Daphne

Specs:

Pattern: Daphne - Elsebeth Lavold Book #8 The Enchanted Garden
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold
Needles: Size 3 US Rosewood straights for edging, 4 US Holz & Stein Ebony circular for body.
Size: Women's large
Started: April 3, 2007
Finished: May 24, 2007

Modifications: The pattern called for needle sizes 1 & 2. After making a gauge swatch and comparing the suggested needle sizes for other projects in the book it was obvious the sizes are incorrect. No other modifications were needed. I'll need to take the buttons off and reinforce the band with grosgrain ribbon to give some stability and prevent the drooping and gapping. Other than these adjustments, I enjoyed the project and the yarn blocked out to a very even fabric with wonderful drape.

Laburnum

Specs:

Pattern: Laburnum
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport
Needles: Size 2 US Inox dpn's
Method:
Size: Women's size 9 1/2
Started: February 5, 2007 Finished: May 31, 2007

Twisted German Cast-On over 72 stitches with Eye of Partridge heel and grafted toe.

Blocking and awaiting buttons purchased today.


I took the Bosworth Midi I bought at SAFF for spin with the Mojave merino purchased the same day. It was fun to be spindling again and the roving is making a lovely yarn but I'm am paying for it with the neck, shoulder and arm flaring up. This may turn out to be a definite no-no and I'm so not looking forward to getting rid of my spindles and wheel.

Closing In

A bit of seaming done off and on throughout the day and I'm down to the hard part. The pattern instructs you to pick up the border on left side and complete it. TheN you are to sew the right shoulder seam and pick up the right border and neckline and seam the left shoulder once the right side is complete. I'm going to do it all in one step tomorrow.

Two Fronts at Once

Working both fronts at the same time isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I have managed to start knitting or purling back across the piece I just worked a couple of times and ended up with once piece about 3 rows longer than the other. The eyelets gave it away because they didn't line up correctly when the pieces where viewed side by side. I knitted on the shorter piece until it was the same length and I'm chugging right along.


After tonight there'll be a temporary knitting slow down. I'm picking up Isaiah after work for the weekend and that means very little free time. We're going to see Jaylon play in a baseball tournament on Saturday and to the Black Expo here in town afterwards. I'm hoping that he'l take a nap when we get back and I can sneak in a little knitting time. Once you get in the groove with a project you kinda hate to put it down.

The greenhouse at work has regular plant sales during the spring and summer. I bought 4 pots each of oregano, parsley and sage, two umbrella plants, a basil plant and some mint for $3.25 last Friday and have yet to plant them. I usually get pepper and tomato plants from them but my tomatoes are already planted and growing like crazy. Isaiah was totally fascinated watching me plant the tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. We're going to get our hands very dirty planting all these goodies in pots.

In case you can't tell this weekend is all about the 'saiah as he likes to call himself.

Daphne's Got Back

Hip, hip, hooray. This made my day or more appropriately my night.


I finished the back of Daphne last night. It took a few attempts to find the right short-row method. Some of them looked so wonky that I was almost ready to do the "stairsteps". I remembered that Nona posted a most excellent tutorial on short-rows a while back. (You can find it in the "Tips and Techniques" page, April 8, 2005).I opted for the Japanese short-row and it truly is far superior to any other method. I've never had shoulders look so good!

I've been doing some work from home this evening so there hasn't been any progress on the fronts. I'm going to cast them on tonight and yes I said them. My goal is to work both of them at the same time.

I've also realized that the sleeve caps are going to have to be re-done. I used full-fashioned decreasing and it cheated me out of some of the lacy lines that run up the sweater. They look so much better on the back fading away into the shoulders that to leave the sleeves in their current state would be cruel and unusual punishment not to mention just bad knitting period.

Daphne - Back on Track

Due to a number of contributing factors, the major one being the hole that I managed to poke in my index finger and kept re-opening every time I used the Holz & Stein needles, Daphne was not in the suitcase when mom left this morning. I am once again making good progress and am almost ready to start the armhole shaping. Mom will be gone for ten days so I may actually be able to finish this or at least have most of the pieces done by the time she returns.



This Mother's Day feels really strange. It's the first time in my 46 years that I will not see nor have dinner with my mom. I'll talk to her tomorrow by phone but it's still not the same. So to all the mothers everywhere...

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Something Special

After reaolving some serious gauge issues, I've begun work on a little something special for mom. It's Daphne from Book 8 The Enchanted Garden by Elsebeth Lavold in Hempathy. The pattern calls for size 1 and 2 needles giving a gauge of 23 stitches x 32 rows. I chugged along and made a sizable swatch. However, when I measured it the gauges was 29 x 39. Way off. Way, way off.

The ball band suggests size 3 and 4 needles with a gauge of 22-23 stitches and 30-32 rows. I'm now using the suggested band sizes and am very pleased with the results.



I started the sleeve Sunday evening and if all goes well this sweater will be packed from mom's trip across the country in May.

Chevron smevron

To the frog pond went the Chevron socks. While they were too small to get over the arch of the intended user, the leg was sized correctly. I'll have to think this one through before I cast on again. I've never knit socks for someone with such a high arch.

I completed the Green Red Turtleneck today. I was a slacker and used my swatch to save yarn. What I should have done was wet and hang the yarn to remove the kinks. It's looking a little sloppy where I joined it into the turtleneck and I'm hoping a soak will take care of the problem.

The WIP's list is a little out of control and even though spring is officially here, we're supposed have a freeze next weekend, I'm going to have to work extremely hard on moderating myself. There's Daphne from Elseboth Lavold's The Enchanted Garden Collection in Hempathy that I want to make for mom before she goes on vacation. Yarn's in the stash ready to make it's debut, book is waiting for the requisite working copy and the needles are ready to fly. With this one exception the next few weeks will be an exercise in self-control.

Yarngineer asked if our hydrangeas were in full sun. The answer is yes, every last one of them. With the construction of the addition all the remaining trees in our backyard were removed. This didn't affect the hydrangeas and the other flowering plants because most of them are planted in directly sunlight.

The canna's have started appearing! There are still a lot more to come up but now I have hope. They have relatively high water requirements so it will be interesting to see how they fare during the summer.