Smitten, bitten.

To celebrate Martin Luther King Day, I decided to take a break from knitting and do a little sewing. As it turns out, the kitties had other ideas. Mr. B held down my fabric squares so they wouldn't blow away in the non-existent wind.

Missy Miss brought her new fur ball upstairs and said "Play with me!"

After some time (and lots of petting), I managed to finish this little ditty:


The pattern is "Abby's Treasure Box" by Little Scraps from This & That, purchased a few weeks ago at Cotton Weeds in Freeport. The fabric is part of Anna Maria Horner's Chocolate Lolipop collection, bought online at Fat Quarter Shop last spring.

It was a quick and easy project, and is so cute!

I was so happy with how it came out that I decided to make another one with the rest of my squares. By this time, however, the Kitties had enough of all my sewing and no playing.



How could I resist such attention?

Eventually, I did finish the second one. This time using the "warm" colors from the same collection.

It's the perfect size for carrying a sock in progress!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been jonesing to knit sweaters again. Did I start with one of those I already had yarn for? Heck no! I went out craft store trolling on Saturday and found that A.C. Moore was having a sale: 25% off all yarn!! Yes, I bought yarn (6 skeins of Cotton Ease in Taupe at $3.73 a skein), buy I also bought the new issue of Knit Simple. I'd rejected it when it first came out, but this time, I fell in love....

You know how it happens. That "OhmygodImustknitthatrightNOW" feeling. I left the store and wolfed down a naughty meal at Wendy's (just to make sure that it wasn't low blood sugar talking) and headed straight for my LYS that carries Manos. Yep, came home with 8 skeins in the exact same color as the one in the magazine. I almost never do that, but I can so see myself wearing this sweater!!!

The love grew a little cold after a while, as I grumbled to myself that size 8 needles were too small for the yarn and that there was no way it was going drape like it does in the photo, and

"Hey! How many times am I supposed to repeat the rib before I remove the sleeve stitches?"

In the photo, it looked like the sleeves were separated in the middle of the reverse stockinette rows in the second repeat of rib rows.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!"

I took out my magnifying glass and looked for the tell-tale bumps indicating "kfb" increases.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!"

According the pattern, the sleeves aren't separated until after the third repeat!

"Aren't my armholes going to be GIGANTIC?"

I obsessed over this for hours, but kept on knitting. I checked the magazine website, thinking that there MUST be a correction. Although convinced that there were clothes pins holding that sweater in place (unless that woman is an amazon, I can't believe that a size 38 inch chest fits her like that), I kept knitting.

This photo was taken at the height of my obsessive conspiracy fit. Shortly before going to bed last night I finally removed my sleeve stitches (4 rows earlier than it says to in the pattern), knit a few rows, and tried it on. So far so good. At this point, my theory is that the person who wrote the pattern is not the designer, and that the one on the model was not knit using the pattern (impossible I say!). Stay tuned to see if this is going to be a winner or a loser. (I really really really want it to be a winner!)

I finished something else today, but it was supposed to be a Christmas gift for someone. Oops! Maybe I'll keep it. Heh heh. Here's a tiny peek: