Did I mention I get distracted easily?

The Minnesota State Fair has gotten me all distracted. We go every year and enjoy seeing the sights, people watching, and eating various things on a stick (the pickle on a stick and key lime pie on a stick are my faves). My favorite place to go is the Creative Arts building which houses beautiful quilts, needlework, and lots of knitting. For some reason this year I really have the urge to enter something. I thought about entering my dragon scarf but it's now in "used" condition. Then I thought about Lizard Ridge. Even though I have less than a month to finish, I'm going to give it a try. I just finished my 8th block. I have a timeline all set so I can meet the August 14th deadline. I need to knit at least 1.5 blocks a day through August 1st. That will leave me two weeks for seaming, edging, and blocking. I have six new skeins of Kureyon all ready to go. Six of my squares are blocked and they look amazing. The pictures of these afghans just do not do them justice.

The pattern modifications for the sundress are on indefinite hold. I'll finish them as soon as I can!

Sundress: Progress and Frustration

I'm making good progress on the sundress. I have 19" complete and just a few inches left! I want to go into more detail about the problem with the decreases in this pattern. A few of the stockinette sections decrease from bottom to top for a nice slimming effect. The pattern is written with some of the decreases placed in the center of these sections. The sheen of the yarn makes these little k2tog bumps very noticeable. There are also ssk decreases in other stockinette sections that look really bad as well. Over the next few days I'm going to rewrite a few lines of the pattern so that these decreases will be much less visible. The pattern itself isn't written wrong...it could just be written better. If I'm going to spend 40+ hours knitting something I'd rather have a garment that I'm proud to give away. For me it's too late on this project. I'm not going to frog all this work. After all...it is just a swimsuit cover-up. But given how obvious the decreases are, and how simple it is to improve the pattern, I'll take a little time to post the modifications. Look for them soon!

Knit.1 magazine "Sundress"

This is the sundress that I am working on for my sister. It is coming along nicely. You can find this in the sum-mer '07 edition of Knit.1 magazine. I'm using the Lion Brand Microspun yarn that it calls for in the colorway #158 Buttercup. I've read so many negative comments about this yarn, but it really isn't bad at all. It is very soft. It does have the tendency to split easily. To avoid this, just use dull tip needles like bamboo or Denise. I'm not having any trouble with splitting the yarn on my Denise's.

I hope the stockinette sections will flatten out a bit after blocking. (they are a bit wavy) I'm concerned that the decreases in the st-st are going to show too much as well. I'm sure my sister will like it either way!