Tangled Yoke Cardigan and other stuff

So, I finished the Tangled Yoke Cardigan last Wednesday. I have to say, I really love this sweater. The only thing I'm not satisfied with are the buttons and buttonholes. The buttons are not quite in the right places, so I may have to take them off and re-place them. Also, the buttonholes are a mite too large for the buttons I chose, so I will have to make them a touch smaller, somehow. Easy fixes, really. This cable is brilliant. Love. It.

In other knitting news, I have a dilemma regarding my Tilted Duster. Click on that link to see what it's supposed to look like. Then see below.Now, I will grant you that I am not pregnant anymore, as I was in this photo. But Jamie is now 15 months old, and the sweater still doesn't fit right. I think I needed more ease. The top just doesn't meet the way it's supposed to. So this is my dilemma: do I give it to a more willowy friend who may or may not want it or wear it? Or do I frog the entire thing and re-use the yarn?

Then I've got a pile of projects to think about. Andy's vest is about half done. I'm about to start a pair of socks for my grandmother, then I've promised hats to my daughter, my mom, and my aunt. Not to mention my entire Rav queue. I'd better start winding some yarn.

Alrighty then...

I'm going to give it a go, and we'll see what happens. I thought to myself, it's 12 1/2 weeks until my due date; I may not be able to do much for a few weeks after that, but I'll try to get back into the swing of blogging until then.

My knitting mojo is definitely back. For a few months there, I didn't even want to see my knitting bag, let alone get anything out of it. But now, let's see...

I've finished this,

in which the zipper is not great, but not absolutely horrible, either;

and this, too:

The Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits, fall 2007. I made it to my pre-pregnancy bust size, so it gapes a bit in front, but I hope it will look nicer after the baby is weaned. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with it.

Then, just for fun (and perhaps for a warmer second cup of tea):

A quick little knit -- a tea cozy in trinity stitch.

There, now. I guess that wasn't so bad. :)

I'm thinking that since I've got Ravelry, more of this blog will end up being daily life and random thoughts. Be warned!

Real Life

There has been a lot going on around here. Sometimes real life gets in the way of internet life, but you know, that's how it's supposed to be. And I know the four of you who check in to my blog understand that. :)

Our parish has been celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year.

The big culmination of the year was over the weekend of the 27th and 28th. We had a big dinner dance on Saturday night.
The next day, we had a big Mass at noon, with the cardinal celebrating.

The choir did very well; I was very proud of how all their hard work turned out.

Then I had jury duty the next day. Thankfully, I was dismissed shortly after noon.

Hallowe'en was also this week. Rose wanted to be "a black kitty." My mom recycled a skunk costume that her cousin (Rose's, not my mom's) had worn a couple of years earlier. She looked a little like a Monchichi. :)

I have also been knitting -- I decided to start the Tilted Duster. After a lot of swatching and many false starts, I finally started the back on the 31st. I just finished the first sleeve last night, and hope to have the second sleeve done soon. I'm washing and blocking each piece as I finish it, and so far it looks like it's going to work out.

See, I'm using Cascade 220, and it's my first time using it. Now, since the Tilted Duster should not be overly baggy, I wanted to make sure I was getting gauge (I've learned my lesson). I knit my first swatch on size 9 needles, and got 17 st./in., as the pattern calls for. Perfect, right? Well, no. I washed and blocked that swatch. I did not stretch it in any way, shape, or form, and it measured 15 st./in. after washing. Ah HA! See, I would have knit another baggy, unflattering sweater, and there would have been much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Unfortunately, it didn't bloom as much on size 8s, and I was having a really hard time getting stitch gauge before or after washing, and row gauge was way off. So I ended up sticking with the 9s, but knitting the 36" size. The fronts and backs blocked out perfectly to fit my 38" bust with just about 1" of ease. Which is exactly what I was looking for, yay swatching!