Peggy Sue Cardigan

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a 1950's Knit-a-Long over on Ravelry.com. It was so nice of the moderator of the group to invite me to join. Her and I both participated in a 1940's inspired Knit-a-Long, or KAL as they are popularly known as, last winter. See my Knit for Victory post from last January. That was so much fun she decided to put together another group and I'm glad she did. The cardigan sweater that we knit is a FREE pattern from Linda Wilgus called Peggy Sue . It's an adorable little vintage number that I knew would fit perfectly into my wardrobe.

I altered the pattern a bit (I seem to do that frequently) The original design had a cable pattern that I personally didn't like. Don't get me wrong, it looked very nice and if I were a person who enjoyed doing cables with a cable needle, I would have done the original stitch. However, I discovered the magic of knitting cables without a cable needle years ago and I have never gone back. This is the first time that I have encountered a cable stitch that I couldn't do without a needle. Instead of sucking it up and buying a cable needle, I decided to change it. I remembered the cable stitch on the Quick Knit 1940's Style Sweater that I did for my last KAL was incredibly simple and I really enjoyed knitting it. So, BOOM, just a few little stitch count alterations to make sure I have the right number to match the new pattern and I was on my way.

I used Bernat Softee Baby yarn in "Flannel" available on the Jo-ann's website. Please note that on the website the colors are WAY off. It looks like a medium/dark grey but it is much closer to the soft lilac. In fact, this yarn was deceiving in person too. When I purchased it at Jo-ann's, I thought I was buying a light soft grey yarn. I was surprised when I got the yarn outside under natural light and it turned in to a delicate lavender color. Hmmmm, not what I had expected, but hey, let's go with it. I'm glad I did.

This was the perfect project to work on while I was traveling back and forth between my Dad and I's places. The fairly plain body of the sweater and the simplicity of the raglan sleeves coupled with the cable pattern I chose to substitute made this an easy, mindless knit, without it being mind numbingly boring. I was even able to knit on the plane when the flight attendant accidently poured a glass of wine for the gentleman sitting next to me when he hadn't ordered one. I snatched that puppy right up. TWO free glasses of wine? Thanks Alaska Airlines....

I enjoy doing Knit-a-longs, they are a great way to connect with fellow knitters and an excellent resource if you are having difficulties with a pattern or want to alter it in any way. I look forward to discovering what my next KAL will be.

Until next time, keep creating beauty
Cherry

Antiquing, Sephora, and a new Friend

What could be better than that, am I right? I've made a new friend this summer, one of those ones that you just can't believe you haven't known your whole life. Seriously girl, where have you been my whole life? She knits, is totally crafty, loves wine (maybe even more than me, if that's possible)loves all things vintage, is TOTALLY hilarious, and thinks I'm awesome too (so you know she's smart, right?). There's just one little fly in our shared bottle of Merlot, she lives 315 miles away. The bitter taste in our mouth is heightened by the fact that we DID live in the same town for 30+ years and never knew each other. We even knew/know a crap load of the same people. I can't believe we never met!! Ok, enough of the negative.... While I was down in Anchorage with my father, she had just moved to Wasilla (which, if you don't know, is only an hours drive from Anchorage). I was in desperate need of someone to go antiquing and makeup shopping with. Yes, I do have another friend or 2 in Anchorage, but none who loves (obsession might be a better word) makeup as much as I do. Thanks to the magic of Facebook, Terri and I made a date. When this girl walked in with her bright red lips, cute cardigan sweater over an adorable little dress *swoon* I knew I was in love! Here's a few highlights from some of our dates together.

We started off the day at Peggy's Diner, I didn't think we'd get a picture of the two of us together, but the waitress was so nice. She followed us outside to compliment how cute we looked and I seized the opportunity and asked her to take our pic.

That girl was totally busted checking out my bust. We both just about peed our pants when we saw this one!!

From there we checked out a few antique stores. We found some amazing fur coats. I think if we were both faster runners (she's got a bum knee, I've got a broken back) we would have thrown them all on the floor stripped naked and rolled around in them.

We actually discussed it, and figured there's no way we could out run the cops. Plus, orange doesn't look good on either of us and smuggling lipstick into the joint didn't sound comfortable. We settled on just trying a few of them on.

I shouldn't have to say this, but I will.... If you are against fur, more power to ya! We did not kill these beautiful animals and we did not buy these gorgeous pieces of history. We enjoyed the feel of them against our skin (not as much as we'd have liked to *wink, wink*) and admired their ability to make us feel glamorous. Thanks!

On to Sephora.... Talk about the makeup holy grail! Now I know there may be a lot of you out there that would think that Sephora is no big deal, but for two small town girls who lost the 1 and only local store that carried luxury beauty products or high end cosmetics about 6 years ago, I think we both wept internal tears of joy as we walked through the door. Of course, those tears were internal, neither of us would dare to smudge our perfect winged eyeliner. Not only is it all so beautiful, but some of the names for the products or product lines are just genius.

That's mock horror..... I'm totally down with anything promoting orgasms!!
Oh, I think I might have made her blush.

We both got wonderful little goodie bags from Sephora. Oh, it just makes me smile!

We finished off our fabulous girl date at Nordstrom's makeup counters. The climax of our day must have been us both buying a tube of MAC's Ruby Woo, the most luxurious velvety matte RED lipstick, possibly ever made. It fits us both so well. We may have completely different skin tone and coloring but it looks fabulous on us both.


I don't know where this plutonic love affair is headed (with any luck there will be plenty of wine, red lipstick and petticoats there) but I truly believe this is just the beginning of something completely fabulous and amazing. I can't wait to have many more hyper feminine and possibly wine fueled adventures with this lovely gal. I'll see you soon, Terri. The Reverend Horton Heat concert is gonna be amazing!!

Until next time darlings, remember to appreciate every truly great friendship you have!

Lovely Lace Cardigan

Well, it's about time I got back to knitting posts. So here it is, my latest sweater. It's actually been done for a while now however I had a hell of a time getting some good pictures. For one reason or another, it just wasn't happening. I was either too busy when running out of the house or there was the time my hair, make up, and outfit were absolutely perfect and some A-hole (me) forgot the damn camera at home. Arg! So, without further delay, here she is....

The pattern is called the Lauren Lace-Stitch Cardigan from the book Sweater Girls by Madeline Weston and Rita Taylor.

I got this book last Christmas from my boyfriends Mom. Thanks Melissa! She knows I love knitting and all things vintage so she got me 2 books that feature sweater designs from vintage patterns or with a vintage feel to them. This is the first of many sweaters that I will be making from these books. This book has modern versions of patterns strait out of the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. Some of the patterns show the original pictures along with the modern version.

I used Knit Picks Stroll, fingering weight yarn in Blue Topaz. This also was a Christmas gift from my Dad. He didn't exactly pick it out for me, he sent me a check for $50.00 and told me to spend it on something special that I wouldn't normally buy (like groceries or the electric bill) so I got this lovely turquoise color that I've been totally obsessed with lately. I've even gone so far as to redecorate my living room last spring in all turquoise and red accents and fabrics. Don't freak out too much, I didn't spend all $50 bucks on this yarn, I also got enough yarn for another sweater as well. That'll be a future post I'm sure.

The lace pattern in this particular sweater was a total bitch. It's only a 2 row lace pattern with the second row being purls but that first row sucks. The lace stitch consists of picking up 3 stitches at once like you are going to purl them all together, then you do, you purl them all together, don't take them off the needle, put the yarn to the back, go through the stitches again and knit them all together, and THEN switch the yarn to the front to purl them all together AGAIN. OH MY HELL, are you kidding me??? I damn near threw it across the room! I seriously thought of bagging the whole idea but just couldn't because by the time I got to the lace pattern I had already done a 76 rows of P1, K1 ribbing over 135 stitches on size 2 needles. I don't know if you can comprehend that if you're not a knitter but take my word for it, it's a crap ton of incredibly boring knitting on insanely small needles. Too much to just toss aside because some pesky lace stitch was trying it's hardest to get the better of me. Me against one tiny little lace stitch? Oh, I was determined to win this battle. Success!!! Take THAT crappy lace stitch, I ruled you!!!

I finished the sweater off with some cute little white flower buttons from Jo-ann's. I'm really enjoying this cardigan, it's perfect for spring and summer outfits. It works great over tank tops and summer dresses. It provides moderate coverage and added warmth when there's a little breeze or a cloud that keeps creeping in front of the sun. However, with the open lace pattern, it's not too warm.

Until next time, darlings, live, love, and create!