Done as it's gonna be.

My sweater turned into a vest. Anyone need 2 knitted sleeves? Anyone, anyone? Here's what happened... I was having so much trouble with the sleeves, and was about to throw the whole thing on the scrap heap. I knew in my heart that if I didn't FINISH IT somehow, it was never going to be done. So I threw some borders on the arm openings and neck, and VOILA. Done. Woot.

Trust

I have done this to myself on EVERY sweater I have made...

I second guess the pattern's sleeves. It never seems like the sleeves could possibly fit the hole in the body of the sweater. And since I don't (ahem) block my work, of COURSE it doesn't look like it'll fit. So, I start fiddling with the sleeves, even after I've got them partially sewed to the body.

I have just fiddled myself into the goofiest looking sleeves. I'm not even going to photograph them. Lee said "I think sleeves are supposed to pucker a LITTLE when you raise your arms. But you've got shoulder pads." Yes, indeedy. Now I'm seeing that, YES, the sleeve WOULD HAVE FIT IF SOMEONE HADN'T FIDDLED.

Trust the pattern.

Body Types

Hey! My shoulder is not this shape. What was I thinking?

Huh. I wish I could set a sleeve in right the FIRST time. Nah. What fun would that be?

Important sweater news!

Get the latest, up to the minute reports RIGHT HERE...

This just in... I totally rock.

This sweater I'm working on is from, you guessed it, the best sweater book of all time. This will be my 4th sweater from it. I don't think I've ever gotten my money's worth like this from a book before. I never did use this book, because, ugh... it's no longer the 80's.





















The pattern wanted me to do a separate front and back. With Fair Isle. I suppose there's a way to do that, but why? I knew that I couldn't knit the rib stitch in the round, since mine leans, so I knit that regular and then joined it up and knit the rest of the body in the round. I had to do a little math even.

On to the sleeves. I decided to knit these in the round too. The fair isle pattern didn't work as well with the sleeves, as I had increases in there. I made a rookie mistake and was only increasing 1 st where I should have been increasing 2... my math failed me when I converted to in the round. But that's all behind me, and the 1st sleeve is almost done. It's mind-numbing straight stitch now.

I figured out that whole 2 circular needle knitting too. The one instead of dpns. I believe it has saved my bacon on the sleeve, which has too many stitches for dpns and not enough for 1 circular. It's kind of a pain, and does slow me down a bit, but I have not dropped any stitches. I did have one of the circular needles drop to the floor, when I made the common mistake of DOING IT WRONG.

Hey! It's my Blog-iversary!

I posted my very 1st blog ever on January 4, 2007. Woo hoo! Remember this gem?

And lest you think this will become a travel-blog... ok, I will publish Days 2-7 later... here's what I am working on currently. I did some knitting on the plane, and my needles did not get confiscated, nor even questioned. Nice.












It's a sweater from my favorite sweater book of all time... this will be my 4th sweater from it... each one totally different. I'm done with the fair isle part of it and can now blissfully K without thinking until my fingers bleed. I wasn't trying for this, but it appears that I am replacing all my sweaters with hand-knitted ones. Cool. Not less expensive, certainly, but ones that fit and that are not like anyone else's, and that are the exact colors I want. That is the coolest thing for me now that I can actually produce wearable garments.

My 1st Wearable Garment

Not sure if I ever posted this because I was a little embarrassed by it. It technically fits, but it's too short and the neck is too big. It's been sitting in a drawer since last year. I wore it this week because it was -2. Gah. I got compliments on it. So, ok. I guess I'll wear it.





















It's made of bulky acrylic. I designed it based on a sweater I liked from Kohl's. I did LOTS of math to get it shaped like the Kohl's sweater. I apparently ran out of math when I got to the neck.

The picture is pretty bad, but you get the idea. My photographer decided to take a nap.

I can haz sweater?

A friend asked if it was cheaper to make a sweater than to buy it.

No.

But... it fits, and is the color and style I want. Plus, I got to knit it. Hoo boy.

I had some trouble with the sleeves. What a surprise. I had to rip back and rip out. I finally figured out how to attach the sleeves... only 1 re-do of the sleeve seams... getting better!

Sweater Pact

Megan and I want to knit sweaters. I just got this most awesome book...

Something for everyone.

Pick the body.

Pick the sleeve.

Pick the collar.

Done.

Well, you gotta knit the thing, dontcha?

I'm going to buy yarn tomorrow in DeKalb. Then I'll go with Megan on Saturday to pick her yarn. Yay! Yarn!

It's sadly my last Friday off. I gotta go back to work Monday. BOOOOOOO! I have SO enjoyed my time off. I gardened, painted, cleaned, etc... LOVE it. Now, if only I could stop Murray McPukesalot from yakking on our white bedspread, I could maybe do some OTHER laundry.

Wicked 1 Finds a Home

Friend Megan is home from Millikin. She tried on Wicked 1. It's too big for her too, but she's hipper than I am, apparently the 80's are back, and she plans to "Flash Dance" it. Since I already dressed bad in the 80's, I'm not going through that particular phase again. Anyway.... she likes it and I'm glad for her to have it. It had to go to someone that didn't live here regularly... that could be AWKWARD. Hey! I've got that exact hand-knitted sweater! Yeah! Same color and everything.

Now, the only problem I have is that I bought 9 skeins of this Teal yarn. Each sweater took 3, because my row gauge was off, so I gained some yardage. Do I make Wicked 3? Do I make a bunch of Teal mittens and socks? Will it be a Teal Christmas? I'll have to think on it.

Wicked 2 is done, done, done...

... and I love, love, love it! I'm gonna wear it tomorrow. Woot.




















Also started working on a blanket with my leftover wool. Used the Mitered Square Blanket from the Mason Dixon book. I like knitting these squares... it's awesome how every row is shorter than the last. I crocheted an edge around it, working in the ends as I went... no way was I gonna weave in the 50 million (roughly) ends the old fashioned way. I'd like to donate a blanket to either Afghans for Afghans or the Dulaan Project: Knitting to Warm Mongolia. Anyone want to make squares for a blanket with me?











We spent the weekend in the Dells at the Kalahari. There was a baby girl Tiger in the lobby. You could have your picture taken with her. We missed the time to get a picture taken, but we got to see the little baby close up. Super cute.

For your amusement...

I don't need no stinkin' ball winder. No sirree... I've already got one. One winder and one inspecta-cat.














I am not including pics from the new Wicked. It looks exactly like the other Wicked, except it's smaller... and it fits so far. I'll post again when it's done.

Big.

Yerp, my worst fears were confirmed today. Finished "Wicked". I knitted the wrong size. It's too big for me. I still have yarn left, and I think I have enough for a smaller size. I'm casting on today. I love the design so much, and I still want this sweater.












My friend Melodie came for a visit this weekend. She and I spent quality time together on our laptops, sharing all the funny videos we'd collected. Melodie spoke to our women's group at church Friday night.

Ignore the Computer Crap.

Let's see... knitting vs. computers, knitting vs. computers... You can guess which is more important to me... :) The orange yarn is marking the line for the pocket to be sewed on. Speaking of the pocket... didja notice the beautifully matched M1's? Right and Left, baby. No, I didn't steam the pocket 1st... it'll have to stretch into place. I'm thinking this sweater is going to be a bit too big. (I maybe picked the wrong size.) The body is great... you can't see it, but it is shaped... in toward the waist, out again for the hips. The underarms are a bit low maybe. At this point it would mean ripping back TOO FAR. I think short rows for the bosom would be a good idea too. Listen to me... acting like I know what I'm talking about! (Isn't that cute?!?! OMG!!! Ponies!!!) I think I'd make this again. Maybe in magenta! I'm about 2 evenings away from finishing. Can't tonight or tomorrow... got meetings. Argh. I loved last Saturday. Lee was at the Walk Worthy conference all day, so I had the house to myself. I believe I knit for 10 hours that day. My hiney was a bit sore.

Blood, Sweat and Tears...

... or "MATH", as I like to call it.

OK, so... last night I finished the increases for the sleeves. I didn't count the full number on the needles, because it was a very large number. I thought I'd just count as I went along and put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn. The 1st sleeve counted out to 55 between the markers... it's supposed to be 64. Er... Being in denial, I joined the front to the back, came around to the next sleeve. 62. There may have been swearing at this point. I held my poor baby on my lap, tryed to find the errors, assessed the damage and thought about the hours it took to get through all the increases. As I was looking at it, I thought "You know, these sleeves LOOK like they're the same size." So I recounted. 62 on both sleeves. Sweet. I just miscounted, and so what if it's off by 2. I looked at the directions again, and noticed that 62 was indeed the correct number for the sleeves. Where I got 64, I do not know. Turns out: I can't read OR count.

Hellooooo Mr. Fancy Pants

and Hellooooo Pretty Yarn...
The yarn is not this color. It's teal really. I don't usually like teal, and the yarnshop pic looked more blue. But, you know what? It's grown on me. It really is a good color for me. I think my main aversion to teal is the whole 80's thing. I wore teal back then... so I'm afraid of the fashion statement of teal. But it's not like I'm knitting legwarmers or trying to get my hair to feather this time. It's a nice color that will make my eyes pop, and a super cute pattern that seems to be going well and staying on gauge, despite my apparent gauge issues.

Here's what's done so far... I'm increasing for the sleeves now. (Look at those awesome increases! I did the f&b as called for in the directions, but if I make it again, I'll do a less obvious increase. I'm not loving the purl bump the f&b makes.) Every row gets longer and longer. Soon I'll get to work on the body and knit until my hands are worn down to bloody stumps. Sweet! Perhaps I will make the short sleeve version by default... having only the bloody stumps...

If the neck looks wide, it's because it should. Remember? Quit asking me if it's the bottom. You know who you are. :)

P.S. I apparently keep forgetting how to spell guage. I mean guage. Argh... I mean GAUGE.

Gauge? This can't be right.

I got my new yarn. LOVE IT. Lee looked aghast at the large amount and started to ask "Why..." when he remembered I was making a sweater, so the "why" died on his lips. (Though perhaps not in his heart.)

Ok, I swatched. I did. In the round... I more than doubled the stitches so I could get an accurate in the round swatch. The pattern called for size 7 needles or size needed for gauge. OK. With the 7's I got 3" where there should be 4". Went up to size 9. 3 1/2". Size 10 1/2 gave me dead on gauge. I'll say it again... size 10 1/2. Can that possibly be right? I checked, double, triple, quadruple checked. I don't know how loose I'd have to knit on a size 7 needle to make gauge.

I cast on. So far, the collar doesn't look freakishly large or clownish. And, actually, 10 1/2's work for me because I've actually GOT them in dpns and circs.

I'll keep you posted...

New sweater project... can't wait!

I have ordered yarn for a sweater. Here's the super cute sweater I want to make. And here's the yarn I ordered. Colorway: 9420 Como Blue. I'm thinking the long sleeves, but depending on how long it takes me... maybe it'll be warm enough out for the short sleeves.

Now, you all will have to hold me to the swatching. I promise I will swatch 1st. I will make sure my gauge is dead on before proceeding to cast on in a whirl of hormones. It's 128 stitches to CO, so I will try not to take this lightly.

One question though... sweater is knit in the round (Hallelujah!), but would swatching a stockinette pattern mess up the guage? IE: all K vs. K/P alternate rows? I THINK my P rows are the same size as my K, but I don't know for sure. I had never even THOUGHT of that being a problem, until I saw it on a Q&A knitting site. See, these are the things that make me throw up my hands and CO blindly and hope for the best... so. much. trouble. :)

Here's hoping yarn arrives by tomorrow. We're going away for the weekend to a wedding in IA, and I want to swatch! And/or fondle the new pretty yarn. Turns out that the B&B I booked for this weekend has a LYS within walking distance. Coincidence? I think not. :)