Bits n' Bobs

First, an FO

Last weekend I reported seaming my Rogue and by Sunday afternoon it was finished. There was some minor drama involving me, a scissors, and a seam I was unhappy with, but a frantic call to Julia and by Monday all was again right with the world. I won't go into the gory details - let me just say this: Steam first. Rip Second.

Anyways, drama and all, here are the final results:

• Pattern: Rogue by The Girl from Auntie
• Yarn: Paton's Classic Merino in Evergreen Mix
• Modifications: I didn't get gauge so I knit a smaller size than I needed, but other than that I don't think I did a thing.
• New skills/tricks learned: hemming, joining the pocket, three needle bind off, steam blocking

As I mentioned before, this yarn is fabulous. I've worn the sweater several times now with naught beneath and it is soft and comfy with not a bit of "skritch". Love it.

Now, Some Other Knitting

Since finishing the one big project in the works (Lizard Ridge doesn't count. It's apparently immortal) I've had terrible knitting ADD. I'm still working on Annie's gift, but I've been itching to start a summer piece for myself, so I did. The Racer Back Tank from Joan McGowan Michaels' Knitting Lingerie Style. I chose to use Knit Picks Shine Worsted and give it a fun stripe pattern, since I really wanted something colorful and "Key West-ian". The Mister and I got into the design programs and started playing with numbers to get a good Fibonacci pattern going. We finally settled on one and I cast on. Twice. Note to self - Shine bears absolutely no resemblance to the cotton/elastic yarn suggested in the pattern. It stretches. ALOT. And it has very little "sproing". I got this far once











I got a few more rows in (okay, about a dozen) before realizing that what I was knitting was going to be at least 40" wide. Not so good. So I tried again knitting the smallest size... and forgot to switch from US6 to US7 after the first four rows. So it now looks like this:













And it's staying right there until it decides to behave itself!

So I cast on for the Baby Surprise Jacket I wanted to make for my soon-to-be-grandbaby, Trevor. I was poking around on Ravelry and saw some really nice results with Araucania Nature Wool Multy, of which I had a skein way in the bottom of the stash.



















It's sort of forest and maroon and brown, so I think it will work well for a baby boy. I cast on last night but I'm only a few rows in, so I won't bore you with that nonsense. I'll get a photo up next week when I've got something to show for my efforts. It's a pretty color, tho. And it's not blue. The proud mom will be drowning in blue outfits, I've no doubt, so I hope this will be a welcome departure.

And Lastly, Spinning!

I also got back into the swing of spinning and made some good progress plying a few skeins of the Apple Butter.


















I think I finally know what this wants to be, but since the recipient reads this blog, I'll just have to leave it at that for now. ;-) But isn't it pretty! It's coming out really well, at about a light sport weight, but it is much more "sheepy" than I had anticipated. The lanolin content is quite high, which causes it to stick to itself on the bobbins, making plying an... adventure. I'm anxious to get some nice warm, dry weather so I can give these a good warm soak and lay them outside to dry. This probably represents about half of the yarn I can expect to get out of this roving. Surely enough for my plans...

heh heh