Adding the Buttons

My final "Olympic" feat: Adding the buttons! Which of course are merely decorative since I can't button the thing...but that's OK! It's DONE!!!!!!! I think I am proud of how it turned out, little flaws and all!

Almost Done With Air "Blueberry" Cardigan

This sweater will remind me of the time my husband and I stayed at the Inn at Langley on Whidbey Island and while he was in meetings, I went to the Knitty Purl shop where I bought this wool from England. And the friendly lady at the yarn shop got me started on the pattern. And how I was "brave" enough to try doing a pieced cardigan.
Here I am shown trying on the cardigan before doing any blocking on seams or adding buttons. In 94 degree weather! Whew! What a day to be finishing a wool sweater! HOT! We have NO Air Conditioning here! It is pretty small on me in the middle which I knew it would be. I could possibly block it out or not worry about it and just not button it! I am holding it together here! HA!
Sewing in the sleeves was probably one of the hardest parts to get right. I had to pin them in first and be so careful. Also tricky was picking up the front stitches to do the button hole band. But the sleeve length turned out perfect! I learned alot of new skills on this sweater for sure! When you are working with piecing a striped sweater, it is a challenge to match the stripes. I tried to whenever possible to make it look the same on both sides. Sometimes it was impossible, and that's just the nature of this wool. I will go shopping for some cute buttons to go on it. Even if I never button them!

Twilleys of Stamford -Pattern from Freedom Spirit Book 455 (Pattern book and wool found at Knitty Purls in Langley, WA)
Wool in 506 "Air" colorway -7 skeins
Needles used: Sizes 5 and 7, circular
Longer version, size 36 bust. True fit was to be size 38, but I could have gone up one more size to allow for true fit due to close ribbing and style.

And now I will show you the jewelry I got to go with it a long time ago that has the blue, the khaki green in it -well you can kinda see- and the earrings match!

Very fun and rewarding to be almost finished. Can't wait until the weather cools off to wear it! Time to go watch Phelps swim again!

Movie Night and Art Display

"Office" Ladies night out was to Cheesecake Factory... (Kalua Coffee Mocha was mine though I couldn't eat it all!) Had fun celebrating a friend's Birthday and then off to the theater for Mamma Mia-which was, by the way, hysterical! On the way through the lobby was this amazing glass art. Famous Dale Chihuly's works I'm pretty sure.
The movie was a blast from the past and even though certain cast members couldn't sing, it was still fun to go. Great to go with a group. Especially if you grew up in the era of "Abba"...

Buttonhole Band

Whew! The buttonhole band is finished and cast off! Pieces are still not sewn together so it is looking sort of "wavy" here laying on a beanbag chair, but it is very ribbed at the bottom so it draws it in quite a bit. That's the part I am worried about fitting into! HA! My very first buttonholes! How cute!! (Thanks, Mom! She came and helped me today!)
And now I am finding the next part a challenge also: the seaming up of the sides and setting in the sleeves, though I have two excellent books to help me out on the different options. "Knitting for Dummies" and another book I found called, "The Knitting Answer Book". I tried to start pinning tonight but am too tired to continue...so it will wait!

Olympic Knitting

What better way to spend the eves than watching Phelps winning gold medals while frantically knitting the back of Everyday cardigan sweater at the same time? I'm supposed to do 22 in.of stockinette stitch up the back. Good to do while watching relays! Keeps you from biting your nails instead! Yep, this is the newest sweater.You can see the difference in color now in these pics. The top one is very grey heathery blue with flecks in it. I will work on the Air "Blueberry" cardigan below more this week and conquer buttonholes! They're gonna go right along the edge here soon:
I can finally see the "light at the end of the sweater" as far as getting closer to being finished. It will be funny (NOT) if it doesn't fit me! If it doesn't fit, I can get it wet and block it out maybe a bit. Or lose 30 pounds...hmm...

Camping, Geocaching, New Project

Camping in "Harvey" the RV...We drove east to one of our favorite spots by the creek.
Since no campfires were allowed due to burn bans, we made S'Mores on the grill!

And a banana boat, which looks gross here, but was yummy! (Stuff marshmallows and chocolate into a banana and that is a banana boat!)

Our campsite is right by the creek and it sounds so peaceful all day and night...

One day we decided to go Geocaching near by. This is a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) device. You look up coordinates for the "hidden cache" and find it. Usually!Here's Michelle searching for the cache...I cannot tell you where it was -it's a secret!Aha! She found it! It is inside this container! Inside are a bunch of things other geo-cachers have left behind. You can leave a trinket inside. The weirdest thing had to be the DVD movie or maybe the metal tea steeper, or the Keebler elf, and the coolest thing was the European coin! You sign the "log" that you've been there...

In between lots of time to relax and read and hang out together, I got a new project on the needles. This is the Peace Fleece Everyday Cardigan, a revised version that is apparently longer with few buttons than the original. It has been in my stash since January when everyone at the local store was casting on to knit it at the same time, but I didn't start mine then. The worsted weight wool is Russian/Romanian/American (Hence, the Peace Fleece-it is a project to promote peace between nations-begun in 1986 in response to the cold war)

It is a 70% merino wool/30% mohair blend

Color: Zarya Fog

But I haven't forgotten about my other cardigan...I am waiting to get help on my buttonhole rows from Mom!

Anatomy of a Cardigan

Here's what the parts all look like laying there. You've got the back in the center, and the little strips are actually the front pieces of the cardigan all scrunched up, because they are ribbed as well as narrow, and not blocked out,....the outer wings are the sleeves!:

This helps you see how it all comes together. I seamed the shoulders.Next step, I am picking up stitches (making new stitches where there are none basically) all along the front and neck edges and this will be the start of the ribbing needed. Though I am not sure how to pick them all up in one continuous line as the pattern reads. I will run out of cable on my circular. Unless I hold on to them with a metal stitch holder instead...hmm...the pattern didn't say I needed a humongously long cabled needle...Must be time to think about this and stop! Or go buy a really really long cabled needle!