Friday, March 11, 2005
OK. As I sit here thinking about knitting rather than working, I've decided to officially give up on the Soft Kid. Not only that, I officially DESPISE Soft Kid! I officially BAN Soft Kid from my life. FOREVER! I spent another several hours last night knitting pathetically little. The Addi's helped somewhat but, I still could not get under both stitches for k2tog and as result of my man-handling, those stitches split and split some more. It couldn't have gotten any fuzzier and therefore more difficult to see. So I ripped and tried to start afresh but even that was nasty. All the little hairs were matted together and it was like trying to remove it from velcro. I had to cut the yarn instead, tried a few rows again, had better results but noticed all the shedding, and just wasn't at all having fun. When that happens, why go on. The whole knitting credo is all about relaxing and enjoying your work is it not?
I'm thinking of exchanging the remaining skeins for Rowan Calmer. I know I know, not at all the same drape but I think it will still work out ok. Or maybe Rowan Kid Classic? Anything that has more weight and less fuzz.
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Eyelet Cardi from Rebecca 29 has begun. Also alternatively called the Rebecca Mini Cardi or the Mini Wrap from Rebecca or the Rebecca Wraparound Mini Cardi knit with GGH Soft Kid that is the Bane of My Existence.
I'm officially calling it the Eyelet Cardi. So there.
Look at me, I'm on FIRE.
I knit 5 rows last night and it took me an hour. Murderous. Could not get the needle underneath both stitches for a k2tog to save my life. Today during my lunch break I stopped at Newbury Yarns for a pair of circular Addi's. Hopefully it'll be easier knitting with those.
I've been thinking of substitutions for the Soft Kid, something airy and light and about the same gauge. I think the Peruvian Highland Wool would actually work pretty well, being extremely light and the same gauge the Eyelet Cardi calls for.
There's also Wings from Classic Elite, made from alpaca, silk, and hollow core wool. If that doesn't sound light and airy in a feathery kind of way then I don't know what does. It also has the feel of cashmere so another plus.
I haven't given up on the Soft Kid. Yet. It's always good to have alternatives.
Filed Under: Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi | Yarn Stash
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Oh my god, this is fantastic. A new business opened up in Davis Square called Spark Craft Studios that sells various crafting materials - scrapbooking, rubber stamping, beading, yarn, crochet, EVERYTHING I LOVE IN ONE STORE - and at the same time provides space and comfy cushy couches for you to relax and craft in. Unlike most yarn stores that are itty bitty but still try to squeeze a table in the middle of the room, the studio looks huge, loads of room to roam freely without fear of crushing someone, and plenty of room to just sit.
They even address the Yarn Jenga situation by stocking their yarn in little hammocks!!!!
 
 
All photos from Spark Craft website.
I was JUST about to post a "If I Had a Craft Store, it Would Have..." entry and it's like they read my thoughts. I am so excited about this, and can't wait to visit.
Check out their photos. Drooling.
Filed Under: Life
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
For me all hell breaks loose when it rains. Despite being underneath the umbrella my lunch bag became damp enough to rip and thus I had to hold contents of bag (my lunch in various containers) tenuously in my arms while walking to the train. On board the crowded train it was standing room only, my umbrella refused to close, popping open and spraying fellow commuters like a wet dog shaking off its coat. While wrestling with the umbrella to get it closed, the contents of ripped lunch bag clamped in my armpit popped out, and after I retrieving lunch containers from dirty, wet, gritty train floor and finally getting the umbrella shut, my trousers and shirt front were completely blotched in rain water. I looked like I had just given a Saint Bernard his bath. I'll take snow anyday over rain. I hate the rain.
Yesterday on way to grab lunch I stopped at Newbury Yarns for more debbie bliss merino chunky #18, the lights were out and there was an "Be back soon!" post-it taped to the door. What is this, Europe?! America doesn't dooooo lunchtime siestas. I hung around for as long as I could, ducking into Bliss (uh oh saw a tote on sale that I'd been eyeing since the Fall), Fresh, various other boutiques and 30 minuters later the store was still closed. Grrrrrr. I went back a couple of hours later, and wouldn't you know it, she didn't have the yarn! Gave me the "Yeah yeah I have it" brush-off when I tried to give her the dyelot over the phone, and now when I'm in the store she's all, "You should have given me the color number!" Then she proceeded to chastise me for buying it online and it's like Lady, work with me. You don't have the yarn, what am I supposed to do.
After work I visited Woolcott in Harvard Sq. for the GGH Soft Kid. I swear everytime I walk into a yarn store I invariably find myself involved in a very stressful game of Jenga. There has got to be a better way to stock yarn aside from cubbie holes. How about netting? You can see and rummage through it without fear of Every Single Goddamn Ball of Yarn Falling Out.
Luckily in this case Soft Kid was stocked at the very bottom cubbie hole. I came away with 5 skeins in HOT FUSHIA for the Rebecca 29 Minicardi, and now I'm not so sure about the color. It is so HOT, so FUSHIA. Not only am I unsure about the color, I am unsure about the yarn. I tried knitting a row and god. I'm knitting with cobwebs. I'm knitting with unhealthy, weak frizzy hair. Hard to hold, hard to see, breaks easily. Rebecca 29 is coming in the mail today, I'll give it a go and see how one skein turns out...
Filed Under: Life | Rebecca 29 | Eyelet Cardi
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Damnit. I am short one whole sleeve. I say this with much anger and surprise when I should be flogging myself for my lapse in basic arithmetic.
Going into this I already knew I was short 3 skeins, and thought no problem, I'll get that yardage back by not cabling the back. 3 skeins did not sound like a lot to my little brain, but do the math and 3 skeins of merino chunky equals....(calculating)...164 yards which equals nearly 500 feet of yarn I don't have, and therefore I was clearly stupid to think I could get that back by simply not cabling a panel.
Not wanting to order online and wait wait wait, I called every yarn store nearby to see if they had any merino chunky dyelot #18 in stock and only one store did, but being busy with a customer she didn't actually check it in person. Tomorrow I'll break from work to walk to Newbury Yarns and hope she's not a dirty liar. I'm so close to finishing!
3-needle bind-off, so beautiful in the sun.
The good news is: I left the shoulder stitches live so I could try the 3-needle bind-off. A little clunky with such large needles, but it turned out brilliant. Now the front and back panels are joined at the shoulders. Anything to cut seaming down.
But there's enough yarn for the turtleneck.
If you look to the left, you will see a ghastly PSSO gone horribly awry.
The pass-over stitch is way loose. Meant to do an SSK but forgot.
(Now that I've told you to look closely, try not to next time.)
In the meantime I'm going to finish up the turtleneck.
Speaking of. The instructions for this pattern is in really garbly English. For example, the instructions for the neck says:
Pick up around neck edge with circular needles the 23 sts. off each holder = 76 sts.
Er...There are 12 sts on front holder and 18 on back holder, not 23. The 23 they're referring to is the number to pick up on each neck edge.
23+23+12+18 = 76.
Just thinking now, I could have just gone and cabled the back afterall. Not cabling it really only saved me at most half a skein of yardage. And maybe it wouldn't have looked too busy...Ah, always second-guessing. Next time.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28 | Savanna
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Front and back in the pre-blocked state
Before I forget how I did this, some notes on knitting the back. I did not follow the pattern (I don't think I ever have followed any pattern once 100%...), replacing the cable pattern for straight stockinette stitch. As a result, I had to reduce the number of total stitches in order to get the same gauge as the cabled front. I reduced the number to cast on from 66 to 56, in order to get total width of about 40 cm.
So to make sure this number would all add up with the amount of decreases necessary, I started calculated backwards, beginning with the initial estimation of 56 stitches to obtain gauge.
I skipped the part where you bind off at the neck edge to give a slight slope ("At neck edge bind off on every 2nd row 4 sts once and 2 sts once"). Doing that would throw the width off, as you would need more stitches to account for the decrease. I don't think it would be horrible if omitted, so I planned on knitting the final row straight through.
When all the decreases were completed for the armhole, it was important that I still came out with a final number of stitches that would add up to:
12 stitches for left shoulder
18 center stitches for neck
12 stitches for right shoulder
= 42 final stitches
The number of shoulder stitches had to match the front, so that couldn't change.
The number of decreases for the armhole totaled 16 stitches (3x2 bind-off + 5x2 decrease = 16).
But 56 - 16 = 40. I need to end up with 42.
So cast on 58 instead.
Now the babies are blocking and I'll be starting on the sleeves. No math invovled thankfully.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28
Saturday, March 05, 2005
I really need to get out more. Or at least join a REAL knitting circle.
Even though it's been a crazy week at work, I've been able to make huge progress on the 2nd Rebecca sweater - "Sweater with Cable Patterns". It is such a fast knit. Oh yeah I'm calling it "Savanna." The front and back of Savanna are all knitted up. I ditched the cable pattern for the back in order to save yarn, and also because the cabling is rather intricate and it would look too busy and "irish" if the back were cabled as well. So the back is just plain ole stockinette stitch.
Now will cast on the sleeves tonight during one of this week's Netflix pix: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, and Elf. It will be the first time watching The Godfather. Tragic.
If all goes well I will have another sweater by this weekend. I say this knowing full well that seaming ends up taking 100x's more time than I think it will. I'm feeling optimistic, again.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28 | Savanna
Thursday, March 03, 2005
I sent D yesterday to the Woolcott & Co. yarn store that is a mere courtyard away from his office in Harvard Square. Lucky that I don't work there or else I'd be taking mini-lunch breaks every 10 minutes. They're the only store in Boston that I know of to stock Rebecca magazines, so the mission for D: ask for and buy Rebecca 29 and Rebecca 27. What D came home with: Rebecca Home. Thanks baby, but. Argh!
Rebecca Home blows! Zero interest in knitting pillow covers, sham covers, oversized blankets that will end up victims of the cats' amorous advances. Zero interest in knitting a "sweater" for my water bottle, or fuzzy ornaments for my Christmas tree.
29 and 27 were not in stock anyway, so I've ordered them online (through another Mass. store, theknittinggarden.com). After my initial reaction of "...meh" to the wraparound cardigan in Rebecca 29, I've decided that I must have it and have will now join my first knit-along. That photo from the mag has been posted in every other knitting site out there and it just grew on me slowly.
Wearing SWDC in the office. Sweating like a pig.
Filed Under: Rebecca 28
Sunday, February 27, 2005
 
Pattern: Rebecca 28, #41 Sweater with Diagonal Ribs and Cables
Yarn: Lion's Brand Kool Wool, 12 skeins x 60 yds = 720 yds total
Gauge: 14 sts to 10cm over 2x2 rib, size 10 needles
Hey they're different colors! Actual color most resembles the photo on the left. The photo on the right showcases the main reason why I picked this pattern to knit - those dainty yarn overs in between the ribs, coming together in such a pretty V. How clever to use yarn overs in lieu of a simple increase. I really love that detail. Here's another photo to show the side.
Me 'n my cozy winter sweater with the lovely side detail
lounging on the couch with an [empty] mug of coffee
This sweater was a fast and easy knit if you remove the whole seaming bit. It took me all of yesterday afternoon and most of the night to just seam and oh god I was so miserable. Pulling at my hair, cursing, crying, turning purple. D was all, "Girl I'm confused. I thought knitting was supposed to be relaxing?" I hate hate hate seaming the sleeves on.
None of my reference books had anything useful to say, except: "Pin center of sleeve to shoulder seam, ease into shape, and sew." ...And? AND??! So many pages devoted to how designing and charting sleeves and neckholes and this and that, but nothing on putting it together.
The cap sleeve seaming fiasco. I used white yarn first to see what I was doing. A very ad hoc process.
I started seaming from the top center of the sleeve down to the armhole, and then did it again for the other side. The Vogue Knitting book did mention using backstitch, but I couldn't make sense of how to do that when starting from the center of a piece? Instead I used a version of mattress stitch to attach the top of the sleeve to the shoulder, picking up about 2 shoulder stitches to 1 sleeve stitch. It seemed to work out ok mathematically, but the end result is sloppy. I look like I'm wearing shoulder pads. The bulkiness of the yarn could be to blame for that. D thinks it looks fine and maybe it does, but my eyes can't help but zero in on the awkward shoulder seaming.
Someone needs to show me how to do this properly. Otherwise from now on I'm sticking with raglan sleeves. So send any tips my way!
Also still having issues with neckshaping. There's a small hole boo boo in the back. If you don't look really hard you won't see it. But I know it's there and that's all that matters. Strangely enough even though the knowledge of the hole's existence will haunt me at night, I never considered stopping to rip out rows in order to fix it. Laziness always wins in the end.
The verdict is still out on the Kool Wool. It's a really heavy drape, and it looks like it's starting to pill already. On the other hand it's super soft and cozy. And cheap! Relatively speaking. I would definitely knit this sweater again.
And can I just say what a pleasure it is to follow a graphical pattern than it is to follow pure text of endless "row1: k1, p3, *[yo, k1, p3] repeat from * 14 times, k1, p3 blah blah blah"? American and English pattern books need to step it up and draw me a picture.
Another sweater, with cables, with turtleneck, in neutral.
This one's going to be HOT.
Next up in the queue - that other chunky cable sweater from Rebecca 28. From this point on I'm calling it Savanna, rather than "Sweater with Cables." I've already started it, using DB chunky merino, in yet another neutral color. I love her yarns - they all have this certain sheen, even for wool.
I've already made a mistake with this one though. Not enough yarn. After knitting up that first skein and seeing how little it produced, I knew my stash was not going to be enough. My mistake: calculating the amount of yarn I needed using weight instead of yardage. I was substituting GGH Savanna with the DB, both are 50grams, but GGH has more yardage. Thus I am short 3 skeins. However I have a workaround that does not involve buying more, so fingers, paws, eyes crossed.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Rebecca 28 | Savanna | SWDR
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