Who is that Handsome Man?

Why, who IS that handsome man that happens to be making coffee in my kitchen? Oh yeah, that guy lives here! He's my husband Dave!

And WHAT is that he's wearing?

That would be one of those Christmas presents that I hadn't blogged about yet. I have been kind of holding my breath, waiting for it to pass the true test of husband approval.

And yes.....

there it is.....

HE'S WEARING IT TO WORK!!!!!!!







It's the Cafe Bastilles Cables sweater from the cover of Interweave Knits Fal 2003.

There was so much to blog about this sweater...how much I loved the pattern.....the secrecy and stashing it under the sofa.....the stealth blocking in a corner of the attic under a blanket (double layer bulky wool in an uninsulated attic covered with a blanket--it took an eon to dry).....the last minute crisis when I determined it was too short and emergency vertical re-blocking (soaking, hanging on the wall, stretching and pinning like crazy) to gain some length......

But I didn't dare breathe a word of it here. He had no idea, not even a hint that I was making anything at all. I didn't even knit it around the kids for fear of their big blabbermouths.

He opened it Christmas morning, pulled it out of the box and smiled nicely. We all chanted "try it on!" and he unfolded it. Reached in the neck for the tag so he could tell the front from the back and mumbled....there's no tag......

I said "Yeah, and WHY would that be?" He was stumped for about two seconds and then he gasped OHHHHHH. OHHHHHHH!!!!!!! YOU MADE THIS?!?! He really was suprised and so happy.
He tried it on, it was a little too short, and I was disappointed. After all, I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted him to be able to wear it right away. And because of the long cable up the front, to lengthen it I didn't see any other option than taking it apart and ripping both front and back down to the armholes, adding extra length, and putting it all back together.

But then I had this idea and there was nothing to lose by trying it: I picked up stitches all around the bottom and knit down 4" in seedstitch to match the sides and arms. It worked fine. Not just fine, actually, it worked great! Much better than I had anticipated. It looks like it was meant to be that way and now it fits him wonderfully.

It is very cozy and warm and makes him look seriously huggable.

Details:

Cafe Bastille Cables, designed by Leigh Radford-Interweave Knits Fall 2003

Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Charcoal, 10 skeins, even with the extra length.

I knit the largest size as per the pattern, and looking back, I should have known that 24" was going to be too short for a men's size XL. I measured Dave's favorite sweater (later), and it turned out to be 27". If I had done that before hand (duh!), it would have prevented the too-short-situation. (But the fix really worked out great, I just would have liked to have skipped the Christmas Eve re-blocking crisis, and instead have been relaxing with some eggnog!)

All in all a very enjoyable knit and I highly recommend it. I would like to make one for myself someday. But I promise, honey, I won't wear it on the same day that you are wearing yours!

Hello There, Cupid

Happy Valentine's Day!

I promise this blog is not going to be all about the yarn, but recently I've had some friends come over and show me things* they've made with it, and it makes me too happy not to share.

Here's my friend Blogless Carla, who came over to show me her Cupid. (And she's the one who came up with the name for me, thank you Carla!)








Here are her socks, basic Ann Norling sock pattern.











But she did the Eye of Partridge heel, instructions found here. So cute!












And she had enough left over to make a headband. Free pattern found here.

Thanks for modeling, B-C!

*Socks and headband by Carla, toddler by Emily.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Taking a little break from those 2 big sweater projects that were making me cranky.















Everything about this little project is making me happy:

The pattern
The yarn
The needles
The color

Greetings from Tired, Cranky, and Cold!

Nothing exciting or interesting to say here, so let's just move right along and show you the pictures:

Central Park Hoodie in Classic Elite Skye Tweed
Status: fronts and back currently blocking, sleeve just cast on.
Enjoyment factor: the pattern is fine but not loving the yarn.




























Noro Silk Garden scarf
Status: 72" long, but needs to be longer.
Enjoyment factor: it's been fun, but the fun started to fade around inch 70.




















Chicknits Ariann in Nashua Creative Focus
Status: 8" done on body. Having buttonhole issues, but working it out.
Enjoyment factor: love the pattern but hate the yarn. I waffled for a couple of months about this yarn but decided to forge ahead. Will probably regret it but I'm too far in now to turn back.

Dino quilt status: I finished quilting it in a couple of nights but then discovered that I didn't have any fabric left for the binding. Am still waiting for the brown truck to pull up and deliver that yard of blue fabric.....but he's been sleeping under it for a few weeks now (and probably growing attached to that edge of batting sticking out where the binding should be.)

Blogging status: switched to the new blogger and immediately regretted it. Although I didn't lose any of the blog (Thank God! It didn't even occur to me that that could happen) I did seem to lose my bloglines subscribers and Bloglines isn't updating me. And now I have to sign in both to Blogger with a password and Google (with a different user name and password) and neither will remember me.

Ok, so now that the whine fest is over, I am interested to know--those of you who use Typepad, what do you like about it? Do you keep the old posts if you switch?

I am contemplating a move. Maybe February (or March, who am I kidding--I am slow) will bring a big makeover to the ole blog! It's about time. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.