Knits

Prague was a nice, short break. We had good weather, better than expected as it could’ve been downright cold and wet (or snowy). I kept my expectations low not because I haven’t heard wonderful things about Prague, but because of the abundance of cheap holiday packages and flights to places like Prague, and this UK phenomenon of hen and stag nights abroad, cities all over Europe are losing their individual appeal.

Sadly Prague is one of these cities losing its identity. It’s has beautiful buildings everywhere you turn your head, but the city centre is overrun by souvenir shops and overpriced cafes catering to the tourist trade. It wouldn’t be so bad if these tourist traps were all within one area, but they aren’t, they’re all over the city. I imagine this is partly because the city centre really isn’t very large so it’s quite easy for it to start centrally (e.g. around the Astronomical clock and square) and then keep spreading.

Some co-workers described visiting Prague 10 years ago. It was a very different Prague I think. They described the Charles Bridge as being a place to enjoy some free classical music as buskers lined the bridge. We only walked across the bridge once and rather bruskly, as it was wall-to-wall with tourists and traders selling tourist tat - even people doing 10-minute caricatures like you find in tacky places like state fairs.

Anyway, it was still very nice to go away and have a few days with just me and The Boy. We ate several nice meals and did lots of gross coupley things like snogging and handholding. *grin* As you can see, I’ve posted up a few pictures, but you can see the full set of pictures on my flickr site.

As far as knitting, I did none while in Prague (see above about snogging and handholding), but did some very minimal stuff on the flights to/from. I even managed to knit myself a memory of Prague in a minor error that I didn’t feel like fixing because tinking back on two socks on magic loop is quite painful. Maybe I’ll be brave and try laddering… doubtful as this is so really quite minor and it will only be visible if I’m walking about in my stockinged feet. [There's me in my Cinnabar scarf!]

So that’s my little knitting update. Oh we did pass several shops that seemed to sell a bit of wool, but they were closed and the offerings looked pretty dismal anyway (ugly colours and novelty yarns mostly as well as looking like it was mostly acrylic). We went on Saturday to have a look at one of the shops only to discover that pretty much every place that isn’t a huge department store closes by lunchtime on Saturday. Oh well - I really don’t need more wool anyway - except for wool to knit Sizzle in. And I think I found the right wool - Elann Peruvian Quechua in aubergine. Even if I get it shipped airmail, it’s cheaper than many options I have here!PS Sorry for any large white spaces that may be in this post. I’ve just upgraded Wordpress and the editor seems to be missing some elements and when I try to put in my own HTML, it strips it out! Grrr.

I need to stop looking at Jillian’s blog. She always posts links to patterns that I want! She’s done it again - sort of. She’s pointed to a new cardigan design and along the left are some other patterns available. And now I must knit the Sizzle top. It is even boyfriend approved: “You need more plunge tops,” he said. The problem is the yarn it calls for - doubtful I’d find it in the UK, but I’m not thrilled by any of the colours anyway. I’ve had a slightly quick look for substitutes and many are too light (weight-wise) and when I find something suitable, the colours are dull dull dull!

So I wandered over to KnitPicks. I’ve never used their wool and of course they won’t ship direct to me, but that’s not a problem - I have connections! I am considering using their Andean Silk & Andean Silk Twist in one of the shades of green. Have any of you used this yarn? What do you think? I’m looking at either Lettuce or Leaf. What about another substitute for the yarn called for - Silk Bijou/Shizuku by Olympus. It’s not like the UK is extremely hot, but I imagine a yarn that is 75% wool is going to be quite warm - especially if I want to take said top on holiday to a sunny clime where I might get to bare my arms! I think I’d end up baring more than my arms should I wear that top in the Mediterranean in the summer! Other options: Rowan’s Summer Tweed (lots of nice colours, but the tweedy affect might be too weird), Rowan RYC Luxury cotton (none of the colours really thrill me), or Debbie Bliss Cotton cashmere (I’ve knit with this before and it’s nice and has nice colours). Thoughts?

Anyway, you really came here to see some pictures…

Here it is - another terrible photo, but it is the completed Cinnabar scarf. I am rubbish at blocking. I did it, but I was rubbish at it. And I didn’t actually have anywhere to put it to dry so I had to sandwich it between two towels to keep the cats off it. It didn’t work. They thought I’d laid out some sort of luxury bed for them! They were fighting over who got to lay on it!

Details:

Pattern: Cinnabar scarf from December 2006 MagKnits (by Angela Hahn)
Needles: Boye interchangeable circulars US 4 (used them as straights ’cause it’s easir to carry circs)
Yarn: Rowan RYC Wool cotton in Limestone - 4 balls (slightly less)
Gauge: ??
Finished measurements: just shy of 6′ x 5.25″ (it grew a whole foot after blocking!)

Modifications: None intentional… I just found myself missing parts of repeats so I incorporated that into my version as, you know, design features. I did nine repeats of the cable pattern and a single repeat of the seafoam pattern between each of the cable patterns with the exception of the space between cable repeats one and two and eight and nine where I did was the pattern read!

And I also started on the Touch of whimsy hat for my sister. I’m using the same wool as in the Cinnabar scarf, but in a dark green. It is moving along surprisingly fast. In fact, if I hadn’t been busy both last night and tonight, I’m sure I would’ve finished the hat. Grrr. I would’ve liked to have finished it and put it in the post before I head off to Prague tomorrow!

So I’ll see you all next week! I need to go figure out what knitting I’m packing - forget about the clothes!

I am finally done with the Cinnabar scarf. I have weaved in the ends and it is now blocking and then I will trim off the remaining bits. I wanted to get this done before I went to Prague on Wednesday because I don’t really have a nice scarf anymore. The one I have was nice, but I use it daily for cycling so it’s stretched out and probably slightly smelly and it’s not a nice neutral colour either.

This was probably the most challenging thing I’ve knit thus far. I don’t know why that is because it’s not a complicated pattern (despite my rocky start with reading the chart). The last repeat (I did nine) and the end bit of the ’seafoam’ chart took me serious amounts of time. I don’t know why. Maybe because I was so eager to get done and I could see it right there in front of me and I just wanted it done! I can now say I’ve knitted a scarf though - something I never did.

Because I’d put the thing down so many times, I couldn’t quite remember what I did each time so my version has a lot of, uh, design features. Namely, between each of the cable repeats there is only a single repeat of the seafoam pattern instead of 1.5 repeats. I made a number of other mistakes too, but they aren’t really noticeable because I continued to make them (ON PURPOSE - okay only after I realised I was making the mistake did I continue with it - consistently ‘wrong’ is better than sometimes wrong, sometimes right I say). As I said, I did a total of nine repeats of the main cable pattern. Before blocking the scarf measured just a couple inches shy of five feet. I’ll have to measure it once it’s dry to see where it’s ended up.

I can’t recall if I mentioned already, but I’m not going forward with Shedir until I get a different colour of Calmer. The black is well, too dark. I know that sounds completely retarded, but I’ve not done tiny cables before and they just don’t really show on black. I’ll get one of the green shades since that’s what my sister would prefer anyway.

I’ve decided to cast on another hat for her (still have a lot of them to do!). I had great success with pattern for Lonnie’s sport socks from Becka so I am going to try her Touch of whimsy hat. I am also going to cast on, I dunno when exactly, for Cosmicpluto’s top-down raglan cardi v.2.0.

I’ll provide a picture and details of the Cinnabar scarf once it’s done done. Until then, more delicious wool I got - this time it’s for a baby blanket and a hat and / or booties for my brother and his girlfriend who are expecting in May - that means I have a little bit before I need to get knitting this. It’s is sooooooooo pretty - wonderful colours and soft and fluffy.

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.

My Cinnabar scarf is coming along much slower than I’d hoped. At this stage it’s going to be summer before it’s done! I haven’t knit much the last few days because I was exhausted (going back to work after a week off sick is tiring!) and I was also working on a job application. Job application is now complete and submitted so I can go back to knitting in the evenings instead of tweaking my CV and writing a covering letter and fretting that it’s not conveying the right information.

One thing that is irking me with the Cinnabar scarf are the double decreases on the left mock cable. The decrease is a slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over k2. I don’t know why these are coming out so wonky looking. I’ve looked at knittinghelp.com to see if there was another method I could use that might be neater, but couldn’t really see one. It seems to straighten out a bit as I move up the cable, but I don’t think all of this wonkiness is going to be taken care of during blocking. I mean look at that mess. Why are those stitches so messy?!

Not related to the scarf, but something else is the toes of socks. Now I’ve only knit three socks, but I didn’t like how square the toes came out. These were all cuff down socks (vs toe up) so I don’t know if that makes the difference or if there is a technique out there to help make the toes more round. I see lots of knitters with these nicely rounded toes, but I haven’t been able to find any tips on how to do this myself. I’ll search a bit harder when I get to my next socks.

And today I got a wool winder. I bought it used on eBay. It smelt a bit funky - sort of like moth balls and dust. I think it was put away and forgotten about. There aren’t any instructions and as I’ve never seen one doing it’s thing, I haven’t the foggiest idea on how to use it. A quick search only yielded lots of other people asking for instructions on how to use their wool winders… Another search to be continued.

I finished up a second section of the Cinnabar scarf. There’s a minor error in the pattern, maybe.

It reads:

*Work rows 1-16 of DRMC chart 3 times, then rep row 1 (WS). K 2 rows. Following directions for est Seafoam patt for border, work rows 1-8 of Seafoam chart**, then rep rows 1-4. K one row (RS). One section of main part of scarf has now been completed: note that one section is approx 8 inches [20cm] long, and you will want to end the scarf with a completed section plus border, which will add a little less than an inch.
Rep from * until scarf is approx 8-9″ inches [20-22cm] less than desired length, then work one more rep, working from * to ** ONLY.

Now, I am notorious for misreading patterns or misinterpreting them, but here’s what I’ve done:

Section 1: 3 repeats of DRMC chart, K two rows, 1 repeat of seafoam chart, rows 1-4 of seafoam chart, K one row

Section 2: 3 repeats of DRMC chart, K two rows, 1 repeat of seafoam chart, K one row.

Here’s my dilemma… is the ** misplaced in the pattern instructions? Should it really appear after the K one row seeing as just after that it says that one section of the scarf is now complete. Yet the instructions go on to say only … okay, see, I told you I’m unreliable. Now that I read the instructions AGAIN (honestly about the 20th time) and OUT LOUD, I see what they are saying. Oi. Seriously, I need patterns written for dummies.

Right so I was supposed to have done for section 2 what I did for section one and say I am going to knit 8 sections total, section 8 should be knit as I’ve knitted my section 2. I’m not far into section 3, but I have actually done a fair amount of tinking in this pattern already. I don’t know why as it’s pretty simple, but I keep making minor mistakes. (Note to self: really, when will you learn that you should not knit when you are so tired?! You always end up having to undo your work!) I will continue on with the pattern I’ve established and, hopefully, remember that my second to last section needs to be done a bit differently so it is symmetrical with sections 1 and 2.

So okay, no error, I’m just dumb. Is it just me or do others often misinterpret patterns? I guess because there’s really no standard way to write patterns, you have to decipher each author’s markings. (I’m big on standards - I’m a librarian, it’s in my nature to want things neat and tidy and done all the same so there’s no room for misinterpretation! That’s not to say that people can’t change things to suit their needs.) I probably would’ve written something totally separate for the last section to make it clear.

Well, my Cinnabar scarf will have even more unique character than it would’ve done.

I hadn’t planned on such a long post because all I originally wanted to say was I think there was a missing piece of the pattern (there’s not) and that I’d finished two sections and was now onto my third and that I’d moved from using straights to using circulars as I was finding the weight already to be a bit bothersome on my wrists. Also, when I do flat knitting on circular needles, my gauge doesn’t seem to vary as much as it can on straights. I know that I purl far, far looser than I knit, but it isn’t as noticeable on the circulars which is peculiar. I’ve used one skein of wool on a border, two sections and a few rows into a third section so I reckon I should have more than enough wool for a rather long scarf (at least 6′ before blocking!).

And now it’s time for me to get out from behind this computer today. I’ve spent much of today trying to write a CV only to decide my old one was quite sufficient with some minor tweaking! I still need to do a covering letter, but that can wait until tomorrow night!

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.

I did cast on for the Cinnabar scarf last night. Three times unlucky and the fourth time is, hopefully, the last.

The problem lay with the chart. Looking at the pictures of the finished scarf, I could tell it was garter stitch, yet every time I got started it was coming out stockinette. I read and re-read the pattern and thought about it - row 1 is knit, row 2 is purl, row 3 is knit… yup, that would give stockinette. And I had a conversation in my head about other possibilities: maybe the photographs of the finished scarf are from the wrong side; maybe because of my long tail cast on and the already knitted row that that creates, it’s messing up the pattern. But the material in the finished scarf pics looked to thick to be reverse stockinette - it had to be garter.

And I re-read the chart and the chart legend and there-in was the problem. I’ve only knit a few things following a chart - Shedir, while it’s not complete, but is completely done by following a chart, is the most recent. And all the charts I have followed have been for items knit in the round so they were always being read from right to left. The chart for Cinnabar alternates with each row - e.g. row 1 is read right to left and row 2 is left to right. I don’t know if this is how it’s normally done for flat knitting. Once I realised this, I got going and it’s been fine.

However, it does seem rather odd to write a chart and say row 1 (reading right to left) shows a symbol for knit and row 2 (read from left to right) shows a purl symbol, but because it’s the wrong side you actually knit these stitches. It’s really confusing! Why not just put the appropriate symbol and note that the chart is read in a zig-zag OR have the chart read from one direction (e.g. right to left) and use the appropriate symbols?

It’s going fine now. I did have to switch from using bamboo needles to aluminium ones as the bamboo was proving to be way too grippy for the silk wool and I was having to fight to push the stitches along the needle. Now they’re going along relatively smoothly. It looks like this is going to be the first item I will actually need to block to really get the Seafoam part of the pattern into shape.

While I knit more than I realised in 2006, there were large gaps of time where I didn’t knit at all. I hope to knit as close to daily as possible this year.

I’m knitting a number of hats for my sister again. We both went and chose a number of yarns and she’s selected two patterns so far. I’ve started on Shedir from the Knitty Breast Cancer issue (PDF), but using Rowan RYC Silk Wool DK instead of Rowan Calmer.

First, I’m finding the cabling very slow going which I’m finding very frustrating. I started the hat a couple of weeks ago and even though I haven’t been knitting as frequently as I’d like due to social commitments, I could’ve knit a couple of other hats in the amount of time I’ve knit a third of this one! Next, the wool is really nice and soft and squishy, but despite it having near identical gauge to Calmer (Calmer is 21sts x 30 rows and Silk wool is 22sts x 30 rows according to ball bands), the cables aren’t popping as much as I’d like. Perhaps it’s also the colour, a dark foresty green, but it’s sort of disappointing. Or perhaps it’s a combination of the colour and fibre content (silk and wool, duh) versus the content of Calmer (cotton and acrylic) so it makes it fluffier even if it knits to the same gauge.
My sister chose this particular pattern so she’d have something to wear when they go out for nicer occasions. Perhaps I should just rip this one out, despite the hours of work that have gone into it, and buy the Calmer in black perhaps and start again. I’m sure she’d be happy with it how it is, but I know it could look better. I think I’ve already made my decision… riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip. Sigh, that’s what happens when one is a perfectionist.

Maybe in the meantime I will start my scarf - the Cinnabar scarf from the December Magknits. I’m going to knit it in Rowan RYC Silk Wool in a creamy colour. I might even cast on for that tonight.

I got a big plastic-coated box to store some of my wool in. I have a lined wicker basket, but that’s grown too small and it’s also exposed to all the dust and cat hair in the house so I’ll put as much of my wool into this new box as I can and leave the wicker basket for current projects (those are lying around on various flat surfaces hehehe). I’m also handwriting myself a wool inventory. Yikes.