Sweater success!!!

Yes, all three exclamation points were necessary-this is the first adult sized sweater I have completed since 2007. Yup-you read that right-nine years of hats, socks, baby and kid clothes, toys, and the occasional shawl for good measure.

My grandpa Fred turned 86 this year, and aside from being one of my most favorite people ever, he has played a starring role in my daughters life as well. There are eight+ decades between the two, but they both love music, laughing, and telling stories-and I'm not even sure it's necessary for them to understand one another's stories, just that they get to be together. Sometimes I feel melancholy that my daughter never got to meet my grandma Jean because she passed before Sureya was born, but grandpa remarried and has a lovely partner that Sureya also calls 'grandpa'. Last week, when we visited the 'grandpa's' on Veterans Day, my four year old was appropriately dressed in rainboots and a party dress with her dragon in hand. After brief hellos, she led grandpa to the piano and asked for 'dark' music so her dragon could dance. He complied with medley that met Sureya's approval, and I snapped a few pictures for fun.
His sweater is knit in Cascade Pacific Chunky, purchased at Cabled Fiber Studio in Port Angeles, and the pattern is the Lion Brand Fisherman raglan. I had to modify a few parts-knit the body in the round, added length to both the body and the sleeves, and did an applied I-cord neckline. 
Sorry for the blah post, I was attempting to do this completely from my iPhone but Google and I don't get along....if anyone knows why it won't let me just select certain photos to upload to the Google Photo app that I was forced to download  it would be greatly appreciated. Basically, I have the option to upload pictures from my phone to Blogger, but only those that are saved in the google photo app, which I had on a previous iPhone but not this one-it is a redundant application for saving photos, and will probably take three months to move the 6,000+ photos on my phone. The app started downloading photos from my phone three days ago, made it about 60 frames and that told me my phone needed more storage space. No thank you, I already have a photo app on my phone, not going to waste storage having the same photos in two places. The app also only works in chronological order, so it's going back two years to the beginning of this phone and SLOWLY copying pictures. Ahhhhhhh-this side tangent just became longer than the original post!?! I'm stopping now. Long story short, Google Photo sucks.
Enjoy the sweater pics!

I Love Yarn

There's a whole day dedicated to yarn. Today. National I Love Yarn Day.
I wish I could dedicate ten minutes of today to yarn, and the sweater I am currently knitting for Grandpa J. But you know, Life happens, and today my life happens to include my brother's sons, because he had to work an early shift and didn't have a babysitter, so I inherited his little darlings last night. I currently have a 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old happily destroying my daughters bedroom, the living room, and the dining room. There are three puzzles dumped together on the floor, there is an abandoned animal tea party happening on the dining room table, and no one is wearing a shirt. I have made breakfast three times, for all three of them. So I've accepted that very little yarn-loving will happen today, and the only reason I even had time to look at my blog was because a silly little reminder popped up on my phone calendar. A reminder that I started my blog to share about knitting, and the very least I could do is recognize when knitting related days roll around. So there it is, my 4 minute break from the chaos.
Go forth and knit, or at the very least play with your yarn.

Easter Sweater, in 9 photos.

www.fancyimageyarn.com

Easter sweater, year 5!

 

Here are the magical colors that will become part of the saga of the  Easter Sweaters. Sureya asked for orange, which I couldn't bring myself to completely agree with, so I went with this super-saturated double dip from Fancy Image Yarn, with a multi-hued orange mohair for additional texture in the stripes.

And below, you can see the headband I knit in under an hour while standing around a bonfire on Thanksgiving day (we did an outdoor authentic Northwest Thanksgiving). Again, Fancy Image Yarn in bulky, Downton Abbey colorway. Side-note, I made those earrings I am wearing also, one of the easiest earring designs ever! And just so you don't all get the idea that I only use Fancy Image yarns, I included some pics of the cowl I knit using my own pattern and some unmarked self-striping wool-it was a perfect Christmas present for my coworker/roommate/friend.


(woolly bandit)

Right at the end of February, Sureya and I took an impromptu break from work and daycare to go visit my sister Jenni and her family. While we were there we made a daytrip down to Port Orford Prehistoric Gardens to marvel at the creatures hidden in the (rainy) rainforest. We kept our heads warm with these awesome hats (sorry, but not sorry folks, it is more Fancy Image Yarn). Sureya's hat was eventually gifted to a smaller friend, because it just kept sliding up her head.  

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is WayHey the Dragon, knit in the same yarn you see above using this pattern. Sureya happened to have a saddle and rider that she could strap right on her dragon, so he spends loads of time flying around while she is shouting "YeeHaw".

Okay, last pictures of Fancy Image Yarn for this post: here is the only picture I could find of the two of us wearing our Odessa Hats, knit from two similar  double dips-for real, you need to check out this yarn. Sureya's has more pink and purple colors, mine has more rust and green.

Stay Tuned for pictures of the completed Easter Sweater: I do have a Mandatory Staff Meeting tomorrow, so this might just happen sooner rather than later. Thanks for stopping by, and as always, Happy Knitting!