It wasn't all bad

The weekend wasn't all bad.

Saturday I was involved in some stash enhancement with G and I bought some yarn to make Alice Starmore's Norfolk from Fisherman Knits. It is really a lovely chestnut brown.


Then my friend Kelly came to visit one Sunday and we dyed some wool. She took hers home before we got pictures but here is what I dyed.




That part of the weekend was productive and fun.

Exercising my frustration

I knit 4 (four) more swatches during the last week. Okay so I really knit the first two swatches four times.

I am rowing out something disgusting. I have no idea why! I broke out all the sweaters I've made in the last six months. I have whole backs, fronts and sleeves without a single row out. So Why when making these swatches can't I make a single inch without a row out? I have random uneven stitches as well. Maybe I'm trying too hard?! All I really know is that I'm getting really frustrated.

Master Knitting

I finished my first swatch last night and blocked it this morning. I think it sucks 9 kinds of ass (to quote ColoradoKnits). I am going yarn shopping with G on Saturday so I might see if they have some other worsted weight yarn I can snag and make another set of swatches out of it. Of course I have already made 3 different sets of swatches with 3 different kinds of yarn and not been happy with them. But I am mailing them in July 1 whether I like them or not! At least that will be forward progress. Film (as it were) at 11.

Here is my swatch. It will have to be redone.

Weekend - in which we drive, some more

Friday dawned and we packed the car, then looked for coolers. Out intention was to return home with tasty meat. After wasting 20 minutes looking for coolers we left for a 9 hour drive to my mother's house. (Telling myself it takes 9 hours makes it seem not so long.) Plus we stopped about half-way to see the new baby and spent almost two hours visiting so it did take 9 hours.

The reason for taking the car instead of the train was to return with tasty meat. I brought back some steaks, a roast and some ground beast. Meat takes more time than that to freeze. Driving home with 1/2 of a not frozen beef was not considered a good idea.

Saturday we looked at sweaters and decided that the small sleeve must come out. I am not surprised, I suspected as much. I did however enjoy several months where that sweater was, for all intents, done. The sleeve is now unknit and on needles. I hope to have it done by the 29th. I will then sew it up, cut it up and sew it together. Mother can then knit up the collar and button bands. I also brought home the sweater I made for Dad. It is too warm (?) so I am going attempt, against all odds, to acquire something to make button bands so he can have a cardigan. And they wonder why I am reluctant to knit for others.

On the up side my mother politely failed to discover the error on the back of her knotwork sweater (ie the sweater from hell). I also managed to knit a row and a half on it while there.

Then we went out and spent 5 hours cutting and packaging a beef. This should not be attempted without a good sense of humor and a box of bandaid. We did however get meat that was packaged per our needs and briskets that were briskets! There will be corned beef in my future!

We then got up Sunday morning and returned to the metropolis. Interspersed there was horse brushing, combing and admiring. My parents' horses like me, my mother is very pleased by this and thinks I should move closer so I can help with them. She has a jumper for me, he is a nice 1 year old and I would really enjoy teaching him and stuff. Alas I have no job there. :(

I arrived home to two boxes of yarn and a wooly board. I sorted yarn (as best I could) the shipping was high but we still paid less for the yarn and shipping from the mill then we would have paid at the shop. It will be cheaper to ship next time as well, since we won't be getting another wooly board.

Best go - I have an appointment and I have to see if I can figure out where it is.

No Rogue Monday

Last night there was no work on Rogue. G was working on a cute little baby dress. I attempted to find some nice non-wool yarn to also make a cute little baby something. I couldn't find any. In the end I was enabled to make a cute little bonnet.

G wants to finish the dress so I can take it to the baby on my way to visit my folks this weekend. We talked about going to Stitches Midwest, but not this year. I'm already booked that weekend. That should take care of all my excess money and vacation next year: Knitting camp in July and Stitches in August.

We then proceeded to talk about all the knitblog people we could hope to meet.

No more guilt - but new shame.

For reasons I missed people are posting pictures of their stash on their blogs.

I am an amateur! There are professional yarn collectors out their and I am not one of them. I'm a wannabe.

Our J&S order has shipped.

That is all.

Another Rogue Monday

Fiber enablers was great last night. I worked on my Rogue and I am at chart C row 33.

After everyone left I knit the last lace swatch. This time with the silk and Brittany needles. The Skacels were to slick and I kept loosing stitches. It blocked fine. I like the idea of using silk - but it was pretty slick and I think it would be an exercise in frustration. I'm probably going with the shetland cobweb. I can order that from J&S when I order the yarn I left off of the last order.The samples are: Gassamer Merino, Shetland Cobweb and Gossamer Silk. The silk has serious tension issues. It is really too bad that you can't reall see the fineness of the fiber here. My camera just isn't good enough.

Knitting Camp costs about $650 from Thursday through Monday. This includes classes, four nights hotel, hotel breakfast, lunch and snack. I'm going to save money so I can go next year. I spent almost that going to the EGA convention in Minneapolis and it didn't even include food or hotel. Still expensive, but I think it will be worth it. Applications for this year are due starting Friday, I have to save for the remodeling and I can't get out of my responsibilities at WW this year. So I'm going to just suck up that I can't go this year and enjoy the fact that I get to go to Pennsic instead and spend a weekend at Lillies.

I also started ANOTHER sweater Sunday. This one is a lopi sweater. I will be dividing my time between that and mother's sweater. I have only about half the front to finish and since we are going to visit her the 14th I hope to have the pieces done to take along. She can sew them up, try it on and I can put the neck on it either while I'm there or have it ready for her to pick up when she comes here the end of April.

I'm still balling yarn for the cardigan. I have to find some freetime to read the pattern and make some copies of the charts. I'm willing to bet I finish the lopi before I get all the yarn balled for the cardigan.

I've fallen off the wagon!

Yes - I bought yarn. My mother has declared it is her fault though. She wanted to order from J&S but she was afraid to do it herself. So she begged me to order too and combine our orders and place the order. I was a hard sell but she was a good salesperson. (okay - I caved)

I convinced another friend to join us. I ordered a wooly board as well. I know I have the wood to make one and I'm still going to - but since we were ordering anyway and it is over $100 less to get it from there (including s&h and exchange) I decided I could have two.

I ordered the yarn this morning. I had forgotten how to dial over seas. I sent the order by e-mail and called in the CC number. Now I get to sit on pins and needles and wait for the yarn to show. I hope it is here before my mother comes in a month.

I ordered yarn for a sweater I want to design. I have drafted the graphs and the pattern is sketched. Once I get the swatches done I might be looking for people to test the pattern for me. Any one want to volunteer? If it works out I'm going to donate the pattern to NS for fundraising. Yes - a NS sweater. What is a good price?

EDIT - Crap! while figuring out how much each person owes I discovered that I forgot to order part of the yarn I needed. Looks like I'll have to place another order. I will wait until the first bit comes and then order the remainder for the sweater and the cobweb for the lacework at the same time.

It's official

I am a freak! I discovered that I had dropped a stitch in an aran knot on Mother's sweater. I attempted to find it and knit it up but I couldn't. So I unknit the entire knot section and reknit the knot back up. I couldn't face unknitting the entire thing down to where I could find the dropped stitch. It turned out well and I can only barely see the slight tension issue from the reknitting. I think blocking will make it almost impreceptable. Pictures later.

I have balled about half of the yarn for the cardigan. It is REALLY fine. I had an interesting experience when one of the balls I was winding jumped off the ball winder. I have two balls of that color now.

No Rogue Monday

Since G decided to stay home last night I didn't work on my Rogue last night. I worked on Mother's sweater (I had the first pattern repeat done Sunday and the knots were too big. The guage seemed fine - but the knotwork wasn't. I now have 1/2 of the first repeat done. It looks much better. The gauge on the stockinette stitch was fine - but the knots worked up too loose. It was less than 1/4 inch longer and no wider but it LOOKED much different.

I have about 1/2 of pattern on the Mary Tudor done. I'm almost where I was when I un-knit it. It looks much better and I'm happy with it.

I have decided that my next project will be this Cardigan I bought the kit on clearance last year. I have a couple of the skeins balled. The yarn to very fine. It should be a lot of fun. I am going to start it when I finish the front for Mother's sweater. I will make the swatch sometime this week.

Success!

I got the split splicing to work! Go Me! I'm so excited. WooHoo.

I checked my gauge. I'm perplexed. It is knit much more loosely, and the gauge is 16 stitches per inch instead of the required 15. I'm not going to sweat it. But I'm perplexed. I was worried that the gauge was going to be 12 stitches per inch and I'd have to really tighten up my knitting. It seemed so LOOOOSE.

I make a gauge swatch and then constantly check my gauge while knitting. I'm obsessive, although I have stopped checking it with socks. Gauge can change a lot from week to week, depending on stress and things. I'm worse about checking gauge with fair isle because the constant work on stranding properly doesn't leave enough brain power for watching gauge. Once I get into a rhythm I'm better but since I'm now trying to do all these other new things with this sweater I'm very concern that my gauge is going to get all wonky on me.

I got out my Katherine of Aragon Kit and played with the yarn a little. I read through the instructions. I have to go through and count my skeins. There are two versions and I can't remember which one I bought yarn to make. Then I'm going to set up my ball winder/swift and have the daughter ball yarn. I'm hoping she'll manage to get it all done - but she has a tendancy to get all pouty about the 4th ball and quit.

This weekend I MUST cast on for the front of my mother's sweater. Probably Sunday since I have sewing to do Saturday.

Tah

Why isn't it Friday?

I got up early and did some knitting on Mary Tudor this morning. I'm about 1/2 way through the bottom band. I think it looks better and I'm enjoying practicing carrying my threads across the back.

I have given up on spit splicing. I'm doing something horribly wrong and nothing is more irritating that doing the splice and leaving it to dry and then coming back hours later only to have the splice come apart - I could have knit a couple rows in those couple hours! So, back to weaving in the ends for me. Of course I'll try it again a hundred more times before I really give it up completely.

I think I'm going to ball up another sweater kit that I have sitting around. Call it incentive. Trouble is - which one. And if I set aside one night each week to work on a different sweater would I get 5 of them done? Rogue - Monday, Mary Tudor - Tuesday, Jamiesons Lilies - Wednesday, Katherine of Aragon - Thursday and Friday off for good behavior or to work on the most fascinating pattern (not Rogue). Oh - now there's a plan. Although I think Friday and the weekend will have to be the front of Mom's sweater just so I can get it done.

I'll think on that some.

Snow Days

This weekend I ripped out the Mary Tudor. Thank you for all the helpfully comments. It came down to - I won't be happy with it so it needs to come out. It is once again a bag full of yarn balls.

I have now attempted to restart it a couple times. I started redoing the cast-on this morning for the third time. It's a new (to me) cast-on recommended by AS for this style of knitting. I got a copy of her Fair Isle knitting book cheap. It was about $100 including shipping, last copy I saw on Ebay went for over $200 and used book stores list it at $125 so it was a bargain? It really is a nice book with a lot of useful information. Including many chapters on designing your own. I'm glad to have it but I can't believe how much money I spent on it. I am using the techniques suggested by her in Fair Isle knitting. We'll see how the sweater turns out.

Fiber enablers and terrorists society didn't meet last night due to the storm. I'm glad my friends were smart enough to stay home. But there was no progress on Rogue.

I got a couple more Elizabeth Zimmerman books last weekend. I really want to go to knitting camp in July. It is run by Elizabeth's daughter Meg Swansen now. Unfortunately the session I want to attend is the same weekend as another annual get together that I usually attend. This year I am commited and don't really think I can back out. But maybe next year I can attend knitting camp instead.

Bitch Warning

I like rings, web rings, blog rings all kinds of rings. They are fun to surf through and join. Many blog rings require that you update your blog on a regular basis. I have no issue with this. It sounds like a good requirement to me.

But if you are going to require that people update their blogs regularily - then for heaven's sake make sure you update your ring regularily. Sitting in the queue for weeks and months is not conducive to pleasant feelings. Especially when there is no contact about why you are still in the queue. The code is up and functioning, blog updating is occuring.

The other thing that has been getting on my nerve lately (yes I have only one) is the dreaded Knit Along. If you are going to post that you are hosting a KAL on an open list and that everyone is welcome to join you then for the love of pearl when people ask to join RESPOND. Didn't get enough information - say so, don't know if you want this person to join you - say so. Complete silence is NOT the sign of a good host. Not to mention that when I see you posting about how you need one more skein of yarn X to finish a sweater for your beloved even if I have it, in the right dye-lot and I plan to never use it I am not likely to offer it to you. Just saying.

This week in knitting

I did finish the sleeves on Monday and managed a couple rows on my Rogue. WooHoo. I was telling Mother this and that I hoped to have it done so she could sew it up and I could add the collar when she was here the end of April. She wanted to know why I didn't knit the body all one piece. Uhm - I started it that way and then when the patterns wouldn't come out and I had to take it out and reknit it over and over and over and over I decided against taking out 200+ stitches and recasting them everytime after the first restart - because of all the errata in that pattern and the added problem of the knotwork not coming out correctly. But now I have only the front left (YAY)

I think I'm going to take out my Mary Tudor and start it over. I've learned a lot about colored knitting since I started and stopped working on it (tension issues) I think I will do a much better job from here on up and I'd like it all to be better not just the last 20 inches. Does this sound crazy to everyone except me? You can see the progress through the link on the side bar - I'll take votes.

The weekend update

This is an exciting post - I spent all of my knitting time this weekend working on my mother's sleeves and THEY STILL AREN'T DONE. I did no other knitting all weekend. I'm close to finishing them though - I think. Of course I also thought I'd have them finished by the end of the weekend and I was wrong about that.

I hope to finish them tonight. Yes it is Rogue Monday - but the sleeves are driving me crazy and I want them DONE. I think that it is the need to get things finished and out of my room so I can buy more yarn that is getting to me. Well that and she is coming to visit the end of April and I can send the sweater home with her if I get it finished. Then it will no longer be in my house!

I bought The Opinionated Knitter and I have a deep desire to make three or four of the sweaters in that book. Mostly I want to use her method for creating a sweater. I want to make a blue/teal/purple fair isle with green/yellow/ivory/pink flowers. Something lotus blossom-esque. Swatching will ensue as soon as the doodling is complete.

As Promised

Finally time was found to take pictures.

Rogue sweater Day 4


The sleeve for mother's sweater


The green yarn I spun a month or so ago:



Not much of an update - but more later.

Rogue Day 4

I did manage to knit on the Rogue for a couple hours last night. I wasn't motivated at all. I did get the front and back seperated and a couple rows on the back done. But if you consider that the first row I completed last night took me 20 minutes that's not bad. I had a terrible time all evening and reknitted several rows before I called it a night.

My spouse was being a wise ass and said I should just quit knitting and write patterns. Maybe edit them, but I'm not sure about writing them. The directions on the several of the last few sweaters I have started have been unclear and difficult to interpret. Which accounts for no small part of my frustration with a couple of projects I have on needles and some I've taken off needles and put aside.

From this weekend - I also have more than half of my mother's sleeves finished.

I'll post pictures later. It seems I left it on while I was playing with some of its features and the battery is dead.

Weekend workings

I finished this sweater this weekend.



Here is the sweater I've been making for my mother FOREVER

The Back:



The Sleeves:



This is a cardigan that I made for her last year. I can't finish is until she comes to visit. She has been waiting to see it since I finished it in December.




And tonight - Rogue Day 3

Rogue update.

Here are pictures of our progress from Monday 2

Giovanna:


Mine:

I had to rip mine out and redo it. Silly mistakes.