Hey Cara Mia!

I'm pretty pleased with the final results of this project. Apart from my massive weight gain over the last 6 months, I think it looks not half bad on me.

Project Stats:

Pattern: Hey Teach

Yarn: TLC Cara Mia (discontinued) in Aqua

Changes to the pattern: I made long sleeves. I lengthened the skirt 4". I only put buttons on the lace bodice (and in retrospect, not sure I would do that again. This one might have worked better with buttons all the way down the front). I added selvedge stitches (two of the sizes on the pattern have you work the lace pattern on the selvedge). I did this by increasing 2 stitches on the last row of the waist ribbing.

Problems with the pattern: only the lack of selvedge stitches for those two sizes... and that's just because I don't like dealing with the decreases when seaming or picking up stitches. It can be done (as I did it with my first one).

Overall impressions: again, I love this pattern. It works up so fast and I love how it looks. The yarn is one of my faves. It's soft and cozy. I wear my other two sweaters in this yarn ALL the time around the house. This one will get a lot of wear, that's for sure! The weight gain is annoying me, and I'm not thrilled with how I look in the photos, but that's not the cardigan's fault.



So that's project number 5 for 2009. Knew this would be an instant gratification project (and that's with a longer body and long sleeves! Think I can get one more project done before the end of March???

Falling Behind Schedule

March is almost over... and to reach my 24 projects this year, I have to finish two projects by the end of the month (to average 2 a month). Hmmm... at least one will be fninshed:


The sleeves for Hey Cara Mia are done and blocking (which is why the color seems wonky.). The body is done, and ready for me to do the neck ribbing and buttonbands (I blocked the fronts and back while working on the sleeves).

First, let me say I love this yarn. I'm thrilled with out it worked with this pattern. Which I also just love. I think my math worked for the long sleeves and I'm glad I lengthened the body. This is very different from my first Hey Teach.

Oddly, considering this is the third time I've knit it... I would not hesitate to knit it again. Very weird. I don't usually have that kind of attention span. However, I find the pattern to be fun and fast, and with some tweaking and different yarns, the finished projects can be quite unique.

I'm also working on an other fun and fast project. I'm naming it Lateralis (after the Tool song).


I used the Random Stripe Generator (which is fun to just play with) to generate my stripe pattern. I selected Fibonacci numbers (hence the reference to Lateralis) and 16 colors. The yarn is from the Elann Summer Sampler Packs (one green pack and one neutral pack). I'm working the cardigan top down with eyelet increases for the raglan shaping. I'll make short cap sleeves and I'll do some waist shaping.

I'm past splitting for the armholes and I'm finding that constantly changing yarns is keeping me interested. Quite a fun little knit. However, I don't think I'll have it done by the end of March. Meaning I'll have to have 3 projects finished in April! Yikes!

Progress Report

Just a quick update with some photos of some projects that I've been workong on here and there (not a complete list... I'm cycling thru about 5 projects right now, but these are photo worthy)>

First up, something new... sorta. Since I was looking for some instant gratification (and the socks didn't quite achieve that for me), I thought.... Hmmm, Hey Teach is a fun quick pattern... and wouldn't it look nice with long sleeves and in a favorite (discontinued of course) yarn:


That's "Hey Cara Mia!" I love Cara Mia and since it's been discontinued, I'm very picky about what I use it for. Since I know I like how this pattern looks on me, and with some mods, it's going to be very different than my first one.

As I said, I'll be doing long sleeves and I added about 4" to the skirt to make it less cropped. The back is done and the left front is just about at the waist ribbing. Such a fast knit... will be a good instant gratification project. Plus I should get some wear out of it this spring.

And speaking of waist ribbing...


Amelia is also at the waist ribbing. Can I just say "YUM!" on this one too. I'm using some Brooks Fiber Mas Acero and it's perfect for this pattern. The colors look great and the drape... what can I say???? I also added some length to the "skirt" on this and I'll be making the sleeves shorter than the pattern. Love this pattern (and I'm starting to get a little obsessed with the designer [Ravelry Link]. Love her patterns!!!).

Okay... must run. Meeting Julie for a little yarn shopping/lunch today!

uh... Yay?

A completed pair of socks. I guess I should do project stats?

Pattern: Charade Socks by Sandra Park (no relation... most likely). Oh, and that's a Ravelry link, btw.

Yarn: Socks that Rock by Blue Moon Fiber, Puck's Mischief maybe? love in Idleness.

Changes to the pattern: afterthought heel (it's the only heel that I like... doesn't change the color pooling, and I like the way it fits better than a heel flap)

Overall Impressions: Love the pattern... it's the kind of sock knitting that could convert me to being a sock knitter: easy without being boring. Perfect for with the hand dyed yarns. The yarn is okay. At least this colorway didn't pool (which I can't say for my County Clare colorway... it's an UGH for socks). I don't think I love the STR line of sock yarn. It's a little thick (even tho' it's the lightweight sock yarn) and I've had a lot of issues with pooling for most of the colors that I've tried.

I used the Knitpicks metal dpn's, and that made a huge difference. Might be an other contributing factor for me to knit socks. I don't like to knit with wooden needles, and I enjoyed using the Knitpicks.

I still think the biggest drawback for me and sock knitting is the wearing aspect. While I have wide/short feet (they go with the rest of my body), I really prefer good ol' cotton socks (I buy boys socks... women's socks are simply too big and girl sizes too narrow).

Here's a close up of the pattern stitch and my afterthought heel (which I can't recommend enough... no funky color changes at the heel/foot area). Oh, and a fairly decent color representation:



Ya, so that was a nice distraction. I have been knitting on other things, but just a little here and there with not a lot of progress on anything. I'm in a video game cycle right now, as I just don't seem to have good knitting mojo. I'll update project progress later this week.

Instant Gratification

or not...

I can understand the appeal of knitting socks. The yarns are lovely. From a knitting cost standpoint, it's cheaper than sweater knitting (tho not cheap) and you can play with fun stitches.

So why do I find them so unsatisfactory? I can crank out a sock in a little better than a day:


Yet I don't get the same sense of accomplishment. I don't love it. I know I have an other to knit, but there just isn't the same level of satisfaction when I knit socks.

Maybe because I won't be wearing it often? Maybe because they're not as "seen" as a sweater? (hey, it does stroke the ego when you knit a sweater and people tell you how lovely it is... even non knitters).

So while I struggle with trying to finish big projects, I thought a little sock knitting thrown in might give me that sense of "instant gratification"... yet I'm not feeling gratified. Sigh... back to ye old sweaters (oh ya... I guess I have to knit the other sock now).

I'm sorry... what?

I have zero concentration today... so this is what I've been doing (ed note: photos taken quickly and without a lot of correction, as I didn't have the attention span to do a lot of Photoshop tweeking today):


I've done about 4 rows on Iain.


I've done about 2 rows of Amelia (wait... Amelia? oh ya... just started a few days ago... in Brooks Farm Mas Acero).


I've done 6 rows of Ariann.


I've done one repeat on BPT/CPH Hybrid.


I've done one and a half rows on my Eyelet Cardigan.


I've done two rows of Roam.

ya, and that doesn't include my breakfast project, Sailors Ribs & Ropes Cardigan (which I didn't get a photo of).

Oh... and all that before noon. If I count how much I've done... it's a good chunk of knitting. However, it's not a good way to get anything actually accomplished!

Serious Spring Fever

Watching spring training games has it's drawbacks... as it sure does look nice in Arizona right now... stupid No'easter (at least we didn't get the 14" predicted... but we got enough thank you very much).

So I've been playing thru Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction again (and realized that life would be better if we all had Groovitrons). Watching spring baseball and doing the occassional knitting.


Matt's Iain is slowly progressing. I'm working on a few other projects, but nothing is getting more than a row or two done at a time. Just not in a groove.

The snow is still coming down (and it's windy), so we're staying in. Might even get some knitting done....