The Next Big Thing

Moving swiftly on from the "Cotton Disaster of '07", I have been picking away at a few projects.

Ariann has been ripped back to this state and the reknitting has begun. It may an unpopular thing to say since most people can't sing the praises of this pattern enough, but I think it's poorly written and not worth the money I spent on it. Would it have killed the designer to include stitch counts after vast swathes of increases and decreases? I'm not one to revel in being spoon fed but this pattern has frustrated me no end and, upon second knitting I still can't get the raglan decreases to look right (I don't have a three foot long neck, do you?) Maybe I'm dumb and the rest of the knitting world is able to better read between the lines. Whatever, I'll fudge it. Being past caring seems to be a common theme this summer.

And so to the next big thing! RIPPLES! Let's see how long it takes me to screw this one up! It's acrylic and cheap and colourful and crochet. So many things wrong in that sentence and yet like gin, tonic and lime, the individual ingredients may not be that tasty but together they make magic.

The boy-shaped distraction is back in the city and I need to buy circular knitting needles to join the sidewinder-along at Sit n' Knit New York. Could be an interesting weekend.

Ugh

There's only so much flogging of a dead horse this knitter can take.

Blocking didn't work. Adding little hooks and eyes to hold it closed also failed. I know yesterday's picture is deceiving, since there it doesn't actually look half bad. But let me show you the problem.

I'm smiling to dull the pain.

OK, so it may be wishful thinking that my waist is that small but I swear I traced the outline of my body through the cardigan. That is a LOT of extra fabric. In my family I got the "??boobs??" gene while my sister inherited the "!!BOOBS!!" gene so I think I know where this cardigan will be heading. It looks like ass on me but I have a feeling it'll look really cute on her.

As for the yarn, I really just used it for the wrong project. I feel it would make great, sturdy bags and accessories but I'm just not sold on it for clothing. It doesn't feel so great next to the skin and I'll stand by my earlier statement, shoelaces!

PS. Doesn't Sheldon look like he's having an awesome time?!?! I might need to separate him from that sweater before I'm overrun with halflings....

A tale of two Saturdays

The Good:

Banana muffins with walnuts and dark chocolate.

And The Bad: Yes, a crappy FO deserves an equally craptastic photograph in a dirty mirror with a backdrop of general mess. And if I look pissed it's because I am.

I had high hopes from the Spring Fling cropped cardigan. All it took was a poor choice of substitute yarn and I have, quite possibly, a disaster on my hands. Let me explain. The pattern is great, really simple and knits up fast (this is the depression knitting I mentioned last weekend), but Elann Sonata was a very bad replacement for the stupidly expensive Rowan wool cotton. For one thing it feels like knitting with shoelaces, it bleeds like a stuck pig (I'm on about the 10th rinse in all and excess die is STILL coming out in vast quantites) and more than anything, this shit GROWS. I know that picture for all it's shiteness doesn't actually look that bad but believe me there was some creative seaming (like over lapping two inches of sleeve to make it fit into the arm hole) and if I move more than half an inch the whole get up makes me look like a line backer.

My solution.....

Block the bejesus out of it. What was once 16" long and 18" wide, is now 22" long and 16" wide. I'm not holding out hope that this will make the fit much better since the arms are still far too wide, but to be honest I'm past caring. The only good thing about all this? The yarn only cost $20 so I wont be too dismayed if it goes straight in the goodwill bag.

What was that about Fast and Wrong, Penelope?!

Until the seaming is done....

... here's a cute doggy picture to tide you over.

Renegade

I was going to write a post about how I've speed knit my way through the vast majority of a project in one day, and how the speed was directly correlated to levels of loneliness. Friends in couples, friends with family and me, all alone on a Saturday night. Boo hoo. But then I decided to get of my arse and stop feeling sorry for myself and to get my butt down to Brooklyn. As you do.

And it was so much fun! Despite nobody wanting to come with me (just call me Nemo) I had a great time. Sometimes browsing is just so much easier when you're on your own. And so on to the goodies!

First up is a t-shirt by AHPeele. Cute, no? And some pickled beets from Wheelhouse Pickles. Numnumnum.....

And then I stumbled upon some really neat artists! I LOVELOVELOVE the Decemberists poster. In fact I've been stalking the gallery in Manchester (UK) where these are normally sold for over a year. I think this purchase has cemented a visit in August when I'm next at home. The best bit, besides it being awesome, me loving the band, the brownness and the pinkness? It was $25! $25!!!! Ahem, little over excited (heh heh). The second screen print is by Jane Buck of Foxy & Winston. Too damn cute.

And finally.....

I WON! Knit1 and Adorn magazines were running a joint raffle and I won! Look at all those doo-dads! I don't even know what some of them are for....

All in all a good day. And now I'm off for dinner at my favourite Mexican restaurant with some of my favourite people. Excellent :)

May I present....

Preface: There are certain limitations when working with socks...

YODA!

Erm OK, BABY YODA? YODA/GREMLIN HYBID?

Oh whatever, he passes the chew test with flying colours.

PS. The baby wont have access to Yoda under normal conditions, although those are safety eyes I wouldn't call my frantic hand stitching baby-proof!

Begun, I have.

Barely over the high of the FO

Hmmm, what should I knit next? What should I knit next? What should I knit next? Good question with a good answer. How about the sister sock to this one?

No I'm not quite that speedy that I knit this up over night after finishing the monkeys. This has been hanging around since the end of April in a sad little pile by the side of my bed. I took pity on it this morning and in between baking and frosting a cake, cleaning the kitchen and sweeping the entire apartment, I finished up the rest of the foot and added a toe. Hurrah! This is a good sock. However, I'm bad knitter because there is going to have to be some knitterly archeology employed when it comes to knitting up the second one. There are some post-it notes somewhere with stitch count on them but I might have to wing it.

In the meantime I may be a little busy. It's this time of year again. A request has been made for Yoda. Lord preserve me!

WWKIP

Ah yes, World Wide Knit in Public Day. For my part the event was unintentionally extended by a stalled N train on my way into Queens. I had a nice conversation with a beginner knitter about socks and had one wise ass quip "Could you knit all of us something before this train moves again?" Um, No.

But I did finish something for myself while chatting in Central Park...

Pattern: Monkeys

Yarn & Needles: Fearless Fibers Midnight Passion (2.3oz used, 1.8oz left!), knit picks size 0s dpns. I used reinforcement thread in the heels and toes because I was slightly afeared that the softness of the yarn might not bode well for toughness.

Modifications: I decreased down to 14 stitches on the toe instead of 28 because it would appear that I have a freakishly long big toe.

What are you waiting for? Go knit yourself a pair!!

Turtle!!

Phew! Clothed at last! Time for a wander around the apartment....

Nice view!

Pattern: Sheldon from knitty.com

Yarn: Cotton Ease in pistachio and Popsicle, way less than a skein of each.

Needles: Knit Picks 3.5mm dpns, Susan Bates 3.25mm circulars for the straight knitting. 5mm crochet hook because I was too lazy to find a smaller one. Yeah, that sounds like me....

Modifications: I-cord edging while knitting together two pieces of fabric? And while headachy? No thank you, missus, I have a crochet hook and I'm not afraid to use it! I also decreased the number of rows on the nose to make it a little snubbier.

Verdict: Too cute!! Especially since I know a little Turtle who will be turning one in September ;)

Speaking of which.....

Pattern: Child's Placket Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (errata Pdf HERE.)

Yarn: Cotton Ease Popsicle, less than two skeins.

Needles: Knit picks mishmash (straight and circular) size 4.5mm

Verdict: This really has nothing to do with the pattern and more to do with my knitting skills. Usually I like to think I'm pretty good at it, but this cotton yarn has kicked my butt. You don't even have to look that closely to see how much the gauge changes as the needles changed and I switched from knitting in the round to back and forth. I'm not so, so bothered that I wont give it as a gift but I need to pick up the quality in future.

Sheldon

Don't look now, he's naked!