Shelled

I’ve been working on the purple turtle as I have time. It goes surprisingly quickly. I haven’t given the turtle legs yet, I was too excited about trying to knit the shell. So, here is the progress. I did the top part first, and it’s a very clever pattern. I wouldn’t have thought of knitting it like this where you slip the darker purple stitches for a couple of rows and then knit them back in. That’s what pulls it into a rounder shape. Very clever. I’m new at turtles.

I tried putting it over the legless turtle just to see what it would look like.

I thought it looked pretty sweet. I finished the top of the shell, and the bottom of the top part. Go look at the pattern and that might end up making sense.

See, it’s not the part that goes around his/her legs. It is the bottom part of the stuffed part. I hope that makes sense. I am hoping to make this a girl turtle, no special reason other than I want to put a little crocheted “shell” pattern around the edge of the shell. We’ll see though, because I’m a little stuck. The pattern says to “Use any seaming method you like, as long as it is invisible on the RS and will not allow the stuffing to escape; this seam will not show.” So I’m a little confused on just how to do that because the bottom is just slightly smaller than the top, and if I put the right sides together to seam it, how do you stuff it and continue seaming it? I’m going to ponder this over the holiday break, especially as I can’t take it with me because my niece (who it’s for) will be all too present. If anybody has any suggestions, I would appreciate them!!

Thanks! Last post before the holidays! I hope you have the very best of holidays and a wonderful new year! See you in 2008!!

Finished Blue, Started Purple

Finally! A chance to blog again. I finished the blue tulip sweater before Thanksgiving. Here’s the final photo.

It turned out really well. It is so soft. I don’t have a baby to give it to, so I’m just going to hang onto it until some special little one comes along. Yay! Cross that off the list.

I’ve been going back and forth working on many projects. I was going to try and do something for Christmas, but who needs that stress right now? With all the snow and even some ice that we’ve been getting here in the Midwest, I don’t need to add a deadline on top of it. So I’ve done a little of this, a little of that.

I joined Yarn of the Month Club– it is so cool. You get 4 small samples of different yarns each month, and a pattern that uses one or more of the yarns you have received. Every so often (quarterly?) there is a newsletter also. It costs $8.50 a month. Each yarn comes in a little ziploc bag with a label on it that tells you what the composition of the yarn is (50% cashmere, etc.), the name of it, the gauge, and the color. It’s just enough to knit up a swatch, get the feel of the yarn and see how it knits up. I have gotten 2 months worth (8 samples) and I am impressed.

You can see I’ve knit some of them up. I just haven’t gotten to all of them. The one to the right of the red one that you can’t see too well has stainless steel in it. Looks intriguing.

Above is Carmelon by Zaol. Not a color I would ordinarily pick up (a dark charcoal), and probably not a yarn I would either. But I enjoyed knitting this swatch, and might do something with it at some point.

This is Pure Wool DK by Rowan. I had never used Rowan yarn before, although I have some friends that rave about it. I can now see why. I knit up the swatch, and just fell in love with its softness and the color, which is called Pomegranate, or 029.  I thought it would be perfect to knit a new winter hat for me with! The day before I got this sample, Creative Knitting’s new issue came out, and there is an oversized hat in it on page 32 called “Cables & Bobbles Beret.” Yup. I caved. I bought the yarn for it, and now it just waits for our Christmas travelling. I have to take something with me I can work on over the holidays that isn’t for someone in my family or my husband’s. So this hat has been nominated. Everything else I’m working on is for somebody in one of our families!

Case in point: I’m working on a very naked turtle at the moment. The infamous Sheldon. I thought I might be able to get it done for Christmas, but no way. So this will be for my niece’s 5th birthday at the end of January. I might be able to finish hers by Christmas, but her little brother might be put out if he didn’t get one too, so I will try to complete them both by the end of January. Here’s my progress so far:

It’s pretty ugly without legs or its shell. My niece loves purple (so do I), so hers is purple. My nephew’s will be blue. The yarn is Knit Picks’ Shine, I believe. Very soft!

That’s it for now. Happy holidays to all! See you in the New Year!