Scheherazade got its first outing on Sunday. I may have been a little proud of myself.



I also finished the embossed stitch socks in the C*EYE*BER Fyber Periwinkle. I am in love with these socks.



Look at the way it striped on the heel. LOOK AT IT. Love, I tell you.



Equal time for the toe.



I've already cast on number two, but once I got through the cast on I switched over to the tomato socks so I could watch yesterday's gymnastics (missed it because Scheherazade and I went to see the Lion King at the Kennedy Center).



Saturday they showed the marathon, which - I'm sorry, but until you get to the end, it's just not that interesting. :oP So I swatched for MS4.



I added one more repeat than the swatch instructions called for so I could try all my bead options.



The bottom beads are an opaque Montana blue (whatever that means) and while it shows up okay on the picture, it gets lost on the actual swatch. The clear aquamarine ones barely show at all, all you can see is the gold lining, and not much of that.



That takes it down to the two white ones, one matte (top) and one pearly (second from top), and I think I'm going to go with the matte. The pearly are okay but I prefer the matte ones. The impression of the blue with the matte white is casual and flirty, and I'm good with that.

That settled, I worked on Whispering Pines. I got through chart A and I'm now halfway through chart B.

The Longest Mile

That last repeat seemed like it took forever, but - it's finally done! It looks like crap because it hasn't been blocked so I didn't photograph it (also, I had to work late and I was tired) but it is, in fact, finished!!

Disappointment

I didn't finish Scheherazade this weekend. I was so close!! I finished the second edging, successfully ripped out the first one, and I am ONE PATTERN REPEAT AWAY. 28 rows!! But it was after 10 p.m. and I just had to quit because I have found that after 10 the number of errors I make skyrockets, and I'd rather not have to rip out again.

So, I am nearly done, but not actually done.

I did start working on the heel flap for my sock, but that was the only other knitting progress made.

28 rows! So close, so close!

Setback

I am a FOOL. Sigh.

I finished chart 6, completing the main body of Scheherazade. However, I was prevented from doing a little happy dance by a) the late hour b) a horrifying realization. I was trying to remember whether I was supposed to purl across the final row or not, and after examining the instructions for the edging, concluded that I was not supposed to. The problem is...I was pretty sure I HAD done so the first time.

I checked. I had. Which meant...the edging was on backwards. If you place the shawl right-side up, the WRONG side of the edging is face up. AGH.

Fortunately it was late at night so the blow was somewhat numbed by tiredness. In a schocking display of good sense that can only be explained by the late hour, I did nothing. I didn't rip anything out, and I didn't keep going on the second edging. The way I saw it at the time, I had several options:

--Put the second edging on correctly and live with it.
--Put the second edging on incorrectly and call it a design element.
--Rip out the first edging and reknit it correctly.

I wavered equally between all of these decisions, and now in the clear light of day, I have made my decision. I'm going to rip out the first edging. I hope. I discounted this possibility last night because I was worried about losing the last row of the shawl, BUT, because the edging is knitted on sideways, one stitch of the body is set free for each row that you rip out, which means that, carefully done, I should be able to pick up those stitches carefully one at a time.

Risks:
--The yarn, after ripping out, will be in no shape to knit up again.
--I drop/fail to correctly pick up body stitches.
--The yarn will not rip.

Response:
--I'm pretty sure I have enough yarn to cut any damaged areas and do a spit splice.
--I've knit the body charts twice now. I'm pretty sure I can fix any damage with a minimum amount of risk, though it may cost me my sanity to do so.
--I can (gulp) snip the yarn if I get to a really knotty spot. I'm actually really kind of concerned about this one because I know there was a place where I was tinking back and got stuck because of some bizarre splitting that had managed to tangle up the stitches. I just can't remember if that was on the edging or the body. Then, again, we spit splice and move on.

I think it is a sign of knitterly growth that I can consider the matter so coldly. It is probably not a sign of maturity that I really, really want to put the end I'm on now on a holder and go fix the bad part first. It would be silly and I'm trying not to give into this impulse. I will finish the second edging before redoing the first. Maybe. Since I don't have another pair of wooden needles that size. Although, I could just take the tips off and put the cable caps on, because I DO have plenty of cables. But that would be silly. Sigh.

Home Stretch

I actually really thought I might finish Scheherazade this weekend...but I was clearly a little deluded. However, I am on Chart 6, so the end is in sight! I've enjoyed this project but I think my neurotic little mind got a little obsessed with being able to put a mental check beside each chart. I love checking things off lists. Chart 1 - check. Chart 2 - check. CHECK CHECK CHECK I LOVE THE CHECK. I also have to admit that the size of the thing is starting to interfere with my enjoyment. I hope it comes out looking nice once it is washed and blocked...it's a little underwhelming at the moment. I know, I know, blocking is magic, etc. I'm also worried about stuff getting on it. Mostly dog fur. Ella has given me a heart attack several times by spontaneously walking across my lap and getting tangled in either the project or the yarn. NONONO DOG CLAWS PLUS KNITTED LACE IS BAD BAD BAD.

Anyway. Rather than actually finishing anything, I started a swatch hat out of the Elann Incense I bought to check out the yarn as a possibility for Eris. I started this hat twice since I somehow managed to twist my stitches when I joined. I admit to being very careless with it - it's just a swatch shaped like a rolled-brim hat. I'm enjoying the yarn, though, so this may in fact be what I decide to make my sweater out of, if they ever get it in the color I want. I'm thinking one of the tans or the mineral green. I really like the Cypress but I think it's too dark. If anyone's used this yarn before (and if anyone actually reads this blog, heh) then please let me know what you thought.

I have made a rule for myself that I am allowed to work obsessively on Scheherazade as long as once I finish it, I don't start anything else until I finish my soldier sock toe and turn the heel on my other sock - the pair I started on the way to MD Sheep and Wool.

After that, my head spins with the possiblities. I really want to start something with the Jojoland stuff I bought recently, so Elm Row is definitely on the short list for things I want to start. I have more yarn for another (hopefully smaller) pair of soldier socks. I have the Caledonian Mist socks from Pink Lemon that I have really been wanting to do, although I am still scared of my yarn choice. I'm waiting for a KnitPicks order to arrive with some size 1 sock needles in it, because I have decided that the socks I get with size 2s just are too loose on me, so I'm going to give it a go with the 1s and see how I do. I really don't think I could switch down a size on the cast-on and still be able to fit the thing around my leg.

I'm actually toying with the idea of giving dpns a try for socks...I have to admit that the two circs method does kind of irk me a little sometimes. Trouble is, I'm not sure the things that irk me would be diminished by the switch, and I am terribly afraid of dropping needles out of the sock.

Still, something to think about for the future!

Go Greased Lightening

I was too lazy to take photos for this post. The only thing interesting is the center motif anyway - which I did finish this weekend. I finished off chart 1, motored through chart 2, and got halfway through chart 3. Clearly, I didn't do much other than knit this weekend.

I did make another visit to With Yarn in Front, since I'd been told they were getting in more yarn this week, and I totally only meant to look but - well, you know how that goes. I left with 4 skeins of Jojoland Melody in a colorway made of purlples and blues and reds that were so me that I could not possibly pass them up. I plan to use them for a Wrapped in Comfort shawl, though I'm not sure which one. I really like Michelle's shawl, it's my favorite in the book, but the drape is part of what I love about it so I'm thinking it might be better to do it in a different yarn. I will have to spend some time with the book before I decide.

I'm working on this stole with absolute determination, though. I've worked on it almost exlusively. Last night after I went upstairs to go to bed, I did work on a garter stitch scarf because I was tired and troubled and needed to be soothed, but other than that, I'm so longing for this shawl to be complete that I really haven't worked on much else.

I need to turn the heel on my sock in progress, and I have to work the toe for my socks for soldiers socks, so even my thoughtless projects are stalled for the moment. I have to find the pattern for the soldier socks because I'm pretty sure the instructions for the toe are somehow different from the instructions I usually use, and I think I followed the pattern instructions on the first sock, so I should do that on this one as well. I just have to get the pattern and the sock in the same place for five minutes to figure it out, and then I will be able to (finally) finish off that pair and start on the next one (which will, mercifully, not be black nor quite so large as this pair).

I have to look up the eye of partridge heel instructions I used on the first sock of my pair so that I can do that heel. I'm pretty sure I can figure out what I did, but I'd like to look back just to make sure.

To be honest, I'm kind of ready to be done with all those projects. Not that I don't love them, but a) I haven't finished anyting for a while and I need a finishing fix b) so many other things have come up that I want to try!

One thing I fear - I may be so addicted to lace knitting after this stole that I kind of don't want to knit anything else. I could start a hat or something but really, I just want to knit more lace! This can't happen! I have plans for many other non-lace things! What about those projects? I want those things!

...but I really want to knit lace.

50% and a new LYS

First things first - I give you, exactly 1/2 of Scheherazade, which is pretty much the maximum I can accurately photograph anyway:







I had a really difficult time with the edging at first, not becuase it's hard (it's not), but just because I had this feeling that I was knitting out into space - it was bizarrely scary to knit out away from the main body of the stole. I had to redo the first row more times than was really reasonable. I cast on 24 stitches, counted, found I had only 23, cast on one more, counted again, and then purled back with more difficulty than I anticipated (I had forgotten how much more difficult the first couple of rows are because there is no weight to hold the stitches on the needle taut). Then, I started on the first chart row, got to the end, and discovered I had done something wrong, because I had too many stitches left over. I unpicked, recounted, and found that I had 23. Perplexed, I picked back, cast on one more stitch, did the whole thing again, and still had stitches left over. Really confused, I picked back again, counted stitches again, and again found that I had 23.

More confused than ever, I re-cast on that 24th stitch AGAIN, but this time as I purled back I actually thought about it and realized that having one stitch too few did not explain why I kept having too many stitches when I got to the end of the charted row. Then I realized that my eyes had just glazed past the s in the first box of the charted row. I was supposed to slip the first stitch, and that was why I had too many. I still don't know how I kept getting 23 stitches, but when I followed the directions properly, I got to the end of the row and everything was fine. After that, I really had no trouble.

When I completed the last row of the stole body, I rearranged my stitch markers so that I had one every 14 stitches, rather than every 10. I did this because the edging repeat is 14 rows (28, actually, but you only bind off a body stitch on the wrong side rows). That way I knew that if I got to the marker and I was not on the last repeat row, I had done something wrong. I didn't have any problems with this, but having the marker there did help me figure out which row I was on a couple of times when something distracted me and I forgot whether I had already moved my marker magnet or not.

After I took pictures I unpinned it and put it away. It seemed like tempting fate to try unpicking the cast-on just then. I have never worked with a provisional cast-on before so I decided it would be best to do it while well rested and not on a knitting high.

A new LYS has opened up right near the SO's appartment (so conveeeeeniant! I told him that the next time he puts his foot in his mouth to skip the flower shop and just pop into the yarn store). It's called With Yarn in Front and I don't think it has a website yet. It took me several tries to get there during open hours but I was very pleased. It's clean, organized, not too crowded (though this may change as they get more stock in - still, I really like the openness. I can't stand the crammed feeling of most yarn shops, where I can't turn around without fear of upsetting something), and the owner is very enthusiastic and helpful (almost too much so, but it is their first week or so, so I forgive). She proudly showed me what the shop had, including some milk yarn (so soft!) and corn yarn (feels like cotton). The prices were really nice, too.

The SO gamely went along with me and when I selected a skein of Jojoland Harmony laceweight (880 yards for 8 bucks - keep in mind, though, that it is actually finer than regular lace yarn, which I did not consider - even so, I think it's a good deal), he bought it for me! He is so sweet. I was intrigued by the color changes. I think I am going to try it out on the Knitspot pattern Elm Row. The colorway I got is called Harvest:



and I really wanted a fall-type pattern, but nothing too complicated that would be obscured with the colors. A leaf motif seems perfect. I'm really excited to see how it works up; it was all I could do not to ditch Scheherezade and cast on! However, it will take a little more thought than that, I think, because the yarn is finer weight than the pattern calls for, so I will have to (gasp) swatch and figure out how many pattern repeats I need to add to get a nice width. Then I'll just keep going until I run out. I have a feeling this may result in a short scarf, but if so, I'll live. In this weight it's definately an accent scarf rather than a warm scarf anyway. The suggested yarn is any laceweight that is about 400 yards per 50 grams. Harmony is 880 for 50 grams. It'll be a learning experience for me for sure - I am a little scared of ending up with a really oddly proportioned strip of knitting, but I am going to forge ahead and see what happens.

But, first things first - the other half of Scheherazade!

Incentive

So I have struck a deal with the SO, that if I can lose 15 pounds, he will buy me a set of blocking wires as a reward, and if I lose 25, I get a blocking board. That is so the motivation I needed. ^_^ (for the record, he is not making me lose weight, I want to do that, but somehow weight loss in and of itself was not enough reward, so when I joked about reward-based motivation, he offered, and I am totally taking him up on it)

I finished Chart 5 this weekend, and I felt very accomplished to have gotten it done so quickly! I only did one row on chart 6, though. Sunday just turned out to be too busy for complicated knitting, so I cast on a scarf based on the Rustic Scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I say "based on" because I cast on the length of the scarf, but I used 175 stitches (171 seemed like such an odd number) and I am only using 2 colors, and alternating them every two rows so that I can just switch without having a trillion ends to weave in. Because, I have discovered, I loathe stripes, because I loathe both the counting of rows and the weaving of ends. I have also discovered that I am incapable of randomly striping things. Anyway, so there will be vertical black and green stripes. This scarf is for a friend who asked for one while the weather was cold. I made no promises, however, so I do not feel guilty for waiting. Well, I feel a little guilty, but not much. I'd have had it done sooner except that I was kind of on scarf overload and I couldn't settle on a pattern that wouldn't make me want to kill myself.

The yarn is Lamb's Pride bulky, and I have two concerns about it - one, it sheds, and two, it felts. I have decided to mitigate the second problem by offering lifetime maintenance. He can bring it back to me when it needs washing, and I shall wash it for him. The first problem, however, I'm a little worried about, and I don't know how to do anything about it. I am covered in fuzz when I work on this scarf.

But, I have been in need of a large, easy project, and this fits the bill nicely. I do not feel guilty about starting it since it is a gift.

I am finding that I have this problem with socks, that the easy parts do not go on for long enough, and I don't have enough needles to pull a Harlot and just cast on a new pair whenever I get to a part that is too hard for the moment's knitting. I am also considering going down a needle size for my socks. Right now I use a US 2, and while I do get guage - my socks are too big. I don't think I can cast on fewer stitches because then it won't go around my leg, so I am thinking that I can switch down a needle size and get a tighter fabric that will hold on to my foot a little better. I am a little annoyed that it has taken me three pairs of socks to come up with this solution.

I'm also annoyed with my color choices in socks to date. For one thing, my poetic soul is a complete sucker for a whimsical name/concept. I am a sucker for Yarn Market's impressionist yarns, for example. Only as I was two thirds of the way through my second Starry Night sock did I actually think to myself, "You know, I hate this yellow, and I always thought that was a pretty unattractive painting." The first pair of socks I made, with the Irises yarn, I refer to as "my clown barf socks."

The current pair in the Snowscapes yarn I actually like pretty well, but next up I have a skein of Casbah in Peacock and I am already wondering what on earth I was thinking (actually, I know what I was thinking, which was that the color I wanted was sold out and I picked another on the spur of the moment). I like most of the colors, but the gold part just freaks me right out. I'm planning on using Pink Lemon's Caledonian Mist pattern, because I think the little scallopy things could pass for the eyes on peacock feathers. Clearly, I need to stop making my pattern & yarn selections based on the whole poetic soul thing, and start opening my freaking eyes.

Now, I might be wrong, and once I get the Casbah knit up, I might really like it. But, either way - I'm going to try to be a little more careful in my color choices from now on, so that I do not feel like I am displaying my bad taste every time I knit a sock in public!

Chugging along

I made huge progress on Scheherazade this weekend. I finished chart 3 and got through half of chart 4. I'm actually a little paranoid, because I haven't been giving my whole attention. I've found that I can read an e-book and work on the shawl at the same time. I did have one mess-up yesterday where I accidentally shifted the pattern ten stitches to one side - oops - but I caught it on the next row and tinked back to fix it. I have stitch markers set at every 10 stitches, and there is always at least one group of 10 that is nothing but knitting straight across, and of course all the wrong side rows are all purl. I am making sure to keep lifelines, though, just in case.

Chart 4 is the last chart with paisleys, and I am ready for a break from those. I don't know why they should bother me so much - it is sequences of decreases and yarnovers like everything else. I think it is just looking at the chart. I am tired of looking at paisleys. Charts 2, 3, and 4 (3 and 4 especially) look remarkably similar and it's hard to feel like I'm making progress. The next chart has diamonds. Diamonds will be different.

I am mindful that I will have to face this neverending stretch of paisleys one more time, but I hope I will have had enough of a break to be up for the challenge.

Due to an internet outage at work, I had to save this post and now I can add pictures.



I did, to my sorrow, find I had made a mistake while cruising along in my paisley madness. This is what a right-facing paisley is supposed to look like:



But, there is a problem with this one:



There is a break in the column of yarnovers on the left curve. I knit right past where I was supposed to decrease and yarnover on the left side, despite having gotten the right side yarnover in the correct space. I am a fool.

It's not too late to fix it. I could tink back, or drop a few stitches. But, I don't think I'm going to do that. Tinking back is right out. I'm not doing it. I'm really tempted to drop the stitches, but the thing is I'm not sure I could get it back and then I really would go bonkers. This is a tiny mistake when viewed in the context of the whole stole. The SO stared and stared at it when I told him there was something wrong with it but only after several incorrect guesses, a good look at the correct one, and another incorrect guess or two, did he finally hit on the correct answer. It will, of course be a little more obvious when blocked, but only another knitter would look close enough to notice, and I have a contingency plan should that happen. I will explain that this was my first shawl and that I was both overconfident, having made it so far, and seeing paisleys in my sleep, and that, after all, one mistake is not so bad and truly, in the end, I'm happy with it. Then I will wait until she is not looking, knock her over the head and hide the body somewhere clever.

I went to Capital Yarns yesterday, which I hadn't been to since they overhauled and updated their stock. I did feel like there was kind of a lot of novelty yarn, but they had some treasures too - Alpaca with a Twist and Baby Ull, for starters. Some nice mohair boucle and some great little gadgets. And I can't really complain too much about the novelty yarn, since that is what I was there to buy.

The SO's mom is an avid crafter but not really a knitter, but she stopped by a LYS near where she works out of curiosity. She bought me a Tilli Thomas bag kit, but not Tilli Thomas yarns to go with it - which is fine, I really like what she got, she bought me some Berroco Glace in a really nice color, and something called Souffle - but the problem is, she didn't get me enough! When I looked at the yarn requirements, I am way short. Unfortunately, I went to CY on a whim and didn't actually go home and check what I was short for. I was thinking I only needed another skein of Knit One Crochet too Souffle, and while I didn't find exactly the same thing, I found something that I thought would work just as well. Unforutnately I got home and found I was short of BOTH yarns - there was even less Glace than Souffle! Curses, foiled again!

The best solution would be to go back to the LYS that she went to and see if they have more of what I have (preferably in the same dye lot but in a purse I'm not picky - if they are different, it will just be a little more artistic - but I am not sure I remember what store it was (okay, some google detective work and I'm pretty sure it was Aylan's Woolgatherers). Maybe I can call them and see if they have more in stock. I can also go back and exchange it, I think, although that particular shop is a little difficult for me to get to. Ah well - I'll think of something.

It's been incredibly hot and I've had the airconditioner running in the house (it is too hot to go without, believe me - over 100 degrees some days) and while the rest of me was crazy hot, my feet kept getting cold. My starry night socks solved the problem. Knitting FTW! Speaking of socks, I finished the plain one that I started on the way to Maryland Sheep and Wool:



I'm sure I must have mentioned that as I finished it while I was on vacation, and the mate is now past the cuff and into the leg. Alone and bored in a hotel room while on travel for work, I decided to do an eye of partridge heel, just because I've never done one.



I'm delighted, it looks so nifty. I appologize for the crappy photos in this post. I don't know what my problem was, except maybe that I was rushing and I was using my 50 mm which really just isn't the best choice for these kinds of things. I had to stand on my tiptoes to get even as much of the stole in the photo as I got. I was disappointed, I'd hoped to show all of what I have so far. Oh well - next time I will take more time and do it properly.

Bad Blogger

Argh!! Twice now I have had something non-knitting craft to blog about, and I have failed utterly, becuase I did not have time to take a picture of the result. I made two cards in the past two weeks, one for my friend who was having a baby shower, and one for another church member who had a wedding shower.

For the baby card, I used:

--a pre-made window card from Michael's, the kind that is made for you to slide a picture into, in white, used vertically (with the fold on the left side)
--olive green staz-on ink (it didn't have to be green, that's just what I had in that color)
--Judikins Color Duster
--EK Success water-based brush pens - I don't think they're made anymore
--Stampin' UP stamp from a set called Summer by the Sea (the same one used in the first card on this tutorial, which you totally should go read
--Stamping UP stamp from a set that I think is called "Blessings" - the quote is "It's the little things that make life Big."
--Dye-based black ink
--colored pencils

I tapped the color duster in the staz-on and swirled it around the outside of the frame. I originally planned to stamp the girl and the sentiment on a separate piece of cardstock and slide it in, but I'm not sure whether I did that in the end or not. I used the EK Success pens to ink the stamp of the girl, and then filled it in with colored pencils. I stamped the sentiment in black above her head. I think I used another stamp on the inside of it but I have now totally forgotten what it was.

For the wedding shower stamp, I used:

--A butterfly stamp that I got at Angela's Happy Stamper
--Black dye-based ink
--Another stamp from the Blessings Set, that said something to the effect of "May the God of Love be your eternal partner in your new life together,"
--A Stampin' Up stamp that is the word "love" in very elongated script
--A white pre-made Michael's card (I was in a hurry), used vertically (with the fold on the left side)

I stamped the butterfly in black ink from the left bottom corner to the right top corner, stamping multiple times before reinking so that I had layered butterflies the whole way up, like a flight. I stamped the elongated "love" just above them, following the diagonal of the butterflies. I stamped the sentiment on a white square, which I then matted on a light pink square, which was the only colored piece of the entire card. I put the matted sentiment in the lower right hand corner of the card. Very minimalist, kind of oriental looking to me. I have to admit, though, I totally ripped the idea off one of the cards we did in the Beginning Stamping class at Angela's, with the diagonal butterfly thing. The class card had the butterflies across the diagonal, and then one stamped onto white and matted, and mounted on top of the diagonal butterflies. I loved that card so much I bought the stamp, even though it wasn't in stock and I had to wait months for it. In the end, I did get it. Mwaha. Love it.

In other news, I am up to row 91 on chart 2! (Chart 2 goes from row 51 to row 99). I nearly had a complete meltdown Saturday evening, because while picking back something to see if I had in fact made a mistake, I dropped SEVERAL stitches at the end of the row, in an area full of yarnovers and decreases. I nearly had a heart attack. I put in a lifeline at the beginning of Chart 2, but I really didn't want to lose that much work. I started to try and run another lifeline higher up, but I had a really hard time picking the stitches out. I finally gave up on that and, after much deliberation, I got out a pillow, pinned to the two edge stitches out of the way, and took my needle out of the next six stitches, which covered everything I had dropped. I found the dropped stitches and stabbed through them with blocking pins to keep them from falling any further, until I had a chance to assess the damage. Then I picked a row below them where everything was intact and I could clearly identify each stitch, and stabbed blocking pins through those stitches. Then I took the top set of pins out and carefully pulled out each strand until I had the pinned stitches, and a bunch of loose strands above them. I used a crochet hook to work the next row, unpinning and repinning each stitch as I went across, one at a time. Working this way, I was able to get back up to where I had been, and put the correct number of stitches back on the needle. Only time will tell how I did, but it is looking pretty good so far. I am rediculously pleased with myself.

Payoff

The Pakucho wrapper and cap were showered on the Mom-to-be this past Sunday. Everyone was very impressed and said I was so talented. I kept protesting that all I did was follow directions...but no one listened. I think you have to try knitting before you realize how easy it really is. The hardest part is the counting.

I've done 10 rows on chart two of Scheherazade (note to self - next time, pick a project that is easier to spell). Each chart is 50 rows so...it's feeling like kind of slow progress, but somehow it is still going much faster than I expected it to. It looks very, very cool, so I forgive it for the slow.

I am, however, a little restless for an easy project. I finished my first plain stockinette sock, except for grafting the toe, which I have to do before I can start the second one, because I need the needles. I have two sets of sock needles (I think...I might have ordered another pair of size 2's but if so they must be hidden in a drawer somewhere). The second pair is tied up in the neverending BBS. I am doing the gusset decreases on those and I am very frustrated because somehow I have ended up with four more stitches on one side than the other. One or two I could understand, but four is kind of a lot. I'm pondering what to do about it, but I think I will continue decreasing both sides evenly. Hopefully it won't be too big of a disaster. I'm still not sure how it happened, though, unless I just completely fuzzed on decreasing on one side. FOUR TIMES. Wierd.

The chocolate waffle scarf may be doomed. Even the thought of working on it makes me want to weep. I will never, ever do another giant seed stitch project again. Actually, that is probably not true, and it is probably not the seed stitch that bothers me. It is the stripes. I hereby declare a neverending loathing of stripes. Too many ends, and my anal retentive nature is freaking me out about counting how many rows are in the stripes, no matter how much I try not to care. It is very annoying and I know that this same nature is going to make me want to make the ends of the scarf match, and - sob. I don't even want to think about it.

I'm thinking about going ahead and casting on for a Water Turtles Shawl from Wrapped in Comfort. I still have two skeins of Casbah in Mineral that I bought at the same time as the Earth skeins. I had intended at the time (not realizing how utterly delusional I was) to make two shawls for the two missionaries, but it actually worked out for the best that I only got the one done. Anyway, the Water Turtles shawl is a two row repeat so that would be both fun and relatively simple, once I got past the yoke. I like knitting socks, but changing between needles kind of frustrates me sometimes. I like having a project long enough that you don't have to break the rhythm for a while. But, I'm not sure what I would do with it - I'm not sure whether I'd wear it or if there is someone else it would be good to give it to.

Mm, we'll see...

There and back again...and again...

So...if anyone was actually reading this blog when I said I was taking a laceweight project, my first genuine laceweight project, in fact, in the car to be my travel knitting...shame on you for not speaking up.

Issue 1: I am an idiot. 45+45 does NOT equal 99. I did the whole cast-on, a wrong side row, and got most of the way through row one before I realized that I was short. I got out the dental floss, put a lifeline through my cast-on row, pulled out the needles and ripped back to the cast on. I put all those stitches back on my needles, added nine, and made a mental note to review grade school math.

Issue 2: Using the sticki clip to put the chart on the dashboard and using a post-it note to mark my place, failed miserably. MISERABLY. OMG SO HARD.

Issue 3: Bumps. Bump, bump, bump. I had made it up through row 5 or so when I lost a stitch unnoticed, and rapidly concluded that I could not figure out how to get it back up, and since this shawl is knit from the center outward I feared it would be a rather prominent issue. I don't think I ripped out the whole thing, but I do think I ripped back to row, like, 2. sigh.

That was all on the trip down. I picked it back up for the 4 hr drive to Ashville and the Biltmore Estate (where I gleefully pointed out a knitting basket to my companions as we toured the maid's 'employee lounge') later in the week, this time with my KnitPicks Chart Keeper in my lap, using the long magnet to mark my row and the short ones to mark off blocks of 10 stitches at a time, which worked much, much better. Between the trip there and back and then the trip back home I almost finished chart 1. Just two rows to go!

Which brings us to last night AND...

Issue 4: I thought I remembered that I had stopped on row 47. but, I actually stopped at the end of row 47. Except, I was missing some stitches, so I undid the last 15 and redid them and that fixed it but...something was still wrong. gradually it dawned on me that when I did row 45, I did the last 15 stitches of row 47 instead of 45. AUGH. After some agony and indecision, I unpicked all of rows 47 and 46, and the last 15 stitches of 45 (after carefully checking to insure that I did, in fact, not screw up prior to those last 15 stitches), and then I redid the rest of row 45 and then I went to bed. I console myself with the fact that the yarn is still pretty and I am almost done with chart 1 (though to give you an idea of what I thought in my insanity was possible...I had prepared charts 1-4. you know. just in case).



Now that that trauma is over, check out my souvenir yarn:



Lacey Lamb by Jade Sapphire. So soft. I struggled hard to get that stupid color right and I think it is at least close. However the ball band covers the spot on the label that has the color marking so I can't tell you what it is.

I also got most of the sock I started at Sheep & Wool finished; it needs only a few more rows of toe, and I got the heel flap knitted on my SFS sock, but then I couldn't figure out how to turn the heel. I remember I used the directions in Sensational Knitted Socks last time because I got confused, but I didn't bring the book with me, so it had to wait until I got home.

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.