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knitting: commentary
08 mar 2004 when last we saw our heroine
so sorry! forgot to update prior to the most recent business trip. there was knitting so eventually there will be an update. but first? first i must sleep.
26 feb 2004 a slight setback
so, i decided to match up the now complete sleeve with the previously completed back and what did i see?
they so do not match. i went back and read the instreuctions and did the math and there is no way they would match when knit as instructed. i emailed jenna and she agreed something was awry [though it is absolutely not her fault, but that of the editors] and gave me a few suggestions. i haven't yet decided what i will do, probably a combination of things. i'll try it out on the second sleeve and if that works, i can rip back part of sleeve one and move on.
but it did annoy me, so i picked up something else for a quick fix. this is the vittadini jaeger left over from the skinny scarf. it won't be enough for an entire hat, but it might be a headband, or half a hat. we'll see.
23 feb 2004 ready for gifting
i am beyond stoked! this turned out exactly as i imagined it would, from the icord around the bottom providing a little base, to the fluffy fluffiness around the top. it is nigh on impossible to get a good picture of the true colors in this house of no light, but trust me when i say it is fab -- the colors transition into each other just perfectly, from steel blue to lilac to violet. it used three skeins of cascade 220, held double throughout, and about a third of a skein of the eyelash.
post-it, just so i remember what i did : 40th birthday bag.
22 feb 2004 ready for the rough stuff
amazingly enough, even though the weekend was jam packed with things like the whirligig preview at seattle center [much bouncing ensued], trips to the gym and library, and about 18,000 loads of laundry, i finished the body of the bag.
a few more feet of i-cord for the straps and then i must make myself face the washing machine one more time. send all the happy felting vibes you can spare; i've never used an eyelash yarn for fluffy trim before, and i'm a little nervous.
20 feb 2004 what the?
i was trying to get a better picture of the yarn i'm using for the 40th birthday bag, when what to my wondering eyes appears? a purl row in the middle of all the garter stitch! how that happened i have no idea. but, since it is the bottom of the bag, and will be felted, i've decided it is a design element.
that's not a bug, that's an undocumented feature!
18 feb 2004 in which we take a short break
and in doing so, post entirely too many pictures.
i've finished the back of the sack sweater, and have moved on to a sleeve. i have 20 balls of this yarn, so i figure if i make it through the back and a sleeve with at least a partial skein left over, i am good to go, and i won't have the last minute heartbreak of running out. but, it's on hold for the moment, as i need the needle.
for what? for something that required i finally deal with the tragedy of eyelash gone wrong. i have no idea what happened to this little purple skein but it was hopelessly tangled in and around and amongst itself. so, down i sat, armed with a giant cup of decaf and a super-sized portion of patience.
et voila!
next, a little winding of some cascade 220 i happened to having lying about in various shades of purple and blue. and one of red, just because when you starting winding balls, it is hard to stop. i do so love my swift and ballwinder, as does sophie; thanks again, mom!
and here we have the makings of a 40th birthday bag for a coworker who really deserves a nice handmade present. a little knitting, a little felting, a little luck and we'll have achieved giftness by tuesday.
16 feb 2004 the kindness of strangers
many, many thanks to nancy, who helped me out with my rowan problem. rowan finally did write back to me today, only to tell me they were forwarding my request elsewhere as i was in the united states, not the united kingdom. whatever. but their runaround no longer has power over me! i am currently poking through the stash, looking for an appropriate yarn with which to make the lacy sweater.
in the realm of completing those poor projects which have been languishing, i started to tackle the shell. i made it not last year, but the year before for j's mom. and it wasn't big enough, so it sat. and sat. and sat. until today. today, i decided i could use it as an experimental staging ground for crocheted steeks. could i figure it out? would it work on acrylic?
why, yes! and yes! i think i snipped one wrong thread at the upper bound off edge, but i have convinced myself i can secure it when knitting on the button bands and neckline. the neckline is going to be a bit of a challenge; the shell was fairly scoop necked, i'll need to find something that raises it a bit, but doesn't look too much as though i threw it on as an afterthought.
and work proceeds apace on the first sweater i will have knit for me, and me alone. i'm more than halfway through the back, and it looks like nothing so much as miles of stockinette. which it is.
15 feb 2004 fickle
after telling me she wanted knit things for her legs, and knit things for her wrists, sophie now has decided she wants neither. trying to get her to put the little warmers on either the legs or arms was an exercise in much futility, though eventually being silly won her over.
i expect it will fall to me to get much use out of them, they really do make wonderfully cozy wrist warmers.
12 feb 2004 the old and the new and the problematic
the problematic: my mother bought me a rowan membership several months ago. i never registered on the website, mostly because i forgot i could do so. but now that i've seen this month's free pattern, via kerrie, i tried to do so. and i can't get in! and two, count 'em, two! emails to the rowan admins have gone unanswered. i am bereft. i want to knit that sweater for sophie. must try harder, maybe submit the webform asking for help rather than the email they recommend.
the old: i am down to the button selection process on the latest, and hopefully last for a while, baby sweater. in my mind, i pictured red glassy buttons, somewhat like the blue ones i found. no red to be had. so, if i want red, it is not an exact match colourwise, but is cute. heart buttons + tiny babies = cute. or i could go with the blue. i'll decide before the weekend is over.
the new, part one: this is the third iteration of this particular item. i can't help myself, i get it just about knit up, and i rip it out and knit again, mostly just to fondle the fiber a little longer. i love this wool and wish i had scads and scads of it. as it is, i am happy with the little hank i nabbed through the gsrp. i think i've finally settled on needles and ribbing style and width, so this should be the last go 'round. they'll be sophie's leg warmers for the rest of this year, and her arm warmers for next winter and probably a few after that.
the new, part two: i've decided to knit for me. i have 20 balls of this cuddly bulky yarn and i'm thinking it wants to be jenna's big comfy cabled sweater from the stitch'n'bitch book. or maybe just the big old plain sweater from weekend knitting. i'm leaning towards the cable, but also instant gratification; the cable, while not particularly difficult, will slow me down.
08 feb 2004 the details
i'm working on finishing the little sweater. attached i-cord on the front bands and a ruffled collar, so far. i'm thinking button loops, rather than holes, with red buttons. another ruffle around the bottom, then around each wrist and we'll be good to go. won't have enough yarn left for a hat or booties, though, but i think it's okay. the sweater is pretty big, and i expect the baby will be out of booties before she wears it. and the hat? maybe i'll grab another skein, or maybe not.
to make sure it doesn't slip off the radar, i completed two more blocks of the blanket as well. it is just shy of 50% done and unless i completely lose focus, i think it will easily be done before may.
04 feb 2004 by a tail
i foolishly assumed that the two skeins contained the same amount of yarn. i finished the body of the sweater with less than one foot of the red. so now, i must rethink the next stage. there had been visions of double ruffles. corrugated ribbing. there may still be ruffles, but the corrugated ribbing is out; single color corrugated ribbing is just ribbing with a fancy title.
01 feb 2004 another one out the door
finished the seaming on the open heart sweater. turns out i do not have enough yarn left over to make either a hat or booties, so this one is flying solo. it was vaguely disappointing to find that one sleeve just would not line up correctly; i think the problem was less with the sleeve and possibly more with the back half, which may have somehow become just a row or two longer than its counterpart. ah well, i decided to live with it, for a number of selfish reasons. and of course, if a little arm is in the sleeve, waving all about as little arms are wont to do, no one will be the wiser.
as usual, trying to get a red sweater to photograph properly is a right pain in the butt. but you can just about see the heart on the front here.
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