Manic Planning and Works In Progress

Smiley's is so old school I love it...it might as well be the 70's with all that acrylic on sale.
Acrylic definitely has its advantages, however. It's dirt cheap and you can make a durable dog sweater (like the one I promised my brother I'd make for Samson, his chow mix). Another WIP on my list. The yarn to be used: Cervinia Sorrento, on sale at Smileys. I bought this bag of light grey yarn for $1 a 50g ball. A $10 dog sweater is unheard of in New York...
Got the cables down, see?? I tried using a double pointed needle as a stitch holder; it works, provided you use a needle same size or smaller...otherwise the loops are larger, duh! I got a lot of cool ideas for cable stitches from this vintage Reader's Digest book
I inherited from my mother, who bought it in 1979.
The frogging on my Karabella 8 purple sweater continues...the sweater is knit in K2, P2 ribbing from a pattern I adapted from a Katia book. Ribbing seems so boring now that I'm practicing cables. I am frogging the top of one sleeve, the shoulder shaping came out weird!
But the back of the sweater is being knitted, and we are progressing! That's one pet peeve I have about sweater patterns for beginner knitters--you really have to research techniques for increasing and decreasing to perfect them. A great book I have in my library is Nancy Wiseman's "The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques." I cannot wait for the sweater to be done, yippee!
And I bought the yarn to be used for the Koolaid Project: Panda Woolbale, a Worsted Weight yarn from Australia. Haven't decided on the color yet...but I am excited!

All this knitting in between writing, and catching up on reading material for our next campaign at work. And it's only Monday...I'm having one of those moments where I am wishing I were a domestic goddess, and I could leisurely knit all day. Nice thought, but no thanks! I love being busy and I honestly wouldn't know what to do with myself if I had a lot of free time...probably start my own business, have a tribe of kids or something insane like that. OK, I've snapped out of it, back to reality!

Comments

[Misa]

My sister learned to knit from that book.

[Lauren]

Your cables look super! You are right, acrylic does have some advantages, and not all acrylics are bad. I have found some that are quite nice actually! I cannot wait to see what you do with the Kool-Aid and yarn! good luck!

[Lisa]

I have that Reader's Digest book, too! My MIL gave it to me. :)

I'm also planning to learn cables... for my first sweater. Good luck with with everything!

[VaxGirl]

I started going to Smiley's around 1979-80, when I worked on Jamaica Ave. Then my friend Ronnie's mom started working there and I would pop in to say hi. I only started going there again recently. Nothing had changed! Even the bad smell by the entrance didn't stop me, LOL.

I have that book too!

[Lauren]

Hey Aggie, Just wanted to pop in and say hey. I noticed the Franz Ferdinand CD on your sidebar, and I have to tell you that I love that CD! :) *take me out* I rock out to it in the car.