No, I’m not having a flashback to the breakfast cereal, though I did love the stuff when I was a child. I’m talking about my newest lace project.
The yarn is from deep in the stash, Brooks Farm Harmony, in the color Froot Loops. They don’t make this any more, but it’s lovely stuff, half mohair, the rest wool and silk. It’s just as soft as can be, and very lustrous. I have a thousand yards of it to make a stole.
This will eventually be Morning Glory, by Anne Hanson (aka Knitspot).
I’ve had some fun and games getting this one going. I did a proper swatch, then cast on and knit away. This is knit in two pieces, starting from either end, and then grafted down the middle. There is a 12-row edging, then a wide border, then the morning glory stitch pattern for the main part of the stole. I got the edging done and about an inch of the border, and decided I needed to go up a needle size. Out it came.
Round two, bigger needle. Knit the edging, all of the border, and then the four transition rows to the center pattern. I get to the increase row, the one that has you increase a bunch of stitches across the row to get from the 50 center stitches up to 67. Here’s what it looked like.
I did so, counted, came up with something like 80-some stitches. Read the directions again, realized that I’d done the increase row wrong, tinked back, did it again,counted again. I still had way too many stitches. I decided to go to bed, sure that when I got up in the morning that the knitting fairies would have fixed this.
In the light of day, with a strong cup of coffee, I really read the pattern. It appears that during the transition between the 12-row edging and the border, way back about 12 inches of knitting ago, I just plain forgot to do the decrease row that was the transition between those two sections. Crap Crap Crappity Crap. I did that whole border section on too many stitches. There may have been some harsh words said in earnest when I finally figured this out yesterday morning. I tried to rip back just to the initial edging, made a mess of it, and ended up just ripping the whole thing out.
I would like to point out that in no way does this reflect on Anne’s pattern-writing abilities. She writes a fine pattern. The charts are clear, the directions could not be more plain. I just didn’t follow them.
I now have the thing restarted, though I was sorely tempted to go paddle the canoe out in the middle of the lake and sacrifice the yarn to the Loch Steili Monster*. I love the Froot Loopy-ness of it too much to do that. I have most of the edging done. From now on, I’m reading directions.
Oh, and that’s my new yarn bowl, from Knit Witch. Go and get one of your own, they are lovely!
*Yes, we have our own Monster on Lake Steilacoom, where we live. John and I have both seen her swimming across the lake. She appears to be friendly, as no water skiers or small pets have gone missing, but it never hurts to give her a peace offering now and again.
Ooooo, pretty color! It will look lovely when finished. I had a moment (at 2am this morning), where the very simple pattern Branching Out, currently on my needles was suddenly airborne. Apparently, I cannot count after 2am. Lace knitting definitely has limitations, such as time constraints, caffeine dependencies, etc. You are wise NOT to feed yarn to the monster…if he gets a taste for it, you’ll be visited daily!
I suspect many a knitter would have yarn and/or UFOs to sacrifice to your monster. Maybe an annual rite of some sort?
I think that biorhythms have been unsuitable for knitting, I keep reading that people have had to frog/rip/tink, and I’ve been struggling too! Hope it all goes swimmingly from now on.
And yarn bowls – I’ve never come across those before – what a fabulous idea! yet another thing on my list. I have been struggling to keep my white yarn off the floor lately.
Ooh – that bowl is amazing. What an ingenious idea. At first I just thought it was a plain ceramic bowl, doing double duty, but was thrilled to see it was created for the sole purpose of keeping yarn neat and orderly. Brilliant!
I love your yarn bowl…I got one at DFW Fiber Fest this year from one of the vendors – Knitting Lagniappe.
I have two hanks of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic. I was considering making a sweater, but the yarn is screaming to be made into a shawl. I just don’t know If I want a triangular or a rectangular one.
In the meantime, I have many WIPs with which to occupy my hands and mind….
Hmm. Methinks the knitting fairies, instead of doing their job, were out frolicking with your lake monster.
Frog Pond Fest eh? The silver lining is that you really know the pattern by now. Love your Fruit Loops! And the bowl is lovely. Have toyed with getting one.
That bowl is awesome.
I’m kind of pissed I know about it.
I love Brooks Farm yarns. It’d be a shame to toss any of it into the lake!
That is beautiful yarn, and a terrific pattern for it. I made my own share of blunders on Anne’s Bee Fields (and it is really irksome not to be able to blame it on the designer!).
Oh, yes. Been there. way too many times. Often caused by trying to “improve on the pattern””
next time is the charm!
That is the neatest yarn bowl ever!
The yarn color is sooo pretty! Can’t wait to see the finsihed project. Love the yarn bowl. I think I will have to visit Knit Witch’s site!
Beautiful yarn! Brooks Farm is always so lovely. And cool that you got one of Knitwitch’s yarn bowls.
I can so sympathize. Maybe it’s the colour we’ve chosen. Can’t seem to knit it worth a damn.
That so hurts. Then you whack your forehead, trying to figure out how you didn’t read correctly, and it hurts worse.
You STINKER! You are such an enabler….I just HAVE to get one of those yarn bowls!!!!
Gorgeous yarn and I love the name!
Beautiful! It will work out soon, promise! I love Anne’s designs! I’ve recently found that I love knitting lace too. Lovely yarn bowl!
Man, do I know what it feels like to have a pattern that is so persnickety that just ripping back a little bit is impossible. I’m working on a pair of socks that I’ve ripped back EIGHT times. Why am I still with it, you might wonder? Because it’s now a matter of pride to my inner knitter. I will not lose to a sock. I will not lose to a sock.
Dude, that bowl is totally awesome. Want.
hang in there with morning glory – I LOVE mine (although I admit to being a bit design-dyslexic when I began it!) There was ripping on my end as well…… but once I got into it, it flowed along fabulously!