DC Sojourn

How can you not love baby feet? They're so wrinkly; an old man's feet, really.

His name is Oliver, and he has a full head of hair. It was great to meet him, and we had a great trip.

I'm not done going through my pictures (I took more than four hundred in three and a half days!), but here are a few of my favorites so far:

The Willows are so beautiful, but I was hoping to see some Cherry Blossoms. It's a little too early for them.

The National Museum of the American Indian

This was such a beautiful building. We enjoyed wandering through the exhibits.

I'll have more pictures of the monuments next time.

FO: Muddy Maroon Cardigan

The cardigan is done. I have pictures to prove it. Pictures of me wearing it. Wanna see?

Now with 100% more smirky face!

We went to D.C. this week to meet the new baby (the squirrel sweater was well received!), and I convinced my guy to snap some photos of me while we were seeing the sights. Speaking of, I've got some vacation photos to share with you as well.

I'm really not digging the hair in this picture, but that's what new haircuts are for, and I've got one coming up soon.

The handspun yarn yoke is Mud Creek, which I received as a gift from my good friend Sarah. It's been in the stash for two years, and I just wanted to find a pattern that would really showcase it's beauty. I think this sweater accomplishes that. Elliott helped me choose the body yarn, and I think the maroon Northampton, also from the stash, is a great choice. I started this sweater in December, over my Christmas break.

I found the wood buttons at Joann's a couple of weeks ago, and finished sewing them on last week, in preparation for the trip.

The pattern is Melissa LaBarre's very famous Garter Yoke Cardigan, which can be found in the 2008 Fall/Winter Knit1 magazine. The pattern is very straightforward. I really didn't make any modifications, except that I knit the sleeves differently. The first sleeve is a little too loose around my upper arm, as I prefer more fitted sleeves. When I knit the second one, I started decreasing more rapidly to achieve that look. They don't match exactly because of this, but it's not really that noticeable. I cast on with the Northampton and knit three rows with it before switching to the Mud Creek. I'm really please with the way it turned out. I can actually see myself wearing this, and that's not the case with some of the items I've made in the past.

I've decided not to cast on for anything new right away. I've decided to follow in yarndude's footsteps, and tackle a looming UFO.
My Central Park Hoodie, started in June 2008 is going to get finished. Just in time for summer.

Raveled

FO: Squirrelly Baby Sweater

Is squirrelly even a word?

Well, whether it is or not, these buttons are definitely squirrelly, or squirrel-ly, if you prefer.

This is the baby sweater for my fella's sister, who was induced last night, and has probably had the little guy or gal by now.

I get to hand-deliver the sweater to the new addition in the next few days, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out. Since the parents chose not to discover the sex ahead of time, I tried to knit something that could work for either gender. When I found the squirrel buttons on etsy, they just fit. The yellow and brown yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine. The blue is Cotton-Ease. I used less about half a skein of each.

The pattern is easy to follow, and the variations I've seen on Ravelry are just lovely. Several people chose to do applique, and I considered it, but I felt that the stripes + applique would be too busy. The knitting went quickly, but the total duration for the sweater was about 2 months. This was mostly because I knew my deadline, and I procrastinated on the finishing. Story of my life. Plus, finding the perfect buttons took some searching. The only trouble I had was due to these very buttons. They were a bit too big for the buttonholes, but I was able to stretch them enough to fit.

Second bag for Jiller

I decided to gift my first box bag to my sister along with the flat bag, because, well, she's awesome.

Today is her birthday. She's the coolest sister. In case you missed it, I posted some of my favorite photos of her here.

The outside fabric is Michael Miller's Falling Leaves. For the inside, I used some almost sheer fabric I found in my grandmother's stash.

Who knows how old this fabric is?

The bag only took me about an hour and a half, and I will certainly be making more.

In other news, my Muddy Maroon Cardigan is just three buttons away from being done. Pictures soon!

FO: The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine

Given my lack of time for blogging as of late, I guess it's not surprising that I never even showed you this piece in progress.

After casting on the day before Valentine's due to a craving for vibrancy, I blocked and photographed this past weekend, only two weeks later.

Feministy created this lovely pattern, Traveling Woman, which is lovely to knit, and a free pattern to boot! As a sideline, I am seriously coveting some of her Femme Fatale Fibers yarn. Lovely!

Back to the subject at hand, the pattern is straightforward, and I can tell my lace skills are improving, as I only had to tink back a row once while knitting this.

Even before blocking, the pattern is visible and appealing. I used less than two skeins of Shibui Sock in Poppy, which I purchased on my Boston trip last fall.

I'm so big on semi-solid yarns like this, and I really love the Shibui Sock base. I purchased another couple of skeins in the Wasabi colorway from Clumsy's Flocks of Yarn.

My grandfather commented to me this weekend that I should make my grandmother one in a shade this bright.

He says a girl needs some color in her life, at any age. I want to keep this one for me, but the next shawl I make for my grandmother will indeed be in a bright shade than the first.

See? Even Olias wants in on this shawl.

Raveled

In case you're wondering the name of the shawl is a Spoon song, one of my favorites!