No, I’m not talking about that “F” word, though that one did get used a bit yesterday as well. I’m talking about the “Finished” “F” word. You know, where you are approaching the end of a looooong project, and you are merrily grafting along on 125 stitches, thinking cockily to yourself, “I’ll be Finished with this one soon!” I just wonder what I’ll knit next!”

In my defense, I actually did finish that looooonnnnngg grafting row on Langsjal Jóhönnu yesterday. I was about to pull out the last two lifelines when I decided to look it over first. I gave a simple little tug to even out some stitches, and the yarn snapped, unzipping about three inches of the grafting seam in the center. Really, I wasn’t tugging hard, not even as hard as this puppy will get tugged around during the blocking. I think my grafting was much too tight, so it would have needed to be redone anyway.

After the first horrified thought of running to the back yard and lighting the whole mess on fire, I took a careful look at it.

I fiddled with it a bit, trying to get those unzipped stitches corralled on needles, then decided that the whole seam would need to be redone anyway, and just undid the length of it.

That’s the big mess, off the needles. I frogged the bigger piece back to the lifeline, and got it back on a needle without too much swearing (giving thanks about every two stitches that I hadn’t ripped out the lifelines). The smaller end piece was a different story. I hadn’t bothered with a lifeline when I did this one, and I kept unravelling row after row, trying to get to a row where I could actually identify stitches to get on the needle. This whole section was a mess of double yarn-overs and  Sl-K2-psso’s, and I finally gave up and just ripped the whole thing out.

Ahem. There might have been a few f-words heard along with this one, too. John was smart enough to leave the room and go watch the basketball game during this part. (Go ‘Heels!*)

I reknit the last 15 rows or so of the big section. This time I placed a lifeline on the second to the last row, so if I have to do this again, I’ll only be a row short. I tried out a new-to-me trick with the lifeline. The Options needles have a tiny hole at the base of the needle, which is used with a tiny tool to tighten the needle on the cable. If you run your lifeline through this little hole, then knit the row, it pulls the line through the stitches as you go.

That hole is really tiny, but I use waxed dental floss (Glide Original!) for my lifelines, and you can smoosh the end of it so it will go right through. Note that if you use stitch markers along the row, this method of threading a lifeline through the stitches won’t work, as your line will also end up through the markers.

I didn’t invent this method, by the way. I’ve seen it several other places, but Fleegle has several links for how to do this here. She even drilled holes in some of her other circular needles to make this possible.

Then I cast on a whole bunch of stitches, and started the second end over.

Thirty rows to go, then another lifeline, then I’ll try that grafting again. Loosely, this time.

*Yes, I married a Carolina boy. He made me learn the Tarheels Fight song before he would marry me.

Well. I’m back from my little unintended blog vacation. What can I say, Shift Happens (see previous post!). I have been knitting a bit, though the past couple weeks have been overrun by work, and this week, church activities in preparation for Easter. I haven’t gotten nearly as much knitting to brag about as I’d like, but here goes.

Here’s what I’m working on now:

That’s the Cobblestone sweater, almost up to the underarms. I still haven’t decided if this is for me or for John. I’d love to wear this one, but that line where the stockinette turns to garter at the yoke falls right across the boobage line. In a skinny flat-chested girl, maybe that would be flattering. Me, not so much. We’ll see when it’s done. This is good mindless round and round knitting, sort of like a big sock.

Next:

Yes, this is still the first of the pair. I really need to finish these before I get sick to death of them. I love how the stripes changed at the heel and gusset. This is Madeline Tosh yarn in Amaranth.

Last but absolutely not least, I’m close to actually finishing Langsjal Jóhönnu. I have spent the last few weeks weighing the remaining ball of yarn after every repeat so I could use as much of it as possible. I’ve ended up with 46 repeats, and am ready for it to be done. For those of you who haven’t done this one, you knit the first border, then the body, then on another set of needles knit the second border, then graft the two together. Yes, that would be Kitchener stitching 125 stitches. Here’s where I am:

There’s also an edging of single stitch crochet chain to go on each end, but I’m not sure I want to bother with that. I might start it and see what it looks like. It might help the thing block flatter and not ruffle at the ends.

And the grafting started:

The color in that photo is closer to the real thing than the first photo up there. In some light this looks just navy blue, but in natural daylight, it has a deep royal purple color.

And I’ll leave you with a photo of what’s blooming in my front entrance:

I think it’s confused about which holiday is this weekend. Happy Easter everybody!

Very interesting:

Kind of makes my head spin…

I Did It Again…

The Yarn Truck came this weekend! I don’t know what happened, they just deliver this stuff when I’m working. Ok, ok, I’ll reset the shopping counter, if you all insist. Part of the problem with ordering online from vendors who are also bloggers who know me is that they can bust me big time when I break the yarn fast and don’t “fess up”.

The top yarn is Dream In Color Baby, in the color Flamingo Pie. I bought this from Kris, and honestly, I’m pretty sure she must have a warehouse across the street from my house. I ordered it, and it was here 2 days later. Go there, she might still have some left. This will be a shawl someday, when I quit squishing it and start knitting.

The second yarn is from Shelly at Butternut Woolens. It’s her once-a-year special, the Rabbit’s Foot angora blend, color Foxglove. This will make some great socks. I just love this yarn. It’s soft and fuzzy, and that photo does not do justice to the colors.  She included a little sample skein of one of her other sock yarns, which are equally lovely.

We’re off tomorrow on another adventure. One of my sisters lives in North Dakota, the other in Phoenix. Guess which one we’re all descending on for a week in March? I’ll be in the sunny state of Arizona for a week. We have lots of activities planned for the week, including a few* adult beverages! I’ll try to post from the road. I’m off to pack the knitting projects!

* OK, maybe more than a few…