Thankful for beautiful fall weather!

Here in Mobile AL, we never really get to experience fall. We don't get the beautiful changing of the leaves and most of the season, we still get highs in the mid to upper seventies and even the eighties.

But today was quite an exception. Me and Ben went for a bike ride around our neighborhood and stopped to enjoy the "swamp".

Thank God for days like today. It was actually good to get out of the house and not get any knitting done!

Back to work....and still knitting

Ugh. After 5 weeks of maternity leave (the 1st of which I was still pregnant), I went back to work on Monday. I definitely wasn't ready for it, but then again I probably would never be really ready to go back. But, I'm not a stay at home mom, so therefore, I work. It's just the way it is. At least I get to bring Oliver with me. I can't complain about that! Not to mention it was sweet to go back on a short week - we got off for the week at noon Wednesday.

In knitting news, I have embarked on a bit of a sweater-ama. I have so much going on right now in the way of projects.

I'm really excited about this cropped sweater jacket:

It still needs sleeves (duh). It's my first "saw it, loved it, didn't want to pay 88 bucks for it" design (see pic in a post below). They say necessity is the mother of invention. True, true. Hopefully this invention will be the first of many successful attempts at such.

A few notes about this sweater:

• I based my pattern very loosely on the Tilted Duster from IK Fall 2007. You can see that the shaping of the front is different and it's longer. I also picked up stitches along the bottom edge to pull it in toward the body.
• I am using Lion Brand Homespun. Except for the color, I can't stand this yarn. I bought it super cheap and it's a pain to knit (typical 100% acrylic shit). Maybe I had such a hard time because I used small needles, but I wanted a thick fabric for the jacket. Anyway, I paid for it and I couldn't take it back so I used it. But I won't buy it again. It's a shame too because it comes in so many sweet colors, but never again.
• When I finish the sleeves, they will be long, hitting below the wrist. I'm calling them extended sleeves.

I'm looking forward to this sweater fitting a little better when I lose my pregnancy fat and boobs. Who knew that I'd hate them when I finally got them!?

I'm also b r e e z i n g right through the Cherie Amour from Knitty. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/PATTcherieamour.html

Here she was as a tiny baby:

She has grown a lot since then! I'm working on the midsection now. I'm using Moda Dea Tweedle Dee. Ironic, because I used to hate it. I actually decided it wasn't too bad after finding another version of this sweater on Ravelry that had been knit with it.

Anyway, it's knitting up very nicely and I think it is a perfect yarn for this sweater. I will probably finish it tomorrow. yay! Talk about instant gratification. I love that.

I have also casted on for the Gallery Jacket:

Pattern by Cirilia Rose, whose blog is here: http://skrillaknits.wordpress.com/

I am knitting it in Lion Brand Wool Ease, cranberry. I know, more cheap acrylic shit. But I loved the color, especially for this jacket. I'll post a pic when it takes some shape.

Brea: Done!

After literally months of this UFO looming over my head.....Brea is finally finished! I am so excited to finally hand this baby over to her new mommy. I made this for my best friend, Jennifer, and I can't wait to give it to her.

I really hope she likes it! It will be hard to give it away, but I have already knit this one for myself and she really deserves it anyway. Check out that button - isn't it awesome?! I got it from my LYS, before they closed up :(

Yesterday was a huge day for finishing for me. I sewed the lining for the bag and assembled it, which actually took all day. Yay for being done!

Fall Projects

I have knitting A.D.D.! No doubt. I have been on maternity leave and I have had the opportunity to stay at home and chill out with my beautiful angel, Oliver, and if he could use his hands, he'd be a knitter by now too.

I'm so close to finishing up the Brea bag for my BFF. It will be hard to hand that one over, its so sweet!

I am planning to place the second sleeve on my Drops 103-1 Jacket. It will be completely done once the last sleeve is put in. I have had so much fun knitting that one. Its my first seamed sweater and I am so proud that it is turning out so well. I'll probably end up making another one. Here's the pic from the pattern:

Mine is a darker charcoal gray tweed yarn. I used Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweeds. It was a decent yarn to knit with, especially considering I got it on sale - eight balls for around 30 bucks. I made only a few changes to the pattern. I'll put up some pics this afternoon!

Next, I'm going to try to knit this: We'll see how this one goes. I'll be heavily modifying a pattern I have for a different sweater, the Tilted Duster from the Fall 07 issue of Interweave Knits - http://www.interweaveknits.com/

And, just in case anyone thinks I should add another project to the ever-growing to-do list, here is Cherie Amour, from the Fall 07 Knitty - http://www.knitty.com/: