Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Works-in-progress Wednesday

This - the Grey Sweater II - is all I've worked on this week. Terribly exciting, I know.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

My very first ever mitten.

My sister M requested mittens for Christmas. I still don't know if I'll make them for her or not, but my first mitten (a test) turned out well, if a bit wide. It was a lot easier than I thought, once I figured out that a "gore" was the same thing as a "gusset". I don't think that Folk Mittens does a very good job of explaining the construction of a mitten - they need more pictures to go with the explanations - but boy are there some great mittens in there.

But here's what I don't get:
a) I have large hands. I usually have to buy men's gloves because women's aren't made large enough.
b) I followed the directions for a women's size medium (no measurements specified).
c) I got gauge.

So why is it that:
d) they are about an inch too wide for my hand?

Are mittens supposed to be loose? I haven't had any since I was a little kid, but it seems like they should be snug.

I'm a joiner.

As you can see from my sidebar there, I have joined Zimmermania, Socktoberfest, and the Warm Hands Knitalong. All within a couple of days. Let's hope I haven't overcommitted myself.

Thanks to all this joining, I now know how to put a button on my blog all my myself. (Aren't you proud?)

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Works-in-progress Wednesday

I didn't forget. But I can't find the camera.

My sock is a bit longer and I've restarted the grey sweater.

How's that for an update?

Sunday, September 17, 2006

What I did last night.

Before: a sad, sad sweater that was about a foot too wide in the body, about two inches too narrow in the arms, and puckery where I had tried out my first color patterns.
After about 15 minutes:

A second example: a baby shirt that, though knit of the softest alpaca, was way off gauge and ended up too wide and with too small a neck.
After about 30 minutes (you know you've become a better knitter when you are ripping something and think "how in the world did I manage that?):
In a way, it's almost like having new yarn. I really am looking forward to re-knitting the sweater (ironically, I was "blindly following" Elizabeth Zimmermann), but I'm not sure if I'll re-knit the baby shirt or do something different. If only I could knit as fast as I can rip....

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Works-in-progress Wednesday

I got the idea for posting my current projects every Wednesday from Alianne. We'll see how long I keep it up. You can click on the pictures to make them larger.

First up, the Little Child's Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks:
The yarn is really not purple; it's a dark berry pink. I am planning for these socks to be mine. It's an enjoyable pattern so far though counting rows has slowed me down quite a bit. Perhaps someday I'll get myself a row counter.

Secondly, a striped Tomten jacket for my daughter:

I am pretty happy with this. I'm making it out of leftovers; had it been an "original" project I would have chosen different tones (or is it shades? I always get those confused) because they just don't seem to harmonize perfectly. If I had thought about it sooner I would have swatched for felting this and perhaps I still will. I love the look of a "boiled wool" jacket and it would be much more weatherproof.

And that's all that was worked on this week.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Blind man banned from driving for three years.

Only three years? I don't think I'll be driving in England anytime soon....

Read the full story here.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Phew.

I'm having a busy, busy week. In addition to all my normal activities of caring for a toddler, being pregnant, errands, cooking dinner, cleaning house, etcetera, I have been:

a) toilet training said toddler

b) getting ready for our first MOPS meeting of the year (I am the coordinator of our group), and

c) preparing a devotional to give at the annual ladies' luncheon at our church on Saturday.

At least the MOPS meeting is over now. It went pretty well and I hope that things will just get better and better as I become more practiced in leading meetings.

My house is a wreck. I have mountains of laundry. Very little knitting has been done. I was going to post pictures of my works-in-progress, but the light was really bad and they didn't turn out well. Maybe in the next day or two here.