green.ketzle.net: knitting

and what is this? could it be? why, yes, yes it is, and before the closing ceremonies even started.

i don't have the means to block them right now, and as blocking was not included when i challenged myself, i am calling this a win. i did pin them out on a wall so they could be more easily seen, but they will be bigger and better when fully blocked.

now to find a bed that no one is using so i can pin them out. maybe i'll take them to atlanta and block on a hotel room bed...

25 february 2010 close to one

i am one purl row and one bind-off from the darker shawl being done.

i fell asleep last night after knitting only two rows so i am a little behind where i want to be, but i think it is all still good. i realized i didn't actually have to finish one to fix the other as i had a spare cable, so i fixed the lighter shawl tonight, unknitting two rows and performing a little repair work. i then knit two rows of chart C, just to get it firmly along its way.

i am semi-irked about the amount of yarn it looks like i will have left over. i am toying with the idea of adding some rows to each shawl -- mixing up the bottom pattern a little, but it would require charting and i've never charted. and it might push the finish date past sunday. this will require additional thought.

22 february 2010 tragedy

this? this is me frantically recapturing as many stitches as i could after the cable popped out from the end of the needle, flinging stitches and yarnovers all over kingdom come.

while i think i have ended up with the right number of stitches back on the needles, i can't make two sections look right no matter what i do. i fear there shall be unknitting of a row or three to make sure i get back on track. and as i do not trust the cable to not repeat the little escapade, i'll have to finish shawl B before returning to this unruly shawl A.

no picture of the well-mannered shawl, but i knit eight rows of the final chart C on it, so should be able to finish it by wednesday. unless it has been watching its sibling and wants to grow up to be troublesome...

20 february 2010 chart B

and we are back on track!

i am most of the way through chart B on both shawls. and i am over halfway done with the both of them which keeps me on schedule for finishing before next weekend. yeehaw! should probably do that quietly, don't want to jinx anything...

18 february 2010 3 steps back

i said goodbye to 12 of them. i keep knitting and weighing and knitting and weighing and i thought i could do the extra extra repeat but once that was done, the math no longer looked so very good. i thought about making mods farther down the charts to accommodate but then decided i didn't want to do any more math. so i ripped this one back to where the first one was, with one extra repeat of chart A.

as the first 4 lines of chart B are the same as those in chart A, i could save 4 rows, so i did, and then knit another 2 rows back on, just to end on a high note.

i knit 6 rows on the other version as well, so they are now in synch. i think for a while i may try knitting on them at the same time, alternating knit 1, knit 2, purl 2, purl 1 for a while. see how that works for me.

15 february 2010 catching up

rather than decide how many repeats i can do of chart A right now, i went ahead and did the one i know is safe.

then i set that shawlette aside and started the other. as long as i have the pattern memorized, it makes sense to do them together. less thinking=more speed. in theory.

rather easier to see the colorway when it is not atop the other one.

14 february 2010 more chart A

i wish i had a more finely calibrated scale with which to weigh yarn.

i am trying to figure out how many extra repeats i can knit of chart A and still have enough yarn to finish the shawl. i put numbers into excel, weighed the skein trying to figure out how many stitches i had knit with how much yarn, and how much i have left. this is all theoretical as 1] the scale kept shifting between 1.3 and 1.4 ounces left and 2] i may or may not knit at the same tension through the other charts. i am fairly sure i can get at least one additional repeat in, no problem. it is that second repeat that is a close call. i shall have to dwell.

this is shawl one, with the chart A repeats as written, all three of them.

13 february 2010 chart A

i don't know if i will post a picture everyday of the progress, but there is one today. so far i have knit the setup chart and two of the three repeats of chart A.

12 february 2010 challenge

because i have nothing better to do...

actually, i have plenty of other things to do, including plenty of knitting: reconstruct the heels on my too-loosely knit tidepool socks, darn yet another hole in the woodland socks, finish the jungle monkey. but i participated four years ago, knitting my rosedale cardigan, and i do like myself some tradition. so there you have it, i am part of the knitting olympics.

i thought i'd take the opportunity to for once have the end of year presents for sophie's teachers done before the last day of school. i had two complementary skeins of cherry tree hill possum/merino lace and so wound them into balls. that sounds so simple but it was complicated by one of the skeins knotting itself into a major mess. i don't know why i find it so calming to untangle yarn, but i do, even though it usually takes much longer than i think it is going to. nonetheless, after an hour or two, two balls were made.

and then patterns were perused and since i am trying to get two done, i thought something rather less complicated than more would be in order. wendy has a number of simple shawlettes designed for fingering weight but i figured i could do them in laceweight, adding extra repeats if the yardage allowed. sophie had a gander at them and decided we would go with argus.

behold! the opening ceremonies output!

10 february 2010 two steps forward

i was 3/4 of the way through the first sleeve when i had to admit to myself that i was not quite as big as i had reckoned.

so out came the sleeve and out came the four inches of body and i took away 2 stitches from each sleeve and added them to the front panels and then instead of the 20 stitches i had cast-on under each arm, i went with ten. i think it is going to work -- still big enough around but the sleeves are not quite so volumous.

this is a rather wretched picture of a fantastic underarm. when i did the cast-on, i did so provisionally and then undid that when starting the sleeve. seamless underarm! hurrah!

01 february 2010 monkey

it is chunky, therefore it shall be monkey, even though it is not a monkey color. it is a jungle color though... maybe it should just remain chunky for now, though i reserve the right to rename it jungle monkey in the future.

it is the shalom pattern, though i am making mods as many people have. it will have sleeves, and more buttons and it will obviously be bigger than the original. this picture is pretty true to the color of rowan chunky tweed i am using, a yarn i have had in stash for years. yay me for stash-busting!

the texture is more easily seen in this picture. it is such a fast knit that i have whizzed through more than three skeins in four night. i might finish this in time to wear it this year! not that it's been cold enough for a chunky wool sweater...

green.girl knitting: commentary