Well...

Cathleen's hair is dry, so need to get cracking attaching it. I've got Vitoria's baby's BSJ into the inc section; we're at 128sts, so roughly midway down the back. Still haven't ran in the ends of the Tie-Dyed Boxes. Have managed to misplace one of the sleeves for Bernie's jacket. I was going to work on it yesterday. I worked on the BSJ instead. Was at Golden Willow on Thursday and bought a bunch of Briggs&Little wool. Am planning another yoke sweater for me. Am thinking of doing similar to my Sheep-Go-Round sweater, perhaps with cats. Perhaps not. All for today... New guy still un-named.

General Update...

Well, I've got Cathleen's hair knit; just waiting for it to dry. Worked on Vitoria's baby's BSJ some more; am nearly done the dec section! Joined in a 2nd ball of the alpaca, so now the sequence of colors is slightly different. I love variegated yarns in G st. Still need to run in the ends on my Tie-Dyed Boxes. Oh, and seam Bernie's Jacket together.
In furry news, we got another cat yesterday bringing us back up to 10. So far he's not named as we don't like the name he came with: Greylo. Seriously, what kind of name is that? It's definatly not cool like Stripey Dude, Smacky and Buddy. Mom's current suggestion is "Lloyd", as it means "gray" in Welsh. Must post photo of him.
That's it today...

Another View of a Finished Item

			And here's the other side. I really like how it turned out. Happy Birthday to me! View Message

Another Project Done!

			Just finished it! Still need to work in the ends. View Message

She's Looking More "Real"

			Here she is with her collar. Must start her hair soon... View Message

Progress On Cathleen...

			Here's Cathleen's collar being made. I'm nearly done. I used #10 cotton, as the #30 was too fine for me to work with. View Message

Changes being made

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I'm redoing Cathleen's collar using #30 crochet cotton and a really small hook. I decided to crochet the collar, following the pattern for the collars I had been making for the Prairie Gael Dancers' dresses, until they decided not to have collars. I thought it would be nice to have the pattern actually used on a dancer's dress.
I've also set aside Vitoria's baby's BSJ for the time being and have picked up my own Tie-Dyed Boxes. Just over 3 weeks to my self imposed deadline for this to be done, and I've got maybe 20 rows left to do. This has become my major priority, although I really need to get Bernie's jacket seamed. It keeps looking at me with sad-eyed cables, saying "When will you finish me? Don't you like me anymore? Won't Bernie like me? Please finish me. I'll be the warmest, nicest jacket ever. I promise..." I hate it when my projects start talking to me. Cathleen's all upset she doesn't have hair...
That's it for today; when your knitting starts talking to you, your day's pretty well done before it began!

He's A Real Cutie!

			This is Little David. He turned out so well. The buttons on his vest are beads. His shirt has buttons too. View Message

Ain't She A Doll?

			This is Bernie's doll. She's the 3rd doll I made. She turned out rather well. I believe her name is Bridget. She lives at the studio with Little David. View Message

Things are fixed; More important things...

I've managed to get it so all my text is now showing. How can ya tell that a knitter is in charge of this thing not someone with a clue what to do with a computer? Well, that about taxes my thinky-thing today. Seriously, people think using this is easy? (Technophobe alert!) As I say, I'm a knitter.
In way more interesting news, I've started both the lace collar for Cathleen and the BSJ for Vitoria's baby. The BSJ is being done out of Luxury Alpaca Paint in a gorgeous turquoise/olive/kelly/marine variegated. The Heart Hat will be of the same. I found the cutest duck buttons for it as well. It'll look like the duckies are floating on a lake. Too cute! Also found some cherry-red Lopi with multi-colored flecks for Bernie's Beret. The lace collar is on 2mm needles using #10 crochet cotton. Looking pretty nice so far. Will need to take a pic of it. And no I haven't got around to seaming together Bernie's jacket. Seriously, that would make too much sense to get that out of the way before starting something new and fun. That's it for today. Have fun with your knitting!

So...

Well, the pictures are sort of coming up. Of course most of my text is missing because the whole darn thing wants to slide to the right. Weird.
Anyway, Project 2 is complete! It went kind of ruffley at the end, not my intention, but over all I'm pretty pleased with it. If I'd only had another ball or 2 of the yarn, I think it would be nicer longer. Oh well. Photos were added (see below post) almost as soon as I'd finished. Ah, now to deliver the gifty...

Finished Project! View Pictures!

			Just finished it! Looks pretty good I think. She'll be surprised I'm sure. View Photos

This is Cathleen

This is what Cathleen looks like so far. View Photo
Ok, here's my doll. Pics of the others to follow, I promise. I have David's in my phone currently and can get the others soon as well. You'll get the pics of other finished projects as well. Just need to get them organized.

This is Maureen

Here's My Girl! View Photo
So, I've sort of got this working apparently. This pic is of my baby, Maureen. She's 9 1/2 years old, and loves to cuddle. She's one of 9 furries at our house. She's a very funny furry in that she dislikes natural fibers; she loves to suck on acrylic. We get along just fine on this as I try to use only natural fibers or blends. She also hates fish. She's a strange little girl, but very cute as you can see.

And now for the coming attractions...

Since I've let you know what I've currently got going, here's the list of the upcoming hits:
1 Vitoria's baby gift-
My Portugeuse penpal is expecting her 3rd bundle of joy in April. (She has 2 daughters aged 6 and 3.) I'm going with my favorite pattern: EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket with matching Heart Hat. Need to find some nice gender neutral vari for it.
2 Bernie's Beret-
Ok that was just fun to type. Seriously though, the Sunflower Tam from Norah Gaughan's wonderful book "Knitting Nature". Need to go to Golden Willow and get 2 skeins of Lopi in a nice, bright pink. Picture perfect. Birthday's in May.
3 Monique's Capelet-
The Holiday 2007 issue of knitsimple has some fab patterns, and I really like their hooded capelet with cabled detailing, project 2. Of course I'm tweaking it. I'm leaving off the hood, changing the color from winter white to a milk-chocolate (Plymouth Galway; great wool), and the buckle is being converted to large snap(s), covered by neat button(s).
Ok, now, I'm off to Golden Willow to purchase the Lopi and see what they've go tin a soft, worsted vari...

Welcome to the New Year & New Blog!

Well, here I go again. Only this time I intend to keep on topic. Specifically my knitting and the kitties.
So to start things off, I have complied a list of the current WIPs that I'm at work on. Here goes:
1 Bernie's jacket
2 Sarah's capelet
3 Mom's Spiral Socks
4 Cathleen the Irish Dancer doll
5 Tie-Dyed Boxes
6 Cromarty
1 Bernie's jacket:
This is my longest WIP. I got commissioned to make a jacket for my dance teacher, who is also an awesome friend. It's the Josephine pattern from Knitty. So I've got the darn thing done finally; all I have left are the seams. I really dislike seaming. Oh, and the belt. Want to have this done by the end of the month. Let's see if I accomplish it...
2 Sarah's capelet:
This is fun, like Sarah herself! For her birthday present, I choose LB Jiffy Thick & Quick in a rainbow variegated, using a 10mm circ. I've applied the same increase structure as EZ's Pi Shawl; top-down awesome! So far, I'm at the St st for 24 rows point. This has been super easy, although I did modify from working in the rnd to doing rows, as I wanted the capelet to open down the front. I find that there is better drape for the cape with this method.
3 Mom's Spiral Socks:
Oops! Thses were supposed to be for her birthday! Now they're forMother's Day. Basic pattern, using Opal Picture sock wool. Got pattern out of Cottage Creations booklet "Knits for the Community" Love their patterns. Carried locally at Golden Willow; awesome store.
4 Cathleen the Irish Dancer:
Using another of CC's excellent patterns, I've created Irish Dancer dolls for my crazy group of Irish dancing friends. Finally I am on to my doll. She's in need of hair and her lace collar. Done for my birthday next month is the goal.
5 Tied Dyed Boxes:
This pattern looked so neat in last spring's Knitter's. I'm using Paton's Canadiana in "blueberry ombre". Nearly to the armholes on the back. Done by my birthday?...
6 Cromarty
(By Alice Starmore) My dream sweater! I've even found wool the same color as shown in the book! Am using DGB Confort; fabulous! Roughly 4" into the back.
That's it for now. Hopefully I can get pics up and running soon, so that former projects can be seen as well as the furries, who are somuch a part of my life.