Three on Thursday - Sweater Choices

I'm still madly in LOVE with the yarn I'm using to knit my newest ragland sweater but to be honest, I am starting to worry I'm going to look like the Jolly Green Giant when I wear it.  I'm also struggling with how to introduce the next skein without a weird line showing up and/or wasting yarn.  I'm concerned I won't have enough yarn because I was planning to knit something else when I purchased it.  Yardage is going to be very, very tight.  Maybe I could solve the problem by loosing 50 pounds in the next, say, 20 minutes when I'll be ready to separate the arms from the body.  

I doubt seriously I'll loose those 50 pounds so ....  Plan B - buy more yarn.

But, meanwhile, adding the next skein continues to be a problem.  The first time I introduced a new skein, I "faded" it by doing a couple of single row stripes of each but....  I was left with a 20+/- inch tail of the old yarn and by the end of the sweater, those 20 inches could be a make or break thing.

The second skein, I did a row of alternating single stitches of each color.  But again, that meant using both yarns for one row.  Too wasteful.  If you have any suggestions, please post them!

Since I spent yesterday at the doctor's being drained of blood and finding out I'm over weight and have a thyroid problem, I didn't get much knitting done or have a chance to take any new photos.  I do have an excuse for the weight though.  It's not the cookies, it's the thyroid!  Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Okay, okay....  Let's stay on track here.  I didn't take any photos.  So instead, I'll show you what the Cascade 220 Wave yarn would have been if I hadn't been too lazy to walk across the room to grab a pattern at the very moment I decided I must cast on.

Felix

At first it was going to be a Felix cardigan, but that calls for bulky and the Wave is worsted.  I really, really love that ragland detail though.  One day...

Hibernal

After another brief Ravelry search, I set my sights on Hibernal.  I like the simplicity of it.  I also really like the loose body but tighter arms.  I don't care for big, bulky, floppy arms on my sweaters.  I want them loose enough to push up the sleeves if necessary, but not floppy.  These sleeves look perfect.

Hogwarts House Cardigan

And then my Harry Potter Knitting Magic book arrived.  I decided to knit the Hogwarts House Sweater.  But in the moment, I was tired and lazy and wanted instant stitching.  Apparently walking across the room and opening a book wasn't instant enough.  Plus, I'd have had to swatch.

Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Rescued!

A giant Thank You to all who responded to my stash issues/yarn diet post the other day.  I wanted to to reply to each of you individually but once again, life got in the way.  Our oil furnace went beserk, the house filled with noxious, throat burning fumes, we had to evacuate and the fire department had to come to our rescue.  We made it out safely, the furnace is our secondary heat source so we're still warm, the house didn't burn to the ground and everything is okay.  But it did set the tone for the day and in reality, it was sort of the highlight of the day.

Charles City Fire and Rescue

I'm just glad we were here because my MIL had no idea anything was wrong.  It could have been an unimaginably horrible situation.  The firemen were fantastic and we very much appreciated their help and friendliness even though Grandma failed at her attempt to get one of them to propose to my daughter.  Grandma has decided Sarah needs to find herself a man.

Thank you, Charles City Fire and Rescue!

Thankfully the day's events wore out Grandma, she went to bed early, and I was able to hide out in my attic yarn stash closet and finish the Newborn Vertebrae.

Finished Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan

I even blocked it!

My apologies if this entire post is blurry or the colors are off.  I'm sitting in a Dunkin Donuts using the internet and being blinded by the sun streaming in through the window.   

.... And I just realized I'm still wearing my sunglasses, not my reading glasses.  No wonder I'm having so much trouble.  

I swear!  Dementia is contagious! 

On the needles

The princess cardigan has sleeves!

OTN 12/16/15

Okay, so the sleeves aren't sewn on yet, but at least they've been knit.  It's just a matter of sewing them on, knitting the button band & collar, then a quick wash & blocking, then sew on some buttons, choose a dye color....

Wait!  Did I say buttons??  Crud.  I haven't bought the buttons yet.  Back to the store I go....

Oh no! What will Santa say?

Meanwhile, Max is a little worried about what Santa will think of his recent behavior.  I bought him a new bed and he refuses to lay on it.  He lays beside it, but not on it.  And when I try to coax him into laying on the bed, he growls.  Bad dog!

On the needles

Today's OTN report...

Princess Cardigan

The Princess Cardigan has a right side, back and almost a full left side.  I'm having some trouble knitting this cute little sweater, not because of issues with the pattern or the stitch being difficult... but because of the boring white yarn.  I should have dyed the yarn before I knit the sweater.

Good Lord, all that white yarn is boring.  I've been knitting and watching The Office on Netflix.  How is it  possible that I'd never seen The Office before?  It just may be my new favorite TV show.  I may even like it more than Buffy.  Except, that I haven't been knitting and watching The Office.  I've been avoiding knitting by eating while watching The Office.  Good Lord!  I think I've probably gained ten pounds since I started knitting this small little sweater.  I reached new heights of procrastination today when I caught myself washing a load of laundry even though I still have clean underwear in my underwear drawer.  It's a sad state of affairs when I'm choosing laundry over knitting.

In an effort to procrastinate just a tiny moment longer, let's talk #ChristmasCountdown.

Advent 

The Advent candles have always been one of my absolute favorite parts of Christmas.  What's your favorite?

TBT - The Barbie Jeep

Because yesterday was our 21st anniversary & I'm still all googly eyes for my husband, today's Throwback Thursday picture is spouse related.

Mike's Barbie jeep.  Although it was a total piece of cr@p, I loved that jeep!  Mike traded a canoe for the jeep back in the days of frequent fishing trips to the Outer Banks.  It was plastered with surfing & fishing bumper stickers & the cargo area had been sprayed with that foam insulation stuff so it acted like a huge, gigantic cooler.  The problem was, it barely ran & the floorboards were so rusted out you risked road-burn on your feet.  Sadly, Mike never did take it fishing.  Mostly, the Barbie jeep just took up space in our driveway & eventually, Mike traded it for new seats for  his pickup truck.

In knitting news, well, there's not a whole lot of news.  I finally turned the heel & knit the gusset for  the second Christmas sock.  I haven't had a lot of time to knit on it at work & I started a new at-home project that's getting all my attention.

The new at-home project is Allegro.  I'm not very far into the knitting of it either, but....   Allegro is one of those serendipitous projects that just seemed to fall from the sky when I needed it.  I knew I wanted to knit myself a simple dark blue cardigan but I didn't have a pattern in mind.  I guesstimated how much yarn I'd need & placed my KnitPicks order.  The day after the yarn arrived, an ad for Allegro showed up in my in-box.  It was the perfect pattern!  It was a simple pattern, yet has an interesting cable feature on the back.  The cable draws the sweater inwards at the waist which is also perfect.  (I have wide man-shoulders & I end up looking like I'm wearing a sack sometimes.)  AND, the pattern calls for the exact yarn & yardage I had ordered from KnitPicks.  Now, let's just hope the pattern's yardage requirements are correct.  Keep your fingers crossed!

As you can see, I'm not very far along on the project.  Actually, I'm further along than it looks like.  It's top down, all in one piece so although I've only knit about 8 inches, that's 8 inches on the fronts, back & sleeves.  I'm slightly worried because I've already used 2 full skeins, but again, those 2 skeins knit both fronts, the sleeves & the back.  I'm telling myself I'll have enough yarn & keeping my fingers crossed really, really tightly.