We’re not big valentine’s day people around here – we get the love every day so don’t really feel the need to single out. I was going to buy a card for Meli to give to her Daddy but I forgot. Oh well.

But I’d thought it would be appropriate to talk about another love – the KNITLOVE! Shall I recap? I started knitting a purple shawl collar cardigan probably about six weeks ago – who knows – I can’t keep track of time anymore. Anyway, so I looked and looked for a pattern and settled on the Central Park Hoodie (do I really have to link to it?) It’s my favorite sweater to date – I wear it all the time and I love how it fits. No hood though – I’m putting on a shawl collar.

I knit the back and fronts all in one piece up to the armholes, just the way I did with my original CPH and got there really fast. Before I knew it the back was done (other mods – short row shoulders for a three needle bind off.) Now to start the fronts. I had a pattern from Vogue in mind for the shawl collar and completely freaked out when I looked at it to determine the neck decreases for the front and realized that they started their decreases like three inches BELOW the armholes. DAMN! I was not going to rip out all that good knitting. So I called Ann, of course. “Do I really need to RIIIIIP!” (Ripping, of course, meaning the entire back and then three inches more.) She said, “Let’s ask Shiri!” Who’s Shiri? Shiri is Shiri Mor. She teaches classes at the knit shop where Ann works and she’s got like a bajillion designs in Vogue Knitting and other publications. (See her ravelry page here.)

Shiri was nice enough to talk me down from the RIP and informed me that I could start my v-neck decreases wherever I wanted, thank you very much. Her suggestion was to figure out how many stitches I need to lose in the bind off for the armholes and the shoulders and subtract that from the total number of stitches for the front. Then, count the number of rows I needed to finish to match the back. So I had the number of stitches to decrease for the fronts and the number of rows I needed to do it in and voila! A little bit of math and I was on my way. It worked out perfectly! Thank you so much Shiri!!

Of course, now that the fronts and backs are done – I even seamed them together! – I’m going to need to figure out the collar. The secret of the shawl is short rows, and there are plenty of patterns out there with shawl collars, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out, right? I think I’m going to need some more brain power though so I’m going to do the sleeves. Soon. When I’m not so tired. The sweater, so far, is turning out exactly how I planned. I might even be able to wear it before the weather warms up for good!

So there’s my knitlove, and here’s my babylove modeling the knitlove!

Have a great day everybody!!
L, C

The other night I found myself on the couch, next to my (big) baby, watching TV. There was no (little) baby to be found – she was tucked asleep for the night – and the show on TV hadn’t been on for two years at least.

I turned to G and said, do you mind if I knit. He got all excited and said, “You HAVE to knit! You always knit when we watch 24!”

People, it was surreal. Me. On the couch. Knitting. Watching 24 with G. I haven’t had a night that good in a long time.

I wish I could tell you how many projects I’ve started and stopped and started since the baby was born. There were a couple of stuffed toys. At least three cardigans for Meli. I still haven’t sewn the sleeves on this one. (OMG! Look how little she was!) How pathetic am I? I’ve got half finished blankets. A million socks. I actually started a gorgeous Aran cardigan this summer – and made it pretty much through the back and cast on for the fronts before I got crazy busy with work. It’s kind of pathetic to tell you the truth and when I think about all these cast-aside projects I get really sad.

So what’s a knitty girl to do? I cast on for something new. Natch.

When the lastest issue of the Twist Collective came out, I fell in love IMMEDIATELY with a featured yarn. The yarn is used in the pattern Garbo, which isn’t really for me, but that gorgeous purple tweed jumped off the screen and BEGGED me to buy it. Of course, I obliged. It’s Fiddlesticks Knitting Luscious Tweed in the Amethyst and it’s 90% wool and 10% silk. I swatched immediately upon receiving the yarn from The Needle Arts Book Shop, which has great customer service. They send you my absolute FAVORITE rubber stitch markers when you make a purchase over $30, which, let’s be honest, you blink your eyes and thirty bucks flies out of your pocket.

I saw the sweater I wanted to knit in my head right away – a nice comfy shawl collar sweater. The yarn reminds me a lot of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, which I used for this vest, and the tweed and the yarn lend themselves to stockinette. It’s kind of slubby, if you know what I mean. I started scouring the internets for patterns, and finally realized that the sweater I really love is my Central Park Hoodie. It fits great and I wear it more than any other hand knit sweater I have. And it was an easy knit. So I decided that a new CPH it will be – only without cables and without hood. I’m doing the body all in one piece, the way I did my CPH and I’m going to leave off the hood and add a shawl collar.

The best parts of this project are that I hit gauge after I washed my swatch and that it’s a stockinette sweater that I should be able to knit fairly quickly. The picture I’ve posted is a bit deceiving – I’ve already cast on three times (third times the charm!) and knit the 4″ of ribbing and a bunch of rows of the body. My goal is to knit at least two rows a day – one knit row, one purl row. Should be doable right? Stayed tuned for more on this project! (And others, I hope!)

There! I blogged about knitting. With a picture and everything and I even got it in before the day was out. Now I have to go try and knit those two rows. Wish me luck!