Persistent Knitter

Sometimes I can come up with an idea for a new project and it doesn’t matter how many other things I’m working on at the time, I have to make it NOW. Other times, I know I want to work on a project, but can’t quite decide how to implement it.

Yarn, but no project.. yet

A friend of mine started a baby dress & blanket for her daughter before she was born (using Madarin Petit, colors 5314 & 5200), and wasn’t able to finish it before the baby arrived. Now the baby will be too big (and it will be too hot) before she can get it done. She can’t quite figure out what she wants to do with her yarn now, but she knows she wants to do something.

I bought some yarn to make a Critter Knitters blanket, but haven’t quite decided what to do. I’d like to try putting some fairly good sized cables (6 stitches?) along each side, just because I haven’t done much cabling before. The animals won’t care what it looks like so it’s a great opportunity to just play with it. I think I need to lug out my stitch dictionaries and see what appeals besides simple double moss stitch.

Also, I’ve got a pair of socks that should be finished, but I just can’t bring myself to work on them. They can languish in my to-be-knit pile for a bit longer. I’m not even going to pretend that I’m working on them by carrying them around. I do have quite a few other sock patterns that I’d like to get to though!

Hardangervidda, yarn with a project, but too many needles!

I’ve continued working on Hardangervidda’s sleeve. I was running out of room on my DPNs so after I finished the Friday Harbor socks using the same size DPNs, I tried adding two DPNs to the sleeve. That was almost a worse disaster! I was knitting away, and then grabbed a needle funny and WHOOPS - the stitches all came off that needle. Luckily they were easy to pick up again, but how frustrating! So I decided I had to get the sleeve onto a circular. I had bought a Susan Bates circular for the purpose of working on the sleeve, so I started using that. I think I lasted 2 rows before decided that was just NOT going to work. The join was very hard to get stitches across, the cable is very stiff, the needle tips were too sharp, and since it was 24" in length it was stretching the stithces out more than it should have been. So I definately don’t like that needle.

I pulled out all the needles in my bag (which if you’ve been following my blog, you know is quite a few!) to see what my other options were. I have a Crystal Palace 2.75mm 35" length circular. Hmm… I go soften up the cable a bit with some hot water, and try it out. It’s obviously way too long, but I just make a loop with the extra cable (it’s so supple you can do this) and it’s working out great.

See the loop? It’s fairly transparent. I’ve only done two rounds with this needle, but so far I really really like it. We’ll see if it continues that way!

I managed to finish a pair of socks on Monday. (Of course what you really don’t know is that I’m writing this Monday afternoon at work and I haven’t actually finished the sock yet, but am planning on it tonite) I was sick of following the chart for my supposedly "easy" project. It’s too warm to wear them right now, but at least they are done! Plus the needles were the same size as those I’m using on Hardangervidda’s sleeve. Rather than force myself to use a too-short circular, I’m going to add a few DPNs to it until it gets large enough for a not-so short length circular. I keep dropping stitches off the ends of my needles as it is when it’s in my bag. So tada! Here’s the results (click on picture to see larger version):

[[ It seems the picture here looks very dark. I believe this comes from taking the pic at night. I'll try and update with a better one taken in the sunlight when I get a chance. Probably after I've washed/blocked them ]]

The pattern is Friday Harbor from Knitting on the Road; yarn is Mountain Colors, Weaver’s Wool Quarters. I used a 100g skein, which as you can see from the leftover ball in the picture was more than enough for my size 8.5 feet.

So I’m glad to be done with these socks - although I’m not totally thrilled with the way they came out. I loved the yarn and the deep colors. Yet the pattern wasn’t that much fun to follow. I had to add ribbing to the back of it because by following the pattern as written they were too small & tight in the leg. There isn’t a lot of stretch to the swirlies at the top.

The chart in the book was wrong in a few places (shows ribbing where there shouldn’t be, was missing a row when transitioning to the finishing pattern). The heel flap on sock #1 was too long - so the gusset is a bit too roomy. I did a bit better on sock #2 with this, but I wonder if I should have decreased before the heel flap as well. So for now they are finished, I might wash and block them slightly before putting them in the drawer to wait for cooler weather to descend. I hope I start liking them again at that point, right now I’m just sick of ‘em!

I didn’t get to spend much time this weekend knitting, but I am almost done with my Friday Harbor socks despite that. Saturday was quite a fibery day as I got together with my spinning group to practice for the Sheep to Shawl contest coming up this summer. My spinning skills definately need a bit of dusting off! I took some pictures while we were there; but the camera I used to take them went into the shop right after the event and it turns out it has to go all the way back to the factory to get fixed (which takes a MONTH). So I don’t have an easy way to get the pictures off the memory card. Grumble! (There might be a sneaky way I can use my PDA to get them off, but that would require sitting down at the computer for more than 10 minutes at a time).

Given that we’re going to be having a baby at the end of the next month I couldn’t be without a camera that whole time. So I picked up this totally tiny and cute Pentax point and shoot digital to use in the meantime. It’s not quite as good as our other one, but was a lot cheaper; but does a decent job (and of course takes a different type of memory card. GRR again!). So there will be knitting (and eventually baby pics) coming, just not today.

Oh and my laptop crashed on me again this weekend. I’m just not getting along with technology these days.

Things I’m focusing on: Pieced Airplane Roman shade for the baby’s room (based on this pattern. Deadline for this one is looming!) & the Friday Harbor socks so they will be done and off my list.

Yesterday I went to my LYS at lunch and picked up a few things. I wanted to make a critter blanket for this, and of course, I needed more needles! I also couldn’t resist that new yarn I was telling you about a few days ago. Turns out it is from Classic Elite and is called Isabella (See a shade card here). I got two balls of it so I could make my daughter a hat. I think I’ll use this pattern here.
Here’s a look at the stuff I got:

I was really looking for Chunky yarn for the critter blanket, but none of the colors they had spoke to me. I must have been in a purple-ish mood, cuz that’s the color I picked for the Isabella yarn too. The needles are the 2.75mm size for the sleeve and body of Hardangervidda. I really wish Addi made a 2.75mm needle - but they don’t! Phooey on them. So I’ll try the Susan Bates and hope it’s not too sticky. I know I’ll like the needle tips of the Crystal Palace (given how much I like their DPNs) but am worried the join will cause me grief. It’s got a tiny little bubble right at the join - hopefully since I’m not knitting tiny gauge it won’t be a problem.

Finally, when I got home, I had a BIG suprise on my front porch:

Are they beautiful? My parents sent me these in celebration of my being here another year on the planet. Thanks mom & dad!

I obtained two new needles yesterday. Addi Natura’s in 40" length, US#2 & US#4 for the body. Addi doesn’t make a circular in 2.75mm (which is what I’m doing sleeve stockinette in). This might be a problem - as I don’t think I have a 2.75mm in another long circular needle either.

I got my (new) laptop back from the shop. They say the processor was bad. Hopefully that’s what was really wrong and it won’t do any more random crashes on me from now on. Of course, they were so "helpful" and installed a bunch of networking utilities that I neither 1) wanted or 2) asked for. So I had to reconfigure things - and sorry to my neighbor, whoever you are, whose wireless network that I connected to a few times before I got it connecting to my own (Serves them right for not enabling ANY security at all!)

So what have I been working on the past few days? Well, mainly my Friday harbor socks:

And here’s a better shot of the SIP. I’m just going to start the heel flap on this one.

The first sock is "done’, but I was a little over eager on the heel flap, so it’s a bit big in the gusset area. I’m going to do the second sock flap the correct length, finish it - then try them on and see if my feet care about the difference in sizes. I’m hoping my feet say "ooh they feel fine!" because I really don’t want to rip back the first sock to the flap :)

There’s a new LYS in town! Well - not quite in town, but close. I have no idea what types of yarn or needles or anything else they carry, but I’m going to try and check them out this weekend when I’m up in that area. Maybe I’ll take my camera and share the experience here. They are closed Thursdays and Sundays, and are only open until 5pm, so weekdays are totally out for me. Drat that job! Oh wait, that’s how I pay for all my yarn :)

I’ve knit a few inches on Hardangervidda’s sleeve using the smaller needles (2.75mm Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs). So far I’m getting 6st/inch. These needles feel more natural to me also, so I think I’m more consistent with my tension as I knit. The fabric seems better too.. I thought it was a bit loose before. Now I know why. Another funny thing - these are the same exact size needles I’m using on my Friday Harbor socks. Good thing I’ve got two pair of DPNs already - wouldn’t I just hate to have to buy MORE needles??

Oh - and how do you think my blog is coming along? I changed the format of my finished stuff gallery slightly; I think it makes it easier to see the information/detials on each item. So leave me comments - good bad and the ugly. Font too small? More pictures? Less pictures (yeah, right)?

I’ve added a picture to my gallery. Here’s a sneak preview:


The pattern is from knitty - go here to see. Click on “gallery” at right to see more of my finished stuff.

Sleeve update: Well, I ripped out down to the second colorwork part on the cuff. I tried not to cry while doing so. I’m doing the stockinette on 2.75mm needles now (back to DPNs). I only knit a few rows on it last night, but hope to get a bit more done today. I did work on my Friday Harbor socks some at lunch (while waiting in line to order food) and then again when I got home before everyone else descended on the house. I seem to do all my knitting in 5 and 10 minute bursts.

Today I found this video showing how to do two color knitting and wrapping yarns as you go (without twisting the balls of yarn all up).

I rechecked my gauge on my sleeve. It’s quite a wide variety. Down towards the color pattern, it is 6 st/in (as it should be). As I get more towards the newly knit stitches, it’s 5.5 or 5.25 st/inch. AIGH! This means I have to use a smaller needle (and rip). Will this solve my ballooning sleeve problem? Would i have had this problem if I wasn’t switching ^&*($#^ needles every 2 inches in length? After I rip it out, and go down a needle size (which is really just .25mm total) will I then tighten up too much and get too many stitches per inch? Let’s hope not!

I have used up one full ball (in the main color) on the hardangervidda sleeve. Something is not quite right. The cuff part looks great, but the increases are causing the sleeve to balloon a bit prematurely:

My husband was gracious enough to model the sleeve for me in this picture. I checked the pattern directions and I’m fairly sure I’m following them correctly, increasing 2 stitches each round (1 at beg, 1 at end) every 4 rounds. Do this 27 times (and then every three rows 4 times). I’ve only done 10 increase rounds so far. Doesn’t it look a bit big to you? I checked my gauge and I should be right on with 6st/inch. My row gauge looks to be closer to 7rows/inch, but that should make the sleeve LONGER not WIDER.

Grr… I’m going to need to do some thinking about this, and remeasure my stitch gauge with it laying flat (instead of being on a circular). Oh and add one more needle to the list, I’ve got it on a 24″ addi now. :)

Oh, and I got my new laptop this last friday. That hasn’t gone well either. The internal wireless network card kept dropping, so I got a new external one to try out. Last night it crashed on me so bad I couldn’t get it to reboot no matter how persuasive I was (I even offered to knit it a laptop cozy. No good). Took it to the shop today, they got it back up for me with threats of having to stay there overnight if it didn’t behave. So far so good, but it did crash again earlier, but came back up with no problem. *sigh*. and tomorrow is monday!

Slowly I’m progressing on Hardangervidda’s sleeve and I switched needles again. I’ve used so far:

• 2.5 mm dpns
• 3.5mm dpns (patterened section)
• 3.0mm dpns
• 16″ 3mm Addi Turbo

That’s four needles for 5.5″ of knitting, and I will probably have to switch again when the sleeve gets bigger. I’ve got 30+ increase points on it, and I’ve only done 4 so far. I’m not sure I like using the little shorty 16″ addi needle. The needle tips are hard to get a grip on, I’m worried my gauge might be off becaue of it! I am switching back to DPNs until it gets big enough to go on the 24″ addi I have.

Socks… I always have a pair of socks in my purse. Right now I’m carrying the Friday Harbor socks. I have sock # 1 done, even though the heel flap is too long. I get 1/4 round knit on it every once in a while. My other socks are those dreaded summer solstice socks. I am past the heel on both socks (started them 2 at a time on 2 circs, but have switched back to DPNs),but have no motivation to work on them anymore.

Like I need more projects…
Last time the my knitting group got together one person brought the cutest baby sweater and showed it around. It was made with Baby Ull doubled. For the body - one strand yellow, one strand white. The sleeves were in a bright blue. It looked so cute I was really tempted to buy yarn to make my own. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the person who brought it - is she the designer? Is there a pattern? It’d be pretty easy to make up my own - but if I run into her again I’m definately going to ask her these questions (otherwise I’ll just have to rely on the Phsycic Knitter to help me out)

Also went to the LYS today (to return needles thank you very much) . They didn’t have any of the needles I wanted in (20″ addi to try for the sleeve *sigh*), but they did have this really pretty new cotton/acrylic yarn that really wanted to come home with me. I thought it was made my cascade but a web search has resulted me nothing. It was multiple ply, with each ply being a different color. It was about $6.50 a 50g ball; and has such soft and pretty colors. A denim-ish blue one, a pink w/some purple (would look great on Katie). I know the next time I’m in I won’t be able to resist this yarn and put together a project for it.

I’ll try and take pictues of the progress on the sleeve later.. I’m in the boring stockinette portion so it’s not really very exciting.