My paid commission came from one of our secretaries (I like her quite a bit and she helps me out a lot); she wanted me to knit a poncho for her 1-year-old granddaughter, who is a sweetie and rivals Cindy Loo Who in cuteness. I'm not a poncho fan, mostly because it's like a shawl you have to pull over your head and at that point you should just wear a sweater, but poncho it certainly would be if I'm going to be paid for making it. I've posted previously on the travails of making this poncho (Knots, Knots, Knots and Frogs, Frogs, Frogs) but I had it finished by mid-July; it actually took me forever just to scrape together enough time to get the steam iron out and steam block it before giving the poncho to Martha.
The pattern is Lilliana's Organic Cotton Poncho from Barbara Albright's lovely book The Natural Knitter and it knitted up very nicely in Cascade Sierra. I have been told I didn't ask for enough when I was paid for knitting the poncho. I only asked for an amount large enough to cover the cost of the four skeins of yarn used plus a little bit for me in commission; I don't think my commission for knitting something for a friend should be very large and I do like to knit as my hobby not my profession.
My next finished item is the little cardie I made for my friend Rebekah's not-quite-arrived-yet little girl (little one is giving mom some fits right now). This is the first actual sweater I've ever made with set-in sleeves, not raglan ones, so I was a shade on the nervous side. It turned out just right.
This is made from Dale of Norway's Stork yarn (which I hear is discontinued, boo) in a pretty turquiose with white bunny buttons. The pattern uses most of the Classic Yoked Cardigan from Erika Knight's Knitting for Two but I changed a few of the instructions to make a bit more sense.
Chaucer decided that a picture of a cute baby sweater was ever-so-much-more-cute with a super cute kitty in the shot, too. He was being such a pill that evening/morning (it was about 3am when I finished the cardie's seams and took the pictures; the baby shower for Rebekah was only 8 hours later).
Since I was in a yarny mood last weekend, I dropped by the LYS on Saturday to use my birthday coupon and got 5 skeins of forest green Cascade 220 The Heathers yarn to make myself a cardie (16-Button Cardie pattern from Interweave Simple Style) and some Mini-Mochi sock yarn before Rebekah's shower; it was a good "acquire stuff" day in general because the mail carrier brought me the copy of Between the Assassinations I won from a Simon and Schuster Twitter contest. I also figured out why Flickr and Ravelry were having a massive disagreement so on Sunday I updated my Ravelry page with photos of my yarn and projects before winding up the new yarn and heading to the movies. It looks very pretty now (I'm "balletbookworm" on Ravelry, too).
Current books-in-progress: Foucault's Pendulum, The Pickup (for LbW August) and Frankenstein (for LbW September), The Embers, and Under This Unbroken Sky (for First Look) PLUS my turn came up to read the ARC for Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry so that's moved into the #1 slot for reading
Current knitted item: new forest green heathered Cascade 220 to make up into a cardie for myself.....mmmmmmmm
Current movie obsession: Too many!!! This is the first evening (Tuesday) in weeks that I'll not be at work so what should I watch first? Videodrome, Sleuth, Trainspotting, Disney's Robin Hood....oy
Current iTunes loop: Lady Gaga's Fame (heard enough tracks off it to go out and buy the album)
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