A little of this...

and a little of that.

To start, I finally have photos of the completed flower pullover. I finally washed this a couple of days ago, and then had to wait a couple of days for it to dry (don't you love cotton!) I discovered a great way to dry my knits: my husband's studio in the back yard, recently completed, has radiant heat in the concrete floor. I took the partially dry sweater and laid it out on the floor on a towel, and it was nice and dry in about 24 hours. Given our current cold and wet weather, I thought that was pretty good.

Punkin has tried on the sweater and pronounced that she likes it. It is a little too big, which surprises me since it is a size four and she is almost five years old, but it is cotton and for once I didn't knit too tightly (I've been working on that).

The sweater before washing:


after drying


and a closeup on the flower.


The yarn has a nice feel - it's a multi ply yarn but it's not mercerized, so it's got some sheen without being too hard.The dye ran a bunch when I washed it and stained the towel that I blocked it on, so I don't think it should be worn with white pants (not that I let my 4 yr old wear white pants all that often!)

I may steam press the seams on this the next time I get the ironing board out, but I'm not too concerned about it. I'm not pleased with the line that extends on either side of the first row of the flower - that wasn't there when I finished knitting the piece. I wonder if it has pulled a little bit because of the texture stitches in the flower.

I have the yarn to make another sweater from this book, but the largest size is a 4 and I was concerned that it would be too small. Given how this one fits it might work out, but only if i get it finished quickly. Since it is intarsia, which is not my strongest suit, it might take a little while to do, so I'm still pondering. Maybe I'll look at making it a little bigger, but with an allover floral pattern I'm not sure I want to go messing with trying to add on to the chart. Hmmm, I'll have to think about this.

I'm already into the next project - more socks! (I know, I still haven't finished the green multi socks, but there are issues. That's a story for another day).

I am currently working on a pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road It's a nice book with a variety of different sock patterns. This is the first pattern I have made from this book, but so far the instructions are clear and I haven't had any problems.



The top patterned band is in a mostly pink with some purple and blue color (the ball on the left), and the body of the sock will be in a purple with some pink and blue color (the ball on the right).

I had two skeins of the purple but needed three skeins for the socks. I didn't even try to find more of the purple, having purchased that yarn in December of 2004 in Boston, I just tried to find another color that would coordinate. I am working these on size 0 bamboo needles and I think I started off knitting a bit too tightly, but I have tried the piece on and I think it will be fine. Hopefully they will stay up - it bugs me when my socks slide down and puddle around my ankles. I'm enjoying the Koigu, but I'm not sure I understand why everyone is always so enthusiastic about this yarn.

I went to a great new yarn store the other day - more details and photos later!

Oh, and because Zegi asked, Punkin is 4 1/2, and Buddy is about 9 months old.