Big Knitting Trouble

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Another One Bites the Dust

-sigh- Do you remember that Baby Love Diagonal Baby Blanket I was working on? I used 220 Superwash Paints, I called it the project Principessa [Rav link], I thought I was very clever.

I knit about 45% of the blanket...

so pretty. so incomplete.

and realized that I had used 66% of the yarn I had allotted.

To the frog pond.

oh, also? the baby shower is this Wednesday. surprise!

Between the budget issues of the U.S. federal government (seriously, you guys, keep paying me; I'm worth it) and not one but TWO knitting project blunders, this is a week of fail.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Two rights make a really wrong

Soooo.... good news and bad news.

Good news: my KniCroBlo Week post on the Ghost of Citron Cardigan prompted me to pick it back up!

Good news: I've learned to cable without a needle in the interim!

Good news: no cable needle + increased skill set = much faster knitting!

Bad news: well... there's this:

Uh oh.

A lot has changed in the past, oh, two years. Let's break it down.

Merrhrrmm uneven

Looks like my tension has gotten looser...

You're doing it wrong!

Ah yes! Twenty inches means eleven small cables on one side and ten on the other. Fantastic.

I guess this means I'm going to completely frog the new stuff and revert back to using a cable needle... any other ideas?

Sunday, April 3, 2011

My knitting time | 2KCBWDAY7

Write about your typical crafting time. When it is that you are likely to craft – alone or in more social environments, when watching TV or whilst taking bus journeys? What items do you like to surround yourself with whilst you twirl your hook like a majorette’s baton or work those needles like a skilled set of samurai swords? Do you always have snacks to hand, or are you a strictly ‘no crumbs near my yarn!’ kind of knitter?

It is Day 7 of KniCroBlo Week and I cannot continue this post without noting the following:

All thanks goes to the incomparable Eskimimi for organizing this fantastic intarwebz event!! I have loved reading the blogs of so many talented crafters, many I would never have found otherwise. I've even come out of my usual lurking-shyly mood and posted some comments along the way. Good times were had by all!
I have never posted seven days in a row (I've never posted three days in a row!). Therefore, I am le tired* and will be taking at least two days break to, you know, actually knit something before I post again.

In the photo above, you see the view from my usual knitting perch, my computer chair in the office attached to the kitchen. Eagle-eyed readers will notice, in no particular order:

television tuned to "What Not to Wear"
remote that doesn't work AND has no batteries
mentho-lyptus cough drop wrappers
colorful plastic links for making distract-the-baby chains
World of Warcraft game manual, age six, newly obsolete
emergency sewing kit that belongs in my purse
camera battery charger (camera in-hand)
pile of random papers that don't relate to each other
gigantic flat-screen monitor; Firefox! Ravelry!
plastic lattice baby cage for Ms. Punkin Q. Pie
vinyl devil horns and tail from Halloween
36 skeins of embroidery floss, apropos of nothing
folded baby pajamas that no longer fit their owner
San Diego Zoo baby panda mouse pad
piled up boxes, still unpacked from our move
alarm clock with a late PM hour

and, of course:

stitch markers, green and purple
crochet hook for fixing mistakes (ahem.)
cable charts for the Citron Cardigan
WIP: Starstuff Mitts (pics here and here)
US 6 dpns that haven't made their way upstairs to the organizational system
plastic straight ruler for ruling with an iron fist/plastic straightedge

_____

* points to anyone who can correctly identify the origin of "le tired."

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Something to aspire to | 2KCBWDAY6

Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackle in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft?

The column on the left of this page is the Knit List: the catalog of knitting skills I've already tried (dare I say, mastered), the ones I have yet to attempt, and other fun stuff to accomplish (knitting in public, using recycled yarn, etc.). BUT (I like big buts and I cannot lie) there is one item that I feel sure will never, ever, evereverevereverever be completed.

S · T · E · E · K · I · N · G

NO. Never. No.

"Steek" rhymes with "Eek!" and I can't think that's a coincidence. It has 80% of its letters in common with "Steak," but while the latter fills me with meaty goodness, the former fills me with dread. Eunny Jang dedicated seven full blog posts to the subject. In Knitting Without Tears, Elizabeth Zimmermann suggests that one "lie down in a darkened room for fifteen minutes to recover" (p61) after cutting armholes for the first time. Wendy Johnson calls cutting "the fun part" in her Knitty feature "You want me to cut WHAT?"; I'm inclined never to trust her again... even if she does indicate a "celebratory margarita" as the proper way to observe the occasion.

Clearly, this is scary business. And I haven't the stomach for it.

No steeks here. Oh heck no.

This tulip cardigan was knit flat, as written in the pattern, and it wasn't difficult. Do people not like purling that much?

The most obvious reason for my steek strike is my love of superwash merino. In fact, a bad experience with felting (maybe maybe I'll write about it sometime, if I'm ever feeling especially masochistic) has led me away from most yarns that lend themselves to this sort of thing.

What it really comes down to is this: I can enjoy a libation and a lie-down without experiencing sheer terror beforehand, thankyouverymuch. Life's scary enough as it is without bring renegade scissors into it.