March Lamb or Lion???

I finished my Rachel sweater today. I will update blog with pictures later I am wearing it Saturday. I started it on the 19th of Feb and finished today! That's amazing! One week and four days. That's the fastest I have knit a sweater. I really love this yarn it it so soft, it is the Plymouth Yarn Baby Brush Alpaca in Green #1290. The sleeves are just a little to long, I can cuff them, but maybe I will take it to my new knitting group and see if they can suggest anything to fix them.

I knitted this for a friend of mine, she's really into Elvis and when I saw the pattern at Marilyn's Knitting Heaven on Earth I had to knit it for her. She is putting it in her Elvis shrine.

I am casting on Heidi's sweater today, because I won't cast on a new project on a Friday. Old wives tail, if you cast on on Friday you will never finish. I have decided to use the same Plymouth Yarn Baby brush Alpaca but in color 1805. I am totally in love with this color, it looks so alive. Heidi your going to love it totally. (Why am I talking like a valley girl???) I will have to find a pattern for me to knit something out of this yarn in purple for me. When I finish casting on, I have to finish DH's felted clogs. Speaking of which they are ready to be felted up.

Mom sent her yarn, remember I knit her a reader's wrap and she asked if she could rip it so that I could knit her a vest because the vest would work better for her. Just take a look at how she wraps. how she made them into oval shape I have no clue. Mom said to go ahead and make Heidi's sweater first then make her vest.
Fingers don't fail me now.

Getting there

Progress update on the Rachael sweater. The back is knit and blocked, the front and sleeves are knit and blocking. That means I really can't do anything with it until tomorrow evening. Still have to knit collar and sew the seams. It may be ready for the North Texas Irish Festival (NTIF) on Saturday. The temps are going to be mid 5o's so it won't be too hot to wear the sweater. That would mean that I finished the sweater in a week and a half??? damm that's fast. I have been asked to make another pair of the Eowyn gloves oh and by the way have them ready for Saturday too. I've got the body of one done and blocking. I need to make an Elvis wash cloth and have it ready Wednesday evening. It's a gift for some Elvis fan that DH knows at work. I have to start on Heidi's sweater The Tribecca finish DH's felted clogs make Todd's hat poor man his ears are going to freeze in New York, make a pair of gloves for consignment.
Well at least today I got the roses trimmed, tomorrow I am going to rake the rose garden itself. Have to cut everything dead out of the raised bed and see if the lavender will come back or if I have to replant. The rosemary is doing great. DH has to work on the pond but has to first clean up his mess in the front yard, he trimmed a section of one of the oak trees and our front lawn looks like the aftermath of a wind storm.

I've been busy

I finished the February Mid month KAL. This is done in Peaches and Cream in the Denim colorway. It's a lace pattern, and I made one mistake in it, but unless you know where it is you can't see it. I also joined a group called From the Heart of Texas. They are a group located in Houston, they have w monthly KALs and CALs. They knit squares join to create blankets and donate them to local charities. You have the choice of knitting them and either sending them to the group or donating them to the charity of your choice. It was interesting both groups used a ssk2po stitch.

These are the Eowyn fingerless gloves but this time in Malabrigio in a colorway called Little Lovely. I love this pattern these are made for a friend.

This pattern comes from http://www.knitty.com/ it's called Calorimetry http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTcalorimetry.html I had a little bit of Malabrigio left over from my Eowyn gloves in the Velvet Grapes colorway so I knitted it up. It's very quick, very cute, the Malabrigio makes it very soft, and it's warm. I despise hats, this is perfect for me because it covers my ears to keep them warm and it buttons in back under your hair. Perfect.

This is the back of My Rachel Sweater, I started it Saturday the 17th. I am trying to get it finished before March 3rd. I would like to wear it to the North Texas Irish Festival. So far I have about 3/4 of the front knitted then all I would have left are the sleeves, then when I finish it I can start on Heidi's sweater.

The weather has been beautiful, it's be in the high 70's I have to get out into the rose garden and cut the roses back, get algae remover into the pond and plant my flower seeds in pots and put them in the green house. I have to hurry with the seeds get them planted while we are still in a waxing moon. Grandfather always told me to plant flowers from the new to the full moon. Thank goodness we are really not doing much this weekend. Gardening and knitting what a better way to spend a weekend.

Rachel Sweater for Me

In a book Hot Knits by By Melisssia Leapman and Joe VanDeHatert has several lovely patterns I will probably knit several of these. However the first sweater I have choose to knit is the Rachel I have chosen Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Brushed in Green 1290 I have never seen nor touched this yarn, knew not much about it other than it being 75% alpaca and 25% acrylic, so I went to www.knittersreview.com to see if I could find a review by them for this yarn. There it was and to quote them "Yarn Profile: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush
First Impressions Baby Alpaca Brush has a built-in soundtrack that goes something like this. Every time someone picks it up, they let out a delighted "ooooooooh!"This unusual yarn has the plush softness of angora and the cozy blur of mohair, yet it contains not a trace of either fiber.Instead, it consists primarily of four plies of alpaca (taken from the first shearing) that have been blended with a small amount of acrylic, spun into one strand that is then brushed to a dreamy cloudlike texture." (To read more go to http://www.knittersreview.com/article_yarn.asp?article=/review/product/040930_a.asp) I was almost sold, the price? Very affordable. Ok now I was sold. I hoped and prayed that it lived up to the review. When I received it... OMG! It was softer than I expected. It feels like a soft fluffy cloud. When I was a little girl I had a special word for things that were really really soft, I have no clue where I got this word but this was very very cheecho. The only issue I have with this yarn is because it's brushed it tends to tangle when I try to pull it from the middle of the skein, I could either keep the yarn frozen and take it out of the freezer one at a time as I knit or I could start on the outside of the ball. I'm starting outside of the ball. It's hard enough for the DH to see the yarn in the freezer when I first get it but to have it stay there??? I think that would send him over the edge. (lol) Maybe next house I will have my own freezer to store the yarn. I have to hurry and knit this as quickly as possible I want to wear this at the North Texas Irish Festival. I also have to start Heidi's sweater and Rene's shrug.