Brea from Berroco

Here it is... Its a little on the wide side, but seems to be okay when I used it yesterday. I was afraid everything in my purse will fall out (I didn't add a zipper to the liner). The purse is only held by the button you see in the picture.

A lot of FO...

First off, the EZ yokeless sweater from Knitting Workshop. I love this sweater.... The yarn is Patons classic wool on size 6 circs. I'm totally in love with Zimmerman's patterns. I knitted the body and sleeves on the USM (plate 3) and then switched to hand knitting. I finished the sweater in 1 week!! Also in picture is knitty's calorimetry. My second one. This one is silk garden (forgot which colorway), but you can't really see it anyways.

On to EZ's heart hat. Same yarn + cascade 220 I have in stash. Size 6 needles (can go to size 7 next time around). I just followed the pattern, but you can adjust the pattern CO multiples of 10 + 1. Here's a picture on a wiggly girl:
Next time I think I'll add some short rows in the front. Totally fun knit.

I also feel in love with Mason Dixon' s dishcloths. I'm on my third one, sugar and cream:
Oh, and a recent thrift find - Mikasa cup. I didn't quite understand the craze over the dishcloths but I love them. I plan on making a lot of them. I just have to smile when I see the
vibrant colors.

I'm also finishing up Berroco's Brea. The bag is all lined, handle attached. Just need to add a button and the button closure.

Wow, a lot done here. I'm eyeing knitpicks' phoebe sweater.

Progress...

I finally got back to the swing of things (in terms of knitting). First off, an almost finished object:

Its Berroco's brea. A really quick knit. I'm using Jo Sharp wool I have in my stash from oh, 2 years ago. I'm almost done with the gusset. But still looking for a leather handle for the bag. The place listed on the pattern doesn't seem to sell the handles anymore.

Then some major frogging, good bye Paton's must-have cardigan (I don't really really need it...). Who am I kidding? With 2 young kids and homeschooling this year...


You get the picture. I'm realling digging Zimmermann's Knitting workshop. I'm doing the first yoke sweater. Using the USM to do the bulk of the knitting and then seaming it to create the round (sounds kind of backwards but it works). I also handknitted the moss stitch band. I did the front and back and 1 sleeve in about 2 days (3-4 hours). 1 more sleeve tonight and then I'll start knitting the top and adding a pattern to it. More pictures on that soon.

Another finished project but no pix yet, the kitty pi. Its all done, and felted. I washed it twice but it was still too floppy. Just ran it through the washer with the diapers and its good to go.

Knitty's Brioche Malagaiter - kind of

Here it is. I whipped this up with some Kureyon I have in my stash and size 2 plates on the USM. I think this works better for me as a neck-warmer though. This is just plan stockinette
not ribbing like the pattern has suggested. I like the colors of this... and on the look out for more silk garden.

Magknits is up

Somehow I'm usually drawn to the patterns on magknits, but this month I found two patterns that I like. K-chan and Brioche Malagaiter. I have yarn for both of these as well. I'll use my USM to do the brioche in flat stockinette and add the little tie on top to see how it turns out. K-chan will have to wait till after the holidays. Still trying to figure out here what I'm going to make for the girls. I'm thinking about cotton flannel nightgowns for them (somehow you cannot find cotton flannel nightgowns anywhere. They use something called poly flannel and of course fire retardant. Yuck!)

Here's the little hat I whipped up for dd#1. I think I'll make one for myself today and maybe one for dd#1. Quick and easy. One thing about the USM is that it needs to sit on top of a flat table without an apron. Its about 40" long so if you're thinking about getting one figure out a place for it first.

Next up, I'm going to order some soft soft merino yarn (kids are sensitive) , knit scarves, felt it and then have the children put wool pictures on top and then I'll needle felt it. I'll be knitting some snow bunnies and lambs for the winter scene I'm thinking of creating for the children as their christmas present. Gotta do some online shopping now.

I'm back...

After a long hiatus...
I purchased the Ultimate Sweater Machine by Bond over the Thanksgiving weekend. The USM has very mixed reviews and I was a bit skeptical. But no more... Here's what I whipped up in 3-4 hours (including setup time which took about an hour).
Noro Silk Garden #224, 3 skeins on plate #3.
I've always loved the looks of shibori and came across a wonderful tutorial here. The silk garden is ultra yummy especially after a warm bath or in this case felting in the washing machine.

I (the USM) just finished knitting a little wool hat for dd#2. I just have to seam it and voila. I had no problems with the machine using worsted yarn. The hat on the other hand is more of a sock weight/sport weight yarn and the machine had a few hiccups (dropped stitches).
This is no replacement for handknitting, just a quick way to make large amounts of stockinette especially for felting. I can see quite a few more silk garden scarfs for myself in the near future, a few felted scarves for the kids in merino,... A nice way to use up my yarn stash.