Needles & hooks

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Do frogs come in plagues?

Yesterday I finished the second half of the Rugby Romper. And then I frogged the whole thing. I noticed a distinct change in gauge (albeit with the same needles) starting halfway up the 2nd half. Sure, I could have fixed it by only ripping that part back and redoing it with larger needles. But I liked the look of the tighter gauge better. Which would have meant redoing the first side, half of the second, and then some tricky grafting back to the part I did like. And as I didn’t like the project enough to justify that use of my time, I decided to can it. I think the gauge problem was due to length of time I was working on it, long because it was at the bottom of my pile. Fortunately, the other project I’ve been working on equally long is not showing any gauge issues. But the message is clear. I’m really finishing one of the items on my Active Projects list before starting either of the two sweaters whose yarns are in bags at my feet.

And while I was ripping out stitches, I took my gloves off the needles and ripped the fingers off of one of them. The other one will need to be done as well, but I don’t have another size 1 needle, which is needed to get the magic loop techinque back on track for both together (a far amount of shifting left and right getting all the tiny stitches from the same row back on the needles).

But the weekend wasn’t a complete waste. I got a lot more work done on the Squiggles sweater. I’m well beyond the halfway point (marked with some sock yarn) and almost done with the back-of-the-neck shaping.

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Temporary Diversion

Active projects list be damned. I made a Hallowig:

It took me about 5 hours, all told. Took slightly less than one ball of Wool-Ease. It’s a little tighter than I would like, and were I to do it again, I’d make it a little shorter and maybe add a few more ribs so I don’t have to stretch it so much (don’t know if blocking will help).

I finished it up last night at our regular bar night with my husband. Several of the staff complimented me or said they wanted one. My husband said it was a fake mullet. I let him sleep in the bed anyway.

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Giving gloves the finger

Last night I decided to rotate, so I pulled the sock glove project out of the drawer and worked a few rows. Until I tried them on again and decided that I really don’t like the pattern formula for figuring out how many stitches to give each finger. My index finger has as many (or more?) stitches as the thumb. The pinky finger has almost none. So the index finger is baggy and the pinky is way too tight. You can see their decreasing size in the first photo and the incorrect fit in the second.

So I have to frog them back to the palms. And I didn’t want to concentrate on that last night while watching the game. I worked on the Squiggles sweater instead. I’m steadily working my way across the back there. You can see in the photo that I’m firmly past the armhole.

And because I haven’t shown it since my travels, here’s the progress on Marcel’s sweater:

I’m itching to start on a new project, but I think that tonight I’ll make another holiday ornament.

Also, before I went away, I mentioned that I received a travelling stash box containing cross-stitch and needlepoint items. I finally opened it tonight. This is what it contained:

I removed some pattern books for doll house furnishings:

And also some needlepoint novelty fibers. These will be useful when I get the Knitting for Barbie book.

Finally, I leave you with a photo of Grace, aged 3 months, modelling the Matinee Coat:

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Administrivia

Some of you noticed that I set up a site feed recently. I’ve also discovered Bloglines and I’ve done a little house keeping. Bloglines is great because you can set up an account that lists all the blogs you read. And they’ll keep track of when there is new content, so no need to keep checking a ton of pages continuously. Overall, I think using it means I can actually read more blogs. Eeek!

It’s straight and steady on the knitting front. Did more work on Marcel’s sweater while travelling. I’m a few rows away from armhole shaping. Now that I’m home, more inches on the Squiggles sweater. I’ve gotten past the shaping for the first arm hole. I haven’t had a chance to pick up my Zig Zag yarn, but I did swatch the Martina sweater. Worked with my Denises for that, but they don’t feel as solid in my hands as Addis do. So I was going to switch over once I found gauge, but I noticed that Denises are irregularly sized! So more swatching is necessary. *sigh*

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Back to drowning in active projects

Got back from a business trip to DC this week. What with waiting in the airport and spending every night in my hotel room watching the Red Sox kick Yankee ass, I added several inches to Marcel’s sweater. I’m getting close to armhole shaping. I’m off to Philly for the weekend, and I somehow think I’ll have more knitting time tomorrow night…

But during my brief layover at home last night, there were nice surprises waiting for me:

1) A call from my SIL gushing over the Matinee Coat I made for my niece. I made that in Cashmerino and when I sent it off, I wrote “Every girl needs a cashmere sweater” in the card. That got a chuckle. Sarah promises photos soon.

2) The Martina yarn for the Eyelet Cable Raglan in the new fall Adrienne Vittadini arrived from my order. I got the yummy lavender that is pictured on the cover. I photocopied the pattern today. I may bring a ball with me to Philly to swatch. Need to check my needle supply (or maybe I’ll play with my Denises, hmmm….)

3) A call from my LYS that the Rowan Wool Cotton I ordered for the Zig Zag Sweater in the Fall Knitty is now waiting for me to pick up. I’ll have to pick it up on Monday. It awaits with a store credit, because I cancelled another pre-paid order that was MIA for 3 months so I think I’ll buy Addi’s for it while I’m there.

4) A travelling cross-stitch/needlepoint stash arrived on my doorstep. I haven’t opened it yet, I’m going to let it sleep until I get back on Sunday night.

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Two steps forward, 8 steps back

I worked on the cable swatches last night and played around with my edge technique. And I finally got it right. So right that I have to redo all the swatches that I decided were done. Ack!

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Smothered by Swatches

This weekend I sat down with my TKGA Masters 1 submission and figured out where it’s going. I blocked a few more of those swatches and decided to redo a few. I’ve finally figured out the cause one of my most frustrating tension issues. When doing stockinette, the 2nd stitch on the knit sides alternates between being too loose and too tight. I tried doing some rows tight and some rows loose, I tried wrapping the purls the other way, I tried wrapping the knits the other way, and while I could see the results of each, nothing addressed the critical issue.

Now I know that the problem is caused because nothing anchors the tension of the last stitch on the purl row, so opening the first stitch up wide on the knit side, or tightening that stitch, steals excess yarn from the purl row. However, I’m not sure how that will translate to technique and how successful I will be with it.

Anyway, I took some pictures of my blocked swatches and put them in a new project notes page for the Masters course.

I returned an extra ball of yarn from the Matinee Coat and looked around the store for something to spend the store credit on and picked up a ball of Rowan Wool Cotton with the Zig Zag sweater in mind. I swatched that up and got perfect gauge with just one strand. So I’ll get enough of that and get started. I also decided that since I still haven’t received the yarn for the Classic Slant Cardigan that I’m going to try to cancel my special order (it’s been nearly 3 months and I’ve lost enthusiam).

I also made some progress with the gloves. I’ve just divided for the fingers, but it’s a bit of a mess right now, so no photos until you can see the fingers!

Tonight I’ll try to clean up those gloves and play with that technique issue a bit, then I’m off to Maryland for work. I’ll probably bring either Marcel or Squiggles because they’re both pretty easy to travel with.

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An inch here, an inch there

I added an inch or so to Marcel’s sweater on Wednesday and last night I added an inch or two to the Squiggles sweater. Neither of them have really noticeable progress, so I didn’t bother with photos this time.

Did I mention that I got the new Adrienne Vittadini pattern book? Many things I want to make, include the yummy purple sweater on the front cover. So it must have been fate that I got an e-mail last night from The Handworks Gallery about their Vittadini Trunk Show Sale. They’ve got all the yarn, they have it in kits (that unfortunately include the pattern, which I don’t need), and they have it 20% off. I think I got on their list when I was looking around for the missing balls for the project that I just frogged. There are a couple of on-line sources where I could get it a little cheaper, but I think I will go with them because they actually have it in stock right now. Part of the reason the other project got frogged was that it took so long to get the yarn in the first place. Grrr.

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Progress and Purge

I made a lot of progress on the sock-yarn gloves during my train rides to and from New York. The thumbs have emerged and I have about a half an inch before I need to divide for the fingers. If it’s not already obvious, I’m making these with the Magic Loop technique, both at the same time. I’m loving it. Here’s what they look like now:

I got home from New York earlier than I expected, so I sat down and worked on the Rugby Romper. I made stunning progress. I’ve divided for the armholes and worked part of one side past that. So I’m almost finished with the second side and then the sleeves are left. Here’s where the body piece stands:

Finally, today I did a lot of cleaning. And one of the things I did was go through my yarn, reorganize and purge. I frogged the Dianna tank and the yarn will wait for spring. I also frogged part of a blanket I started crocheting for a layette set long ago. The baby is walking around now, and I lost enthusiasm. It was time to give it up. What all of this means is that I have a pile of free yarn up for grabs. Take a look.

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Presenting…. The Matinee Coat

Finished her up last night. Could use a little blocking on the edge trim, so I’ll attempt that on my day off on Monday (I’m going away until then).

I’m now confronted with the problem, not of what to start next, but how to re-prioritize my Active Projects list. Nothing on it has a crucial deadline, but I want to keep up the rotation so that each makes progress. I’ve pretty much decided to frog the Dianna Sweater and put it on hold until the spring. No sense making a tank top when there’s winter sweaters to be made. I’m inclined to bump up one of the two projects that have been languishing. A couple weeks of intensity for the Rugby Romper will probably finish it off. I have no enthusiasm for it, but it is taking up a lot of space in my WIP dresser.

I’m taking the sock gloves with me this weekend to knit while I’m on the train tonight. And as a backup, I’m taking the Squiggles sweater because it’s still pretty small and doesn’t require a lot of complicated work.

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