What a year

I know I've been a very bad blogger. But 2008 was a VERY bad year. Probably the worst I've ever had, and I just haven't had the mojo to write. Can't really get into details, but please keep me in your prayers. Ok, that was so depressing and boring. Hey look, a tattoo!

Shalom Cardigan

So I'm sure after my previous sad little story I should give you a story that isn't quite so depressing. The Shalom Cardigan caught my eye as I was cruising around Ravelry. Cute, fast knit, loads of finished examples to look at. What could go wrong? Um, yeah, we are talking about me here. I decided to use 2 strands of Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool instead of the bulky yarn called for. Even with the substitution I decided to not knit a swatch and just cross my fingers. Things were going well. I knit the yoke.
Beautiful.
Armhole?
Beautiful.
Waist shaping?
Beautiful.
Around 10 rows away from the bottom I happened to just pick it up and look at it and my jaw hit the floor.
I KNIT THE ENTIRE BODY AFTER THE YOKE INSIDE OUT.

Horrible picture I know, but it was taken in the heat of the moment. Can you see the yoke in the left hand corner? And all the little purl bumps on the right?
After I took a breath I decided to weigh my options. My choices were to keep on going and just leave the purl bumps out, flip it inside out and have the wrong side of the yoke showing, or rip it all out and knit the body over again. None of these options seemed pleasant. I wanted it the way it was supposed to look and I didn't want to knit it all over again! This left me with one last very scary option.

CUTTING.

I snipped a stitch about an inch below the armhole and carefully unraveled that row. Put it on needles, grabbed a stiff drink, and prepared myself to do a HECK of a lot of kitchenering. But first I had to go stitch by stitch and flip every row of that inch after the armhole and flip them from purls to knits. The whole process of snipping, unraveling, and restitching took about 2 days. Then I decided to add some short sleeves because it hadn't been challenging enough.
Now after all of this drama, the sweater was still way too small. I anticipated this and did it on purpose becuase I had heard that the Silky Wool stretches and grows after blocking. But whether it would be enough or too much I wasnt sure. Crossed my fingers, plunged it into some water, laid it out on the floor and began the waiting game.

AND LOOK!!!!!!!







I love a good happy ending.

Green Gable

Well hello my bloggy friends, its been a while! The drama llama has made an appearance at my house the past several months, so blogging just wasn't a super priority. But I'm back! And oh the knitting stories I have to tell. First off lets start with my Green Gable Hoodie from the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting. This pattern was previously published as a free pattern, but was accepted by Vogue at a later time and Im guessing reformatted. There are many people who knit this pattern when it was free and churned out beautiful FOs with no mention of problems. But problems Ive had aplenty with this project. I knit this out of Beaverslide yarn in a pretty pink colorway that I snatched off of the Destash Board on Ravelry.






Doesn't look too bad, right? Lets take a closer look.

There was no direction as to how to meld the arm cables into the center cable and I ended up fudging it on my own. After finishing this part I realized a way I could have done it better, but by this time I just wanted to finish the dang thing. Next up, shoulder shaping.


I really didnt understand what the designer wanted me to do most of the time. I kind of winged most of it, and my numbers and the patterns numbers were very different. Didnt end up looking super shouldery. And the hood! Oh the hood!!


Yeah, totally wonky.
Even with all of the difficulties, Im still happy enough with it and wear it all the time. Would NEVER knit it again though!

Im one of the cool kids now!

I got ravgear!!!



My disagree face:


Would people think I was weird if I wore this shirt every day for the next week?

Tepes, The Non Dead Version

I've kind of been on a sock knitting kick lately, but all that sock knitting has not really translated into a whole lot of actual socks. I knit one, start a completely different one, or maybe rip one out, etc. The last sock was really ticking me off, so I frogged half of it and cast on a hat to punish it. Take that you little toe licker!

This is Tepes, from the most recent issue of Anticraft. Now I've never been a big fan of Anticraft, it's not really my bag, what with the knitted tumors and bacon tiaras and such. But I was really impressed with the cables in this hat, and the way they looked like little people. But I don't really dig the idea of wearing a hat with people impaled on sticks on my head. And then I realized that without the sticks, they kind of look like they're dancing, right? RIGHT?


Knitted out of mystery worsted wool from my stash, this hat took me about 3 days. From the bottom of the people up I followed the pattern, but below the people band I made quite a few. First of all, the hat was long enough without the band of seed stitch below the people, so I omitted that. I maybe possibly didnt check gauge before starting, and that could have contributed to this issue. I decided that cables plus tassels plus a funky top were enough without the addition of ear flaps, so I omitted those. And I did try an I-cord bind of for a little while, but ripped it out in favor of a simple 1x1 rib.





I luuurve this hat! It fits just right, not too loose, not too tight. It covers my ears, and has just enough funk to be interesting without being weird. When I first tried it on The Plumber informed me that it was gaudy, but then a few minute later requested the red and black version WITH stakes. Uh huh.


He knows my hat's rockin'.

Calorimetry

When I first saw this pattern, I thought it was stupid. I thought that the thousands of folk who were knitting them left and right were stupid. I thought the whole Calorimetry craze was stupid.

I WAS WRONG.



This version only took 2 or 3 hrs. I cast on 100, and didnt do as many repeats as was called for. This pattern is my new obsession. I want one in 10 different colors. I scour the LYS for possible yarn choices. It's so darn cute!


Who knew over 4,000 people (according to Ravelry) could be so right?

This made my night

This video had me rolling. YOU MUST WATCH IT.

Tempest Finished

Wow, I can't believe I actually finished this sweater. Seems like I've been working on it forever, but it has taken about three weeks.




This is Tempest, one of the Knitty surprises. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it. We've been through some trials, this sweater and I.
First, there was the row gauge debacle. These sleeves were supposed to be 3/4 length, but due to the row gauge mishap, turned into full length ones. But I am really glad, because I think I prefer the full length ones anyway. And if the row gauge had not been off, the body length would have been way too short.

Secondly, several nights ago as I was sewing it together, it appeared that I had completely screwed up the fronts, and that the armholes were way to short in front. I stared, I counted stripes, and it just didn't make any sense. How could this have possibly happened? Was there some horrible error in the pattern that no one had picked up on yet? I felt like I was going to cry. I finally threw the sweater down in disgust.
The next morning I picked it up again and it all became clear. I had sewn the fronts in backwards, and was trying to sew the sleeves into the neckline. But I kind of got what I deserved, trying to knit after a few drinks at 3 am. Goes to show you what they say is true, knitting and drinking do not mix. I ripped out the shoulder seams, put the fronts in the right way, and voila! The pieces fit perfectly!
The list goes on and on. I couldn't find buttons that matched, it was too tight when I tried it on, etc, etc. So I took a deep breath, blocked it on the bedroom floor, and this morning tried it on. And it fit!


Pattern:Tempest (Ravelry link)
Yarn:Fleece Artist BFL
Needles: size 6
Modifications: Aside from the whole unintended row gauge mods, I added a foldover hem to the sleeves, since I wasn't really digging the unfinished look that was called for in the pattern.


I love it! Of course, now that its finished, it's getting too warm to wear now. but with living in Alaska, that won't last for too long.

(Sorry Alaska, didn't mean anything by it! Please, please, please, don't get cold just to spite me. I'm loving the warm weather. Really!)

@#$^%& Row Gauge!

I'm knitting Tempest, one of the latest Knitty surprises.
I've finished the back, the fronts, and one sleeve. As I finished the first sleeve, I held it up over my arm. And....it reaches exactly to my wrists, right where a full length sleeve should.
The problem is that these are supposed to be 3/4 sleeves. I've followed the pattern perfectly, I have the right number of stripes. My stitch gauge was great. I even washed my swatch! This leads me to believe that my row gauge is a weeeeee bit off. Not that I actually measured the row gauge. Note to self: row gauge is very important in a striped pattern. I've held the other pieces up to my body, and they seem quite long also. *sigh*
My only options are to rip and reknit (not gonna happen), or finish this last sleeve, sew it all together, and hope that my long waistedness will be an advantage, and that the skinny waist rows will somehow fall in the right place. Otherwise, I've just spent the last few weeks knitting a sweater for a spaghetti noodle.

Say Hello To My Little Friend