WIP Progress

I'm still working on the poncho. It feels as though I'm chained to this project...don't dare start any other large project until it is completed because the knitting goes so slowly with the boucle yarn. Progress should go a little more quickly now since I'm decreasing from 65 stitches to 35 stitches. Then I get to face the challenge of sewing the two halves together.

I've completed another bride's dress for Barbie except for sewing on snaps and weaving in loose threads. Also, need to make some undergarments before posting photos of the finished dresses on Barbie.

We were surprised by this bat clinging to the screen on our bathroom window this morning. Don't know if the bat will decide to make this his permanent home or if it has a mate.

Why I hate boucle

Guess I can't say it enough - I HATE BOUCLE!
Boucle has little nubs of yarn that give it a nubby texture. These nubs tend to split...the strands of the splits tend to get caught where you don't want them to on the left needle.

Also, the texture of this type of yarn makes it very difficult to see the stitches in order to achieve a correct stitch gauge or to locate errors that are causing holes.

Also, it is frequently necessary to insert the right needle into the front and back of the stitch on the left needle to loosen it in order to procede with the next stitch. This makes me feel as though I'm knitting four ponchos although I'm only knitting one.

Also, the tension of each stitch does not adjust automaticly the way it does with normal yarn. The nubs get hung up when pulling the stitch through with the right hand needle.

Also, It is nearly impossible to frog or unravel this yarn if one should wish to simply start the entire project over again.

Needless to say I have no intention of ever knitting a large item with boucle again when this poncho is finally completed.

Crocheted Kerchief

Also, in recent months I crocheted this kerchief for my granddaughter. The pattern was a freebie from www.crochetpatterncentral.com.

Finished Item - Angel Baby Dress

My most recently finished knitted project was this Angel Baby Dress from the Knitting in the Round book. It was the first thing I had ever made that was knitted in the round. The Dreambaby Kokonut yarn recommended in the pattern was unavailable so I settled for Lion Brand's Baby Soft yarn which was a similar weight and fiber blend. I used Bernat's BabyLash for the trim since I wanted it to be machine washable, also. The project was started around the end of March and was completed in early June...not too bad considering the interruption of a drive to Florida in April in addition to the usual tasks of cooking, cleaning, doctor appointments, laundry, shopping, etc.
I made the headband also using the Babylash yarn.

Granddaughter called it a top which is a more accurate description. Even the photo in the book couldn't actually be called a dress.

New addition to the family - a PomChi

Just last week we adopted a new dog from a shelter. He is a 2 1/2 year old chihuahua/pomeranian mix. He's supposed to have one bad flaw...he snarls and snaps when someone tries to move him - or looks at him if he is settled comfortably where he wants to be. In fact one of the reasons he was given up to the shelter was that he bit someone for just looking in the direction he was settled in. We seem to be making progress in ridding him of this habit. Mostly, we simply say, "Dusty, NO!" firmly and say, " Bad dog!" to which he usually stops the snarling. A couple of times we have used a spray bottle of water which Dusty definitely doesn't like. He stops the offending behavior and slinks away from the spot he was just defending. The snarling episodes are getting to be less frequent. He really is a soft fluff ball who loves to be held and babied. He loves nothing better than to be held all day.

Easy Poncho progress

As I've said before, I hate knitting with boucle yarn. If I hadn't shown the half I had completed earlier to my granddaughter or if she didn't seem to love the yarn color and softness, I probably would have scrapped this project.

In any case, when I checked to confirm that both halves measured the same at my current point of completion I discovered that one half was shorter, but had fewer stitches than the other half. Apparently, I had decreased more stitches on it than I should have on it. I was not about to rip back to discover where the errors were so decided to simply increase the number of stitches carefully and evenly for the next eight rows. There were five stitches to be made up. It seems to be working out.

Although the weather hasn't been hot enough to turn the air conditioning on, it has been too hot for working on the poncho this last week. So I've been working on the EZ tube socks instead. I think I am near the mid-way point on the poncho and hope to return to it as soon as the weather cools a little.