Variegated yarn luv

Hey, Friday. That's good because this week has been TOO DAMN LONG. K's been out of town on business since Monday and he finally came home last night. I sure missed him.

This is the kiddie raglan I'm working on, in a heavy aran-weight cotton. (Wow, I didn't realize that the striping lined up on the arms like that. Oh well. Do I care? I do not). The stitches where I joined the arms from the body are still a little loose. I going to have to fix that by hand.

You think it's too much? It's kind of...pink. Muahhahaha. That's the beauty of toddlers, they can't protest so much at what you dress them in. Uh, right?

I'm experimenting on this sweater. I'm not casting on any underarm stitches. I have YET to hear a good explanation for why casting on extra stitches is necessary, and I was very disappointed by an enormous poofty lump underneath each of the arms of a different sweater I made a year ago. Yes, an EZ baby sweater, which has you cast on more than 1" of extra stitches under each arm but doesn't bother to say why. I think it's some kind of gusset but WHY? This sweater I'm omitting it and see what happens. Pattern is from Children's Sweaters and Hats, Knitting Seamless Raglan Top Down: Step by Step Patterns and Photos by Mary Rich Goodwin.

I've been working from this book because I wanted to get the feel of how a top-down raglan works. She also has optional short-row shaping to make the back fit better, and I was interested in that. Other learning experiences for this sweater: learning how to knit combination-style. In regular knitting, my purl rows are looser than my knit rows and no matter what I try, I can't seem to get them even without resorting to going down a needle size on the purl rows. Drives me BONKERS.

Since I pulled out the camera last night, I figured I'd fit in some yarn photos too.
Lacey Lamb in RED RED RED. Isn't it pretty? It feels twice as nice as it looks. The inestimable Wen sent it to me as a prize, several months ago, for posting my amazingly ugly, orange-green-purple Lion Brand-Homespun shawl, with crochet edging. AND she included a whole passel of other good stuff - stitch markers, 2! cute bags, bath bomb, and candy, among other things. THANK YOU WEN!!

I'm still trying to find the right pattern for this loveliness. Mmmm, red.