project number four

no, I haven't finished the baby sweater project
no, I haven't finished the cashmere scarf
no, I haven't finished the eyelet blouse
yes, I found a new project to start
using ultra-crazy-coloured mohair from a bag sale
I attempted to use this mohair in a tight-fitting Rowan sweater a while back, but the color repeat was super dorky
I saw this

and thought - hmmmm, color repeat might be better and it would be very lightweight and squishable if I decided to take it along as sweater on our trip in April

done on US 13, pieces are basically squares and rectangles

the most difficult part so far has been interpreting what pattern stitch, "purled stitch," is
my best guess so far is reverse stockinette
this deduction came after knitting several rows in garter and then ripping it out

I just looked at the pattern in Italian, then referred to my Knitting Languages book and indeed,
Maglia rasata rovescia, means reverse stockinette
Yeah for me!

executive eyelet blouse decision

blouse is as bad a word as slacks

but the decision is to work the front in one piece.

reason #1: knowing me, the two pieces would turn out to be different sizes
reason #2: not really feeling the crochet seam up the front
reason #3: I love short rows and it will be fun to do them at the same time
reason #4: I originally thought that the each front side was three separate pieces that needed to be sewn together, I thought it would be fun to experience knitting the sections and get a feel for the design of the pieces - but each front is knit in one piece

this is the project that I am using the bright pink cashmere/silk yarn

melissa is not going to like the color variations in the yarn. she keeps muttering something about working with spools instead of skeins...

I believe that the spots that didn't take the dye have soap residue on them. there's sort of a white film to them and when I rub my fingers against the yarn, my fingers feel slippery

once I finish the front, I'll be re-knitting the sleeves - using US5 instead of 6.

nice reply

I finally received an email reply from knit cafe. the 10 extra stitches are hangover for the hood to be sewn on to. Yes yes.

I replied and let her know about the sleeve difficulty, and that it was all behind me now because it was completed. And I sent her a pic.

I am trying to finish a baby sweater for little miss thousand names before she grows any bigger. born in december, she is already in 3 mo sizes.

I walked into a door last night

As I meandered into the bedroom with my new knitting project in my hand, I grazed the door frame, said "Ow," got into bed, began knitting, then gasped in horror as I realized I had broken my needle during the door meet and greet.
I have been knitting for almost five years and have never broken a needle.
It's really no big deal, I happen to have the exact same set of bamboo US 7 Clovers.
But I was left wondering what to do with my leftover needle.
Should I keep it, in case one day the other needle has an accident?

What do you do with your needle widows?

more show, less talk

Pattern: Greetings from Knit Cafe, Slouchy Cardigan

CO: 12/15/06
BO: 01/19/07

Yarn: 6 skeins of hand-dyed Misti Alpaca Worsted 4 ply, 218 yds/ea

Needles: Addi Turbos, US 7

Knit Info: Be sure to get the corrections, read my previous posts, and take deep breaths

let's talk about the sleeves now

if you can make a 3.5" fit into a 9.5" armhole
AND
make it look good
then you should be carried through town a throne

I, however, was not able to do this
so I had to, once again, RIP OUT my sleeves to the armhole BO section
and REKNIT the sleeves
BO as for the back and decrease evenly over EIGHT INCHES
to make the sleeves fit into said armhole

I must say that Knit Cafe has given me great encouragement that even I COULD WRITE A BETTER PATTERN than they have

I just hope that, if they are given the opportunity to write a second edition, that they do a better job of it and include specifics regarding joining the fronts and backs, and MAKE THE SLEEVE CAPS BIGGER
or
that other people who have broken forehead skin by pounding their head against the wall find my blogs entries regarding CORRECTIONS for the KNIT CAFE SLOUCHY CARDIGAN and have a better time of it than I did.

I am too busy enjoying my GORGEOUS cardigan that I am now wearing to be bitter any longer

I am now going to start the Vogue Pattern

in a gorgeous pink color that everyone thinks looks red

it is SUPER BRIGHT and SUPER FANTASTIC

the next night

I sat down and continued re-knitting my fronts
cursing the pattern outloud
my husband offered to look at the pattern

after he read the whole thing and still didn't have an answer, I showed him the diagram
"See here," I said, pointing to the width of the top of the front shoulder, "It only applies to this part of the width of the top of the back. The remaining width is the 10 left over stitches I have."
So he looked at the picture of the sweater again and said, "See how they attached the hood so low down on the front - they didn't attach the other side of the hood to the other the front in the same place."

And then we both realized. 14 sts are to three-needle BO'd, the remaining 10 should be BO and the hood will be sewn on to them. They consider these 10 stitches to be part of the neck edge that they instruct you to sew the hood on to.

I believe this is a case in which more words would have been better. Considering that this pattern takes up four pages of their book already.

I still have not received a response from Knit Cafe.

At knitting last night, a friend was about to begin the skirt and I said, "WAIT! HAVE YOU SEEN THE CORRECTIONS YET?!"

slouchy cardigan corrections nightmare

Please help if you can...

**I deleted the knitters review forum topic**

This project should have been completed on Saturday night. But when I went to do three needle BO, the number of stitches did not match up for fronts and back.

I think Knit Cafe said it best, "...there's nothing more frustrating than a pattern with mistakes."

But wait, there IS something more frustrating - when you re-knit an F**d Up pattern using the corrections and it STILL DOESN'T WORK.

I ripped out the back shoulder shaping and re-knit it.
Then I ripped out 15 inches for each front and have re-knit all the corrections, and I am still left with 24 sts on the fronts and 14 sts on the back.

I just sent an email to the store....

another new item

probably to compete with pointiness of knitpicks circulars
addi turbo has a new needle, the finish is brass coloured, the end is much pointier (though IMHO not as pointy as KP), and has a red cord with a nice join.

the gift

I was gifted today with a ticket to TNNA in San Diego!
There were over 1000 vendors and a whole lot of yarn.

Did you know that Malabrigo feels like velvet when it's felted?



And that they have a new sport weight yarn?

Today I saw Debbie Bliss, Elsebeth Lavold, Lily Chin, Brandon Mably, Suss, the Knitty Gritty girl, and I met and spoke with Amy Singer (we had some business to discuss, nudge nudge wink wink).

I was a little **star struck**!

And someone just handed me this book:



I'm still SOAKing it all in!

it's the last day

do it for the dog...

yeah! it's COLD!

I'm happy to report that I got an email from paradisefibers yesterday letting me know that my order has shipped! that was fast! it should be here soon, since they're in WA.

and my intention is to wear my urban aran as much as possible now the weather has turned cold! well balmy, at least.

I wore it yesterday and today.

yesterday, knitter friends asked me quizzically if I had made it. I think the zipper threw one of them off - they weren't quite sure if I had made it myself.

now THAT'S an accomplishment!

deciding, then finishing a project

I tried the cashmere yarn with the heartstring lace ladders pattern - but because the yarn is so multi-colored, variegated, and too fuzzy for the pattern - the pattern didn't stand out. So I ripped it out.

Then I decided to use the sock books that I bought, do some math, ask Dave if the circumference of his foot was small, medium, or large, and pick out pattern and knit him some socks with the left over green wool/acrylic yarn. I started the sock and I'm not liking the way it looks either. The special rib pattern looks like crap.

In the back of my mind, I've been thinking about my friend (who I haven't seen in a year and a half) who had a baby last month and whether or not to knit her a baby present. Today I surfed on to a blog where someone who was knitting the Oat Couture blanket. I love short rows - how fun would that be?! I looked to see if I could buy the pattern online, but was directed two retailers who would sell it. I didn't feel like doing that research. Then I remembered Sheree had done a pinwheel.

This pinwheel pattern is free. I think I will do it in some knitpicks shine. Thank goodness the baby is a girl, I've got a ton of pink, orange, and off white.

Well, I've just been looking online and found the OC pattern at ParadiseFibers.net. And they'll ship it me for under $3. I think that the pattern might go faster than the pinwheel, it's in garter.

It's a done deal - OC pattern has been ordered! Yeah shortrows!

Being home today is dangerous. Now I'm eyeing yarn for the Vogue pattern that calls for Anny Blatt Merinos - the new york noir short sleeve, low v-neck in red. I'm eyeing the Elann Wool/Silk blend. They have some really nice colors. I'm considering Antique Blue or Raspberry.

for a cold windy day

Ta Da!

done and done

The urban aran is finished - zipper installed - I hope to have a good picture soon.
And last night I finished the chevron scarf.

So the only thing I'm working on right now is the slouchy cardigan - I finished the back and started a front.
It's going pretty fast.

And now I need something else to work on.

When I finish writing this I'm going to go investigate yardage of a skein of cashmere that I got from my good Colourmart UK friend to see if it's enough for a heartstrings lace ladders pattern.

If not, I'm thinking of making another pair of socks for Dave - I have more of the green yarn that I used to make his golf vest.

And if neither of those inspire me - there is always the unfinished spiral top - if I start now, I might be finished in time for spring. And probably be able to wear the piece before I'll ever be able to wear the urban aran...