I can't tell you what it is besides the fact that it's not a blanket and I don't really like knitting baby clothes since kids grow so quickly. I know Illanna's out there possibly even reading this blog. Also, it's knit out of this:
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Taking Bets...
I just started Illanna's baby's shower gift today. Who thinks I can finish by the time the car service comes to pick me up on Saturday?
I can't tell you what it is besides the fact that it's not a blanket and I don't really like knitting baby clothes since kids grow so quickly. I know Illanna's out there possibly even reading this blog. Also, it's knit out of this:
I can't tell you what it is besides the fact that it's not a blanket and I don't really like knitting baby clothes since kids grow so quickly. I know Illanna's out there possibly even reading this blog. Also, it's knit out of this:
Monday, March 08, 2010
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. :)
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.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 01, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, February 15, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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. :(
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. :(
Saturday, February 06, 2010
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.
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...
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.
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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)