I finished the front of Frieda this morning. I can’t believe how fast this project is moving along (even with that 20 row redo).

I’m pretty sure I will be able to finish the sleeves this weekend, which I’m definately excited about. For those of you who didn’t see the miscrossed cable, I realized I didn’t show you any of the correct cable pattern. Makes it kind of difficult to see a mistake without seeing how it’s supposed to look.

I’m so impressed with these cables. This is my first attempt at cables and they aren’t as difficult as I imagined them, and the finished product is so pretty. I saw a cabled sweater at the store the other day and I was amazed at how flat the cables were. It just really isn’t anywhere close to the same. Handknitted cables rock.

Now, a stupid question. I left the shoulder stitches live so I can do a 3-needle bind off. Should I block the front and back first or do the bind off before I block them?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of productive knitting.

Have I ever mentioned that I’m anal? I am. Have I told you about how very much I hate mistakes? I have, I’m sure. And I believe I mentioned just the other day how much I was enjoying Frieda. You see where this is going, don’t you? No? Well, let me show you.

See that? Yep, it’s a miscrossed cable. Grrrr. And it was 20 rows back. All the way back to where I started the armhole shaping. The good thing about that is that it was easy to rip out because I just ripped back to where I cast off for the armhole and I was set, but damn. All the progress I made last night gone. Gone. Gone.

Needless to say, I’m still working on the front of Frieda and will be for the next little bit. I still love the yarn and the pattern, despite my stupidity.

Now, a question for you all. I need to lengthen the sleeves on dear Frieda. The pattern calls for a 17 3/4 inch sleeve and I’m more a 19-20 inch sleeve gal. I have a couple of thoughts and would like to know what you think. One option is to lengthen the ribbing. The pattern is designed to have less ribbing on the sleeves than the body (30 rows on the body v. 16 on the sleeves) and I thought I could make the ribbing on the sleeves match. At this gauge that would add about 2 inches. Or, the other option is to add one or two more cable repeats to the sleeve before the armhole shaping (one repeat is 8 rows, which at 24 rows to 4 inches is a little over 1 inch, but two repeats is 2.66 inches). What do you think?

Have a great day.

Frieda looks just like the picture I showed you yesterday, only longer. So, I thought I’d spare you another picture. Maybe it will be interesting again when the front is finished.

Thank you all so much for the lovely birthday wishes. You’re all super nice and made my day. My family and friends are more than generous and I’m quite spoiled. Ok, I made out like a bandit. You already know all about Butterfly, and I got a lovely silk throw pillow that makes my favorite knitting chair super luxurious, a hand carved nativity scene (my mom’s so practical - if she waited to give it to me for Christmas I couldn’t enjoy it over the holidays - she’s right ya know), a couple of pretty necklaces, a bathrobe, yummy bath products, sock yarn from Germany

It’s Italian yarn, but my good friend brought it back from her vacation to Germany. I’m set for sock yarn for the winter!

And my dear husband had this waiting for me when I got home Friday night.

That, my friends, is my long-awaited coffee table. And I just love it. It’s going to take a little getting used to because it’s quite a bit bigger than the one we had, but I’m just tickled with it.

So, I had another wonderful birthday and don’t feel any older than I did 2 days ago. Have a great day and happy knitting.

As promised, I have blocking pictures of Backyard Leaves.

And now she’s all bundled up and ready to meet her mom. She’s off on her journey today, and should arrive by the end of the week.

I debated for quite awhile about the “best” way to sew the 2 halves together. After some research in a couple of knitting books, I decided plain ol’ matress stitch was the way to go. I hope Blossom is happy with that decision. If she’d prefer something else, I’ve included the extra yarn in the return package, so she can do what she’d prefer with the seam.

The back of Frieda is finished. Speedy knit, that one.

And I’ve started the cables on the front.

This cable business is a little tricky until you get the hang of it and those cable stitches are tight! I was very nervous because when I’m knitting the cable stitches there appears to be a huge gaping hole next to the cable (is this normal or am I doing something wrong?). I was pulling my hair out over those puppies. Then, much to my amazement, they closed right up on the next row - well, they’re still there but you can’t see them. One of those knitting mysteries I suppose. I hope that I get into the rhythm of the cables and cruise along on the front. It’d be nice to have this sweater in the next few weeks because we are fast approaching sweater weather around here. I have to tell you, as much as I love the feel of the Alpaca Silk, I’ve been quite annoyed with the yarn. I have run across three major knots so far - 2 in one ball and 1 in another - and a lot of twigs and little bits of stuff.

Of course, these knots show up in the middle or end of a row and require tinking back and cutting off a fair amount of yarn. Did you notice all the new yarn spots on the back? A lot from having to cut knots out. I’m worried that I’m not going to have enough yarn and am going to have to order another ball to finish. You’d think Debbie Bliss could produce a bit better product, especially for what this yarn cost!

I’ve been thinking about Butterfly a lot over the last few days. I’m intrigued by the pattern, the yarn, the colors, and the technique used to make such a lovely garmet. A while ago, I ordered a dvd on the two-handed fair isle technique. I watched it this weekend and it was quite good. There was also quite a bit on steeking and finishing, which I found helpful as well. I ordered some needles a few weeks ago and they arrived on Friday.

These will be debuted on Butterfly. In reading the Butterfly pattern I noticed that the finished measurement for the small (the size my sister bought for me) is 105.5 cm (about 41.5 inches) at the underarm, which is much too large for me. The petite size is a much better 96 cm (38 inches) around, but is too short. I sent an e-mail to Virtual Yarns explaining my problem and asking for advise. I got the nicest e-mail from Jade Starmore herself explaining exactly what I should do - knit the petite and make it longer - with specific instructions for how to do that. I do so love a company with a wonderful product and outstanding customer service! Very impressive.

Finally, I had a lovely weekend knitting, but also had to dedicate some time to reading my new book.

If you don’t have this book, go get it. It’s hilarious. I wish I had Stephanie’s talent for making the every day things so interesting. I do believe this one is even better than the first (and I wasn’t sure that was possible).

As you can see, I had a lovely weekend and today is my birthday, so today should be good too. Have a great day. Happy knitting.

I did exactly what I said I was going to do. Backyard Leaves went for a swim in the sink and is now on the blocking board. Do you think it’s important that the directions said to steam block? I’m not a big fan of the steam block for wool, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. Anyway, I digress. So, I thought to myself, “I’ll wait until morning to take a picture because the light will be better.” Makes perfect sense, but I kind of forgot to actually take the picture. I know. I’m sorry. I’ll take one tonight in the crappy light in my dining room - that’ll have to do. I have to tell you, it is a really pretty scarf. It blocked out beautifully. I sure hope Blossom likes it.

Frieda is really coming along. I like the yarn a lot and it’s nice to be knitting a sweater with something other than cotton. I just started the increases on the back, and considering I’ve had basically no knitting time in the last couple of days - that’s good progress. Stupid work getting in the way of knitting.

Have a great weekend and happy knitting.