Saturday, July 21, 2007

Finished! And a New Beginning...

I'm FINISHED. FINISHED! FINISHED!



"Finished what?" you ask. The new Harry Potter? Nope, no plans to buy it just yet, but I had to mention it as it's EVERYWHERE right now. Well, I finished my first phonics workbook so that's exciting. (Just to clarify, I just finished writing my first phonics workbook. I'm not a 30 year-old woman who sits around doing phonics workbooks. Actually, I'm not a 30 year-old woman at all, I'm 31, but that's besides the point.) I'm hoping the next one will go a little faster, but not bad for my first week working from home. I was worried that I wouldn't even get one done with Little Man's new one-nap schedule, but with a little extra time put in after he went to bed I managed to get it done. I even had a little fun doing it and managed to come up with one major idea to improve on the initial template my boss had designed. Go me! But let's not get too excited, I have lots more to go. Oh forget that attitude--go me!

And, even with all that work being done, I still managed to finish this:



My niece's Wonderful Wallaby. She's only two, but I went ahead and made the size 4. She's somewhat tall, but kind of thin. It's going to be big at first, but it should last her a little longer. Hopefully, it won't be too overwhelming on her.


This is my third Wonderful Wallaby and I really like the pattern (the actual pattern, not so much the way it is written--does that make sense?). Anyway, I did this one pretty much the same as the other two, but made a few minor changes. First, following the tricks that I learned by reading the Placket-Neck Pullover pattern from LMKG, I went ahead and connected the sleeves to the body as I finished them. This way I could skip the "transfer to holder" step. It's minor, but saved a little time. I also decided to do the three needle bindoff for the armpits. I've had issues with the armpits on my first two Wallabies. The holes on either side of the Kitchener keep opening up on Little Man's so I tried to do them extra tight on my nephew's--so his just ended up looking kind of wonky. I like how the three needle bindoff worked on this one. However, I still did the kitchener on the hood.


Doesn't it look nice? Love the kitchener! I'm not sure how to do the kitchener in seed stitch (the knit-with-waste-yarn-and-follow-the-path method just doesn't work for me) so I did garter stitch kitchener for the hood edging and then stockinette for the rest.


So long and short of this finished project:

Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations (Size 4)

Modifications: seed stitch for all edgings

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Soft Blue

Needles: Size 6 and 8, doublepoint and 24" circular

Begun: July 7, 2007

Finished: July 19, 2007

Now I've begun working on this:


It's going to be a blanket buddy inspired by this photo I saw on Flickr that was made from this free pattern. I'm not sure what kind of animal mine is going to be yet, but probably not a rabbit. We will see. I have lots of ideas, but have no idea how they will turn out. More to come on this soon.

Happy Weekend, Everyone! Did I mention I'm finished!

6 comments:

sophanne said...

That wallaby is adorable. Congrats on the phonics book.

we moved around a lot in grade school. i remember switching from without phonics to the whole phonic thing when I moved to a new grade school in 3rd grade. Freaked me out. I still shuddered when it was mentioned in the teacher ed courses. It makes great sense, though.

Lydee said...

I'm in the same boat as Sophanne. I went from phonics to without, and don't quite understand it, but bravo to you for getting your first book done, at home, with a little one. This is NOT AN EASY TASK. And you finished that beautiful wallaby to boot!!!

In the voice of "Mr. Incredible", "You must have been bookin'! How fast do you think you were going?!"

I cannot wait to see the blanket buddy, LOVE IT!

cheryl said...

nice wallaby! Congrats on being finished!

Yarnhog said...

Love the wallaby! I almost wish my kids were still small enough to do one. Almost.

Haley said...

yarnhog--the sizes actually go up to adults--so you're never too big for a wallaby :). --Haley

chemgrrl said...

Your Wallaby is so cute! I'll add that one to my list. :)