Summer Sweater

I've been working on the Diamond Lake Sweater by Kay Hopkins for the better part of the summer and I'm finally nearly getting there.  I got the yarn at YarnCon this spring but unfortunately I've misplaced the tag.  *sad face*

The pattern starts by knitting the yoke -shoulder to shoulder- with the lace pattern across the front.

The first repeat of the yoke lace.  Its going to be awesome!

After finishing the neckline and blocking the lace you stitch the armpit seams and pick up stitches around the body. It took me a couple tries to get it and it still isn't exactly right but its fitting so it works.  

I took the lacework out of the back so its just straight knit knit knit knit knit knit....

.just a few more inches till I can do the hem. 

 Im absolutely in love with knitting sweaters.  You can see behind me (in all the mess) a cubbie of sweaters.  All 5 of those are handknit.  The teal is my very first one and I've never even worn it.  The gold is my second and I've worn it many times but the sleeves aren't well fitted and I don't feel great in it.  I learn something new with almost every project....but sweater knitting is definitely a learning game! 

Yarn Crawl 2019 and Knitting Bags

Last week, my mom and I took Lyrick, Abby (Lyrick's friend), and Delaney and Dannae (my neices) to an overnight yarn crawl.  Whats a yarn crawl you say?  Well, its like a bar crawl, but with more yarn and no beer (seriously, not one drink even outnumbered 2 to 1 by little girls).  It was not supposed to be that way but life happens and we decided 1) we could help dear friends and family out AND 2) have a good time AND 3) take our little beginner knitters to check out some yarn shops.  And you know what...we did all those things.  And it was awesome! 

Its our yarn crawl crew at breakfast on the second day.  :D  Still smiling!

We went on a walk along the Ohio River....but it was HOT so the walk was short and we found an ice cream shop instead.  (No photos of ice cream-we had to eat fast)

Supper time after a day of yarn shopping.  :D

Because I knew we were going to several shops.  And the girls were on a limited budget and I wasn't buying them all.  the.  things, I made them a scavenger hunt.  They had things to find at each shop.  This is the photo from when they found "Sheep" and could check it off the list.  They also found extra soft yarn.  Knitting needles. Crochet Hooks, yarn that matched thier outfit....and so much more.  It was so much fun!  In 3 of the 4 shops the owners/employees/other knitters were encouraging and helpful.  It made for a great experience.

I made each of the girls a knitting bag....but for the trip I filled it with snacks.  Cause snacks make every roadtrip better.
I made all 4 bags with a yard of the floral fabric and a 5 pack of fat quarters.  And I have enough floral for another-but I"m out of fat quarters.  Wait for it and I'll do a tutorial...gotta find one more fat quarter.  :