I’m currently working on the Bamboo Diamond Shell from Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin. This is one of the best knitting books I have purchased in the past year – the patterns are wonderful and all the pieces are unique and beautiful.

I had trouble with counting my CO stitches and kept ending up with too many or too few. After taking it apart 4 times I’m finally on the right track! The bamboo cotton blend is Southwick by Valley Yarns – it’s nice and “bouncy,” really nice to work with and the subtle sheen is lovely. I’m about 3/4 through the bodice now and will be separating the sleeves soon. The diamond pattern is really easy as I got the hang of it too.

I decided to work the bodice longer so it’s something more wearable for me. I love how it looked in the book, hopefully it will look just as nice with a longer bodice.

Dewey Cabled Pullover in Progress

I’ve been working on this baby sweater pattern from Vintage Baby Knits for a while now. The Dewey Cabled Pullover was adapted from a vintage 1941 pattern, with its boatneck, 3/4 sleeves, and classy cable detailing, I decided to make one for myself. Instead of knitting it in baby-scale, I decided to use larger needles and worsted weight yarn to make this sweater. I’m using KnitPicks’ Shine Worsted in color Green Apple, one of my favorite colors. I’m about 3/4 done on the body, then I’ve got the sleeves to go. I think this will be a great top for Fall, and I can definitely wear it with jeans or work trousers. I can’t wait to finish!

This will probably be the last knitting project I’m doing for myself this year – I have got to start knitting for the holidays!

Everyone who knows me knows that I adore vintage styles. If I could, I would love to travel back in time to the early 1960s when fashion was classy – with simple lines, sleek silhouettes, and fit that flatters every figure. Whenever I go thrifting, I often go through old books and magazines in hopes of finding old knitting and sewing patterns. One of my most recent favorite finds is this 1963 knitting pattern booklet by Spinnerin:

Isn’t that fantastic? That might as well be Betty and Sally Draper from Mad Men (if you’re not watching, you’re totally missing out on one of the best TV shows ever – Season 3 premieres Sunday, August 16th)!

And yes, I got it for one whole dollar.

This booklet has many great patterns that are perfect for an advanced beginner, and all garments are raglan style, so there is no seaming involved (yay!). I decided to try one of the cardigans patterns to make as a gift for my Mom-in-Law.

So. Adorable.

I started a little over a month ago and now I’m down to the last sleeve, then it’s button bands, block, sew on buttons, and voila! Here is a quick progress photo taken on my iMac:

I am liking it so much I almost want to keep it for myself =)

Lacy Leaf Cardi in Progress

Well, here goes nothing.

This project officially marks my entry into knitting non-raglan style garments. I haven’t really felt confident enough to try it because basically, it is much like sewing, where you have several pieces that you construct together by stitching them at the seams. I’m terrible at hand-seaming, but I thought I should just try it just to see what happens.

So far, I am totally loving the yarn I’m using – Optimum DK by South West Trading Company in color Desert. I bought six balls on sale when I went to Unwind in Burbank with my dolly friends Paula and Clarissa. The yarn has been discontinued, so I hope I have enough for the project! If not, I’ll have to track some down via Ravelry.

The lace part is going well – after doing four inches of 1×1 ribbing on sz 2 needles it was good to dive right in. The pattern is well-written and I love the leaf shapes! After doing three repeats, I realize that I need to loosen up my stitches because the lace part doesn’t look as nice and even as I’d like (I know I always tend to knit too tight), but hopefully it will open up when I block the pieces into shape.

The Leafy Lace Cardi pattern is available for free via Craftster.org.

I started knitting again. I gave my friend Yvonne a knitting kit for her birthday last month, and a few days ago I finally had time to show her how to slipknot/cast-on/knit stitch. Since I needed to show her the beginning process, I started another scarf, hehe. Yes I know it’s another super-thin yarn, but I’m planning to give this to my sister and that’s one of her favorite colors – plus it’s Lionbrand Micro Spun so it’s super soft and can be machine-washed. All purl stitch so far (I don’t know why but I think I’m one of the few that actually LIKE the purl stitch!), and this time around it is much easier to see! And I’m not doing any sort of ribbing, so no squinting at fuzzy yarn and counting my stitches! It’s much more enjoyable this time around, I was even able to knit on the drive down to the beach.

I know you guys are probably thinking, “see, Linda! I told you so!” LOL.

Yvonne was a total natural and picked things up really quickly. By the time I left her, she was already on her 4th row! It took me, oh, a week to learn all that basic stuff. Before I left, she asked, “um… Linda? How do you finish the last row when you’re done with the scarf?”

I laughed and said, “Oh! I know it’s called binding-off… but I haven’t learned that part yet.”

Oops. I make a terrible knitting instructor.