Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Sigh.
So. The knitting lately? Stagnant. As is the knitblogging. So in order to add content and simultaneously vent, I give you this update:
I've gotten a few inches done on the Hot Tamale skirt, and I was pretty happy with it. I was having no problems with the long floats that Jodi (Holy shit! Take a gander at that hella cool design she's got in Interweave this month!) suggested. Or so I thought. At S&B the other week I noticed that the skirt looks a tad smaller than I envisioned it. I did a quick gauge check and it's a full stitch per inch more than my gauge swatch was. Becca asked me if I had knit my swatch in the round... doh! That could be a problem. 'Eh, maybe it'll block out a bit,' I says to meself, because I did dutifully block my swatch. So I took the skirt home and moved it from the needles (My new Knitpicks options and OMG I lovelovelove these needles!) to a piece of waste yarn. Placing the Hot Tamale against my oldest, most favorite skirt, I saw it's about the right size for me to wear, though it's a good inch or two smaller than it should be according to the pattern. And. Sigh. The floats are pulling. With some yanking I was able to contain them, but I really want this skirt to be the coolest thing evah. So I'm going to frog back to the ruffle. I'll up my needle size by one which usually decreases my gauge by 1/2 stitch per inch, and I'll probably slip in an increase between each of the flame intarsia spots. That should get me back on track.
C&I had a few folks over for the SuperBowl the other day. I was excited to have a little knitting corner of gals who had ordered beer sock kits! It's a toe up pattern which made me a bit nervous. Not frightened, mind you. Just a bit nervous. I've only done two toe ups, and I wasn't crazy about the cast on, so I just wasn't sure what method I wanted to try next. I decided on the figure eight, since I knew Lorena is familiar with it. Darling is such a good teacher, but it was a drinking kind of party, and I think I was a bit too beyond the upteenth beer to be knitting. I got a couple of good starts, but the increasing for the toe wasn't going well at all. So those are ripped and in the wings now.
As for the second sock for C's first pair? Well, I pulled them off of the needles in order to use the needles for the non-existent beer sock. Hooey.
And I started my first hat! A soft kooshy one for a friend. And it's way too small to fit a child, let alone an adult. So that'll go away too. Actually, that's the second hat I've started. The first one was far too large for any adult that I know, and it was supposed to be a baby hat.
The S&B KAL shawl/poncho? Frogged. It started off way too small for my tastes, so I increased my cast-on number. But I realized that I'm limited in the amount of yarn I can use for it (I bought ONE skein of Schaefer Andrea and ain't about to buy another to finish up the last few inches of a frelling poncho.) and want to conserve the yardage. I actually started window shopping for new yarn for it last night. But thank gawd I realized that was idiotic. I'll cast on again on larger needles and that will work. Dammit. I hadn't wanted to do that because the pattern calls for five or six increases in needle size throughout the garment (My favorite way, I think, of increasing the size of the product!), and I didn't want to end up with size 80 needles at the end. I may only do three or four needles size increases, though, and see what happens. It's all supposed to be fun, right? RIGHT?!
I've gotten a few inches done on the Hot Tamale skirt, and I was pretty happy with it. I was having no problems with the long floats that Jodi (Holy shit! Take a gander at that hella cool design she's got in Interweave this month!) suggested. Or so I thought. At S&B the other week I noticed that the skirt looks a tad smaller than I envisioned it. I did a quick gauge check and it's a full stitch per inch more than my gauge swatch was. Becca asked me if I had knit my swatch in the round... doh! That could be a problem. 'Eh, maybe it'll block out a bit,' I says to meself, because I did dutifully block my swatch. So I took the skirt home and moved it from the needles (My new Knitpicks options and OMG I lovelovelove these needles!) to a piece of waste yarn. Placing the Hot Tamale against my oldest, most favorite skirt, I saw it's about the right size for me to wear, though it's a good inch or two smaller than it should be according to the pattern. And. Sigh. The floats are pulling. With some yanking I was able to contain them, but I really want this skirt to be the coolest thing evah. So I'm going to frog back to the ruffle. I'll up my needle size by one which usually decreases my gauge by 1/2 stitch per inch, and I'll probably slip in an increase between each of the flame intarsia spots. That should get me back on track.
C&I had a few folks over for the SuperBowl the other day. I was excited to have a little knitting corner of gals who had ordered beer sock kits! It's a toe up pattern which made me a bit nervous. Not frightened, mind you. Just a bit nervous. I've only done two toe ups, and I wasn't crazy about the cast on, so I just wasn't sure what method I wanted to try next. I decided on the figure eight, since I knew Lorena is familiar with it. Darling is such a good teacher, but it was a drinking kind of party, and I think I was a bit too beyond the upteenth beer to be knitting. I got a couple of good starts, but the increasing for the toe wasn't going well at all. So those are ripped and in the wings now.
As for the second sock for C's first pair? Well, I pulled them off of the needles in order to use the needles for the non-existent beer sock. Hooey.
And I started my first hat! A soft kooshy one for a friend. And it's way too small to fit a child, let alone an adult. So that'll go away too. Actually, that's the second hat I've started. The first one was far too large for any adult that I know, and it was supposed to be a baby hat.
The S&B KAL shawl/poncho? Frogged. It started off way too small for my tastes, so I increased my cast-on number. But I realized that I'm limited in the amount of yarn I can use for it (I bought ONE skein of Schaefer Andrea and ain't about to buy another to finish up the last few inches of a frelling poncho.) and want to conserve the yardage. I actually started window shopping for new yarn for it last night. But thank gawd I realized that was idiotic. I'll cast on again on larger needles and that will work. Dammit. I hadn't wanted to do that because the pattern calls for five or six increases in needle size throughout the garment (My favorite way, I think, of increasing the size of the product!), and I didn't want to end up with size 80 needles at the end. I may only do three or four needles size increases, though, and see what happens. It's all supposed to be fun, right? RIGHT?!
Labels: Knitta please
idyllicchick, 7:34 PM
3 Comments:
Joe & Beth, at Feb 6, 2007 10:12:00 PM
I missed seeing you last weekend at the yarn crawl! Lorena explained that you really did want to come but just couldn't get away. I just wanted to let you know that you were missed.
awww...I feel for you with the knitting. I'm feeling the same way with the spinning. It's so hard to get into something when it isn't working out. I'm excited to see the items you're talking about when they do come around again though- you have some cool projects.
Sigh.