Gifting a WIP?

Have you ever gifted someone a work-in-progress? Meaning, you took something you were knitting and wrapped it up, with it unfinished and still on the needles?

I'm just asking for a friend. Ahem. On a totally unrelated note, my mom's birthday is friday and I'm knitting her a sweater. Ahem.

Man time seems to have flown this past couple months! Ha. To be fair, I put it aside to work on 5 other things, but... oh well. Two cute things I made were dishcloths for my good friend who is moving to Texas. I made her two cloths so she had one to remind her of home and one to celebrate her new home state. Erin if you read this I hope you guys arrived safely!!! :)

What?!?

UMMM Did I totally forget to blog about my completed "Hey Teach" sweater?!? I was just going back through my posts and I believe I did!!! WHOOPS.

Soooo let's backtrack to the end of April when I finished it.... got all the pieces blocked and sewed it up.


And voila!


I think it turned out very well and I like my buttons that I found. Only problem is I should have knitted one size larger (it was gifted to my mom for her bday in June), but I chose my size based on the fact that I had limited yarn - I was trying to use up the excess yarn from my FLS. Oops. Mom said that she would try and block it out since it was "close". I think it looks cute with only the top 2 buttons done up anyway! Oh well, live and learn... don't try and stretch your leftover yarn to make a too small sweater!!!

Sweater mania????

Whew! Over the last week I have finished not one, but TWO sweaters! Yeah!!! OK, well... one was a DOG sweater. But still, sounds pretty accomplished! :-)

In corner #1, we have mom's birthday sweater: (Sitcom chic)


It turned out pretty good! I had to do a lot of little finishing things to it though, like sewing on a ribbon on the front inside edges to keep them from rolling.


Thats why there is some puckering (my lame handsewing skills) but I am going to DEAL with puckering because at least its not ROLLING!


It fits me snugly, so it should fit my mom too, only a smidge looser. I really like that decorative part around the yoke.


Oh and the clasp! I actually found 2 that I liked, but thanks to an email vote from all my knitting gals, they helped me decide on this one. It works great :-)

In corner #2, we have my coworker's doggie Ellie's sweater:


Isn't she just the cutest model???


What a princess doggie! :D It was fun knitting for an animal, my first time! I learned a bit about dog proportions too. The pattern is the ‘Little Black Dress With Pearls’ Dog Sweater (scroll down to the bottom of the page). It is written for small "toy" sized dogs, but if you check out the sizes they are easy enough to increase for the size of dog you need! Other mods I did include doing only one ruffle at the bottom, doing some ribbing on the bottom edge (on the dog's stomach area) and of course adding a turtleneck. The neck was HUGE when I first finished it and sat around the dog's shoulders! I picked up stitches and did 2x2 ribbing with a little decreasing at the start. Worked out great! :-)

Now that those projects are done, what did I do? Cast on another sweater of course! I may just be addicted....

Shrug-a-thon: Complete!

Woohoo! I finished knitting the shrug SUNDAY, and blocked it tuesday, and gifted it last night!!!!


She LOVED IT! I am so happy I got to make her something she can wear over her bridesmaids dress this weekend! AND as a fabulous payment for the shrug, she made the most delicious cake!!!!! We have a ton leftover too. (Eeek... lookout thighs, here it comes!) It was actually pretty fun to do some speed knitting, and it didn't take as long as I thought. I may be crazy enough to do something like that again! :)

In the meanwhile, i've put in a little time on this doggie sweater I decided to make a month or so ago (yeah I know, a sweater for a DOG? but its for my coworker's dog, and besides, its girly and hot pink and has ruffles. LOL) But I really need to get on the finishing of my mom's sweater!!!! I need to pick up and knit the second front edge and the neck, and then block and take care of any finishing needs! Her bday is in 2 weeks so I still have time, but I better get it done!

Well today is sunny and nice, I am stuck at work, and 80% of the office is not here. Then the husband sends me a note saying HE is going home at noon. AUGH. It is going to be a loooooong afternoon....

UPDATE: Here is a pic of the dog sweater:


Told ya it was girly!

Weekend Recap

Oh dreary rainy Monday.... Hope everyone had a good weekend! It was too short, per usual. I got a lot done on my mom's sweater, and also got a lot of yardwork done - I am feelin' it in my sore muscles today!

Here's a somewhat updated progress pic of my mom's sweater:


It is actually farther than that now! I finished the main part of the sweater (casted off the neck - that was very satisfying) and now am working on the front and neck edges!!!! Then I need to sew up the armpits, weave in the ends, and give it a wash!!!! (then potentially some more finishing, if the edges continute to roll...) I am so excited to have this done by my mom's birthday (end of June).

Today I am going to embark upon a knitting challenge. Last night I was chatting online with one of my friends, and she mentioned she has a wedding she is going to be in, but she cannot for the life of her find a cute little shrug to wear with her bridesmaid dress! (color - chocolate brown) Soooo it ends up I think i am going to try and knit her one!!!!! I have a pattern I found, the Cloud Bolero. It uses bulky yarn, so I BELIEVE I can do this in the next week and a half (she lives out of town so I need to finish it by like next wednesday?) I don't know how crazy I am to try this, but I might as well give it a shot!!!!! Today at lunch I am going to run over to the craft store and look for yarn. If I can't find something suitable I will have to try the yarn store tomorrow! Whew! Wish me luck!

Anyway, it was a nice weekend. I got to meet some of my husband's extended family who were visiting from out of state. AND of course we got to play with the nephews:


I love those boys!!!!

And I will leave you with a photo of one of the rosebushes found on the side of our house... I was thrilled to discover these when we moved in!