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This is the little cropped sweater I made out of the Malabrigo I could only get two skeins of. I'll probably replace the ribbon with a button later. Also, I considered trying to take more pictures but then I got really entertained by how startled I look in this picture. "Holy crap, are you TAKING A PICTURE??!"
So with finally finishing that cursed sweater, I've suddenly been able to actually get through projects again. I made a cropped sweater out of two skeins of the Malabrigo I picked up last weekend, and cast on for the Lelah top I've been wanting to make since, um, October. For that I'm using Rowan Summer Tweed, and I like the way the fabric is turning out although I worry about it being too hole-y (even though I went down a needle size!). Then there are the toys - I think I want to do a dinosaur and some cavemen first, because, um, they are the coolest ever, and my boss is having a baby at the end of May that I have a couple of items planned for.
And! I bought a subscription to Interweave Knits today, because I felt like it and with my recent "windfall" (read: sweet, sweet tax refund) I've been treating myself to a few things I've kind of wanted for a while but not enough to spend 20 bucks on. I also, you know, set up an automatic savings plan, and other responsible home-owner sort of things, but let's just say I bought a few books and a little yarn and a few magazine subscriptions, and I splurged a tiny bit on the hair for my wedding even though most people would not really consider $35/visit to be splurging, but, hey, I go to SuperCuts, okay? Also, when I agreed I thought it was going to be $65 so let's pretend like I'm really going crazy off my rocker.
Our second minor catastrophe: the I Do shrug. The lace blocked out so it looks like the picture. It's gorgeous, it's cozy, it's warm, it matches my dress, and I love it. So what's the problem?
Yeah. I measured myself and compared to the pattern, I needed to make the medium. It's become clear to me now that I needed the small (and in fact I made the small width back because that was when I realized), but even if I had made the small, the arms are like two full pattern repeats too long. Since it's knit from the cuff up, this is a more difficult repair, and I guess the solution is to cut off the cuffs right below row 2, then knit round 1 and bind off? I don't know, but I'm scared I will ruin the shrug and the yarn trying, wasting all of my time. But I guess it is so ridiculously long that it's not like I can wear it around anyway.
And now that I have my camera again, here come the latest FO pictures (kind of). I say kind of because neither is really finished, but would, in an ideal world, be finished.
First and finally, Leo:
This sweater is not half as bad as I thought it was going to be when I tried it on him with only one side seamed up. In fact, the fit is pretty close to perfect except that the sleeves are a little puffy, like he is Little Lord Faulkner or something in certain positions. This might be corrected with some strategic blocking, but I haven't decided yet, because if you look you can see that part of the cause is that the inset sleeves are simply not inset enough - particularly interesting because I actually inset the sleeves about twice as much as the pattern called for. So I'm trying to decide if I should try blocking it out first before resorting to ripping back the shoulders and making them more narrow, or if I should just make them more narrow since that is what I "should" do since that would be the "correct" way to fix it. Regardless, Dan is a big fan of the sweater and has been wearing it around a lot at home - making him officially delightful to knit for because he loves my handmade garments even when they're not exactly perfect.
Let me say again that my Secret Pal is the coolest SP in the history of SPs, and I feel bad for not posting this Saturday night when I got the package but I had left my camera at work! And what is an SP package post without pictures?! Of course, I could not wait until today to open it, so you won't be able to admire the fantastic wrapping, but this time she took it to the next level and put little numbers on each package! I don't know why but having a little "map" of what order to open in made it even more fun.
What was in the package?
A whole bunch of *amazing* knitted toy patterns, including a monkey and dinosaurs and cavemen and so much more! Plus, an unholy amount of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in assorted colors and needles to start some of the projects. SP, how did you know I needed more yarn? ;) And I am totally with you on the modification of the patterns - most of the time when I see a knitted bear or bunny, I immediately start thinking of how I could turn it into a super cute monkey, and I see you included several shades of brown for just such an occasion! Thank you so much; everything is so thoughtful and exactly something I would love to do - in fact, I'm finishing up a cropped sweater tonight and then I plan to cast on for one of the toys. The only question is, how do I pick one?
In other news, I got an e-mail on Tuesday that one of my LYS got a new shipment of Malabrigo in, so on Saturday I dragged Mr. Dan over there and, um, bought some more. Because I didn't have enough. Because I have any ideas about what to do with it (besides pet it, love it, cuddle it, build a nest out of it...). Soon I'll be able to start my own little Malabrigo shop if I wanted.
The I Do shrug is also going well, as I have been slowly working on that in between finishing Leo. I've got three repeats of the flat pattern left, then I just have to graft the two sides together and see how it goes. I promised myself I'd finish this and Leo before I could dive into the new Malabrigo, so that's extra incentive.
I sent my first package to my SP a couple of weeks ago now, and I am pretty sure she got it but she never mentioned anything in her blog or in response to my e-mail that it was on the way. Be nice to know if I was heading in the right direction or not, especially seeing as how I don't have a terrible lot of information about her. On the other hand, I have received several fabulous e-cards from my own SP over the last few weeks. ;-) They make me wish this wasn't "secret" because SP, you seem awesome! I am excited to find out your secret identity eventually...
Last week was our third anniversary, and probably the last time February 8th will be our "anniversary," so I decided to put down the I Do shrug and pick Leo back up in a vain attempt to try to finish it before the day. Today I finally cast off on the second sleeve, and, ever ambitious, began the arduous task of seaming up this enormous sweater.
And it is all wrong! All wrong! It doesn't fit right, despite numerous "fittings" every few inches for body and sleeve. The arms are cut too high so they're all the way up in his armpit, and the shoulder caps ended up so much bigger than the underarm holes (even though on both I was following the pattern exactly and had gotten gauge) that there are little POUFS in them. He's a MAN! Plus, I think it is a little too tight around too, which again makes no sense - the total width of both sweater pieces combined is four inches larger than the largest point of his stomach, and still when you actually put it on him, it is just not really fitting.
Man, so much knitting on tiny tiny needles, and it is all screwy. My own sweaters always end up just a little shorter than I wanted, but otherwise they fit just fine - how did this happen?
I'm torn between just giving up and actually finishing up this disaster of a sweater that the fiance, in all of his delightfulness, swears he will wear "all the time around the house no matter what" and will "put it on as soon as [he] gets home and as soon as [he] wakes up in the morning." Yeah, that would be ridiculous, but you have to admit he's obviously a keeper...