slowly but surely

As you may remember, about a year ago, I showed you this. And then a few months later, there was this and this. Then in May, you might recall this, which may have included claims that Ivy was almost complete. And, it was, except for the buttons. Along the way, one of the many modifications I'd decided to make was eliminating the ties and adding buttons on the sides. I even bought the buttons, and I'd planned on having the whole thing finished in time for my trip to Ottawa last spring. The sweater wasn't dry before I left and when I got back the idea of sewing buttons and creating button loops was not high on my list of fun.

So, for six months Ivy has sat in my closet taunting me. I'd look at it and think of all the time I'd put into it and how nice it would be to wear. And then I'd think of the buttons and how fiddly it was going to be to make loops and sew on buttons and how I never seemed to have the requisite amount of patience required to do the job. So the taunting continued. About a month ago I got sick of Ivy jeering at me from the closet and decided enough was enough. Buttons, schmuttons, I was going to use snaps. No loops to contend with, I'd have Ivy ready to wear in no time.

You can tell by now where this is headed, I suppose. My bright idea for snaps in place, I promptly forgot about the sweater in the midst of all the holiday hoopla. To avoid making a long story even longer, today I finally got around to sewing on the snaps (I actually started this on Thursday but, after sewing the first snap on backwards, gave up in disgust).

After much ado, may I present, Ivy.





(It's kind of difficult to take pictures of something you're wearing without aid of a tripod.)



I'm inordinately proud of the seaming:







Pattern: Ivy, Knitty, Fall 2006

Yarn: Berroco Denim Silk, in Iguana (for the life of me I can't remember how many skeins)

Modifications: I made two major changes -- I eliminated the ties and shortened the sleeves. I replaced the ties with snaps, mostly because I wasn't keen on long ties on a shorter sweater. I intended to have 3/4 sleeves, but when I became worried that I was going to run out of yarn, I made short sleeves instead. I didn't (and still don't) have a lot of experience with sleeves and setting them in and such. I don't even really remember now what exactly it was that I did. I did one pattern repeat at the bottom of the sleeve and otherwise simply made the sleeve cap, I do believe. At any rate, the sleeves didn't turn out exactly as I'd hoped (they're a bit big). Otherwise I'm quite chuffed with how this turned out and can see getting lots of wear out of it. It'll be great over a long sleeved shirt in the winter or a tank top in the summer.

*****

Since I'm all about getting things done today I'm rolling two posts into one. (I'd intended to write about this on Friday, but I got called into work when I was expecting a day off.)

*****

In, what was the bright spot in an otherwise frustrating day, I received a package in the mail from the lovely Anjali on Friday. The box was decorated so nicely, and I opened it up to find this inside:



Beautiful, right?

Take a closer look:



I opened the gorgeous Amy Butler bag to find this:



Thank you!

The package also contained a cd from M., who'd sent this along earlier (swoon).

I must say, friends and family near and far have spoiled me rotten these holidays. And this is no exception. I have the best crew around.

For the knitters in the crowd, I give you this:



That's Colinette Jitterbug in Tapis. My camera doesn't even begin to capture the depth of colour in this yarn. It's got shades of brown, orange, purple, and even a bit of black. My kind of colours. I've been drooling over it since it landed on my doorstep and I've begun scouring Ravelry for ideas. I'm considering a whole slew of sock patterns (it may be time to try Monkeys again), but am also thinking of another Clapotis. For now, I'm holding off, as I'm trying to finish some of the projects I've got on the needles. But dammit if that startitis doesn't know my name.