Rachel's Dress

My mom has a friend who owns a yarn store up in West Valley City (or somewhere around there). She sells really expensive yarn as well as tons of pattern books and needles and hooks and all kinds of stuff. I liked it, but it was really expensive. My mom took me up there when I first started knitting (like the day after I finished my leg warmers) and bought me a pattern book as well as a single pattern for a baby dress for Rachel. She also got me the needles I needed to complete the project. The smallest size is 2T, so I'm not in a huge rush to finish it, which is why I made my purple sweater first :D But I figured since I can't find the needle I need for my next sweater I might as well make this dress now and once Rachel fits into it she can wear it.

Anyway it's a cute dress. It's going to be very warm, as it's intended to be a winter dress. I'm thinking of doing something different with the sleeves because they're huge and silly looking, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I feel I should start recording the start date of my projects from now on so I have some idea of how long they actually take to complete. This will be helpful when I start commissioning projects, so I can give my customers an accurate time frame.

So. I started Rachel's winter dress yesterday, der 29. Maerz. It could take me over a year to finish, because I don't need those needles or that yarn for anything else. But we'll see what happens :D

Finito! Purple Sweater!

I love my new purple sweater! I've finally finished and perfected it, and I'm wearing it to school tomorrow no matter what anyone says!



Things I learned:
How to cable stitch
You can't add darts to a knitted sweater the way I tried to do it
When binding off an edge that's not going around something (like the collar of this sweater) do it tightly rather than loosely or it curls weird
Keep track of where you are in the pattern somehow! I used a tally system to make sure I knew which row I was on, and when I got off it was nicht gut. I had to undo a few rows, and that always sucks.
When starting with a crochet cast-on, make sure you put the correct loop on your needle or it won't pull off easily like it's supposed to. I'm not sure which is the correct loop, because out of three I only got one right. When I figure it out I'll explain it haha :D

This makes me so excited. I can knit sweaters! Granted this is an easy pattern with no seams, but the point is that I DID it! My next project is going to be a bit more intense if I can ever find the right needles to do it.

Preemptive *squeeeeee!*

I'm not finished with this one yet, but I'm so excited that I'm running around my house saying "Look at my sweater!" to everyone. This will be my second functional project, and as it's for me I'm doubly excited about it. This is to be the first of three sweaters I'm planning on making for myself. As you may recall from an earlier post, I can never find sweaters I like so I decided to make some.
I found the pattern for this one online and fell in love with it mostly because it's purple and I've been wanting a purple sweater to wear to school on Fridays (school colors). Plus I love the collar :D

Alright so here's what I have so far. I've been working on this for just about a month, and I'm pretty impressed with how far I am considering I've taken it apart twice already. Today is exciting because I just joined the two fronts together, and I'd say I'm almost to the halfway point :D Just two more inches, then six more inches, then two sleeves, then collar! Bam! I give it another two months lol. Here's what mine looks like today:
And here's a closeup of the collar. The cables are really pretty.I still have quite a ways to go, but I'm really excited about how well it's turning out :D

Rachel's Sweater

I finished this a while ago but haven't gotten a pic up yet, and these aren't the best anyway since they're from my phone. But here's the cute sweater I made for my daughter!



I'll put up better pics of just the sweater later, but right now I'm just ultra excited that I actually finished a usable project! It's only going to fit her for a few more weeks, but she likes it and so do I :D



Things I learned:
How to guesstimate pattern changes as necessary when using a different size yarn
How to knit sleeves :D
How to follow a more difficult pattern
How to effectively bind off
How to adjust sweater length after you finish the project and it's too short lol


COUNT YOUR STITCHES AS YOU GO!!

Things I'd do differently:
I'd still like to make it a little longer haha
It calls for a button on the front that I didn't add. I think I'd like to put one on but I just haven't gotten around to it.
Richard suggested I turn this into a dress, and I think that would be a fun experiment :D