Jack the cat thinks the afghan I'm making is just for him. Blogger has been having problems lately so I hope this post pushes through my SLC sweater post.

Here's the Dale of Norway Salt Lake City Olympic ski sweater knit in Heilo. Unfortunately I think this pattern is already out of print. I greatly enjoyed knitting the intricate patterns - check out my favorite dancing little people on the back yoke! Right in between the little people is the Olympic flame.




DH has worn this sweater exactly once. Unfortunately it really is too warm for the climate here. If it wasn't so hot I'd be knitting these sweaters all the time.

I finally managed to get some sweater photos. This first one is from Dale of Norway - the booklet, number 79, is out of print and this sweater is number 7913. I made it in Heilo and it is so large I wear it as a coat in winter. It is starting to pill but I love it anyway and it is extremely warm.



This was my first steeked sweater and when I was cutting the steeks for the front button band I cut right through to the back of the sweater - about a 2 inch hole. After swearing like a sailor for several minutes I ripped the hole on all sides to make it bigger (ouch!) and then knit back and forth and kitchenered the top and bottom together. You can't tell at all from the outside - it was in the plain stockinette area in the bottom center.



Tomorrow I'll show my favorite sweater of all time, DH's Salt Lake City Dale Olympic ski sweater.

According to one of my kitchen thermometers brought outside, it is pushing 100 here today. Good thing I'm working on a heavy wool afghan! Even better, I apparently chose the single most difficult color to photograph in the history of mankind (Wool of the Andes in tomato). I'm almost done with my seventh square - the Ginger Smith Square. The KAL for this fun afghan is HERE.



I will keep trying to get photographs you can actually see. If anyone has any ideas about taking photos of a really really bright red color please let me know. So far I've tried inside, outside, flash, natural light, Ott lite, etc.

I'm pretty happy with this design for men's mittens. I used three skeins of Andean Treasure alpaca yarn. I purposely started the sore thumb gusset an inch above the corrugated ribbed cuff which I think gives a better fit for men's hands. The only problem really is that of course the stripes don't line up at the end of the row but I put the end of the row opposite the thumb so it is less noticeable. I'll try to pin down DH this week to get a photo of him modeling the mittens.

This is a test post. My last post at Blogger (about German Twisted Cast On) isn't showing up for some reason. I'm currently trying to figure out if it was just that post or if something is broken.

I'm not really into all the different cast ons and bind offs out there. I've tried many of them but the truth is I use the long-tail cast on 99% of the time for speed and simplicity. That is until yesterday when I finally tried the German Twisted Cast On. It is performed almost the same as the long-tail cast on but it varies in how you insert the needle into the loop around your thumb.

It looks like the long-tail cast on except there is what looks like a purl bump above the cast on ridge. This extra length of this cast on is one reason why using it for corrugated/two-color ribbing is a good thing - you're less likely to see the second color peeking out below the cast on edge. It is also much more elastic than the long-tail cast on which is nice because I'm using some non-elastic alpaca for the project shown. The best thing about the German Twisted Cast On though is that corrugated ribbing doesn't curl at all. I love corrugated ribbing so I will be definitely using it in the future.

HERE's the photo tutorial I used to learn this cast on. She uses two different colors for each end of the yarn to better show the method.

I'm currently designing a pair of multi-colored yet masculine mittens for DH (in alpaca). The colorwork gloves are finished but I can't seem to decide what color fringe to add. I'm waiting to take photos until I decide.

A while ago I taught 14 year old Jeanette to knit. She turned out to be a knitting prodigy. Her first project was a garter stitch scarf in Red Heart yarn, her second was a pair of really really large socks, and I think her third project was the Dale of Norway Mt. Rose colorwork steeked ski sweater. It was gorgeous!

Anyway, she knit me these lovely socks in Nature Spun sport weight. I'd been meaning to get better photos. These are the Norwegian Stockings from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. Aren't they wonderful? Thanks again Jeanette!

I'm really running behind this week. I wanted to take a photo of the six squares (of a total of 18) I've finished for the Great American Aran Afghan. I've decided this will be my main summer project - maybe I can finish by fall. I originally intended to finish it by last fall so I'll be a year late.

I do have some fun links:

Cupcakes decorated with a knitting theme - these are so cool! She even includes a marzipan tutorial.

What the World Eats - Time mag photo essay of 16 international families and what they eat a week along with how much they spend. Who knew so many people drank soda?

HERE are instructions for making your own herbal dream pillows along with some fun herb blends. I just bought a bag of dream pillow herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs so I plan to make a few out of satin. I'm going to use them for yoga or just plain relaxing.

I'm a huge fan of the knitting patterns by Woodsmoke Woolworks. Look HERE and HERE for some of the most wonderful and whimsical patterns. I've made her bunnies and carrot hat a zillion times and I won the blue jays and cherries pattern but some of the others are tempting me - the Dragonflies, Water Lilies and Frogs, the Chickadees hat.

I'm still working on trying to get decent photographs of the sweaters - they look too washed out in my photos but I will prevail.

I also have trouble photographing light colored texture socks so I tried again with those as well. I rarely wear these because I'm terrified I'll get them dirty. The first socks are the Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks done in some handspun Cormo I bought at Taos Wool Festival. I like the way the cable pattern extends down the heel.




These are the New England socks from Nancy Bush with a spiral toe. I think I knit these in an old Elann yarn from Pingouin - called La Laine maybe?