I always wondered how (or is it “why?”) knitters would make a sweater that’s “obviously” too big for them and just keep knitting it. Now I know! Fortunately – it appears to be my husband’s size and the color is a nice one on him. He’s not really much of a cold-blooded person though so it’s unknown how much wear he will actually get out of it this winter – or any winter for that matter – providing the knitting on it ever ends. Did I mention it’s LARGE???

I’ve made him a couple of pair of socks in the past – and those seemed ENDLESS as well. They don’t call him “Big Mike” for nothing.

Soooo – if I ever get it finished, Smitty’s getting a sweater from me. He’s always such a good sport about wearing things I make him – even the disasters – which, I’d rather he didn’t, but he loves that I made it for him, so he saves those things to wear around the house. Once a friend of ours dropped by when he was wearing a shirt I’d made where one side ended up wrong-side out – we had to explain the whole odd shirt thing. The friend got a good laugh out of it.

So, back to the whole raglan cardigan thing – it’s all the proper gauge, and knitting up exactly the way the pattern “recipe” said it would. What made me think that I needed enough “ease” in a garment that would make it the same size as my husband’s suit jacket is beyond me. But, I’ve learned now that it isn’t all that big of a stretch to make something for yourself that turns out enormous – because now I’ve done it!

Shifting gears here to Friday’s Webstops post -

I don’t know about you, but I’m “always” a day late, and a dollar short when it comes to entering contests or giveaways online – or anywhere for that matter. I often will catch up on my Bloglines reading only to find that five or six of my favorite blogs have had give-aways that ended the day before I checked back in.

Once – I actually discovered that one time I’d won something the day or two before I checked in on a blog I followed. That was a surprise! I gave the blog owner my details for where to mail my winnings – and never heard from them again. I think they stopped blogging about that time. LOL I had to laugh. It’s just so, something that would happen to me. I didn’t really mind though – I had always enjoyed reading that blog and I wasn’t expecting to win anything anyway. It cracked me up though to find I’d won something, but didn’t really. I was most disappointed that they stopped blogging. Can’t remember now who it was – but I always looked forward to seeing their blog had a new post on it in my Bloglines.

Now, on the offchance you have better results with giveaways than I do (and I know Rebekah has been a big wiener a couple of times!) I thought it might be fun to post a couple I’ve run across this week among the Webstops.

May the force be with you –

Webstops

• One Hundred Hats
• Yarn On The house
• Berroco Knits has a book and a knit kit they’re giving away.
• This one’s over with but Alana regularly has give-aways on her blog/podcast, so you could check back there frequently or subscribe to her podcast if you have time to listen.
• Not a giveaway per se but Wendy is leading a Knit-Along for a pi shawl that she designed – the pattern is free and she’s there to answer questions if you have any.
• Not a giveaway or even about knitting – but a really nice blog called Food & Style for people who want to can their own fruits and veggies or just like nice pictures of food! (There are recipes here too.)

I get the sneaking feeling that this sweater is going to be enormous.

Last week, I was dithering whether or not I’d make it a raglan or a yoke cardigan – basically the only difference in how it’s knit is the way you do the decreases once you’ve added sleeves to it. So, I decided just to stick with my original plan and make it raglan.

I guess since it’s so “generic” it could end up a man’s sweater if it’s too big for me. The arms look like they’ll end up long enough for an orangutan – but I’ve never knit a cardigan from the bottom up before – so it could be they will magically end up just right once it’s finished. Right? :-/

It has sure been a nice comforting knit. Just sit in chair, settle huge sweater in lap and knit mindlessly while watching TV. Of course, I will admit that I’m actually beginning to get anxious for it to be finished…and a little anxious that I will end up having to unravel the upper half of it completely – shorten the sleeves, lengthen the body and re-knit it. Oh the suspense.

I’ve been poking around the Internet a bit this week, and found a few more neat things to share. So, “Webstops” two weeks in a row.

Webstops

Webstops – Friday

• Jogless Stripes
• Sweet Preservation – A web site promoting canning. Check it out. You can also buy fruit from them.
• Speaking of canning – Food In Jars is a blog all about it.
• Maybe the perfect project for one skein of Handmaiden’s Sea Silk
• Cute baby knitting project.

The sleeves are officially attached to my sweater project. I’m contemplating a change. Originally I was going to do a raglan sweater – but now I’m thinking maybe a textured yoke treatment might be the way to go – especially since I should have started the raglan decreases about three rows ago… I set it down while I think about it. Less to take out that way.

WebStops

Some old, some new – in no particular order – because I haven’t done a “webstops” post in ages…

• Handworks Dressing Wire Kit.
• Grumperina’s (free!) Shifting Sands Scarf pattern.
• Baby size charts.
• How to measure for and shape Knee socks.

And last but not least – have you ever had a cool picture you took with your good camera and wish you had it formatted for your phone so you could show it off to your friends (or use as a wallpaper there)? There is of course PhotoShop – but if you want it done simply and little to no brainpower required on your part – check out “Beam it up Scotty”.

Dontcha just love the Internet?

My big project has been a lot of soothing stockinette knitting for a plain ol’ raglan cardigan I’m making for myself. Nothing fancy, just your basic warm sweater made from Cascade 220. The sleeves are already knit – so no SSS to worry about. I’m just about to the part where I’m going to use EZ’s books to show me how to attach the sleeves to the body and knit up the yoke. After that – I’m going to be experiencing my first steek cutting – well, at least on a project this size.

The sweater was supposed to have been knit back and forth with a purl side – but by the time I finished the bottom band knitting, I had decided i didn’t want to have to worry about purling. So, I just added a few stitches for the steek (hopefully enough, I’m kind of starting to worry about that right now, but oh well!!) and kept knitting in the round.

I’ll add a button-band of some sort and a neck treatment when I decide exactly what I want.  Likely, it will just be more of the same 2 x 2 rib…but I could get adventurous by that point, one never knows.

It’s based loosely on the raglan cardigan in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges – by Ann Budd (which appears to have been nicely updated if I’m not mistaken).  Except, as I said, I’m also using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s help as soon as I get to the yoke & sleeve attaching part.   I seem to understand her coaching better than others – although Ann Budd does  have a similar style as EZ in her instructions.  I like that.

This has been a great take-along project.  My friend Terri (sadly blogless) made me the quilted tote that I almost never leave home without – and this has been the project stuffed inside for the past few months.  At first, when I was knitting the sleeves, I’d take my knitting out (even at the convention we attended the end of May) and someone would ask “what are you making?”  To which I’d reply “a sleeve.” Now, that I’m on the sweater part, my answer (“a sweater”) seems to make more sense.  At least I don’t get quite as many puzzled looks as I did when I was knitting the sleeves.

Knit on!

This is another Petite Poche pattern by Wendy Schoen Design. It’s all one piece and kind of an “origami” outfit, so easy to dress a baby with, as well as easy change access.

There are more views on my Flickr set, and if you click the picture it should take you there. I have had this pattern since my granddaughters were babies, but didn’t around to making it in time for them to wear. So, now I’ve got one to add to the baby gift stash (which is becoming alarmingly scant these days). I’ve also made some cute doll clothes, as well as a few necessary things for Smitty and myself.

There’s more pending too. I felt pretty good about getting to the bottom of the stack of projects I had cut out – Marcelo was the last one – but in the meantime I’ve cut out more to sew. Who knows, maybe at this rate I’ll eventually get to the bottom of the sewing stash? Yeah. Right. THAT’LL happen!