knitting lemonade

Well kids, I am off...off to Nova Scotia, or the Great White North for those in the know. Exciting, no??? I leave tomorrow for a ten-day extravaganza. Starting in Boston, I take a cruise ship to the following "ports" (that is cruise-speak for "stops"):

Bar Harbor, Maine
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Charlottestown and Prince Edward Island (Can anyone say, "Green Gables"?)
Saguenay River
Quebec City, Quebec
Montreal, Quebec

Feel that? What you are feeling now is jealousy. That is completely normal. I just ask that you put aside those feelings and realize that going on cruises is not all champaigne wishes and caviar dreams. I mean, there are formal dinners on this boat...formal dinners mean formal outfits. Ugh. Formal is not how I usually roll, so imagine my drama. And don't even get me started on trying to pick the right shoes to wear. Oh the stress!

One thing I am not stressed about is what knitting project to take on my trip. The lucky WIP is...Pomatomus from knitty. Plus, I get to use the fab River yarn I got from sweet georgia.

I think that Pomatomus will be a perfect complement to my cruise experience. I mean, it's like I'll be knitting the waves below me. Wow, I must really need a vacation, because that was soooo cheesy.

So Au Revoir, mon amis!! I will miss reading all your wonderful blogs and seeing all your wonderful knitting progress. When I return, I hope to have some fab picttures and stories to share. Until next time...

So today is my birthday. Hurrah! Well, I think Hurrah...I am 27. That's okay right. Right? Well, despite my mixed feeling about getting older, I have had an amazing birthday. My sisters, Erin and Bri, have thrown a Birthday Extravaganza lasting two whole days...

First my family, nieces and all, went to the park and had a picnic full of "Happy-tisers", including homemade guacamole, cupcakes, and a fruit dip platter.

Erin decorated the cupcakes all by herself.
Emma was darling in her pigtails.
Do you think that Ellie liked her cupcake?


Then my girls took me to a posh french bistro...
The crew...Erin, Susan, Me, Bri, and Amanda. How fab are we??


And of course there was Karaoke Revolution...with PRIZES!!! You think there is nothing better than karaoke, until you start singing for prizes like sock yarn and funny stationary.

By the way, I won.


And the celebrations are not over yet. We are now heading to my brother's for a fab japanese dinner, and of course...cake!


Thank you so much Erin, Bri, Brett, Julianne, Emma, Ellie, Ryan, Susan, and Amanda for making my 27th birthday basically rock.

PS- Thanks for all the compliments are Green Gables! You all are too nice!!

Well, Green Gables is finished, and I am in LOVE! This pattern is so easy and oh so darling. It made ALL those rows of stockinette in the round worth while. And c'mon no seaming needed! Because, i cannot leave well enough alone, I made a couple of modifications as I went along...some on purpose, some not so much.

1)First off, I mistakenly cast-on using the long-tail method when I should have used backloop method. The pattern itself did not indicate a method, but the clever gals from the KAL asked the zephyr girls and they clarified that the back-loop was the way to go. This might have been the reason why my neckline looked smaller than it did in the pattern pictures. (Through the course of trying it on, though, the neckline got bigger and looked a lot better.)

2)I had added a purl ridge by mistake. The pattern indicates that after you cast on, you purl a row of stitches, then join the stitiches in the round. Apparently, this purl row would have been on the wrong side of the knit so it would show up as a knit row on the RS. But mine somehow didn't work out that way. The purl row is on the RS creating a purl ridge around the neckline. The perfectionist in me is a little bothered by it, but by the time i had realized my mistake, I was too far into the body to go back and rip it out.

3) I added additional shaping to the body of the sweater. I knitted the large size and added two decrease rows around the bust and one increase row around the hips. Just slight tweaks, but i think it made a huge difference.

4) I lengthened the body and sleeves of the top. For the large size, you were supposed to knit 12.5 inches from the underarm, I ended up knitting 14 inches plus the ribbing at the bottom. For the sleeves, the pattern says to start ribbing imediately after picking up the sleeve stitches, I instead added three rows of stockinette (decreasing 1 stitch per row for a more fitted sleeve) and then started the ribbing.

I think that Green Gables is a hit. I am already trying to decide on a what color to do next...Brown Gables sounds lovely, or maybe Ruby Gables, what about a Teal Gables...

More shots from the photo shoot...

I am so lame. I didn't knit at all last week. Was I too busy at work? Not really. Did I lose interest in my WIPs? No, still crazy about them. Have I lost the passion for knitting as my craft of choice? Doubt it.

I do know I had Erin pretty worried. As my sister/roommate she looks out for me and my knitting. This is what a big sister is for...

Begin scene.
Erin: Kara?
Me: Hmm?
Erin: We need to talk.
Me: umm...ok.
Erin: I'm a little worried about you.
Me: Why?
Erin: Well, see, you haven't been knitting.
Me: Oh, that.
Erin: Yes, that. Is everything ok? Have you given up knitting?
Me: Yes, Erin, I have given up knitting. (Insert obvious sarcastic tone)
Erin: It's just you haven't touched your needles in days...Is something going on? Is it manifesting itself in your lack of knitting? If something horrible was going on, you would tell me right?? Right?
Me: Eres-bears, I'm just feeling lazy this week.
Erin: Oh. Ok then.
End scene.

I promise I'm back on the wagon this week. I'll have some Green Gable progress to report as well as some new projects on the needles...