Crazy From The Heat...Again

What is that, you ask?

It's the beginnings of a swatch.

For yet another project.

But first, let me just say: It was a busy, busy weekend, people. I ran a TON of errands, helped set up and participate in a Baby Shower, went yarn shopping and somehow managed to meet up with a Knit Pal in-between. The knitting meetup was my attempt at not having my ENTIRE WEEKEND overrun with obligatory Baby Shower-related tasks.

And, I have to say, meeting up with this gal is always fun. This time, I was finally able to meet these little guys AND I got to try on the fabulous Tivoli! Why? Well...uh...because I'm planning on making one.

And before anyone says anything...it's HOT, people! I need a tank! I will eventually finish Cool Cagoule and the two other sweaters I have on hold, but it's almost the beginning of July and all I can think about are socks and tanks. So, leave me alone! (hehehe...just kidding, of course).

Anyway, I'm afraid I'm going to have to modify the Tivoli somewhat and make the strap into a cap sleeve. You see, I am not pleased with the state of my upper arms this summer, and until I can whip them into shape, there will be nothing more revealing than a cap sleeve.

In any case, the Tivoli is quite the little number, with it's darts and it's raglan sleeves and the nifty waist shaping (which gives it a nice flare at the hip) -- I love it!

So, Miss J, I have finally found the perfect project for that GGH. You can now breathe a sigh of relief ('cause I know you were just sitting around thinking about it, right? hehehe). :-)

In any case, despite the oppressive heat, I managed to have a great time. I even snuck out early from the shower on Sunday for a little trip to Wickford to pick up...

you guessed it! MORE Ultramerino4!

I also worked the measurements for the Tivoli, reworked the design for the sock I'm making with the Ultramerino4 and started this Feather and Fan sock for Granny:

See, Granny sort of fell in love with this pattern and prefers this over the Padded Footlet. Which is COMPLETELY FINE by me, since I don't think I can bring myself to work on that sock again. I love the Rowan 4-ply Soft and the lace pattern, but all the back-and-forth and the uncomfortable knitting with the double-strands is just too much. It never seems like I make any progress and it isn't even enjoyable. So, I may frog it and start over. Someone suggested just double-stranding along the heel in  a basic double-strand way (not using the fussy method in the pattern) and retaining the rest if the pattern with modificatons to account for the lack of the extended thickness of the sole.

So, that sounds like a good plan.

In any case, I'm enjoying the Feather and Fan pattern and am modifying and playing around with it somewhat. I've kept two purl rows on the top of the cuff, but changed the frequency with which it shows up (after two repeats on the first purl row and after one on the second).

I'm also experimenting with just adding a purl section above the feather stitches and excluding them where there are fan stitches because I like the major uninterrupted wave the fans make across several repeats. (It isn't very clear in the pic, but in person you can really see it. Trust me. Hehe).

I haven't forgotten about my PDA posts. It's just that I'm crazy from the heat right now and can't handle another minute in front of the hot laptop. I'll also post images of my stash from the yarn crawl at A Good Yarn with Kathy.

Soon, my people, soon.

P.S. There were so many furry critters out and about this weekend! It was SUCH a treat. I needs to get me one. :-)

Knitting Maths: A Gentle Intro

Calculations have commenced on the Subway Sweater. I got the nicest fabric with US6 as the label recommends. I have to say, this Jo Sharp Soho Summer is a dream to knit with. It feels great on the fingers. It's also structured in an interesting way.

Here's a closer look at the fibers:

See how it's all ropey and weavy?  I LOVE that!

Anyway, so I'm completely geeking out on the Knitting Maths. Not only am I recalculating this pattern, but I'm charting out some other patterns in progress to make them easier to read.

My only fear is running into complex Knitting Maths which require more left brain activity than I'm used to. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

As for other project progress, my Cheery Socks are almost finished.

These socks feel so good, I almost can't stand it! VERY soft. Perfect for slipping on after a day's work. And, cute enough to wear with clogs. What more can you ask for? Now, I must go hunt down more of this Regia stuff because these colors...they are shweeet!

Many people have asked for a pair of their own, so I need to stock up!

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...