Knits

Yes, I am alive. After the tummy troubles of last week I came down with a cold on Wednesday night and felt miserable all of Thursday and into Friday morning. I’m feeling better now, but wasn’t really able to do any knitting from Wednesday night until late-Thursday night (I did all of two rounds woohoo) due to my head feeling like it was actually a boulder.

Also, I think the previous week I managed to sprain my thumb… I don’t know if this was knitting-related or cycling-related. It’s better now.

I am into the gusset decreases on the second sock for my Sockapalooza pal. Hopefully I’ll get that sock pretty much done today and I can cast on for my second Saucy sock.

I am working on Ms Marigold - I did the back and forth bits of the two front bits and have started on the back so once that’s done then all the pieces will be rejoined for a bit more back and forth before commencing the knitting in the round thing. It was moving along swiftly until the cold hit. I decided to cast on for the second Sockapalooza sock because I want to be done with them ASAP so if I have to fix them in anyway, I have time, an because it’s far more portable for my knitting sessions at work.

I did order (and receive) the extra ball of yarn for Ms Marigold and Bad Penny. I realised that I will have to rip out Bad Penny and start again because I think the same problem I had with Ms Marigold holds true for Bad Penny - I’ve tried to knit too dense a fabric instead of one that has some movement to it. I’m not really sad about this because now that I’ve learned my lesson about worn garments (versus hats/scarves) - sort of including socks (see: Falling Leaves) - I hope that I’ll be able to do the work needed quickly so that I can wear it before summer is out.

I also ordered some yarn to make a felted box or two from Mason-Dixon Knitting. And some Sox Stix from Lantern Moon in Ebony. So far so good. Definitely feel tougher than the birch ones although, as with most needles, I think they could do with a slightly sharper point. I feel that if needles are being made in the 2-3mm range, the work being done with them obviously involves finer yarns, and therefore smaller stitches, so why not make a tool that picks these things up better?

I know this post is lacking links and pictures, but I must dash for a train so I can see The Boy and infect him with all my germy goodness. Hopefully I’ll be well enough that this evening we can head into London to at least catch the headlining act for an [not quite] all day gig. Ballboy is supposed to hit the stage at 2130 and I’ve got a couple friends also attending so it would be good to be able to go and see all of that, yo. So I will try to get back here to put in links where I wanted to and maybe add a couple photos to at least make this post look pretty.

I finished the waist band of Bad Penny last night. I tried it on. IT IS TOO SHORT! I really cannot figure out how this has happened. I tried it on prior to adding the waist band and it was about an inch shorter than I would’ve liked, but decided I could live with it and would just expand the waist band ribbing by that much. And I did.

It now seems to be SEVERAL inches too short! I’m so annoyed. It took me way too long to do the waist band because that yarn is hard to work with. And now I need to decide what to do. I have no idea if there is some way to sneak in those extra inches between the body and the waist (some sort of splicing). If there is, it’s totally beyond my abilities right now. Or do I rip it out and add on? Or do I just give up and put this aside? If I put it aside, is an aside for a little while while I work on something that (hopefully) doesn’t leave me frustrated and feeling defeated? Or is it a forever aside which means ripping it out and finding another use for the yarn?

Part of me is inclined to rip it out up to the sleeves and, at some point, continue knitting it to the right length. I think it’s a pretty cute, casual top, but it is just really frustrating me. I need to decide quick because I will need to order that SIXTH ball of yarn ASAP.

I’m going off to cry now.

I’ve completed the eyelet pattern on the Bad Penny waist band. I didn’t get to it the other night, but I should be done with the waist band tonight. Because I needed a bit more length, I made the ribbing before the eyelet pattern about a half-inch longer than the pattern said to. It looks really long now! I hope it doesn’t look so out of proportion once it’s all done or I will cry! Oh and the chart for the eyelet pattern only indicated the k2tog’s and the yarn overs - it wasn’t clear if the other stitches should stay in ribbing pattern or not. Since others remarked that their eyelet pattern didn’t seem to show up as much as in the sample on the pattern, I decided to knit all the stitches rather than keep the 1×1 rib going. It looks a little odd…. hopefully it will settle. The picture on the pattern is too far away to determine what Stefanie did.

I’d really like to knit a couple of summer tops. Right now I’ve got (most of) the wool for Ms Marigold and am awaiting the yarn for Sizzle (I know, they’re quite similar, but w/ Sizzle I could wear it without another top underneath*). I’d like to knit Isabella from the most recent Knitty (adjusting the fit a bit), but I don’t have the yarn and I am really trying not to buy more. If I can get it really cheap on eBay, then I will. However, in looking for the yarn for Isabella, I came across some other really good deals and am really struggling with not making a purchase.

When I first started knitting and I trawled the internet for knitting information - patterns, blogs, yarn - I saw Rogue and I said “I want to make that!” And there’s Eris which is really nice too (although I’d really like it to have a hood for some reason). The yarn I came across today is exactly the kind of thing these patterns call for and it’s half the price and discontinued. My fingers are really, really itching to press “Buy it now”. But I have so much yarn already and I’m trying to be good. I really would like a nice cardigan (I’m planning on knitting Cosmicpluto’s Top Down Cardi 2.0, and while it’s nice, it’ll be slightly stripey and more casual than something like Eris). And then Cosmicpluto has also recently published two other cute sweaters - Button me up and Belle Shrug - although the Shrug is apparently available from the yarn shop she works for, but their web site is a bit weird as it points to all the manufacturers and I can’t seem to actually find any information about prices and that pattern.

Oh also, I really, really like this Simple Knitted Bodice sweater from Stitch Diva.

This was supposed to be a really short entry! I don’t even have any pictures to make up for this length! But I have written my letter for Domesticat’s Knitterly letter swap. Hurrah!

Okay I dug something out of the archive…

This was to be a very simple pullover sweater, but I didn’t like it so it’s going to be a sleeveless top. It’s Lana Grossa Point Print. And I have A LOT of it.

* Disclaimer for The Boy who reads this I think… I MEAN IN PUBLIC, okay?

This last week has had surprisingly little knitting. I really thought I’d have Bad Penny done by now, but no such luck. I’m still on the waist band and have a few more rounds to go before I do the lace bit of it. I might be able to get started on the last bit tonight. The hat for my sister still sits halfway through the first round. And the Falling Leaves socks have had a couple more repeats completed, but I’m still not at the heel. Another inch or so and I should be there. The problem with these has been that for whatever reason, using the small needles right now is hurting the fleshy bit of my palm near my thumb. I only got through a half a round (the instep on both) before I had to stop today. I later went back and finished that round, but did no more. And as I was at The Boy’s house, I had no other knitting with me. Boo.

Dakota after being coerced into being content with laying partially on my leg while I tried to knit instead of full on my lap.

I did more cooking this weekend. My first ever Chicken (Pot) Pie. I love these and have wanted to make one on so many occasions over the years, but I always chickened (ha!) out because I imagined they’d be difficult. It took me a bit longer than the recipe said for the preparation, but that’s because I’m slow with the knife and having to convert from American measurements to UK. Anyway, it turned out pretty well. It wasn’t a true pot pie with the double crust, but a single flakey pastry crust instead. The only thing I’d do is reduce the amount of broth as it turned out too brothy. I also made a Chocolate Pudding Cake or sometimes called a Hot Fudge Cake - it’s the one where you can mix it and bake it all in the same vessel and it makes it’s own chocolate sauce. Yum.

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie

Other events from the week… Having my time wasted by a recruitment agency on Tuesday. Seeing the Shins on Wednesday! They were so good! Go see them!! Having a “Christmas” meal out with work colleagues … we do normally do this in uhm January for some reason, but no one was interested and it was decided to do it anyway and now. I took to calling it a Jesus-related meal. And also on Friday I got my letter from Domesticat! What fun! I’ll be penning a letter in return. I also received the name of a person to write to as part of Domesticat’s Knitterly Letter Swap.

The Shins at the Forum in London.

As you can see, I’ve put the contrasting colour onto both sleeves of Bad Penny [apologies for showing you my lack of six pack and that I am wearing a black bra, but obviously I didn't go out in this top, but one that required a black bra]. I had to remove the original bind off and re-do it with a larger needle. The Lana Grossa Rotonda has zero give so despite using a 3.75mm needle to bind off stitches created with a 2.5mm needle, the result was too tight. I ended up using a 4.5mm needle and it just fits. Weaving in the ends of Rotonda is difficult too because it’s very slippery - any suggestions so it stays put? It also twists like crazy, but I’m sure much of that is down to my technique (still knitting English style - throwing the yarn - versus Continental). Ooh if I could get one of those things like they put on phone cords so they don’t get all crazy-twisted then I’d be set! Don’t steal my idea.

I’m in the process of putting all the body stitches back on the needles so I can continue knitting the body and see if I need a SIXTH ball of yarn. I know I’m busty, but I’m really surprised at the quantities indicated in the pattern versus what I’m finding thus far. I don’t really expect to gain much length with blocking since it’s a cotton and rayon blend, but maybe I’m wrong? I pretty much have zero experience with blocking.

Earlier today I was really frustrated with these sleeves as I thought I might end up taking off the contrast colour completely, extending the sleeve slightly with the main colour and then adding the cuffs again. I don’t really like cap sleeves ’cause I have flabby arms and I find that they creep up a lot and end up bunching up in my armpit. Maybe it’s because I’m ridiculously fidgety as well… But after fixing the bind off, they seem fine. And should I ever actually get my butt into the pool, my arms will slim down a bit anyway.

I’ve put myself on a yarn diet because I have more yarn than I can do anything with at the moment and the mounting clutter is starting to send me into panic attack mode. Also, it will do my finances good. The only exception is if I have to buy more yarn to finish a project (e.g. the sixth ball for Bad Penny and possibly a fourth for Ms Marigold). I can trade yarn, but I’d prefer to sell it off so I can put the money towards debts - every little bit helps, right? I put an auction up on eBay for some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky and I’ll see if I can’t sell that superwash wool I tried to sell awhile back.

I have also found out that the baby my brother and girlfriend are expecting is a girl and that it’s due in late-June so that gives me more time than I thought. I might knit the dress from the Debbie Bliss Baby Knits for Beginners book. I’m still working on my Falling Leaves socks. I take those to my work Stitch n’ Bitch. (Apparently my co-worker / friend has told her husband that I do a majority of both! I’m so embarassed about the latter.) I’ve got a ways to go on them yet and wish I could just get into a good rhythm. As I expect that I may be at home all weekend (as in not out with The Boy), I may get a lot done. It would be nice to wear them before summer gets here! Like a lot of places, we’ve suddenly snapped back from the definite beginnings of spring right back into winter. There was actually some snow on the ground this morning. Snow! In Oxford!!

And just because I’ve probably managed to traumatise you with the picture above, here’s some tulips from The Boy. He gave me two bunches of flowers in the course of a week.

If I hadn’t been distracted by the Chunky ruffle beanie, a bib, and my boyfriend, I probably would’ve had Bad penny done… or nearly done. Alas, it is not the case. I got one sleeve done (with cuff) and have tried it on. I’m really fearful that the extra ball of yarn I had to buy will not be enough!

I made the cuff a bit shorter than the pattern says because it just seemed like it was about to go into looking unbalanced since the green is so bright. The body only covers my boobs right now and I should get another 3.5 inches out of the extra ball of yarn I bought plus the waist band which will add another 3 inches. This should make the body (measuring from under my arm down towards my waist) 13.5 - 14 inches which sounds like a lot, but considering that the 7.5 inches of body now just cover my boobs, I’m a a bit worried that it will still be too short! I’ll just have to knit this other ball and try it on again and see how it’s fitting. I have to order another ball of yarn for Ms Marigold anyway so I’ll get on it see if I need the other ball of Binario.

For whatever random reason, I decided to cast on for the Petal bib in One skein. I even had the recommended yarn! I’d bought the Rowan Handknit cotton for a hat for my sister last year, but I found it difficult to knit with so I didn’t use it. Seems like this bib and maybe a wash cloth would be good use as I still have a lot more of it (amateur buying of far more yarn than I’d actually need for a hat). For full details, see its very own page.

I’ve actually finished this hat three times! Go me! The first time it came out very pointy. The second time, it came out slightly pointy. And the third time, it was just right. How very Goldilocks…

The hat is knit in two parts - the band which is knit flat and then seamed together, hopefully invisibily, and then picking up stitches, you knit the crown in the round. I had a couple problems with techniques used in this pattern. First, I had never done a provisional cast-on and as I was a bit eager to get this going and done pretty fast, I had a couple goes at the provisional cast-on and it was just too wobbley so I cast on as normal and would unravel / cut the waste yarn when it came to joining the two ends of the band together. I know that’s not an elegant solution, but it mostly worked for me. I say mostly as I expect that even if I had done the provisional cast on, I would’ve had the same problem with recovering the live stitches as I had with my method - I find it only a little difficult since that first row is not just knit, but in pattern stitch which includes yarn overs.

Second, the edges of the band are done with an Annie Modesitt technique where you k1 sl1 w/ yarn in front, k1 (on the right side). I can’t remember what name this has actually been given, but it’s been given a name! Anyway, for some reason this worked just fine on the right column (w/ right side facing), but the left side ended up really loose. I tried tightening it up and it just didn’t want to.

Third, a common theme in my knitting, my gauge must’ve ended up way off because I had to pick up fourteen more stitches than in the pattern meaning I knit a whole repeat extra. I think my stitch gauge was right, but my row gauge off. Anyway, it looks fine in the end although the crown does seem short. Looking at the sample picture, it’s the same there and I don’t know how much I really like it. It looked okay in the picture, but in person, I just don’t know!

I’ll post this to my sister tomorrow - hopefully she’ll like it and get use out of it. I feel a bit guilty that the two patterns she chose, I haven’t actually knit yet - the Amelia Earhart cap and Shedir. I just can’t get the Amelia cap to work. I need to practice wrapping for one, but I don’t know what it is w/ that pattern. And Shedir, well I still haven’t bought the replacement Rowan Calmer I need - I did try the other day, but they were out of stock.

And just a note on Bad Penny. I got through the raglan increases and a couple rows into the main body and had already used up two of the four balls of the main colour! Once I finished the third ball, I measured how much body that got me and discovered I would need a fifth ball. Well, I bought this yarn a year ago so I didn’t want to start on the fourth ball until I knew if I would be able to get a fifth ball in the same dyelot. Luckily the place I ordered it from still had some from the same dyelot! Phew. In doing a bit of googling, I found that others ended up short on yarn too. And I’m knitting the smallest size! While I was waiting to hear if they had the same dyelot, I started on the contrasting colour on the sleeves. That yarn is very hard to work with! 100% microfibre. I did a few rounds and decided I didn’t like how it looked where it joined the main colour so I ripped it out - I’ll knit that first round and then start in the 1×1 ribbing. I’ll also knit in the round versus flat - I’m not sure why it says to knit these flat - the less seaming the better! I’m nearly done with the fourth ball so then I can go back to doing the sleeves and collar while I wait for the fifth ball.

I’ll add pattern details about the hat later as I need to get going right now! I’ve decided that with each finished object, I’ll make a page about it so I can include all the details there and notes. I may retroactively do the other items, but for now, here’s the info on a touch of whimsy hat

But it really isn’t quite stash knitting. I mean, I am using yarn that’s been in my stash for 9 - 12 months, but it wasn’t bought on a whim because it was pretty, but with an actual project in mind. As I’ve mentioned before, when I started knitting for real (i.e. I had a few false starts), I tried knitting a scarf and got very bored, very quick so moved right into hats - and not just a garter stitch or stockinette or rib patterned hat. But I wanted to do something more so I trawled through lots of free patterns and found several I wanted to knit. I’ve changed my mind about some of them so need to figure out what to do w/ the yarns I bought (e.g. I have a bunch of silk although I admit I don’t think I ever had a project in mind - I was just enamoured w/ the colours!). However, the biggest slow down was that the hats that I was knitting weren’t coming out the right size.

Lana Grossa Rotunda and Lana Grossa Binario.
The cream and gold is so not my normal colours (anything with gold is not normal for me), but it doesn’t really look too gold when it’s knit up which is lucky for me!

I made my sister five hats last spring and they were all wonky in some way. She still wore / wears them, but they were definitely amateur efforts. So I’ve continued to make more hats and moved into socks and even a couple of scarves! I’ve gotten slightly faster, but still could get faster (note to self: Get on w/ learning Continental style for the love of God!). But my confidence and abilities have improved so I’ve taken the plunge and am actually knitting my first top / jumper / sweater.

It’s Bad Penny by Stefanie Japel from the spring 2004 issue of Knitty. The cream/gold is the main colour and the green will be used for the neck, sleeve cuffs, and waist band. I got knitting the other day. And of course it was a false start. Now, I’ve never knit a jumper before, but something seemed funny with the raglan increases. So consulting the pattern and the pictures included, it seemed that a stitch was missing. I wrote Stefanie and even though she is the midst of a very busy time with her first book being published, she responded very quickly and confirmed that there was indeed a stitch missing in the instructions. It should read:

Inc round 2: K to 1 st before marker, yo, k 1, slip marker, k 1, yo.

It’s very minor, but it seems like it makes it firmer. I couldn’t find a way to notify knitty of the errata, and the FAQ says authors should get in touch anyway so I’ve thanked Stefanie and let her know.

I’m nearly done with the raglan increases and will shortly be moving into the body. Hopefully within the next fortnight I’ll have a new top to wear! Hurrah! (And I know it does look very gold in the knitted up photo, but in person it doesn’t look so gold.)

I did finish the Touch of whimsy hat for my sister, but the top bit which is just knit in stockinette ended up too short and rather messy actually. I will rip all of that out and re-do it. It should take me an evening (hopefully less) to do that since it’s only half a hat that needs doing.

Haven’t made much progress with the Falling leaves socks since Prague. I will also need to cast-on soon for whatever it is I am going to make my brother and his girlfriend for their baby that is expected sometime in May. I can’t decide whether to do a blanket and hat / bootie set or a very cute dress from the Debbie Bliss Baby Knits for Beginners book. I have plenty of yarn for any of the above… it’s just a matter of deciding what to make!