New projects

I've got a couple of projects that I am working on right now. The first is a sear sucker blazer for my husband. I started this one a month and half ago with the intention of finishing it as a birthday gift (his b-day is May 7). Well, that didn't happen, so now I am working on finishing it before summer is here and gone :) Just kidding, I hope to finish it up in the next couple of weeks. I have never made a blazer before and I don't know if I would do it again. The hardest part by far was the collar and it is in no way perfect. I am planning on doing a top stitch close the the edge as a finishing touch in hopes that it will mask some of the imperfections. Right now I am working on getting the sleeves on. Jim tried it on today and it looks like it will fit pretty good . . . thank God! I don't know if I would know how to fix it if it didn't fit. Here are some pics:

Full view as is, one sleeve pinned in place.


Close view of the collar.
There is some puckering at the corner seam and I don't know what I did wrong. If I ever decide to do a blazer or anything with a collar again I think I would practice a few times before.


Close up view of one front pocket.These actually turned out pretty good and weren't too difficult.


Close up of the chest and "welt" pocket. This one was tricky. I don't know if the pattern had a typo or if I read it wrong, but I had to redo this one because the first time it was backwards.



The second project I just started yesterday. It is a super cute baby shrug. The pattern is from the Fall 2007 issue of KnitSimple. I'm kind of winging it as I didn't check my gauge that closely and am using a different type of yarn. It's not that different, but you never know. I'm trying to work through my stash. Not sure yet who will be on the receiving end of this one. I'm thinking of making a little dress to go along with it. It is kind of a blah color, but if I use a bright colored ribbon for the tie I think it could be super cute. Make a dress with pinks and browns? We'll see. It's an easy K3, P3 rib pattern. Here's my progress, I hope to finish it up this week:

Mother's Day Present

I haven't posted that much lately, mostly because I haven't had that many projects going on. This one I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. I finished it in February. I started it in January because I was worried I might not finish it. Having never made a full sized, adult sweater before I was unsure how quickly I would be able to finish it and if I would have any issues with the yarn or pattern, etc. Needless to say, it was super easy and actually really fun to make. The pattern is from Knitscene Winter '07/Spring '08 issue. I had wanted to make it in blue, but my local yarn shop didn't have enough yarn in a blue color, so I went with purple. I love that there were no seams. Personally, seaming a sweater is my least favorite part. If I can do one without having to do any seaming I'm a happy knitter. I love the seed stitch border and the ribbon accent is so fun. I got the ribbon from the site suggested in the pattern: lesbonribbon.com. I asked my Mom to send me a picture of her in it. Once she does I'll post it so you can see it on her. Until then, here are a couple of pictures of the finished piece. I will have to dig through my stash for the yarn that I used. It's cotton and I believe hand-dyed. I got it a shop here in Bozeman called Stix.

Finished sweater.
Detail of neckline.