Which way is up?

I met Sbodd for a late dinner, and then went home and broke my knitting ban on the week (earlier I had decided not to knit that week because I needed to be packing for the move). Not much...just a little bit of work on the pedicure socks. Listening to all the knitting podcasts made me want to knit and I needed to work out the frustration of the day a little bit, so I went ahead and did a few rounds. Made it through the ribbing and started on the stockinette stitch. I did something wierd at some point near the join so there is a little bit of a hole on what will be the back of the sock, but it's not a big deal, I guess. It's my first pair of socks anyway, I do not expect them to be perfect.

One problem I have had twice now while knitting in the round is that I kind of expect the knitting to grow away from me, and it actually grows towards me - that is, the finished part is between me and the needles, and I expect it to be on the other side. So if I'm not careful, I end up knitting inside out, which is not a good thing. :oP I suppose it might have something to do with the way I knit, but I have no way of knowing. In any case, I haven't been able to figure out a different way of doing it. Technically it is really growing down, anyway, it only looks like it is growing toward me because I have the needles tilted to work. But if you actually hold the needles parallel to the ground, it is growing down. Or up, depending on how you look at it - this pattern starts at the top of the sock and knits to the toe (except that there is no toe, because it's a pedicure sock), so when I'm holding it the sock is essentially upside down and I add length to the top of it.

Knitting Podcasts

I listened to a podcast this morning for the very first time. It was the Knit Picks podcast and it was pretty awesome. I kind of expected at least a few plugs for some Knit Picks yarn, but not a one to be found. I think there may have been a really subtle plug or two in there, but it was a naturally flowing part of the discussion, not an ad campaign.

There was a kind of 'my life as a knitter' type thing from a Knit Picks staff member (I think looking at the web site that it was Kim Cameron), and then Kelley Petkun, the owner of Knit Picks, talked about ribbing, its characteristics and uses, and why it is important to use ribbing in certain places on garments, and...it sounds really boring (or dirty, depending on who's reading, I guess) when I write it down, but it wasn't at all.

Side note - I was really confused by references to Xena throughout the podcast, and eventually I figured out it must be a pet, probably a dog, and then at the end there was a short spurt of yapping, and I thought, that's definately a small dog, not high pitched enough to be a yorkie, but it could easily be a Pom or something similar sized - and now when I went to the website to find out her name, sure enough, her avatar is her Pom - I win at bark identification! ...or I might just be obsessed with Poms eee hee Poms!)

As a side note to the side note, I often have trouble distinguishing between a decent-sized, really fluffy long-haired chiuahua and a Pom (Pom!!). :oP

Anyway, after the ribbing discussion she went on to stitch dictionaries and what they are and what to expect and not expect from one, and then she talked about her own knitting work and her plans for the week, and - the whole thing was both interesting and soothing. I can see how it would easily bore some, but I really liked it.

I have another episode that I have not listened to yet, and then I have another knitting podcast that I subscribed to that I also haven't listened to yet, so...hopefully this will be a small anchor of sanity in my crazy-nuts week.

I have banned myself from knitting for the next week at least, because there's a LOT to be done on the house. Also, I sped through a scarf for 's dad's birthday and really stressed my hand in the process. It is all knotted and angry at me. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in Charcoal and Claret on size 13 needles to make a chunky striped scarf. I started to do it in rib, but decided that it was too narrow and taking too long, so I did the first strip and last stripe in rib and the rest of it was done in garter stitch. The end product that I ended up with was actually pretty huge because - well, because of physics. Garter stitch is flat, and rib stitch is not. So the darn thing ended up being way wide - there is no way to wear it without folding it in half. I think it came out okay, though, the colors looked great and lots of people ooohed over it while I was working on it. It was a race to get it done, though, I did it in well under a week - something like three or four days - and I just barely finished it in time. I was weaving in the ends in the car. :oP Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to take a picture.

(Ooh, this is a cool idea. I'd hate to buy something like that without being able to see the insides first though, and I'm awfully fond of my GoKnit bag. Also - no money!)

I think I would like to start a knitting notebook with pictures of finished projects, notes on what supplies I used, total project cost, and other info like that. Eventually. :oP

Process person

I'm almost done with Sbodd's hat - I don't know what I was thinking when I said I needed to get it to 12 inches. :oP I think maybe I was thinking diameter instead of radius, so to speak. Anyway, at 8 inches it is plenty long enough to start the crown shaping. I did one row of that last night before I was too sleepy to go any further.

I discovered when I started packing my yarn and craft stuff that I have a good deal more yarn than I realized. When I bought the yarn for the stuff I've made for Sbodd, I couldn't make up my mind on colors so I ended up getting three different colors of Lion Brand Wool-Ease for him to choose from (he chose the Pines Print, for those who were admiring it; the other two I have are the Woodland Print and the Autumn Print). I immediately started thinking of who I could knit stuff for in order to use up those yarns. :oD Tee hee.

I have this wierd fear that I am going to end up knitting a whole bunch of shawls and scarves and hats and things that are going to languish around the house, so I am trying to stick to things that either I will actually use or that I can give away to people who will actually use them. I actually pouted a little about RJ moving to NC because I was like, I can totally knit stuff for her since Utah is cold in the winter!

There are always charities as well. I'm definately more of a process person than a finished product person. I'm proud of the finished product, and I love to see other people enjoying my finished product, but I enjoy the process and the challenge more than anything else.

Reboot

I came home from choir last night, pulled off my cast-on stitches for Sbodd's hat, and started over. I've not been happy with the cast-on edges of my work so far so I pulled out my Stitch 'n Bitch book to try a different type of cast on, to see if I could get a tighter, cleaner first row. The book calls the one I used the double cast on, but I've seen it called a long-tail cast on as well. Anyway, it was fast and it looked fantastic, I was really happy with it. Much much better looking than my previous attempts. I was pleased. It shouldn't really have mattered on this project because the bottom of the hat will roll up naturally, but it's been something that's annoyed me on all three of my completed projects, and I didn't want another sloppy edge.

However, I'm not sure what I did, but I messed up somewhere and ended up with more rows on half my needle than on the other half, which...totally doesn't make any sense. I'd have to turn around in the middle of my work to do that. So, uh, yeah, no idea. :oP

So I'm back at square one again. Also, I had intended to use size 9 needles because the project calls for size 8 and I have consistently knitted at a tighter guage than what was called for, making my projects smaller than they should have been. It's good, by the way, that I chose to knit the large size on my hat because a smaller one would definately not have fit. Anyway, I realized I was knitting on size 8 needles just before I discovered my screw-up on the rows. I don't think I actually have a set of size 9 needles, so I will have to pick them up tomorrow so I can do it right. Out of curiosity I measured my abortive attempt and sure enough, it was at least two inches short of where it needed to be.

This will be at least attempt number 3 on this hat, which irks me, but oh well...everything can't be easy. ^_^

Edit: Ah ha - it turns out that I put my needle pairs together wrong, so I was using one #8 needle and one #9 needle. I dug through my basket and found the other mismatched pair, so now I do in fact have a complete pair of #9 needles. I r dum. Or possibly blind.

And for my next trick...

I have no idea what I am going to do. I have enough cotton to make a blue hat with a green stripe. I still plan to make a hat for , but I think I am going to start over because I feel like the stuff I cast on for it looks a mess. :oP I have my shawl that I am working on also. I probably should just be good and finish the shawl and Sbodd's hat before I start anything else.

...yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. ^_^ I do have some lighter weight cotton wending its way to me for the floppy sunhat I wanted to make for Karen. That hat is knit from the top down using increases rather from the bottom up using decreases, so it should be another good learning experience. Also, the yarn was cheap, but it should be washable and wear well.

It actually looks kind of scary to me, but I do love a challenge. Afterwards. During the process there is kind of a lot of cursing and gnashing of teeth and tears, because I am too uptight to be 'ah, well, this is a first for me, it is natural that I make mistakes.' Afterwards, though, I always feel accomplished. Also, it is nice to knit summer stuff in the hot weather. It feels wierd to be making scarves and mittens during the summer. Winter will come soon enough. I don't need to rush it along. ;oP

Ta da!

I finished my hat!

I think I will keep it. It is good enough to wear, but not good enough to give away. Still, my first hat! I will totally wear it if I go to the fair this weekend.

ChicKnits bucket hat in Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria Finished 6/05/07

Onward, Knitting Soldier

The passion of the bucket hat continues...I nearly had a fit last night in frustration. I am so glad I did this project before the fingerless gloves. :oP

Anyway, despite my frustrations and mistakes, the project itself seems to LOOK fine. My biggest problem is that I keep ending up with extra stitches at the end of a round and that is not good. I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong at the join of the two needles that is resulting in an extra stitch - either I am carrying the yarn the wrong way, or something. I started being very careful and deliberate with where I carried the yarn across the join of the two needles, and that seems to have helped some. I am trying really hard to watch now and see if I can figure out where else I am messing up.

In any case, things are progressing, if not totally smoothly. I have 11 rounds to go and then I'm done. I did about six yesterday, and I charred cooked dinner so I didn't spend the whole evening on it. So, figure about two more days work, give or take. If it isn't finished by Thursday evening I will be Miffed.