It's not me, it's the yarn -- really
Becky fix:
(On my honor, I did not pose this shot.)The knitting gods have smiled upon me today. I took out the left front (the one with the wonky cables) to compare it with the right front (the one I just started the decreases on). Now, this sweater has a sort of viney cable thing with bobbles going on, and the only row you don't do either a 3CF or 3CB on is the bobble row, so it's pretty easy to keep track of where you are and make sure you're knitting the right number of rows. Imagine, then, my
shock dismay horror when I saw that the left front was a good deal longer than the right front.
(I trust that even the non-knitterly among you can spot the problem.)I counted cable crosses (though I didn't expect that to tell me anything, and was in fact surprised that they matched). I counted bobbles. I counted turns in the viney cable thing. Everything matched up. Somehow, I thought, I must have changed my gauge. But that
never happens to me. I'm one of those lucky knitters with very even tension -- stitches done on the train look the same as stitches done while walking look the same as stitches done in front of the TV. I was using the same needles, the same yarn -- what the hell happened?
Of course, I didn't have an actual gauge measuring tool (aka ruler) with me, so I hied myself over to my local yarn store. Well, the one that's local to work. As the elevator doors closed on me, I thought
Gee, maybe I should take the actual knitting -- the owner/knitter-who-surely-works-there might have an idea how I could fix this. So back up to the ofiice I went, and then finally to
Seaport Yarn.
Let me interrupt myself here for a minute. I can't believe I have worked for 5 months (not counting maternity leave) around the corner from this yarn store and not discovered how fabulous it is. The place is stocked with the most incredible selection -- and not just high end luxury yarns, though there are plenty of those to be had, too. Want some nice
Buffalo socks? Maybe
Steinbach Wolle Sock Yarn is more your style. How about a little good ol'
Brown Sheep? She's got it. Don't even get me started on the needle selection. And, best of all, she ("she" being the owner, Andrea) is
really, really nice. She gave me a great, thorough tour of the place (necessary -- the inventory has outgrown the location, but in a good antique shop kind of way), and then when I told her I'd just come in for a gauge as I was having a problem with my fronts matching up, she offered to have a look at it (and didn't sell me the gauge). I bought nothing today, but you can bet I'll be spending my yarn allowance there in the future. I've already got my eye on some
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck.
Chris, you'll be happy to know that they only take cash and checks. The American Express is safe.Now, back to the story. So Andrea's looking, and agreeing that yes, something is definitely not quite right, and I'm explaining how I'm sure it's the same needles and I'm not doing anything different (except, hopefully, crossing the cables at the right spot) and she's fingering the yarn and suddenly she says, "This yarn's missing a ply!" Sure enough, the yarn hanging off the corner of the left front was slightly thinner than the yarn hanging off the corner of the right front. So we tore through my project bag (I've gotten lazy about moving the piece in progress to a different bag, so I had the whole thing there with me). The back matches the right front! So the only part I have to rip out is the part I was going to rip out anyhow! You may all do the happy dance with me.
An Open Letter to my Immediate Family
(New Jersey branch, disregard -- you folks are all good)
Look, people. I want to knit gifts for you, really I do. But you live in Texas, fer cryin' out loud. I knit you a scarf, you wear it what, like 5 times a year? And it'll last you for 10 years. Gloves? Maybe twice a year it's cold enough in Dallas for gloves. I'm not a fast enough knitter to be knitting everyone shawls every year (and Dad, you'd look pretty silly in a shawl anyways). But I want to make things for the ones I love. So here's the deal. You're going to get something knitted this year (or at least something handmade), each and every one of you (my NJ peeps, this includes you, too). It may be a small something or a silly something, but there will be something. Now, there are 15 of you (and I'm probably forgetting to count someone -- you know how I am with math and, you know, counting). Keeping that in mind, if there's a special something you'd like me to make for you, now is the time to ask for it. Thanksgiving is too late. Halloween is too late.
Now is the time to ask.
People who are not in my immediate family, maybe next year will be your year. Let's see how this year goes first (the immediate family people still have to invite me to things if this turns into a huge fiasco).
No Becky pic today, sorry -- work is crazy and I had a root canal, so that pretty much took up all my time today. Work is also interfering with my knitting time, so not much progress has been made. Well, I got to the start of the decreases on the right front (that means all the button holes are done! Yay!)...but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to rip out the left front and redo it. There's something just not right with the cable that runs next to the button band. I'll look at it again when the right front's done and see how they look side-by-side, but I'm pretty sure. This does not bode well for poor little Gracie. This whole making-a-living thing is really just not conducive to knitting. Though it does contribute quite a bit to the whole "stash" thing, now that I think about it. Does that make my boss an enabler?
Speaking of, I think I should be totally honest here and tell you I've already broken one of my resolutions. I got an email today from
Webs. Friends, they are having a summer closeout sale with $3 cones of yarn. $3. For 2+ pounds of yarn. $3, folks. How could I not? I suppose it technically qualifies as both a really, really good deal and a one-time thing, but I feel much guilt. No remorse, but much guilt. Also a little panic about where I'm going to put all those cones.
(I just had to teach Blogger the word "knitter." Also the word "closeout." Who are the people who wrote this dictionary?)
Happy New Year!
Yeah, I know it's not a new year (well, it might be on
someone's calendar, but not one that I'm aware of). I've decided to make some resolutions anyway. To wit:
1. Any time I bring something up from my studio (aka, The Pit of Despair), I must take down something of equal or greater volume. This does not apply to the reverse.
2. I will designate every other Saturday as Not for Knitting Saturday and work on projects that are, well, not knitting. Caveats: If I have no "not knitting" projects that are portable, I may still knit in the car or wherever we happen to be that is not home. Also, deadline knitting trumps Not for Knitting Saturday.
3. I will, at all times, have at least one project in progress
and actively being worked on that is not for me.
4. I will clean and organize The Pit of Despair, and I will endeavor to keep it that way. This means that when following Resolution #1, I will not just chuck a bunch of crap into the room and run away. I will put things in their proper place.
5. I will not buy more supplies unless at least two of these conditions apply:
- Someone has asked me to make them a specific thing and I don't have the supplies on hand
- I need the supplies to finish a project that is already more than 50% complete
- I am rewarding myself for meeting a fitness goal
- It's a really, really good deal (discount over 50% of normal retail)
- It's a one time only thing (vendors at special events like Rhinebeck, "bad" dyelots, etc.)
When I am tempted to break this rule just because I've found a yarn/fiber/whatever that I love, I will remember that I felt that way about nearly all of the yarns currently in my stash. When I have made a significant dent in those, then I can buy more yarn just for love.
6. I will not buy yarn/fiber/paper/etc. that is of lesser quality just because it's a good price. Even though some of it is perfectly good (like the mill end Lion Brand stuff), I know I will never make anything with it because I hate working with it. (Although, now that I think about it, I might use the Lion Brand stuff as a weft in something. That might not drive me too batty. But the rule stands.).
7. I will not work on projects unless the house is in a reasonable state of cleanliness. This means (to me): I'd be okay with my in-laws dropping in and seeing the house in its present condition, and if Becky Jayne started crawling I'd be okay with her doing so anywhere in the house. Not that I would
let her crawl everywhere, you understand -- I just want it to be that clean. Deadline knitting
for someone else trumps cleaning.
8. I will focus on what I accomplish daily, rather than on what I meant to get done but didn't.
Becky Jayne news:14lbs, 4oz and 27 inches!
She's almost, but not quite, rolling over yet, and the same for sitting up. She can now get the bottle into and out of her mouth on her own, and practices quite a bit at the end of her meals just to amuse mommy. And here's what she looks like on her last day as a 3 month old:
Knitting news:Progress aplenty made yesterday and today. I finished the left front of Sam,
and cast on the right front (twice, due to a counting error. And when I say "counting error" what I mean is "even though I reminded myself to cast on 6 extra stitches for the button band, I stopped counting at 31 instead of 37"). It looks like it's going to be a bit big for her now, but babies grow and this one is no slouch in that department.
I'm done with the first sleeve of the Mexicali and have done a few rows of the body.
This is great mindless knitting, as the yarn is interesting enough to make up for all the boring stocking stitch. Makes me all the more eager to start on the Socks. I continue to resist the urges of the Sock yarn to do a little light swatching...I know that way lies madness (at least until I'm done with Sam). Oh, and in my stash (well, okay, in a plastic bag that had been thrown into The Pit of Despair) I found enough silk/cashmere blend to make
these. I have a darker color for the feet and a lighter color to do the toe and cuff in. So those'll be Son of Socks. Oh, and here's a pic of my little woven bag that I use to hold my knitting while I walk:
Moving right along
(For some reason images aren't showing up in IE when I upload them through blogger. This means I have to do it the hard way -- give me a couple of days to get everything in the right place, pretty please.)
Well, I did (sort of) finish the Wild Baby sweater. The front, back, and sleeves are done, so all it needs is to be sewn together and a collar thrown on. This is as done as it's going to be until I get Sam finished. It was not done by the time I went to bed Sunday night because I misplaced (and by "misplaced" I mean "deliberately put somewhere so I could find it and then promptly forgot where") the third ball of yarn. But it's all better now.
So Mexicali #1 (there will be three. Two in this colorway
and one in a blue/purpely one. I gotta plan my pictures better.) is now my mindless knitting (I'm almost done with the sleeve -- pic tomorrow!) and I continue to work on Sam. I get the most work done on Sam on the train, but this morning I took a break and made this.
(again, I am not prepared with a picture. The IE thing sort of threw me for a loop. Tomorrow, I promise. Today, look instead upon the Beckmeister. Yes, Firefly fans, that is indeed a fighting elves onesie. It is Rebecca
Jayne after all.)
Well, okay, technically it was already woven, but had been hanging around in my studio (aka, The Pit of Despair) waiting to be sewn up. I decided it would be the perfect knitting-while-walking bag (and indeed, it holds exactly one ball of yarn and a smallish bit of knitting), so I crocheted it together on the train. Things I learned from this:
1. I crochet very slowly
2. I cannot read and crochet at the same time
3. Crochet makes my wrist hurt. I'm doing something weird when I tension the yarn to cause this, but if I don't do it, no tension.
4. Crochet is a really pretty way to sew up a woven bag
In other news, Becky continues to be jealous of the yarn. She did sleep a bit better last night -- up a couple of times but back to sleep quickly. Hopefully she'll be back to sleeping through the night soon. Daddy's going to put her to bed tonight for the first time so she gets used to it, since I'll be back at work late hours beginning Sept. 13. I'm going to miss putting her to bed, but at least I'll get to spend a few hours with her in the mornings.
Green is such an ugly color
My daughter is jealous of my yarn. I don't know how this happened -- I took her to the yarn store and let her pick out the yarn for the Socks, and the only things she's ever seen me knit are for her. And yet...as soon as she sees me pick up yarn and needles, the fussing commences. This is while I'm pumping and so unable to hold her in any case, you understand. She's fine with me on the computer, fine with me reading, fine with me talking on the phone. Once the WIP comes out, though, I'm in trouble. Maybe it'll be better when I'm actually dome with something for her and she knows what good things are happening on those needles for her. Or not.
Front and back of Wild Baby are done, and one sleeve is about halfway. I may still be able to get it done by the end of the weekend, but I won't sew it together until after Sam is done, because I want that to be her first baby sweater from me. Yes, I know I'm a looney, especially since it's unlikely that she'll be wearing either one of them for at least another month or so. I am so far resisting the Socks.
A Dark Comedy in Three Parts
Part the First: Today Is Not For KnittingObviously, deadline for baby sweaters not withstanding, I should be allowed nowhere near yarn and needles today. So far, I've forgotten to do increases on the Mexicali swatch/sleeve, making it much more "swatch" than "sleeve" AND -- you'll love this -- I've knit too far on Sam. At the end of the second pattern repeat, I was supposed to start on the neck shaping. I knew this. I was looking forward to this. I knit right past this. There will be much frogging today. I have not yet decided if there will be any more knitting.
Part the Second: Today Is Not For Frogging, Either4 hours laterI thought I might as well rip back Sam so that when I'm ready to deal with knitting again he's in the right spot for me to just pick up and go. Nothing worse than sitting down to knit and having to spend the first 5 minutes frogging. Plus, I've just spent the last two hours running back and forth to the hardware store because I'm a moron. So I'm kinda in the mood to be destructive. I've yanked out about 7 rows when I realize that I did not, in fact, knit too far. I was counting bobbles (two per repeat) and totally forgot that the pattern continues past the bobbles for several rows. I'm not touching the Mexicali.
Part the Third: Today Is Not For PlumbingAfter 4 (or possibly five -- I lost count somewhere) trips to two different hardware stores, I still do not have the part I need to successfully hook the water line to the ice maker on our brand new fridge (which I love way more than anyone should love an appliance, by the way. I just feel like every time I open the door,
Ode to Joy should play.). The part I need is either: a shutoff valve with three ports (two 3/8" and one 1/4", though I did find an adapter for the 1/4" so even one with three 3/8" ports would be fine) OR a 3/8" connector that I can use to connect our water pipe to the thingie I found (please note that our plumbing is not "normal" due to the corner cutting of the previous owner of our house. This makes every project an adventure.). At the hardware store, in the plumbing section, I am able to find something called a 3/8" connector. Perfect, right? Yeah, except apparently 3/8" isn't always 3/8" in the plumbing world -- the thing is way too huge to fit on my port dealie (for those of you wondering, yes I did try the next size down. Too small.). I feel like I'm shopping for jeans, fer chrissakes.
In which there is much cursing
Yes, I wound the handspun, and yes, I cast on the toe.
Yes, I did a little swatching (also read as: I cast on and started the sleeve) for the first Mexicali sweater.
To be fair, the swatching for the Mexicali was actually necessary, as the pattern calls for size 4 needles, and the smallest non-dpns I have are 5s. I have dpns in 2 and 3, but not 4. It is possible that I have straights in 4s, but not likely and I find straight needles incredibly inconvenient, so I'm not even going to bother checking. So far, it looks like the 5s are going to work out just fine.
Now, about the sock. I cast on the toe because I wanted to see how hard it was. Okay, and because I couldn't resist handling the 70% Alpaca/30% Angora I bought for the toes/heels/cuffs to ensure I have enough sock to cover my feet. And now we come to the flaw in the great Toe-Up Plan of Aught Six. You remember I was all cocky because I had figured out that I should do toe-up socks in case of yarn shortage, right. Well, I realized this morning that I have no way to know
how long to make the first sock. Insert expletive here. Then I realized something else. The reason I wound the handpaint into a ball was so I could do a gauge swatch. But I've cast on the toe. This means that all of my needles are, well, occupied. Insert string of expletives here.
Progress continues on Sam and Wild Baby. WB should be done this weekend, and so should at least one of Sam's fronts. I'm not allowing myself to work on the sock any more until I've finished these three baby sweaters.
Well, maybe just a little swatch...
She said "Focus"
When I first started knitting as an adult (I learned as a teenager then dropped it for several years), I was on a bunch of knitting mailing lists. People on these mailing lists would always talk about how hard they found it to finish things or how many things they were working on at once. I thought to myself "Foolish people. Why don't you just limit yourself to one project at a time? If you don't let yourself start a new project until the last seam is sewn, you'll
have to finish things. How can you not know that?" And for a time, I was very, very good about only working on one project at a time, and I finished what I started (the Paisley Intarsia is in a separate category and not to be lumped in with ordinary, everyday projects). Then I discovered lace knitting, and found that there were lots of times it was inconvenient to work on, especially as the rows got longer. So I changed my rule about one project at a time to one mindless project and one complicated project. This, too, worked for a time.
I'm not sure how it happened, but at some point, somehow, I now have something like 15 projects on needles somewhere in my house. As you all know (as if anyone but Chris is reading this yet), I am currently working on one cabled baby sweater and one simple baby sweater, and I want to get yet another baby sweater (gift) done by the 9th of September (today's the 17th of August, people -- time is very short). So today I went to the yarn store and bought yarn and needles to make my first socks. I am trying to resist, but suspect that before the night is through I may have wound the gorgeous hand-dyed alpaca
into a ball and at least cast on a swatch. And really, if I'm going to cast on a swatch, I might as well just
cast on the toes (I have no idea if I have enough yarn for socks -- though the yarn store lady seemed to think I did and I like to believe she would know -- so toe up seems like the prudent way to go here. Though I did fall in love with
these...no, no -- first pair of socks is probably not the time to try reversing the pattern, especially since that would be my first Entrelac, too. Yes, I
do live under a knitting rock.) and work a few rows of both yarns, right?
Despite my infidelity, I am making progress on both the Sam sweater and the Wild Baby sweater. I've got through the first pattern repeat on the Sam (it takes three per side) -- the next row I'll be cabling (yes, I'm sure. Shut up, you.). The fix
(this was supposed to be a closeup of the fix. Apparently, my camera's not into closeups. I've tried every focus setting I can find. If you have any ideas, feel free to send them along.)doesn't look perfect, but I think no one else will notice so I'm letting it go. I've finished the back of the Wild Baby sweater (there, see, I'm typing this before it's actually finished so I'll make myself finish it so I can take this picture
for the blog). I did get the yarn for the Other baby sweater...
maybe I should just do a quick swatch...
There's a baby mixed in with all my knitting. How'd that happen? Seriously, we decided we weren't taking enough pictures of the poppet lately, so I'm combining my picture-taking.
Oops, I did it again
Why doesn't this yarn want to be a sweater for my wonderful little poppet? This morning I fixed the cable
(camera phone on a moving train, but you get the idea) after I remembered that yes, I do too have a crochet hook with me at all times. I got enough further along that I was to the next cross and managed even to get the WS row after it done. I pull out the sweater tonight on the return trip and guess what? Right the first time -- I crossed the #&!*^@ cable too early again. I fixed it and put the knitting away.
In other knitting, I got more done on the Wild Baby sweater. I used my fancy shmancy wrist thingie to hold the ball of yarn and knitted while I walked all the way to work. Well, almost all the way. About a block away, I noticed my arm felt lighter but the tension on the yarn was somehow wrong. I looked down and saw that my ball was about 20 yards behind me. The gentleman who was about to tap me on the shoulder and alert me to the situation seemed very amused. Fortunately, it was a dry, (relatively) clean stretch of sidewalk, so no harm done, except I'm really annoyed about the wrist thingie. I already found out yesterday that I can't do a center pull ball with it, which limits its usefulness to me. I think I'm going to end up making the crocheted ball holder in the same issue of
Spin Off (Summer 2006, and let me just take a moment to note how annoying it is that they don't add a permalink to the current issue until it becomes a back issue. So those of you reading this in the future, welcome, and go to Spin Off's Back Issue section for the issue that has this stuff in it.).
Stay tuned for the move to A Frayed Knot's new home -- had a bit of trouble with the domain name, but it should all be worked out soon.
Finders, Keepers
Apologies for the blurry pictures. No idea what's going on with the camera. But hey, any pictures at all are an improvement, right?Okay, listen to this. Stuff like this never happens to me (and all of a sudden I feel like this should have started with "Dear Penthouse...").
Yesterday I went downstairs to get a drop spindle and some fiber (I saw this wrist yarn holder in Spin-Off and couldn't live without at least one. There's a crochet project right after it that I might make, too.). First I couldn't find the fiber, but then I spied it on a chair. Then I couldn't find the spindle I was looking for, but while I was looking for it I found:
- my Windows disk, which I have spent 2 months looking for
- a bunch of knitting needles I've been looking all over for
- a bunch of yarn I had separated out to make baby stuff out of
- some beautiful grey baby alpaca fiber I had forgotten about
Then I came upstairs to see if the spindle I was looking for was there, and when it wasn't, I went back downstairs to give it one more shot, and lo and behold, there it was peeking out of a bag, and in the bag were some more little pieces of fiber I had forgotten about. Later, I was looking for a pencil to draft the design for a baby sweater (my search for a pattern was unsuccessful), and couldn't find one in the usual spots, then looked down on the floor and spotted one (please ignore what this says about my housekeeping. Remember, we're happy about the finding of things.). I spent the rest of the day trying to remember if I had lost anything else, because obviously yesterday was my day for finding things.
In knitting news, the Sam sweater might never get made. I have been knitting diligently and am now up to the third cable cross on the left front. Only…I discover as I pull out my knitting on the train that I made the cross on my last RS row, one row too early. This is not a big deal. This is really easy to fix, because I’m uncrossing on the drop down of the stitches and then will cross as normal as I knit across this row, see? I do this, and it was indeed as easy as I imagined. Only…something doesn’t look right. I check my rows, really annoyed that I might have to drop back down a couple rows and recross what I uncrossed. No, I’m definitely on the correct row for crossing.
Damn. I made the previous cross too early. I am not dropping down that many rows and trying to cross dropped stitches on a moving train. Damn, damn damn. I thought for sure I’d have the first repeat done tonight. Damn.
So instead I worked on this.
Do you believe I cast on last night, and only knit the 4 rows of garter stitch? Everything else was 10 minutes on the PATH this morning and another 15 on the train tonight! Sweet! I’ll have this sucker done in no time! Also, I decided this is my backup plan for the baby sweater I have to have done in September. This makes me feel much better, but I will feel much more awesome and cool if I get both the Sam sweater and the first Mexicali sweater done by then, too. Of course, I just found out that the NYC Knit Out is September 17th, and since it’s still usually pretty warm up here then, I’m going to need to knit a short sleeved sweater of some sort. Oh, and since the Yarn Harlot will be there, and she has led me to the path of Sock Tempation, which I will begin traveling down soon with
these, I would like to have them done by then, too. Good thing I made the wrist yarn holder so I can knit while I walk from the PATH to work. Hey, with a not-quite-four month old, I have to steal all the knitting time I can get.
Just call me 0-fer
(Okay, look, I keep meaning to take pictures of my knitting and it keeps just not happening. I promise that one day, maybe even one day soon, there will pictures of WIPs, FOs, SGBOs -- you name it. But that day is not today, and it ain't gonna be tomorrow, either.)Grrrrr. I have now cast on the left front for the 3rd time. See, I did a couple rows last night while I was trying to find a source for this yarn to make
this sweater -- one for my poppet and one for a friend's baby who's turning one in a few weeks (more about this in a minute)-- and I just totally forgot to cross the cable. Of course I did the WS row, too -- I like to finish so that next time I pick up the knitting I'm starting on the right side. Yes, I am aware that this serves absolutely no practical purpose. Still, not a big deal, right? It's only a 4 stitch cable -- just drop those four stitches down, get them in the right order, and ladder 'em back up. I've done this before. To this sweater, even (did I not mention that was another reason I didn't get as much done as I expected this weekend. Must've slipped my mind.). So I drop the stitches down, cross them, and get three of them pulled back up just fine. I spent 10 minutes fiddling with it, then said, "Oh *@&#^@ you!" and ripped everything out. Now I'm back to the row that needs the cable crossed. Anyone want to lay odds that I get distracted by something and forget again? Oh, yeah, I decided perhaps this was a sign from the knitting gods that I misread their sign last night, so I'm trying the in-line button band this time.
Now about that baby sweater: the party's the 9th of September. I can't justify making a sweater for someone else's baby before my baby has even one of her own. This means that I must finish the Sam sweater AND knit the first Mexicali sweater in...26 days. Uh-huh. We'll see. Babies like yarn in balls, right?
Finally, we get to the husband sweater. Two years ago, I gave Chris a tiny little sweater for his birthday, with the promise that he would have a big one just like it soon (there was a yarn mix-up or he'd've had it for his birthday, I swear). I had designed the sweater to his specifications (basically, "plain"). It's your basic raglan, 2x2 rib all over in a dark grey silk/merino blend. I have the body knitted to the arm hole split, and one of the sleeves started. I made a mistake on the sleeve measurement and it's going to be much too small, so I have to rip it out and start over. I have been putting this off now for over a year. To be fair, I was so sick while I was pregnant that I didn't knit much of anything (this helps explain the nekkid baby thing), but still. Frankly, I just don't think I can face that much 2x2 rib. So the other day I checked
this book out of the library, and I'm going to make this sweater
out of it for him. It's less plain than he likes, but if he won't wear it, I will. If he wants it that plain, he can buy one (or wait for me to get the knitting machine going, which is a whole 'nother saga).
Why is that baby nekkid?
Today I wanted to be able to tell you how far along I got on the baby sweater. I had a plan. I had a 4 hour round trip car ride on Saturday, and figured I'd be able to knit most of the time both ways. I was already getting close to the end of the back, which would leave only the two fronts (I discovered a long time ago that I hate knitting sleeves. I cannot tell you how many short sleeve tops and tank tops got made in this house before I figured out that I should knit sleeves first.). Despite the fancy shmancy cable work and bobbles, this knitting does actually go pretty fast when, you know, I have needles and yarn in my hands instead of hiding in my backpack. So anyhow, I knew I'd finish the back and thought I might even be able to finish a front during the trip...especially if, as usually happens, we hit traffic (am I the only one who thinks naming a major highway The Parkway is just asking for trouble?). Lo, it was not to be. I was struck Friday with an enormous clogged duct (I promise I will not go into any details about expressing milk on this blog, and in fact will only mention it when it directly pertains to a knitting anecdote, as it does in this case. If you wanna know the gory details, go
here.) which means that Friday night and Saturday I was really trying to pump as much as possible. Which means my knitting time in the truck turned in to pumping time in the truck.
Now, I can knit while I pump. I can even knit and read other knitting blogs while I pump. But that's at home in a nice comfortable easy chair that does not translate every tiny bump into the road into an attempt to injure me. My hands are occupied with holding everything as steady as possible while pumping in a moving vehicle. So no knitting. I did manage to steal enough time to finish the back, and today I managed to cast on one of the fronts and knit a couple of rows.
Actually, I cast it on twice. This is not my fault. One of the things I have been doing to distract myself from the pain of the clog and the fact that I was getting up every two hours Friday night is reading the
Yarn Harlot's archives. I find them highly entertaining and very inspiring, as I'm sure you will if you have a knitterly bone in your body. However, they've begun causing problems for me. First, they make me giggle. A lot. There is also cackling, and occasionally howling. This made my darling husband, Chris, look at me very grumpily at 4am, as I was pumping (again) and he was up with the baby (again). The baby is funny, but not so much at 4am. The Yarn Harlot is funny all the time. Second, she mentioned
and posted pictures of something called a Festival Shawl. I will not put pictures here or direct you to her pictures, because then you will want one, too. They are no longer available. Not even on eBay.
Then, as I was casting on the left front of the baby sweater -- which of course will later require me to pick up stitches and add a button band, which I hate doing -- I read a post in which the Harlot was doing the same thing. Only she had decided to just knit the damn button band while she knitted the rest of the sweater. So I thought
Gee, I've only knitted two and a half rows of this, and I really do hate picking up and knitting -- I should try it her way! It is irrelevant that I had actually already thought of doing this and decided not to. I ripped the whole thing apart, moved the loop back, and cast on again. I had just barely enough yarn in my tail to get the correct number of stitches cast on again, with none left over for the included button band (must've moved the loop the wrong way). I decided it was an omen from the knitting gods and decided not to screw around with it. So you can clearly see that I would be almost halfway done with the first repeat if it weren't for the Yarn Harlot (no, I am not stalking her and I will not be mentioning her in every, or even most, posts).
Tonight during Deadwood I will be going through my patterns to find something to knit with this
It will be fast and simple, and I will replace my current mindless knitting (the aqua Sunburst sweater) with it, so the Becky Bean will have two sweaters from her mommy by fall. Oh, and I forgot to put the sweater I've been knitting for my husband for two years on my list of works in progress. We'll talk more about that next time.
Knit One, Blog Two
Inspired by the
Yarn Harlot, I've decided to start my very own knitting blog. The real purpose here is to force me to knit -- with a 3.5 month old baby and a full time job, not to mention keeping the house in a semi-reasonable state of disorder, I feel like I'm always putting knitting off these days. I cringe with shame at not having knitted a single sweater (or hat, or bootie, or toy...) for my darling daughter. There's a sweater on the needles, sure, but it's just barely halfway done, which is only slightly further along than it was April 24 (the day before the poppet was born). I also miss designing, and have a sweater I'd like to submit to Knitty, if only I can get it actually knitted. So I figure if I write about knitting, maybe it will force me to, you, know, have some knitting to write about. I wish myself luck.
WIPs:
- Purple Adirondack Yarn Alpaca/merino blend "Sam" sweater from
Wee Knits- Circular sweater from a past issue of
Interweave Knits. This one's really cool -- you cast on a few stitches on DPNs and then work around, increasing every few rows and eventually switching to circs. You do two of these for the body, then join them and knit the rest of the thing (not sure exactly how this works yet -- I read the instructions but I'm really more of a "doer."
- Big oversize cable knit out of some pamphlet. This is being knit in some beautiful Cherry Tree Hill wool that I bought from Seaport Yarns at the last Stitches East in Atlantic City. It makes me sad that I won't get to go to Stitches East for a very long time since they've moved it to Baltimore. But I think the sweater's going to be great, and it's almost done, too. By "almost," I mean about 2/3 of the way. And now I work just a few blocks away from Seaport, so at least I can go there.
- Brown and white panel sweater. This is the one I want to submit to Knitty. Only one panel of either 10 or 12 (depending on the sleeves) is complete, so I've got a ways to go. But this will be great train knitting after I'm done with the baby sweater.
- A fluffy brown shawl thing that may or may not get finished and may or may not end up being what it's meant to be.
- A pastel silk and rayon wrap that is out of yarn I bought at my first SE, dyed myself, and have so far made about four things out of. It's not leftover, it's frogged. It just doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind what it wants to be.
- Finally, the Paisley Sweater. We speak of the Paisley Sweater in hushed tones of awe and reverence. This is my second attempt at making it, with the first failing miserably due to my lack of intarsia knowledge at the ripe old age of 17. Yes, I've been in love with this pattern for 16 years, and I
will make it. It will be the only intarsia sweater I ever make. I hate intarsia with the white hot passion of a fiery sun. Unfortunately, I discovered this after I fell in love with this pattern and knitted the back (twice). I've got the second back done and about half the sleeve. Someday, this sweater will be done and there shall be rejoicing across the land. Perhaps it will be done in time to wear to my daughter's high school graduation, but I wouldn't lay odds on it.
