My knitting time slowed down as I helped the family out and seemed to be on my feet most days till they screamed for a break which normally turned out to be a meal or some such thing. I had brought a few projects for the first week we were to be up there. Actually I brought too many projects. I view that as a boon since I had the items to take up my free moments and I had something to keep my hands busy while I sat with Memo while she slept away her pain.

I did some yarn shopping while I was there at Paradise Fiber & Yarn. I really enjoy shopping at Paradise I always feel that I am going to discover some unknown treasure. Memo had asked me to make her some slippers that fit her hugely swollen feet. I had decided on the Fiber Trends pattern but never got to make them for since she is no longer in need of shoes. She did love the color I chose for her – it was the color of her favorite robe. You could find her in that robe at any time of day depending on how cold she had gotten.

March’s Finished Objects

I had started the my nephew Micah’s first birthday present before I left for Spo Vegas. I was finished the first week. I sat and finished the little guy the day we were unsure if she was just having a bad day or if this was the turn for the worst. I needed something to focus on that contained more details than my usual projects. So I present to you Sheldon the Turtle.

Pattern: Sheldon the Turtle from Knitty.com
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport [60% pima cotton, 40% modal; 110 yd per 50g skein] one skein each of grass and green apple.
Needles: I don’t remember but I am sure it was what the pattern called for.
Mods: None he was a perfect little turtle. His only flaw was that he let an unexperienced finisher knit him.

My other finished object of march took all my time and I finished it on our drive home. I blocked it upon arrival and wore it to church Easter Sunday. This is going to be a favorite Spring/Summer staple for my closet.

Pattern: Indigo Ripple from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits by Kat Coyle
Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin [70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen] 7 1/2 skeins of Nightfall
Needles: US 6 crystal palace circular (started on US6 dpns)
Mods: I changed the yarn and decided I did not have the attention span for the i-cord cord and replaced it with a ribbon from the $1 bin at Michaels.

My only FO is a dog sweater for Kiwi one of our dog breeder’s dogs.

I used STR heavyweight in Alina and Spinel. The solid is Spinel and the varigated is Alina. I used the fibernachi number series to do the striping. I missed up in my row count. For some reason I thought the dog was a 28 inch doxie. I was inspired to knit this stripe series when listening to Brenda Dane on Caston.

This is my first project with STR. I am in love. I like the colors and I like the feel of the yarn. I can’t wait to make socks from this yarn. They will be so delish.

You will probably see many more dog sweaters of this basic structure since I am making several commission dog sweaters for our breeders.

This here is Sheldon the Turtle of the famous Knitty.com. This will be for my youngest nephew who is turning 1 at the end of the month. I dragged my feet to start this because the pattern is 7 pages long. Once I got it start it flew through my fingers. I have two more legs and his shell left. You can check out other people adaptations at sheldon’s blog.

I am going to embroider the eyes on so that they stay and are less of a chocking habit.

This swatch is of the Indigo Ripple from the Spring Interweave. I got gauge before washing the Knit Picks Cotlin that I decided to use. Upon swatching for the lace section I discovered a mistake in the pattern. I emailed Kat Coyle the designer. She sent me the correction and helped me understand things better by sending me a close-up of the lace. Plus stupidly I also misread the psso as ssk and was getting some bizare other lace pattern, but when i charted it out things looked weird. After much head hitting and frogging of the lace, I started again and slowly read the pattern and thus discovered my mistake. I am so excited to start knitting, but first I want to finish Sheldon.

Now since have have had more than 20 hits on my blog looking for a review on Cotlin, I will do my best. The yarn knits up to 20st and 29 rows in a 4 in square on US 6 dpn bamboo needles. The yarn has a crisp hand that feels nice and cool for those perfect summer garments. Once washed the swatch grew width wise and shrunk only slightly in row count, washed it became 18.5 st by 30 rows. It might have been more stable at a tighter gauge, but I did not try it.

This yarn will not take kindly to agressive frogging. The light twist in the yarn makes the fibers separate after frogging a section multiple times.

Once knit up the fabric has lovely drape and flow. I can’t wait to have a completed garment out of this summery yarn.