Blogging on the back burner...

I need to blog, really, I do.  It has been far to long since I last posted.  ESPECIALLY since I finished my Central Park Hoodie on 7/24/11! It took me just under two months to complete it! (Which is great to me since I didn't work on it alllllll the time because I work and have my dissertation to work on.)  I really wanted to have a big **ta-dah!!!** post about finishing it...but I just can't find the time to take proper photos of the finished project, so this one will have to do for now. BUT the proper **ta-dah!!!** post will come soon! Pinky swear! Oh, as well as a group photo when everyone is done!

Saturday, Alex and I spent some time knitting/crocheting by her pool.  I, of course, brought over my finished CPH to show her and her mom.  Well, what was the next obvious thing to do on a summer day?  Take a photo in our bathing suits and sweaters of course!

So here, for your viewing enjoyment, is our lovely summer sweaters and suits photo!

Buttons for my CPH!

I've decided on buttons for my CPH! All that is left is to finish the button band, sew on the buttons, and tuck in the ends!!


I found the buttons at a trimmings store in NYC :).

WIP Wednesday: Central Park Hoodie

Life has been a bit hectic lately, but I've still found a bit of time to knit.  Here is a little update on my Central Park Hoodie!

We had our second KAL meeting Friday night (unfortunately one of us couldn't make it :().  We had decided that we would have up to the sleeves completed so that we could begin the hood.  The pattern saves all the seaming, except for the shoulder seams, for the end after everything is done.  During this meet up, I sewed my shoulder seams and started a few rows of the hood.  Picking up the stitches wasn't bad--got one side on the first try and just had to do the second side once over.  I've only ever picked up stitches while turning the heel of a sock, so this was good practice.  I decided to omit the double cable running up the back of the hood because I imagine myself wearing the hood down more than on my head and I think that I'd rather not see the revers side of the cable.

During this KAL meeting, Alex's mom seamed the sides of the sweater, one sleeve, and attached the sleeve and tried it on and also had Alex try it on.  The sweater has a nice fitted appearance.  (It seems really easy to modify the fit once you have an idea of how a certain size fits you.  Just make it larger to have it be more "relaxed" fitting).  The next evening after our meeting I was really anxious to see how my sweater fit, so I seamed the sides and tried it on.  It fit nicely, but I couldn't tell if it would be kind of snug once I added the sleeves.  So, the next day I seamed the sleeves.  I tried them on without attaching and they seemed tight. Then I sewed them on the sweater, and low and behold, it fits WONDERFULLY!

So, now all that is left is to finish the hood, add the button bands, and tuck in all the ends.  In the pictures below you can see that the front is hanging open a lot.  I think that once I add the button bands it won't do that so much--I think it is just rolling.  I still can't get over how much it looks like a sweater!  Yippee for my first sweater *almost* being finished!!! I can't wait!

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday! The back of my CPH is done!!!!

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday!! Even though I'm running to bed (long day) I couldn't forget to update for work(s) in progress Wednesday!!  Here we have a baby blanket that needs all the ends tucked in and my Central Park Hoodie!!

Central Park Hoodie KAL, first meeting!

On Sunday my KAL group had our "first meeting" :).  Our group consists of me, Lindsey, Alex, and Alex's mom!!   I'm very excited about this because this is my first knit OR crocheted adult size sweater---and it is for me!  We met on Sunday, had some lunch, and got to knitting!  Some of us had cast on prior to this first meeting to begin the ribbing--because ribbing can be a bit boring/annoying/blah...  Well, Alex was a bit gung-ho and finished the back of her sweater DURING our first meeting.... :) Way to go ALEX!  You can see her finished pieces in the picture below :).  The rest of us either completed at least all of the ribbing during this first meeting and began the pattern repeats.

Pictured here is Alex and her mom.  I'm so happy that we have Alex's mom on board, we can learn so much from her!!!!  She is a wonderful knitter and it makes me very excited that she decided to join us!  Both Alex and her mom decided to use Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for their sweaters.  Alex's is a purple/red heather color (Claret Heather) and her mom's is a light blue/gray color (Lake Ice Heather)

Lindsey got a good amount of her sweater done. (Notice her stitch markers!! I made those :).  Lindsey is using Caron One Pound in a navy blue color.  I'm also using the Caron One Pound, but in white.  I had a bunch of this yarn in my stash (3 pound in each color) and we figured that since this was our first real big sweater project, it was best to try and use up a stash yarn instead of buying something new :).  A bit plus is that this yarn is machine washable and dry-able!!

From left to right: Alex, me,  and Lindsey.  We are all so proud of our progress on these sweaters!  This was taken at the end of our knitting session!

Finally, here is my progress (by the end of Sunday night) on my sweater!  This is the back.  I'm slightly nervous that this might be too small since this pattern is said to run about 4 inches too small.  I went up a size and got a slightly larger gauge with my yarn than the patter, so I'm hoping that it will be ok.

Our next meeting is on June 19th!  We made an agreement not to have more than the back and two front sides made by this time.  Alex is really knitting this quickly and we thought it would be best to try to stay at a similar pace for this project.  I hope that I can do the back and the fronts by the next meeting!!!  I think I might take this to work with me :) so I can knit on the train!  WOOHOO!!!

Until next time!