I'm a good knitter

1. Swatch



2. Soak



3. Block

Swatchy swatchy

Yesterday I swatched until my eyes hurt. However, this probably says more about the amount of sleep I got this past weekend than it does about anything else. I was swatching for Scheherazade using Lane Borgosesia Cashwool in wine heather. Very, very pertty, and also soft.

Also, slippery. The biggest thing I learned from my swatching experience? NEED WOOD NEEDLES. I'm ordering them today and I hope they'll make it to before my vacation. Casting on in particular was really, really difficult with my standard KP Options. WAY too slick. But, I don't have any Harmony woods in size 4. I'm ordering them today and I hope they'll make it to me before my vacation. No reason why they shouldn't, except that I need them. :oP

I had kind of a hard time at first, but I did get used to it after a while and towards the end of the chart (Pink Lemon recommends that you swatch one of the paisley motifs) I was actually motoring along pretty well...until I, in a fit of idiocy, didn't purl back across the wrong side row! I had to unpick several rows. Thank God it was just a swatch. I would have been really mad at myself if I'd done that across the whole thing.

I want to cast on before we actually leave, partly because I've never done a provisional cast on before and the car does not seem like the best place to attempt it for the first time. Just in case. I don't want to be furious and swearing two minutes into our trip.

Anyway, armed with the experience of swatching, I took all the charts, got out a marker and a ruler, and put a colored line over the grid lines every 5 stitches. Hopefully this will avoid some of the eye-crossing I was experiencing and make the counting a little less tedius. I find on my cross stitch patterns that the bold lines every 10 stitches helps me out a lot, so I am employing that principle here with this pattern and hoping it is just as effective.

Along with my Harmony needles I am ordering some stikki clips. I will have to make sure I am well organized in my seat with all my stuff put together where it won't flop around.

Am I crazy for taking on a laceweight project for this trip? Maybe. I'm going to take some sock yarn...just in case.

Can it be?

I might be mistaken, but...I think I only have one more project to do that's for someone else. I finished Odessa this weekend and gave it to the recipient's sister for delivery. I have pictures, but they're not uploaded yet.

When I look at my ravelry queue, I see:

--Lace stole for me
--Socks for me
--Lace shawl for me
--Another lace shawl for me
--Scarf that I was going to make for a friend with the yarn leftover from the hat and gloves I made her
--Fingerless mitts I plan to make for Sbodd
--Santa Claus hat that I plan to knit a bunch of for the Tree-hunting expedition next year (the handknit hat I made Sbodd was banned by his mom on the grounds that it is tradition to wear a Santa Hat...well. I'll show HER.)
--Oven set (oven mitts & trivets) I thought would be nice to make for Sbodd sometime
--Scarf for Fletch, who requested one

Okay, so maybe I do still have stuff to knit for other people. BUT, I don't have anything I'm in a HURRY to knit for other people. Except maybe the scarf for Fletch, I should probably get on that, it would be a quick and easy project and he did ask me for it ages ago BUT a) I was careful not to promise I would do it, since I was just coming off of the string of projects I had promised other people and I was not about to get in the same mess again b) it's kind of getting past scarf weather so he won't need it until fall anyway. I have plenty of time.

The other things for other people are all things where I thought "so and so would like that."

But for now, I'm spending a little time knitting for myself. Last night I finally got out the Beginner's Lace Triangle, replaced the broken needles, and went to work. It is amazing how much easier it seems now.

Having said that I am now doomed to an unfixable mistake...yeek...but really, after all the other complicated stuff I have done, it is not killing-me-hard anymore, and that's a really nice feeling (it also helps that I have learned to yarn over correctly).

I'm not sure whether I'm going to use all 1200 yards of Suri Blue on it though...I may use just the one skein. I love that the instructions tell you to increase until you are halfway through your yarn, the shawl is big enough, or you are bored. I have found myself spending some time trying to decide, "How big is big enough?"

I believe the next projects up are a pair of socks for me (since I finished the last ones) and the Scheherazde stole from Pink Lemon Knits, which will be my vacation knitting. Until the vacation I will keep working on the triangle. I'm not sure what to do about the socks...I'm thinking about a plain easy stockinette pair in Lorna's Laces, but I also have the pattern for the Caledonian Mist socks from Pink Lemon and a skein of Hand Maiden Casbah Sock in peacock. I have several other sock yarns I could try as well. I'm not sure...we'll see.

I've got about 11" on my 2nd SFS sock so I need to get another inch and turn the heel. I'm going to try to finish the heel sometime this week - once I get past the gusset decreases that will be the most mindless knitting that I have and it will also go really quickly. It takes me this long to do them because I knit the whole leg in rib. I could do it faster in stockinette, but I thought the rib would make it fit better.

Feeling better now

The swatch still lied, but not as badly as I thought. It did shrink about 10% in length, from 30" inches to somewhere between 27-28". It shrank 1 inch in width. The final is 27 or 28" long (depending on where I measure) by 18.5" wide. The hat, on the other hand, shrank hardly at all - a quarter of an inch in width and not at all in length.

Odessa proceeds apace.



Isn't it pretty?

I'm at 4.5" inches - 1 inch to go before the decreases begin.

Swatches LIE.

I have not measured, so I cannot be totally sure yet, but after washing and drying the baby items AGAIN yesterday...I don't think that Georgina's dryer has anti-shrink technology. -_- Also, these items take freaking forever to dry, which I should have anticipated (cotton) but didn't (dumbass). As I stood there staring at the unshrunk blanket, I found myself thinking, "I did dry it on delicate. Maybe delicate doesn't get as hot. Maybe if I wet it again and dry it on regular..."

But I can't keep doing this. I will wear it out before I even give it away. I have to accept it. It isn't going to shrink.

...

It's fine. It's just a little bigger than it should be, but it's a blanket so it's not the end of the world. Seriously. IT'S FINE.

I am totally lying. I HATE it when things don't turn out as I anticipate. It doesn't matter whether it has any effect on the ultimate usefulness of the item. THAT IS NOT HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.

Now, in most areas of my life, I manage to accept the huge gap between "The way things Should Be" and "The way things Are." Failure to accept that gap leads to chronic unhappiness, a bad attitude, and a poor approach to life in general.

So, why can I not accept that when it comes to crafts? I know it's fine the way that it is but it isn't how it Should Be and so I get mad, occasionally leaving Sbodd to ask me why I continue with these hobbies. This usually results in me screaming at him, "BECAUSE I ENJOY IT NOW LEAVE ME ALONE."

Not a healthy attitude.

I, CraftNinja, do hereby swear and affirm, that I am not going to go into a closet and have a serious shit fit over the lack of shrinkage in this baby blanket, even though the label says it will shrink 10-15% and the stupid swatch shrank exactly the way it was supposed to - but I do hereby admit that it might be my fault, for not knitting and washing a second swatch in the pattern stitch, because that is the only freaking explanation I have for why this thing did not shrink like it was SUPPOSED TO.

Instead I will measure it calmly tonight, add the details of the post washing measurements to my Raverly entry for the benefit of anyone else who might wish to knit this project in Pakucho Organic Cotton. Then I will snip the ends, fold it up nicely in tissue paper, and put it aside until that unnamed day sometime in the future when the baby shower occurs. I will not be bitter about all the extra knitting I did in anticipation of shrinkage. I will instead remember that I like knitting and so extra knitting should not be seen as a sign that the universe hates me.

I will report back later on how this approach goes.

In other, more cheerful news, Odessa is proceeding at a pace that absolutely astonishes me. I have three full inches done out of the 5.5 that I have to do before beginning my decreases. I have only 2 quibbles:

1) Beads are heavy. I did not fully take this into account and the fifty bajillion beads I strung on the yarn (because I had no intention of counting out 150 tiny seed beeds so I just strung the whole package) are tugging significantly on my working yarn and it DRIVES ME CRAZY.
2) The beads do not slide as easily on the yarn as I expected they would, so moving the beads down the yarn makes me a little bit of the crazy.

But, again, it's going really fast - imagine how fast it would go if I had opted not to mess with the beads! I am starting to think I have a few million more on there than I actually need. Next time I will take the time and count out the 150. Lesson learned! I surrender!

But it is a darn cute hat.

Dangit, I was promised shrinkage!

I finished the baby blanket and the bunny blanket buddy this weekend, wove in all the ends, and triumphantly dumped the whole thing (including the hat) in the wash for a hot bath. I then nervously transferred the whole thing to the dryer, still wondering if I was going to end up with a couple of potholders and a washcloth. Just to ensure that I shrank the dang things all they were going to shrink, I set the dryer to the setting that said COTTON - HOT. I went back to my couch, knit on Odessa (love it, except for the sliding the beads down the string...they do not go as easily as one might hope), and worried.

The dryer buzzed. I went back and checked. Still wet. Really wet, in fact. Started the dryer back up again. Knit some more. Buzzer rang. Went back and check. Still wet. Set the dryer to "more dry" and started it up again. Buzzed a third time - STILL NOT COMPLETELY DRY. But, the dampness was mostly in the middle so I gave up, took it out, took it to the couch, held my breath, and measured.

It shrank ONE INCH. In LENGTH. Less than that in width. I couldn't believe it. I measured the bunny. Barely anything. I measured the hat. What's going on? My swatch shrank like whoa and on the project I get...nothing??

I remember the Yarn Harlot's advice. Swatches lie.

But...but...

I cast my suspicious glance to the dryer. I was house-sitting, remember. This was not the same dryer than shrank the swatch. This was a fancy, high-tech dryer, that might have some anti-shrinking technology.

I decided I should wash it at home, just to be sure. Andrea probably doensn't have a fancy anti-shrink dryer either. I better try again, just to be sure. I'm back home tonight. Tonight, we will settle this shrinking issue once and for all.

The baby blanket is finished!!

Woo hoo! No picture, because it pretty much looks exactly the same as the last picture, only longer. I haven't even woven in the ends yet. This is partly because a) I hate that part b) I am waiting to wash all this stuff until I finish the bunny blanket buddy.

The bunny blanket buddy pattern is written for superbulky yarn, which this is most definately not. Right now it is 40 stitches wide and I am supposed to start knitting the paws here, but I am not doing that. I'm going to double the size because if I did it this way it would be teeny even unwashed, and since there is again that whole shrinks-when-washed factor, it would be a choking hazard.

Of course, I also know that it will shrink more in length than it will in width, so this whole enterprise may be terribly ill-advised, but I am forging ahead anyway. Why not - all I have to lose is time and sanity.

Odessa remains on standby until the bunny is finished. It went pretty quickly last night so hopefully Odessa will not be stuck on standby much longer.

I have a bunch of skeins of burgandy Knit Picks Gloss at home and I am thinking about using them to knit Jeanie. I didn't care for that pattern when it was published but I have since seen another one on someone's blog in a different colorway and I LOVE it. I originally bought those skeins of Gloos planning to make one of the shawls from Wrapped in Comfort, but...I really did like that Jeanie.

The only thing is, I'm afraid the burgandy may be too dark for it. What I loved about the one I saw was the translucense and airyness and I'm just not sure such a strong color is the right selection.

There is really no purpose to this idle speculation...there are about 8 million things I really really want to knit and I am constantly changing my mind about which I will get to next. I want to knit something for myself, and I want to knit something that is not going to bore me to tears, so I am still pretty steady on Shaharazad as my next pattern. I am hoping that since it changes I will not be trying to stab myself after 8 million identical repeats, just for a change. Best of all, I already have yarn for it! I...hope. I am as always utterly paranoid about running out, but anyway - 2 skeins of Suri Blue should be enough. Really. I hope.

So close!!

Three repeats left on the baby blanket. It was really, really tempting to stay up until I was done last night, but I finished repeat number 10 just as Top Chef was ending at 11 p.m., and I still had to get the pups pottied and corralled into bed, and I hadn't changed or washed my face or brushed my teeth or any of the normal pre-bed routine, so in an uncharacteristic show of good sense, I folded the blanket up, put it out of any possible puppy reach (just in case) and went to bed.

I expect to have a lot of yarn left over - one whole skein and most of a second, so I am planning to do the bunny buddy blanket and possibly a second hat, larger than the first one, for when the baby gets a little older. We'll see how sick I am of the yarn (not that it isn't great, but how long can you knit in brown and white without weeping for a change?)...I may go ahead and wash all the items and see how much the initial baby hat shrinks before I decide to go for another one. It seems really teeny to me already but I am told newborns are very small and it will be fine. I continue to be paranoid that this particular newborn will have a very large head and the hat will inexplicably not fit.

I am thinking about washing the hat but not putting it in the dryer, which should prevent it from shrinking...but I am also paranoid that Andrea will wash it and then it will shrink and then I would feel bad. It only took one evening to knit the thing, so I really should just suck it up and let it shrink and redo it if it is going to be too small.

The end is in sight

It looks huge, but it's not that big. I mean, it's still bigger than it is supposed to be. I did decide to go ahead and knit the extra extra stripe repeat just to be safe. Now I am kind of hoping it DOES shrink a lot because...it's definately big.

I think I am going to have a skein left over, so I am thinking about using it to knit a pattern from the Lion Brand website for a bunny blanket buddy (I am too lazy to look it up). Someone on Ravelry did one with one skein of Pakucho.

When that is done...



I am planning to use this to knit Odessa. I had a small heart attack when MagKnits went down yesterday, but thankfully I had already printed out a copy of the pattern. The color in that photo is not quite right - it is a little bluer - in fact that color actually looks more like what I THOUGHT I would get. It's definately more of a powder blue. But the photo is pretty, so I will forgive it the innacurate color.

Indecision

I've passed what originally would have been the halfway point of the baby blanket for Andrea, but of course I am adding some reapeats to account for the yarn shrinking in the wash. I am balancing my paranoia regarding the shrinking against my paranoia that I will run out of yarn and my boredom with the project. It is going pretty quickly, but it is getting kind of old.

The original pattern calls for 13 repeats of the main color, one of the contrast, four more of the main, one more of the contrast, and then 13 repeats of the main color. I'm adding in another repeat of the stripe section, which adds 5 rows. I finished most of that section last night before I just got worn out and had to quit. I'm trying to decide whether I should add another stripe sequence or go with what I've got. I calculate that based on the length it is now, it will be about 24" long when finished. It's currently between 18 and 19 inches wide.

My issue is that I know it will shrink more lengthwise than widthwise and I am afraid of ending up with a square. :oP If it shrinks the 10% the ball band warns about and which my swatch supports, it'll end up being a little under 22 inches long. It won't shrink as much widthwise based on my swatch - my swatch was 4 inches wide before washing and 3.75 after, and it was 4.5 inches long before washing and 4 inches after. So if it shrinks a quarter inch per four inches of width then it'll end up being between 17 and 18 inches wide, so it won't be TOO square, will it?

I think I have plenty of yarn - I have 3 skeins left and I've done 21 pattern repeats with the first 3 skeins, and I'm not done with the 3rd skein, so I should have plenty left to do 17 more, right?

So then it becomes a question of whether the relative squareness of the blanket and the fear that it will shrink more than expected bothers me more than the idea of prolonging this project by 5 more repeats. 5 is not that many (the repeats are only 4 rows, only one of which takes any brainpower whatsoever) and I still have at least a month before the shower, which they haven't given us a date for yet...

It is entirely possible that I worry too much. I probably should just go ahead and do the extra 5 and that way the only thing that can go wrong is I run out of yarn.

Since I know someone is probably thinking it, no, it wouldn't be the end of the world if the blanket were square, but a) it isn't what I set out to do and that always bothers me 2) I fear it would look like a giant washcloth.

I took a break from it last night and turned the heel on the second starry night sock. Woo hoo! The end is in sight! But my least favorite part lies ahead - picking up stitches.

There is just something about picking up stitches that I have never really gotten. I'm not sure what it is. Also? No matter how many stitches I pick up I always have a gap at the gusset - but only on one side. On the side where I start picking up at the heel and work toward the instep, I'm okay. On the side where I start at the instep and work towards the heel - I have a gap. EVERY. STINKIN'. TIME. I cannot convey the depth to which this VEXES ME.

So I quit once I had the heel turned since it was late at night anyway and picking up stitches at that point would only have been asking for trouble. Now I am stuck between working on the baby blanket or picking up stitches. On the one hand, the blanket is a) cotton and b) the same thing over and over and over again for five more miles. On the other, I hate picking up stitches.

You know that laceweight shawl I was working on at Christmas is still sitting in my drawer...

I'm actually thinking about...making a second blanket. One of the ladies in my church was thrilled to welcome her first grandson into the world the week before Easter. The poor little guy is now destined to be in the hospital for a month with a staph infection. Tell me he doesn't need a blankie.

You know, I did get the yarn for this blanket before I knew whether Andrea was having a boy or a girl so it would be just fine for a boy...Maybe I am meant to give something else to her little one. I'll have to ponder this.