Where to begin?

July has been filled with so many things to blog about, but because I was doing these things, I didn’t have time to blog!  So, I’m going to tell you about some of the highlights.  

Up first:  Our trip to Canada.  We went to New Brunswick.  It was the first time since we got alpacas that we spent 5 days away together!  Truly an overdue vacation. (Thanks to great friends and neighbors for taking care of the alpacas and everything else!)  We went to visit wonderful friends in Dipper Harbour (that is the proper Canadian spelling), with day trips to St. Andrews and Saint John.  Another day was spent on the coast of Maine.  So relaxing.  So beautiful.  So fun.  Remember the topper I knit?

What’s new?

 Check out the new shawl pin I found on our trip.

Love it!

I found it at Cricket Cove in Blacks Harbour.  It was the only one like it and displayed on a scarf.  The gal in the store was nice enough to let me take it right off the display.  I knew it would be perfect with my topper.  And I think it will look great with my loop scarf, too.  And speaking of that….

Nearly done

All that is left to finish my scarf / wrap is to kitchener the ends together.  I’m hoping to finish that soon and show you pictures!

The topper is finished!

If you think I’ve been a little scarce on details and pictures of the progress of the topper I was knitting, you are right.   I had a good reason that turned out to be a moot point!  I was planning to enter it into the Fiber Arts contest at Shepherd’s Harvest, but it turns out there were no other entries and the contest was cancelled at the last minute.  I thought there might be the possibility that the judge might stumble upon it here in my blog and be able to connect it to me.  But the deadline motivated me and it is finished! 

All done

The pattern calls for a crocheted edge.  I’ve not decided if I will add that or not.

The sleeve

This is how the sleeves turned out.  I didn’t follow the pattern and I’m happy I didn’t.  I like the way it looks without the zig-zagedness of adding in the repeats of the lace pattern as the pattern suggested. 

Front view

I put yarn ties on it.  I’ve worn it tied and have worn it with a shawl pin.  I like it either way. 

Wearing it

A friend took this picture of me wearing my new topper.  I’m quite pleased with it.  It was fun to make something for me.  I’ve already got a couple other projects in mind to do for me.  And maybe there will be a Fiber Arts contest to enter next year!

Committed

Remember the topper I started in January?  I’ve been making slow progress on it since.  I have the back and both sides of the front done.   Then I started the sleeves.   They are 3/4 length sleeves that start at the bottom and have increases spaced evenly to the top.  The row stitch pattern is a repeat of 4 stitches, so as I was working on the sleeve when I had increased 4 stitches on each side I added a new pattern to the edges.  I had finished 43 rows of the 60+ that I needed when I decided I didn’t like the jagged, zig-zaggy look of the sleeve.  So I tore it out – after much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.  I wasn’t sure I would like NOT adding the pattern to the edges any better.  I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn’t.

And I started again.  This time I have not increased the stitch pattern, doing a plain stockinette on the edges of the new stitches.

First sleeve

I’ve nearly finished this sleeve.  I have about 6 more rows to go which will include one more set of increases and get me very close to the goal of 13 inches. What do think?  Can you imagine what it looked like with another set of the pattern added in the edges?  I did not like that look, but struggled with not following the pattern. (I’m just that way, I guess!)  But at about row 40, I decided I like this look and am sticking to it! 

And that brings me to this:

The end!

Yep, that is the end of my big bobbin of hand spun yarn.  It will come close to finishing this sleeve, but I have 2 arms.   And it is a good thing I do as I will have to go back to the wheel and see if I can match the thickness and spin enough yarn to knit another sleeve and do a crochet border. 

I think I’ve overcome my frustration with this and the excitement to see it finished has returned.

New beginnings

I’ve started a new baby blanket / lap robe using acrylic yarn from my charity stash.  I found 4 skeins of matching white yarn that should be enough for a blanket.  Actually it will be enough.  When half the yarn is knit, I’ll be half done with the blanket – no matter how big it is! 

Beginning a blanket

 

I also found some small amounts of pastel yarn left over from knitting machine projects.  I’ll knit using one strand of white and one strand of a pastel.  I’m hoping to use up the pastels.  As you can probably see, the white yarn is dirty on one end of the skeins.  I’ll need to wash the blanket after it is finished. Should be a nice blanket for someone in need. 

I also started the front of my topper.  The left front and right front are identical rectangles, which together are the same size as the back.

Left or right - both the same

 

So far the gauge seems to be very close. I have 2 knitting group meetings coming
up this week, so I’m hoping having these 2 projects ‘needle-ready’ will help keep
me productive!