Summer Begins

The flowers and vegies have been planted, and the rain seems to have stopped for a bit. I guess Summer is finally here. We are planning inhouse remodelling projects and camping trips, along with take-along knitting projects.

My "Knit Nights" concluded the season with a trip to The Crooked Fence Alpaca Farm and Mill.  It was a fun night, where we met all of their alpacas, even the cute new little babies (crea).

and we took a tour of the Mill.  It is a beautiful farm set at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Mona, Utah.  When looking to the West, you see the beautiful Mona Resevoir.  It was really interesting to talk about the lifespan of an average alpaca and to see how their fleece is processed into beautiful yarns.  A knitter's dream!  We are expecting a baby alpaca of our own, any minute.  "Cupcake" will be delivering her first little one. 

It has been a great year for our knit group.  We've had lots of relaxing evenings spent knitting, eating treats, and laughing about life's little adventures.  We had a knit-a-long in January - April, where many of our knitters made darling little "Poor Baby" Sweaters.

Tiffany crocheted this darling little dress for her daughter, just before Easter. She did such a beautiful job on the dress, and Lily looks just darling in it.  It is always to inspirational to see what others are working on.  If I could just get my fingers to work faster!

As you have seen in a previous post, my Custom Fit (F2F) #5 is "Surface" by Norah Gaughan. The pictures above are Norah's.

This is my "Surface" in process.  I have finished the fronts, the back and the sleeves.  They are all blocked and ready to put together.  The collar is currently on the needles.

This is a pictures of the "blister" pattern on the sleeves.  It is so textural and fun to knit, and it adds such a great design element to a basic stockinette stitch cardigan.  I am knitting my "Surface" as part of the Custom Fit "Cardipalooza" KAL.  It has been so fun to see what everyone has chosen to knit as their "Cardipalooza" cardigan.  You should check it out on Ravelry (Cardipalooza).  Just buttonbands, and finishing left to do.

As always, I've started planning for my F2F #6. This picture is the inspiration for what I plan to knit next.

It is "Bloomsbury" by Svetlana Volhova.  I will be knitting mine with a Custom Fit pattern on US2 needles, of KnitPicks, Diadem (50% baby alpaca/50% mulberry silk) in the color "Amethyst".  I've knit the swatch, and although the yarn is very splitty, I think it is going to be beautiful.  I'll just have to knit with very sharp needles, to prevent only catching a portion of the yarn plies.

I'm going to have some alterations in my near future too.  I've decided my "Afterlight" is too short for me to wear comfortably.  I've never done this before, but I'm going to cut off the bottom ribbing and knit backwards to add some length.  Once this is done, I'll simply re-knit the ribbing.  This should make this sweater more wearable, and should become a staple in my closet.  So here we go . . . I'll let you know how this all works out.  So . . . . . on to Summer fun and lots of new knitting.  Happy Knitting!