Yoda, Finished

I finished the sweater for my friend's baby. This is my first sweater ever. I need more practice sewing up seams, but it turned out OK. The Sugar and Cream yarn was OK but not luscious, next time I might try a different yarn.



I discovered a good place for blocking (lots of air flow):


...and here's the finished project with the button and everything.

New Crate Pads

If only my turnaround time on all my projects was this quick! R and I bought the materials for new crate pads for the dogs last Thursday and here on Tuesday they are all the way done. The mattresses are convoluted foam (cut from a double-szie mattress pad) and the top is a lovely white sherpa knit furry chenille thing. The backs are ultrasuede, R picked the colors: "blue for Mar-wee and purple for Morgle." (sic) It's been a while since I've done a zipper and the first one took me two tries, but the second one went in easy enough. The two fabrics were quite dissimilar and the white knit stretched the first time I sewed the top and bottom together, but then I ripped and flipped so I was sewing with the ultrasuede on top and they came out OK. I did a lot of ripping for such a simple project, but part of that was just getting warmed up again after not having sewn in so long.

Here's a shot of the materials for a pad:


and one of us trying it out:


It's very comfortable. As I had hoped, the good foam gives quite a bit of cushioning and is breatheable, and the knit top was worth the $9 a yard cost as it doesn't detract from the texture of the foam and is a nice surface for the dogs to lie on. I did prewash the ultrasuede and it didn't run, so hopefully these will be nicely machine washable. The dogs seem to really like them, they've been playing musical crates testing them out.

In other news, I finished the other front on the baby cardigan and am onto a sleeve...

Baby Yoda Sweater

My best friend from 7th grade is due with her first baby at the beginning of next month and I really wanted to make something for him. I've never made a sweater before so I picked the Baby Yoda Sweater because it looked quick and easy. I found some fun yarn at my LYS and thought this would be a no-brainer.

It took me 3 tries to get a gauge calculation to alter the pattern (I planned to use a sport weight and the pattern is written for a worsted/heavy worsted weight.) I kept chipping away at the back which was easy stockinette knitting but kept putting it down in favor of other things, even non-knitting things.



Finally I had to admit that I just felt the colors were too girly for a first son, and that on the whole the yarn was better suited to this sweater I've been meaning to knit my daughter for ages.

I meant to go pick up some Blue Sky Alpacas cotton because I really love it, but after knitting a dishcloth in good old sugar n' cream, I decided that I'd try the Yoda sweater in it. Who knows if this late spring baby will even wear a sweater before he outgrows it, and the sugar n' cream felt OK to me and is on sale for $1.79 a ball right now at Joann. I have previously crocheted a baby blanket in this yarn and was happy with the results.

I guess this was a decision that needed to be, since after switching yarn I have been going (for me) like gangbusters on this sweater. I have the back and one of the front sides done and am halfway done (as of this morning) with the other front side. I may get it done by the end of the week!

Done!

Fast, fun, and FUN!



I think I *need* Mason-Dixon Knitting.

The Infamous Warshrag

Why? Because everyone else's is so pretty, and it looks quick. I'm very stuck.