Jumping into 2008...

Is it already three weeks into the new year? I've been throwing myself into my unfinished projects with abandon; and not just knitting projects! I knitted the tam for Emily's friend Abby, and had to change Emily's design a bit because the colors I had available were too close in tone for the way they were laid out. Abby put the hat on immediately and her mother said she wore it for three days straight - it looked great on her.




I also finally set up the "new" sewing machine and made a fleece bedcover for Cherie's pug, Hugo. Since the machine came to me via Cherie (it had been her grandmother's) it seemed right for that to be the first project. I sewed a cover from olive fleece for Maverick's family room bed while he closely monitored my progress, following me from room to room as I cut, pinned, and stitched. He sat watching George and I add the styrofoam beans to the liner then put the cover on the bed. Then he plopped down immediately, looking up at us. He knew it was his, of course. I have his larger nighttime beanbag bed left; I'll be sewing a chocolate brown fleece cover. I'm preparing to paint that room, so he needed a new cover to fit in. I never imagined co-ordinating home dog accessories, but then, I never imagined a dog like him!




We started our top-down sweater class within a class with Rebecca, and it's so fun! We are doing a teddy-bear size first to practice the techniques - it's fun for each of us to be doing the same thing. Rebecca has all these wonderful samples knit from Karen Alfke's top down pattern, and since she refuses to sell me any of them (I think the sock monkey one is my favorite, but they all fit like a dream) since they are, after all, HER samples. And she would be wearing them herself if she wasn't keeping them for her classes. My excitement could be attributed to the feeling I have that learning this method of sizing will help me learn to better plan my sizing for any pattern I want to make based on the gauge I get from the yarn I choose. I feel a little like I'm just about to be set free! My first top-down in my size will be with the fabulous red Elspeth Lavold Silky Wool that Gail let go of at the Village New Year's Day sale when she decided on the green. (If she had stayed with the red, I would have bought the green - both colors are that beautiful.) Based on my swatches, I'll be knitting with size 3 or 4 needles instead of the recommended 6.








My first toe-up sock is finished, with an alteration to the pattern I was following. This was also my first "afterthought heel" and I like the way it turned out. It's so nice to have all these new tools in my toolbox. I've already cast-on the next toe and knit the first couple of inches on the second sock. This is the biggest yarn I have so far used to knit socks - amazing how much quicker it goes on size 1's than size 0's!





And tonight at Ferals, I used the German cast-on for my Fair Isle tam. I actually had learned this cast-on in December, but hadn't really used it yet. I got lots of practice tonight since I twice miscalculated the long tail and had to start again. I finally got my 144 stitches with a tail of less than 2". It's inspirational to see how others are progressing with their tams; Naomi and Ellen were both working on theirs and encouraging me. It was great to see Rebecca and Peggy there - the first time I've seen them at Ferals since I began. Lori came with her finished Fair Isle swatch from Janine's class and began doing the math for her cardigan. She's an intuitive knitter who doesn't really like to follow patterns, so watching her process is fascinating for me... this is going to be an amazing sweater! And Gail is nearing completion on her beautiful blue Aran - she sure convinced me of the beauty and simplicity of Cascade 220!