Just follow the directions, no matter how strange they may seem

The past two projects I've worked on have been a bit difficult for me. I'm a very visual person, and I need to SEE that each step I'm taking relates somehow to the finished product. So the Stitch Diva Endless Cardi and the Baby Surprise Jacket both messed with my brain!

The Endless Cardi is so cute, and is actually quite simple to make. (Crocheters take note, there is also a Crochet Endless Cardi pattern!) They recommend a silk yarn, but I really wanted to try something a bit different, so I went with Noro Silk Garden Sock, which is a wool, silk, mohair, nylon blend. I knew it wouldn't have the same drape, but I decided to try it anyway. There's nothing difficult about this pattern. It's basically a huge rectangle that is seamed together in a unique way.The difficult part for me, was that I couldn't envision how it was going to work. Even when I started seaming it together, I still couldn't SEE the finished product. So I followed the step by step instructions and it was pretty amazing to see it all take shape. There's some 3 needle bindoff:

and I was so glad to have my Denise needle kit. In order to do the finishing of this piece, I had to rearrange the stitches several times. All of my needle tips, cables and stoppers were so helpful during this process.

Because the yarn is not as heavy as a silk, it doesn't drape quite as much. In this shot, it's just been seamed up, and not yet blocked. Excuse the ends hanging out, too!

I did steam it to block it, but it just wasn't enough. So I've been wet blocking it in sections. Because of the unique construction of this piece, it's impossible to block it all at the same time. Hopefully it's almost finished:

And then last week I made a BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket.) This is a hugely popular project, and I'd never done one, so I figured I should hop on the bandwagon. We carry both the original pattern and the new and improved line-by-line-plus-additional-sizes pattern. The new and improved pattern also gives instructions for adding a collar or a hood.

I picked Schaefer Nichole in the awesome Green Jeans color. I used a size 5US needle and followed the instructions line by line. I kept trying to fold it up in different ways, to see how it would work out. I couldn't SEE it!

Finally when I had about 12 more rows to go, it all clicked for me. It was such an easy project, and the end result is really cute! But it definitely played games with my brain as I was knitting it!