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This is a clever pattern. One way, it is a long jacket with a shawl collar. The other way, it is a bolero with a hoodie.

Still slogging through summer heat and a general organization maliase. Still working on soothing stockenette. Finally reasonably pleased with the project choice for this awful yarn.

Third try is the charm, I suppose. It is, if you are interested, the Bulky Gauge Pinwheel Sweater for Children, free from Elann.com. Apparently, my gauge is not quite bulky enough, as this sweater will measure about 16" around when done and folded instead of 22". Nice for a newborn, but I need a sweater for a 1YO at this point. No worries. I will fold it away, for a future newborn, and try again, this time making adjustments.

Well another blogging gap.
We will call it summer vacation.
More like summer knitting blues.

I had the Fasset working, and ran into a glitch that I didn't feel the strength to address.
I had the big Russian Prime that I tried to fix with duplicate stitch, and ended up cutting the offending part off, to reknit.

I found that the only knitting I could tolerate was stockenette stitch.

I made a nice baby sweater with a hood but didn't photograph it before giving it away.

I made this bolero for my daughter from the Debbie Bliss "Simply Soft" book. The CashMerino was delicious. Very very soft, and very red. The pattern was nice; I had to adjust it because I could not make the gauge. Usually, I have to go to a way smaller needle because I knit too loose. This time, I could not get loose enough. So, I picked a needle size, and made adjustments. It worked out well, as you can see. I was miffed that there were not diagrams or measurements in the book. Why would you not include such basic information. I doubt I will buy a Debbie Bliss book again without checking to see if there are diagrams.

Well, it's been a while. Seems that blogger is having issues today, so the update is taking longer than I expected.

Last entry I had a graphic disaster with the big B&L Regal sweater. I've worked on the duplicate stitch solution a little bit, and it looks ok from the front. It's nasty on the back. I'm not sure that matters, and I think with some concentration, and a sharp needle, I can make that better as well.

Here is a picture; notice that the left hand column of pattern is correct, and the center and right hand ones are wrong. Don't see it? Squint a little, and you will sense a curve rather than strong straight lines.

I also realized this weekend that I'm going on a business trip in two weeks. One of my team members just delivered a baby girl. Another team member works with a friend who also just delivered a baby girl. I have one baby sweater with no buttons. What to do? Yank some yarn and get busy. This is a relief because I chose a novelty yarn and a very simple pattern. Something to forget my big project "issues". Garter stich all the way. The arms are done, and the body is on it's way. More later.

On the personal front, daughter went to camp Sunday, and husband to Europe on business. So, I'm in the company of Shiloh and GingGong. There is the very real possibility that I will spend too much time working, and never leave the house for the whole week. I can be that way.

Knitting has stopped for a week.

I chained up the steeks for Regal, cut them, did the three needle bind off. Very pretty. Put on the collar. It seemed a little tight so I put it on to check that it would go over my head. While looking in the mirror, my eyes played games with me. Those strong diagonals weren't quite straight. What was going on?

OH NO - about mid way up the top section, there are mistakes!!! I offset the pattern a row, and the pattern lines are off. If you look really hard at last weeks picture, you can see.

I kicked myself for noticing this AFTER I cut the sweater.

I thought about throwing the whole thing out.
I thought about duplicate stitching the mistakes.
I thought about finishing it as is, and giving it to a shelter, because all I would ever see would be the mistake.
I let Shiloh sleep on it for four days, and thought about making it into a dog bed.
I thought more about duplicate stitching the mistakes.

urg.

Like many, I've been really disappointed by the knitting magazines recently. I'm planning on letting all of my subscriptions lapse. I certainly have plenty of books and magazines already. Maybe my past excesses are leading the to feeling that what has been published recently has already been done before.

Today, I shout out to the editors of Vogue Knit.1 - you guys have nailed your target market.

On Saturday, my daughter and I went to the park to see some dancing demonstrations, and to score free ballet tickets. I wanted some double points, so I took her out to the LYS after. I try to use these trips, once or twice a year to interest her in knitting, and to get insight on what she may like me to make for her. We found some fun hats, and picked up a pattern and some yarn, Then she picked up a Vogue Knitting 1.0. Imagine my surprise to find her excited by the magazine. She loved the format, the articles, and thought that many of the projects were really cool. She sat down in the store and just bubbled to the knitting ladies who happened to be there just how great it was to find a book with projects and formats targetedfor her age group. ((instead of for fat old ladies like us ??)) Apparently the magazine is not my demographic, since I can barely stand it. We came home with two issues.

Later, Saturday night, waiting for the ballet to start, you would have seen us both knitting. She was working on an ear flap hat in chartreuse and black. I was working on my big Regal sweater. She is now 4 1/2 inches from cast on, and ready for the decrease rounds. I'm done with the body, and doing the fiddly work to prepare steeks for cutting.

Giselle was lovely by the way.

I've been enjoying how quickly this Regal/Candide project is working up. Shilo appears to enjoy when I set it down. This annoys me, because he's shedding, and the sweater ends up full of dog hair. I'm 2/3 of the way up the armhole section, quickly approaching the neck opening.

I started up on the second sleeve for the Fasset circle square. Not much there yet; I've made a few increases, and stopped because I need to go pull yarns for the next row of colors. As noted before there are three places where half the colors change, and one place, every 24 rows where they all change. Getting set up for that big one seems to stall me out.

Speaking of stalled, I'm not sure that the Kaffe Fasset knit along I tried to join is active. I'd really like to see some support around my project in particular and the multicolor style that Fasset represents in general. So, I thought about hosting one of those group blogs. I thought about it so hard, I even named it, and roughed it out on blogger. It's open for review, but pretty lame without members. Check it out, and see what you think. Fans of Kaffe Fasset Knitting, or http://fokafak.blogspot.com/

I'll mention this a few times, and leave it up for a few months. If it catches on, great. If not, my husband will still have his sweater by the time it cools down in Houston.

How could I forget again?

Blog birthday came and went last week. Happy Happy.

Worked some on the Regal project; didn't work on the Fasset. No pictures because I'm feeling cranky.

Did I mention that I decided what to do with the Briggs and Little that I had the desire to "use up"?

I looked up Briggs and Little, and I think the color that I have and don't really care for is called copper. I also inspected the green skeins a bit better, and found that some was B&L and some was labeled Candide. Reynolds Candide, I guess; it's a bit bulkier, but not so much that it can't peacefully fair isle together with the B&L Regal.

The green Candide and green Regal must have been same mill, same dye lot because, I have switched between the two types, and can't for the life of me find any lines, even in bright daylight. They also have the same feel; the wool feels a bit rough, and has bits in it. I know from my swatch that it softens up nicely after a bath. There is also a bit of an oily feel, that makes me think there is a bit of lanolin still in there. In any event, both types of green feel the same way.

The chevrons are running down the side, and will extend down the sleeve. This will be one of those Meg Swanson constructs, where I will pick up the sleeves in pattern and extend it down, and the chevrons will follow. I didn't realize how they appear to "float" when you get away from the pattern. Nice.

I'm about an inch from the armhole steek, and I'm freaking out. I'm still on the first skein of the copper color. Not only do I have PLENTY of this color, I think I may have over a skein left over.

Well, we have a sleeve. I'm pleased with the entire look, and the measurements seemed to come out about right. I'll probably start the second one this week. A shot of the back side for those who need to see such things. Probably the most aggressive bit of intarsia I've ever done.



The wrist edge is curly, because I've not yet decided on the edge treatment. Probably some sort of striped ribbing, but for now, its sitting on an crocheted provisional cast on.

Cheers

I thought I had a solution to the B&L Regal. I did some ribbing, and started up a slip stitch pattern. It felt like I was copping out. I decided I didn't like it. No, not that I didn't like it, but that it wasn't special or worthy. It was just ok. I couldn't see myself as proud to give it away as a gift. I took a picture, but still haven't ripped it out. I'm not sure.

Then I started thinking about my need to "use up" or "get rid of" certain parts of my stash. I have boxes of beautiful colors, merino, alpaca, shetland. What am I saving it for? Why spend time on a project that is just so so, when I have so many choices of wonderful?

So, into the closet I went, and this is why the Circle Square sleeve did not get finished this weekend. I flipped through my books and magazines again, and pulled out sport weight. Lovely lovely sport weight, wool from e-bay, alpaca from Peru, some Nature Spun Sport, some merino from Elann. It worked up this. 6.5 stitches per inch, using Donnegal from Starmore's Celtic Collection as a pattern and color guide.

Now, I'm still thinking about my BIL, as I show the swatch to Husband. He announces that it is really nice, and that he would be unhappy if the sweater was not for him. What's a girl to do, but recalculate, and cast on?

Well, no updates for the past week, due to a hard drive crash. I'm still playing software scavenger hunt, and getting little tweaks installed. Stupid stuff, like the noise that is made when the IM goes off, and cleaning up the Java errors for various business applications. Yuck.

In the mean time, the knitting is done on the Ingeborg hat. I've cleaned up the ends, and just need to sew the hem down. It's a little big. I'm not going to add the trim, as I think it looks a bit humptey-dumptey.

Now, for someone we've not seen for a while. Isn't he pretty? Well, except for the spaghetti monster look that happens with intarsia. Most of the ends are already woven in, and just need to be clipped. I'm doing a fully fashioned sleeve cap, and just started the decreases. I expect to have this sleeve done by the end of the weekend.

A view of the new sweater, in the mirror from the back. Not so very clear, but we can see that me and Ms Poetry fit each other. We have an unexpected cold spell running through Houston, so I've been wearing her around. The shetland/wool mix does not itch. I'm happy.

I will be hunkering down to finish my Elann Design Challenge Shawl, and, of course, that little hat.

Then, back to the Kaffe, and maybe some more ditzing around on the BIL/SIL sweater combination.

Back from holiday and very tired. What is it about some people, who like to drive? Husband got it in his head to take the whole trip from Colorado to Houston in one 18 hour marathon. Couldn't stop him. So 3:00 a.m. we're home. I dragged myself up at 8:00 just to re-acclimate to a regular time schedule, but I'm dragging now, and will probably ruin my good intentions with a little nap.

In the mean time, the results of holiday driving and knitting.

My Poetry sweater is done, and here she is relaxing after a wash. She had a bit of an accident, as I spilled a cup of coffee on her, while doing the finishing. A soak in soapy water left her clean, thank you. I have a cable sweater that seems to attract coffee every time I wear it. It has also cleaned up, so I didn't panic too much over the ordeal.

I feel like a bit of a dork, as we skied so hard most days, all I wanted to do was drink beer and stare off in space in the evenings. Thus, this girl was finished Thursday night, but did not have to opportunity to bathe, or be worn on the trip. Now, in Houston, it's summer weather, and the poor girl will have to go into a box in the closet until next November.


I started a hat to match my Ingeborg sweater. That had been on my list for a while. It seemed less taxing than working on the design for BIL/SIL sweaters , or finishing Poetry.


And I'm almost finished with my elann contest shawl. I'll not show her until after March 31.

Greetings from snowy Colorado. The resort has free wireless Internet. I took my laptop for the purpose of uploading vacations pictures from my camera. The camera is an older digital, and the chip does not take too many pictures before it gets full. Of course, I am "cheating, and checking my office e-mail out of some sense of self defense.

In the mean time, the results of our escape from Houston. The arm still needs to be properly attached, and cleaned up.

We stopped for groceries, and then to a Wallmart, as I think I forgot to bring tapestry needles. We found this awful fun fur, and silly me, I offered to make daughter a hat out of some of it.

Oops; does altitude cause me to forget that I hate novelty yarn?

Well, here it is, started; I'm doing a garter stitch short row wedge hat. Very silly, and oh yeah - yellow and red do make orange.

Well, this is looking better. I paged through the "Fair Isle Simplified" book from the Philosophers Wool people. I think the designs look nice and they often use the same gauge yarns that I want to use. I noticed that the "Tradition" pattern only uses four colors, so I've swatched that out.

More what I was looking for. I like the diamond band, but I'm not so keen on the stripey peerie patterns that are set in between.

I'm could just do stripes of that larger pattern and vary the colors. I'm also thinking that a Nordic pattern with some seeding in the body and a bunch of business on the edges may be what I end up with.

I mentioned that I wanted to do BIL/SIL sweaters, and they like to wear stuff that matches. So the idea was to use the same graphic, but vary the colors and size for a "his" and "hers" effect.

Going backpacking this weekend. Looks like good weather too.

Swatching for the Holiday

We are going to Colorado on spring break to ski. We are going to drive. That's eighteen hours in the car each way. My husband prefers to drive, and I "help". That's probably twelve hours that I could be knitting. Each way.

So, what to do?

Well, first, the Poetry gets finished, so I can wear it.
Second, the contest shawl gets finished.
The Kaffe is not going

Now what after that? I have two weeks to figure it out, and since I'm backpacking this weekend, no weekend to mess around. I have set my mind on some more "stash busting". Gifts for BIL and SIL, as we are planning to get together with them again this Christmas. BIL likes brown and green. SIL is a purple/teal type. Probably a two+ color item. Probably a Nordic sort of approach. May try a "knit your own" out of the Philosopher's Wool book.

For the first round I have set some goals - deal the huge amounts of worsted I collected from e-bay. On first analysis, I find that I have way more pink, minty green and yellow than anyone really needs. I also have a crate of chocolate brown, that is heavier than the rest, but not so much that it won't work with the other yarn. So, let's figure out what to do with some of this stuff.

Swatch 1 - Graphic from Agave, a Dale of Norway design. Minty Green/creme. The minty is too light. Maybe with something other than creme? About 5 stitches/inch


Second try - I see pink and brown a lot these days. How about it? Yes, the thicker brown does work ok with the worsted. Not sure I like the pattern; too chunky. Would probably do better in something simpler like the Agave, but don't want to go there for some reason. 4 stitches/inch. I have some magazines with Fair Isle pieces that use this gauge that don't make me puke. Have to look for them.

Backup plan again towards BIL/SIL, but their cute boys. One likes red and the other yellow. I'll make sweaters for them with that Castle design from the Barbara Walker #2 book. Maybe hand knit the fronts, and use the knitting machine for the sleeves and back.

Wow, a week without knitting.
How did that happen?

Well, I took two girl scout troops camping, mine and the other Cadette group. We did the "Program Aide" training, so now eleven early teen girls can work with younger Girl Scouts, once they have their application and recommendation forms turned in. It was really cold, but I did put some rows on that secret shawl. I was really tired when I came home.

Then I went to a trade show, and spent two days standing in a booth watching people walk by. I remembered my previous trade show promise to myself - only go as a speaker - which I apparently had forgotten. Speaker positions are better, because you get a name tag with a ribbon, and don't have to stand in front of the booth unless you want to.

Now, I'm home, and it is a mess. The washing machine has quit. I have two days of work piled up because I've been traveling. Shiloh thinks I should play.

Progress has lurched to a stop.

I knit hard on the weekend on this new shawl project. My goal was to consume two skeins a week, then move onto either Poetry or the Kaffe. So, what happens on Monday, but I pick up the second skein, and find I have forgotten my simple sequences, and am lost inside the pattern. I inspected it like a puzzle, put it down, picked it up, tried the next morning. No better. Ripped a few rows, and re-knit, got stuck. Repeated this Wednesday and Thursday. Finally I pulled out a whole pattern repeat, inspecting all the while and not only found my way, but also an error. So, now I'm still working on that first skein.

Poor Poetry is on the side line, one arm attached. The I cord, and stitch pick ups for her second sleeve waiting patiently. And Kaffe is sitting in the basket, waiting a new row of yarn pieces to be pulled.

A cold front, the coldest this year they say, and the last for the year as well is descending on the Houston area. I have Girl Scout camping planned. Some mommies are worried; my daughter is amused. She camped in the snow last spring. Just hope the other girls are as solid as she is. If the weather is really bad, I'll let them know they could qualify for a "bad weather" patch. One can only hope.

Again, not a lot of progress on established projects.

So, we will take a moment to look at the button I have for the Poetry in Stitches sweater. After my mother died, my sister, who was much better at sewing, went through the button box, and gave me a few sets of special buttons. This is from that group. I have six, and Poetry seems to be perfect for this little silver windmill.

I ordered received yarn from Elann, and am one skein into an entry to their Design Contest. Since it is a contest, I won't mention much more until I'm finished, and the deadline is passed. Well I'll say a little. I ordered their Highland Silk, and it is lovely, smooth and soft. Putting a bit of silk into wool just makes them both better.

On another front, I've been working hard on my guitar, and started lessons. I showed my new teacher a piece from the MelBay Modern Guitar Method called "Sor's Waltz" that I had worked on. It's a pretty piece. She helped me with some of the fingering where I was rough. My assignment was to memorize the piece, which I have spent most of the week doing.

Sometimes I feel sorry for this teacher, as she seems to mostly have young students who want to learn "pop" styles and songs. This woman really prefers classical music and techniques.

My teacher told me that Fernando Sor was quite a famous composer for guitar. I had no idea. He a series of studies for the guitar, that are as standard for that instrument as the Brahms work is for piano. In fact, many guitar schools require students study and become proficient in this group of pieces. Teacher is supposed to bring me another Sor piece to work on this week. In the mean time, my case of "acquisition syndrome" has migrated from the collection of yarn to the collection of guitar music. The Segovia edited Fernando Sor 20 studies for the Guitar, with companion CD should be on their way to my home via Sheet Music Plus.com