Here’s the finished Ballet Wrap top I’ve been working on from Zoe Mellor’s book, Adorable Knits for Tots (or is it Knits for Adorable Tots? something like that…) Anyway, it came out much nicer than I had been anticipating, mainly because the yarn is a miracle fiber. Baby Cashmerino is soft and blocks like a dream. When I took the pieces off the needles, they were curling up something fierce and I was worried that I would never be able to make them lie flat. I didn’t need to worry. With a couple puffs of steam, those pieces were flat as pancakes!

One thing I would have done differently, is trust my instinct and not do the decreases as specified. All decreases were supposed to be k2 tog, which is fine for one side of the garment, but didn’t create quite as nice a slope on the other side. Oh well. Live and learn

In a perfect world, I also might have reconfigured the sleeves to be drop-shouldered instead of the hybrid thing I described in a previous post. I don’t think it would have affected the fit significantly and it would have been much easier to sew together.

It fits Claire just perfectly. What a relief! I was worried that I had procrastinated with this for too long and that she would never be able to wear it. It looks large enough to keep her cozy for at least the next couple of months. I’ll post a photo of her modeling it soon (she was too groggy to cooperate with that task this morning).

I wish every weekend could be a three-day weekend. I’ve had a fabulous time. The first sign that things were going to be great was the arrival of a wonderful package from my secret pal. Look at the goodies that were inside:

There are two skeins of Noro Silk Garden in color number 50 and a couple of fun coordinating fat quarters of fabric. My secret pal suggested knitting a booga bag and lining it with the fabric. She assures me that Silk Garden felts. I had no idea that it would do that and can hardly wait to try it out!

I have to say that I have one of the best secret pals a person could hope for. I only wish I were half as inspired when looking for ways to spoil the person I’ve been paired up with. Each one of her gifts is centered around the main theme of exploring the universe. The first package contained earrings and stitch markers which symbolized earth. This most recent package, with the blue and green yarn and fabric, relates to Venus, the planet of mystery. The next stop on our tour will be Mars…I’m looking forward to seeing what she’ll come up with. Thanks secret pal!

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Ordinarily, I love sewing sweaters together using the mattress stitch. This time is different and it’s all the pattern’s fault. No really. I’m perfectly willing to admit that I do a lot of crazy and unfortunate things with my knitting projects, but this is not one of those times…so far as I can tell. The sleeves are shaped like they would be for a dropped-shoulder sweater–like triangles with one tip cut off (funky quadrilaterals!). As you’re knitting the sleeves, you place markers several rows in before you cast off. The body pieces include some shaping for the sleeves, as if they were going to be inset sleeves. When you sew the sleeves on, you’re supposed to sew the sections you marked off to the bound of stitches on the body pieces. If Lady Luck isn’t with you, this is what happens:

Lady Luck was feeling a mite bit more compassionate when I worked on the second sleeve:

My question is this: if the designer didn’t want to go the easy route and just make it a drop-shouldered sweater, why didn’t she go all the way and make them inset sleeves? What’s up with this hybrid sleeve thing?

I threw the sweater behind the couch and let it sit there for most of the evening. When I finally decided it had suffered long enough in “time out,” I freed it from the dust bunny pergatory. :bunnyfoofoo: I’m going to redo the rumply sleeve and finish this thing up this weekend.

Speaking of pulling something out of dust bunny pergatory, remember this:

When my interest in knitting blossomed last November, I was enchanted with self-patterning sock yarn. Something has changed since then. I still like handknit socks, but I’d rather use a nice hand-painted or plain colored yarn. Despite my waning interest, I’m going to suck it up and finish this off as well.