YOP #2.16-17 or My How Time Flies When it Gets Cold!

Another two weeks have come and gone. Not only has life (and work) been busy but so has my knitting. No pictures this time but lots of progress to report on.

Gloves

Husband's gloves have turned into my gloves. I got the index finger done and had him try it on. I thought it might be a little tight but he said it was good. As he was going away for part of the weekend (something about being a renegade with his friends), so I measured his fingers. By the time he got home, I was nearly done with the ring finger. I finished it and the pinky finger and had him try it on and he admitted that it tight on all of the fingers. This actually didn't surprise me as it was fitting my hand fine. I nearly cried as I stared at the glove thinking that I'd have to pull things apart and add to the fingers. Instead, Husband told me that I should make them my gloves so we would have a matching set. Now the question is, do I finish the entire set or make the right hand glove for Husband as well?

Brown Coat

I've slowly made progress on this. There is definitely shaping going on and armholes are starting to show. I'm feeling much better about this project. It's sort of my mindless knit right now.

Girl on Fire

It feels like forever since I've touched these socks but it hasn't been that long. I'm on the foot and it's a delightful pattern. It's sort of a quick knit as well so long as I have time to work on it.

Mint Twist

These socks have been ungrounded. I'm making really good progress on them thanks to having a handful of shows at work. They have become the travel project as I'd like to finish them before Christmas as they were a birthday gift...from May. My friend that I'm making them for has decided to try her hand at knitting socks. She's been knitting for years but has been intimidated by socks. A combination of things has made her interested in trying a simply pair and I've agreed to help her.

She and I went to one of the local yarn stores (StevenBe's) and I found this amazing skein of Miss Bab's Yowza yarn. The most amazing part was that I didn't buy the yarn. Oh, I really, really wanted to but I said no yarn purchases until 2015. It's also a good thing I don't carry cash that often as that was the only way I was willing to buy it. I could have argued that since I have sold off a skein of yarn, I could use that to buy new yarn. That felt like cheating though so I walked away (somehow) without it.

Perhaps by next week there will be pictures and something finished!

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks
• Browncoat Top  
• Husband Driving Gloves  
• Girl on Fire

YOP #2.15 or This is What Progress Feels Like!

I don't know how, but this week I knit on almost everything!

Arrow Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix so Husband and I sat around and watched a few episodes this week. As we did so, I worked on his glove. I figured out part of the problem. The pattern says to increase after the ribbing. Husband's hands are just...unique. This probably also has to do with not swatching but I think his hands are also not your average pattern friendly. So I frogged that first row and instead of increasing the stitches, I decreased a few. I knit enough rows to begin the thumb gusset and had him try it one. It looked much better. As I knit (and made notes; so many notes for the second glove), I would occasionally stop and make him give me his hand to try it on. It's going so much better! Right now I'm only working on it while he's around so that I can be constantly putting it on his hand. These will be the most custom gloves ever made.

On Saturday I hosted a craft day. I was trying not to pout because I worried people wouldn't show up. I was very pleased that I ended up with 3 of my friends over and I got to work on Girl on Fire. I finished up the leg, heel flap and turned the heel before it was time to go out to a show with a friend of mine. Before people showed up, I managed to get a sort-of life line into the sock I need to frog. It's hard to follow just before the heel and on a pattern that has cables and lace work. Hopefully it'll get me close but I know feel like I can finish the second sock.

I did hear back from the designer for Browncoat. I didn't make any progress, but I did take some photos tonight.

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks
• Browncoat Top  
• Husband Driving Gloves  
• Girl on Fire

YOP #2.13-14 or Sickness Wins

I've managed to not accomplish a lot in the last two weeks. To add to it, I came down with the same crud the rest of the family has had so my desire to knit (and blog for that matter) is very low. I've thought about knitting a few times but have gotten no further than pulling out a project bag.

On top of that, I'm stuck on my Browncoat. I don't understand the following directions:

Begin Neck Edge
Bind off 8(8,8,9,9,9) stitches at the beginning of the next two rows. Bind off 2 stitches at each neck edge 4 times. Decrease 1 sts at each neck edge every RS row 8(8,8,10,10,10) times.

And at the same time when piece measures 12”(12”,12.5”, 13”,12.5”,12.5”,12.5”) you will divide for front and back. At this point you can add additional balls of yarn for the back and 2 nd front and work all three sections at once, or work each section separately as written.

Divide for Front & Back
With RS facing. Break yarn. Slip sts to first side marker
onto holder (front right). Remove marker and attach yarn.

If I knit until the piece measures 12.5", it's going to be longer than the schematic shows once I block it out. The lace section at the bottom is suppose to be 8" and mine is just over 6". I've checked my gauge with the main section of the top and that's correct.

If I knit until the piece would measure 12.5" when blocked (assuming I can get 8" out of the lace section) that means only 1/2" left which isn't enough times to do the neck edge decrease. Do I continue doing them after I divide for the front and back? I don't know.

I have emailed the designer because I really like this piece and I don't want to have to ground it.

Hopefully I'll get over this sickness and start knitting something again soon. I'm a little baffled that it's October and I've yet to finish anything!

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks
• Browncoat Top  
• Husband Driving Gloves  
• Girl on Fire