Month: November 2008

Crap, Crap, Crappity Crap

Or,

It’s A Good Thing I Took It Off The Needles To Measure

Or, Fourth Time’s A Charm?

That’s Big Grey in the background, the sweater that fits John like he wants this one to fit. That’s True Blue in the foreground, off the needles. That would be the third attempt at getting this thing up and running. I can’t explain this, except the gauge that I’m knitting the real thing is just a tiny bit tighter than my swatch. Even counting for the very tiny bit that my swatch grew when I washed it, this is not going to work. I also had problems with the increase row from the ribbing to the body. I was to increase 13 stitches, and given the instructions in the pattern, I did that row twice before I figured out that the instructions were wrong. It required pins to mark where those increases should go, and a little math-head to get it past the ribbing.

Somebody asked in the comments to my last post about the tape measure. Here it is:

I don’t remember exactly where I got this one, but I have a couple of these in different patterns. You can get them here.

And here’s a photo of Lucy to distract you from the destruction in progress. Lucy hardly ever comes downstairs any more, as she is a coward and likes her master suite upstairs just fine. She perched herself on a chair in the kitchen next to me yesterday.

Go ahead, tell her how pretty she is. I think she was saying, “Dude, that sweater is going to be too small for Dad.”

And here we go again.

It would be easier to go buy him a freaking sweater, but not nearly as entertaining.

Recalculating

If any of you have a Garmin Nuvi GPS unit, you will immediately know what I am talking about with that title. “Jill” is the woman who is the voice of Garmin on these units, and if you make a mistake or don’t follow her instructions, man, she really gets on your case. Jill says “recalculating” with a really bitchy attitude that makes it sound like you just gave her a dog turd to eat. John says it’s like having two wives in the car telling him how to drive.

I’ve had to do a bit of recalculating of my own with the new sweater. I’ve named it True Blue, as it is indeed pretty blue, and it’s for my true blue husband. I’ve ripped this sucker out and restarted three times now.

I didn’t take a photo of the first version. I wanted to use the pattern for the Father/Son sweater that I used for John’s Big Grey sweater, but completely ignored that fact that the Beaverslide worsted is a lighter weight yarn than the Peace Fleece that I used for that one. I actually did knit a swatch, then squinted sideways and decided that if I just knitted the size one size larger than the previous grey version, that all would be well. Denial is a lovely thing. I got almost two inches of twisted rib done on the back piece before reality hit. Way too small, out it came.

Recalculating.

I then dithered about it for a week, and finally decided to fire up the old PC laptop and make a pattern using Sweater Wizard. It’s the only software package that I use that has no good alternative in a Mac format (yet! she’s designing it as we speak!), and I’m not about to pay for and install Windoze on this Mac just to run one program. Out came the pattern, and I cast on again. This time I got about an inch done of the ribbing before I realized my newest mistake.

Most sweater patterns have the sizes listed as the actual finished measurements. That is, if you want your finished sweater to measure 24 inches across the chest, or 48 inches around, you would pick the size that said “48”. That’s the size I made for John with the Father/Son sweater before. SW does it differently. It has you enter your actual chest measurement, along with other info, including the weight of your fabric and desired ease, and it calculates away.

Do you see where this is going? I forgot this, entered 48 inches in the little box that asked for chest measurement. I had embarked on a sweater that would ultimately be 52 inches around, not quite the look he wants.

Out it came, again.

Recalculating.

Back to the drawing board, now with a new, resized pattern. I’m sure by this time tomorrow I’ll have found something else that I’ve screwed up.

A Good Cause

First, thanks for all the lovely comments on my Not Cobblestone. I still haven’t blocked it, but I have worn it a few times. The way the weather’s been, it might not get washed and blocked till spring.

Kris from Sonny & Shear, and the Knitting Wannabe, is having a blog contest for a very good cause. I know that the economy is horrible, and that many of you don’t have a lot of spare change around. However, whatever you can afford to give will help immensely in helping one family out in their time of need. I’ll let Kris tell you the story, go check out her blog post. And don’t forget to look at the awesome prize that she and Dana are offering as a reward!

I just got done with another seven day stretch of work, and I’m still groggy and in my jammies. I didn’t get much writing done last week, so this week will be all about NaNoWriMo catch up. I’m off to make up more scenes!

Not Cobblestone

Notice anything new in that photo, besides a new blue knitting project?

It’s a finished Not Exactly A Cobblestone Sweater!

I finished it over the weekend, though I haven’t gotten a chance to wash and block it properly. It’s very cozy, and I figured I’d get a post in before I go back to my work week starting tomorrow.

Project Details

Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed, in the color Tapestry. This yarn is now discontinued, and very difficult to find for sale. It’s a little more deep red wine colored than in that photo.

Pattern: Jared Flood’s Cobblestone, from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. Sort of. The bottom up to the armpits is a Cobblestone, the rest is pure Elizabeth Zimmermann (see modification section).

Started: February 2008

Finished: November 6, 2008

For: Me

Needles: Knit Picks Options Circulars, size 7.

Modifications: I did the body as written up to where you attach the sleeves. I really didn’t want all that garter stitch on the top half, and I was pretty certain that the circular garter yoke would not be even remotely flattering on me. So I used the instructions for a raglan sweater from EZ’s Knitting Workshop for the top half and the sleeves. I made the sleeves narrower than the original pattern instructions, as the pattern as written for a man has fairly wide, baggy sleeves.

What I learned: See above. I’m gradually learning as I knit to analyze patterns as to whether they will be even slightly flattering, and to adjust things as I go if they’re not. This one fits well, and I predict will be worn often. This is the first time I’ve knit a sweater in the round like this, other than for a baby. It’s an interesting way to construct sweaters, but makes for a very unwieldy project once you get the sleeves attached.

The yarn is a bit weird, which might be why it was discontinued. The color is lovely, and it actually feels great once you wash it, but it has an odd stringy feel while you are knitting, like yarn that is treated for machine knitting.

Verdict: A successful sweater!

And what is up with that blue yarn, you ask? That is from a pile of very lovely Beaverslide wool/mohair blend, in the color Lake Josephine. It looks like a solid blue in that photo and on their website, but actually has very subtle tweedy bits in it. This will be a sweater for my sweetheart. After some dithering around, he decided on blue, and I narrowed down all the blue yarns from their website and let him choose. After another period of dithering, he’s decided that he wants it to look just like the Father/Son Pullover I made him previously out of grey Peace Fleece. Fortunately I’m completely happy knitting exactly the same sweater for him twice. What you see in that photo above is the beginning of a swatch, and I hope to start the actual knitting in a day or two.

In NaNoWriMo news, I’m up to 10,699 words, which puts me a little behind, but not far. So far I’ve killed off two drunk twin brothers, and started a world war. Not bad for only two chapters!

Some Actual Knitting Content

I know, I know. I bet you thought I forgot that this is a knitting blog. You can always tell when bloggers are behind on their knitting; they start posting the results of internet quizzes.

I have been working steadily on that Not-Quite-A-Cobblestone sweater, though. I finally have finished the neck shaping and am nearly done with the collar.

Here’s the sweater with the collar nearly finished.

Here’s what I ended up doing for the top half of this. This sweater started out as Jared Flood’s Cobblestone sweater, and I knit it as written up to where you attach the sleeves at the armholes. The top half is a simple raglan style, using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop instructions. I decided to just follow her instructions for the neck shaping without questioning her wisdom, and it worked out perfectly. The collar is more plain garter stitch. I can’t begin to tell you how much I despise knitting collars in the round on stubby little 16″ circulars. I tried double points, but it was even more awkward. Fortunately, a collar is only a few rows. Now it’s on to the cast off.


I’m using June Hiatt’s instructions for a Half Hitch sewn cast off, which works well for a collar, where you don’t want the bind off to be too tight. EZ describes this in the Knitting Workshop, but she does it in the other direction, from left to right, in the opposite direction of the knitting. I tried that, and it seemed much more awkward than June’s way. Basically, you take your needle and yarn through the second stitch on the left needle as if to knit, snug it up, then through the first needle as if to purl, tighten and drop the first stitch off the needle. It matches a long tail cast on nearly perfectly.

I’m off to forage for lunch, then more novel writing. I’m only at a pitiful 6110 words, which is half what I should have at this point. I work much better with a deadline, though, and when I get closer to the end of November, I can predict a few 8000 word writing days. I have a couple of really annoying drunken twin brothers that I plan to kill off in the next chapter. That’s always fun, and good for a thousand words.

The Mutts Are Winning

Go vote. Yes, I know the election is over. This is a different one. Go give your opinion as to what dog the Obamas should take with them to the White House in January.

Riley is voting for the Mutt category. Lewey is really disappointed that his breed is not even in the running.

Also, I forgot to show a photo of our Halloween pumpkin this year. John’s kids brought this when they came to visit the week before the election.

Well, There You Go


You Should Be a Doctor


You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive.
Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily.
You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful.
You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you.

You do best when you:

– Are always learning new subjects
– Use your knowledge to solve problems

You would also be a good therapist or detective.

I'm off to write. I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year, and I'm only 2215 words into the thing. At least this time I have a plot.