Buttonhole Blues

Well, I have made a little progress on the yoke of the February Lady Sweater, and I have to say, I am not a big fan of the buttonholes that were suggested. I found that an extra hole develops next to the one-row buttonhole suggested in the pattern. I used a 4 stitch button hole, and have ripped back 2x now to get each one right, even now that I know about the problem. I am unknitting right now back to the 2nd buttonhole. It is lucky that there are only 3 of them in the sweater. Otherwise, I am loving this pattern. I have never done a raglan before, and I have to say, the construction is genius!

A Sweater for a Lady

I have been making some progress on Bell Sleeved Jacket, but was feeling the the wool sweater was not exactly ideal for summer knitting. Just when I needed a summer sweater to work on, the perfect one came along!

I am officially jumping on the bandwagon, this time while the wagon is still rolling. I am knitting the insanely popular February Lady Sweater. The pattern is free on either Ravelry or at the link above. It is based on EZs February Baby Sweater.

Last night I went to the very first knit night at the brand new store Slip Knot (sorry no website yet) in Newtown Square. There I picked up some Rowan Calmer in a soft blue to start my Lady Sweater. When I got home, I immediately started a gauge swatch, and cast on this morning on the train (sans coffee...apparently, coffee machines need a little thing called water to make coffee. The nerve!). Never have I seen a pattern and started a project so quickly!


I can't wait to see how this turns out!

In other news, an envelope arrived in the mail today containing this:


How divine! If you have even a small itch to knit this Niebling, I would purchase it now, because Laci's has it for a whopping $7. Prior to that, the only way to get it was to bid on Ebay for a back copy of Anna July 1986 for a whole lot more than $7. I was a bit shy to spend a hundred dollars or more on one pattern, so imagine my excitement when I discovered that Laci's had republished it. Get um while they're hot, ladies and gentleman, because I have no idea how they got the rights, and it very well may be a limited edition.

I probably won't knit this for awhile, but this was one pattern I wanted to be sure was in my library!

Reading has stolen my knitting time!

After the move to the burbs and my newfound train ride time, I thought for sure I would be whipping through knitting projects in no time!

However, with the train ride has come a renewed love of reading. In the morning, I am almost always drinking coffee and have found it nearly impossible to juggle my coffee and knit on the train. In the afternoon, the train is often crowded, and I feel when I knit, I almost invade others space on the train even with the small motion of my arms.

I have always loved to read, but the last few years have been busy, and a lot of the free time I did have was spent knitting. In the last month I have read 3 books:

The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

None of them were " 5 -star" such as some of my favorites such as The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and Life of Pi, but they were good reads nonetheless. I particularly liked Eat, Pray, Love and My Sister's Keeper.

I am currently reading The Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler.

Not to fret though, I have managed to finish the first snowflake sock and cast on for the second. Here are a few pre-blocking photos.