Long time, no see...

Sorry for the blog-silence. I've honestly been extremely busy and just haven't had all that much to say. Nonetheless, I've never intended to be away for as long as I did and thanks to those who have written worried about me! Life just took over but here I am again :)

Well luckily enough for me and for Jasmine, I was able to cut down vastly on my business travels this year... as she goes through her terrible-twos and is obviously in need of a lot more attention. Knitting will probably continue to be slow for a while. Still and all, my ambitious plans for the summer goes on:

• a Katja, a Frangipani or Little Red Smock for Jasmine
• a Sahara and a Phildar Leafy pullover for myself
• Juliets for both of us and
• a special something for my SIL who has recently knitted me a very nice ribbon top (thanks much Emily if you'll be reading this)

On top, I'll still have a couple WIPs to finish up... maybe not the 2 pair of socks, but the DB Beaded Fair Isle Cardigan for Jasmine will have to be done before she grows any faster, and I've finally started the Japanese Diagonal Cables that Siow Chin made years ago…. Anyway let's see some FO first...

The Provence Toddler Cardigan

Yarn: 250g of worsted Cotton/Cashmere from China

Needles: 4.5mm

Finished Size: 3T

Pattern: Provence Baby Cardigan by Cecily Glowik

This gorgeous yarn is made up of 8 “very fine” 2-ply and I was really skeptical at first… (lace wt cotton - just no way...) But the LYS staff was very sincere and she highly recommended this... Oh well, she's totally right - I’ve never knitted a cotton yarn so incredibly yummy!! Also, the clever lady wound up 4 strands of the yarn into a center-pull cake for me and told me to either knit the wound yarn as sport wt or pick out both ends from the center and outside of the cakes and work them together as worsted - smart, isn't she? :)

Beside making the largest size in worsted weight instead of DK to scale up to 3T for Jasmine, I’ve added one more repeat of the lace pattern and modified the pattern for seamless knitting. The body and button bands were all done in one piece, and the sleeves were picked up straight from the cap and knitted top down.

* * * * *

And totally inspired by the Best Friend Cardigan by Wenlan Chia, came my own version of a vest for Jasmine.

A Pinky "Vest" Friend

Yarn: Chunky Cottons from China

Needles: 5.5 mm & 7.0 mm

Finished Size: 3T

A real quickie, it actually took me way longer to shop for buttons than to knit. I'm not totally happy with the front collar, which is a little too high and it's bunching up between the top buttons. If not for that, I'd have shared with you my pattern notes.

That's really all I did in 5 months, and before I get to see you again here or on Ravelry - Happy Summer Everyone :)