The McKenzie, ripped and re-knitted

Aaargh! I got to the lower edge of my cardi, and it was too big. Worse yet, the arm holes were too big- by an inch and a half. that meant ripping back 4 inches and re-knitting. So I did it, and I decided to finish with ribbing instead of seed stitch, because even when I reduced my stitch count, the seed stitch still seemed to flare out. This experience has convinced me that the top-down method is the way to go, because if I'd done it bottom-up, I wouldn't have found out about the sizing issue until it was finished and sewn up. And I would have had a too big cardigan to never wear. So despite the extra work, I'm still happy. Plus, Since I made the sweater 2 inches smaller around, it took less time to re -knit. I'm working on the sleeves now, and I still love the yarn.

McKenzie Cardi

Still trying to figure out how to get my posts the way I want them. Until then, I'll show my McKenzie in this post instead of in that post.
I'm excited about this project! I hope it turns out the way I envision it. Or that I love what I end up with as much as I love my fantasy.

Laminaria Stole cast-on

I broke down or bucked -up and recharted the laminaria shawl to a stole. If the knitting is successful I will post my chart when the stole is complete. So far I've knitted about 24 rows, and the lace is really beautiful. It takes a great deal of attention to not mess it up. I'm one of those knitters who needs my lace to come out right, so I always search for the reason for my missing or extra stitches. This habit has paid off already as I've saved myself some ripping back. The beginning is always the hardest part, while you're getting used to how the pattern works and the way it all fits together. It gets easier to find and fix mistakes after a couple of repeats. So-onward. It is slow work though!

Rethinking my Season of Lace project

So i took another look at Laminaria- the project that I'd decided on for the SoL, and it looks complex to a level which is causing me anxiety. However, my biggest problem is that I don't really wear shawls, and I would be super-bummed to knit a lovely lacy beauty only to have it sit there looking gorgeous where no one will ever see it. So I'm considering trying to rechart the pattern for a stole- which I know I would wear and even if I didn't I have a lot of loved ones who would. I'm thinking that the re-charting would be a challenge- and that's my happy euphemism for humongous pain in the booty! Still, it would be a worthy effort and amazing to accomplish.
Of course I'm contemplating this all while knitting my cardi which I'm calling the McKenzie because the stripes of color remind me of the way sunlight and shade play with the colors in the river as they move across the water. I'm knitting from the top down and I joined the fronts and back at the underarm about an inch and a half ago and I'm cruising down. Since it is going to be a cropped, tie- front style that means I'm about 1/2 way done. I'm knitting it in Smooshy Dream-in-Color and the yarn is wonderful- squishy, soft, and stretchy. It's a dream to knit with!

My New Philosophy-Love every second

I've had a blog for awhile but I didn't feel like it was really me- that it reflected my sense of humor, sense of style (or lack thereof) or my complete addiction to yummy yarns. I wanted to create a place where I can be myself, even if I'm not completely "finished" - I've got a few dropped stitches here and there and unravelling edges. I prefer to think of it as personalization, rather than flaws, but it all depends on your perspective, right?
Making this blog means abandoning my old blog, as I'm not yet geeky enough (in the right way, at least) to figure out how to transfer my old content. I'm going to try copying and pasting my old blog, as it wasn't huge or anything, but we'll see.
I know this is beyond sappy to admit, but I really don't want to give up the virtual pet that I've adopted to my old blog, but I don't know how to move him. Yeah, I know he's really just some computer code that was cleverly written and that I can get a new one any time. That's just the sort of sap that I am I guess.
I joined the Seasons of Lace KAL, and it is a very cool thing. I'm going to knit a Laminaria
(from Spring '08 knitty.com) in Alpaca Cloud (from Knit Picks). I'm going to start swatching today or maybe tomorrow.
I'm also working diligently on the cropped cardi that I'm designing. It feels very woo-hoo to write that. In any case, I've had to rip back a few times as I figure it out. It's fun though, and an easy knit, if I didn't have to think about everything I'm doing so dang much.
I finished my "Sahara" and I'll have pics soon!