August roundup

A pentagon sweater, a garterlac blanket, and a pair of stretchy socks.  That's what August was all about.

What I'm working on

I've been continuing on my quest to reduce my stash. At least a little. I've switched over to sock yarns and have started the Scrappy Socky Stripey Cardi but in pullover form.

So far it's been going well (although a sweater using sock yarn does not get knitted quickly.) I think I'm going to run out of purple before the sleeves get finished (or started), so I'll have to figure out what to do.

Then, I've purchased 2 skeins of Berroco Vintage to make DD#2 a shrug to go with a shirt that she wants to wear to school that starts next week (Arrgh!). It's way more of a teal green, rather than blue, than the picture shows. It's this pattern called Ribbed Lace Bolero.

I figure it's maybe halfway done unless it's too big or too small and I have to rip it out and try again. I told DD that I wanted to get it done quickly so if I did have to rip it out that I would do that before I lost my momentum and didn't want to knit it anymore. I'm almost to that point, so I'll have to hurry up.

Garterlac

About a week ago I finished baby blanket #5 for the baby house in Kaz.

I used the garterlac dishcloth pattern using 2 strands ww wool, size 10.5 needles (I think), and 56 sts. Once blocked, it measures 23x35" which is a bit too large, but I think it'll be close enough. I don't know what happened to the rectangles that now look like odd shaped 4-sided figures, but hopefully they'll stretch back into a rectangle-looking figure once it's used.

In other news, I had all 4 kids in the same place at the same time, all crowded into DS#2's room to play video games. Here's the proof:

Summer projects finished before the summer ended

Did some finishing around here this week.

First was the pair of purple stretch socks for me. I have made 2 other pairs almost exactly the same, and they have each taken a bit of a second skein. For some reason, this pair took less than a full skein of yarn. I don't think I knit any tighter and they aren't any shorter, so maybe the skein just had a bit more yarn. I don't know, but it was nice to have them turn out that way.

Plain vanilla sock pattern, using 64 sts, 4 rows of 1x1 ribbing, 6 rows of st st before starting the heel,  size 2 dpns and 1 skein of Paton Stretch Sock yarn that was 49 cents!

Then, I have finally finished the swirled pentagon sweater. It was actually finished last weekend, but then I washed it and it took DAYS AND DAYS to dry. My plan is to never spill anything on it (or sweat in it) to minimize the numbers of washings it has to go through.

I've been working on it (when it wasn't in timeout) for so long that I'm not even sure I like it anymore. It's definitely better than when it started out and seems to fit okay. Hopefully once I wear it a time or two I'll feel better about it.

Swirled Pentagon Pullover by Norah Gaughan

5 skeins Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted in Wave Heather. (I thought I was cutting it close, but ended up having a whole skein left over!)
Size 8 needles for the body.

Changes and notes: Made short sleeves and left off the turtleneck.
Made a size smaller than what I thought would be right and did the body in the round rather than seaming the front and back together. (Turns out that I knit tighter than I purl and it shows on the finished product. The things one learns after knitting for upteen years!) Used size 6 needles for the pentagons rather than 9s. Left off the last pent. decrease to get rid of the pentagon "point" that was sticking out. The bodice was knit onto the body rather than sewn on when completed. The sleeves were made last and sewn on at the end. I almost made it sleeveless but then it had a triangle shape, and that's bad for me. :)

So, there they are. Two finished projects that can still be worn during the same summer that I orginally intended them to be worn! (If only I could say that about my other UFOs!)

What I'm working on...

Some summertime socks for me. It's still summer, so I'm still on time.  I only have 1 skein of purple, so the toes will need to be a different color. That's why I'm knitting both at the same time.

Another baby blanket, because there can never be enough. I was almost challenged to see who can make the most (not really), but it almost sounded like that, and since I'm not over the blanket kick yet it didn't take much until I had this one cast on and ready to go.

I'm making it like the garterlac dishcloth by Criminy Jickets. I cast on 56 sts and it's seeming to be the right width.

Finally, my pentagon sweater. Since you've last seen this sweater it has been completely reknitted. I had finished it enough to be able to try it on, and it was too big all over. So, there was no need to just re-do the pentagons when I needed to do the whole thing.

This time I used a smaller size needles on the pentagon--6s, maybe? And they turned out much better. One sleeve is sewn on and the other is ready for the seaming. Not much left on this one and then it should be done.