Hoodie. Woot! Woot! Didn't think it would happen, didja? Me either, to be honest. But it is finis, off the needles.

Don't remember it? That's because I started it in July '06! Seriously, this sweater took me 3 months to knit, and a year and a half to assemble. Sheesh, Velma.

That's me working on it in the Siskiyou Wilderness, on my annual backpacking trip. Hardly recognize myself, seeing me with my long blonde tresses.

But it's all done, and I'm proud to show it off.

Ta DA! Behold, the FINISHED Central Park Hoodie, which I call my 'Wabi Sabi Sweater' because I read the cable chart wrong, and all the cables are oriented upside down!!

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie from Knitscene
Yarn: Donegal Tweed from eBay seller ceol-deas
Needles: #7US Addi Turbos
Started: July 2006
Completed: January 17, 2008

I did a one minor pattern mod (in addition to the 'Oops' cabling issue mentioned above). This was my first experience with buttons, and after picking up the freakin' 316 button-band stitches (!), I did one-row buttonholes, which turned out beautifully, much less gappy than the 2-row ones called for.

I hate seaming, but I must say, the little alligator hairclip thingies I found at the dollar store worked GREAT for holding seams together! Just like those commercial Knit Klips, but waaaay more cost-effective. Get yourself some!

What else, what else... I started a new pair of socks! Using the knit-from-side-to-side pattern Sidewinders and some Opal yarn from my stash (yay, Stash Knitdown!) Doesn't the swatch look cute with my Rocketdog mary-janes? Love me some cute shoes. BUT. These socks really aren't progressing the way I'd hoped. My initial thought on seeing this pattern was, "How hard could it be? It's just stockinette!" Wrong-O. The pattern is 18 pages. Seriously. AND, I FUBARed it already. The second photo is of the first couple of inches, which I need to rip back because I failed to pay attention to the "and AT THE SAME TIME" part of the pattern, and worked it wrong. Doh! So, back to the proverbial drawing board. I'm thinking I might make the 2nd sock straight stockinette knit in-the-round, so that a) it is easier, and b) one sock stripes vertically and one horizontally. We'll see.


On a more successful note, I did a quickie knit on Wednesday at Purl 'n Hurl. Another FO! I was so in love with my handspun, WoolyBear in 'Bahama Mama', and the merino locks are soooo soft and scrumptious, that I just *had* to make myself something yummy to wear against the skin. So I did this little necky thing.


Pattern: none, just a wee garter stitch neck wrap
Yarn: COLORBOMB Creations WoolyBear™ in 'Bahama Mama'
Needles: US#17/12mm Addi Turbos
Started: January 30, 2008
Completed: January 30, 2008

(Still need to sew the button on, so I guess, technically , it's not 100% complete yet. Soon.)

Tags: COLORBOMB Creations, FOs, WIPs, handspun, knitting