Thursday 24 September 2009

Every Way Wrap

I’m really beginning to think that I may have to consolidate my book and knitting blogs instead of leaving one to languish. Only thing is, I rather like both of them. Hmmm, what to do. Any ideas or opinions?

On the knitting front, I’ve just about got the Every Way Wrap in Drops Paris for my grandmother done. I’ve gotten the ribbed bit up to the first buttonhole finished, so I should get done by tonight. Everyone who’s seen it up until now has found it fabulous in every way but one. The pattern is brilliant, the yarn soft and cushy (I pet this thing at random intervals just because it’s so nice to touch) and the buttons are pretty. The only thing that no one cares for, with the exception of maybe Inkysticks, is the colour. I went with the moss green because my grandmother likes green and I was hoping that I would turn out to like it too. However, I’m afraid I don’t care for it and other people’s reactions are making me sort of desperately hope that I haven’t made a huge mistake in choosing the colour. So, if anyone else likes it, please let me know. I need reassurance because I’m in that flipping out stage where I’m convinced that I’ve totally done the wrong thing and why oh why didn’t I just go with beige even though it’s boring and what was I thinking when I thought I’d branch out to a different colour than I normally would have chosen. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a little insecure in these matters. But dang it all, she’s got to like it because it needs a home.

I’m also still working on 2 pair of socks and not getting very far. I have decreed, however, that I will finish the Shallow Sharks before moving on to my Byzantine Bazic, which is really what I would prefer to be knitting. Still, I need to get those done because they’re also for my grandmother for Christmas.

What I really, really need to do is check my Knitted for Christmas Box to see what I have for whom and if there’s anyone I’ve left out. I may or may not have to knit another pair of socks or two. Shouldn’t be much left though. I think I’m pretty much ahead on that front.

How’s everyone else doing on Christmas Knitting?

*ducks flying objects*

Thursday 17 September 2009

Friday 11 September 2009

The Cardy Saga

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but I kept thinking, “oh, I’ll wait until I get the next bit done and I have something more interesting to say”. I think this is called procrastination with a tinge of denial. Although I did book blog in the meantime, so I’m not that bad.

I’ve been working on my Drops Knitted Cardy. All in all, it should have been fairly straight forward, and really it was. After agonizing about the size and gauge, as per usual, I finally picked one, ordered my yarn and started knitting. The back went well, the sleeves went well, the first front went well, then things went down hill. I have to admit not all of it had to do with gauge, knitting ability etc. Unfortunately my older Dane, T, was diagnosed with bone cancer last week. Being upset, I thought I’d go home and knit to calm me down, only I should have chosen to knit a plain sock and not the cardigan. I think I must have knit the same 20 rows about 4 times. It was a complicated bit with decreases in two places, a double knit row at the edge a button hole and cables and I’d either forget one or the other, or then think I forgot one or the other and rip out only to notice I’d done it right the first time. It was a bit of a mess. Never knit complicated stuff when you’re upset. I should have known this. Now I just wonder if I’ve learned my lesson. Maybe I should just knit garter stitch scarves for the next few months and save myself the bother.

Anyway, after finally getting through the second front bit and wondering why all was going so swimmingly, I notice that I forgot to make the stitch before the edge stitches on the other front piece garter stitch. Fortunately I was able to just open up the cast off, frog one row, drop the stitch down to where I should have started the garter and pick them up properly. This went surprisingly well. I still can’t get over not having to frog the whole bit. After that, I sewed the pieces together – again this went deceptively well – only to find that despite having gone that extra mile with my swatch and having chosen a size that should have just barely fit me because I knew the cotton yarn would get wider, it was still too big. Much too big. In the immortal words of a co-worker,

“You could be 35 months pregnant and still fit into this sweater”.

For some reason, my gauge had gotten much tighter as I knit, leaving the bottom quite wide. The middle part of the sweater was roomy, but acceptably so. It looked a bit like a bell bottomed sweater. I’m sure a model would have pulled it off as a fashion statement, but it just made me look like a pregnant hippo with a conical baby.

Funnily enough, I wasn’t devastated (my devastation has all gone into the dog). I just looked for a way to fix it. We discussed this at work - with my boss looking on and shaking his head as four women stared at a sweater and hemmed and hawed for about half an hour - and finally decided I should just try pulling the sides apart and hemming them in a bit (since I can’t do steeks). Sooooo, I went home that night, pulled the sides out – for all of my fear that my ends will come out and the sweater will unravel, it took me three times as long to pull the seams apart as it did to sew them up. I re-sewed them, gradually increasing the intake and thus making the sweater narrower and straighter. The hem looks great outside although a bit wonky inside. However, I’m betting very few people will be asking me to take it off so they can inspect the inside seam. I will probably whip stitch that bit down too, so it doesn’t roll inside the sweater and make it even bulkier, so even if they did, it will at least look tidy.


It’s still quite roomy, but I can live with that. I actually wanted it that way. It was generally agreed by my co-workers and moi-même that it’s really pretty and nice and soft and lovely and now I can’t wait for it to get colder so I can wear it. I love this sweater, despite its roominess. Love it. The only down side is that if I ever manage to loose any weight, I might still have to look for that pregnant hippo to pass it along to.

For those wondering about the dog, T is still fine at the moment. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain at all, he just has a tumour on his leg. I will eventually have to start giving him pain killers, but at the moment, he’s still fine without them. Well enough even to pilfer and devour a half a kilo of dried tripe while I was at work one day this week. The sympathy factor served him well that day. Any other time I would have throttled him.