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November 28, 2004
Brioche wins again
The decreases on the brioche hat have done me in. I got through one row right, but once I got to row three, it became apparent that I had screwed up on the instructions on the second row.
In other sad news, it has become apparent that the panel I started for the hoodie isn't at all big enough, so I will have to tear out a few very long rows and start fresh. The thing that's bothering me, though, is whether to go up one size or two.
The pattern I'm following would (if it were in gauge) end up being 43“ around the middle. I was expecting it to turn out more like 53”, because the swatch was 5“ in the number of stitches it thought would be 4”. However, the front panel (in just a few rows, I admit) ended up something more like 24“. The likelihood of that turning into half of 53” is somewhere between slim and none. So, unless I want to start doing wacky pattern math, I could go up to an intended 47“ (to recap, an intended 43” ended up at what would probably be 48“) or an intended 51” (the size I think I was originally planning to make). See, I tend to like things a bit loose anyway, so I'm leaning towards the 51“ size. My only worry is that I will be cutting it just a little too close as far as yarn is concerned. See, technically, I have enough, but I have just enough, and that worries me. Still, if I ended up having to gamble on dye lots one more time, I suppose it wouldn't be much of a big deal. I could buy a skein or two, in spite of all the drama.
Which reminds me, this is the plan: a small strip at the bottom in garter slip stitch using both shades. The middle (the width of the pocket) will be in the lighter shade, along with the pocket itself and the hood. The shoulders and sleeves will be in the darker shade, but with the the ends (3”-6“) also done in garter slip stitch.
Posted by omar at 08:24 PM | Comments (1)
November 26, 2004
Boy oh boy, do I have a lot to talk about
I don't even have the categories I need to talk about it with!
Never mind that small clerical matter, it has been forever since I've updated anything in here, and the terrible hack into the server that I use to run all of this crap hasn't been helping. Well, that and the new job, really. I've been doing a fair amount of knitting, but not very much updating.
That being said, I finished one of my g-fab glittens, and I'm sure pictures will follow soon enough. I left one of my threes at the office (or lost it) last Friday, and since I didn't have to be in the office this week at all, I was at a loss how to finish the shell. However, my love came through with a pair of circular threes, and I tried that method out for the first time ever. I was a little leery at first, because I thought I was ending up with ladders at either side of the needles, but it was all in my head. Hooray, hooray.
The flappers hat met a somewhat sadder fate when I took it down finally to felt it. After the first cycle it still seemed huge, so I didn't check it for the whole of the second cycle. Bad move on my part. The thing still fits on my head, though, and I keep wondering about whether or not there's some way to make it work. Still, I think I overdid it on the short rows in the flap or something, because it just didn't quite turn out the way I expected it to. Still, the technique for doing the piping was a valuable lesson, and, overall the project was fun, so I may try again and improvise a little more on the pattern so it becomes the hat I yearn for. Further comments will follow with pictures.
The other thing it put into my head was the idea of making some fine, high fashion fezzes, so add that to my list of silly future projects.
And last but not least, I finally did sort out the whole two color brioche thing, and it is a very pleasingly clever idea. In my typical fashion, however, now that I just have to keep doing the same stitch over and over again for another two inches (seven done so far), I am starting to neglect it. Of course, pictures will follow here too.
That should just about sum it up, thought I have been doing some prelimionary work on the hoodie, thinking about ways to meld the two shades of the same stinking dye lot that I have, and I am getting the yen to start it soon.
Posted by omar at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2004
That's my man!
hehe. Someone posted this on the livejournal knitting community, along with a link to photos of a racy "knitting" lady on ebay.
I've started sock #2 and the ribbing for the fingerless gloves for my dad. Nothing too exciting for pictures. But we will be doing a big old load of felting soon, so look for some exciting conclusions to felted projects.
Posted by Betsy at 07:00 PM | Comments (1)
November 15, 2004
First sock!
Last night, I completed my first sock ever. Jubilation! I had a lot of setbacks with this sock, which lead to a lot of frustration that I had to be talked out of by my knitting comrades. It all started when I didn't gauge swatch...I know. I knitted past the heel turn before I realized that I wasn't getting gauge, and it was huge. This is the first of a shortened anklet version of Knitty's Broadripple for my Mom's X-mas present. Knitted in recommended Cascade Fixation.
I like this pattern. I think it looks cool as an anklet. I sort of wish the colors wouldn't pool so at the instep, but really, oh well.
I need to cast on the second one and also some fingerless gloves for my dad's present, in Dale Baby Ull. I parred down my x-mas knit list a lot, and now I'm just doing these two things for my parents, and a reverse bloom cloth for Omar's mommy.
I am halfway through the last of the fuzzy feet for Omar and I. I will post a picture of a pile of giant socks soon. :) We have a ton of stuff to felt.
I apologize if anyone has had trouble acessing the site or RSS feed. Omar's server was hacked and it took a few days to get things back to normal.
Posted by Betsy at 12:56 PM | Comments (8)
November 10, 2004
update and good news
I am trying to knit on the train ride to school, because otherwise I seem to have no time to do so. I am working on the broadripple socks and Omar's last fuzzy foot.
Here is a painting call The Knitting Lesson I thought some of you might like to see. I'm researching realism on the web for a unit I'm designing about magical realism.
A few of you asked what ever happened with the skeins of Arcauania Nature Cotton that we got from Windsor Button that were short almost half the yardage. This story has a very happy ending! I posted about this three or so places, and apparently the owner of Arcauania yarns saw the post. She wrote and offered to send more yarn to make up for the loss. The yarn arrived this week. It is the same dye lot, but the color is not quite the same. Omar is currently deciding how he will use the color difference as a design feature.
I spun about 100 yards of BFL I had from Copper Moose. I decided to see how fast I could spin. :) I ended up with some pretty nice thick n thin. The sad part of this story is that I felt experimental and tried to dye it with paprika and vinegar. The color was nice but didn't take. It's currently hanging in the bathroom, partially felted from all the rinsing, and still not free of paprika grains. So much for that experiment. When we go to AZ in December I am going to get more dyes at the Fiber Factory in Mesa.
I also got another package from my fabulous secret pal! She made me a hat! I love getting knitted gifts! It's Rowan Biggie Print in reds and pinks. It is slightly big and I'm going to full it a bit, and then I'll post pictures. Thanks so much, Secret Pal! I will always think of your kindness on cold days. I had no room in my knitting schedule to make myself a warm hat, so this is perfect. :)
Posted by Betsy at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2004
It would be the middle finger, wouldn't it?
The g-fab broadstreets are coming along swimmingly. I did decide to tear back to before the gusset and start again, but it turned out to not be such a life-threatening setback. Speaking of setbacks, though, I seem to have screwed up counting on the number of stitches I set aside for the middle finger, so now there's one too few in the middle, and one too many on the index.
I feel like maybe there was a split in the yarn somewhere that confused me. I just encountered something that sort of looked like two badly-formed stitches, and I cannot quite settle on whether I'd only messed up last round, splitting that stitch, which was what cause me to realize that I'd moved too few stitches onto the active needles, or if the error was sometime in the distant past, and I pulled the end loop off one particular needle into being an active stitch and done the adding there. Still, either way, not a terribly daunting problem, just proof that maybe I shouldn't be knitting this evening.
In lieu of that, I tried to tack down Benjamin Bear's ears, mostly because Betsy has been doing her very best to portray the sufferings of an earless bear, in order to guilt me into completing him. Still, I don't quite know if they're positioned well, and I can't quite bring myself to figure out where I put that huge yarn needle, let alone work with it.
Posted by omar at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)