The 3 Needle Bind-off Challenge.

#17 Man's Cable Cardigan
Design by, Josh Bennett for Vogue Knitting

It's one of those days, sick at home with a cold with my two little ones who are also sick with the same cold. As it turns out, yesterday was an exciting day for me in the progress of my hubby's sweater, (as pictured above)! It's beautiful isn't it?! I'm very excited about this project.

I finished the front sections of the cardigan that divide off of the underarms and up to the shoulders. Then came the part in a pattern that I dread -- the part where I don't know what the heck a term or abbreviation means. You know what I'm talking about. The project comes to a screeching halt, and I am pouring through finishing books and the internet for a tutorial or explanation. In this case it was the "3 needle bind-off", (used particularly for joining seams in shoulders). Sounds daunting doesn't it? Lucky for me, youtube.com saved the day and provided a great explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJUrCX52DU

I'm a visual learner and do much better seeing it accomplished in action. I am also left handed, so I knit "backwards", this presents a challenge for me every time I start a project. I usually stay away from lace since that is particularly more difficult to figure out in the reverse due to all the SSK's and knit two together's that always angle the wrong way and decimate what would be a beautiful lace pattern.

So armed with the proper equipment, and having counted and divided my stitches for the shoulders and leaving live stitches on a holder for the neck to be attached to the collar later I now have two beautifully joined shoulders, and trust me it is a beautiful sight! Now on to the sleeves.

Using the newly acquired skill! If you are trying this at home the image would be in the reverse for all you right handed knitters, i.e. the vast majority.

Gifts That Are Dear.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lamb-6

I have dear memories of my mom slaving away at the sewing machine, making our special home made 'Cabbage Patch', and 'Raggedy Ann' dolls for my sisters and I. I was so excited that she let me choose the hair color. I still have them stored safely away for my daughter and son to play with some day.

This Christmas the hubby and I decided on our meager family student budget to focus on sentiment rather than quantity when it came to gift giving this year. After going through dozens of patterns on www.ravelry.com for toys, sweaters and other possibilities I came across this darling Lamb pattern by Susan B. Anderson. It’s a free pattern on the above mentioned website, and was published along with other irresistible toys in her 2009 book Itty-Bitty Toys. I think there is a project waiting for me in the near future with the darling giraffe.

While I was at the local HEMTEX buying the pink sheets that were on sale for our guests, I was totally shocked to find a mohair bouclé yarn there in a bin labeled crafts, after I had spent the morning with a patient friend dragging her through shop after shop looking for the right weight of bouclé yarn, (of course it was the last store that had it). Fast forward to yesterday, I started knitting. As the little body took form, initially I was a little freaked out by how much it really did resemble a sheep. I caught my 2 year old running away with the “sheep” (at that point just the unknit ball of yarn), and giving it a special place tucked away in her tent. If she likes the actual finished toy as much as the ball of yarn, I think I made a good choice.

Having never worked with a bouclé before, there were some characteristics of that fiber that made it a little challenging. I had to be careful to not be fooled by the extra loops that appear naturally in that kind of a yarn and not mistake them for actual stitches, which happened quite a lot at the beginning. Also those loops also made it a little more challenging to pull the yarn through easily as I knitted. But the overall product is proving to make this well worth the occasional discomfort that I might experience.

"Lamb".

Two years later I finally finished this sampler blanket my mother and I started for my daughter. It still needs to be blocked, but I am happy to have it all together now.

Special knits. My sister and I wearing hats Nanan, my great-grandmother, knitted for us.