Project for Yarn Shop

I'm still not done with my sweater yet. I haven't been knitting this week, I've been busy spring cleaning. I've got the body done and 1 sleeve done, I'm working on the second sleeve. I'm going to have to put that on hold for a little bit because I have another project from Black Mountain Yarn Shop. I'm knitting a shawl with this extra fine mohair yarn. This stuff is kind of a pain to work with, I hope it looks good when it's finished. The yarn itself is really pretty, the project is a pain. I have 5 balls in different colors, it will be striped. The brand of yarn is Be Sweet. On the label it reads,
"This yarn was hand spun and dyed by women in South Africa under a job creation program that has offered opportunity in an economically depressed rural region with a 75% unemployment rate and little opportunity aside from hard labor in pineapple fields...Enjoy this beautiful product knowing that you have brought hope into a South African community and that a portion of your purchase is helping support the local school!"
I think this is a good brand of yarn to invest it, I wouldn't mind taking a look at what other yarns they have.

Magic Loop

My current project I'm working on is a sweater that I bought the pattern for and really wanted to make for myself. Its an owl sweater, the cowl of the sweater has owls all around using cabling to create the owls. It is a really cool design so I really wanted to make it. The worst part about knitting sweaters is that when you are done with the knitting you have to sew all the pieces together before you can enjoy it, which is a slow tedious process. The best part about this sweater is that it is knit in the round, no seeming for me to do. I got to the part where I have to start working on the sleeves which of course are also knit in the round from the cuff up. I had to start with size 10 needles, I have those in circular but not in dpns. So I had to figure out the magic loop method I keep reading about in these patterns. I found this wonderful website with instructional videos for all kinds of knitting techniques and found a video that showed me exactly how to do it.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

Now that I know how to do magic loop this is so easy to do! Even though I have several years now of experience knitting, there are all kinds of things I still need to learn. Now that I have enough experience knitting, its fun learning more advanced techniques. Moving on to more advanced stuff makes knitting challenging and more fun.