Finally Friday!

I was going to call this very cleverly titled post finished Friday or something of that sort, but really what I feel like is that it is finally Friday and I’m finally finished with a couple of things and October is (almost) finally over. Which means that November is due soon and I’m hoping December is following close behind (peek at the ticker above and you’ll understand my feelings here).

So what did I finally finish… as if you couldn’t guess? Yes! The Vest… here ya’ go, no more waiting.

(Sorry about the photo quality, that’s one of the big downsides to being alone… no one to take the modeled shots of your FOs).

Pattern: Chevron Shadows from Knitter’s Summer 2007 issue (K87)
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Gothic Rose and Prism Neat Stuff (Half) in Crème
Size 4 and 6 needles


AND
I finished some socks… don’t know why I could only get one pair done (maybe the vest had something to do with that), but these are done and I like them.

Pattern: Bubble Wrap Socks by Sockbug
Yarn: Zaurbeball Crazy #1564
Size 2.50mm needles


I also have several things impatiently waiting to be cast on and a couple already in-progress to tell you about another time. Until then, one more FO... a little pumpkin hat for a last minute baby gift....

Happy Halloween and

Happy Knitting!

Nana

Tuesday’s Problem

Remember the vest I’ve been promising to finish and show off?  It’s going to be a while.  In a very play-off result type parallel I rallied to get it going again this weekend. I redid the bottom band and was quite happy with the result.  Then I started to pick up the recalculated number of stitches on the front I got through the left front very nicely, worked across the neck where there was no change and started down the right front. Things were not going well.  I ripped, picked up, ripped, picked up; put it down, smoothed it out, paused; LOOKED and oh (insert your favorite swear word here)!  I discovered that at some point I had made a mistake in the pattern repeat and had left out about 5 rows!

No wonder the thing was giving me so much trouble.  Needless to say I feel a bit like the Cardinals, Twins and Red Sox right now, swept and out of the series.  For such a relatively simple pattern, this thing is kicking my knitter’s butt. 

I did progress on the bubble socks and if not for trying to finish the vest would have finished the pair this weekend. 

So, you now know what I will be doing on my day off tomorrow. 

Happy Knitting and I hope your projects behave better than mine!

Nana

A Slight Problem with Finishing

I really wanted to post a picture of my finished vest. The best I can do today is post the blocking shots I took the other day. But first let me distract you with some cute cat pictures:

 "Did St Louis really get swept?  Say it ain't so Mommy!"

Okay, now where was I? Oh the vest. I am having a problem with the finishing of it. I think that although my stitch gauge was good, my row gauge might have been a little off. When I picked up the 245 stitches (three times!) I got bunching fabric and a ripple effect down the front. This was not at all the result that I had hoped or envisioned for this project. Actually the first two times, I was mainly worried about getting the buttonholes spaced correctly and it wasn’t until the second bind off that the ripples really started to be noticeable. The first bind off got ripped back because I might have made the “watching my team get swept in the playoffs” mistake, again - too tight; but I digress. I have determined that I actually need to pick up additional stitches and maybe go up a needle size to correct the problem. So the vest is in time out again until I can figure out exactly how many stitches I need to add to as Tim Gunn puts it “make it work.” But I do have some really swell buttons if I ever get that far. So here’s a sneak peek at the as yet unfinished vest:

And the button(s)

I did finish some socks. So fear not, there is a finished object to show off. These are the second pair of Sister Stripe Socks from the Noro Kureyon Sock Colors S40 and S164.

These will be mailed off to DD #2 sometime later in the week.

The other pair of socks I’ve been working on actually got frogged, but I cast on a new pattern and they are coming out much better. I loved the original pattern (cut-paste-socks) that I was working, but that pattern and this yarn didn’t make a good pairing. This pattern (Bubble Wrap Socks) is working very well for this yarn and I will be finding a better yarn for the other pattern because now that I tried it out, I’d really like to knit it.

So I give you the Rainbow Bubble socks in progress:

I've also cast on for the next vest.  More on that in another post.

Happy Knitting!

Nana

From the Crab Hole

Although I do have some knitting projects to share and report progress on, today I’m taking a little diversion with the post.  (I promise there will be knitting soon!)



Fall is a rough season for me and I’ve been suffering the full effects for a couple of weeks.  Between my allergies and the diminishing daylight, I sort of get to a bad place physically and emotionally and really have to struggle to do whatever it is I need to do each day.  If you will, it is a time when I really feel the pull of my full crab nature and crawl into a hidey-hole until I can get past whatever is afflicting me. 


While I was doing some tidying up in my craft room / office I came across some old papers that I had squirreled away and remembered something really important about myself.  I used to have aspirations of becoming a writer.  And reading through some of the old exercises I had saved, I really am sort of good when I make the effort.  I also used to write a lot of poetry.  I still jot them down from time to time, but not as often as I used to. Maybe it’s not world class stuff; but it is certainly good enough to prove that I am someone with my own voice and a point of view.   At one point I tried to get published, but was rejected by a pretty prestigious editor and let that discourage me. Then, I sort of abandoned writing when I went through a rough patch a few years back.  Eventually, I started blogging and participating in the world of social networking and I’m not sure if anyone actually writes poetry anymore. Or do they?  But, now I remembered something else… self publishing.  So I decided today that I might just throw out some poetry here and there between the knitting posts and see if anyone notices.  If you like it, leave a comment, if you don’t … leave a nice comment (something constructive).  But mostly remember it’s what is in my mind and heart and expresses my point of view from where I’m at when I write it.  No hidden agendas or tricky metaphors.  So here goes:

Too Much

I can not see you today

And thus

There is too much myself

Too much, much

Too many ways to say

Why or why not

And too many hours to cry

I am not

Where you are and not here

And when you come back

Will I still be?

Nana

Office Assistance

Back to Everything

I haven't solved the problem I was having with pictures entirely, but I did manage to get it to work with a couple of work arounds... so here's the knitting post I promised. I’ve been back home from my trip for well over a week, and I feel like I have been in constant motion. There always seems to be something more to do that I just can’t quite get to. I like being busy, but sometimes I appreciate being able to slow down a bit, too. Vacation was a great time for that, but it seems like I had to pick up the pace right where I left it. That’s getting harder to do with each successive birthday. I got a little knitting done while I was traveling and a little after I got home. I’ve been trying to restore some sense of order to my office/craft room since it looked like it exploded with all of the (new) yarn everywhere and patterns and magazines and ‘nuff said. It’s slightly better, and I hope before long it will be in some sort of working order.

So here’s what I’ve knit recently:

I finally finished the Rib Fantastic Socks aka Perforated Purple. The pattern wasn’t too bad, but just complex enough that it required complete attention and made for a bad knitting group knit. I knit them magic loop which compounded the complexity as I had to adjust the stitches on the needles when the pattern shifted. I like the stitch pattern well enough but disliked the heel / toe used by the designer. I’d probably knit these again on dpns and with some pattern modifications.

Pattern: Rib Fantastic from Knitting Socks with Hand painted Yarns

Yarn: Samantha in Stitches, Footcrazy, color Purple Thunder

Size 2.25 mm needles / Magic Loop

I also finished a lone Monkey sock. We needed a sock sample in the Claudia Handpaint and I fell in love with this colorway (surprise) but couldn’t see myself wearing a pair of socks this color, so I figured this would make a good sample and the monkey pattern looks fantastic in Claudia… so I give you Lone MonkeyPattern: Monkey By Cookie A

Yarn: Claudia Hand Paints, Color; Eat Your Veggies

Size 2.25 needles

Then I needed a sample for my next technique class, so I whipped this up:

Pattern: Diamond Head from Hats, a Knitter’s Dozen

Yarn: Wisdom Poems in colors 556 and 558

Size 4 needles

This was pretty quick as projects go, although a little fiddly if you just want to make a quick hat, but since it matches the scarf I made last winter, it was worth it to me. It is a good project for teaching miters, which is why I chose it, so I hope people sign up for this class.

And finally, I cast on for a project that has been on my list for a little while:

(I'm actually almost done with the back now)

Pattern: The Chevron Vest from Knitter’s No 87 (Summer 2007)

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy / Neat Stuff from Prism

For some reason now I’m craving oreos…

I'm also working on two other socks, but they will have to wait for another post.

Happy Knitting!

Nana