Sheep Heid Tam for me....

....and knit by my dear friend, Denise, of LostCityKnits.  The irony of this is

that I test knit for her and she knit this for me.  She knew I would

not be able to knit it for some time as I have DeQuervain's Syndrome in my left thumb/wrist.

Ouch is right.

Not being able to knit, sew, tat, crochet and other daily activity is making me not so happy.

I DO have a question about my hair and would love input from you all......should I leave it the length it is

or cut it short.  I look forward to your opinions!

Hope everyone else is doing better than me.  :)

Knitting with friends and my cardigan

 My knitting girls.....

 Go, Allison, Go!

 See Elizabeth knit?

 Look at Jenni knit with double pointed needles for the first time!

You go girl!

My very own Lupine Cardigan blocked and drying.

I realized when you knit your own clothing, no one will have the same one in your town!

What have you all been knitting?

Icelandic Sweater finished and mailed...

...to my son. He asked me to knit this a couple of years ago and sent a picture of a band member wearing this design.

I hymmed and hawwed and dragged my feet a bit. Why?

Well, because this was the first time knitting an Icelandic Sweater, my son has loooooonnng arms [6'4"] and I doubted my ability to get it to fit right.....the first time. I'm the only one....right?

He sure had faith in me or he wouldn't have asked me to knit him one.

I actually had it knit up with gauge in stitches...........HA. Since I haven't knitted something in a yoked pattern, I didn't think gauge in rows was needed. Well, I was wrong and had to frog my first attempt and start over.

I am so glad I did. I am so happy I did.

Thanks to EZ and Meg's way of thinking [and now mine], I made the back a bit longer to avoid that dreaded frontal droop AND the back of the neck is raised a bit, too, so there wouldn't be that dreaded uncovered neck.

The unfinished sweater traveled with me, at Christmas time, to visit my son. He tried it on and oh did he look fine......except that I needed to add an additional 2 3/4" to EACH sleeve. Ha! That was an easy fix! Once I got back home, I snipped a thread about an inch above the needed sleeve increases and picked a whole round out. I then knit the required length, grafted the sleeve back on, weaved the few threads in - here and there, soaked, blocked, dried and mailed it.....

I hope to post a photo of him wearing it real soon!

Jenny Deters and CSM's are good friends....

....CSM's have been around for a very long time. I barely learned about them in 2004 and own two now.

I've gone to a few retreats to learn more about what else can be 'cranked' on the machine.....and that's when I met Julie. Julie is a friend of Jenny's and was demonstrating how to do fair isle on the CSM! OMG!

Jenny has compiled her lace sock patterns into the first book. In her second book, you get socks and much more than socks! You've just GOT to check it out!

If you want to read more about this fantastic designer, it's here! While you are there, check out the FREE pattern.

If you want to check out her two books, you go here. I have these two books and [with no affiliation] am very impressed with her work. The patterns are super easy to understand.

Icelandic wool hat....

....per my son's request.
It's getting there. What's getting there? Me getting the sweater knit that my son saw and asked me to knit up for him.
I charted the design and decided to knit a hat, for practice. So far, so good. I think he's going to like it.
I used Reynold's Lopi from Halcyon, US sz 10 1/2 needles to get 3.25 stitches to 1". I've been wondering whether to use a lighter yarn for the medium brown.......to help the dark brown stand out more.

Fair Isle sweater swatch made into a cap

I finished my swatch......and my son loves it!!

There are some long floats in the beginning but they are holding their shape.

A big 'Thank You!' to the yahoo group that helped me get past some concerns. I am now ready to write the sweater pattern so I can begin my son's sweater.

My Alpine bag

Please excuse the dark picture of my unfelted bag. I am NOT the best photographer except in my mind.

You wouldn't know by that picture that the colors I chose were hyacinth, burgundy and sand in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes.

This, wonderful to knit bag, is a Deby Lake creation that she so generously gave. I have made a couple of her designs.....and not just bags.

You can find this pattern here as the October pattern. November's looks like a great one to do, too!

The color still isn't true but....here is the end result of my nervous felting. I was so afraid I would over-felt. I love, love, love my new bag!!!

I did a few things different: I used a 3 stitch I-cord method to bind off the top, knitting extra I-cord for the knot in front and then making a small opening at the back (for the closure). Next, I knit the handles 60" long with a 4 stitch I-cord using two strands. After felting and drying, I weaved the cord in and out in different directions.

Did I mention ~ I LOVE MY BAG??

The Sweater my son wants me to knit

Well, here it is - the infamous sweater my son would love to have. He sends me the picture and asks, "Mom, I really like this sweater! Can you knit this for me?". Of course I can, says I.

So, I finally charted it to the best of my ability, purchased the yarn, and have son's measurements.

Since I am a huge fan of EZ and Meg, I cast on my swatch as a cap - just as they would. I knit the ribbing in k2, p2 and then a few rows in stockinette. Here is where I noticed how.........far........apart.........the dark stitches are. Oh, oh!

I plunged right in (anyway) and followed the chart, catching the dark float every inch (as Meg would do). I then ripped the 5 or so rounds...........twice.

Did I give up?

Wellllll.......I can't - my son thinks I can do anything.

So, I joined this fabulous group (after searching yahoo groups with "fair isle").

I posted my question about long floats and got several, wonderful responses. I love that group!

Now I can try it again.

Note: After I explained my dilemma to my son, I asked him to look at the chart and see if he could put a few stitches in it here and there. He did so with my pencil, then looked at me with a slightly twisted face and said it didn't look like the picture anymore. So, not only can I try it again.....I WILL try it again. :)