Dear Bloglines,
I noticed you changed your font today. Why does this unsettle me so much? I may never catch up with all the blogs I’m behind on, just because it jars me to notice it out of the corner of my eye. How do I unwire this?!
amy!
A while back I made some socks for my sister. And I sent them to her and they turned out to be too big, too long in the foot. And when I was visiting in August, I made her try them on and I marked out how much smaller they had to be. And brought them back with me.
Tonight, I inserted some needles into the row where I wanted to rip back to and started unravelling the toe. But it was slow going. Because at every side decrease, I didn’t have loops that just pulled out, I had a strand actually threaded through loops. I couldn’t figure out what would do that. Then I got to the pattern section, and the problem got worse. Suddenly, I got the sinking feeling that maybe I had knit these socks toe up.
So, I checked my helpful project notes (referenced above) and sure enough, that’s what I did. Oh, how savvy I felt at the time. Modifying the pattern and working it out. And now, I’m just one big frustrated idiot with a sock I can’t even rip out properly.
Well, I have to see if I still have extra yarn around. Because all I need to do is rip back to where I’m holding stitches and knit a toe. And if I have extra yarn, and I can insert small needles into the stitches I want to work from, I can just join some yarn and knit the toe. In fact, I can just cut off the offending extra length of foot instead of trying to rip it out in an orderly fashion. But overall, this will take far more work than I had planned. Ack!
Last we saw my Rock and Weave socks, all they needed was to have their ends woven in and some buttons affixed. Both got done. I have the cuff folded down on the one on the left because the back side of the stitch is pretty cool too.
And here’s a shot of just one where you can see that the cuff gapes a little at the bottom. I think it might be a little too long on that end. Nothing to do about it now.
Good thing those are done. Now I just have to finish the other sock club pair I have on the needles and then I can think about the new kit I got in the mail the other day. Not that I can start it until next month, because this is a finishing month…
The other project I have to show you tonight is the scribble shawl I played around with. Before:
After:
It’s another one that just wasn’t working out. I wanted to feature the red and silver yarns. But the gauge is really too tight to be scribble lace and the black yarn is too thick. I think I’ll get some laceweight black and try again on bigger needles. Someday.
Today I’ll show you two big things.
First, I finished the Ballet Cami:
Just in time to pack it away for winter. But it’s done and I wore it.
Also, I finished the principal knitting on the shawl for my grandma:
Here’s a close-up:
What you can’t see in the draped-on-the-fence shot is the shape. It’s not a triangle, really. The center is pretty long. I’m not sure whether it will block out or not. Also, because I’m not in the shot, you can’t see that it’s HUGE. 11 skeins of KPPPM will do that. So, I have to decide how to finish it. I think I want to put fringe at the ends of the cables, so that they grow out of it. And I’m just gonna deal with the shape for this one. Way too much work to try to re-work it.
However, before I write it up for pattern, I have to think about what to do. More decreases at the center? I’ve thought of putting a braid up the center too, might that solve it? And maybe I work it in a lighter weight yarn. Would the cables show up nicely in a lace weight? All good questions. Questions that will ferment while I finish up a few other things.
…I’ll show you my knitting spot. Like most of you, it’s on the couch, in front of my TV. Imagine me sitting in the corner next to the light, cat sometimes behind me on the green blanket, feet propped up on my coffee table. My special Ikea coffee table with the sliding tops. Underneath is one big WIP stash. In this shot, you can see Mermaid peeking out:
Here’s a shot from the other angle, so you can see my ancient TV sitting next to my not-so-ancient Tivo/DVD burner. The coffee table is closed in this shot.
And those WIPs that I showed you a few posts back? Well, here’s the Baby Surprise jacket I was working on. I finally sewed up the seams and made a matching hat. I added some cute star buttons and delivered it. Unfortuantely, mom was out taking a much needed break, so I left it on the porch with a note and mom was surprised and pleased (so I guess it’s a Baby Double-Surprise jacket).
Here’s the fate of another one of my UFOs. I decided it was a TOAD (Trashed Object, Abandoned in Disgust). To be fair, I wasn’t disgusted, just bored. Now that Cotton Classic can become something else someday.
Anyway, before:
After:
I think it must have been so overwhelming laying out all my UFOs that I haven’t been able to post! But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on them. So I’ll try to show you what I’ve been doing.
I sewed the shoulder and collar seams and finished the body of Mermaid with the applied i-cord around the front lapels. The i-cord turned out to be quite pleasant. Here’s what she looks like:
I had a long plane trip, so I started on the sleeve. And then I spent the afternoon at the Boston Knit Out and Crochet Too! working on it more. I love the sleeve cap shaping:
The weather wasn’t the greatest for knitting outdoors. It sprinkled a little and was very humid. Sometimes the sun beat down, sometimes there was a bit of a breeze. I won a hat pattern as a door prize and one of the sponsors was giving away a small skein of red Manos cotton. I competed in both the fastest knitter and fastest crocheter contests, coming in 2 stitches behind the winners in each. And as I sat in the audience knitting on Mermaid, I held it up during the Show and Tell and a number of people came over to ask for the pattern.
Just a few more rows on this sleeve, and I can start the second.
More former UFOs tomorrow.
Here’s my UFO pile…staring at me from the floor of my craft room…
Mermaid Jacket
Odessa Hat 
ZigZag Sweater
Twisty Baby Set
Miss Dashwood
Clapotis (Mixed Berries)
Tychus
