Enchanted Forest Cardi is FINISHED!!!

Hope you like!



The buttons worked SO well! My only concern is that they might be a teensy bit heavy. I hope to try it on my brother Greg tomorrow to see how it "hangs". Click an any of the images for a close up look.



This is the tree I put on the sleeves.



And this is the panorama on the back.

SO glad this is finished! Now I have to find the perfect box. Seeya later!

Update - Blocking

Well, today I washed the Enchanted Forest Cardi. That's a LOT of sweater! Even after I rolled it in several layers of towel and foot massaged it, it was still heavy. Here are a couple of pictures of it being wet blocked on my dining room table.





Right now it is between layers of clean sheet on my studio floor with a fan blowing across it. The cats think it's something weird and walk all around it. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the buttons on and take some more pictures.

Til then...

Buttons???

The sweater is finished. All seams sewn. All ends tucked in good. What I need now are the perfect buttons. At first I was thinking something woodsy like Oak leaves or Acorns. Well, my brother Greg and I went on an adventure to Petaluma today. We went to a quilting store where we bought each other early Christmas presents. We went for a walk and found a high end knitting store where all I could afford to do was pet the yarn and breathe the heavenly fumes.

And we went to a bead store. The first thing I saw when I walked in were a lot of pretty glass "donuts" in various mouth watering colors. But the green ones really caught my eye as the perfect color (and size) for buttons for the sweater. But it's only got one big hole in the middle. I needed something to put in the middle that was slightly bigger than the hole that I could use to attach the big button to the sweater.



So, here are the beads.



And here are the buttons. Cool eh? Now give me a little time to get the sweater vacuumed (cat hair), washed and blocked and put the buttons on and I'll show you the finished sweater before I wrap it up and hide it. :o)

Later!

EFC Update

Not a very good picture I know. Click on the pic for better detail. But you can see where I am. Joined the shoulders, knit the front bands, remembering to reverse the buttonhole side. (Note to Self: ALWAYS keep the edge stitch in stockinette. Much easier to pick up stitches.) Learned a new (to me) bind off for K1P1 rib. It's done with a tapestry needle and is sort of like Kitchener only easier. Next time I do a sock toe I'm going to put all the stitches on one needle and try it this way. Saw it on http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/bind-off.php. It's called the Knit-One Purl-One Bind-Off and the videos are very clear.It makes a very nice edge and doesn't flair the ribbing at all. I love it!

Next to knit the collar, sew on the sleeves and sew up the sides and find some appropriately woodsy buttons. Then to wash and block and wrap it up safe.I probably could've knocked off a day of knitting if I wasn't so obsessive/compulsive about picking cat hairs off of it. I live with 10 cats for goodness sake! The black ones with white tips are from Cleo. The orange ones are from Merlin. The orange ones with a little white are from Rufus. The super wispy light grey ones are courtesy of Percy and Mittens. The occasional long shiny white ones... well even my hair seems to want to get into the act. I need one of those itty bitty vacuums like they use on computers.

So there you are, updated. Seeya later!

EF Update and Mau?

Hi folks. Been knitting like mad on the EF cardi.



Both fronts.



And the back. I'm knitting the sleeves now. Didn't want them to be plain moss stitch so I've added a tree.

Thank you for all the lovely comments!

Someone emailed me about Mittens being an Egyptian Mau. I answered her that I thought Mittens was a small grey tabbie but never heard an answer. Eventually I looked up the Egyptian Mau and realized she must have been talking about Cleo! Yes she definitely looks like she has a lot of Mau in her genes.



I named her before I knew about that. I named her Cleopatra because she is a very relaxed kitty and her pose made me think of Cleopatra an her barge floating down the Nile. In the picture above she is sitting on top of a pile of kitty toys. In the short time she has lived here she has grown out of that box but she still loves it.



Here she is, thinking about moving her lazy self to go catch a feather toy.



Here she has caught the silly thing when it ventured too close and saved her the effort. She is still growing. Look at those feet! Everyday she gets more beautiful and a little bigger. All the male cats in the house are in complete awe, but she keeps them in their place. She likes to hunker down and waggle her hind end whenever she sees little Mittens. Mittens is so small she must look like a toy to Cleo. But as a grown up lady of some years I'm sure she would love to teach Cleo some respect.

Till next time, keep knitting and love your kitties!