Puddles and seams, and a sweater or two.

I bet you're thinking, "Oh, look! She didn't lose her camera, or have her computer stolen, or forget how to type after all!" ("And she's still taking her grammar course as evidenced by the proper use of punctuation inside quotes in the last sentence. But her continual use of conjunctions at the beginning of sentences still needs work.")

We have that whole "let's celebrate Christmas in September" thing going on at work, plus the kids are using the computer more and more at home (and when it's to do homework, I feel guilty about kicking them off.). Also, my "falling asleep on the couch" is hampering my knitting.

Anyway, those are my excuses of the week for not blogging. Take them or leave them. (Please, take them. Then I can get some new ones instead of using the same ones over and over.)

Today, I took the teal guernsey sweater to DD#2's field hockey practice. All of a sudden, everyone went outside while I was left indoors, sewing.

"One more seam and I'll be there," I called.

In the meantime, I was left alone with the eerie silence and a not-so-pleasant sweaty smell of many athletes after a hard workout. (I'll blame that, not on the girls, but on some previous mens' practice. Soccer. Soccer can take the blame.)



The seam was sewn, and I joined the team outdoors.



See those clouds? They became a 15 minute crazy rainstorm that rained cats and dogs and got DS#2 grounded for the night. (HELLO! YOU'RE ELEVEN AND YOU'RE JUMPING IN PUDDLES WITH YOUR ONLY GOOD PAIR OF SNEAKERS!!!!!!! Way to instantly make your mom crazy, son.)

Moving on...

The guernsey is done. I did a sewn bindoff. That's the first time I've done one for the neckline, and only the second time ever.

Can I just say.... What took me so long? It's great! And stretchy! And easy! And looks better than a regular bindoff!



Sewing all those seams provided a reminder of why I like to knit in the round. TO AVOID SEWING ALL THOSE SEAMS!



Specs: Guernsey Guys from "the Best of Knitter's Arans and Celtics", size toddler 4.
Used size 6 and 7 circs using Too Teal Paton's Classic Merino Wool, 5 balls.

Fun knit, but next time I'll do it in the round. Also, it looks much larger than a size 4.

With the wonder of blogging, I can pretend that I totally finished the guernsey sweater before beginning the below sweater, but it's just not true.

After sewing the neckline, but before sewing all those seams, I actually made a whole sweater for me. It's Shimmer from Knitty, which is really a shrug and not a sweater, so it's a much faster knit. (Why is it that I never bookmark my patterns and only discover that when I go to link them?)

I wanted a shrug for work, so it had to be black to go over a black shirt. (Is that boring, or what?)

I wanted 3/4 length sleeves to not get quite so hot quite so fast (plus, less knitting was involved.) The sleeves have a slight flare on the cuff. Not too ruffly, but enough.



The back has a pretty lace stitch to add interest.



The result is a cute little shrug that will be perfect for work (I hope).



I'll try to get pictures of Shimmer on me sometime soon, but for now, here's the specs:

Shimmer from Knitty, size large.
Used 3 balls of Red Heart soft (I know, it's acrylic, but it needs to be washed often to get rid of all the Christmas glitter from work.), size 7 and 8 circs.
Changes: To make the sleeves 3/4 length, I cast on using the XL measurements and increased until I got to the L number of stitches.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. You've found out that jumping in puddles makes me crazy, sewing seams needs to be avoided at all costs, but sewing a neck bindoff is definitely worth while. Now I must go to sleep on the couch.