Shmom the Fabulous!

Yesterday, the sweater shmom made for shmoo arrived. She decided that it would be cool if she did the knitting and I did the finishing. That way I could have some part in the making of the sweater without actually making it. I thought that was a really cool idea.

Since she has no blog for me to point you towards, She knit "Lucky" from Knitty's men's (August 05) issue. It's a mistake rib stitch pattern. And oh my people, mistake rib is SO STRETCHY! The sweater even fits me, and I am at least 4 inches wider than the chest size stated for the size we used. She used KnitPicks, Wool of the Andes, in Maple Syrup. No idea how much, probably whatever the pattern says.

So she finished it up, did the neckline but left everything unseamed and sent it to me. I have sewed the pieces together, and I love it. Hopefully I can get a picture of the model wearing his sweater sometime soon, so you can see it as well.

As for the pattern, I want to say she said it was easy and went quickly. I can say for sure it wasn't hard to seem at all. I think it will look great on shmoo!

And of course, I have decided he needs a new hat to go with his new sweater. 3 braid cable and rib. And stripes! I am making it up as I go along.

I am using the leftover skeins of Maple Syrup that I have already joined and balled. I am also using leftovers. Brownsheep Prairie Silk, Guilder Green and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Chocolate Souffle, size 8 needles, 96 stitches.

And now, on to the felted bag! This thing is an albatross. I have washed it 3 times already, and it's not shrinking down enough. It's way to tall. It's more of a flat tall bag than a shorter wide bag like I fell in love with.

Seen here with the strap I am still struggling to finish, this bag is just not what I envisioned. I am already planning and making changes in my head for another one, more like what I wanted. At least if it doesn't turn out right, I won't have been following a pattern of someone else's making. In the meantime, I'll keep washing at this thing, finish the strap, decide whether or not to felt it, and put it on the gift pile until it tells me to whom it should belong.

Yesterday I worked on Danica some more. Entrelac is so... easy and oddly satisfying. The scarf looks mostly the same as the last picture I took, so I won't post another 'til it's done. In the meantime, my shmoo still needs that new matching hat! :)

On a slightly knitting related side note, I have a World of Warcraft toon named Entrelac, it's our banking toon so it's in the main city most of the time. Yesterday someone messaged me and said, "Your name is a knitting term, did you know that?" My response was, "Yes, in fact, I have another toon named 'Intarsia' as well." This person proceeded to ask if I knit, I said yes, then they asked if I was British, not sure why..... *shrug* She(?) asked if I spun as well, I said no, and she said she did, and that she loved spinning and dyeing. That was about the sum of our conversation, but I thought it was funny.