Let the Jubilation Begin: FLS is Done

Note: Pedro is planning on sleeping because he is worn out from the celebration dance and ready for momma's lap to be free again.


My first February Lady Sweater is done!

In the several-things-I-learned category:
1). Make the first one out of a yarn that you will wear with your jeans, however, did not spend a life savings on. This way I am not overly concerned that it turned out a size too big or has a few mistakes, er, unplanned design elements in it.


2). Count and recount when you are making up your own sleeve ending. I knit the sleeves to be elbow length by using 5 repeats of the lace pattern, three rows of knit (equalling stockinette when done in the round) and garter stitch for seven ridges with a Galina bind off. All this worked until I convinced myself that I had done six ridges of garter on the first sleeve and held that notion until the second sleeve was off the needles and I was happlily weaving in the ends. Oops... Oh well, I will know better next time.


3). Use a stitch marker for each lace repeat so you cannot get lost. This gull wing lace pattern is done over a 7-stitch repeat and the marker keeps you on track in case you make a mistake you only have to tink back a short way to correct it.

4). This particular pattern grows while you knit it in more ways than one. Take your chest measurement and determine what size that equals then go down one size. I think it is because of the garter stitch and the lace that makes it grow wider. That is even after a concentrated gauge swatch to determine needle size.

I really enjoyed this knit and plan to make another one soon, already have the yarn in my stash.

I hope everyone is finding wonderful projects to work on!

FLS Update: On the Way to Finished

For the last two months my February Lady Sweater has languished in a mini tub next to my knitting chair, waiting for me to finish samples for the shop and my ventures with wee tiny socks.

Since I finished the Knit One Below Scarf and delivered it to the shop as a sample I realized that I should look at all my UFOs and make a list to get them on track to finish.

So I pulled out my FLS and reviewed where I was, actually tried it on to see how much longer I wanted to make it and, to my delight, I was one lace pattern repeat away from the garter stitch border at the bottom. Yippee!

And after knitting for so long on the body I think the sleeves will be a breeze.

My goal for this week is to finish at least the bottom and one sleeve. Then next week I will finish the other sleeve and get it ready to wear.

I hope everyone is making progress on their goals!

Happy Monday! Weekend Update

The final flower class was lots of fun as usual. There are more flowers to knit and use for embellishments. We will look at others for future classes. For now, their gardens are started.

I have made good progress on the February Lady Sweater and finally have the pattern memorized and can easily do 4 reps an evening. I think I may have it ready to wear before the end of the month.

And I found a pattern I liked better for my Plain and Fancy Scarf that I purchased yarn for in Taos. So I restarted it and I think I like this much better.

And in my spare time I created some more Buttons with Bauble stitch markers for my Etsy shop.

While I was reading blogs on Saturday AM before I went to class I ran across a video on how to make origami cats. I fell in love with it and stopped for origami paper on the way to Woodland Park. I created my first one as a test and gifted it to my co-worker for her desk. I have great plans for others.

I hope you have exciting discoveries!

May: Can you smell Summer right around the corner?

From this view of the outside world you would not know that this is May and summer is right around the corner.

This is the second weekend in a row that the weather has been foggy, damp, drizzly, rainy, snowy, Seattle-like. I am not complaining because we need the moisture after our long, dry, cold winter.

This week I heard, in relation to the weather: "It is a great day to be a plant", and "This is great weather if you are the lawn."


While the outside looks like this I am working diligently on the February Lady Sweater. I managed to accomplish the four rows a day goal and am finally starting to see the pattern and I like it.

Pedro has been practicing his "cute" so he can get more comments from passerbys in the evening when I open the windows for him.

I hope you have big plans for this summer and enjoy your weekend!

FLS and End of Month Update

I am making progress on my FLS. It is a slow go with 4 repeat lace across over 200 stitches each row. I am not complaining just not used to the larger project. To achieve quicker gratification I knit the wee tiny socks in the car during lunch. That gets me a finished project every couple of days.

My goal with the sweater is to finish one pattern repeat an evening. That is only four rows and I think I can commit to that while watching movies.

In my spare time this last weekend I made a couple sets of stitch markers with buttons and a charm. I am calling them Buttons with Bauble and plan to put a few sets up on Etsy by this weekend. If you are interested, please let me know if you have a particular charm and color combo, and I will make them, and put them on Etsy especially for you to purchase. They are really cute and are designed for sock knitting.


In other knitting news: I have completed one Wee Tiny Sock Swap (WTSS) and it is in the mail. I will be doing another one next week and then working on some to swap at the Sock Summit in August. They are really fun and fast to knit. I have expanded the pattern to larger needles and worsted weight to make mini stockings that I will be teaching in my Christmas in July class.


I have a secret project I am working on for my co-worker to take on her Disneyland getaway in May. If I can't go, I can live vicariously through the picture she is going to take with the secret project and a certain large-eared someone. It will be fun.

I hope everyone has lots of fun things filling their lives!

Weekend Update: Snow, Church, Six Plays, and More Product for the Etsy Shop!

Wow! what a weekend. Friday brought us snow, lots of snow for some areas. It granted us a half day in the office then it was make our way carefully to home to work from there, because it was snowing so hard at the north end of town that we decided we would do better to go home and work, so we did around 1 p.m. The drive was slow and sloppy.


This was followed by enough sloppy weather Saturday to keep me indoors and working on updating my Etsy shop with new products, and some really good progress on the February Lady Sweater (FLS). All this while watching new and favorite movies and playing with Pedro when he was not napping.


Sunday saw some sun and melting here at the lower elevation of town. I went to church at the Church of the Wildwood in Green Mountain Falls on the invite of one of my regular students. It was a really nice service and friendly group of folks. The scenery was breathtaking, made more so with the snow frosting.

Then I went to the Six Women Playwriting Festival performance at the Louisa Performing Arts Center near the Broadmoor. These six - 10 minute plays were the award winners out of 200 submissions. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I hope everyone had lots of adventures on their weekend!

FLS Update: Yoke

I am making progress on the February Lady Sweater. And, so far, I like it.

I have to send out a thank you to A Knotted Yarn blog for her insightful hints that she shared from her knitting experience of the FLS.

I read through the pattern then read her hints and made the following adjustments before I cast on: decided to make the size smaller because it has been reported that this sweater "grows"; marked the right side of the garter yoke after the second row so I would not be guessing all the time; looked at the suggested video about the described M1 increases; reviewed the buttonhole on a sample swatch along with the M1s and reviewed her notes about where she decided to make the eyelet increases.

So far I am pleased with the look of this sweater, however not pleased with the buttonholes. I think I will be researching buttonhole techniques before I knit another one. I am not going to rip out what I have done so far to redo it, my plan is to clean them up with some crochet edge and camouflage the sloppy parts. I think I am to the eyelet increases and definitely to the place that this project has to stay at home. It has gotten to bulky to be portable without the fear of it creeping off the needles.

I hope everyone is enjoying the first hints of warmer weather.

Weekend Update

With the kid cardis completed and packaged for shipping, I decided it is time to start a project for me.

I am casting on the February Lady Sweater for my house project and I will be working on the Plain and Fancy Scarf pattern I got in Taos as my car project.

Around these items I will finish more samples for the shop and some small gift items I need to prep for upcoming birthdays. All in all, it has been a very productive year so far.


For the rest of my weekend I worked on seasonal clothing changeout and reduction. Then I took the folks to the Butte Opera House in Cripple Creek for the production of Arsenic and Old Lace staged by the Butte Players Community Theater.

Even though over the years the productions have become more professional with paid actors for the parts in the Thin Air Players, this group showed their mettle and hard work under the tutelage of the director, our favorite Mel Moser. I hope we see more of these kind of productions in conjuction with the season of "professional" productions.

Weekend and Kid Cardi Update

This weekend was dedicated to a belated St. Patty's Day celebration, complete with traditional dinner with the folks. The addition to the meal was a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake courtesy of my brother in Missouri. He had sent some interesting dessert mixes in the Christmas box this year and this is the first time I had to try one of them. The pie was yummy (thanks bro') and so was the dinner (thanks mom). Then we watched the Madagascar Penguins extra DVD. It was very funny.

While I was there I showed Mom the progress on the kid cardis. I have two or three done except for button and end weaving, and the last one is almost ready to go on the big needle for finishing.

I am enjoying knitting these kid cardis so much. I just wish this pattern came in my size. I may have to do some designing of my own to figure out how to do one in an adult size. That will be like Pam Wynne who refabricated the pattern for the February Lady Sweater that is all the rage over at Ravelry. It came from Elizabeth Zimmerman's February baby pattern in her Knitting Almanac. Pam designed it to "fit a grown-ass woman" and it is lovely. I have plans to raid my stash and get started on a practice one soon.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, airing out the house with all windows open while the weather was warmish on Sunday, and setting up to start the matching kerchiefs for the girls. At first I thought doing them in stockinette would make a nice fabric to embroidery on, however about 10 rows in I realized that it will roll up and not lay nicely so I ripped it out and started on a garter stitch version. This does not lend itself to having embroidery on it, but I have an idea to add decoration to them. I will share when I get the first one done. I think it will be cute and may add the matching deco to the sweaters as well.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!