Needles & hooks

Stymied by Counting

I was hoping to post that I’d completed yet another project (the Corn Bunting), but just as I was starting to assemble it, I noticed a fatal counting error.

By 4pm today, I’d finished the principal stitching on all the pieces, just assembly and trim was left. I had one small mistake in the corn-stitch pieces, but it was off to the side and halfway through the piece and I decided that I was being picky about it. So on to joining the shoulders. 30-odd stitches needed to be left open in the back to attach the hood, so I set about centering them. And I noticed that I somehow didn’t have enough stitches on the back. Small panic, but I figured that maybe I did the same thing on the front. No luck. So I looked closely at the pattern to see where I went wrong and how I might fix it. Turns out that when doing increases near the feet (on a bottom-up piece), I stopped when I had enough stitches for the small size, not the medium size I was making.

Ack, 8 measley stitches made the whole thing not work.

So I ripped it back to the increase section and I’m reworking from there. Fortunately, this part is a slightly modified stockinette stitch, not hard to redo. But I was so hoping to finish it this weekend. I’ll have to do a lot of stitching today and tomorrow to accomplish that.

And I know I should circle the counts I’m using in the pattern, but I never made a photocopy of that pattern and I don’t like to ruin the original pattern. That wil learn me.

But the day was not a complete waste, because I also finished charting the sleeve for the Shawl Collar sweater for my sister. So as soon as the Corn is finished, I’m taking that up again.

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Completion!

I’ve finished the Mouse Baby Project. With all the embellishments, it turned out really cute in the end. Here’s a shot of the hat. See the Project Notes for a full suite of pictures and some errata.

With that out of the way, I’ve picked up the Corn Bunting as my next project to finish off. I’d already completed the back last time I’d worked on it, so last night I cast on the front and I’m making great progress. It’s so nice to be working on something else again!

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Forever Finishing

I’m going to stop making predictions about when I’m going to finish the Mouse Baby set, because it seems that’s all I do. When we last spoke, I had finished the hat entirely, had some tails and embellishing for the blanket, and had to do tails, assembly and more to the sweater.

Well, the blanket tails are woven in.

To be fair, I’ve made a lot of progress on the sweater. Repeatedly. I’ve gotten most of the tails woven in. And I sewed the shoulders. Then I had to knit on a collar. That’s where the fun started. I picked up stitches around the front, reclaimed those on the back holder, then picked up more on other front. And the first time through, I had the exact number of required stitches.

But then I wondered about “pick up and knit”. Am I to simply pick up stitches in the bound off section and knit those on the holder? Or in the bound section am I to pick up a stitch, knit it, and then pick up another? I did it the first way. And then I wondered about the second. I figured that if I knit the stitches immediately after picking each up, that they would lock around the bound off stitch and provide a smooth transition instead of leaving a selvidge edge on the inside. So I yanked off all my new stitches and started over.

For some reason, my count didn’t turn out as well this time and I had to redo it a couple of times. But then I had 58 stitches and away I went, knitting the ribbing and binding it off. And darn if that “locked in” technique didn’t look like crap.

So I looked at the magazine photo of the finished piece and decided that they did it the way I had the first time. I ripped it all out and started over yet again. After picking up or knitting the 58 stitches, it was time for bed.

That was Tuesday night.

Last night I made more progress. I finally finished the collar and I also added the button bands down the front. I even attached one of the sleeves. Now I just have to attach the other sleeve and sew the side seams. And then embellish. But I’m not making any predictions. Although I might have it finished by the time the recipient goes to college.

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Sock Magic

Last night I took a class teaching the Magic Loop method to make two socks at the same time.
Here’s the little sample sock I made to learn some of the techniques. It was also my first attempt at making a sock toe-up. (that’s a quarter sitting next to it, to show you how tiny it is)

I’m totally in love with the Magic Loop technique and dying to try it out on other things. While we were trying the two at a time, top-down technique with tiny tubes, I realized that it would probably be a great method for gloves as well. And now all I want to do is make socks or gloves.

Alas, I have other projects that need finishing, so I must restrain myself. But, I’m almost done with the Mouse Baby project. The hat is all finished, the blanket just needs embellishments and the sweater needs weaving, assembling and embellishments. I think I’ll be finished tonight.

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Booga Boogie

I got the Booga Bag done in 2 days!

Very fast project. And tons of fun. The felting was easy, even in my coin-op, no controls washer. You can see the “before felting” photo in the project notes. It’s really cute and I think my mom will love it and my sisters will beg for their own. Of course, now I want to felt everything. I’ve got to remember that I’ve lots of other projects to finish.

Most importantly, the Mouse Baby project must get done because I just now learned that the recipient was born last week. Fortunately, I’ve been working on that. The blanket is stitched, it just has a little weaving in and the embellishments.

I’m making steady progress on the sweater. I ripped out what I’d done before because I didn’t remember what size needle I’d used and I figure I couldn’t hope to guess and match the gauge. But I finished a new back last night and the left side of the front.

I’m almost finished with the right side of the front, then I just have sleeves and hat and finishing. I’ll make as much progress as possible tonight, then I’m off to Los Angeles for work again, so I’ll probably take Marcel with me.

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My name is Amy and I have a problem

I wasn’t going to start any new projects because I’m up to my ears in current ones and ones on deck. I’m having trouble trying to find good places to stash new yarn. I have this huge box of stuff (not yarn) waiting to go to Goodwill that I’m sitting on because it hides the towering stash behind it.

And then yesterday I was reading another blog (I told you that was dangerous) and I saw a suggestion to make a Booga Bag for Mother’s Day. And I realized that Mother’s Day was coming up, and FAST!. And that while Kureyon comes in colorways that don’t personally appeal, they are exactly what my mom would love. And that I could probably stitch up the bag in a couple of days. So I stopped by the knitting store on the way home last night and picked up some yarn and the needles. And it was the perfect thing to do during the Friends finale. Knitting in the round, nothing to think about. I got through one ball last night. Two more to go. Then the felting.

I haven’t done any felting yet because I haven’t had my own washing machine. But for mom, I’ll spend the quarters. Gotta read up on it today; with luck I’ll have the stitching finished by Mother’s Day for a slightly late delivery.

Of course, I can’t get out of a knitting store with just the project I came with. I ended up buying Debbie Bliss’ Baby Cashmerino book. I was also tempted by Zoe Mellor’s Adorable Knits for Tots, but I resisted. And I got some light-colored sock yarn for the Magic Loop class I signed up for and the needles. It’s a nice bright blue that I think I’ll end up giving to my sister L. And it means I can return the yarn I’d originally got for the class that I never really liked.

So hopefully I’ll finish the Booga Bag in the next few days and then I can say I’ve finally finished something. Even though I just started it!

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Not Knots!

I finished the principal stitching on the Mouse Baby Blanket last night. I just have to weave in the ends. And oh, how many ends there are. I didn’t weave them for the second to last row of blocks, because the last row of blocks was relatively simple. And then, in that last row, it seemed there was at least one knot in every ball of yarn. I was constantly ripping back sections so I could cut out knots. So I have many unplanned ends to weave in. I think that was my punishment for choosing to watch the earthquake movie.

Tonight I’ll finish up all the weaving, then I just have the embellishments to do. But I’ll save those until I finish the hat and sweater. Pics later.

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