FO #2 & #3

Well, this weekend has been much needed. I've had a chance to finish up a couple of things that have been languishing through xmas break, since they were too far done to take to Florida.

The first one is one I started right after I finished Spanky's sweater.



Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly Maher (rav link).

I originally wanted to make the little silk shrug from Lace Style, but I didn't have enough yarn, and I really wanted to just use the two skeins I had to knit myself a little shrug to wear over my strapless black dress for our civil union. I think the lace will look nice with my dress, which is simple.



Right now, it is too cold to model with the dress. We didn't even end up going outside for the photo shoot. The pattern is really well written, very easy to make, and is really fun to knit.



Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton. Love this yarn! It is so soft, and two skeins made the whole thing. i even knit the collar ribbing a bit longer, just because I had a bit of yarn left over and didn't want it to linger as a tiny ball in my stash.

Needles: I think I used size 9 needles, as per the yarn, but I can't remember now. The whole thing was finished and just needed to be seamed up, but I wasn't able to get that done before the holidays and work panic set in.

I love it, and can't wait to wear it later this year!



Next up, a sweater I finally finished for Stella:



Oh, just LOOK AT THAT FACE. She was miserable and freezing. She doesn't like peeing on the icy grass.

Pattern: Everyday Turtleneck from Knitting with Dogs by Kristi Porter

This is the second pattern I've knit from this book (although first garment), and I have to say, it was very easy to follow, although the armhole directions were a bit confusing. I had to rip out and re-knit them once, because in the book she says the hole should be two inches wide for the size I was knitting, and for an armhole, that's just absurd, so I made them a bit smaller, which made the steeks easier to cut, because with one snip, they were done. I did find that they started unraveling though. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen! I caught it, but sheesh, did I have a moment of panic.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon

This was the yarn suggested for the pattern, as the whole point of the steeks was to have the stripes go all the way around without having to stop them at the armhole. I bought these two skeins on sale when ordering some other yarn from Webs without having anything in mind for them, but they worked out beautifully, don't you think?

Needles: Size 8. I actually used the free 5mm needles I got with an issue of Simply Knitting magazine that I bought during my last trip to London. They're really cute--blue and white swirly plastic. I never thought I would use them, but they worked well for this project--smooth enough to work with the nubby Kureyon.



Gorgeous.