You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2006.
These have been on the needles for a while — I put them aside because they were kind of boring. I don’t particularly care for toe-up socks, I think I’m more of a top-down girl. Now I can say that I tried it, and I do like how they turned out — they’re very cozy!
The boring stuff:
Toe-up socks, I read a bunch of patterns and winged (wung?) it
Knit with Lamb’s Pride Superwash, colors: Aquamarine and Plum Crazy; on US4 needles.
I used a figure eight cast on, afterthought heel, and bound off with a US8 needle.
The long story….
So while I was shaping the neck for the left front of the coat, I noticed that I was two stitches short. Huh? How did that happen? Uh…
Seems I neglected to put two stitches back on the needle when I had to rip back eleventy-thousand stitches ago. Crap. I had to decide then and there — do I want this to be perfect, or do I want to get my freaking gold medal? Tough call. If I wasn’t under a time constraint I’d have totally frogged back to fix it. But I knew that if I did, there was no way I would finish. I’d be demoralized, and in turn it would sit in a bin for a few months before I could stand to look at it again. So I chose to forge ahead.
Post blocking:
As I was knitting the buttonhole band (I still had to knit the collar after that), I had a realization — I looked up at my husband and said, “holy crap, there is no way, I am totally going to run out of yarn.” I wasn’t on the edge of tears (yet) but it was the most depressing feeling…but still I kept at it, thinking that if I came close enough I could felt together all of the dregs I was accumulating and maybe, just maybe, I could make it. We were praying for a knitting miracle. And lo and behold….
Multiplication of the yarn, I swear. That’s what was left.
The boring stuff:
Out to Play Coat from Louisa Harding’s Miss Bea’s Rainy Day
Knit in Nashua Handknits Creative Focus (75% wool, 25% alpaca) color: Aubergine; on US6 and US8 needles.
Pattern modified to replace the cable pattern ’cause I didn’t particularly care for the one called for. Also, I knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat.
I’m feeling very SP-M about this whole thing…am I going to make it?? It didn’t seem too out of the question a few days ago, but after today I’m just not sure. I had to rip out an entire 16-row cable repeat, then had to tink some rows here and there, and at the end of the day I’m on row 93 of 126, with a whole ‘nother panel to finish on Saturday. My hands hurt. I’m not especially enjoying this. But I’m so freaking stubborn, I feel the need to punish myself and keep going.
Shining moment: When I discovered that I screwed up 20 rows ago and had to rip out a pattern repeat…the Xs and Os didn’t look right…my five year old said, “Mama, I was going to say, you can’t really see the Xs and Os. You should make that in light blue or something.”
Yeah, right, like I’m ever making this again. (lol)
Well, I knitted a grand total of 1.5 inches on Day 14 because for some reason, my left thumb is really, really sore. (Also? I’ve been staying up til 1 every night and my body shut down at 9 p.m., eliminating most of my knitting time.) So nothing much to show. I spent this morning re-charting the pattern because I really don’t care for the cable she chose for the border. I like this one so much better; it looks like Xs and Os:
Only 16 inches left to go on the right front!
The back and two sleeves are completed. That just leaves the front left and right, the button band, collar, and finishing. I think I can swing that….
I was pretty cranky about Monday’s postal holiday…but it was all worth the wait:
12 skeins total: 4 DB Alpaca Silk, 4 Cashmerino Aran, and 4 Baby Cashmerino. It’s all for charity knitting — the CKP and other things I’ve had on the back burner. Lovely stuff. Sigh.
Finished the back (all 22 inches of it) and half of a sleeve. That’s 126+ rows of stockinette. Yawn. Good thing I like this yarn a lot — I can’t wait to see what it feels like after it’s blocked.
No rest for the weary, I tell ya…
So I finished the Cookie Sweater at around ten last night, then cast on a scarf for myself, because it’s hella cold here and I really need one. It was actually more of a cowl than a scarf…and I say “was” because I finished it at around 1 a.m. then got up and ripped it out first thing this morning. Something just wasn’t right.
But that can wait for now, because it’s warmed up a tad and I need to spend every free moment working on this:
I cast on the second of my two Olympic projects this morning. I took the photo around lunchtime…now I have almost 9 inches of the back finished. I’m feeling a little like I bit off more than I can chew, but this is the KO, after all — I think I’m supposed to feel this way. None of this finishing your KO project with a week to spare…this one will be down to the wire.
heyjulie.wordpress.com 