Knitting: Amused Sweater

This is the second sweater I took along on our week-long travel expedition. I finished it in four days.

Sorry about the blurry picture! Taking a selfie in the bathroom mirror isn't as easy as it looks (and it doesn't look very easy to me, either), especially when your eyesight isn't all that great. I thought the pictures were focused just fine until I uploaded them to my computer and saw them about 3x the size as my camera screen ...

But to help you visualize this a little better, there is about 6" of ribbing at the bottom of the sweater. That makes for a very flattering fit (at least for me).

I used 100% lambswool from an unraveled American Eagle sweater that I picked up at the thrift store. If you think you can't wear wool, try lambswool. It's almost as soft as cashmere, and it's not as itchy -- and if you own any cashmere, you know that's saying something! [NOTE: All of my cashmere came from the thrift store, and they were all less than $5 per sweater. I am not independently wealthy. :) ]

Here's a slightly better picture of the cable detail around the placket and the collar. I love cables, and they are what drew me to this sweater in the first place.

Once again, I'm going to share my Ravelry project page with you. If you're interested in the details, check it out here: Amused Sweater.

If you're a knitter and would like to knit one for yourself, it's a free pattern. You can find it on Ravelry here: Amused by Jordana Paige. If you do plan to knit this, do yourself a favor and read other knitters' helpful notes about avoiding puckering on the placket and Sputnik's collar improvement (to make the cables line up with the placket). I've linked to both of them on my project page.

This is probably my new favorite sweater, and it's absolutely my favorite sweater that I've personally knit to date. (The cabled Olwen sweater was pretty awesome, but this one is even more flattering to my figure.)

Knitting: Olwen Sweater

Front - This is the truest to the color.

I've been quiet for awhile, but I've been busy. We recently traveled for almost a whole week, and I took two sweaters along to knit to keep me occupied. This was one of them, and I knit it in a week. (I started a day or two before we left.)

Back Cabling

I love cabled sweaters like this, but I haven't found any yet in my size that flatter my shorter body proportions. So I decided to knit my own from a 100% lambswool thrift store sweater that I unraveled.

Arm cable detail

 Instead of re-writing everything I already wrote on my Ravelry project page, I decided to share my Ravelry project page with you. You'll need to follow this link to access it. That's where I've recorded all of the details and my notes along the way.

Neckline detail - note that it's not a traditional scoop-neck on me, which I'm very happy about!

If you're a knitter and would like to make one of these, this is (believe it or not) a free pattern. It has a pretty big range of sizes, too, so you should be able to find something to fit you. You can find it on Ravelry here: Olwen Sweater.

A Skateboard for Alex!

We're not into the traditional skateboarding scene, but my son does have one and enjoys riding it around our church parking lot. (In case you don't remember, we're the pastor's family and live right next to the church.)

As a result, I knew he would love to have a skateboard for Alex. A few months ago, we found one for bears that had elastic straps to keep their feet on, but it wasn't really the right size for Alex. (We actually had Paige along for another reason, and she tried it out for us.) His feet wouldn't have stayed in the elastic straps, although it was an ingenious idea.

A few weeks ago, we were at a thrift store and found this perfectly-sized skateboard for $0.50. I don't care for the "Rude Boyz Skate" emblazoned across the top because I don't want my son to think it's cool to be rude, but we're just pretending it's a brand name right now. If I can think of a way to tastefully cover that up, I will. If not, I guess we can live with it. It's not like it's vulgar or has skulls all over it. :)

The wheels actually work, and Alex can stand on it all by himself. My son is thrilled!

Fun Find: AG-Sized World Globe

Here's another recent fun doll find - a perfectly-sized globe. It's really a pencil sharpener, and I got it at a variety-type store for $1. The globe really spins!

The name of the store where I purchased it is Beiters. It's in Pennsylvania. If you've found these in your area, please let us know the name of the store where you found them. I always appreciate knowing where to find cool doll accessories. :)

Fun Find: AG-sized Microscope

I found this AG-sized microscope set at Dollar General before Christmas. I doubt they have any left because they were clearancing these at the time (50% off), but keep your eyes out in case someone else comes out with one this size.

I wasn't completely sure it would be the right size, but it's pretty tiny for a real kid to use, so I took my chances. I was thrilled when it turned out to be the perfect size. A few people have commented that AG's version seems a bit on the small side for scale, so that's another bonus for this one.

$5 sure beats what AG wants for their set. (Their set includes a few other things, but this was the part of the set that my daughter especially liked and I had no idea how to make myself.)

Another great feature about this one is that kids can actually look through the microscope. You really can see the things on the slides that it came with, so it is functional to an extent. I wouldn't recommend it as anything but a toy for the dolls, though, since there's no light source, and it's awfully tricky to teach kids how to bounce the daylight (or indoor artificial light) off the mirror ... not to mention that it's really too small for real kids.