What to do, what to do

So, I'm nearing the finish line on the Columns Scarf...relatively speaking...and I'm REALLY looking forward to working on something else. The question is...what??

Should I go back and work on the Witterings Hat and try to finish that?

Should I work on the cape I want to make for myself that is barely started?

Should I take a break and work up a quick chunky shawl to keep from constantly freezing at work?

Should I get started on the Urban Necessity stuff from my friend?

Should I work on the Dimple Shale Scarf for my other friend?

I'm really kind of stuck. What should I do?? I want to do all of these things!! Perhaps it would be best to put off the Dimple Shale Scarf for a bit, since I am just coming off the Columns Scarf. I may be a little scarfed out. Also, I have not told that friend that I am making this scarf for her, so she cannot be disappointed that I have not started it yet.

I think I'd like to work on the cape. It's a bulky yarn so it should go pretty quickly (which would certainly be a change from this last project), and I'd really like to have one. Urban Necessity doesn't NEED to be done until the cool weather sets in. I'd like to finish the Witterings hat just to get it off my needles, but there's no rush on that one either. The recipient doesn't know about it, and we're coming to the end of the season in which it would be useful, so I may just put that on my low-pressure, low-priority list.

RIP

I have decided to make a new section on my sidebar - the Project Graveyard. These are for projects that I have decided are doomed and I don't want to work on them any more. The first entry is the Love Heart slippers. The first one came out too big for me, and while I think I would have gamely carried on and finished the second one and given the finished project away - the yarn color I used is no longer available and I do not have enough yarn to make a second slipper.

I hope I will give this project another try sometime in the future. There is a smaller size in the book, and I do still like them. However, I will have to use different yarn. I'm not sure whether I will frog the existing slipper or just get rid of it altogether, but if this project is seen again, it will definately be a new entity and not a redo of what I've already done.

Fare thee well, not so little slipper. Fare thee well.

Afterthought: You know, that yarn was really hard on my fingers, and I do still have concerns over how comfortable that seam down the middle of the sole would have been. I think I will have to look at this one long and hard before I amke a decision to try it again.

Photos

Pretty, yes? I'm in love.

In the meantime, I'm making progress on the columns scarf, but it feels like it will never end:



45" and counting.

And, while I'm at it, an FO - the candy wrapper sachets from One Skein. Only 2 out of the three - I dropped one in the car and haven't gotten it out yet. Plain stockinette on the left, diamond pattern on the right. Next time, a less busy yarn would be best - this is Old Rose from Cherry Tree Hill.

Yummy colors

The Paris Rain socks are so pretty...right now they are half grey-brown and half green-blue. I've made it through the inch of ribbing and started on the stockinette last night. Ah, the beauty and quickness of those simple round and rounds! I can't wait to see what they will look like.

I have read about things like flashing and pooling and puddling, and have made up my mind not to care if that happens on this pair. I do worry about running out of yarn before the pair is complete, but I am hoping that is just paranoia.

Paranoia caused by the number of times recently I have run out of yarn!!

Well. We'll see. I have decided not to bother casting on both socks at once (which may be a mistake given the afforementioned worry about running out of yarn) because I am lazy and I was having too much fun with the first one.

Scarf is at 42 inches. I am literally inching along on this thing. I may have to wash it before I give it to BG. My aunt is visiting; she is a smoker carries this smell around with her and leaves it on everything she touches. As BG is not a smoker I don't think he will appreciate having his scarf tainted with eau de nicotine.

Also, I want to make totally sure of how the thing behaves in the wash before I give it to him.

Yarn for Urban Necessity is on the way...and I am kind of kicking myself for not ordering enough to make a scarf as well. I have a thing about complete sets. I'm already contemplating how I could make this darn scarf pattern into a matching hat. Because after just over 3 feet I am not sick enough of this stitch pattern yet. I'm telling you, it's a curse. If you get a hat from me, you know your next two gift giving holidays will consist of a pair of gloves and a scarf. I am obsessed with like sets.

After this relative visit is over, I hope to get my craft room set up, including my camera and tripod so that I can start adding pictures to this blog. It feels all naked without any.

So close, yet so far

The scarf is 40 inches and I've joined in the third ball of Moss. Only 20 inches to go - and yet, it seems like such a long way. I've got a lot going on at home now with visiting relatives. I've missed my deadline to get this done - BG's birthday was this past Thursday - but as we've all got a lot going on right now we put off the formal birthday celebration for a bit. If I can get this done before my family leaves I think I will be safe, but I won't know for sure how much time I have until we set a formal birthday party date.

Last night right before I went to bed I cast on a pedicure sock in Artyarns Supermerino, colorway Paris Rain. I think it's beautiful so far, though I've only got a couple of rows done. I feel a little guilty for starting it, but I felt like I needed something quick and simple to make me feel better about how long all my complicated projects are taking me. Besides, everybody does socks while doing other projects, right? Right?

I started to try casting both socks on at once, but I was tired and it seemed like too much work. I guess I could put this sock on a holder, do a couple of rows on the other sock, and then put them both back on my circs.

I'm using my addi turbo needles and after using the knitpicks options - the tips seem SO blunt!! It's actually really bothering me! I may have to switch...it's driving me nuts. I'm sure I'll get used to them again eventually, but having been accustomed to one, switching to the other is difficult. I had problems when I switched from the addis to the options for the same reason, in the other direction.

Ah well...

A decision

My friend has settled on Urban Necessity in Swish Superwash Wisteria. I'm pretty excited, I think it's an adorable pattern that will serve her needs.

Wants

In all my listening to knitting podcasts and reading knitting blogs and perusing the knitter's review forum, I have come up with a number of things that I really, really want to do.

--Knit a lace shawl.
--Become a sock knitter.
--Knit something with Sea Silk.
--Knit something in whatever yarn anybody is gushing about or showing pictures of on their blog.
--Get some silk laceweight from Sundara Yarn.

And many more. Every time I see a yarn on the Yarn Harlot blog I SO TOTALLY WANT SOME. But I'm always stopped, either by the price or because I don't know what I would use it for so I'm afraid of not buying enough for what I need. I don't have any idea how much the average yardage is even for a pair of socks. I need more experience.

I looked up a few patterns for my friend's project and sent them to her along with yarn possibilities so that she could pick something and find a color she liked. I haven't heard anything back from her. I'm hoping she will pick Urban Necessity from MagKnits, but I don't know if she will like it or not. We'll see I guess!

Columns Scarf is at 31 inches and change. Sigh.

The best laid plans...

Don't turn out the way my flaky plans do.

The love heart slippers may be the first project that I will actually have to give up on. After finishing the first slipper, I looked at the remains of the skein and concluded that I did not have enough for a second slipper. I didn't think about it for a while, but I needed some other stuff so I started to order a ball of it and lo...it is gone. Shine Sport is still there, but the color Cloud is not.

Now my lonely unseamed sock that is too big for me anyway will never fit.

I ask you, what's a knitter to do?

(I e-mailed knitpicks hoping I had made a mistake - we'll see what I hear)

Drumroll please...

So, what is the pretty object that my darling friend would like to have? That knitted item that shall be of sufficient loveliness to tide her over the period of scrimping and staving that students must endure?

"A really warm hat. And gloves."

I think maybe she missed the point of my offer. Still, I said I would and I will. I asked some questions about what she wanted out of these objects, and provided a couple of examples to see if any of them struck her fancy, including Urban Necessity and Oat Couture Tayberry Hat and Gloves. We'll see what she picks.

Not how I planned

Saturday, I put six inches on the scarf, and thought gleefully about how wonderful it would be if I could get it up to 3 feet by the end of the weekend.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble sleeping in the bed I am using while I house-and-dog-sit, so I didn't get very far on Sunday. A few feeble rows - I haven't measured but I bet it was less than an inch. I fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours instead. It's probably just as well as my right hand was starting to get grumpy again and I'd probably have had a claw by Sunday night if I'd accomplished all I'd cackled about possibly doing.

One of my friends just sighed (metaphorically speaking, it was a blog entry) about wanting pretty things (she is a student and only has enough budget for the practical, not the pretty, and sometimes not even that) and I gave her a bunch of links to pattern resources and said "here, pick something pretty, and I will knit it for you." I am alternately concerned that she will not like anything, and that she will pick something huge and/or complicated that will take me the rest of my life. I guess I will just live dangerously until I get a reply.

Curses!

My ball of the moss Swish DK is gettingn alarmingly skinny, and I'm no where near halfway through the scarf. I think I'm going to need another skein. The scarf is at 17 inches and while the nutmeg ball is still going strong, the moss ball is rapidly depleting.

How does this happen to me? Is there something I'm doing that causes me to use more yarn than is normal? Or do people just do a crappy job estimating the requirements for their patterns? It doesn't make sense that a pattern produced by a yarn retailer would UNDERestimate the amount of yarn that you need. In fact, I am suspcious that I will not need the second ball of nutmeg at all, or I will need very little of it. But the moss color is flowing through my fingers and into my scarf in an undignified hurry.

It is also looking unlikely that I will finish this scarf in time for BG's birthday. At an average of 3 inches a night, which is what I'm currently doing, it'll take me two weeks to finish, and I only have one. Odds are good that I can get more done in the next week since I will be house/dog-sitting and will have less in the way of cooking, cleaning, and every day life to get in the way, but it'll still take a miracle to get this done in time - and that's without worrying about running out of yarn.

I think I will have to order one more ball and hope a) they have the same dyelot available b) it arrives before I need it.

I'm starting to worry a little about the other projects I have on my list...did I buy enough yarn for them or am I going to run out again? Odds of them having my dyelot decrease over time, I expect. I may have to institute a one-extra-skein policy for my projects from now on where financially feasible.

A wrong turn or two and $20 later, I'm finally able to get the images off my memory card!

I am not inexperienced at photography but I am totally inexperienced at photographing knitted items. I need more practice.

Sideways progress

I did some work on the scarf for BG, but only a few rows at a time throughout the weekend. He was at my house in the evening on Saturday to watch a movie, and though I probably could have worked on the scarf without generating any questions, I decided not to take the chance. I hid it in my room and got out my Homespun Cape project instead. I almost hate to call it that because I am not using the Lion Brand Homespun to make it, but that's what the pattern is called. I am using Knit Picks Decadence in tan. Anyway, I got a couple of inches done on that, which was nice. Things I knit for myself tend to take a backseat to things I am knitting for other people, so working on something for me is a nice change. Also, it is a simple pattern and it is a nice break from the more complicated scarf.

I was a little aggravated because the yarn shed all over me as I was working it. This is an annoying feature in something designed to be worn over clothes. I'll just have to make sure to keep a lint roller on my person at all times, I guess.

I did take photographs of my WIPs but I have not been able to find my memory card reader to get the photos from my camera to the computer. I'm very frustrated. I know I have had it out since the move, and my computer has only been in a few places in the house. I have checked all of these places and everywhere else I can think of, but I can't find that darned reader. I may have to just get a new one. I'm really miffed, too, I got a nice picture that shows the texture of the columns scarf that I was really excited to post.

Famous last words

I should have known better when I said yesterday it would be hard to make mistakes without realizing it on the column's scarf. I got some work done in it yesterday and somehow managed to trip into one of the ways that you CAN screw it up. I'm not entirely sure what I did, but the stitches that make the columns got veeeeery twisted, and I didn't realize it for a couple of rows until I looked and said "Hey...that's not what it ususally looks like." Since I couldn't really figure out what I did I just frogged a couple of rows and picked it up again. I got the stitches untwisted and sorted out and it looks back to normal now.

I've got a little over two inches of scarf, which kind of has me worried that I won't finish in time, but I'll try not to think about it until next week at least. Then I can evaluate where I am and decide whether I can finish in time, or if I am actually going to have to buy a gift.

Unfortunately, I also really need to spend the next couple of weeks getting ready for my mother's visit. The guest room is not yet unpacked and put to rights from the move, there's painting that needs to be finished and a million other things I would like to do to make the house look acceptable before she comes. This could cut into the knitting time that I really need to get this done.

Echo (echo, echo, echo)

Coming to this blog to post is like walking into a huge empty room with really echoy floors. Freaky. I guess I'll get used to it eventually.

I started work on the Columns scarf last night, and it...didn't go well the first time. I cast on and got through two rows, and ended up with five or six more stitches than I was supposed to have. I thought about it, decided where the problem was, ripped out those two rows, and started again. It went much better this time.

The pictures on the pattern are really not high res enough to show much detail so I really wasn't sure how the stitch pattern would come out. One might ask, if there were anyone here to wonder, why I decided to do it if I didn't know how it would turn out. I don't really know - the picture looked kind of cool and it was more interesting than doing a plain rib scarf or a garter stitch scarf.

I had some trouble when I had to skip one stitch, knit into the second stitch, and then knit into the first stitch and slip both off. I think part of the reason I picked up extra stitches on my first attempt was that I wasn't slipping the both stitches off.

The second round I made sure that wasn't a problem, but it is still a little difficult to get the needle under all the plies of the yarn without spearing through it. The rest of the pattern is fairly easy, though, and the really good thing about it is that it is difficult to make a mistake and not catch it right away, because it is immediately obvious if the stitches don't line up vertically the way they are supposed to.

I'm concerned that the scarf isn't wide enough, and also that I may not finish in time, but I'm trying not to fret. Sbodd thinks it is plenty wide.

I think this pattern would make a really great edging on a plain garter scarf or other garment, so I'm definately not throwing it away once this is finished

So it begins

Welcome to my brand spankin' new craft journal. I've created this little beauty to save my friends from long rambling posts about craft projects they don't understand or don't care about. I have awesome friends but most do not share my hobbies and I imagine that reading about knitting is about as interesting to a non-knitter as watching paint dry.

Initially I toyed with the idea of creating a knitting blog only as knitting has taken over my life since I learned to knit about two months ago, but I thought, why not include it all. However, I think I can safely say that knitting will be the subject of the majority of my posts. If nothing else, I finish more knitting than any other type of craft.

I feel like I am shouting "Welcome!" to an empty room, but hopefully it won't be empty forever. So here goes, and we'll see what happens!

Edit: I am posting and backdating all the knitting-related posts I made in my personal journal since I learned to knit.

Delivery!

Woo hoo, my yarn has departed the Warehouse of Sitting Around for Three Days, which means it should be delivered this afternoon. Phew!! This yarn is for a scarf for BG's birthday so I was really anxious for it to get here. I SHOULD have plenty of time to get it done (his birthday is on the 23rd), but every little bit helps when you're on a deadline.

It's this scarf in Swish DK, nutmeg and moss.

I wish their picture was a little better (though the expression on the model's face is kind of hysterical) so I could see how the colors go, but the two colors they used are so similar that it's hard to tell. I hope it will look okay with yarns that use more of a contrast.

Hail the conquering hero

I find it amusing that this week's KnitPicks podcast is all about finishing issues, and here I am gloating about my finished projects. Anyway, on Saturday I finished the third candy wrapper sachet, and what a relief that was. Sunday I finished the first love-heart slipper. Both of them still need the final assembly but the knitting itself is done.

Unfortunately, the slipper looks like it is going to be about two sizes too large. :oP I'm frustrated. I'll just give them away, but I really am vexed about this. And I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time knitting slipper #2 knowing that they won't fit me. Also, I will have to buy another ball of yarn; I thought I could get through two slippers with just the one, but I was clearly deluded as there is nowhere near enough yarn left over.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this project. I may have to put it away for a while until the ARGH I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN feeling fades enough for me to take on slipper #2. :oP I'll have to find the Cinderella that fits this slipper - once I have a recipient in mind I'll probably be able to get up the motivation.

Anyway, so I'm now back to only two projects on the needles - Karen's hat and what I am now calling the No-Think Shawl.

Actually, that's not true - yesterday I decided that Sundays would, from now on, be my day for charity knitting, so I started a hat made from a skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease I had bought in my flurry of excitement over learning to knit. I have, I think, two more skeins of that stuff in a couple different colors. After knitting with the nicer yarns I have been using, that stuff is torture to work with. -_- I got about an inch and a half into the hat before I gave in to temptation and picked up the slippers instead. So much for that resolution! :oP But I will finish that hat and I hope to keep knitting charity pieces regularly.

So, technically, that is three items on the needles with a fourth project scheduled to go on as soon as the yarn arrives. What can I say - it's a temporary victory. :oP

I ordered yarn for another project yesterday. We have D&D tonight so I expect to make a lot of progress on my shawl. Since I switched from bamboo straight needles to the nickle-plated circulars it has been much easier. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do that before. I was using 13" straight needles and they were driving me crazy, especially because the end of the right needle would get caught in the yarn feeding up from the ball, and I would keep having to stop and untangle it. Also, as I knitted the right needle would get heavier and heavier as I was moving the entire weight of the shawl every time I got toward the end. It has been much easier knitting on the 24" circular (for nonknitters who struggle through these ramblings, a) I love you b) a circular needle is made up of a cable with two short needles at either end). Now as I knit most of the weight moves off the needle and onto the cable, so that it is supported by both hands and not just the right one. Also, the cable allows it to hang lower, so some of the weight can actually rest in my lap. Finally, it is easier to stop in the middle of the row on the cable needle if I need to, because I can just pull the needles themselves up until all the stitches are resting on the cable, rather than trying to cap both ends of the long needles and get the whole mess in my bag. Even more finally, the circular needles fit in my GoKnit pouch, while the 13" straights don't really.

I've gotten used to the metal needles so the drag that I used to love so much on the bamboo is actually kind of irritating to me now. The yarn I'm using for my shawl (Patons SWS in Natural Navy) is very slick so I have had problems a couple of times with jerking stitches off the end of the needle on accident, but again, I've gotten used to the metal ones so now that happens mostly when I am fidgeting and not when I am actually knitting. The stitches slide up and down the needles much easier which more than makes up for it, as I kept having to stop and push to get them up and down the bamboo needles (have I mentioned that I knit really tightly?). The Knit Picks Options set has been a very good purchase and I'm glad I got it.

Made decent progress on my slipper last night, though I had to stop and pull out a bunch of rows because I am an idiot and can't follow directions. Repeat rows 3-4 7 times =/= repeat rows 1-4 7 times. I am a little affraid I'm going to be tired of working on it after getting one done, but I'll just have to grind through it anyway. I do want to get some things finished and off the needles, just to make me feel better. I always get antsy when I have too many things in progress.

I think I am going to make one more sachet for a total of three and then call that finished. I feel a little lame about it, but there are so many more interesting projects I want to do, so I decided I will finish off the one that's on there now and pick those up again some day when I want something little and quick. Fall's coming up so I really want to do my cape and my photography gloves, plus some gifts for other people. Amy is dying for something made of alpaca so I got some Ambrosia in Horizon (light blue) to make a Dimple Shale Scarf. This will serve as my first lace project. I try to be mindful of how these things have to be cared for so I don't give anybody something that's a pain to clean, but Amy is so meticulous anyway that I don't think she will mind handwashing the scarf. Amy is just one of those people where giving them gifts is absolutely addictive because she is just so darn grateful. Anyway, I'm hoping I will get it done by Christmas and it can be her Christmas present. Five months - that's low-pressure enough, right?

I really ought to finish K's hat. That one is beating me right now. A couple of good weekend days ought to go a long way toward finishing it. I hope.

My nightstand has become my holder for all of my in-process projects, except my shawl, which has pretty consistently stayed in my GoKnit pouch. The second drawer in my nightstand has become my stash area for everything else. When we curl up for the evening to watch TV or whatever, I just reach over and dig out whatever project I feel like working on. I'm also keeping the pattern books in there for whatever I'm working on, plus my knitting journal and the binder for my Options set. When I'm ready to go to bed, I just toss my work and pattern back in the drawer.

I have enjoyed keeping the knitting journal. It's not as detailed as it was when I first started doing it, where I was trying to keep track of how many hours I was spending on a particular project, but it does give me a place to write down all the things I WANT to knit, keep track of yarn costs and other things so I can see how much a particular project cost in the end, and I can write down where I stopped at any particular time so I don't get lost in the pattern. I admit I actually bought a special journal for the purpose instead of just using a spiral notebook. My excuse, which I just made up on the spot right now, is that the spiral on this book is covered so I can keep it in the same drawer as my projects without the spiral catching on the yarn. It also has a bunch of reference informaton and a needle guage in the back which is kind of handy.

I have over time built up a little accessory kit that I carry with me in my knitting bag or in my knitting drawer. I used a little pink mesh zipper bag from a previous MK preferred customer gift, and I put in a small pair of scissors, a couple of plastic embroidery needles, my packet of ring stitch markers, my packet of locking markers, needle point protectors and two sizes of crochet hook, one for thick yarns and one for thin yarns. The packet seems to get bigger with every project. The latest additon was a clicky row counter which I get way too much joy out of. It just makes such a delightful noise when you click it. It makes my little knitting packet a little too big though, and I am only using it for my slippers at the moment, so I took it out of the bag and just put it with the slippers by itself.

I do feel like I need a packet for my drawer and a packet for my goknit pouch. The one for my pouch wouldn't need as much in it, but it would definately need a crochet hook big enough for whatever my 'travel' project is at the moment, a couple of each type of stitch marker, and a pair of scissors. It is extremely frustrating to be caught away from home without a crochet hook as that guarantees you will drop a stitch and not be able to fish it out with the needle alone.