Knits

No more casting on any new projects until at least one of the ones I’ve got going is finished! I have the slowly progressing Cinnabar scarf, a kitty pi, and a hat for my sister.

I think I have figured out what is going on with those ugly stitches in the Cinnabar scarf. Now about six- to eight-weeks ago I posed a question to a knitting community about slipping stitches. I was knitting those slipped stitch pattern socks and I had always been slipping stitches knitwise - mostly because I’ve never done slipped stitch patterns and the only time I slipped stitches was at the edge of a flat piece of work and I do those knitwise. The consensus was that unless it says, always slip purlwise. This was true in that sock pattern - it looked a whole lot better. However, looking at the stitches in the Cinnabar scarf, they are zig-zagged. The double decrease says to slip 1, k2tog, psso. I have been slipping the stitch purlwise - I have now down one repeat with the stitches slipped knitwise and I think it looks better, but haven’t done enough rows beyond those decreases to really see. I hope this sorts it out and I’ll just have to look at those ugly stitches, but know I figured it out in the end. Progress is slow for whatever reason.

Back when I re-learned to knit, I got a whole bunch of yarn for free - all different stuff - mixed fibres, mixed weights. I decided to knit up a Kitty Pi since it’s all stockinette and I can do that pretty well these days without watching every stitch I make. It is just knitting to knit, you know? I took a guess as to what the fibre content of some of the yarns are so I’m hoping I was right and that they will felt or at least partially felt haha. I didn’t have much in my leftovers that was feltable wool. I’ll probably end up having to buy a skein to finish it off.

And I cast-on once again for a hat for my sister. I feel bad that I’ve had a whole pile of wool for hats for her since the end of November and I haven’t knit a single one. I came close, but wasn’t happy with it. My goal this evening is to finish the edge of this hat as the rest of it is stockinette and should go quickly. I am using the smaller circumference Addi Turbos I got. They really could do with pointier tips!

Oh and I did get using the wool winder sorted. I’ve only wound one small bit of wool and it wasn’t exactly neat and tidy or even, but it worked. My Project 365 is going, but the short days are making it difficult to take pictures - inside and out. Come late-February though, I should have exciting (haha) pictures from Prague! I’ve never been, but me and the Boy are going. =) If you’ve been, feel free to suggest places to go and things to do!

And since posts are a bit boring without photos… here’s yesterday’s Project 365 picture - some gifts from a friend of mine from the States, but currently studying in Brussels.

I was meant to be back in the office on Tuesday, the 2nd, but the somewhat stressful weekend and perhaps more exposure to wet and cold weather than I normally get ended up with me getting a cold. The first couple of days I had a sore throat and was very tired (hadn’t been sleeping well since Christmas really). The sore throat wasn’t the worst I ever had; no, the winner there is the monthly episodes of tonsillitis I had as a child, but nonetheless, this sore throat made it hard to swallow no matter how much chamomile and honey tea I drank.

Yesterday afternoon I had to venture out despite really not wanting to. I needed supplies - both nourishment-wise and medicinal. By early evening I was feeling much better - not groggy, the sore throat was only a tickle - things were looking up! I was sneezing a lot (almost always in threes as I am wont to do), but I was sure I would be back at work in the morning. I was actually relieved because I have a lot of meetings to arrange and set agendas for in the next couple of weeks.

But it wasn’t to be.

I couldn’t get to sleep despite staying up until midnight which is pretty much the usual bedtime. I tossed and turned, but couldn’t get comfortable and certainly couldn’t breathe! After an hour-and-a-half of this, I gave up and got up. I was tired, but couldn’t sleep. Too tired to read; too tired to knit - I just sort of stared blankly at the internets until almost 4am. I slept until nearly 8am. I was not headed to work. I was too tired, too stuffy. Reluctantly I took some decongestant (the non-drowsy / drowsy effect of these things on me tends to be opposite of what the tin claims hence my reluctance). I fell back asleep for another hour or so and then got up.

I’m convinced that cold medicines hate me. They never work on me as they should. This medicine didn’t seem to effect me in terms of sleeplessness or sleepiness so that’s a relief, BUT it sure hasn’t dried up the stuff clogging my sinuses! In fact, I think it’s encouraged it to produce the most viscous snot ever. And bucket loads of it. A second dose of the decongestant made it even worse so I think I’m done with that experiment. I didn’t buy a new box of tissues yesterday ’cause I had a new one at home. I’m beginning to think this was not wise.

Anyway, now that you have an intimate understanding of what is taking place in my sinus cavities, I’ll tell you that I managed to finish one repeat of the Cinnabar scarf… only seven or eight to go depending on how long I want it to be. My gauge is a little off (no, I didn’t do a swatch because I am lazy and have only ever done a swatch once), but it’s a scarf so it doesn’t really matter, does it? (Note the colour of that photograph is really off. It makes it look like the wool is the colour of a dead body - the other photos are much truer to colour - a very light oatmeal colour.)

Despite having a considerable amount of the scarf to complete, I did cast on for a hat for my sister this morning. It has a simple lace edge and the rest is stockinette. Just what I need because the snot is clogging my brain and following even the simplest chart does not bode well right now. Just one more repeat of the lace pattern (it’s only four rounds!) and then I will be in mindless, stockinette heaven. And maybe by tomorrow I will have completed my first item of 2007!

Right now, though, I think I will go soak in the tub.

—edited to add—

Well, somehow in the very last round of the lace pattern before I started the stockinette, something went wrong. Well it went wrong before that round. I counted my stitches. I started with 114. Each six-stitch repeat of the pattern has a double decrease and two yarn overs meaning that there should be no loss of stitches between rounds.

Well, by this 16th round I’d managed to lose not just a stitch or two, but seventeen stitches. Where did they go?! How did I manage to even get to the beginning of this round without noticing since the repeat requires six stitches? I was in the last six stitches when I noticed this because I ran out of stitches before I’d completed the repeat. I tinked back the entire round; I’d say I tinked back 114 stitches, but I didn’t, obviously. I counted the stitches three times… The missing stitches didn’t decide to make an appearance at any point. It was such slow work tinking back that I decided sixteen relatively easy rounds wasn’t worth the hassle of finding the error.

I tried the piece over my head just to see how it fit; the lost stitches actually ended up being a blessing in disguise. My sister’s head is 22″ (meaty) and this was tight on me! I measured my head and I don’t know if I measured it wonky or what, but it came out at 21.5″ which is also meaty, but I know that is incorrect as quite often I can get away with buying children’s hats ’cause my head is so wee. Anyway… blessing in disguise because I would’ve knit a hat that ended up being far too tight for her meaty head.

The pattern doesn’t recommend a particular wool, but it does give a suggested gauge. I am using a wool that claims 25 stitches to four inches (five more stitiches than the suggested gauge) and I thought I’d done the maths for this. I just checked my maths, which were done very shortly after waking up, and discovered I miscalculated. Ooops. Onwards and upwards, I guess.