"Bob" is coming along nicely. I'm about 2/3 of the way up the chest, I would guess. The ribbing pattern is nice. I think I am going to have to buy more yarn though. I'm on ball number 5 right now and still have part of the front, the back, and two sleeves to do. We'll see.

I'm headed to a friend's place tonight to play Settlers of Catan. (a really cool board game) I'm going to bring some knitting to work on. I don't need to watch my hands much while I knit so it gives me something to do between my turns. I don't know whether I will take Bob or my socks yet though.....I'm eager to finish both projects.

The next project I have in mind is another baby gift, probably with that Pixie yarn I picked up. I'd love to make a sweater but I don't know if I want to wimp out and do a hat and booties again instead. Does anyone have any nifty and easy patterns for baby items done in a yarn that is almost like Snowflake?

The afghan has been given! We drove up to the wedding on saturday. Sadly we got lost and missed the ceremony! We did make it to the reception though. The couple looked so happy! They weren't openning the gifts until sunday, and we had to get home, so I didn't get to see their reaction. Hopefully they liked it! My brother hasn't uploaded the photos from his camera yet, but as soon as he does I will share photos!

I got a good chunk of the ankle socks done on the trip up island. I'm about halfway down the foot now. They look kind of cute with the solid color heel and veregated yarn for the rest. I don't have a lot of the veregated yarn left, I'll be doing the toes solid too. Still working away on Bob. I'm up to the shaping at the chest. I'm not sure how its going to work out though. Do you ever find yourself following a pattern thinking " this doesn't SEEM right, but I'm going to trust the pattern" and hoping it all works out? I'm there now, a few more rows and I will be able to see how it works out.

I managed to check out "Mad About Ewe" in Nanaimo. Cute shop with a great selection. I picked up a couple balls of Pixie by Patons to make more baby stuff. It's a lot like snowflake, but about half the price. ($4.99 Canadian - which is like $3 US) I got the Gelati colour, blue, green, yellow and white veregated.

Still no photos of the afghan, I will have to email my brother to see if he will email them to me. I'm anxious to share!!

I do have a scan on my progress so far on Bob, though. It's whipping right along, lots of straight stockingknit with shaping to keep it interesting:




The colour is a little off, my scanner insists on scanning this particular yarn REALLY dark, so I had to play with it in photoshop a bit. (And a photoshop whiz I am not!) It's really coming out nice, I can't wait to finish and wear this top! Despite the main colour being dark navy, the flecks of rainbow make it seem summery, and I'm knitting it nice and loose to be light and airy.

I got bored with the socks. Maybe the tiny needles were getting to me after the big needles I used on the afghan, but for whatever reason, they weren't seeming like fun. I set them aside for now, and decided what to make with my lovely Grignasco Safari yarn. I wanted something pretty and flattering, but not overly complicated, so the funkiness of the yarn would still work out okay. Then I remembered to check out knitty.com and there I found it - BOB! Simple, flattering, and knit mostly in the round, how perfect?

So I started on Bob last night. So far I have about 3 inches done, and it looks like this yarn will work really well. It's coming out light and drapey, which is what I was hoping for. It should be great for the warm weather that is starting to show around here.

IT IS DONE!

I completed the afghan on sunday night. I've never felt such overwhelming releif and happiness at completing a project. Even my very first sweater wasn't as big of a deal as this afghan to finish. I did some math and given the number of "oopsie's" I had to fix and piles of frogging when I messed up, I spent in the neighbourhood of 100 hours on this afghan. I can hardly beleive I spent that much time on one single project!I'm very happy with the result, though. I made it to be a "couch afghan" but it ended up the perfect size for a twin bed, so that is another option. The different patterns of all the panels look really neat, and the cable edging ties it all together wonderfully. The lettering turned out alright too. Duplicate stitch on loosely knit acrylic is difficult to get straight and even, but the end effect is really nice, I think.I washed and dried it yesterday, and now I just need to make a card and wrap it up. I'm so pleased with myself! I hope the couple really likes it. I'm quite certain they will - if I had any doubts I wouldn't have undertaken a project like this! I had my brother snap a few photos with the digital camera before I washed it, so once he sends them to me I can show you all what it looks like :)

Now I'm working on some anklet socks for myself, while I decide on a top to work on. I really liked a top that is in the current Vogue Knitting Magazine, but I checked the pattern and it calls for an elastic yarn (cascade fixation) not a straight cotton like I was planning on using. I noticed something was up when the Large size was only 35inches around.....my waist may fit in that, but not my chest! I am considering just altering the pattern to work with the cotton yarn, basically by knitting it larger, but I may just find something else to make, and buy fixation or Patons Katrina to make the vogue top later.

It's nearly finished! All I have left are 8 rows of nearly all garter stitch, the embroidering of the names, and weaving in a couple of names! I was going to work on the embroidery last night but I discovered I can't find the chart I drew up with the names on it. I'm going to have to rechart them today, I guess. My plan is to head to mom's house tomorrow to wash the afghan and block it out. I've been handling it so long and taking it everywhere, I'd like to wash it. Plus I think washing it will help all the stitches even out and look nice. I'm going to try to get my brother to snap a couple photos of the afghan with his digital camera too.

I want to finish this morning, so I can start on my next project this afternoon. I found a top in the new Vogue Knitting Magazine, it's a sleevless top with triangle details at each side at the waist. Very pretty and done in the round - YAY! I'm going to make it from that navy/rainbow yarn I got, my original plan for that stuff just was not working out.

It's kind of boring, just posting updates on the same, huge, neverending project. But that's pretty much all I'm knitting, so it's all I have to talk about. I'm making progress, only 23 rows to go, then weaving in a couple ends and doing the lettering. The end is in sight!

I did take the time to knit a couple of baby socks to match a baby hat I made. The planned recipient may have already made his or her entrance into the world, so it was about time I finished them!

I've been home sick from work a couple days, I feel really rotten. Sadly I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done in this time. Well, I DID get a bunch of knitting done yesterday but last night my husband, with his eagle eye, noticed a mistake I'd made. I had knit halfway across the afghan, then somehow got mixed up, turned around and knit back the same way. I've done this before, I have to be careful when I set a project down midrow to double check my direction! I lost about 2 hours worth of knitting ripping that error out! I haven't made that time back yet either.

I'm getting tired of the afghan, its a VERY large project. I'm looking forward to knitting more quick baby items once it's done.

I'm getting very nervous about this afghan getting finished on time! I only got a couple rows done last night, I estimate I have around 100 rows left to do! THEN the embroidery! I need to average 8+ rows a day starting now if I want to get it done in time. I'm really going to have to pick up the pace! I sense some heavy duty tv knitting time in my future.....

I haven't had a lot of time to knit lately. Work has been very busy (plus the afghan is TOO big to tote around) and lacrosse is really getting going. 2 practices a week plus a game night keeps me busy!

Finished the bright coloured baby sweater! It's VERY bright. I still need to get some buttons for it, then I will try and scan a photo. I also made a baby hat out of the same yarn. Saw a cute idea in a magazine to do a hat with an I-cord at the top and then tie the icord into a little knot.....I did that on a roll-brim hat and it turned out quite cute!

I'm getting a bit nervous about the afghan, I have just over 2 weeks to finish it and 1/4 left to do, PLUS the embroidery. YIKES!

I haven't been posting much, I just haven't had much to say! I'm still working on the rainbow baby sweater. I am partway done the second sleeve, then I just have to weave in all the ends. It's actually trickier I think with veregated yarn as you don't want to weave blue into yellow, etc. Still working on the afghan too, 3 weeks left, I'd better hurry up!