Time flies when you're...not knitting much!

Hello there!
Remember me?? After the last 2 weeks, I am not just a few yards short of a full skein, but I think I'm pretty much the little ball you have leftover from that project that you spend the last 3 or 4 rows praying that you'll have enough! It has been more that a week before my last (lame and short) post, but I have been so crazy with life stuff that I haven't had much time to knit, never mind blog about it. I am looking forward to a restful holiday weekend with lots of knitting. We saw Spiderman 3 last weekend, and I made a sad attempt at knitting a mindless dishcloth during the movie and ended up with this:


Needless to say that this will never see the kitchen sink!

As for progress on my EZ Baby Surprise Jacket, I have the body done, and have started the hood that I am making the pattern for. The pattern notes give very general directions, so I'm not sure what it will look like. Once the hood is done, I will bind off the body and hood as one with an applied I-cord edge. I hope to finish this weekend so I can try it on the recipient and see if I'll need to add more length to the sleeves.

We now return to our regularly scheduled knitting...

Isn't high-speed internet access great? Especially when it has been fixed and running smooth!
So much to report... where to begin? How about with an almost finished object?

Yes, that very warped rectangle will soon be a baby sweater. An Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket, actually. See??

I am ready to do the bind-off row, but I'm going to add an applied I-cord edging around the body and the sleeves instead of the purlwise bind-off that the pattern calls for. I am also going to try it on an actual baby to check the sleeve length and possibly pick up and add some length and then the applied I-cord. I got little shank buttons in both fuchsia and yellow, and will make a decision when I see the finished jacket, maybe even use both!

I really love this sweater and will be sure to knit more! I will have to do some research about incorporating longer sleeves into the pattern to avoid having to pick up and knit at the cuffs!

My top down-tie cardigan that I started here has taken a turn for the horrible. I was making beautiful progress...for the first time in the history of my LYS I was actually on schedule for class # 2 of 3 - ahead even! I arrived for class #2 and knit away on the long rows of the body (its knit in 1 piece and wraps around with a bizillion stitches in a row) and happened to try on a classmate's sweater in the same size that I am making at the end of class. (Gasp!) It was way too big! I put the sweater away and returned for class #3 and had to painfully rip out an entire skein + of Cotton Fleece (actually I watched Linda do it and suppressed tears). It went back on the needles and I haven't touched it since!!! I won't post a picture as it looks about the same as it did here.

I did, however, cast on for another class: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. The sweater is knit in 1 piece, then you sew up 2 seams when your done and you have a sweater! (There are a bunch posted on the Zimmermania blog/KAL if you want to see what it should look like when its done.) I am using Plymouth's Fantasy Naturale. It is colorway #9703. I like this pattern and this yarn, but it is a ton of counting! Here is the limited progress so far:

This may be the first sweater that I ever complete!