My Knitting Olympics Project = Finished!

Green TYC = Done. I used the same exact buttons on this sweater as I did on the red Tangled Yoke Cardigan I made a couple of years ago, just in a nice kahki color.



I haven't tried it on really yet, so I'm not sure if it fits. I think it might be a little too big because I think my gauge was a bit off. No doubt there will be more photos once I've worn it. :)

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Question now is, what do I knit now!? I've got a Seraphim shawl on my needles, I haven't finished the bucket hat I started (mostly because I"m terrified it's going to be too big!) and I'm thinking it will be too warm soon to knit the Malabrigo Blanket. So I'm thinking of casting on something new.

I have a sock that Bev knit a while ago. I got both the sock and the yarn for the second sock. I really could use a pair of black and grey socks.

At the same time, I do have this lovely Madelinetosh DK yarn. And I'd love to knit Ingenue out of it from Custom Knits.

Wednesday night I'm going to Jersey for a business trip and I have another this weekend to Boca. I think I could probably finish that one sock during one or both of those trips, but then I'd have all that extra time without a project, so I'm leaning towards Ingenue. I'm having a bit of trouble getting gauge though. If I can't get gauge, I might just bring the sock and the Seraphim Shawl so my bases are covered.

Tangled Yoke Cardigan Notes

I figured I'd write a post in case I ever decide to knit another one of these. Here were my pitfalls:

Decreasing doesn't make sense the way the pattern's written. Add 1 1/2 inches of pattern before starting decreases. Decrease on the following rows: 11, 27, 35, 41, 47, 51. Increase on the following rows: 59, 67, 77, 87, 97, 107.

On the button band: pickup 3 stitches, then skip 1 stitch. 154 stitches need to be picked up for the button band on both sides. Buttons should be about 2.5" apart for 9 buttons.

4th Place

The worst place to come in, because it means you were close, but you couldn't quite make it. It means you totally don't get a medal even though you're heroic, and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what place I'd come in if I were to compete in anything Olympic-wise.

I turned to Stan and I said, "maybe I just don't have the focus one needs to be an Olympian." He didn't say anything, because he's an amazing boyfriend, and gave the best consolation hug after I realized I had totally failed at medalling.

Here's the progress as Jacques Rogge announced the games were officially ended:



So what the hell happened? It seemed like I could totally do this, why didn't I?

The ribbing directions at the bottom.
I knew they were different, I thought I'd figured them out and written them down. I might have, but I probably did so in a notebook that is long gone. I had noted where to decrease on the back of the photocopy of the pattern. I remembered having issues with the ribbing at the bottom, but I was convinced that those directions I'd written were the revised directions because why else would I keep the pattern. They weren't. I followed them blindly, even when Beth told me it could be the ribbing patterning, I was convinced my problem was my gauge. It wasn't. I lost a day to swatching on several different sized needles, and made Stan drive me to brooklyn to get said needles (No really, he's a sport and a catch. And no, you can't have him, he's mine!).
My inability to concentrate on charts.
I had to rip back the first two rows twice because I couldn't get the right number of stitches between the 1 into 5 increases. I had to put stitch markers after every repeat so I didn't get confused, but I did anyway. I kept forgetting to mirror the cabling, so the chart took me way longer than it should have.
Plain poor planning.
Before the Ravelympics, Knitting Olympics or what have you, I made plans with Stan and our friends to visit MOMA for the Tim Burton Exhibit. I just neglected to look at the date and to register that it was the Saturday before Closing Ceremonies. :/ If I'd had that one more solid day of knitting, I think I totally would have finished.

Sigh. At least I have most of a nifty Tangled Yoke Cardigan done and I might even get it done sometime this week.

Solutions of Olympic Proportions?

So, my amazing boyfriend drove me to Brooklyn this afternoon to pick up a couple of spare sets of needles. I picked up my Knit Picks set (I really wanted the size 5 needle) and I threw in a set of size 3 needles I had lying round just in case.

We got home and the swatching began.

The 4 was too big stitch wise, but way too small row wise. So I tried the size 5. The size 5 was too big stitch wise (actually, they were identical stitch wise!), and still too small row wise.

So, I pulled out the size 3 needle. I'm used to knitting stuff on small needles because my gauge is looser than a woman in a red-light district. But honestly, I don't have any needles smaller than this with me, and even if I did, I'm not sure I want to knit a whole sweater on size 2 needles. So let's see the gauge comparison again:

Pattern gauge: 24 sts and 36 rows is 4"
My gauge: 21 sts and 33 rows is 4"

I'm moving forward though. I'm going to knit the small size, which, because of the gauge difference, should get me the right size. I just have to do a bit of rejiggering for the different row gauge and then I can start up again!

Problems of Olympic Proportions

I'm knitting the Tangled Yoke Cardigan out of Rowan Felted Tweed for my Ravelympics/ Knitting Olympics project.

I knit this project originally in 2008 on size 4 needles with the same yarn (red instead of the nifty green I'm working on currently). All of my project notes tell me that I knit this project with size 4 needles. That makes sense since I tend to knit rather loosely. Maybe I'm more stressed, but when I measured the project after row 29 when I was supposed to have 6 3/4" Instead, I have 5 1/4". I'm using the same needles. So here's the gauge comparison:

The pattern says: 24sts & 36 rows = 4" square.
My project says: 28 sts & 33 rows

This makes me think that I'm knitting entirely too tightly. I am kinda stressed, so maybe that's where this is coming from. I have a set of size 6 needles with me, so I'm thinking of (sigh) casting on again and going at it with the size 6 needles instead. But I'm wondering if I should step up to a size 5 first. I don't know, what do you folks think?

I was doing so well too, so I'm terribly bummed. :(

Preparing for the Knitting Olympics

Ravelry is amazing.

I knew I'd done a few mods for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan (Ravelry link) when I made it the first time. I remember that I needn't have elongated the sleeves, however, I didn't remember the other mods I made on the sweater. So I looked the project up on Ravelry.



The plethora of information and its importance is amazing. :) In order to complete this project, I think the important thing is to avoid the snags. The pattern is pretty well written, but I remember making notes as to which rows I needed to increase or decrease on, and I think that prep work will make the whole sweater kind of of fly - which is exactly what it's going to need to do in order to get done by the end of the olympics. It seems like the only major mod is adding a full inch to the ribbing at the bottom, which will be fine and simple.

The yarn comes in balls, which is awesome because it means I don't have to wind up all the balls before I start on Friday. I also bought some buttons for some Hoots (Ravelry Link) I made last year that don't fit the hoots. I'm contemplating using them for the sweater. They're simple white abalone buttons. I might head over to M&J on Wednesday to see if they have another button I'd like to use. I'm thinking of using a kahki version of the buttons I used for the last TYC might be nice (I really liked those buttons).

So, I'm feeling pretty well prepared. Everything's all ready to go after I copy the pattern and make notations.

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So I'm viewing this weekend as the trials.

I've got a bit more than half a sock left to go in these Spiral Sparkly Boot Socks from Interweave's Summer 2007 issue. I found that the chart for the instep is written totally backwards and makes the spiral go in the opposite direction. No one had noted this in their notes, which I was pretty surprised about. So I made a comment on the main pattern page on Ravelry and noted it down on my project page. Those kinds of things are so frustrating. There wasn't any errata or anything! I had to rip back 3"! Other than that, the pattern is fun and flies pretty quickly, even though they're knee socks! I can't wait to wear them! It's been pretty cold here. I'm hoping that I can get them done this weekend - and with time at the accountant and the Superbowl, I think I'll be able to get that done.

Maybe then I'll have time to knit a new hat for winter before the Olympics...

Mommy, where do socks go when they die?

I knit these socks out of STR Lightweight. I really like the yarn a lot, and actually, I'm wearing a pair of socks that I knit out of the heavyweight version.

I have learned quite the lesson, however. I'm pretty sure I'll be investing in some nylon thread the next time I knit a pair of socks out of yarn without any nylon. It's interesting to me to see which socks last the longest. And I'm suddenly in a sock mood. I want to knit every sock right now. Of course that's not possible.

Especially because the Ravelympics are coming! In 2006 I joined in the Yarn Harlot's kntiting olympics. I didn't medal. I came pretty close to finishing the sweater I was working on, but in fairness to me, it was my first sweater and it was knit in pieces and I had troubles with it to boot. I figured that to give myself half a chance this time, I should knit a pattern I've already knit before.

A couple of years ago I knit a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I really liked knitting it. I liked the faux seams on the side, I liked the shaping of it and the button band as well as the cables in the yoke. I actually found it fun to knit. Tragically, this sweater which I loved for a short time, had an unfortunate incident with some warm water and felted. It's still wearable, just not by me. So to give myself a fighting chance of actually medaling this year, and to replace a fabulous sweater which I dearly miss, I'll be knitting another Tangled Yoke Cardigan as my Ravelympics project for 2010. And, because I liked it so much the first time, I'll be knitting it out of Rowan Felted Tweed again, this time in green instead of red:


I haven't quite picked up the buttons yet, but I'm pretty sure that M&J still has the buttons I used on the first one, and that they come in different colors, so that's a good bet I think.

How about you folks? Are you joining in on the Ravelympics? I haven't quite figured out which team I'm joining yet, though, I guess I should do that soon. I'm tossing up the Brooklyn Team or Team USA. Are there any friends on either? Which should I join?

We all need a little SEX sometimes...

Stash Enhancement eXperiences for you perverts out there.

I seem to be buying up my weight in yarn. It seems like I'm sticking to the laceweight and sock yarn as of late though.

First up is my own little tribute to Gramps. I bought it the day after he died because, well...touching something so soft was extremely soothing. And it's such a vibrant alive redish marroon I just had to have it:



As the tag says, it's from J.Knits. Lace-A-Licious is the name and i think the color is called Indiana or something along those lines. It's an alpaca laceweight and runs about 1200 yards which is pretty phenomenal. I could get another Icarus out of it, but I think I'll probably use it for one of the other myriad of shawls I currently have queued.

Next up, I met my friend Illana (that's a Ravelry link folks) for some good mediteranian food in Park Slope. I had de-stashed to her two and a half skeins of Twinkle's uber bulky yarn that I accidentally managed to get for $10 a ball (I KNOW!! Way cheap right!?). She told me to pick something from her stash I liked as an exchange. So I got this sexy looking thing:



That's STR lightweight yarn. I'm not sure of the colorway, I want to say it's flower power or something like that. I've used the STR mediumweight, but find that the socks I got out of it were a little too thick for my liking. They're really warm, they just don't fit in my sneekers. So I've wanted to test the lightweight stuff for forever, and this color way is just PRICELESS. It's actually really made me want to seriously lobby my parents come Christmas time for the STR Rockin Sock Club.

I also managed to get out of the deal this cute little number:


That's some sweet looking Malabrigio Laceweight yarn. I'm not sure what the colorway is called, but isn't it gorgeous? So, I think it was a pretty good trade. I got some smaller yarn out of it anyway. I should mention that those two photographs were Illana's, not mine. I never had anywhere near that amount of natural light when I take photos of my yarn. :(

I started organizing my yarns a bit more, in that I now have one BIG bag that I've been putting two smaller bags in. One of the smaller bags is laceweight yarn and the other is sock weight yarn. Those seem to be the two kinds of yarn I've been buying recently. They're easy to pack up with me when I go back to NY from wherever it is I've been, and I don't have to buy a ton of it at the same time.

That said, I'm just now knowing the wonders of a sweater that fits well. I LOVE wearing my TYC around. It's just the right weight. Most of my other finished sweaters I think are a little too warm actually, which surprises me because i'm usually always cold no matter what. My TYC actually keeps me warm, but not too warm.

Aditionally, I just cast on for Jeanie from Knitty. I have really only completed a row so far, so it's not even really worth showing a photo. The project looks somewhat challenging, but I'm sure that once I get into the pattern, it'll fly by.

Thelonious Yoke Cardigan?

Yup!
I finished the TYC! Doesn't it look darling! One of the few sweaters I've knit that I think I'll actually wear! It's great for these spring days that are too warm for a jacket but too chilly to just wear a shirt. I made the bottom about an inch longer and the sleeves a bit longer too. I actually don't even think the sleeves needed it. They're actually a bit *too* long now. The button holes I made are a bit big, so I'm going to have to sew them shut a bit, or just use the surrounding holes from the knitting instead of the button holes. I put on the buttons last week while waiting for my flight to leave out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (really, that's just a big mouth full for "barn with tiny planes nearby"). I found this lady:



Out of respect I didn't ask her what she was knitting (I gathered it was small and on wooden/bamboo DPNs), or even say hi, lest she think I crazy. I turned right back to my buttons.

Tonight, I managed to finish the leg of one of the Thelonious Socks that I started when I was in LA. Doesn't it look great!?



I love the stitch pattern. Which is good, because it looks like I'll be doing it at least three more times. Look at my issue:



yup. either my gauge was off, or i did the wrong size. Looks like I'll be sizing up for this one. Going from a small size to a large. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the size 0 needles I'm using, but they make a nice solid fabric that I think will hold up to the wear and tear that is my feet better than any other gauge.

So, back into a ball it is now. I'll re-cast on at SNB tomorrow night. I don't think I can focus on anything else except that right now, otherwise I'd totally lose it.

Buttons!

So, I found the buttons I bought for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan!! They were in a pocket inside a zippered pocket of the new Jordana Paige bag my friend Victoria gave me! They were just hiding out there the whole time! I was so excited I think I yelled rather loudly and disruptively at The Point. Used to be I could yell like that when I got excited and Burhan or Rebecca or Sande would get excited and happy. I think Illana was happy, but that was about it. Here's what they look like:



So here's a happy little badge I created on Flickr that'll show you what's happened so far in April. Lots of new yarns added to the stash, lots of traveling, and even more knitting. For any of the photos that you like, click on them to check them out closer. I've added most of these to Ravelry (the yarn related ones anyway).

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing public items from happyskrappy tagged with APRIL08. Make your own badge here.

ETA: I can't get that damn badge to show up...so just click on the damn buttons above it. GRR! Why won't the flash work with blogger! I have another one of these things on the sidebar! It should work!!

So tonight I met up with Illana (She's Illana on Ravelry) at The Point. It was exactly what I needed after a whole day of running around answering crazy emails and getting ready for Comic-Con.

I finished the tangled part of the Tangled Yoke Cardigan and I only have a few more inches of stockinette to do with some short rows for the back of the neck and then another inch or so of garter rib and then I can start on the button band!

Most massive update of the year

Ok...so lots has happened. My new job is exercising different parts of my brain, which is awesome, but makes it really tired to the point where thinking of writing something not work related is somewhat difficult. But I'm going to give it a shot now.

An Event
First things first, I went to Borders at Columbus Circle in the city to see the Yarn Harlot speak. You might have noticed me on her website a couple days after her talk there. I have more proof:


photo is courtesy of Smitten w/Knittin!

Her speech was funny, as usual. And I met some folks that were reading my blog that have never commented. We exchanged moo cards. (hi folks!) The whole event had a happy Cheers kinda attitude with it that comes from waiting for something that you all can't wait for. It was great, the Yarn Harlot liked my tattoo, I met new folks, reconnected with some old ones and had a great time knitting.

Yarn Shop Visits
So, I have actually been traveling a little bit with this new job. I like meeting all these new people and seeing all these different places. I've been trying to get to some yarn shops when I have a few spare minutes.

In San Francisco I stopped in at Artfibers Gallery on Sutter street while I had a free half hour before my flight. I didn't really get a chance to enjoy the store as much as I might have if I were there with friends or if I'd actually had time to knit. I loved the idea of being able to test the yarn. And a lot of their fibers were really unique and interesting. I bought about 350 grams of Sylph which is a fingering weight made of 76% silk 19% superkid mohair 5% wool. It's the "summer" version of their Kyoto and is destined to become a Pi Shawl from EZ's Knitter's Almanac.

I had a bit more time in LA and it seems like the yarn shops were open a bit later there as well. So I stopped in at two. I was bummed to hear that Knit Cafe was closed as they find somewhere to relocate to. I'd heard so much about that store and had bought their book and really liked the whole idea of the place. Instead, I stopped in at Wild Fiber. The place was really nice (it really is as big as it seems in that photo on their website!). The store had a really nice selection of yarns and I came home with about three cakes of a nice hand-painted lace-weight yarn. The staff was really friendly and nice and quite helpful.

Lastly, I visited my favorite shop by far of the three of them. I should reiterate that I really did like the other yarn shops, I just really loved Unwind. The owner was around when I stopped by and was nice enough to even give me the address of the closest In-N-Out burger (I had to try one when I was there!). I bought some Lorna's Laces, a Cookie A. knitting pattern (along with a couple other patterns) a pair of needles and I sat down to start swatching. It was a very happy and friendly environment and I actually felt at home for the first time all week. It was excellent. I'd go back there in a second!

WIPs

So I really have been knitting in my copious free time. I actually finished a pair of socks!


The pattern is the Blue Sky Master Sock pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. The yarn is Noro's new Kureon sock yarn. And it'll be the last time I'll be using that yarn. Despite the fact that I really do love the colors, there's always one point (usually during the second sock) where there's a knot and the color changes completely. It didn't make as much of a difference for these socks because they were done top down, but it really screwed up the toe up socks I knit a couple months ago. The yarn is totally over spun and gets stuck to itself and I've already come really close to wearing out the back heel in the aforementioned socks I knit a couple of months ago. But I did like the pattern. I thought it was rather ingenious. My only problem is that the "reinforced heel" reinforces a part of the heel that I don't particularly need to reinforce.

I've also been working on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I took it with me on my trip to Tucson and LA and managed to work on it the whole way back from LA. I didn't even sleep on the plane which I think is pretty interesting since I usually fall asleep an hour into any flight. Here's the progress I've come up with so far:


That's a really horrible shot of it, but you can see that I've finished the body and the sleeves and have joined them to the body and started the yoke. I'm really loving the Rowan Felted Tweed and the way it's showing off all the cables.


This photo is infinitely better. Gives a much better idea as to what the yarn looks like. I'm most of the way through the tangled part of the yoke. Only issue is that i lost the damn buttons I bought from M&J for the cardigan! I have to go back and see if I can find the same buttons and re-buy them.

Anyway, this thing has gone on long enough. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time to update more frequently...we'll see...

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan Has a Body!

Yuppers!

Sittin pretty:

14.5 inches of Tangled Yoke Cardigan! Save for that tiny glitch with the wording, this whole thing has been quite a walk in the park. I'm hoping I can finish it rather soon since it's felt like spring since January. My office is sporadically chilly, and it'll be great to have a hand knitted cardigan around to keep me warm.

Here, check out some details:


Really, that's about all that's going on. However, I've got a pair of socks on my needles as well, and since I have a ridiculous amount of travel coming up, those should be finished shortly. They're more Noro socks, but I'm trying out the Blue Sky Master Sock pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. I haven't gotten to anything too crazy, which is bad as far as blog fodder is concerned! At least I have my sanity!

Been Busy

Yup. That about sums her up. I got a new job that I love, but, understandably, is taking more thought than my previous position did. While I was looking for a more creative and thoughtful job, the thinking totally sucks all my energy out, so while I've been knitting (simple things!), I haven't really been blogging.

I did, however, finish a pair of socks!


Here you see them strutting their American Apparel pose. I knit them with some Noro Sock yarn that I picked up at Annie & Co. which is now one of my favorite yarn shops in the city. Just a simple toe up sock with a short row heel. Took about three weeks to a month. I'm not actually as upset about the socks not perfectly matching as i think other people would be. I love the colors. And I still have enough to maybe even squeeze a new pair out of what's left (these socks are pretty short).

No more progress on the TYC. It's still looking much like this:


It's actually just a smidge longer. I found an issue with the pattern, or with the way I was reading the pattern that meant I was omitting about seven rows. So I had to take back a bit, and I decided while I was at it that I'd tack on another inch to the bottom. I just started the stockinette portion (literally, I'm two rows in).

Other than that, I'm working on a needle point of a Koi.

Don't things here seem boring when I'm not working on a Melanie Falick pattern?

To create a bit of knitting drama I thought I'd start doing a sock from Cat Bordhi's new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I'm going to start with the Sky Master Pattern and see where I can go from there. I don't usually swatch, so I actually used the Noro Socks I just finished as good swatches.

So, I will try posting more than once a month...really I will. You know how it goes though, and with Ravelry, I just haven't felt like my blog is necessary anymore except to maybe document issues I'm having with a pattern. And I really haven't been having any issues with any patterns yet. But we'll work on that here chez PassionKNITly...and more than likely not consciously either. :)