Knitting Update

Finished a couple of items last week that I've been working on for months ... a prayer shawl for a friend whose husband has been going through some scary health issues ...

... and Mom's Mother's Day gift, the Lion Brand Soft Rib Cardigan. This thing is so heavy - it is double-stranded worsted weight with over two pounds of yarn in it. It's cozy and warm, but I was pretty sure after seeing it completed, that it would swamp her. I literally finished it at midnight on the Monday before Mother's Day and had to box and ship it out.

The reason it took so long to finish was I had trouble with the last little bit which ended up taking another week. You have to use a gigantic circular needle to pick up stitches all the way around it (408 stitches on this one), then knit a rib pattern for 4", then begin short rows to make the shawl collar (which was actually pretty cool). I didn't have a circular that long, so I used my interchangeable needle set and screwed together 4 sections to get the length. This photo shows the circular needle with the 408 picked up stitches ...

However, I had been working this on my lap and apparently every time I flipped it over to go a different direction on the short rows, I was unscrewing the connection on one of the cables. So about the same time I noticed there was a weird hole in the collar from a dropped stitch, one of the cable sections had come apart and I had to fish the stitches back onto the cable and try to reconnect it, as well as unknit a bunch of rows to fix the dropped stitch.

Worked for a while, but in the end the cable came apart two more times and I was having trouble twisting the cable to screw it back together. Since this was a section I wasn't knitting on, opposite the collar, I finally just left it apart, slapped some masking tape on each end to keep the stitches on the cables, and kept working the collar. I had to complete it while sitting at the table so I could just slide it around to do the short rows instead of flipping it over in my lap. When it was time to bind off, I was able to reconnect the cable and work over it.

Here it is finished ...

So Mom ... Happy Mother's Day ... I love you. (She's already received and opened it, so I can show it.) I should probably get you one of those Medical Alert Buttons to wear in case the weight of it takes you down and you need to call for help!  =O

I've started the triangular shawl I've been wanting to make for myself. It's such a simple pattern ... just keeps growing in garter stitch as you increase on each end of each row. I'm using Vanna's Glamour in Onyx - it's a #2 Fine Weight yarn and I'm using size 8 needles to make it a little lacy.

It's hard to see in the photo, but there is a sparkle to the yarn that's really pretty ...

And I have a May birthday girl that I wanted to make some Funky Footsies for. They're navy blue yarn with white fun fur and a thread of sparkle yarn in the cuff ...

Next on the list ... I need to focus on Christmas gift knitting and start making my lists of people, items to knit and yarn needed. If I start now, I'm hoping I'll be able to "wrap it up" early this year. Pun intended!