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Well, it was warm, sunny and beautiful at Hershey Park yesterday (and I have the sunburn to prove it). The crowds haven't quite hit yet, so the park was wonderful. Lines were fairly short and the people were all very pleasant. There were a lot of school trips and the kids were all well behaved. I'm sure the beautiful weather and short lines kept everyone's temperment in good order.
Since I get motion sick fairly easily, I keep my rides to the occassional, and usually later in the day. So I watched Matt ride every single roller coaster (sadly, except the Superdooperlooper which broke down while he was standing in line. If he had been one group in front he would've been stuck on the ride! Yikes!). His favorite was The Great Bear, which he loved the last time we were there, but they put in a new coaster last year, the "The Storm Runner" which he said was okay, but he still like The Great Bear better.
We weren't dressed for such great weather (did I mention that it's been cold, rainy and just basically dreary here?) I had a turtleneck on and Matt wore a long sleeve tee (but that was as much to protect the road rash from his crash on Saturday). Everyone else had on shorts, tees and other lovely summery clothing. It was warm enough that the water rides were open and getting good use.
So yes, it was a perfect day.
Well, not much knitting done. I did think about it (especially whether I was going to bind off the back neck for Matt's Cable O's vest) and I had decided to do it when I got home and read Larry's comment from yesterday, which basically summed up all the things I had been thinking about. I just think in the long run binding off gives the garment a little more stability, especially with the cotton. Since it doesn't have sleeves, I'm sure it's not as much of an issue, but it's not going to "hurt" it to bind it off, but I see potential issues if I don't bind it off...
So... are we ready to start a "Spring Forward Knit along"?
Spring Forward Cardigan
Cropped Cardigan II
Cable O's Vest
Leisure Arts Sampler Afghan
Cross Over Top
Denim Socks
Crowing Ram
for the button.
Kristi
Jacq
Lauren
Nicole
Rosie
sUsAn
Donate to the JDRF Walk For A Cure
Speaking of Twists & Turns, my Summer issue arrived yesterday. I'm thinking both sweaters are on my "To Do" list. The Blue Bark Pullover may get swatched up with some of my precious Cascade Key Largo stash....
So I fiddled around with some things yesterday. I worked a little on the Cropped Cardigan II. (you'll remember this is a Paton's pattern from the booklet Canadian Living. I did the first one in Bartlett Yarns and this one is in alpaca. The Bartlett one is way too large for me now... I made it 60 lbs ago). I love the pattern and wore the sweater a lot. The problem is the back is solid moss stitch. Fine for mindless knitting, but can get tedious if I work too long on it.
So I'm better than halfway thru the armhole section. Once the back is done, the sleeves and fronts will be more interesting to knit (yeah cables!!) and there's no front bands (the buttonholes are worked into the moss stitch). It really is a lovely little pattern. The really interesting thing is that the two sweaters are going to look nothing alike thanks to the different yarn. BTW: the Peruvian Pure Alpaca from Elann is lovely to work with.
I did do a few more rows on the Cable O's Vest for Matt. As a matter of fact, I think I can get the back done today.
I also spent some time just playing with a few other things. I swatched a couple of wools from stash to make a Fall Back Cardigan. The Spring Forward Cardigan is a complete mind block. I think that I'm having a problem with a: I don't really like working cables with cotton and b: I was so far on the first one when I had to frog it due to it being the wrong size. So I figured this isn't the pattern's fault, so why not just start fresh and see what wools I have to make a lovely wool cardigan...
Oh, and I have the saddles done on Matt's Happy Husband sweater (the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran is like knitting with butter... in a good way, because I'm guessing knitting with butter isn't really pleasant. It would melt and be all greasy and slippery.... anyway, let's jus say the yarn is delightful to knit!)
So I bounced from project to project yesterday. I expect to do the same today.
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I like the pattern a lot (my first ripple afghan... now I know why it's so popular. It's easy and fast, and looks better than just a basic double crochet stitch), but dang, those are a lot of ends to weave in.
I only used about half the yarn I had bought to make the ripple afghan, so I started an other afghan for Project Linus. (this one has fewer stripes, so less ends to weave in...)
I am going thru a little wool withdrawl. I'm working either in acrylic (the afghans) or cotton (Matt's Cable O's Vest). I'm thinking I may spend some time today with a little wool just for the pleasure of working with it. Hmmm, wonder if that includes alpaca? I wouldn't mind working a bit on the cropped cardigan (all that moss stitch... best in small doses anyway).
UPDATE:
Gena came up with a solution for weaving in the ends...
Fortunately, Matt wasn't seriously hurt (some bruising and a little road rash... he's had worse crashes) and he has fixed the bike.
The knitting content is thin, as I'm still just doing the same old stuff. I finished up one of the Project Linus blankets and plugging away on the second (almost done). I finished up an afghan square and started an other. I have about 2 or 3 repeats to go on the back of the Cable O's Vest.