Shamrock Knits

Prego Vest

No pictures today, just griping. I have gauge issues. Apparently, I don't know how to count. I'm trying to work on the Back To School Vest from Fitted Knits. I'm a loose knitter, but for some reason, I swatched with the recommended needles (size 7). This wouldn't be a problem if I could count or see that my gauge was waaaaay off. For some reason, I thought I was ok.

I was in between sizes for the pattern. Usually, I would go up to give myself some room. I say "usually" lightly here since I've only made 3 garments. ;P Anyway, I'm almost finished with the bottom border and am thinking that this looks really big. I mean REALLY big. The last time, it was a hunchback sweater. This time, it's a trimester pregrancy vest. The thing was at least 6-7 inches, unstretched, bigger than my belly. That's even bigger than my thunder thighs! Strike one.

So, I go to the frog pond and swatch again with size 6 and size 5 needles. On the size 5, the 18 inches were just slightly larger than the 4 inches required. I'm thinkin' that's fine. Well, it probably would be fine if I'd gone down a size instead of up a size on the pattern. I've even been knitting with the buddha marker. Strike two.

I'm going to post some questions on the KAL group Robin moderates, but I'm going to pose them here as well. First question is regarding the yarn. I'm using the recommended Cascade 220. After this is washed and does any "blooming" (whatever that is), would that make the garment larger or smaller? This will help in deciding which size to knit.

Question two regards the pattern. I'm not sure if I understand this correctly. If I decide to make the finished bust size of 41", the picture shows 23" for the bust. This means the bust will be 46", right? Even after knitting on the size 5 needles, I'm about 4-5 inches bigger than my belly. Does this mean that I'm ok? Does the 5 inches mean the pattern gives that much room for wearing a shirt underneath the vest? Isn't that a bit much? I know the ribbing section will be smaller because of the stretch and will hug the body, but I didn't think the bottom border (alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette) should be that much bigger.

Oh knowledgeable world of knitters - please help me! Gracias!

Which came first?

In my case, it's the egg. Last year, I crocheted eggs for my niece's and nephew's easter baskets. This year, they're getting these adorable chicks. I used Red Heart and Cotton Fleece. The pattern uses felt beaks, but I didn't want to do that because my niece is about 14 months old. The beak on the pink one is a little distorted, but at least it's safer. I love how these came out. They're really adorable. On Ravelry, someone also crocheted feet as well.

Happy Dance!

Woo hoo! I'm so excited. I finished my Cozy V Pullover and it actually fits! Of course, I don't like the picture, but I love the sweater. Voila!

I'm also wearing my invisible braces in the picture. I've had them for about a week now. They're not too bad. In a few weeks, I'm supposed to have "buttons" put on some of my teeth. I'm guess this helps with moving the teeth better and is probably going to be a little painful at first. The initial projection is to have them for 6-7 months. Both my dentist and I thought it would be longer, so we'll have to see how it goes.

When I was in Minnesota last week, I worked on a present for my "old" boss. These crochet cupcakes came out pretty cute. I think it was the beads that did it. I found the pattern here. She has some really cute patterns.