I worked on the Lang cardigan last night. I searched my apartment in every possible place that the pattern could be and didn’t find it. So I just copied the pattern and figured out all of the numbers again.

I’m working on the heel of the second Regia Jacquard sock.

I swatched the yarn for Karla’s sweater. Now I just need to put my numbers into the Sweater Wizard and figure everything out. It will definitely be a project on 9 needles that I’ll work on when I don’t want to work on something on small needles.

I’m off work January 2 and 3, so I will probably get a lot of knitting done in those two days, since my apartment is pretty spotless because I cleaned it so well before Susan got here. I think I’ll work on the sock and the Glint sweater those two days.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! :)

I ran out of yarn for the Jo Sharp “Rebecca” sweater so I spent about 1/2 hour on the phone with yarn stores in Illinois looking for the color and dyelot of the Silkroad yarn that I’m using for the sweater. I wasn’t successful with any of the stores in Illinois. So I figured I would call the Yarn Connection in New York and they had the color and dyelot! They were going to send it out today (Monday) so I should have it by Friday and hopefully, I can finish the sweater this coming weekend! I really want to wear this sweater. Since I haven’t been able to finish it, I’ve had to find other things to keep me busy.

I worked on a significant amount of the second sock of the Regia Jacquard socks. I’m working on the heel, I had forgotten how I did my last heel so it’s taking me longer to knit the heel for this sock since I’m slipping every other stitch on both the knit side and the purl side. It’s really tight and slow-going, but at least, the heels will match on the socks. :)

I also worked about 15 rows of the first sleeve of the Glint sweater. I think I just need to work on it a little at a time and I’ll get it done by March or even October! :) I just really want to wear it soon.

Somewhere in my moving my knitting books around, I lost my copy of the pattern for the Lang cardigan. It wouldn’t be a problem except that I’ve pretty much rewritten the pattern since I was very much off gauge since I’m using much heavier yarn than the pattern calls for. I really don’t want to have to copy the pattern again and refigure all of my numbers. I hope I can find the copies when I do some serious searching in my knitting basket and on my bookshelves.

Enjoy Wednesday, January 1. I hope you all have time to get some knitting done on your day off! :)

12/27/2002
Well, I managed to finish nearly all of my Christmas gifts by Christmas. They were a successful with the family.

My sister Meredith, whose middle name is Anne, received the Anne scarf. She loved it. She commented on how delicate the lace looked. I was very happy that she liked it!

My mom received the Barbara scarf, which has turned into a bit of a headache for me. I realized about two inches from being completely finished on Sunday, December 22, that I was going to run out of yarn. My solution was to cut the neck ribbing and then kitchener stitch it together. Not a good idea, the kitchener stitch is difficult on a rib and it looked really bad! So I figured I would just rip out an entire side of the lace-work and make the neck ribbing shorter. Well, the neck ribbing looked really ridiculous shorter. So I decided that I would just get a ball of yarn and do the neck ribbing. Then I’ll rework the lace pattern on one side of the scarf. That’s where I’m at right now. I know I have about 8 hours of work left on this scarf, but I would rather do it to my perfectionist standards than to give my mom a sub-standard gift.

My dad and grandpa both received the garter rib scarves. They were a success! My dad loved the alpaca.

Aunt Nan loved her felted bag. My dad, sister and I drove to Wichita, fourty-five miles southeast of Hutchinson (my hometown) to buy a tool to pound the grommits, snaps and some leather to hold the snap-strap in place. Then Tuesday night, we had to keep my mom and Aunt Nan out of the kitchen while my dad and I worked on the bag. I learned a lot from this bag. I think putting the straps on made it feel more like a bag that I really truly made!

I’m now able to work on other projects. :) I worked on the Jo Sharp “Rebecca” sweater last night and I’m about 1/3 of the way through the second sleeve. I would like to finish it in the next week or so. My friend, Susan, is coming to visit on Sunday, so I may need to go to the yarn store tomorrow and block my sweater so that I can put it together shortly after Susan leaves since I’m taking January 2 & 3 off.

I would also like to get the DK Tweed Lang cardigan finished so that I can wear the top with the cardigan. I’ve been wearing the top a lot. I love it! I’ve been wearing it with a long-sleeved undershirt and think it looks pretty cute that way. :)

Another project that probably will move to the top of my list is the second sock for the Regia Jacquard socks. I was working on them two years ago when Susan was here and they seemed to go pretty fast then, but I think they go faster when someone is around to distract you a bit from all of the tediousness of the knitting.

I have two projects that need to be added to my plate soon.

• I found out my friend, Shannon, is having another baby girl in March. I swatched the yarn for the adorable little sweater that I’m going to make for the new little one.

• Karla has commissioned me to make a sweater for her using the Knickerbocker. I need to finish the Jo Sharp “Rebecca” sweater before I can start Karla’s sweater since I need the size 9 needles. Hence, another reason to finish the Jo Sharp “Rebecca” sweater very soon!

Progress on Christmas gifts
Anne scarf - Completely finished.
Barbara scarf - Have four inches of necked ribbing complete. Need to finish ribbing and complete second side of scarf.
Garter rib scarf - The rust colored one is completely finished. Working on the blue one, it’s about 25% complete.
Felted Bag - Finished knitting last night. Bottom and side gussets were sewn last night. Needs to be felted. Handles will be added after bag is dry from felting.

I haven’t worked on anything except the felted bag for the last week. I forgot how much knitting it really is! And being under pressure didn’t make it go any faster. I’m so relieved that it’s finished and ready to be felted. Tuesday night, I was a bit paniced, but I think it will be fine. I asked Mary to felt it for me, but I think I’ll try to felt it tonight after I get home from my cooking class. With the bag done I can work on getting the two scarves finished, they will be no problem with 5 more days to work on them and two of those days are weekend days!

Progress on Christmas gifts
Anne scarf - Ends need to be sewn in and it’s ready to be blocked.
Barbara scarf - Have three inches of necked ribbing complete. Need to finish ribbing and complete second side of scarf.
Garter rib scarf - The rust colored one is completely finished. Working on the blue one, it’s about 25% complete.
Felted Bag - Started on Sunday and have about four inches knit. May not have finished by Christmas, keeping my toes & fingers crossed for that.

Progress on Christmas gifts.
Anne scarf - The first side and neck ribbing are finished. I have 7 more lace pattern repeats on the second side.
Barbara scarf - I was home from work yesterday and I finished the first side (5 repeats), it’s 7 lace repeats and then I started the neck ribbing. I’m about 3 inches into the neck ribbing, so I have 8 more inches of the neck ribbing before I start the second side. I was amazed how much I got done yesterday, so I think I’ll be able to finish this one pretty quickly as one repeat takes me about 45 minutes to an hour.
Garter Rib scarf - I finished the first scarf in this pattern. Now I’m working on the second scarf. It took me about a week and a half to knit the first one, so I hope the second one will go just as quickly.
Felted Bag - I need to start this so that I can felt it the weekend of December 14. Probably should move up in the priority list if I’m going to get the straps done before the holidays.

My birthday party is tomorrow night so I probably won’t get much knitting done tonight or tomorrow because I’ll be cleaning my apartment tonight and cooking tomorrow!