Botched-Up Knitting

Remember the Little Kina I was knitting for my friend's little girl's doll? Well, I finished it only to discover that I messed up bad. After casting-off the sleeves, I remember thinking that the rows in the body seemed longer than the last time I knitted this project. But I pushed my doubts aside by assuring myself that it only felt that way because this was the second time working the project and I wasn't as driven to see the end result. Here's the finished product:

Do you see where I messed up? If you don't see it, the front does not meet. Grrr! When I made the increase in the neckline the second time I assumed that the second increase (k1, k1fb across) was the same as the first increase (k1fb across). So I doubled the increase both times, resulting in an unusable baby doll sweater. Doh! The good news is that I can unravel this sweater and will have plenty of yarn to redo the project correctly. First, though, I have to finish a throw I'm crocheting as a graduation present, and after that I have a layette blanket and booties to finish for an upcoming baby shower. Hopefully I'll have a post for those soon!

Library Loot {due back 6/17/2013}

 

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

We're still going strong with our once a month trip to the library! I didn't pick up anything this trip because I'm still in a reading slump, and am waaaay behind schedule with Les Misérables — my year-long read — and The Lord of the Rings, which I'm re-reading with my in real life book club.

MJ (11) – Mary Jane renewed Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson from last month, and didn't check out anything else. For some reason she is taking a really long time with this one, but she says she likes it and wants to finish it. I think it may be slightly above her reading level and more of a challenge than she wants to admit.



KADEN (9) – Kaden remains to be the brat most interested in visiting the library (followed closely by Eliza). He is still loving the non-fiction section. Our library has a kind of pitiful collection of non-fiction books for kids, so I fear that he will quickly get through the ones that interest him.

The Story of Werewolves by Thomas G. Aylesworth (not pictured)
               

ELIZA (3) – These are the books that I get to read over and over and over again. This week's loot isn't too bad. My favorite is The House in the Night — the illustrations are gorgeous! Neither Eliza or I cared at all for Dinosailors. She lost interest before we even finished reading it and hasn't picked it back up since.

               

THE COMRADE (old) – The Comrade always accompanies us to the library but usually doesn't check anything out. This time he picked out some world religion books he'd like us to read for homeschool. Here they are:

The Buddha by F.W. Rawding (not pictured)
   

Not in a Reading Kind of Mood

I'm in a reading funk, so I'm knitting instead! The pattern is called Little Kina and the Ravelry instructions (and more pictures) can be found here. This is my second time knitting this little pattern, and this time it is for a friend who saw the sweater on my daughter's doll and couldn't stop oohing and awing about it. It so, so easy — knit in one piece from the top down — and absolutely darling! And if you're really brave, you can buy the Baby Kina pattern and knit your toddler one to match her doll. I did this for my 3-year old and am glad to be done. The sweater for a large toddler took quite a bit longer than I had expected, and I was sorely tired of it by the end. Speaking of which, I have yet to take a picture of the brat and her bitty baby showing off my hard work! I need to get on that...

The worst part of the pattern for me was the neckline, but only because I hate, hate, hate knitting front and back. I wish there were another way to make an increase without leaving a hole...anyone? The baby doll neckline wasn't nearly as bad, of course, but the big girl neckline was complete torture. I had had ambitions of trying to knit one for myself (yes, there's a pattern for adult sizes, too!) but they are no more. I just keep hoping someone I know will fall pregnant with a girl so I can knit the newborn size. How cute would that be for a shower gift?! Even better would be if I fell pregnant with a girl. :)