She's Sneaky And She Steals Apples

Meet Ginger.

She is PISSED.

It took about a week or so for her to get over the trauma of being photographed. Hehehe.

Sadly, I'm not her Human. My friends Dan and Karen -- who are blogless, otherwise I'd link them -- are her Humans. And, let me tell you, she is HIGH maintenance! But very loveable. Hehe.

As you might've guessed, there is still no established posting/photographing method, which is why Ginger is filling in for today (she's fiber-based, just not all spun and dyed). However, I just found out that we get these 15 min. breaks at 10am and 3pm at work (a RI thing and a remnant of an old factory/mill town mentality-- but I am SO not complaining!), and I also found a GREAT spot out of the sun to photograph my knitted goodies. So...

For now, however, Ginger and my word will have to do.

The Father's Day Socks chug along on schedule. I finished the first one and promptly cast on for the second.

I also made some progress on the IK Padded Footlet. The gusset decreases are VERY slow-moving. The decreases only happen once every fourth row. Between that, the lace pattern and the finicky (Hey Kathy, new word!) back-and-forth of the sole stitches with it's slips and double-knits and dropping of the strands only to pick them up again at different spots...I don't think these will be done anytime soon.

I have to say, though, I love the tiny dpns and the Rowan 4-ply Soft. And, I even love the lace pattern. I thought I hated lace after my experiment with Rowan Kidsilk. But, that was mainly because it was impossible to knit with the Addis and I just don't think lace weight is for me. Now, a lace pattern in this gauge is WAY better and quite enjoyable.

I also managed a few rows on the Cool Cagoule cabled sleeve.

It's all bits-and-pieces knitting until I get a large block of time again (hopefully this weekend and next week).

So, stay tuned. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pics today. In the meantime, enjoy Ginger The Cutie Pie. She's sneaky and steals apples. Hehehe.

So Many Illogicals...

Drink anyone?

There were so many illogicals in this sleeve pattern, I'm not sure I can even remember them all. Aside from the obvious mistake in the increase row -- where the increases called for are not sufficient for the cables to come in row three -- the ends were completely off as well. If I'd followed the pattern as written, I would've ended up with big areas of knit  and purl blocks at each end. Since this is a basic cable/rib pattern which calls for incorporating the cables and ribs as the increases are worked, it was obvious things needed to be fixed.

There were also some other inconsistences in the pattern itself.

It was obvious that not all sleeve sizes were knitted up into prototypes and these instructions are best-guesses. This shocked me because, typically, Rowan patterns -- with the exception of the sometimes "creative" way in which things are worded -- are written very well. Also, this pattern was from The Rowan Treasury of Knits. This means, it lived it's life as a pattern in Rowan Mag 27, and was then folded into this collection. I would assume that if they missed something the first time around with the magazine pattern, they'd catch it while going through the proofing process for the book.

The only thing I can figure, is that it wasn't a popular pattern and that not many people (if any) knitted this up in my size. I say this, because, after Googling and checking the Rowan site itself, I wasn't able to find any published errata.

That being said, it was clear that I would need to chart out the pattern to figure out where the errors were and then re-chart with corrections -- which is what I did. I then charted out the increases as they occur and figured in the ribs and cables as the stitches increase along the ends.

I have to say, I am now a HUGE fan of the charting. I LOVE THE CHARTING. It appeals to all of my craziness with the details and the tiny squares and the grid and the symbols -- oh, how I ADORE the symbols -- and the way I can only really understand things if they are presented visually.

So, while it was irritating in principle to have to chart this all out, in actuality, it was a LOT of fun.

I am now hunting for ways to chart out all pattern instructions (not just stitch patterns) so as not to have to fuss with cumbersome row-by-row directions.

I should mention that since I was re-charting things, I decided to make the cables flow out in opposite directions from the center. I didn't like that they all went in the same direction on the sleeves, while on the pocket, they pointed in opposite directions.

See? See how I get?

Here is a detail of the cables followed by a progress shot:

Now, onto recalculating the Subway Sweater pattern...

Long Post With Reward At End

As you can see, I've begun swatching for yet another project. This time, it's Colleen's Bell Sleeved sweater pattern (click on larger image in the sidebar of the main page for the actual pattern), which I've aptly dubbed The Subway Sweater (hehe). I decided to try a cotton version, using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton.

I LOVE this stuff. It's soft, drapes well and the colors are fabulous. Of course, this means that not only do I have to make adjustments in the pattern to accommodate my smaller cleavedge, BUT, I pretty much have to recalculate the entire thing because of my desire to use the DK instead of the Aran weight.

No worries, though. I'm using this as a "learning experience [chuckles where appropriate]."

In any case, I love this color -- Carmen -- and was giddy with excitement upon purchasing a full bag (am I the only one who loves the way a full bag of yarn balls looks?). I did worry about the cotton and it's assorted issues, and I probably should've gone with the aran weight since it has Microfiber mixed in, but I was assured that this stuff would be fine. And, if it isn't. I guess I can always rip it out.

Now, the reason I decided to start swatching for a new project, is because I was on the last leg of Cool Cagoule and I wanted to work on something that would be appropriate to wear at work. And, even though I still have Half-Pint and Kyoto on the needles, I wanted another sweater I was as excited about as Cool Cagoule.

That being said, Cool Cagoule ran into a bit of a snafu.

As you can see, I had to resort to charting out the sleeve pattern. Somewhere in the pattern, things go awry and it immediately begins to do very bad things to itself. At first I thought it was because I began the sleeves late in the evening (never a good idea). But, after starting over three times and going over the pattern with Natalie (the owner of my LYS and master knitter extraordinaire), it was clear there was an error.

From what I can gather, the problem arises in the first row of increases. I think there should be three instead of two to accomodate the cable in the next row. There also seem to be some errors at the ends of the rows. Of course, this is all my best guess after working up a few charts. I Googled and emailed and searched the internet far-and-wide for any mentions of Cool Cagoule and sleeve issues -- to no avail. The charts were my last resort, and Natalie's suggestion.

So, this is what I've come up with:

I'm hoping I'm on the right track and plan to check with Natalie tomorrow evening at my Knitting Clinic. Until then, Cool Cagoule is on hold and hardcore knitting math (for me, anyway) commences this evening on The Subway Sweater.

Phew!

As a reward for sticking it through this tediously long post about errors and swatching, I'll leave you with these two shots of the doggies I had the pleasure of hanging out with this weekend:

This is Hazel May, my cousin's adorable Boxer pup. She's achingly cute with her simultaneous fear and aggression toward the doll we unearthed for her to play with. She hid behind me the entire time while barking fiercely (well, as fiercly as a puppy can bark) at it. Hehe.

And, of course, Rosie The Dog. I saw her this weekend at the family gathering hosted by my step-sister. She is pictured in her raincoat with her human, Lindsey (my step-niece, who is hiding) much to her dismay. She has an unnatural fear of the noise my camera makes as I turn it on. The raincoat was just for effect. Normally, she runs around "au natural." We just felt like amusing ourselves.

Poor Rosie. Hehe.

Achy Face

The front piece of Cool Cagoule is finally finished. I must say, the pocket was the highlight. I've never actually done a pocket before, so I had a lot of fun experiencing the construction. The best part was knitting in the flap.

Of course, the whole thing has yet to be blocked and the pocket needs to be sewn, but I think you get the idea.

Here's a close-up:

Next up are the sleeves. I've only done one repeat of the pattern so far and I have to say, I'm not understanding how this will all flesh out. I thought it would be more like the cables on the pocket front. But, as with other repeats, I guess I need to give it a few more turns before I can really see what's going on.

----

In other news, I accompanied my friend Kristin last night to a local yarn mart to pick up some starter supplies. I can't tell you how excited it makes me when my peeps express an interest in The Knitting Arts. Hehe. I get SO excited that I need to consciously control my excitement for fear of turning them off to knitting forever.

But it's SO hard!

----

Oh, and I'm already planning another project out of necessity (yeah, right!). The Lucy Bag is my next conquest -- my first felted project.

Here's what I plan to use:

Isn't it pretty?

It's Cascade Quatro. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff for felting? I know Cascade 220 is great, but haven't heard anything about this stuff.

Anyway, the Lucy Bag is amazing. I've seen a few already in my Knitting Clinic and I fall in love with it every time. My plan is to make it my knitting bag for work.

That's about it. I must go soothe my achy face now with some peppermint tea. Sinus issues are no fun.

Cool Cagoule Gets Jiggy Widdit

Yesterday's Knitting Clinic at A Stitch Above was all about Cool Cagoule. The back panel is finshed, so the boring part is over. The front panel is where all the action is! I've just split off and started the front pocket panel. I have a few more inches to go before I break and cast on stitches for the back of the pocket. I've never done a pocket before, so it's pretty exciting (it doesn't take much, I know).



And look at the cute little cable rows!



These are the cables that will make up most of the sleeve stitch pattern. And, I have to admit, I do love cables.

After the Knitting Clinic, I headed over to Borders and picked up some stitch pattern books: "The Knitting Stitch Bible" by Maria Parry-Jones and "365 Knitting Stitches A Year Perpetual Calendar" by Martingale & Company. The first one is great, offering charted stitch patterns. I'm finding that seeing the pattern worked up visually in a chart makes it easier to modify it or use it as a starting point to create a new pattern. I just wish the book had more patterns in general. But, it does have a great selection and is definitely worth the purchase.

The calendar is also a good buy because of the sheer volume of stitch patterns. It has a nice selection of classic patterns but the reason I purchased it was because of the volume of patterns I haven't seen in other stitch pattern books. The images are big and colorful, so this too is definitely worth the purchase.

I love building the knitting library! Soon, I'll have most of what I need to draw from for designing my own patterns...

Frog

I was so proud of myself yesterday for reaching the end of the back panel on Cool Cagoule, only to discover -- at THE VERY END -- that something went horrifcally wrong in the process of decreasing and the whole thing would need to be frogged back to the point where the decreases begin.

That's NINE-AND-A HALF INCHES people! About 76 rows of 103 stitches on size four needles.

Sigh.

Why do I like to knit again?

Here was a progress shot before reaching the end:



The error was actually on my part - obviously. I read the pattern incorrectly. I am making the medium size version and instead of decreasing until it reaches 103 stitches, I should've only decreased until 115. On top of that, the decreases are on every third row, so I tried to figure out which rows they fell on before-hand and wrote them all down on a post-it. It turns out that I went over the amount of rows anyway.

My only explanation is that I was feverish and sick with a stomach bug. I think this is a valid explanation because look at what happened to my poor socks:



I kitchenered in the wrong direction! This was my first time using the Two Circs method and when I reached the end of the toe, I forgot to redistribute the stitches and ended up with a very nicely grafted toe running verically, as oppsed to a nice horizontal, toe-toe graft.


These are the lessons I have learned today:

1. Never work on anything that involves math or any kind of thinking while sick (or, ever).

2. Prey on a fellow knitter's sympathy while sick and get them to kitchener for you. :-)

But, all was not lost. I did manage to make progress on my Boogie vest in Manos Del Uruguay Lot#112 -- a GORGEOUS blend of deep browns and fleshy, creamy tones. YUM.

Here are some progress shots and some nice details to show you how very cool this colourway is:







So, I WAS busy. Just not as productive as I would've liked. :-)

Cool Cagoule

Aside from it's goofy title, I have decided to embark on the Cool Cagoule Journey. The journey will be long, involving large patches of stockinette on the back panel, challenging i-cords and i-cord hems and holes, cabled sleeves, a ribbed, i-cord laced collar and a big 'ol honkin' pocket on the front just to complicate matters.

I can't help it, though. I LOVE this pullover. I just like the way it hangs and can see myself slipping it on during chilly summer evenings by the ocean (assuming, of course, someone actually TAKES me to the ocean on a summer evening...ahem).

Since I didn't fall in love with any of the Rowan Cottan Glace' colors that the pattern recommends, I decided to use Tahki Stacy Charles Cotton Classic 3752 instead. This cotton is VERY soft and has a nice sheen to it. It seems to be knitting up nicely without a lot of splitting. And, it feels GREAT on the hands.

It'll be a slow knit, though, on US#4 Addi Turbos. But I'm the type of person who sort of falls in love with a project and how it feels while knitting and I actually savor the time spent -- sneaking in a row or two in-between actual paying work the way a person takes a cigarette break. Yes, I can get THAT addicted. Sometimes, I'm actually sad to see a project end. I know, it's insane, but what can I say? I still find myself reaching for Big Red. Sigh.

In any case, you can see my progress so far: