Eris, at last.

I finally got the zipper in a couple of months ago, but just haven't gotten around to blogging a finished photo until now. It is just a touch too long, which is totally my fault because I thought it wouldn't be long enough so I added two inches. I also just did a plain hem on the cuffs instead of the ribbing to match what goes around the bottom hem.

This is a great, comfortable, warm sweater that I wear all the time. The pattern was very well written and easy to follow and I'd have no problem knitting it again.

Funny comic

My Esteemed Papa clipped out this comic strip and sent it to me. I think it's great.

Eris, sans zipper

All done except for the zipper! And since I haven't yet bought a zipper, and since we are snowed in, I am considering it to be done. Once I buy a zipper it will go back to an "undone" status.

Eris: Not Quite

So here is a photo of Eris on the night of November 30. As you can see, I finished the body on November but not the sleeves. Even though my goal was to finish before December, I am still really happy with how much I accomplished.

Eris, divided.

Just divided the body and sleeve sections. It looks a touch small but I tried it on and it seems okay; I think that if it does turn out a tiny bit small I can probably block it bigger.

Eris, take two.

So after several days, a lot of chocolate, and a little bit of alcohol, I finally felt (mostly) not upset about my mistake and was able to re-start Eris. Here is the collar, half done and with the stitches picked up to start the second half.

Irritated as I am, I really am glad that I re-knit this. The first try had several small mistakes that bugged me but not enough to make me rip it and start again. Once I discovered I'd used the wrong gauge, though, I obviously had to re-do the thing. This time around I was more familiar with both the chart symbols and how it looked on the needles, so I caught mistakes right away and could fix them.


I'm much happier with this collar.

What goes up must come down.

So apparently November is National Just About Everything Month (Write a Novel, Blog Every Day, Knit a Sweater, etcetera). I have had the yarn for a few sweaters for several months now and so I decided to take the plunge and make a sweater this month. Right from the start there were problems. I didn't have enough of such-and-such yarn to do that project, that sweater wouldn't look good in that color, and so forth. After doing some gauge swatches, I settled on making Rogue. I got perfect gauge and even though I didn't have quite enough yarn, I was able to order more - in the same dyelot, even! - until disaster struck. It wouldn't print. Now, we don't have a printer so any printing jobs include copying files, traveling to the library, checking out a computer, printing files, and returning home. Since I was at the library, there was nothing I could do except retry to print the same thing that I had. Not happening. I must have done something to mess the pattern up when copying it. Plan B. (Well, C, actually, because I was planning on making a Hand-to-Hand Aran [Ravelry link, you have to sign up] until I decided I didn't like that yarn worked up at that gauge.) I was able to print the pattern for Eris, and I had good yarn for it that worked up to gauge. The collar went beautifully. I adore the complex cables. So other than several mistakes, doesn't it look great?


I picked up all the stitches around the edge (one of my least favorite knitting jobs) to start the body of the sweater. I read ahead in the pattern to make sure I knew what I was doing. Everything was clear except there were no specific instructions for the raglan increases, so I checked to see if they were supposed to be done a certain way. Lo and behold, I discovered that I had been working the perfect gauge for the BODY portion of the sweater all the way through my lovely collar.

My knitting will be in time-out until I have eaten enough chocolate to get over this.

Slippers

The slippers turned out well and were well received. They did turn out to be the right size to fit the recipient in about three years, but you can't get everything right.

Knitting by the seat of my pants

Scene: The girls are napping. We have a birthday party to attend in less than 24 hours, and I haven't come up with a gift idea that I like. I am suddenly seized with knitterly inspiration.

No pattern.

No gauge swatch.

The exact size of the recipient is unknown to me.

I cast on anyway.

12 hours before the party, and I have this:



They're fulling in the washer while I have my fingers crossed. Update tomorrow. (Assuming I remember to post; I've been forgetting every little thing this past month.)

Lotsa stuff

Hi! I have, um, a lot to blog about since I've been playing hooky for a while.

Here's a sock:

You'll just have to trust me that there's a finished pair. I made these pretty long, about 10" from cuff to top of heel flap, and finished with enough yarn that I could have made them an inch or two longer. It still amazes me that plain old yarn can turn into socks. Every time.

I have begun attending a monthly knit night that meets at the home of a friend. Most of the women who come are brand-new knitters, but last week there was a woman who had been spinning and knitting for several years and it was really nice to discuss various techniques with her. Since she has eight years of spinning experience, I told her that I wanted to start spinning again and asked her opinion of wheel brands. She happened to have an extra (broken) wheel that she offered to give me! Yes. Yes, I'll take it.




It's an unfinished Ashford Traditional. The conrod joint is broken and it's missing a tension rod and one of the flyer hooks (a couple of owners ago it sat in a garage for several years, can you tell?), but those will be easy to replace. I've been considering converting it so I can spin left-handed - the way I learned - but that would be a major undertaking so far as I have figured it. But I don't want to have to re-learn to spin right-handed. I'll keep cogitating on it and perhaps I'll come up with an easier solution.

A pair of wrist warmers. These are knit from Urban GypZ Twisted in Rainy Day Blues. I copied Kimberly's but I can't find the specific post to link to. These took just over half a skein; I think I might attempt a matching hat with the leftover yarn. I'm quite pleased with them and they are going to the gift basket.

Finished Carousel socks. The yarn is Claudia's Handpainted fingering in Carousel (that color is now discontinued). The pattern is Yarrow Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is pretty but it doesn't feel like it will hold up terribly well, and I think I could have chosen a pattern more suited to the yarn.



Lastly, some anklets in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. I believe the color is turquoise, and the pair took less than one skein. These are a gift and have been posted to the intended recipient.

First Lace

I finally got around to making my first lace project; not that I thought it would be too difficult, but I hadn't ever knit from a chart before (which turns out to be extremely simple) and therefore required more thought than usual. That and I've always got a list of twelve "very next" projects.

Before:


Soaking:


And finally, blocking:

I am very pleased with how it turned out. This is Whisper Scarf One in Cherry Tree Hill's Spanish Moss from The Loopy Ewe.

Shooting down the UFOs

Do you read Knitting Daily? I do, and last week they did a survey of how many UnFinished Objects (UFOs) people had lying around. Wanting to be helpful, I dug around my several bags and baskets. I was rather surprised to find that I had a grand total of 17 partially finished projects. I answered 15, but then afterward found two more, which I subsequently lost and then re-found this afternoon.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have all been sick. I was tired and I was shamed by my 17 projects so I decided to take yesterday evening "off" - as much as one can when one has two young children - and work on a few things. I really got a lot done number-wise; I now have finished 6 of those projects.

The abandoned baby sweater was bound off and is therefore now a baby hat. I might still add tassels on the corners because that would just be so cute.



I also finally stuffed and sewed up these little balls from Knitting for Baby:


And last but not least, I finished a sock.

Socks and sock

I finally finished these socks that I started a few months ago. They are plain 2x2 rib knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in powder blue.
I also finished this sock, knit from Fortissima Colori Socka Color, color 9094 (I found the label!). This is a plain stockinette sock, of which I haven't knit for quite some time (since my first couple of pairs); I was amazed at how quickly it went. I loved how I could pick it up and stop at any point without having to think about it at all. Great for car knitting, and I also found it incredibly soothing to knit while letting my brain work through other things. This sock also provided some practice time for knitting while reading and with my eyes closed. From now on I plan to have a stockinette sock in progress at all times.

(F had to take pictures too.)

This puts me at 3 1/2 pairs of socks for the year. My goal is 6 pairs and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it! (Which means that I will have accomplished both of my New Year's resolutions. I don't think I've ever completed all my resolutions before.) I have 5 socks on the needles right now so I just have to finish those and that'll be it.

This is a test.

This is only a test. Had this been an actual Dish Rag Tag dishcloth, it would have turned out much better (not to mention that my team would be disqualified for starting early).

Four Corners Dishcloth by 1870Pearl


This turned out to my my first successful provisional cast-on. I did make a little mistake in the grafting, but it doesn't bug me enough that I'll rip and redo it. The only really bad thing? It doesn't meet the regulation size (good thing I test knit it before the race!) of 9"; it's only 8" across. So next time I'll add a few more stitches.

Sigh. I don't think I'll ever get the hang of this "frequent posting" thing.

Works-in-progress Wednesday

I finished my first Sockapalooza sock yesterday evening. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) Here it is being worn on one of my blockers from Leggy Creations.


Naturally, I immediately cast on for two different socks.


On the top, Claudia Handpainted in Carousel that I got for my birthday. (A colorway which I just discovered has been discontinued, which makes me want to buy out all I can find. Too bad I'm on a yarn diet.) I love this yarn. It's dreamily soft and the colors are so vibrant that just looking at it makes me feel happy.
On the bottom... I'm not sure. However, it is the Very First sock yarn I ever bought. Many moons ago. I started to knit it up once but it turned out too small so I ripped it and it's just been sitting in the yarn basket ever since. It's the only self-patterning yarn I own.
I didn't take any pictures of my progress because I neglected to take photos before the natural light faded. But I only have the cuffs done, so it's really not that exciting anyway.

Works-in-progress Wednesday

Finally. some decent progress to show on my Sockapalooza socks. They are coming along quite nicely, despite the fact that I can only work on them here and there. A friend of mine watched my girls last week while I went to Starbucks and knitted, and then I got a good chunk done last night after the wee ones were asleep.

Sockapalooza

So I've finally started my Sockapalooza socks. My pal pretty much said to do anything, so I chose this lovely red Lisa Souza yarn and started the Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. I think the pattern and the yarn will go well together, plus I got gauge on the first try. Always a good sign.

Tradja

Books I no longer care to own:

Knit Lit (like new)
Knitting Lessons (worn)
The Knitter's Gift (like new)
220 Aran Stitches (like new)
The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches (like new)
Vogue Knitting on the go: Baby Knits Two (slightly worn)
Vogue Knitting on the go: Baby Blankets (slightly worn)

Things I would like to own:

Eliminate Chaos: The 10-step Process to Organize your Home and Life
The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness
Vogue Knitting 2006 Spring/Summer
Interweave Knits Summer 2006
Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Sock yarn (I'd especially like to try Cider Moon and Schaefer Anne)
dpn case
Small knitting bag (sock-project sized) with interior pocket(s), preferably with a close-able top

Anybody wanna trade? I'd prefer to ship to the US due to postage costs.

Well, here I am.

Thank you for your kind comments and e-mails. Yes, I am okay. I think. I am going through some pretty bad postpartum depression and anxiety, and while I am not back to being myself again, I am getting better.

I know I've thought several times about different blog posts, but the only thing I can think of at the moment to show you is this:
The Olive You hat from Itty Bitty Hats (I love that book, by the way). Since I don't crochet, I did a seed stitch border instead of the called-for crochet. I also omitted the extra pimentos because once I got the olives on there I really liked the way it looked. And I made tassels instead of pom-poms because I like them better. It was my first time appliquéing and I thought that I would hate it (all those ends!), but it was actually really fun. It's been years since I've hand-sewed anything and it felt good to do it again. And here's a modeled shot:


Some dear friends of ours had their first baby on Sunday. Unfortunately he topped the scales at 9 pounds 5 ounces and so he has probably already outgrown his hat.

So how have you been?

A wee tiny sock!

First off, I need to apologize to The Imperfect Knitter that it has taken me so long to post this.

I got my wee tiny sock (by Royal Mail)!


I love it; it's absolutely adorable. She even sent along extra yarn so I can make it a pair! I plan to use my wee socks as Christmas tree ornaments. Thank you so much!