I won!

The lovely Bron celebrated her 4th blogiversary earlier this month while I was on vacation. I dropped her a quick note to greet her and by some strange luck I won a gift. See what the mailman delivered yesterday ...

Thanks so much Bron! Knit on!

Fifi by the Sea

This yarn is amazing! It took a lot of abuse from me. Fifi took on a love/hate relationship with me. It took 3 cast ons on size 7 needles. Knitted up to row 40, ripped back to row 37, re-knitted to row 40 then ripped out all together. Re-started with size 8 needles. While trying on the piece, 10 stitches fell off the needle (my bad for not putting it on yarn instead) I almost cried. Instead of sending Fifi to time-out, I opened a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade and started to pick up the stitches then treaded carefully.



Once I finished the 1st 8 rows of the bodice, I stopped. How am I going to make this easy for me to remember when to cable??? Knowing me, I'll lose track of the row count when I need to do the cable. So I made a quickie Excel spreadsheet. Let me tell you how much this helped me - I did not rip a single row in the bodice, no kidding!

Fifi
Pattern: French Girl Knits
Yarn: 4 balls + a few yards Rowan Calmer in Tangerine for size S
Needles: Addi Circulars in US #8
(07/10/07 - 7/29/07)
Modifications: Added 5" to the length of the body. CO additional 19 stitches to the sleeves and did ribbing in the underarm. Knit 10 rows in pattern then BO for a slightly longer sleeve.

Sneak Peek

... just need to weave in the ends and block.



Fifi will most likely make her debut next week near the Atlantic Ocean.

Calmer ... I think I love you

When I saw Nonnahs' Josephine, I thought 'Wow! I hope someday I can knit something as beautiful.' Then I saw Tentenknits' Moulin Rouge on Ravelry and I was hooked.

I've had some Rowan Calmer in the stash just waiting for the right project to come along. Enter Fifi which also happened to be the SKC pick for this go-around. I stalled because I could not decide which color to use. I had the Hubby and the kids pick the color.

With the Calmer and 4.5 mm Addis, I cast on on July 4th after our cook-out. First cast on using long tail (my favorite). Somehow after 6 rows I decided to rip and restart with the cable cast on. I struggled with this cast on - too fiddly for me. Anyhow, I made it until about row 40 but then noticed that I missed an increase somewhere in row 37.

Yesterday while waiting for Pumpkin Girl to get back from Hershey Park field trip, I pulled out the tape measure. Why in the world did I go with the 4.5 mm needles? I'm such a tight knitter that I can usually get gauge with the specified needle. Then in a fit on insanity, I cast on twice (long tail) with 5 mm needles and a new ball. I'm currently on row 10. Weird because I'm not regretting the time spent re-knitting. I'm actually enjoying the process because this yarn is that good.

Ruffles

Introducing Ruffles ... the perfect cover-up when we go to the beach.

Pumpkin Girl has been asking for a knit skirt for a while. I had a pattern in mind that would be perfect to work on while lounging around in front of the TV. She wanted some tweaks ... we compromised on some ribbons that could be switched around with no fuss and minimize some wardrobe malfunctions. Once the color was all decided, the project commenced.

I still need to sew in the garter and go buy some ribbons.

Bounce
Pattern: Wendy Bernard
Yarn: 3 skeins Lion Cotton-Ease in Popsical Blue
Needles: Addi Circulars in US #6
(06/18/07 - 06/30/07)
Modification: Added 2 eyelet rounds to slip some ribbons in.

Thoughts: This project is cheap! Yarn cost was $6.00