Hmm....which yarn to use?

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out what yarn I want to use to make the Hourglass sweater from LMKG. I am not a fan of wool at all. I just don't like how it feels, not even sure I would want to use a wool blend. I like cotton angora and cotton cashmere quite a bit (who wouldn't!). I would like the yarn to be machine washable as I have little ones who like to drool and leave baby schmutz on me. I am considering Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora in Burgundy (although not machine washable). But I read on the Hourglass knitalong that the cotton angora leaves "fluffies" everywhere. Not sure I like that idea.

Anyone out there have any suggestions for yarn I might use?

New Sweater and New Stash!

We were gone the last week or so to visit the in-laws. Actually, quite a nice trip. The girls were spoiled beyond belief and my husband and I got some time to ourselves which is always nice. AND, I also had time to knit! I finished up the new sweater for Little L and it is TOO big so it should fit perfect for the fall. I also added a collar to it and I think it turned out quite nice. I'm not sure where my gumption comes from to modify patterns since I'm still bascially a beginner. But at least I have the guts to try, right? Really, my motivation was that having the collar would make the head opening bigger. I tend to overcompensate when I try to fix things. :-) So now, Little L's large noggin should be right at home in her new sweater! And since we'll be moving to Minnesota this fall, she'll actually have occasion to wear it! The blue yarn in the picture is the color that I'm planning to use to make Big E a matching sweater.





And I saw the Knitting Goddess' husband this past weekend. He handed off a bag of stash yarn for me from her! Yeah, now I can swatch and play and see what kind of yarn I might like to knit with. There's some Debbie Bliss, some fun angora yarn, all different textures and varieties. Thanks Allison!



And the girls are BOTH napping at the SAME time! So I'm off to knit....

Progress and More....

So here's a progress photo for you. I know, I know, not too exciting. Looks a lot like the first one. ;-) On a completely different note, I have not been real jazzed about my monikers for D1 and D2. I envy creative moms like this one who calls her kids "Thing 1" "Thing 2", etc. And this mom who calls her youngest kid "Guppy". LOVE that! I'm not so creative. But I am really not excited about "D1" and "D2". So I think we'll try out Big E and Little L for now. And see how I feel about that....

Hate when "things" get in the way of knitting time....

And by "things" I mean D1 and D2 of course. I've been too busy being a mommy this week to really do anything too exciting with the knitting. I am about 2/3 of the way done with D2's new and improved Placket sweater. I actually do have a progress photo to post, but am too tired from child wrangling to upload it from the camera at the moment.

As much as I have not really been knitting, I have been thinking about knitting. I added a few new blogs to the sidebar. And I may add a few more in the future. I found a great little ring called Knitting Parents of Young Children. Sounded like something I could relate to.

Last weekend I was able to sneak away from the fam for a little while to run errands (like grocery shopping, oh what fun!) and I snuck in a trip to Barnes and Noble for a nice frappaccino and some time to look at knitting books (instead of just books in the kids section!). I ended up buying Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss and Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. Both of which look quite fun and have adorable baby patterns in them!

I do have a sweater planned for D1 since I wouldn't want her to feel left out (yeah right). But I may not do that right away. I have other babies to knit for. And maybe since Allison is so generously thinking of letting me try out some of her yarn stash. I'll figure out a type of yarn I might want to use to make the hourglass sweater for ME!

Here's the Nutty Novice in me

Okay, maybe I'm slightly boring (ie: knitting the same pattern again so soon after finishing it the first time) or maybe its the almost perfectionist in me, but I've cast on to make D2 another placket sweater. Well, really here comes the NOVICE part of my knitting. So I washed and blocked the first sweater which had fit her absolutely perfectly before washing. And well, I couldn't even get the sucker over her head! Somehow, my bound off neckline shrunk in the wash (is this just something I should have known would happen?). I couldn't force it over her giant head even with the buttons undone and really trying. (Poor kid!) And well, I'm not one to figure out how to unbind it and redo it. And I feel like it just fit her now when we're entering summer and she'll wear it probably twice when its freakishly cold. SO, to make a short story long, I started over. I'm going to make it slightly bigger so hopefully it will fit her this fall and I'll bind off more loosely this time. I'm using the Bernat Cotton Tots yarn in Strawberry (almost the same color as the pink Crayon). We'll see how it goes this time. But I'm also excited about improving upon my first one. I love the frog buttons but they are slightly big and didn't fit through the knit stitches very well. But thanks to me learning about the YO in the eyelet round of the hat I just finished I think I might throw a couple little eyelet holes into the neckline (look at me go!) so that I can button the sweater easier and it won't just look like a stretched out knit stitch when its unbuttoned.

To ramble on further because I know you're riveted by my post so far. I have noticed that in the other knitting blogs I've glanced at, no one uses um, how shall I put this, "Michael's" type yarn. You are all very selective about your yarn choices (and they are quite beautiful colors and textures, I must add!). I feel very cheap/inexperienced using the yarn I can get at Michael's in my projects. But I also 1) have no knowledge of yarns or how they might knit up, 2) pretty much mostly have knitted baby things so far and therefore would like them to be washable yarns, and 3) have absolutely no budget to go buying wonderfully expensive yarns! I so wish I could and maybe some day after I grow tired of the stuff from Michael's. But I do love seeing the pictures of all the beautiful yarn you guys buy! I aspire to be you someday!