This border is NOT WORKING! 

So after much consideration, I decided to work a seed st border on moms sweater instead of the 1x1 ribbing the pattern gives. In the pattern, it looks stretched or loose or something and I really didn't want to go for that look. Now, I know that seed st is wide so I went down 2 needle sizes and dec sts (one inch) in the hopes that it would make the border tighter. Nope. I guess I will have to frog it and dec more sts? Or try the ribbing which doesn't thrill me. Either way, more frogging and it is frustrating being delayed because of the last six rows of a piece!

Here is a shot of the Imagine Ballet wrap I made for Maya. I was thinking about picking up sts along the bottom to add a border to stop the curling.  

I was originally going to make socks, but Maya and I decided leg warmers were a lot more fun. 

I love this yarn! Its great! I really was hoping to make socks, but I seem to have an aversion to it. Maybe its because I've never done it and it involves short rows AND I've got way too many projects going on at once right now. There is a beginning of a swatch there and I wanted to design some leg warmers for Maya and I know she'd love em. She is a girly girl, unlike her mother, and is excited about anything brightly colored and that she can dance around in. Go figure. Anyway, I am excited just to work with this yarn and am beginning to understand the sock addiction that many knitters have!

Imagine......

I turned the Lion Brand Imagine into this:


ballet wrap 

Yes it is yet another project I've finished before moms sweater. I'm starting to feel real bad about this so I took action last nite: I went through my entire stash. I found lots of yarn and two needles. One of those needles is a 29" US #6. I'm hoping it will be long enough for the edging on the sweater. I was too posessed with finishing the wrap to be bothered by the guilt of moms sweater or the filthy state of my house. I took breaks only long enough to bathe and feed the children. And look! She has her little sweater just in time for our 58 degree weather!
Now the projects MUST be prioritized!

1. Moms sweater
2. Kyoto
3. Lacy V-neck
4. kids' scarf/hat sets
5. socks

Of course after I finish numbers 1 and 2, the rest can worked at the same time or whenever. And of course, after spreading the stash out all over my bed I got lots of ideas and hopes for new projects. In fact while I was in my yarn organizing/fondling trance Mike walked in pointed at the yarn and said to me,"See, you DON'T need any more yarn!"
Just because it covered the entire surface of the bed he thinks I've gone overboard. Sheesh! I tried to assure him that this was, by comparison, a small stash and that I've heard/seen/read of other knitters with enough yarn stashed to fill a room! Needless to say he either didn't believe me or didn't care and just rolled his eyes. It bummed me out to be cut off from buying more yarn, but not enough to stop me from jumping into the stash and rolling around for a while.

"mommy....whys the chair on the table?"

Happy to say that mucho knitting has been occuring. Yeah! I have finally reached the point where I begin the border ribbing on my moms sweater, but I discovered that the only appropriate size 5 needle that was even somewhat long, was cheap and plastic and also....not quite long enough. I hate to bunch up all these stitches on cheap plastic needles that I'm gonna be struggling to stitch with anyway! ARG! I could've had the piece done last nite but alas....a trip to buy better needles is required. Sigh. So, upon that discovery.......I finished this:


yoga mat bag 


It is the yoga mat bag from the SnB Nation Book. Yippee! Now I have both my hands free to wrangle up the kids at the gym daycare after yoga and/or pilates workouts. I messed up three rows of the pattern and ran out of dark blue yarn so there is a light blue stripe where I attached the strap. That only took me about 30 minutes or so to seam up (only ripped it out once!), so I had the rest of the evening to knit. I decided to work on the ballet wrap but discovered I had put the needles away that I had used for the first piece. Unbelievably, I do not remember what size needles I used!!! Ack! I think it was my size 10 but I'm not 100% sure on that. It is however, my best guess, so I am going to cast on and start the left front piece. Wish me luck.
Anyhow, all the needle searching/confusion led me to an all out knitting needle bag cleaning and inventory. You know, I have a lot of needles, but most of them are the cheapy plastic ones (won on ebay) and I don't really want to use them. :( Besides that I NEED A KNITTING BAG! I am using a cloth grocery bag for crying out loud!!! My dream is to eventually design or find a felting pattern for one.

As an end note: Has everyone seen the total for MSF donations on the Yarn Harlot's site! Its amazing! If you haven't seen it yet check it out! www.yarnharlot.com

Have you ever loved a yarn so much that you just wanted to roll around in it all day? Well, that is how I feel about my first two skeins of Classic Elite's Inca Alpaca. I want to make the fingerless gloves from the SnB Nation book for my MIL so I went to the lys to buy some Kureyon (which I was very excited about) when I saw the Alpaca and decided to buy it instead. It is a lovely lavender color and I've named it Packy.
Besides that I also bought some very colorful Regia Sock yarn for my daughter. I can't decide whether to make socks or legwarmers for her. Seeing as its January and its 80 degrees outside, I seriously doubt she needs either one. So I now have officially broken the budget with yarn and have enough projects to keep me seriously knitting for the next year or so!
Speaking of projects, I have made more of an effort to finish moms sweater. I knit on it for four nights in a row and only made three inches of progress. Now, I do knit English style but I know I'm not a slow knitter. It seems like there are a bajillion sts in a single row! Okay, I know its an adult sweater and it takes time and effort. It is coming out very nicely too. The wool is SO beautiful! I will post a picture as soon as I finish this piece.
In other project news, I started a simple ballet wrap for my daughter and also the yoga mat bag from the SnB Nation book. With all these projects, I'm beginning to think my husband is right and I AM obsessed with knitting! Yippee for me!