Take THAT FO!

{ O.K., I'm going to try this again. Last night I posted this, but it ate my post and since it was getting late I didn't want to type everything again. Cross your fingers. And toes! }

K, so the other day I was quite disappointed in the weather forecast. We were supposed to have "storms" Monday night through Tuesday night. I wasn't disappointed that it was going to rain. I was disappointed that it only rained for ten minutes! Ten stinkin' minutes! I was driving back from a Dr. appointment and you could see how dark and foreboding the clouds approaching were. There were a few rain drops. I get home, get settled and look outside and this is what I see:

Yeah, ten minutes later and it's already clearing out! *sigh* Don't get me wrong, I love the warm, spring days where you can throw on a pair of shorts and flip flops. But I ♥ the rain much more. I would fare better in Seattle or London. (I've tried convincing Shawn, but I don't think he's ready to make that kind of move.)

Aside from the weather report, I've been keeping pretty busy. Busy knitting the fronts and the sleeves from the Debbie Bliss Matinee Coat from Simply Baby. Busy sewing the fronts and the sleeves too! (With the help of Debbie at Simply Knitting. The edging is difficult to sew in pattern so she showed me how to do it and I finished it yesterday.)

Here's the shoulder and sleeves, (mind you, the color is totally off...I had to take close ups without the flash):

And a better look at the lace pattern:

And here's Scout in her new duds, (which btw, shows the true color of the yarn):

Debbie Bliss Matinee Coat specs:

Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK, in Dive, subbed for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, uber soft stuff! I ordered three skeins, (compared to needing 4 of the other stuff), which has about 197 yards per skein. I still have enough leftover to make a little hat or headband.

Needles: US 7/6/4/3 for 32 sts=4"

Size: I made the 9-12 month size

Mods: Three needle bind off for the shoulders and I didn't bind off the neck stitches. Instead of picking up stitches along the fronts and neck I did a single crochet along the edges.

Notes: If anything, I would do one extra stitch along the edges of the pattern if you want to do some easy sewing. There is already one, but you would need two to make the finishing easier. Altogether a very easy knit. Took me about a week and a half to do.

Along with some modeling pix from Scout, we took a few of us together though I can't say they are too good because a.) Shawn is not a photographer, b.) I am still feeling like poo from this cold and know I look it too and c.) there wasn't much lighting in the room. But either way, I have a few shots of me and Scout which are very special because I'm usually the one operating the camera:

Besides being busy with her knits and home life, I've done a little bit of online ordering. I saw Grumperina's Uptown Boot Socks from Favorite Socks by Interweave Knits and decided I need to knit that pattern and maybe the other 24 that are in the book too! So I ordered that and Charlene Schurch's, More Sensational Knitted Socks. I have to believe that this book is 100% as good, if not better, than the first. And since the first book is what got me knitting my first pair, well I needed that book too!

So what to knit now? I now have 14 UFO's/WIP's, (I finished one and got rid of another), so I suppose I should work on those? I think I'm going to work on the Cabled Tunic from Vogue Knitting from the Fall 2006 cover. I'm .... that close to finishing the back. Not so close to the front, the sleeves, the finishing...Woe is me! Why do I do this to myself? (Just a great excuse to buy more and knit more, so I can take a "break" from the hard stuff!)

The Makings of Something Special

It took three tries with the short row heel. And I still don't get it. I do the beginning of the short rows fine. It's the reverse short row shaping which I don't get. (And apparently I need to "get it" because the heel of this pattern is a short row heel.) So, what is it that I don't get? I'm hoping someone, (anyone), can explain the whole picking up of the wraps. The pattern says that I should end up with 15 (unwrapped) sts after doing the short row shaping. (This I understand.) It's this that I don't:

Reverse Short Row Shaping:

Row 1 (RS): Knit to next wrapped st, (1 st before marker), knit this st together with wrap, remove marker, yf, slip next st, yb, sl wrapped stitch back to LH needle, turn. (This st now has 2 wraps.)

Row 2 (WS): Purl to next wrapped st, (1 st before marker), purl this st together with wrap, remove marker, yv, slip next st to RH needle, yf, returen st to LH needle, turn.

Row 3: Knit to next wrapped st, (1 st before marker), slip knit st to RH needle, PU wraps with LH needle and place on RH needle, sl all 3 sts back to LH needle, K3tog, remove marker, yf, slip next st, yb, slip st back to LH needle, turn.

Row 4: Purl to next wrapped st, (st before marker), slip purl st knitwise, PU 2 wraps from base of st and place on RH needle over first slipped st, slip them back one at a time purlwise to LH needle, P3tog in back of loop, remove marker, yb, slip next st purlwise, yf, slip st back to LH needle, turn.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until you have worked all double wrapped sts and removed all markers.

Confusing, eh? Anyway, if someone can clearly explain this whole picking up the wraps thingy to me, I'll have a little suprise sent to you via USPS. Seriously.

So, I gave up on the short row toe and tried the Easy Toe method and this is what came of it:

The Easy Toe method really is easy. (But behind the Easy Toe lurks the Short Row heel. *sigh*)

So I made a little headway yesterday, in between Scouts napping intervals, (which were few and far between during the morning/early afternoon).

Lastnight I had a chance to do a little knitting, (ummm, yeah, it was around 10 p.m.), and I was able to start the Yarn Over Cable pattern, which I like. I especially like not having to worry about actual cable needles and still having a pattern that looksl ike it took a lot of cable work. And the fact that the sock fits, well that just makes this an A+ project, (so far...ask me when I get to the heel).

I am loving the color changes in the yarn. Always something new. I do wish there was a little more blue, but I ♥ the dark brown and fawn. Just like Dalton.

And to make my day a little better, (yesterday was a bit stressful, lots of spitting up and fussiness, not to mention the oodles of cleaning and the fact that I stunk up the car because I left a package of chicken, that I bought the day before, in the trunk. Oooops!!!), I got my order from Jimmy Beans. I scored three skeins of RYC Cashsoft 4ply in Dive for a Matinee Coat pattern by Debbie Bliss from "Simply Baby".

And here's a better close up:

Three skeins yields almost 600 yards, which is great when it comes down to me only spending about $20 for some YUMMY yarn! I absolutely ♥ Rowan. Almost every yarn I've ever used by them has been 100% perfect! I can never say enough good things about their products. I'll cast on for the coat this weekend. I think.

Oh, btw. I did get the job. Last week I should have just said I was offered the job, but I had to take a blood test and have a criminal background check done. I passed! Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are my orientation days. Which I get paid for. Nice. And I decided with the first week of my paycheck I am going to do a little yarn shopping for my Sockret Pal and pick up a the Namaste messenger bag that I want. (I had wanted one of the Lexi Barnes bags originally. But I realized three things: 1. The LB bags are made with weather resistant material. Fine and dandy, BUT I don't like the sheen of the fabric. (Besides, it doesn't rain much here in So Cal, so that's not something I need to worry about.) 2. The Namaste bag has more room. 3. The Namaste bag costs about 1/2 of the LB bag, (and right now, I don't need to spend $140 for a bag, when I can spend $69 and use the rest to buy yarn to put into the bag). Logical huh?