I was going to wait until I had pictures, but the way the week is going, things are not looking promising, so I'm posting anyway.
I frogged the mystery stole back to the first beaded row. I ran a lifeline through the 2nd setup row, which is beaded at ever other stitch, and then I pulled the whole thing out. I put the row back on my needles and picked it back, removing that last set of beads (that part was painful). I'd finally been to 7beads.com and ordered the Montana luster beads that I should have ordered when my instinct told me to way back when. This time instead of placing the beads on the stitch right after it was knit, I am placing the beads before I purl the stitch on the following wrong side row. I am, overall, a much happier knitter. I greatly prefer the look of the beads, the fabric is much more even and neat, and I am knitting along more speedily and peacefully than before. The stop and start process of putting the beads on was driving me crazy before, but somehow it is much more palatable to stop and do them on a wrong side row full of plain purling, than it was to try and do it on a lace row. I felt a little nagging guilt because the designer has said repeatedly that she feels the fabric looks better if you place the bead as you knit the stitch so that the stitch can stretch to accomodate that bead - but either this, or something about the process of stopping to put on the bead, just made the fabric around the bead look loosey goosey and awful. Just goes to show, I guess, that knitting is always subject to preference and personal style. Clue 2 has been released and I think it is lovely, so I'm looking forward to it. The difference in how I feel about the project really is amazing, and I have to say...
I'm glad I ripped it out. I'm glad I started over. I'm glad I did it my way.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
It's a mystery
MS4 is not going well for me. This is not the fault of the designer at all, it's totally a me thing. I'm not feeling happy with my choices, or my work.
I was kind of doubting myself already after a conversation with the SO's mom on Thursday, and then I looked at some pictures on Ravelry of people who had completed clue one (IN ONE DAY - I mean, it was only 30 rows, but still - all those freaking beads) and there was one in yellow with sort of topaz beads that was absolutely beautiful and I started to have a freakout over whether my bead choice was really a good idea. Most people seems to be doing tone on tone from the pictures I've seen. My yarn is blue and my beads are white (technically, 'old ivory,' but whatever, they're white), and I was just worried. I did swatch, but the beads were spread out across my swatch, not grouped together the way they are on the real thing, and I'm thinking that all that white so close to each other is a little overpowering.
I was maybe four or five rows into it - maybe six or eight if you count the cast on and setup rows. I thought about ripping back and using the gold-lined blue beads I had, but they just wouldn't show up hardly at all, and the SO resisted all my attempts to get him to go out in the rain with me to a bead store I found in Arlington (wuss - it was just a freaking tropical storm) to look at other bead options. He argued that we would be out that direction anyway on Sunday and I made him promise to take me if I was still unhappy with the beads on Sunday (yes, I know, I could've gone myself, but I had a feeling I would need somebody who would eventually get tired and go JUST PICK SOMETHING WOMAN or else I would be meebling around the store all day).
I also had problems with the yarn. I've had several problems with it tangling in the ball. I've had that happen before with yarn that I've wound, but I've never had an issue before with yarn wound at the store. It is really, really annoying me.
Then, I've had problems working with it on the needles. Normally with laceweight yarn (and silk yarn) I use wooden needles, but moving the stitches on the needle, especially the beaded stitches, was torture. I finally got a clue and switched to metal needles and the relief was immediate - stuff actually moves normally up and down. It's odd for silk to be this grippy, but maybe it is because Tussah silk?
Anyway, so that made it better, but the beading process also started getting to me a little. I started out using a very tiny crochet hook, but it's so tiny I can't catch both plies of the yarn with it, so I was snagging the heck out of my yarn. When we went out to dinner I bought some Oral B superfloss and tried the superfloss method. That is working better, but it's still a very tedius process. Worse, the stitches around the beaded area look AWFUL. It's so depressing. It's not the beaded stitches themselves that are the problem, but the column of stitches to the left of any beads is really wide and ladder-like. It's tempting to frog the whole thing and start over, but then I would have to rebead all that stuff, and I think I would go crazy.
Fortunately, the volume of beads on this chart suggests that the beading will taper off somewhat after the second clue. This makes sense as beading on the ends gives some weight to the piece to help it drape properly, while beading in the middle should be light so as not to make the piece droop where it isn't supposed to. So I'll grit my teeth and power through and hope the bad-looking stitches will tighten up in blocking. They should - I'm mostly annoyed because I can't figureout what I'm doing that's making them look so loosey goosey. I'm eyeing the beads with suspicion...maybe the way they strangle the stitches makes those stitches take up less yarn, so the slack ends up in the neighboring stitches? No telling.
After discussing it with the SO last night (he did his best to understand and be helpful, but his approaches are largely to conservative for my impulsive self), I have decided to finish the first clue. Then I am going to swatch again, but this time, I'm going to swatch one of the beaded diamonds, with different beads. I have, since the first, regretted not ordering a particular set of beads that my imagination has convinced me would have been perfect, so I finally sucked it up and ordered them and a couple of other possibilities. Hopefully, they will arrive by the time I finish this clue. If I like the swatch better, better enough to make it worth it, I will go ahead and knit clue one that way. If I still like it, I will frog the first attempt and reknit it.
I hope to finish the clue tonight. I have activities for the rest of the week, so I should be occupied until the new beads come.
I was kind of doubting myself already after a conversation with the SO's mom on Thursday, and then I looked at some pictures on Ravelry of people who had completed clue one (IN ONE DAY - I mean, it was only 30 rows, but still - all those freaking beads) and there was one in yellow with sort of topaz beads that was absolutely beautiful and I started to have a freakout over whether my bead choice was really a good idea. Most people seems to be doing tone on tone from the pictures I've seen. My yarn is blue and my beads are white (technically, 'old ivory,' but whatever, they're white), and I was just worried. I did swatch, but the beads were spread out across my swatch, not grouped together the way they are on the real thing, and I'm thinking that all that white so close to each other is a little overpowering.
I was maybe four or five rows into it - maybe six or eight if you count the cast on and setup rows. I thought about ripping back and using the gold-lined blue beads I had, but they just wouldn't show up hardly at all, and the SO resisted all my attempts to get him to go out in the rain with me to a bead store I found in Arlington (wuss - it was just a freaking tropical storm) to look at other bead options. He argued that we would be out that direction anyway on Sunday and I made him promise to take me if I was still unhappy with the beads on Sunday (yes, I know, I could've gone myself, but I had a feeling I would need somebody who would eventually get tired and go JUST PICK SOMETHING WOMAN or else I would be meebling around the store all day).
I also had problems with the yarn. I've had several problems with it tangling in the ball. I've had that happen before with yarn that I've wound, but I've never had an issue before with yarn wound at the store. It is really, really annoying me.
Then, I've had problems working with it on the needles. Normally with laceweight yarn (and silk yarn) I use wooden needles, but moving the stitches on the needle, especially the beaded stitches, was torture. I finally got a clue and switched to metal needles and the relief was immediate - stuff actually moves normally up and down. It's odd for silk to be this grippy, but maybe it is because Tussah silk?
Anyway, so that made it better, but the beading process also started getting to me a little. I started out using a very tiny crochet hook, but it's so tiny I can't catch both plies of the yarn with it, so I was snagging the heck out of my yarn. When we went out to dinner I bought some Oral B superfloss and tried the superfloss method. That is working better, but it's still a very tedius process. Worse, the stitches around the beaded area look AWFUL. It's so depressing. It's not the beaded stitches themselves that are the problem, but the column of stitches to the left of any beads is really wide and ladder-like. It's tempting to frog the whole thing and start over, but then I would have to rebead all that stuff, and I think I would go crazy.
Fortunately, the volume of beads on this chart suggests that the beading will taper off somewhat after the second clue. This makes sense as beading on the ends gives some weight to the piece to help it drape properly, while beading in the middle should be light so as not to make the piece droop where it isn't supposed to. So I'll grit my teeth and power through and hope the bad-looking stitches will tighten up in blocking. They should - I'm mostly annoyed because I can't figureout what I'm doing that's making them look so loosey goosey. I'm eyeing the beads with suspicion...maybe the way they strangle the stitches makes those stitches take up less yarn, so the slack ends up in the neighboring stitches? No telling.
After discussing it with the SO last night (he did his best to understand and be helpful, but his approaches are largely to conservative for my impulsive self), I have decided to finish the first clue. Then I am going to swatch again, but this time, I'm going to swatch one of the beaded diamonds, with different beads. I have, since the first, regretted not ordering a particular set of beads that my imagination has convinced me would have been perfect, so I finally sucked it up and ordered them and a couple of other possibilities. Hopefully, they will arrive by the time I finish this clue. If I like the swatch better, better enough to make it worth it, I will go ahead and knit clue one that way. If I still like it, I will frog the first attempt and reknit it.
I hope to finish the clue tonight. I have activities for the rest of the week, so I should be occupied until the new beads come.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Some and none
I made a fair bit of progress over the weekend but I haven't gotten much done since then. I haven't been sleeping well so my evenings have been spent staring zombie-like at nothing. Moving the needles is too much work - let alone following a chart or something like that.
I finished the tomato socks and packed them off to their recipient. I didn't wash them, I probably should have - but in the end I decided to let her try them on first. If they fit as they are, then she can wash them in cold water so they don't shrink too much. If they are a bit too big, she can wash them in hot water and shrink them up a bit. They really weren't that much work so I'm not really sure why I am so freaked about whether they fit or not. I haven't heard a word since I sent them home with the recipient's hubby to be gifted...kinda makes me nervous but we usually see them on Thursdays so here's hoping I will find out today. I just want to KNOW OMG.
I've worked some on Whispering Pines. Last night I started a new swatch for the mystery stole. I swatched previously on 4s and the fabric was more open than I prefered. This was actually a little odd for me - I'm a tight knitter so normally I end up starting with a needle size larger than the one recommended. I only got through one repeat, though, before I was just tired to do anymore. I think I like the 3 better, but we'll see when it's blocked. I did block the original swatch pretty severely, so it may be that I could just...not do that.
I am debating over knitting both sides of the stole at once. I'm not really keen on knitting them both at the same time (that is, doing one row of one and the same row of the other on one long needle), but I was thinking before, when I was using 4s, that I could work one side, cap the cable, and work the other side on a seperate cable. I would effectively be working each section twice in a row. Don't ask me why this is preferable to just doing the second side at the end, but somehow I'm sure it would be.
However, 4 is the smallest size of interchangeable needle put out by knitpicks. If I use the 3's, I'd have to buy another needle.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm also struggling with a last-minute bead substitution. One of the beads I ordered, the Montana matte, was the right blue but it didn't show up. I'm wondering if the Montana lustre ones would be the right blue but show up a little better. I thought I was happy with the old ivory beads but I kind of hate that I have not tried the blue ones. Again - decisions, decisions. If I order now they will not get here by tomorrow and tomorrow is when the first clue comes out so I would have to wait to cast on...I'm not sure if I can do that. Woe!
I'm also really, really tempted to buy one of Beadwrangler's beading kits. Not the bead crochet ones, but one of the actual beading kits, like maybe the floral thing or the vine wave kit. I'm trying really hard to be good, though, finances are really tight so I can't get too carried away.
The embossed stitch socks are going along nicely. One of the great things about this stitch pattern is that it's easy to count repeats, so I am doing a much better job at matching length on this sock than on previous socks. I counted 9 diamonds before the heel, and then I plan to count diamonds on the foot too so the socks will be even. I'm keeping an eye on my guage and it looks like my tension is the same on both socks. I had a mishap with the tomato socks, in that I ended up, again, with one longer than the other. I didn't realize it until I had kitchenered the toe and rather than try to pick it out - I just cut it off. The end of the toe, that is. It was kind of scary, but it worked. I picked out all the cut pieces until I got to the end of the yarn, frogged back to the beginning of the toe decreases, joined the skein back, added a few more plain rounds, and then re-kitchenered the toe.
I forgot to take a picture, either of the cut-and-frog or of the finished socks. I had stayed up kind of late by that time and I just didn't think of it.
Football season is picking up again so there will be much knitting while the SO watches sweaty men crash into each other. I'm at the heel of the embossed diamonds sock and I hope to get some progress made during the game tonight...if I can stay awake.
I finished the tomato socks and packed them off to their recipient. I didn't wash them, I probably should have - but in the end I decided to let her try them on first. If they fit as they are, then she can wash them in cold water so they don't shrink too much. If they are a bit too big, she can wash them in hot water and shrink them up a bit. They really weren't that much work so I'm not really sure why I am so freaked about whether they fit or not. I haven't heard a word since I sent them home with the recipient's hubby to be gifted...kinda makes me nervous but we usually see them on Thursdays so here's hoping I will find out today. I just want to KNOW OMG.
I've worked some on Whispering Pines. Last night I started a new swatch for the mystery stole. I swatched previously on 4s and the fabric was more open than I prefered. This was actually a little odd for me - I'm a tight knitter so normally I end up starting with a needle size larger than the one recommended. I only got through one repeat, though, before I was just tired to do anymore. I think I like the 3 better, but we'll see when it's blocked. I did block the original swatch pretty severely, so it may be that I could just...not do that.
I am debating over knitting both sides of the stole at once. I'm not really keen on knitting them both at the same time (that is, doing one row of one and the same row of the other on one long needle), but I was thinking before, when I was using 4s, that I could work one side, cap the cable, and work the other side on a seperate cable. I would effectively be working each section twice in a row. Don't ask me why this is preferable to just doing the second side at the end, but somehow I'm sure it would be.
However, 4 is the smallest size of interchangeable needle put out by knitpicks. If I use the 3's, I'd have to buy another needle.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm also struggling with a last-minute bead substitution. One of the beads I ordered, the Montana matte, was the right blue but it didn't show up. I'm wondering if the Montana lustre ones would be the right blue but show up a little better. I thought I was happy with the old ivory beads but I kind of hate that I have not tried the blue ones. Again - decisions, decisions. If I order now they will not get here by tomorrow and tomorrow is when the first clue comes out so I would have to wait to cast on...I'm not sure if I can do that. Woe!
I'm also really, really tempted to buy one of Beadwrangler's beading kits. Not the bead crochet ones, but one of the actual beading kits, like maybe the floral thing or the vine wave kit. I'm trying really hard to be good, though, finances are really tight so I can't get too carried away.
The embossed stitch socks are going along nicely. One of the great things about this stitch pattern is that it's easy to count repeats, so I am doing a much better job at matching length on this sock than on previous socks. I counted 9 diamonds before the heel, and then I plan to count diamonds on the foot too so the socks will be even. I'm keeping an eye on my guage and it looks like my tension is the same on both socks. I had a mishap with the tomato socks, in that I ended up, again, with one longer than the other. I didn't realize it until I had kitchenered the toe and rather than try to pick it out - I just cut it off. The end of the toe, that is. It was kind of scary, but it worked. I picked out all the cut pieces until I got to the end of the yarn, frogged back to the beginning of the toe decreases, joined the skein back, added a few more plain rounds, and then re-kitchenered the toe.
I forgot to take a picture, either of the cut-and-frog or of the finished socks. I had stayed up kind of late by that time and I just didn't think of it.
Football season is picking up again so there will be much knitting while the SO watches sweaty men crash into each other. I'm at the heel of the embossed diamonds sock and I hope to get some progress made during the game tonight...if I can stay awake.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
You might be a lace knitter if...
I think...I'm a lace knitter. I'm addicted. I ignore my other projects and make a beeline straight for the lace whenever I can. I knit on socks when I can't knit lace. I'm developing an aversion to needles larger than size 4. :oP
I'm thinking about getting some of the KnitPicks Harmony tips in the larger sizes. I've gotten used to using them for lace and I find when I go back to the metal ones that they kind of hurt now. This is both puzzling and annoying, since I have 2 sets of metal tips in just about every size and that's kind of a significant investment to just toss in a drawer and ignore. I'm hoping it's just that I'm trying to knit something in the round that is really two small for one circ. Maybe if I put it on two it won't be such a pain.
Anyway, I've finished Chart B and moved on to Chart C on the whispering pines shawl. I'm a little depressed because I am going to need more stitch markers, so I think I'm going to have to switch back to my rubber ring markers. This is depressing because I really love my soft look markers from Hide and Sheep. It pleases my poetic soul that the ones I'm using on this shawl are snowflake obsidian. I have two sets for a total of 12 markers, but I would kind of need a few dozen for the next sections where chart areas repeat like 16 times on each side. Sigh.
I really, really want to buy some for the mystery shawl because...I could get blue ones to match. I'm such a loser. I do have a blue row counting bracelet and I would love to have matching stitch markers for it, and the fact that said markers would also match the color of my yarn is really making the temptation great. Add to that the fact that the markers are really fairly inexpensive and it's hard to resist. But, resist I must - I don't get paid for another week. -_-
I'm thinking about getting some of the KnitPicks Harmony tips in the larger sizes. I've gotten used to using them for lace and I find when I go back to the metal ones that they kind of hurt now. This is both puzzling and annoying, since I have 2 sets of metal tips in just about every size and that's kind of a significant investment to just toss in a drawer and ignore. I'm hoping it's just that I'm trying to knit something in the round that is really two small for one circ. Maybe if I put it on two it won't be such a pain.
Anyway, I've finished Chart B and moved on to Chart C on the whispering pines shawl. I'm a little depressed because I am going to need more stitch markers, so I think I'm going to have to switch back to my rubber ring markers. This is depressing because I really love my soft look markers from Hide and Sheep. It pleases my poetic soul that the ones I'm using on this shawl are snowflake obsidian. I have two sets for a total of 12 markers, but I would kind of need a few dozen for the next sections where chart areas repeat like 16 times on each side. Sigh.
I really, really want to buy some for the mystery shawl because...I could get blue ones to match. I'm such a loser. I do have a blue row counting bracelet and I would love to have matching stitch markers for it, and the fact that said markers would also match the color of my yarn is really making the temptation great. Add to that the fact that the markers are really fairly inexpensive and it's hard to resist. But, resist I must - I don't get paid for another week. -_-
Monday, August 18, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Snag
So I've been thinking that I would like to give the SO's mom a shawl pin with the shawl I am knitting...but I'll be darned if I can find a snowflake shawl pin anywhere! I did find one, but at $50 it definitely exceeded my budget, and I didn't even really like it that much.
Maybe I just need to be patient and hope that one will be easier to find later in the year. But, just in case, I've been looking into making one. I found a pendant charm that I liked at Artbeads and kilt and brooch pins at Fire Mountain Gems. I THINK I can do it for somewhere in the realm of $25, depending, as always, on how carried away I get.
My paycheck for the month is already spent so I am definitely in a holding pattern for now, but I'm definitely keeping the option in mind.
Maybe I just need to be patient and hope that one will be easier to find later in the year. But, just in case, I've been looking into making one. I found a pendant charm that I liked at Artbeads and kilt and brooch pins at Fire Mountain Gems. I THINK I can do it for somewhere in the realm of $25, depending, as always, on how carried away I get.
My paycheck for the month is already spent so I am definitely in a holding pattern for now, but I'm definitely keeping the option in mind.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Overdoing it
My in-progress projects have ballooned. So, here's what I'm working on at the moment:
Whispering Pines
Embossed Stitch Sock
It's actually considerably larger than that, now, I've turned the heel and everything, and I thought I had a newer picture, but apparently not. Anyway, that's enough to get the idea, although I wish I could show off the stripes on the heel.
I needed something plain for Olympic knitting, so I cast on a pair of plain socks for the SO's mom, who has been hinting rather strongly that she would like some.
The SO is highly amused because I keep calling it the Tomato Sock. That's KnitPicks Essential in Tuscany Multi, but come on - tell me it doesn't scream TOMATO at you. This sock is also considerably longer than it was when this picture was taken, because I took the picture right at the start of last night's primetime Olympics coverage, and knitted all the way through. (well, not all the way, I finally moved upstairs at 11:30. I was brushing my teeth when the men out-touched France in the medley relay and I nearly spit all over the TV in my excitement)
I did not neglect my spinning.
...But I didn't spin any of that this weekend. That's what I've been spinning up until now. I went to WYIF on Sunday and picked up a couple of little 2 oz bags of fiber for fun. I was duly cautioned that the fibers I had chosen were maybe not the best for beginners, but I chose not to care.
Because it was pretty. And because I am impatient, I bought a spindle so I could play with it right away.
I couldn't get the penny in there, it was wound too tight.
Still waiting for my MS4 yarn to arrive, so that I can decide which of my beads to use:
I also have another set of soldier socks on the needles but they were in the car when I did the photo shoot, so we will have to leave that to the imagination.
Whispering Pines
Embossed Stitch Sock
It's actually considerably larger than that, now, I've turned the heel and everything, and I thought I had a newer picture, but apparently not. Anyway, that's enough to get the idea, although I wish I could show off the stripes on the heel.
I needed something plain for Olympic knitting, so I cast on a pair of plain socks for the SO's mom, who has been hinting rather strongly that she would like some.
The SO is highly amused because I keep calling it the Tomato Sock. That's KnitPicks Essential in Tuscany Multi, but come on - tell me it doesn't scream TOMATO at you. This sock is also considerably longer than it was when this picture was taken, because I took the picture right at the start of last night's primetime Olympics coverage, and knitted all the way through. (well, not all the way, I finally moved upstairs at 11:30. I was brushing my teeth when the men out-touched France in the medley relay and I nearly spit all over the TV in my excitement)
I did not neglect my spinning.
...But I didn't spin any of that this weekend. That's what I've been spinning up until now. I went to WYIF on Sunday and picked up a couple of little 2 oz bags of fiber for fun. I was duly cautioned that the fibers I had chosen were maybe not the best for beginners, but I chose not to care.
Because it was pretty. And because I am impatient, I bought a spindle so I could play with it right away.
I couldn't get the penny in there, it was wound too tight.
Still waiting for my MS4 yarn to arrive, so that I can decide which of my beads to use:
I also have another set of soldier socks on the needles but they were in the car when I did the photo shoot, so we will have to leave that to the imagination.
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