Thursday, April 24, 2008

Guess who? Great gloves!










A couple of almost finished gloves - thanks to a great workshop by Holli Yeoh in Vancouver on April 12. The workshop was relaxing and interesting and a good time was had by all - but most important, it showed me how to use up some of these little odds and ends of yarn that I have left over! These gloves are too small for me, but will be happy with a friend's daughter. I was intrigued by the way the yarn patterned in the ring finger - look - on one hand, the tan spirals up the finger - but on the other - it falls into vertical stripes! Must have messed with my tension as I worked. I have never seen vertical stripes like this before...

This is the little Debbie Bliss classic baby sweater appeared in Vogue Knitting a couple of seasons ago. I love the Sirdar Baby Bamboo - how soft it is and how easy to work with. I hope to have this completed within a day or two.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Good news, bad news.


OK, both parts of this little project are complete, the yellow lemon stain is out of the body of the sweater and the whole thing looks very sweet. What could go wrong? Well, I didn't follow the advice of several very intelligent friends - I left the buttons on the sweater while I was soaking it in Amaze to clear off the yellow tinge. Of course, the lovely pink highlighter colour washed completely off the pink buttons, and I am left with white. I am debating whether to take the buttons off, recolour them, and then spray them with a plastic coating, or to leave them on the sweater in white. They don't look bad as white, but I just like the way the pink buttons looked on it.

I struggled with the bonnet. The pattern had a square-type back to the crown - you knit like a upside down T shape, then seam the two edges to the sides of the bonnet. That's fine, but when I put the four rows of garter stitch around the bottom, the neck edge looked too big to me. I decided to try the crown as many of the old style patterns are written - with a series of decreases across the back of the head to end with a few stitches that are drawn together. I am very happy with the result, and I love the brainstorm I had to place a ribbon rose on top of the ribbon I used for the bonnet ties. It covers up the stitching and looks very nice as an accent. I love finished objects! It gives such a sense of accomplishment.