A Sweater for Miss Katie's baby

Ready to go, except looking at these pictures I am thinking I might put a white border around the earflaps, too. The ladies at the new Village Yarn Shop persuaded me to get the multi-colored buttons instead of the dark blue ones I was originally going for. I'm not quite sure they work as well with the color of the sweater, but they're pretty cute.

Pattern: Garter Stitch Cardigan from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, color: sage. About 2 skeins (I used three, so I'm not sure if I could have done it in 2 or not.)
Needles: KnitPicks Options 7 and dpn 5 and 7s for the arms.
Modifications: This yarn was bulkier than the pattern called for so I knit the 3-month size to get the 9-month sweater.

The hat is loosely based on the L'il Devil hat from kittyville. I cast on 60 stitches I don't love the way the stripes and the garter stitch came out.

This sweater took forever to dry, because I was following the directions on the new skein of Organic Cotton I had that said hand wash or dry clean. I just noticed that the old skeins say you can machine wash (on warm!) and tumble dry until damp ... that would have made life a lot easier. I'm giving those directions to Miss Katie!

Aaaargh!

Anniversary Socks from Favorite socks, for my Mom. A somewhat fussy pattern that I've already had to rip back to the ribbing once because I'd lost a stitch somewhere. Slightly splitty yarn (Brown Sheep Wildfoote).

But once I'd ripped back, it was smooth sailing back to the end of the first 12-row repeat. Pause to admire my work. Of course it was then that I noticed the cables were all bunched together on the leg pattern (hard to see in this bad picture, but the cables at the top by the needles are much closer together than those in the ribbing, at the bottom of the picture) – and only then that I thought to check the errata. And there is one, of course: there are two extra cables that aren't supposed to be there. Grrrr.

I could leave them, but I'd have to add even more cables into the pattern if I wanted it to match, and the cables are (for me) the fussiest part, especially with this yarn and these needles. (Susan Bates – are KnitPicks sock needles pointier?) Or I guess I could switch to the correct pattern now and just leave this as a memento. I don't know.

At least if I rip it out I'll get a chance to try it on. But I'm also wondering if I should switch to a nicer yarn for my mother. Sigh.

Anyone have any thoughts on Regia Silk vs. Lorna's Laces? Or this ...

Almost Finished Object, and Some Yarn ...

Baby sweater, almost done. Kathy was right (but of course!), it looks very sharp with the white border. Auden and I went button hunting yesterday and I couldn't find anything perfect ... the blue buttons they had were too shiny, or something. We ended up with this (her choice):
but I am not committed. I am also wondering if the buttonholes, what with the yarn being cotton and bulky-ish and SO soft, are going to stretch like crazy. Should I sew around them, somehow? Or should I get little toggle buttons, which might stay put even if they do stretch? I had also thought of sewing the buttons OVER the buttonholes and using snaps ... I'm not sure.

On a separate note, any non-yarn-buying resolve I may have had was completely wiped away by knit2purl2.com's Going Out of Business sale (pretty much over now; aren't you glad I spared you the temptation?) Lorna's Laces and Malabrigo at 50 percent off ... I am far too weak to resist that. From top left to bottom right: two skeins of Malabrigo in Emerald Blue for a so-called scarf (I'd never used Malabrigo before! and it was on my list! And I have a purpose for it! How much responsible can you get?), two skeins each of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Fresh Stripe, Periwinkle and Denim, and one skein of Malabrigo in Paris Nights.
That last single skein of Malabrigo is the only thing I'm not sure what I'll do with. Originally I had ordered two of Paris Nights, but there were only two left from different dye lots, so I switched to the Emerald Blue (which I think I may like better anyway: the Paris Nights is VERY dark, though perhaps not as dark as it looks in the picture, where you can't even see it!) But I couldn't resist getting one skein of the Paris Nights anyway ... I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to do with it.

And there may, just may *cough* be another shipment from knit2purl2 on its way ...

Greener Grass

Now that I know it's out of print, this is the pattern book I absolutely must have:

Jo Sharp Hand Knitting Collection: Number Two

I love the Bridget Cardigan, despite its resemblance to the sweater I just made. I like it better!

It doesn't seem to be available anywhere, so if anyone ever runs across a copy (or has one to spare) I would love it if you could buy it for me. (I'll reimburse you, obviously!)

I just checked to see if coveting knitting books you can't have was one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Apparently not, but I'm sure there's something sinful about it just the same.

Ravelry

So I got my Ravelry invite yesterday (think of all the time I will save not obsessively checking the waitlist anymore!)

I have to say, my first reaction is that Ravelry meets all the needs I got a blog for in the first place -- a place to keep track of my projects, stash, project ideas etc. -- and much better than I can do.

But I've become attached to my blog and my many several loyal readers ... I still wish it were more conversational (LiveJournal-ish, but I can't see making a switch now. (Does anyone know if any of the other blog sites offer a feature where you can answer posts right at the blog and the responses get emailed to the posters?)

I also sometimes wish I used this blog/had another blog to work out things I'm thinking about other subjects -- city schools and public education, my parents getting old, books I'm (not) reading. Some people weave that in seamlessly with their knitting, but I'm always so tired and rushed by the time I'm posting that it's all I can do to get out my knitting updates.

Anyway, I'm Hilary at Ravelry ... I haven't figured out how interacting with other people works yet. But I am sure that I will be able to use up all my stash now that I can see how everyone else is using their yarn. Ha ha ha ha.

Here is a horrible picture of my baby sweater in progress. (Progress has stalled somewhat since getting home from vacation, what with the piles of un-put-away JUNK staring accusingly at me. Not to mention our 12-week free trial of the daily New York Times hanging over my head each day!) The picture of course does not capture the best part of the sweater, which is the incredible softness of the Blue Sky Organic Cotton. I am wondering, though, after seeing pretty blue buttons in Virgina Beach, and Kathy's beautiful blue and green baby sweater, if the border should be blue, not white. Could I dye the white Organic Cotton? with Kool-Ade? I have some time to think about it, so flood me with your opinions! :)