...that is on SusieQ, my dress form. That is what I was working on this afternoon. A work in progress. Still have to add more padding to the waistline and hips. I've been using polyester batting to fill in the areas under the bust.
I finally finished my 2nd pair of fingerless gloves. The first glove only took a day to finish and the matching second glove took over a week to complete. That's what I get for having too many hobbies. Good thing I 
Here's a practice cable scarf. I actually finished this right before Christmas. I wanted to show off the edging of the scarf. Basically, I slipped the first stitch off (left needle to the right needle) at the beginning of each row and proceeded with the patterned stitches. Slipping the first stitch gives the edge a really clean finish. Also, I noticed the scarf didn't curl towards the wrong side. The scarf is actually not that red, but more rose color. I wanted to show the details of the scarf/stitches and ended up bouncing my flash. 
I was doing my daily blog reading and came across Ann's posting at Gorgeous Things. So, here I am listing what I received: Photoshop CS4 book, Contemporary Christian Easy Guitar book, music stand, really nice red/black/gray knit top, a fabulous/perfect red scarf, Joann's gift card, Best Buy gift card (perhaps Project Runway #4 DVD?), a purse, and of course a really cool Beagle ornament.
Can you stand to see another knit top from Vogue? Since I was on a roll with this top, I decided to make another using a fancy slinky knit that reminds me of lace. It only took an hour to whip up this fancy schmancy top. I bought this at G-Street Fabrics over the summer and I had a "V-8" moment. I already had this exact fabric in my stash...thanks to EmmaOneSock. If I remember right, this was a Chico's knit.
While at the shop, I purchased two bamboo circular knitting needles to eventually make this mini cardigan. I found this Easy Little Cardigan over at Craft Stylish. They give a really nice tutorial along with pictures of some of the steps.
Here is my BWOF knit tunic. I made the smallest size 38 which turned out to be quite big on me. I am wearing a black slinky knit tank top that I made last year underneath the tunic. I still have quite a bit of room.
Here's another wonderful version of Vogue 2925 knit top. This one is in a size 12. The fit is much better. Not as snug as the size 10. No alterations were needed. For the side seams I did sew a 3/8 inch seam allowance.
Here are the pleats pinned at the shoulder. Instead of trying to mark the fabric with chalk or pencil, I use my pins to mark the pleat lines. Then I carefully fold over, matching the pins to create the pleat. I use a third pin to hold down the pleat until I baste it in place.
Here's my first knitted ensemble. Complete with scarf and fingerless gloves/wrist warmers. All the yarns used are Wool Ease from Lion Brand. The two colors I used was Black and Denim Twist. For the scarf, I used both the Black and Denim (two yarns) to make it heavier. You can see my gloves are not the same color pattern. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was running low on the Denim yarn so I ended up knitting the cuff in that color and then finishing with the Black yarn.
I absolutely love the neckline shape. It covers my front chest area nicely. The front shoulder pleats were easy to sew. The only time consuming part was folding over the neckline area and armholes and topstitching.
Awhile back, I had posted about purchasing fingerless gloves at Walmart. My sewing friend, Clio, made a comment that I could easily find a fingerless glove knit/crochet pattern and make them myself. She was right. That thought stuck in my head for several weeks as I was getting back into my yarn hobby. I finally found this lovely knitting pattern over at Bernat's site.
So, here is my version (still a work in progress) of the fingerless glove. I modified this pattern by shortening the length. The overall glove length is about 13 inches. Way too long for me. My version is only 8 inches in length. Short and sweet. My ribbed cuff is knitted in black Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn for 2 inches. Next I did the stocking stitch (Lion Brand Wool Ease - Denim Twist) for about 3 inches and finished with the final 3 inches of ribbing.
As I mentioned in a prior post, I was tasked to take pictures for our Children's Christmas Program at our SDA church. From rehearsals to final production, I took over 450 pictures. Do you know how difficult it is to take pictures of youngsters? Always on the move, squirming, fidgeting, etc. As always, I enjoyed the picture taking experience immensely.
The play was called "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the kids were dressed to represent the 12 days of Christmas. There were many verses to be told and songs to be sung. They were all adorable.
...as in the cable stitch. Here's my sample. I was getting bored with just doing the knit and purl stitches. I picked my handy dandy Boye's I Taught Myself to Knit Pocket Guide and followed their instructions to do a test sample. My first attempted resulted in producing 4 additional stitches out of nowhere. I pulled my first sample apart. My second attempt turned out to my liking. With this knowledge, I plan on making a cable scarf. I've done some research and have found that some cable scarves tend to curl badly.
For those of you who are interested to know how I learned to knit...here's a picture of the pocket guide I am using. It's actually a kit that I purchased from Walmart at the beginning of this year. The Boye kit included this pocket guide plus a set of short size 8 needles. This booklet has taught me the basics of knitting with simple instructions with pretty good diagrams.
I was a little apprehensive to use their recipe as the directions included: using two cookie sheets with one sheet placed on the lower rack (oven) and the other sheet placed on the middle rack. Bake for 22-25 minutes. About half-way through the baking process, swap the sheets on the two different racks and then turn the cookie sheets halfway. Basically, the lower sheet moves up to the middle rack and the middle sheet moves down to the lower rack. Then take the cookie sheets and turn so that the back cookies are now in the front. You know what? It really worked. All the cookies were evenly baked. I won't doubt any of their recipes again. I do love watching their shows on PBS.
On the knitting front: I have finished the two previous posted scarves and now working on another two. I like making two at a time. If I get bored with one color, I can switch to the other scarf. This one will be for a child. I am using Vanna's Choice yarn from Lion Brand. This will be a simple garter stitched scarf.
I am doing a little side project. Since I am almost done making gifts for Christmas, I thought I would start making gifts for our local SERVE. SERVE provides assistance for families in need as well as a place to get hot meals and a temporary place to stay. My side project involves knitting scarves in different colors and different sizes to give to the families during Christmas. I am not sure how many will get done, but I feel the calling to do something special for them. I will be posting throughout the month, the scarves I knit.
I am also working on this scarf in Wool-Ease by Lion Brand in Wheat color. This is a great yarn to knit with. For this scarf, I am using knitting needles size 15 (10.0mm).
