Fun In The Sun

Everybody Into The Pool!

No, seriously... look at the pooling colors on the foot. The striping action of the cuff started to repeat itself after the heel and then got stuck in some interminable broken record pooling action. I was going to finish this sock "real quick" when I got home from work tonight, then take a picture of it finished, but it's being stubborn and refuses to get longer, despite the whole four rows I knitted before I got impatient.

(Anybody notice that I switched back to double points from the magic loop? Magic loop is nice, but DPNS are so much faster!)


Hoodie Madness

While I'm flattered by the fighting in the comments over who the recipient of this hoodie should be, I might mention that this finished hoodie will fit a child roughly the size of a small elephant. It's going to have about a 26" chest, and that's for the smallest size of the pattern I'm using. The pattern is from Knitting Pure & Simple and is the Children's Tunic. This is my first time working a top-down sweater in the round, and despite my newfound love for seaming, I'm pretty darn excited about this construction.

Witness: loverly raglan increases.

I'm also pretty darn excited about this yarn. Being the traditional-type knitter that I am, I'm usually not drawn to novelty yarns. And while Patons Fresco is on the conservative side of novelty, it's still pretty non-traditional. Props to Wendy who convinced me to snag it on our field trip.

I started this hoodie on Friday night, and after working with the yarn and pattern for a while, I decided to research the yarn on the internet and see if it was still available anywhere. It seems to be discontinued (although available in limited places in limited quantities), but I did learn something pretty interesting. Yarndex lists this yarn with an MSRP of $3.99. I bought it from the sale room in Indianapolis for $4.00 a ball. Some sale, eh?

Never you mind, though. I made up for it this morning on eBay... 10 balls for 10 bucks. Anyone out there looking for a pink hoodie?


Avert Your Eyes!

I blame this totally and completely on Kimmie. Shame, Kimmie! Shame!

A while ago, someone gave me a couple of patterns they'd found in a Woman's Day magazine (dated 9/16/03 if you really must know). One of the patterns is an awesome shoulder bag made from pieces of leather with holes punched into them and crocheted into. Yes. Crocheted. I've had this pattern for at least a couple of years now, and I've slowly gathered the materials to make it. Most recently I acquired a cheap leather punch, and drove my neighbors crazy on Sunday hammering some holes into my leather. Observe:

Cool, huh? Once I figured out how to get started, this wasn't any big deal. I'm obviously not very far, but I'm trying to decide if I want to stick with the chocolate brown Hemp For Knitting, or if I want to switch to some plain off-white crochet cotton. The hemp is pretty, and very sturdy, but not very smooth. I'd ask for your thoughts, but maybe I'll finish punching the holes in another piece, and start with the cotton on that one, and then ask you to compare. Deal?

P.S. Kimmie... can I have the pattern for your ripple afghan? The new colors of Cotton Ease are calling me...