And mine, arm out photograpy.
And my sister's Christmas present..(also arm out photography.)
And I finished another Montego Bay type scarf, although I altered it quite a bit due to different yarn. 
I actually cast on 21 stitches and used 5 stitches for the edges instead of the 7 stitches in the pattern. I used a number 6 needle, and I can't remember what the yarn is called.
I took it to Ravelry knit night at Border's and no one else was sure what it was either. I think it is some cotton rayon blend, with one of the plies being a shiny one and the others more dull. I keep thinking maybe it was called Twist.
Alexa's doll is a wonderful model, she holds still and smiles nicely for as long as I need. The scarf is my mom's Christmas present, but I think I am safe because she never looks at this blog.
The Hopscotch yarn is really neat too, a sort of underspun single thick and thin stuff. Very soft, superwash 100% wool. The sleeve striping here is different than the pattern calls for, they used two different colors and only one stripe of each, but honestly I didn't want to buy that other ball of yarn, so I just used one other color and did Fibonacci stripes, 21 rows, 13, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1..
Alexa isn't really into holding still for photos. I also made the sweater a lot skinnier. Alexa is a very thin girl, so I knit the 12-18 month stitch counts and approximately four year old length. I didn't separate the yoke and make a little flap for snaps either. I just skipped the final decrease round, and bound off loosely (I used the K2tog, transfer back to left needle, K2tog etc.-although I am not completely sure this bind off is significantly more stretchy than the basic bind off.) It goes over her head quite easily.
This was my first bottom up seamles sweater, and I really enjoyed it. I am hoping to make more in the future. I grafted the underarms instead of binding off and then sewing up, and they look good.
I am really please with how the sweater came out, but the pattern is awful. There are a lot of errors, I have detailed them in my Ravelry description, so I won't include them here. 
So I finished the body of the Montego Bay Scarf, and I tried and tried to get a really nice photo showing the way the stitch pattern shows off the yarn, but I can't do it justice. Trust me, it's beautiful. I didn't have enough yarn to do fringe, so I am working on a buttoning arrangement. I'll show you how it looks when I get it worked out.
There are so many other things going on in my personal life right now that I don't want to think about my knitting too much. They are good things..I started swimming for exercise, and I can swim about 80-85% of a mile now. I am just beginning to lose a little weight which is really exciting. We are working on paperwork to adopt a second child, from Ethiopia! I am trying to figure out ways to help Alexa achieve some of her physical therapy goals. Anyway, busy in a good way, but busy nonetheless. Thanks to the two of you who read my blog now and again!.JPG)
I made the sleeve striping different than the pattern, (Fibonacci stripes!! fun!) My gauge at this point was 5.5 st/in and the sleeve is 11.5 inches long with the end rolled. I just washed it, and now it is drying on top of the dryer. This is my new resolution, not just to knit the gauge swatch, but to wash it and dry it, and maybe even hang it for a day or two to assess its proclivity for growing. (My Apres Surf Hoodie is a couple of inches longer than it was when it was a newborn!)
Two 8 oz rovings of merino and alpaca (70/30 I think). Unfortunately the tag and receipt don't mention her name or business name..I think she was from Roy, WA. She was selling these for about 20$ each, which was a really good deal IMHOP. I also got some yarn called Inca Organic Cotton in a pretty cream color. 
I probably would never have knit a sweater like this on my own initiative..but it is really starting to grow on me. The yarn is lovely (Knit Picks Superwash Bare), and the texture is awesome..you run your hand over the top of it and it feels so neat..smooth and bumpy at the same time.
And here we have a big, major, learning opportunity. My mother-in-law Penny and I bought some raw but washed alpaca fleece at the Black Sheep Gathering. We set to work trying to learn how to hand card, but it is hard..Penny is doing pretty well, but the stuff I did has these big lumps in it, like tangles. They make big bumps in the yarn. Maybe I just didn't card it enough? any suggestions anyone?
I may be getting too much fiber on the cards, but it is really hard to pull it apart into smaller chunks to load. Does fleece always stick together like this?
I didn't alter the pattern in any way, and still everything fits me just perfectly. The waist shaping is in the right place, the sleeves are the right length. The amount of ease in the body and arms is similar. (Most garments that fit me in the body are too tight in the arms and shoulders.)
The hood seemed to take forever, but there was some interesting short row shaping on the top which I was a little worried about in combination with the lace pattern, but it worked out just fine.
I did knit the hood and neck edging narrower than the pattern required because where they are sewn in here was only about an inch. Instead of knitting 1.5 inches and then doing the i-cord bind off, I did 1 inch, and to me this looks right. 
And though I blocked the edge down flat, I wore it all day to Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and it started to roll again. I hope this will settle down a bit after it gets washed and blocked a few more times. I am really happy with this sweater, but after almost three months of steady lace knitting on size 3 needles, my hands are complaining, so I am going on some larger gauge projects for a while.
Pattern: Apres Surf Hoodie from Interweave Knits Summer 2008 issue by Connie Chang Chinchio. (A very well written pattern, I will definitely try more of hers in the future!)
Cool details on this sweater..see the i-cord bind-off on the sleeve. Isn't it neat how different this yarn looks in different lighting?
Meida's Socks are making some progress. 
And a new project for my mother-in-law. A Christmas present. She chose yarn and asked for a scarf with a very open stitch pattern. So the Montego Bay Scarf seemed to fit the bill. The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot.
I had this Classic Elite Skye Tweed in my stash for a year or more from a closeout sale at Fiber Nooks and Crannies. (Whenever Michelle destashes, my stash grows!) Anyway, I loved this tweed and really wanted to make a vest, but there were only 5 balls of it. So I embarked on this vest from Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits book. 
I made some changes to conserve yarn. I cast on 144 st which was halfway between the 35 and 37" finished bust sizes, which for me should have produced about 2 inches of negative ease. I only knit 8" in the lower section instead of 9. I didn't do the last set of bust increases and I narrowed the straps a bit. 
I also narrowed the neck and sleeve edgings quite a bit. I think I like them better this way anyway to be honest. I really like this vest. I think maybe the pattern is written a bit large, because FO fits perfectly, and I expected it to be a bit tight. My gauge is still right on, even after washing. The yarn softened up a bit after washing too. It was really stiff and harsh feeling to my hands while knitting it. 
The one thing I don't love is the way the fabric bunches at the front of my arm. Partly this is because I should have made the sleeve opening longer, but I think it should also be written to bind off and/or decrease a little more there in the pattern. 
Pattern: Back to School U-neck Vest by Stephanie Japel
Meida's socks have made it through the heel flap and turn, but I have been pretty wrapped up in other projects, so these are a bit neglected.
Still spinning the Maine Woods roving.
And the Apres Surf Hoodie, still on the sleeves. All that lace and the fine gauge makes it a bit slow. I seem to have a fingerprint on my camera lens..
I finished the front and the I-cord bind off at the hem and blocked it.
And I started the sleeves. 
I have 174 g of yarn out of the original 440, so that makes me about 60% done. Sooo..this was fun, but I need to learn to plan for the fact that I cannot sit and knit for 2 weeks when I have a non-knitting life to attend to. I still love this hoodie and the yarn is a joy to knit with. The pattern is challenging me but not frustrating me, what more can I ask for in a knitting project?
Alpaca Merino Silk 50/30/20 in a colorway called Improv by Abstract Fiber. This was so noticeably beautiful that as I carried it around the shop people were asking their friends, "What is that?" and reaching out to pet it.
Now if I can spin it without destroying its beauty...
What I see is that the neckline is too big and she always has to pull it up to keep her bra straps from showing. The cap sleeves are not really cap sleeves, the waist shaping is too low. 
The pattern on the front is pretty, but doesn't pop out very much. The underarms hang low so you can see the bra there when she raises her arms. The yarn is really soft and the sweater itself is pretty, it just doesn't fit her right. 
Part of the problem is the pattern itself. Other Ravelers have experienced this same problem. The sweater sizes as listed are not right. I knitted the size that said it would fit a 40" bust for someone with a 44" bust, and had the knitted fabric not relaxed so much I think it would have been fine. So my lesson for the day is..do my homework with the gauge swatch..knit it big, wash it, hang it. Such a pity to knit something this time consuming that doesn't come out right. I like the feel of this yarn, and the look and the price, but it is a pain to knit with, it splits like crazy. I doubt I will knit with it again.
Pattern: Cap Sleeved Sweater by Debbie Bliss from the Pure Silk book.
