After the Hiatus

So after nearly a month-long blog hiatus, I'm back to show off my wears. Last time on Suzy Q's Knitting Life, I showed off my beach bag in progress. I did indeed finish it up quickly which led me to believe an easy cardigan wouldn't be too much of a stretch by beach trip time.





I, of course, was wrong. After searching the web for two nights for a simple pattern that drew on my stash yarn, I finally went to work on what I thought would be an adorable bolero to stave off chilly September beach nights. I worked fiendishly on the thing, giving up lunch at work and tv time at night. By the time the beach trip weekend rolled around, I was extremely close to being done. I just needed to finish up one sleeve and then sew the whole thing up. I threw the bag with all the pieces into the CRV with the intention of finishing up by the time we arrived (despite G-'s objections that I was endangering all our lives "what if we get in a wreck and that needle puntures the airbag???"). After a knit-free hour on the road, I pulled out my work and, with a sinking feeling, realized I only had a tiny portion of a skein left with which to finish. In my haste to pack everything we could possibly need at a hotel for three days, I had neglected my knitting. I worked anyway, running out of yarn before we even got halfway there.
Ah twell.
I left it in the bag for a couple days after we got back. Once I finished sewing it all together, I decided it needed something. I had sewed the pieces together with white yarn so I decided to give it a white trim. I really wanted a large ruffle all the way around, but I couldn't find a pattern to merge. I did find instructions on adding edging though so I just copied the ruffle from my cinched waist top. I used seed stitch for the ruffle, but bound off with ribbing (knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches). I ended up ripping out the white yarn I had used to sew the sleeves onto the body (at G-'s request); I was up anyway watching the Apex fire on the local news and hoping the wind wouldn't turn Raleigh's direction (you may have caught that, turned out to be a bit of a story). I wore it yesterday, and I must say I'm rather pleased with the result.



Everyone at work liked it too. I think I'll take small break then tackle G-'s hat that I was supposed to finish last winter. The weather is always goofy in Raleigh during September and October so I really have until November before his bald head starts to go goose-pimply.
Ta-ta for now.