knitting: commentary

30 mar 2004 stalled, semi-ish

i finished tiana's pink fluffy bag tonight. i'm sure she will be very happy, especially when she learns i had to steal it back from sophie. sophie loves the idea of the bag, but i know my girl -- it would be in the corner gathering dust if i let her keep it.

unfortunately, the other projects are just limping along at the moment. the heel is completely turned on the sock so now it's a slow spiral up to the cuff. and sophie's lacy sweater is slow knitting too -- mostly because it is unforgiving yarn. and also because she is still insisting it must be ORANGE! ONLY ORANGE! NO YELLOW! i'm thinking of ripping back for that reason, and also because no matter how i stretch and pull at it, it looks as though the bottom edge, with the garter stitch and eyelets, is wider than the reverse stocking stitch top. there is a lot of waving and buckling going on there, though you may not be able to see it so well in the photo. if i do rip, i think i might take a note from kerrie's version, and go for a simple picot edging. or maybe not. right now, i think i will just ignore it for a day or two.

and finally, i realize may is creeping ever closer, so i picked up g's blanket again.

24 mar 2004 triad

these are the three active projects at the moment: the second sock, the heel halfway turned; a fluffy edged bag for tiana, the bottom just about finished; sophie's lacy sweater, slowly creeping ever longer. i'm a little worried as today she decided that she did not like the yellow, wanted orange only. only, i do not have enough orange. i'm planning to move forward and try to convince her it is a good thing.

and look! the weather has been cool enough for me to wear my new sweater. it is most snuggly.

22 mar 2004 yarn forward

the lacy border for the front of the lacy sweater is done! and i am even starting to like the whole yarn over/yarn forward maneuver. i added an extra repeat and will widen the body of the sweater accordingly; sophie is growing like a weed, and i'd like her to be able to wear it for longer than a week.

21 mar 2004 and a 1, and a 2, and a 3

finished! finished! finished!

scarlet sophie is felted and drying. the neck on the big sack sweater is just fine. the buttons and loops are finally on the baby sweater. and now? now on to the lacy sweater for sophie!

19 mar 2004 should it stay or should it go, now

i am not all together convinced i like the neck. there will be much dwelling upon the various possibilities, i am sure.

18 mar 2004 nothing but neck

all seamed and more than the half the ends woven in. now, one of my least favorite knitting tasks, picking up stitches. even dawdling through that, i should be wearing this on the weekend.

17 mar 2004 error-prone

do you know what this is?

this is a dropped stitch. a dropped stitch on the edge. is there anyway to recover from this other than ripping all the way back to the offending stitch? if there is, please don't tell me as i already ripped back. and not once, but twice! as i made this bloody mistake once and then again, 12 rows later. strange, as i am not one to drop stitches. in any event, things are back on track and i may well finish the front tonight, while watching kingdom hospital.

and this? this is the beginning of a sophie bag, from magknits. i was waiting for the cascade 220 to start the coworker's bag, but i couldn't stand not having a mindless project on the needles. heaven forbid i sit through a meeting without some sort of fiber therapy occurring concurrently. but even mindless knitting is giving me fits! somewhere around row 27, i discovered i had made an extra stitch somewhere along the way.

15 mar 2004 fluffy!

another finished bag! this one is perfectly suited to skye, who is petite and bright and bubbly. i hope she'll like it.

no more pictures, but a little progress report. i am past the armhole decreases on the front of the big sack sweater and cruising right along. it should be finished by the end of the week if i don't get distracted. the second sock is nearing the heel, so that is almost halfway done. and the lacy green headband absolutely did not shrink, if anything, it grew. so i very carefully unravelled it and will now try again, this time the smart way; i'll be starting from the top and working my way down.

10 mar 2004 updates, many

since the last update [not counting the little note on the 8th] the following have occurred: i was in the emergency room for an ecg; i was at the doctor's for a chest x-ray; i was given the cardiac/lung all clear, it was just another fun manifestation of my usually controlled panic disorder; sophie was at the doctor's and did not have whooping cough or strep but just a really bad series of cold/cough/congestion viruses; she gave them to me; i went to new orleans for business, but took jim along for the ride; i was sick the entire time i was there; i made myself have fun anyhow; i knit.

i finished sleeve number 2 of the big sack sweater, and with the retooled numbers, it fit the back perfectly! so i ripped down sleeve number 1 and reknit, and then attached them both to the back. just because i wanted to really see that they fit. which they do.

and i started the front, barely. just one cable repeat into it, but once i sit down with it, it should go pretty quickly.

on the plane, i knit a little on the second sock of the pair i started for myself last year. damn that second sock syndrome! all the flights were very full, so with little elbow room, i didn't get as much done as i would have liked. but now that it is actually started, the guilt will make me finish it.

during the interminable meetings at the conference, i worked on another fluffy, happy bag. this one will be for jim's writing mentor, though it was originally intended for another coworker. said coworker expressed some sadness that there was no pink, so i decided to make her one with pink, because if a girl wants pink, blue and green just won't do. and it gives me an excuse to do a little yarn shopping, as i don't have any pink cascade 220 on hand.

and finally, i just about finished the green headband. it is just a bit too big in circumference, but i think it was mostly mohair, so i'm thinking a run through the wash may help. i'll have to dwell on the relative risks.

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.

february 2004