Live and Let Knit

I haven't written much here in a while so I've got it on my ToDo list to take a lot of pictures and update the things I have been working on.

I'm also going through and 'lightening' up my templates. There's a lot of them to go through so it'll be a while before they are all finised.

This is the sweater that I am currently working on:




This sweater is knit starting at the sleeve end and working towards the center of the body. It's a new technique for me so the finishing is going to be interesting - especially with all those loose ends! I have to say I love the feel of this yarn knitted up, and on a US3 it's very thin. Perfect for Spring. It is the Silk City - Bounce yarn I bought on cones from Elann.com. The pattern is from an old Vogue magazine.

A while back I started on a Gansey for Wayne. I'm stalling on it 'cause I'm not sure if I want to finish it. The yarn was some of the stuff I boughts at the Webs tent sale and this one in particular smells funny. I washed it in Eucalan and in Dawn dish detergent and it still smells really strong. So strong that I don't think that he'd want to wear it. (Plus it's summer here and way too hot to knit with 100% wool) The listing says that it is spinning oil left on the yarn so who knows.. maybe it will come out in time...

I've recently finished a few other items..

A pillow for Wayne's niece Cali's 6th Birthday:
(Clasic Elite - Paintbox, US10)

The Six-Socks-KAL ChutesNLadders:
(Esprit from Elann, US3, CO:50)

and another pair of my favorite pattern:
(Sock yarn from Elann, US2, FeatherNFan from SOCKSx3)

This is Neko:

She came to live with us back in July when she was just 6 weeks old. Chris' daughter had found a litter of 3 week old kittens in a dumpster near her work and took them in to be raised. You can read about their beginnings here and here.

Neko is extremely active, very social, and she loves yarn. We have several small children that visit the house and Neko is patient and playful with all of them - even an 18 month old.

We teasingly call her Lil' Diablo because she loves pouncing on moving feet, chewing on yarn, climbing screen doors, and trying to get to people food (verboten!). At times she can be too playful with the 7 year old cat (Baby), but all in all they get along very well together.

Just about anyone that comes over tries to sneak her out in a backpack/purse/towel... Even the vet tried to pull a fast one by handing Wayne the bill and shooing him out the door with out Neko!

So after a long weekend of knitting I've finally gotten to the blocking stage on the green stripes. There's still a ton of finishing left to do on this sweater with all those loose ends and a bottom edging, but the end is in sight!

The darker color had some dye come out in the water when I was soaking it - hopefully it won't fade. It's such a pretty color. The "By the Sea" pattern in the magazine used white and black, but really like the way these two greens go together.

hm.. excuse me one minute I need to go straighten out those stipes and edges..

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Neko did her best to chew on everything in sight while I was working on this sweater. No way was she going to be fooled by decoy bits of yarn either.

I did manage to get a picture of the two cats together just before they took off racing around the room: