Tuesday, September 23, 2014

YOP #2.11-12 or So Much For Progress and Mindless Movies Make Marvelous Progress

I didn't post last week. This is the main reason why:

Husband trying on glove.

After Husband tried on glove.
Yes, that's the correct order of the photos. It was too loose around his hand and then the distance between the end of the thumb gusset and the start of the fingers was too much. It measured out as the pattern said it should...it's just a tricky pattern because I'm making up a lot of things, like some of the gauge. I had a vague idea of the gauge but the knitting intarsia in the round has thrown things into a fun loop. So there's a lot of making things up. The thumb fit great but for some reason is going higher up the thumb than I think it's suppose to go. This hasn't been touched this week. At all. Currently, if I even think about this project, I start to cry a little on the inside.

This past week has been...special. I did manage to get a lot of knitting done on Girl on Fire.




This is the August club yarn. It's the first 2014 Cookie A sock club pattern I've cast on this year. I don't know why but this is a fun and relatively easy pattern. I was able to watch an...interesting movie (it's called "Dragonfyre" and it's like a badly written RPG...it's streaming on Netflix) and still make progress. I'm almost to the heel. I'm tempted to figure out the short row heel as I like the fit of that but I also don't want to mess up the pattern work. Odds are that I'll do the standard heel flap.

Browncoat has also been worked on. No new pictures as it's been spending a lot of time at work and in the car. It even went out to the Renaissance Festival. It didn't leave the car but it was there. On Saturday, as my friend and I tried to leave before the big rainstorm hit (we at least got to the car before it did), I knit about a row and a half before it looked like traffic might move (it didn't...we were there for over 2 hours before getting off site). My friend, who has knit before, was curious about my backwards knitting. I ended up letting her knit on the project until it was too dark to see. Apparently this isn't normally but I like that when this is done, it will have been a group project. There's a possibility that she might be moving down here this spring, which I think would be lovely as it would mean another friend to knit with.

It is late and I seem to have run out of things to say. I'm horribly behind in responding to comments and reading other people's blogs. I really mean to...it's been extremely chaotic recently. Maybe things will slow down in October. (How is it nearly October???)

Works in Progress






















Tuesday, September 9, 2014

YOP #2.10 or Wedding Travel Makes for Knitting Time

Most of this past week's knitting happened over the weekend. A cousin of Husband was getting married in California. It was a very last minute decision to go and only happened because we managed to find me a ticket that didn't cost and arm and a leg (or a sweater's quantity of quivet yarn). An affordable ticket meant 2 layovers round trip (one in each direction). I was smart and filled my carry on with knitting projects. Three of them came with me. I worked on two of them. Better to have too much knitting than not enough.

As Husband posted on my Google Plus posting of last week's blog about hoping the gloves would be finished before it got cold (I don't think it ever really got too hot), this was the project I worked on the most. On the first flight Friday evening, I crashed. For some reason, I usually get onto the plane and fall asleep. It's odd and sometimes I wake up just in time for the drink service, though not on this flight. It was a mad dash to catch my connection. The 45 minute layover was lost due to the first plane being lately. I thankfully made it. As I prefer a window seat (it's handy when you have a habit of falling asleep very easily), I found myself sitting in the back of the plane (I love and hate Southwest's seating policy). To avoid talking to the loud group of musicians (one of whom kept trying to hit on me), I pulled out my knitting and started to work on the thumb gusset. I was finished with the gusset when it was time to start packing things back up for the landing. Since we took different flights (he had rewards points and got to fly direct), I got to the hotel before he did and sat and continued to work on the gloves while watching bad TV. At that time of night, I think all TV is bad. I did manage to work on Browncoat as it required less thinking. I'm noticing that even though both yarns are fingering weight for the glove, one is slightly thinner than the other, so the stitch height is different from front to back.

Saturday I abandoned my knitting while we explored the city and then headed to the wedding. We took public transportation to the wedding and I pointed out that this would be the perfect time for me to knit. It wasn't practical (and properly not polite) to bring my knitting. I did meet the little girl who I gave Fuzzy to and she is adorable. I was even asked to watch her for a bit by her parents (who I was meeting for the first time as well) and it was fantastic. Nothing like a 2 year old to distract you for being overwhelmed at meeting a million people for the first time (it may have been less than that but it certainly didn't seem like it!). My Police Box shawl made an appearance as it started to get a little chilly at the end of the evening. One of the other guests we shared a table with loved it. They sat a group of Whovians together and it was fantastic.

It was a stupid early flight back on Sunday, so the first flight was another crash until we land experience. Once on the ground, I saw that my flight was going to be delayed. It ended up only being delayed 30 minutes, which was better than the 60 minutes it was originally going to be delayed. I pulled back out the gloves and worked on them for a few rows. Saturday night I had Husband (or was it earlier on Saturday...I don't remember now) try on the glove and it seemed a good fit. Now the real challenge is that I'm using two colors and making up the pattern as I go along. I'm using the Gloves Pattern Generator to get my rough numbers but I'm still making up a lot of stuff. Normally, one would just slip the thumb gusset stitches off onto the side and continue knitting. What does one do when there's a color change in the middle of it? Well, I knit to the first side of the thumb gusset and moved those stitches. Then I knit the rest of them in the new color and put them onto the same holder as the first set. I'm then suppose to cast on 4 stitches, so I cast on 2 with each color and I started to knit plain rounds. Well, now there's a problem.



That's yarn from moving stitches and then casting on. I thankfully had only done a few rows. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I think I'll frog back to that point and then knit the entire row and knit back to the spot where the stitches are slipped. Then I'll carry on. Hopefully that will work.

No work happen on Girl on Fire. I did look at it and pet it a few times but I was so exhausted on Sunday that I didn't feel like thinking.

I did work a bit on Browncoat during the week. The current section is simply stockinette, so it can travel with me to work. Of course, it's more fun to hack portals on my way to work some days..... Sunday I also had my first roller derby practice after taking last year off. As Husband dropped me off from the airport, I took the light rail back to where my car had been parked over the weekend. Yet another opportunity to knit and I didn't have any knitting with me. It would have helped the ride as I may have killed my phone's battery while hacking portals....

Looking forward to the first concert of the fall season (with knitting of course) and an actual "weekend" this week. Somehow I plan on doing everything and nothing in those two days.

Works in Progress

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

YOP #2.9 or Yarn Fixes Everything

I confess that I haven't knit a lot this week. I blame Ingress. As none of my knitting projects have been happy lately, it's much easier to play Ingress as I walk into work (when my phone decides that it knows where I am) than to knit.

I did find time to work on my new sock. It's called Girl on Fire and is one of the August Cookie A sock patterns. I'm using the club yarn which is very yummy and lovely. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday and they ended up wanting to draw some blood. I hate needles. I've nearly passed out watching blood being drawn from our llamas. Last year, I discovered that if I was petting yarn with the other hand, I didn't feel ill afterwards. So this year, Girl on Fire came with me and I plunged my hand into the bag when it came time to have blood drawn. It turned out that the tech was also a knitter! She asked me about how I organize my projects and when she was done, she asked to see the yarn. It definitely left me with a high note for the morning.

Browncoat has also been worked on. Sunday night, after that day's Renaissance festival, we sat and watched "Howl's Moving Castle" while I worked on the top. I nearly finished the lace section in that sitting even though I had to take breaks. Something about being really tired.

I also managed to sell 2 skeins of yarn this past week. One off of my stash page and another to a friend who was looking for a good gift for someone out at fest. And that's how I spent 30 minutes chatting about knitting at the Renaissance festival and was "late" getting back to my booth. I have another knitting buddy who I now plan to see outside of fest.

Thanks to everyone for their comments over the last couple of weeks. I've been a little extra ADOS lately so I've yet to sit down and respond to all of them. They make me smile to read though. I'm also impressed with myself for getting a post written every week even if it's not always on Sunday. Baby steps!

Works in Progress

Monday, August 25, 2014

YOP #2.8 or What Do You Mean It's the End of August??

This past week has been amazingly light on knitting. There was a lot of fun at work (I do mean this sincerely) while I attended some tech classes. I made connections and learned all kinds of fun lighting things. I didn't haul my knitting around. This is probably mostly because I was still annoyed with all of my knitting projects.

It's also been stupid hot and humid. We've not had a lot of it this summer but it definitely doesn't encourage me to knit.

I did clean my craft room, which was long overdue. Between parties and searching for things and home improvement projects, things just kept getting shoved into the room. I spent Saturday evening cleaning it up and it's lovely again! There may have been yarn petting as well....

Once the room was clean, I also decided to cast on one of the August Cookie A projects. I'd love to be able to finish it before the next shipment but it's ALREADY THE LAST WEEK OF THE MONTH!! How did that happen? I've not knit nearly enough things nor have a read everyone's everything (blog posts, forum posts, etc.). At least my anxiety is more in control otherwise I might actually be freaking out right now.

Last night, we went out and saw the Guardians of the Galaxy and on the way to the movie theater, I did knit a row and a bit of the Browncoat Top. Less than 3 rows and the lace section will be done! According to the diagram, this is suppose to be 8" long. I did a swatch and got the right gauge but this isn't 8". I'm hoping it blocks out to be that long...

Works in Progress

Thursday, August 21, 2014

YOP #2.7 or Work Gets in the Way

Posting after Sunday seems to be a thing for me. At least I'm posting.

Last week was rough. I was still annoyed with my two smaller projects (though someone suggested how to place a life-line in the sock, which I'm forever grateful for). Add onto it what we did at work. I can no longer remember why but we seemed to think it would be a good idea to clean our dance floor at work. There are 6 pieces that are 5 feet wide and 40 feet long. It was a lot of scrubbing on hands and knees. The next morning, I was exhausted.

I didn't knit anything until Thursday morning. I spent Thursday and Friday attending the Global Leadership Summit. My church was a host site and I had volunteered to run the lights. I brought my knitting along because it's hard to go anywhere without my knitting. I brought the Browncoat because it was in the least amount of trouble. I took a lot of notes during the sessions but I also managed to knit a lot. There was down time and times where I just needed to keep my hands busy.

I did manage to get nearly done with the lace section. There's only about 4 rows left.

Of course, it was then opening weekend of the Renaissance Festival and I simply won't bring my knitting out there. It is way too dirty.

The fact that I'm just getting this posted on Thursday should probably say a lot about how my week has been going. Hopefully I'll have something to write about on Sunday!

Works in Progress

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

YOP #2.6 or This Is What Happens When You Ground All Your Projects

This last week, I did manage to get some work done on all 3 projects. However, I also felt like grounding all of them.

I got to see my friend who will be receiving the Mint Twist socks. I had her try the finished one on and discovered that the heel flap isn't quite long enough. I happened to be on the heel flap of the second sock, so it was easy to add to that heel flap. The semi-perfectionist in me knows that I'm going to pull out the stitches on the other sock to make the heel flap longer. I want to finish (or at least get further on the foot) the 2nd sock and have it tried on before I frog the foot of the 1st sock. It does make it hard to want to work on it though. I got through turning the heel and it's just been sitting there, mocking me. I don't know how I'm going to frog the foot of the 1st one and not loose any stitches. It's a rather lacy pattern. I'm sure somewhere on the internet, there is something that will tell me what to do. I just haven't felt like looking it up.

Husband's gloves got frogged eventually. They are even back on the needles and I've started doing the thumb gusset. But I don't want to deal with it when I go out (I usually always have a knitting bag with me). It spent most of the week going places with me, mocking me that it needed to be frogged.

The Browncoat Top is fairing alright but it's not one that I feel can travel to and from work very well. It's larger and while the pattern is fairly simple, I like checking it every now and then. This was the least frustrating project but it does seem like it's taking forever. I do have less than 3 repeats of the lace section left.

So none of the projects were really grounded but they might as well have been for how much I worked on them. And of course, this month's Cookie A yarn came and I really just want to cast something on with it and ignore my other projects.

Works in Progress

Sunday, August 3, 2014

YOP #2.5 or Really, Gauge is Important

This week I've been pretty project monogamous. I've not had the time sitting and watching things that allow for mindless knitting. I keep remembering that I should finish the Mint Twist socks, but they have become my back-up project. The leg is nearly done (over 3/4 of the way there!) but I keep being drawn to Husband's driving gloves.

After realizing that the new tighter knitting on the color ribbing wasn't going to fit, I frogged it and started over on much larger needles. I got the band to the correct size and went down one needle size for the rest of the glove. One day, I will learn to listen to my gut feeling. As I looked at the needles I was pulling out, part of my brain pointed out that I should really go back down the 3 (or so) needle sizes to what I had originally been knitting on as that would get me my gauge. Not that I've done a gauge swatch, but that's what my gut feeling was trying to tell me.

I happily started knitting and learned how to do intarsia in the round. The yarn for this project was bought almost a year ago. It's taken me this long to start it because it's been really intimidating. This isn't simply a "take this pattern and make it for me" but a "this is what I want, can you figure out the pattern for me" sort of of project. I had little experience with intarsia to begin with and it seemed silly to have one's first project be in the round. I'm glad I leveled up in my knitting skills before I started this one.

Yesterday, I finished the thumb gusset. I pulled those stitches off onto a stitch holder and got Husband to put the glove on his hand.

It was big and not just a little big. It was a lot big. I stuffed the project back in my bag and left my knitting in the car as we were on our way to see a fringe show. As we spent the rest of the day going between activities, I pulled out the Mint Twist sock instead of frogging the glove. For some reason, I feel that frogging the glove in a moving vehicle was a bad idea. It ended up being a pleasant day (one event we went to was the same one that we had met at 3 years ago) and a lot of fun though I knew I'd have to frog the glove. Again. At least this time, I should only have to frog it to the wrist band.

Before I frog it, I did take some lovely pictures of it on my hand.


Black palm, grey top because gloves aren't hard enough.

I probably could have fit both of my hands if I had tried.



Friday night, while I was working a show and knitting on the glove, I thought it would be fun to capture what it is like for me to knit at work. Thankfully my phone has a timer. It took several shots and below is the best one.


What you don't see: the musicians on stage.


This photo was lit only by the dim house light and the work light I have at my position. I'm also in full blacks. The music was phenomenal. It was a concert by the Young Musicians of Minnesota. This is a student run group that is striving to promote classical music to young musicians. It was truly a remarkable concert and a lot of fun to work. It's also nice to have such great music being played live while I knit.

Works in Progress