Of slogs and socks…

I’ve been doing a lot of knitting since the new year, but I don’t have too much to show for it. Why? Because I had to do a lot of ripping. That’s why!

Right after the new year, I started Hush-Hush. After having this project in my queue for nearly four years, I thought this would be the year to knit it.I cast on using size 3 needles, as recommended in the pattern, but quickly decided that the lace pattern looked too big. At that point,I had knit about 10 rows. No big deal. So, I started again using size 2 needles. The lace looked much better. Once I go to the body of the dress, I stuck with the size 2 needles. Things were flying...Or, so I thought. I made it through 3 decreases, about 30 rounds, then decided to try it on. Unfortunately, I could tell that it would be much too big.

I decided to rip all the way back to the lace pattern, and work the body with size 1 needles...Except I didn't own size 1 needles, so they would need to be ordered.

While I waited for the new needles, I started a project that I knew I could make quick progress and still put down at any point. I opted to start a pair of Jaywalkers. I quickly made it through the first sock before my new needles came.

Now that I have the size 1 needles, I realize that the knitting is much slower. I have only completed 5 rounds in the last week. I have miles and miles of stockinette to go before this is finished. I recent found out that my SIL is expecting her first baby. I will most likely knit a blanket for the occasion...just nothing as intense as the Log Cabin from last year. I have also become quite fascinated by Cable Luxe Tunic. I am officially naming 2008 the Year of the Slog.

welcome to 2008...

Let me start by wishing anyone reading a Happy New Year. Some time around mid-December the Holidays get the best of me, and things didn't stop spinning until last week. At that point, work kicked into high gear...Today, I finally think I have time to breathe.

I'll do a knitting update soon.

NaKniSweMo, recap...

I finished Katy on Friday, but I'm just getting around to posting. Of all of the pictures that I took, the only one that turned out was of the neckline...and, even that is hard to see. I'll experimenting with more pictures tomorrow.

Overall, I am happy with the way this project turned out. I love the color and look forward to watching it fade over the next few washings. The fit is definitely smaller than I thought it would be. At this point, the sweater fits perfectly. I won't be putting it in the dryer ever again for fear of it shrinking further.

This was the perfect choice for NaKniSweMo. Since the bulk of the sweater was in stockinette, it made for mindless knitting. Plus, the lace pattern was easy to memorize. I would have to say that the best thing about knitting this sweater in a month is that it helped motivate me to keep knitting. Instead of starting something new when I started to get bored, I kept slogging away to make sure I finished it in November.

NaKniSweMo, day 29...

I'm seaming as fast as I can! Last night I washed to pieces and dried them. Although the yarn is not supposed to shrink in width, I'm a little worried about how this sweater will fit. I knit the size that is supposed to fit a 34" bust. The pattern says that the final width should be 19 inches...well, mine is more like 17!

I set in the sleeves over lunch, and will be working the first side seam on the way home. Not only am I fond of knitting in public, I even do my finishing in public. I should definitely earn a badge for that!

Thankfully, I still have tomorrow...

NaKniSweMo, day 27...

I'm in the home stretch! I was very productive over the holiday weekend, as I expected. I had finished the back last Tuesday, and I finished up the back yesterday night. Tonight, I will be weaving in the ends and washing the pieces of the sweater. I think the beauty of this sweater will be the fact that it doesn't get blocked!

NaKniSweMo, day 16...

The month is halfway through. With 15 days down, I am exactly 50% through Katy. This morning, I finished the 6th of 12 skeins. I'm 9.5 inches in to the back. I'm not even going to think about taking a picture of the progress I've made because I basically have a dark indigo rectangle. I suspect that it wouldn't make the most interesting photo shoot.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me, but I should be able to sneak in some knitting time. Since AF and I are driving to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, I'm not worried about finishing by the 30th. I'm guaranteed four and a half hours of uninterrupted knitting while AF drives!

NaKniSweMo, day 13...

Nothing to worry about. I'm still plugging away at Katy. Here are some progress shots that I took last Thursday.

Close up of the stitch pattern.Since taking these pictures, I have completed the second sleeve and made it about four inches into the back. I'll spare you the boring details since the body of the sweater is stockinette.

Once I finished the second sleeve, the rest of the weekend was spent working on the Log Cabin Blanket. I completed all of the seaming, and have already started the crochet border. I can honestly say that this project will be finished this week.

I'm still trying to decided what to do about my camera. I hope that I can make it until the end of the year without buying one. Maybe there will be some deals after the holidays.

NaKniSweMo, day 5...

Yesterday afternoon, Maya came over and we did some knitting. While I worked on the first sleeve for Katy, she knit away on her NaKniSweMo selection, Breton Girl. I managed to finish the first sleeve despite many minor mistakes. For some reason, I kept forgetting that the pattern is a 4-row repeat. For some reason, I wanted it to be a 2-row repeat...many rows were tinked that afternoon.

NaKniSweMo, day 1...

Katy is off to a strong start. I cast on as soon as soon as I got up in the morning, accompanied by my morning coffee. At the end of yesterday, I had 7 inches of the first sleeve done. That's the first 5 of 11 increases. The stockinette is kind of boring, but it goes by pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, I discovered that my camera isn't working. Argh. Last weekend when I went to take pictures, the thing couldn't turn on. I attributed it to a dead battery. Well, after what should have been a full charge, the camera still doesn't turn on. I even tried the battery in AF's camera (same model), no go. Then, I tried his battery in my camera. It turned on, but then I couldn't get it to turn off. The following picture was taken this morning courtesy of AF's camera. Please, excuse the horrible lighting!

Let it be known that this discovery was made exactly one year after the camera was purchased, so it's no longer under warranty. Oh well, a new camera might be at the top of my Christmas list (again).

meet Katy...

This is one of the Rowan International patterns that is available to subscribers. I will be attempting to knit Katy in the month of November as part of National Knit a Sweater Month, NaKniSweMo for short.

The pattern calls for Rowan Denim, but I will be making mine in Elann's Den-M-Nit Pure Indigo Cotton. I knitted two swatches over the weekend, one on Sz5 and one on Sz6 needles. Both times I got 11 st = 2", when I'm supposed to be getting 5 st per inch. I'm going to re-knit the swatch on Sz6 in a different needle just to make sure. I will be casting on on Thursday morning!

preparing for a challenge...

Details next week!

impromptu update...

I'm constantly surprised by how much I try to fit into any given day...sleep, eat, work, knit, practice, rinse, repeat. Unfortunately, I haven't been managing my time nearly as well as I would like. Maybe I have too much on my plate...maybe I'm just not putting enough effort into it.

I definitely haven't been putting as much effort into my knitting as I would like. I'm still procrastinating when it comes to finishing the Log Cabin Blanket. I got to the point where I had five strips, then things fell apart. That was nearly a month ago! I swear at this rate, this damn thing will be a Christmas present, not a wedding present. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have much time to work on it this weekend while I'm hiking with the happy couple the blanket is meant for...

I'm almost done with my Rozas! I just turned the heel of the second sock on Monday. I've been slogging away at these socks on the bus ride every day. Since I haven't finished an object in a really long time, I'll be glad to see them done. Here's a little preview.

As for Starsky...It was over before it started. I just couldn't get into this pattern. As much as I want to make this sweater, I don't have the attention span right now. I was finding the leaf pattern to hard to commit to memory, mainly because there are a few rows where you have to p2tog on the wrong side. I also wasn't happy with how densely it was knitting up. I'm going put this one back in the queue and start again later.

knit, frog, repeat...

There's a whole lot of ripping going on, chez needleGirl! I've been slowing piecing the Log Cabin blanket squares together, only to realize that I had two squares that just wouldn't work. Somehow, I had knit one too many of one pattern and completely botched another. I am ripping these two and knitting the correct patterns.

I have been using mattress stitch to join the squares because it is what I am most proficient with. I considered doing a crochet join, but found it really hard to get things to line up correctly where the bound off edges meet salvage edges. I have completed 3 out of the five rows (with five squares in each row). I'm going to block these three rows this weekend.

My second frog fest takes the form of Roza's sock. I hadn't been working on this project since I wanted to finish up the blanket. A couple of weeks ago, I got together with Maya for some knitting, so it seemed natural that I work on it. I had gotten about 5 inches of the leg done, and decided to carefully try it on...Can you see where this is going? The sock-to-be was very tight around my foot, and there is absolutely no way that I could work it around my heel and onto the leg. So, Roza got a one-way ticket to the pond. What really sucks is that I took time to swatch for this project, and things should have worked out. On the bright side, I can go back and add the garter stitch detail that the pattern has, but I neglected to include the first time around.

sleeves are boring...

At least they're quick. I completed the first sleeve for Starsky. I started it on Wednesday and finished this morning on the ride to work. I figure most people know what a knitting sleeve looks like, so I'll spare you of boredom.

Have a good weekend!

the part that I forgot...

Back in February, when I started the Log Cabin Blanket, I never expected that it would take long to knit. For some reason, I thought that I would be able to churn out square after square after square. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Seven months later, I have finished knitting square...albeit, ten fewer than originally planned.

Now, there's just one more thing...blocking and finishing! Yup, I have to join my 25 squares into one united project. I should be able to start this process over the weekend, but I really have no idea how much time it will take. I'm thinking about crocheting the squares together. It just seems like it would be the quickest way to get the job done. I'm also thinking of putting some kind of edging around the blanket once all of the pieces are together. You know, something to make it look really finished.

The only other dilemma I'm having is whether the blanket will need a backing. My big worry is that the knitting isn't firm enough to withstand years of use. For some reason, I think a simple backing might give it a little more sturdiness...Plus, it might help conceal all of the ends on the wrong side. I'll see how long the assembly process takes, first.

what's up next?

With only 3 more blocks to knit for the Log Cabin blanket, I'm already starting to get an itch to start another project. Plus, once I finish knitting the squares, I'll need a new project to take with me on the bus. Even though I'm tempted by things such as Oslo, Bridges, and Geneva, I think I should stick to my original line-up for the year. So, next up will be Starsky! I've wanted to make this sweater since it was first released, and it looks like it could be the perfect early-fall addition to my wardrobe.

In other news, my friend Maya is spending the fall in DC! She arrives tomorrow. I'll be cleaning up the apartment tonight, so that AF and I don't look like complete slobs...I hope she remembers to bring the socks we started in Cali.

log cabin running low...

I'm running out of time and yarn. I've been working during all of my free time to finish up the Log Cabin Blanket. Last week, I finished another row of blocks, and even re-knit the block that I think I lost...I was at 57%, and figured I should check out how much more yarn I had.

Well, when I opened up the stash, I was sadly to find that I only had 3 balls of each color left. I don't think that's going to be enough to make my original design:

Unfortunately, Elann doesn't carry the yarn that I'm using in the colors I need anymore. I decided that I would make an amended version of the blanket. It's going to be only 5x5, instead of 5x7 as I originally intended. I've come this far, so I have to finish this project. The new version will look like this:
With the quick design change, and another few days of knitting, I'm 84% done with the knitting! With the wedding two weeks away, I feel a lot better with those numbers. My new goal is to have this ready for the happy couple when they return from the honeymoon, some time in late-October.

the cure: re-visited

By no fault of my own, something has tried to take hold of my living space. Instead of getting too upset, AF and I are looking at it as a fine opportunity to delve back into Apartment Therapy. This time, by necessity, we are starting in the bedroom...If you go by the book, the bedroom doesn't get any play until week 7.

So far, we've thrown out a dresser and an armoire. I've lightened my yarn load by dashing some acrylic yarns that were stored under the bed. Tonight, I will try to get rid of even more clothing. But, the hardest hit victim has been our bed itself. Though it is only four months old, we were forced to part with the well-crafted backboard. With any luck, once we lighten our load and eradicate our unwanted guests, we will get a new backboard fitting of the new decor.

If your apartment is in need of therapy, check out the upcoming cure.

my california vacation...

In case anyone was wondering, I had a great time in Sacramento...I've actually been back for two weeks, now.

After a marathon flight (via Charlotte and Las Vegas), I was glad to see Maya at the airport. Somehow, we managed to stay up 'til 4am that first night. I was feeling exceptionally good for being awake over 24 hours!

Thursday, we spent the morning at a cafe. Maya did some work, while I worked on the Log Cabin Blanket. I had finished one square on the plane, and was well into another by the time we left the cafe. We then went to lunch with some of Maya's friends. After lunch, we visited Rumpelstiltskin to buy some yarn and needles. It was a cute little store, but the stock at the time was a little limited. Maya and I decided that we would make Roza's Socks as a knit along.

Friday morning, we started packing up for our weekend at Oz Farm in Mendocino. For Maya's birthday, went spent the weekend in a domes structure that the farm rents. That's right, we spent a few days in a geodesic dome! The setting was awesome, looking out over an open field.

Oh, and there was also knitting to be had!

That's Laura, who got a crash course in knitting. She picked it up like a natural!

I'm going back to Cali, Cali, Cali...

It's time to take this show on the road. I leave tomorrow for Sacramento. I'm going to visit my friend Maya, and to celebrate her birthday. It's been over three years since I've been to California. The last time was also for a birthday celebration. (It seems to be a recurring theme). I'm really excited to visit Maya. She has been living in Sacramento for quite a few years, but I have never visited her there.

My cross-country flight will provide an excellent opportunity to work on my Log Cabin squares. That's the only project that I will be bring on the plane with me. I'm sure to get a little bored with it, but I need to focus on getting more squares completed.

Maya is also a knitter! If all goes well, I will be giving her a crash course on sock knitting. As her birthday gift, I have offered to supply her with everything she needs to make her first pair of socks...a knit along, of sorts. I'm not sure if an actual pair of socks will be completed in a week, but we'll be able to finish them when she comes to DC in September.

See you next week!