much ado

Had I spent my time wisely yesterday and today, I could be showing you a picture of the finished front of Coral Crossing (the back is done), but noooooo I fell down a rabbit hole trying to replicate the lace design in this sweater, "Madigan" from the Sundance Catalog. My friend Lori brought the catalog to work last week, and ever since then, we have become obsessed with some of the sweaters. Being the overconfident knitter, I said "Oh, I can make us a pattern". Ha ha ha. To my credit, after 7 swatches, I did figure out a pattern that very closely resembles the photo. I even tinkered with some numbers, figured out the armhole shaping (this is knit side to side) and knit several rows using stash yarn (!!!), Bamboo in a Grey/blue/green mix. I do not, however, have a photo to show because I frogged the whole shebang after realizing that I had not followed my own pattern and screwed up the lace. "So let this be a lesson to you young lady", said the voice in my head. Oh well. I wasn't wicked whoopie about the yarn color anyway.

In the meantime, I did manage to chart out the pattern for the "Santa Fe" sweater from the same catalog. It's just a simple drop sleeve turtleneck. We're thinking that this would work up well in the Berrocco Ultra Alpaca. Here's a photo of "Santa Fe" The colors are very dark in the photo, but hopefully you get the idea. Now we just need to find a simple turtleneck pattern that we both like that is written for worsted weight. I see no reason to reinvent that wheel!
We met up today at our local LYS to check out the Ultra Alpaca and both ended up buying yarn to make the "Refined Raglan" from the new Interweave. About that: I was really looking forward to this issue, but once I saw most of the sweaters up close, I lost interest. Feh. I would still love to make the "Venezia Pullover", designed by Eunny, once I work up the gumption. I thought I would like the "Nantucket Jacket", but would prefer longer sleeves. Since I'm in the mood, let me just say that the "Rambling Rose Cardigan" looks like a train wreck. If this sweater were a person, I would like to say "Shut up already and get to the point!" except that I could never be so blunt, even if it was what I was thinking.

Anyway, for once I purchased the same color yarn as the sweater in magazine. Only because I have been loving this yarn in this exact color for ages - what are the chances? The actual color isn't well represented by either photo. It's not nearly as glaring orange as in the magazine, and not quite as tangerine as below. I kept tinkering with the photo to get it just right and this is the best I could do. Lori and I had a little "fight" over who was going to buy the last copy of this book: She let me buy it. Wasn't that nice of her? Every sweater is written with small sizes and shaping! They also had a new shipment of Cherry Tree Supersock and I picked this up at a cool discount because it's a "Potluck" color. The label says that the color is "Earth", but I think it looks like beautiful shades of stained wood. I think that I have finally found the yarn for Pomatomus. I did manage to get a little knitting in. I have about 5 more rows to go before beginning the armhole decreases of Coral Crossing (this photo was taken yesterday). The closer I get to finishing it, the more I want to start something else!! In non-knitting news, I've been laboring away in my little sweatshop, making this tote bag. I'm teaching a class in the Spring at my quilting groups' annual getaway weekend and having been putting this off forever. I was asked to design a bag using the theme "Flower Power". This is the crowd-pleaser, pretty version in Amy Butler fabrics:I'm also making a smaller version in these fabrics. Doesn't it just get you, "Kapow!!" right between the eyes? That brown floral is real vintage fabric that I bought at an auction. The busy floral, which will be the lining, is Kaffe Fassett, and the stripe is from JoAnn's. I had the flowers in my stash but also found the cute buttons at Jo-Ann's.
In kitty news, Chloe is scheduled for surgery Tuesday morning to remove the tumor in her belly. It has ulcerated and needs to come out. The vet tells us that her lungs seem stable and that the surgery is non-invasive and simple. She'll be coming home the same day, providing things go as planned. I wish we could have done this weeks ago, but he really felt that she was going to be suffering from the lung cancer. Instead, she is thriving with the exception of the belly mass. Go figure. I don't want to get my hopes up about how much time this will buy her, but at the very least it will eliminate the immediate problem. Deep breath. Two more days to go. Thank God I knit.

BTW: I got in to the Knitting Bloggers Web Ring. Wahooo! I feel so cool :-), even if it was just luck that I signed up on time.