New Travel Project

I like to have a small lace project when I travel. It may sound strange but I love not having a bulky yarn to carry with my when I'm packing for a trip. I had just one version left to try from the Elizabeth I pattern and since I was pretty familiar with the designs and chart I decided to give it a try. This is my progress from my last trip to Chicago:


The Dainty Bess variation is very straight forward and easy to follow. I think this will end up much wider than the other two so I may have to knit more pattern repeats overall to get a length I like. No worries though since this is a no rush project I'll probably end up taking a year to complete it. The Yarn Harlot has her traveling socks while I have my traveling lace . . .

The yarn is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Stream Heather. I do love working with this yarn. I just saw the latest advertisement for their Lace Samplers and I want to buy every one! It's taking a tremendous amount of restraint to not order. I've never had such an urge to purchase yarn before without having a specific project in mind. It's horrible! I keep trying to justify it by finding projects but I already have plenty of lace weight yarn in my stash. How many lace scarves can one person knit anyway? I like the suggestion to knit with two strands for fingering weight socks but I don't want to do that until I've learned how to knit with two circular needles. This temptation is just unbearable!

Finished Object - Will's V-Neck Hoodie

This project amazed me. If you had told me that I could knit a v-neck hoodie for my son a year ago I would have just laughed. It just further supports the fact that I love Knitting Pure & Simple patterns and I feel that I can make anything if a pattern is written out nicely. Here's a shot of my son trying really hard to stand still and model for me:


I made the 2-4 size since he's in 3T clothes. I like the length of the body but the sleeves are a little long. We'll just roll them up until he grows into it. At this rate it won't be long!


On the way to daycare/school and I got a decent picture of the hood. My kid happens to descend from a long like of big headed men on his Daddy's side so the hood will only be used on really windy days since it's a touch tight. Still wearable but not as loose as his sweatshirts with hoods.

I did make a couple notes for the next time I make something for him. According to Ravelry, this took me 22 days to knit up and the pullover was only 20 days. I can use that to measure him more accurately now that I know how long a project like this takes to knit. Here's the FO picture:


I hope that he'll be able to wear this as a light coat all summer and possibly this fall!

Pattern: Children's Tunic #232
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy yarn in cobalt
Needles: US sizes 6 & 8 in circular & DPNs
Notions: stitch markers, scrap yarn
Time frame: 4/12/08 to 5/3/08 (I did have 4 days of travel where I couldn't work on this - probably could get this done in 2 weeks in the future)

Happy Birthday!

Will turned 2 today. It's crazy to even think about it. In my mind I'm still pregnant (oh wait that's just the left over baby weight) or he's still about 3 months old. He has his own mind, his own personality and he's grown into a great little boy.

We had cake and then took him to ride a carousel for the first time. He loved it!



Today is his actual birthday but he still had to go to school. I picked up some mini cupcakes for him to share with his friends to make the day special. I also let him wear his v-neck hoodie that I just barely finished on Saturday. Here he is on the way to school wearing it:


I'll post more pictures on the sweater tomorrow but today is just for the big guy. Tonight we plan to open more presents and cards from family and friends that came in the mail today and just have fun together as a family. The weather is nice enough so far that we might be able to play outside!