The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!

I didn't really like that movie, but the line really sticks with me.

Just noticed Rabbitch added me to her blog list! OMG!

So now I really have to post more often.

Well, not a lot of knitting news to report! I am still working on the Tigger sweater sleeves, and WTF? How can two little sleeves take so much longer than 11" of sweater with a pocket?? I got tired of marking the six rows (inc 2 on the first), 8 times, in my knitting notebook, so I got out two barrel counters and put loops of scrap yarn in them. One is for the rows and the other is for repeats. I'm on the seventh repeat, so that's good.

I also did more work on my friend's Contrasto scarf. Had a little frisson when I thought, "When the heck is her birthday? Is it soon?" and the topic came up and she said August. Phew!

I also cast on a swatch for the Tahki blue cotton and seriously screwed up the decrease I was trying out and just can't get it all to behave again. So one side is fine, all k2p2, and the other side has like k2p4 followed by k2p2. Ugh. This sweater will be the death of me.

As for the shaping, especially for the Lang 'Viva' sweater, I took out the Sublime sweater pattern and started jotting down measurements for the waist shaping. 17 stitches per inch makes for some crazy numbers, especially when you do it in your head. I do think I can transfer them to the pattern, though, so that was worth it.

I also ran off half of the ball of Meilenweit to start a very basic pair of socks that I can finish before I'm 50. That yarn really makes my heart go pit-a-pat, so I think it will be very enjoyable. Unlike the Child's First Socks, which, now that I've turned the ankle, seem too small (ARRRGH!), and I think I hate them. Can't decide whether to frog them or just finish them and give them to someone with small feet. Dharma, when's your birthday again?

An FO (sort of), and two UFOs

What's that "one step forward" thing? :)

I finished knitting my mom's felted hat. Haven't had the guts to felt it yet. The stripe on the brim seems too high by a row. I really don't want to reknit it, but it seems... uneven.

Then my son begged me to start on his Tigger sweater (like the Pooh tiger, not the Knitty sweater). So I cast on, and have about 3" knit already. The yarn is striping really nicely--sections will have a lot of black with some orange, then a lot of orange with some black. I knit while we watched "The Labyrinth," which I'd never seen but really enjoyed.

I knit on it at church and then it struck me that I'd wanted to start another Contrasto scarf, this time for a friend's upcoming birthday. I finished 1 of the 4 balls today and joined on the 2nd. I love that Mistake Rib!

I've decided to rip the Lang Yarns sweater, and redo it from the beginning, without the tummy-revealing vee in the front, and with the waist shaping. I've also decided to swatch the blue Tahki cotton sweater, doing the decreases as a test, as they are not clearly shown/explained in the pattern. I realized that the decreases not being clear were keeping me from working on it. They are one of the things that draw me to the sweater--making the shaping really sharp. So they need to be right.

Will I ever finish anything???

I feel like I have 6 projects and will never finish any of them. sigh

The most likely candidate is G's childHood, which has the sleeves sewn in and just needs the underarm/side seams done. When that is done, I can really try it on him and estimate how the hood is coming along. Maybe 1-2" left of that, I think. Then I can put buttons & snaps on and BE DONE.

But nothing else is as close to being done. The blue cotton Tahki is slow going and I have my doubts about the way I did the decreases on the bustline (directions are vague for every row after the first--"do the same decrease" but the first decrease row gives stitch counts and there are fewer stitches after that!). And it's getting heavy. I should calc to see how many more rows I have till the shoulders. I already decided not to start the v-neck as low as they recommend, as I'm hoping to wear this in other places than the Ren Faire.

I'm completely befuddled on Branching Out. I had too few stitches on a row, so started to tink back, only to realize that I don't konw which row I put the lifeline through (10 or 1?). Ugh. It is lovely so far, though...

Birch continues to taunt me. I may put her away in the basement and start the Swallowtail shawl instead. I already have the laceweight alpaca it calls for. Ha!

Birch 1, Me 0

Birch has won this round. I got to the end of row 4 and instead of 6 stitches left, I had 1. I give up. I'll frog that and re-cast-on with stitch markers every 10 stitches, since the pattern is over 10 stitches. (and am eyeing Kiri as an alternative...)

I've also decided to frog my other KSH project, Branching Out. I just kept making mistakes and getting paranoid, so I'll use that beige color in something else, maybe stranded along with another yarn. I've restarted Branching Out in my Misti Alpaca sportweight in a beautiful aubergine. (No printed gauge on the label! Little Knits says it's 6 sts/in, so it should be fine for this pattern.)

Am slogging away on the blue Tahki cotton sweater, checking rows off on my clipboard. I think I need to frog down to one decrease, though, as I did it in reverse (the k3tog first rather than last; what was I thinking?). I'll get to the V-neck shaping soon!

Am also slogging away at the Redwood Forest socks. I'm on row 18 of the 20 rows of k2p1 ribbing. I hope the 10-row pattern can be clearly charted so this can continue to be a very portable project (unlike the blue sweater).

And finally--am nearing the end with childHood! Finished the 10" of the hood last night. Just need to try it on the Child With The Significant Cranium to make sure it will fit him before I do the 3-needle bindoff. I've heard the hood is absurdly large so we might be just fine. Then I'll have to sew the sleeves on and seam them and the sides, sew on the buttons and snaps, and be DONE.

Not a lot of news

Once I get my home computer back to where it was, I'll post some photos of updates. Until then, I'll just have to describe things.

Birch: still scaring me, I guess. Still on row 2. (or maybe 3.)

childHood: still about 1/2 way up the hood. The end is in sight! I may decrease a few stitches in the middle so that it doesn't have a silly point when I 3-needle-bind-off the top.

blue Tahki cotton sweater: looks good. I'm about up to the v-neck shaping, which occurs front and back. I have to keep track of my rows on a sheet of binder paper, checking off rows as I do them. I still like the look of it.

And, of course, I have to start a new project, oy! A friend really likes penguins, and I have some Red Heart handy, so I started Pasha. It's going to be kind of big! Not sure I'm up to miniaturizing it, though, so I'll probably just go for the 8" size. Fun to be working on something small, though. I hope she likes it! (it's s surprise)

Nothing finished, many updates

Finally took some photos of my current WIPs. Well, active WIPs. I keep coming across the Branching Out scarf I started and averting my eyes. I'll pick it up again some day.

First, the Tahki cotton "I am so making this up" sweater. It's looking great! I'm in the middle of the 2nd ball and finally feeling like it's getting somewhere. Maybe 3.5"? The K2P2 rib is slow going and periodically I mess up and K a P or P a K, which astounds me--can't one get a rhythm going with K2P2? The color is a true French blue (the photo looks more like a medium blue to me).


Next, the L!on Brands "Copper Penny" trellis yarn shawl. I thought this would go like lightning! I am not even making clear damage to the first ball of 3. I still love the colors and still wonder if I would wear this (it is not soft and I am all about the softness). The colors are very coppery/autumn. I don't think I captured that.





And then comes the childHood sweater, on which I'd love to get started on the hood... but I messed up the right-hand button band. I counted repeats on the left and tried to match it on the right... but I miscounted--AND cut the yarn! I'll have to rip it all out and start over. I hope I have enough yarn. I hope, I hope. The right-hand band seems just fine.



Finally, the Shrapnel Socks. It's actually going well (pausing to knock on wood) and I have maybe 1.5" left before ribbing. For such tiny needles and yarn, it does go pretty quickly, especially if your dental hygienist is running behind!

Good start on blue sweater

I took the Tahki blue cotton sweater to SF Pride yesterday and knit on BART and while we were waiting to march, and after. I have 2.5" done and finished the first ball! It is very slow to knit (k2p2 rib for 8") but I still love this yarn and the drape seems quite nice. (photo to come soon)

I did one of the front bands on Graham's childHood sweater and slip-stitched it on. Did the other one, thought I'd matched the first, but... cwap. It is shorter and I snipped the yarn already. Ugh. I'll have to rip it completely out and start over. I did have to do the yarns differently for the right-hand lapel band, as the direction of the garter stitch means I have to swap yarns at its outside edge, rather than the inside edge that the left-hand one had. I decided to follow this method:

At each new row, twist the new color with the previous color and knit the first stitch. *Then* wrap the new yarn around the other 4 yarns behind the work and continue to knit the row and its following row with the new yarn.

This way, the bundle of carried-up yarns is behind the edge rather than at the edge. I didn't wrap the just-previous yarn because it is right below the current row and, I think, doesn't require it.

I can't wait to be done with the bands (and not just because I hate slip-stitching!) and start on the hood. I just hope with all this ripping that I'll have enough for the (multi-striped) hood. My calculations said I'd have plenty. Well, nervousness helped the Leaf Lace Shawl!