The Milinda Trilogy

The Good News: Joan dyed 3 new skeins of yarn for me based off a sample that I sent in from the yarn I was working with on my Milinda Pullover before realizing I was going to run out before getting the sleeves done. The dye job came out so well. The colors are so close that I'm sure only I know where they were added into the top.

The Better News: This morning I finished the sleeves! I am almost done and so ready to wear the top. I'm actually looking forward to wearing it for an event on Sunday for the first time. I already have the shoulders seamed up, and it's looking great! I am really excited about this.

The Bad News: I hate seaming. I have seamed and re-seamed the left side 3 times, and each time it comes out looking horrible. Why am I suddenly so bad at seaming?? It's leaving me a bit frustrated. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to get this looking good and soon, because I am ready to have this done!

Milinda Progress

I've been plugging away at the Milinda Pullover. I'm not finished with the back, but almost! I am only a few inches from binding off. Then I'll be repeating most of it with the front, and including some short rows for bust room.
When I ripped my "old size" and restarted with my "temporary size " (haha, like that? ;) ) I decided that I didn't want as much cinching at the midsection as the pattern calls for. The directions say not only to decrease a few stitches, but to decrease the needle one size. I decided to go ahead and decrease the stitches, however not to change the needle size. At the top of the waist, I increased the stitches and of course didn't change needles.
I'm really loving this pattern and it's getting to the point where I can work on a small section, put it down, and pick it right back up later. This is especially good when there is a very young baby who doesn't wait for the end of the row. :p
And pictures will be posted either tonight or tomorrow. Promise!

New Knitting Body

About 6 inches into the back of the Milinda Pullover, I realized that I was knitting my "old" body size, and would not fit (or be particularly flattering on) my "new" body. Rip rip rip. I'm now 1/4 inch into the next size up. But at least I realized this now, instead of after I seamed the whole thing.

Knitting Notes

Time goes by so quickly with a baby; things happen, and I think "I have to write this down!" and before I have a moment to do so, time slips by and more events occur. So being true to form as of late, I'm scrimping on pictures (blame Mr Kiwi!!) and will give quick accounts of recent happenings.

Remember a long time ago when I knit that really pretty maternity top from Expectant Little Knits? Well, a few weeks ago I wanted to wear it as a nice breezy top, however when I put it on, something didn't feel right. The fit was somehow strangely different, and no it wasn't the part around my belly changing because of having the baby. The bust and shoulders were fitting differently, and that doesn't change once a baby is birthed. I looked in the mirror and realized it was the yarn I had used. One of the skeins was NOT what it said it was, fiber content-wise. It had felted!! I really have to take pictures of this, because you can see exactly where I switched from the first hank to the second. The first hank which, lucky for me, made up most of the top is still gorgeous and bouncy, however on the straps in the front and from the armholes up on the back it looks shaggy, felted, and littered with holes from the fabric pulling unevenly. This was such a bummer. It's way too noticeable to just shrug it off and continue wearing the top, so I'll probably have to rip the whole thing out, trash the felted parts, and re-wind the bottom portion to be used for something else later. Sighhh... So sad.

The garden! Well, most of the plants are doing well. I have already picked 5 or 6 lemon cucumbers, and they are very fresh and yummy tasting. The tomatoes are all ripening, and I've had a few here and there. I have a feeling, they are all going to redden at once, and I'll be eating tomato salads for days! The eggplants are sprouting beautiful lavender flowers, but not a bud of a veggie yet. The honeydews and getting bigger, and the sunflowers have all bloomed many times over. And then there are the pumpkins. They were the first to do spectacularly well, however possibly to my own garden inexperience, it caught a pumpkin leaf powdery mildew that has no treatment (so I'm told). It spreads white all over the leaves and only gets worse when watered. I think it ends up killing the plants. Most of my pumpkin leaves have the mildew, and a good number have died, leaving me to actually see the soil underneath where the giant leaves formerly spread. I still have 2 decent pumpkins that are on their way to ripening if the plant can hold out that long. Am I bummed? Only slightly. I was just proud that my plants were successful at all, seeing as how this was my first garden. I've learned something about pumpkin plants, and maybe can use this knowledge for next year.

I have finally finished the Sanpoku bolero that I started working on 3 days before Juniper's birth. Again, no pictures (just finished it yesterday!) but I really like it. I absolutely love the way Karabella Breeze feels knit into a top. Oh my, it is luscious. Too bad I still have almost 3 balls left that I have to figure out what to do with. :o) I originally thought that the Sanpoku would eat up all 7 balls, but apparently not. Perhaps I'll make a nice thick scarf of small rectangular shawl with the remaining balls. Now that I know how it feels on, I can't let it sit there for another 3 years!! (yes, that's how long it's been in my stash waiting, no, lusting! to be made into something.) Verdict on the pattern overall? I like it. I intended for it to be a nursing top for when the fall hits, and it will serve such a purpose very well. It's also lucky that I like boleros and will wear tops with short backs; the back is a whole 12 inches long. I think the one flaw that others who have knit this have found is that in none of the pictures do you see how short the back is, until you're reading the pattern and thinking "wait a minute.... where's the back again?" I almost edited the pattern to increase the length of the back, but it probably would have worked out the way I was attempting.

So now what am I doing? Busting through stash. I'm on a roll! At Stitches West 2007 (or was it 2006?) I purchased the Milinda Pullover in a kit in the teal color from the White Lies Designs booth. Pre-baby, I was wearing a good amount of fitted and snug tops, that hugged my midsection. Now... I need to do a bit more dancing before I'll pop on another tight shirt. I am in need of some tops that are more flowy and less huggy on my belly, and the Milinda (if I work it right) might just be the top for it. So last night I cast on! Especially after doing a whole top in stockinette, the pattern is very fun. It's challenging my knitting mind to do a 10 row and 4 row repeat at the same time. I can't wait for this top to be finished and to be wearing it this season, after again, some 2 or 3 years waiting to be knit up.

With all this stash busting, soon I'll actually be able to fit all of my yarn INSIDE my drawer unit, and not inside, on top, next to, and in a box in the garage. ;o)

Thank Yous

I decided that I wanted to knit a Thank You gift for my two midwives for their help and support with the birth of my daughter. What could be a more fitting gift than Womb? I had some pink yarn that was the perfect weight, and after a little digging, I found US8 DPNs. Actually, I found 9 US8 DPNs, and I think I know where the last one is...
Anyhow, knitting womb was pretty fun and quick, which is just what is needed when a constantly hungry baby is in competition with the knitting for attention. Since I had 2 midwives, I made 2 wombs.

Tonight I had a visit at the birth center, so I brought along the little gifts. It is so easy to please them. Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so we didn't get a picture of the glee on their faces when I pulled them out of the bag. I think these were some of the best received gifts I have ever given, and they certainly were fun. I would never have any personal use for them, so I probably won't knit them again, but this was definitely the perfect gift for my midwives and the parts they played in one of the most important days of lives of the Kiwi Family.

Soaker Mania!

I've done as much cooking ahead as I can do at this point due to a way too small freezer, where almost half of it is consumed by an icemaker (which of course is a waste of space since it doesn't even work). I have 8 bags of dinners frozen which should be 8 dinners for 3 people. Assuming my mom is out here at the time, being the third person of course. I'm pretty proud of myself for the planning ahead, and hope that a week of meals is enough.

When I'm not cooking, I'm working on knitting soakers. They're pretty quick, even if my knitting productivity has slowed way down. By the time I take pictures of the last 2 I have finished, I have 2 more that need to have pictures taken. I've started my 6th soaker. Woo hoo! I've gotten pretty good at the Curly Purly pattern, so 5 of the 6 are the same pattern, just various sizes, colors, and yarns. I had wondered for a long time what I was going to do with the remaining yarn from the Frog Purse that I knit 2 years ago. Because of the red and green, it looks like I have Christmas soakers in my stash, however I have not knit a red and green soaker. One was red and white, however...

Once I finish the soaker I started yesterday, I think I am going to work on a cover-up for nursing during the colder months. While at Stitches West in February, I picked up this booklet, and some of the tops would be excellent. I'm thinking the Sanpoku would be excellent. I just have to make sure I have enough yarn for it. It will also be nice to have a break from soaker knitting.

Owed Pictures

Man, I used to be so good at posting in a timely manner! Now, I really stink at doing any sort of updating, let alone a good picture post.

But here we go!
I have everything that I talked about in this post; 3 quick soakers and a baby sweater that I had just started at the time, but have just finished* today!

*Yes, I still have to add buttons to the back. I didn't realize I needed buttons when I started.

I made 2 soakers from the Curly Purly Pattern that seems to be quite popular.
The first soaker I decided to knit in the newborn size since, well.. I'm going to be having a newborn, not a toddler. Makes sense to me. Having never had a newborn before, I am *still* unsure of their size. it looked pretty small to me when i completed it, but it seems as though it might be the perfect teeny size for the first few weeks.



The other Curly Purly soaker I made was in the next size up. I also decided to try some color work! I made a row of three little white hearts in the background of red. These are really excellent stash busting projects, since I was wondering when and how I was going to use up my remaining Cascade220 from various felting projects that I had previously done. I think this one I am most pleased with, not just because of the hearts, but I like the size. This of course may change once I actually find out what size a real baby is.



This last one is from Ms Crafty Galore. I liked doing this pattern because it was slightly different from the Curly Purly, (and gave me excellent practice on kitchner stitch) but I am not sure how pleased I am going to be when actually putting it to the test. Where I picked up around the leg holes are slightly bigger and floppier than I would like, leading me to suspect that it would be enough for leaking. I'm going to have to figure out what I want to do with those; maybe undoing them and changing to smaller needles or doing a rolled cuff instead. This one ended up being the largest of the three soakers and was made with Crystal Palace Fjord, instead of Cascade.



Finally, I have the Sirdar #3170 sweater I had made (and realized I massively messed up on KIP day). The mess up wasn't a big deal, and I certainly like it better now that I have it knit up correctly. Just today I finished seaming and weaving in the ends. That counts for something on timeliness, right?! Seaming really was a pain, but I stuck through it knowing that if I didn't get it all done today I wasn't going to want to touch it or any other knitting for a little while. I am very happy with the final result and can't wait to stick a baby in it! Planning ahead, I made the 3-6 month size, since well... I can't think of anyone who would want to be stuck in this thing during the whole month of August, and by the time winter hits, look at that! The Little Bit will be ~3-4 months old, falling in the age-size thing that baby patterns seem to go by. Hopefully my plan works. This was also knit using Plymouth Yarn's DreamBaby DK.



So there ya go! The knitting I have been working on as of late. Tonight, I think I may start another soaker and bust through more Cascade. I'm going to have to buy more wool for this purpose. Hmm.. what should I use?

Knitting and heat

The past few days as it gets hotter and hotter, knitting becomes harder and harder. It's not that I am working with wool at the moment, or working with anything huge or thick. However as it reached 100°F today, as I try to knit the yarn gets stuck on my fingers. It doesn't move and it is hard to keep proper tension. Eesh!

All I want to do is relax and knit, but what can you do when you can't even knit due to the heat?

Icarus Complete!!

Well, almost. I still have to block the shawl, but as of this very moment it is completely bound off and waiting to be soaked and stretched. I still have to figure out exactly how I am going to accomplish this since my oh so convenient carpet that I used for blocking is non existent in the new house. Looks like I might have to lock the cats out of the bedroom and block on the bed.

Last time I updated, I was excited about only having 24 rows left; ie Chart4. I forgot that there were also 4 rows of edging that had to be done. I also surprised myself in that I did complete all of the charts by the end of the Memorial Day weekend. The 4 edging rows were not very complicated at all, and went by pretty quickly... as quick as that many stitches in one row can go.

Hooray! I made my deadline! I finished only 3 days before it was "due" and am pretty proud. This means that I can begin knitting other items, perhaps baby related. I think I need a few small projects after those 2 huge shawls in a row.

Again with the excuses: moving, unpacking, yadda, yadda.. pictures will be posted eventually.. I promise!

More Icarus

I am starting Chart4 of the Icarus Shawl. Only 24 rows left to go! If I complete 4 rows a day, I should be done Thursday night. However, with work and evening commitments, I am not sure I can get those four rows every day, so luckily with the long weekend I can hope to get most of it done this weekend in time to wash, block, and wear it on Saturday.
I don't think I'm ever going to knit on a deadline again. Too stressful!

Icarus Update

And we've moved! We are now settling into our new house and are happily procrastinating unpacking all of the boxes. And we have had internet at the new place for about an hour and a half now. But this is not the point of the post.

This is an update on the Icarus that I am so trying to complete (less than two weeks!) for the wedding. I had previously thought that it wasn't going to be big enough and decided to add an extra repeat of Chart1 before doing the partial chart and diving into chart2. While I was working on the partial repeat AFTER completing the extra repeat of the chart, I decided that no, this was now going to be an Icarus blanket, not an Icarus shawl. And we don't want that. During the move, I managed to hurt my hips to the point where I could NOT remove myself from the couch without shrieking in agony (no lie) so I spent most of my time working on the shawl/blanket. It was during this time that I decided to rip back the 14 rows needed to undo the extra mess that I had created for myself.

Ripping lace is not entirely straight forward. If this was anything else, I would have slid the stitches off and started pulling, confident in my abilities to sort it out in a timely manner. The size lace weight yarn I am using and the Yo's next to ssk's and k2tog's made it so that I really didn't want to just rip and hope. Of course, being the cocky knitter I am, I had no lifeline. So what am I to do?

After doing one row, I decided that tinking was going to take waaay too long, and seeing as how I have a fast approaching deadline this was almost certainly not an option. I tried about 10 times to thread an afterthought lifeline, but alas the YO's, ssk's, and k2togs made it almost impossible to see if I was picking the right stitches. Solution? I decided that tinking back every 5 stitches out of 12 was better than tinking all those 12, so I thread a lifeline through the 7 plain knit stitches and skipped the pattern part. I dropped the knits and tinked back on the pattern, making sure not to drop anything vital. This ended up being much faster and successful than my alternative, and had I known in which box or bag the camera was in, I would have taken pictures of the before and after shots.

I am happy with the decision since I know the size will be what I want, but the only thing that makes me sad is the time that I spent doing all those extra rows and then having to undo them. I could have been getting it right the first time! Oh well. I am now almost finished with Chart2 (only 2 more rows left!) and will soon be moving on to Charts 3 and 4. I'm estimating that even if I power through I'll still be cutting it close and may finish May 30th. Today is the 20th after all... I only have 10 days left to work on it before having to wear it on the 11th day.

Knitters' Baby Shower

Last night was my last Thursday night knitnight group for a few months. My birthing classes have been so (in)conveniently scheduled for 7pm on Thursday nights in San Francisco, which is the same time as the knit group meets. The wonderful knitters threw me a baby shower since I won't been seeing them much before the baby is born. On the MFA group on Ravelry they kept a post going communicating with each other planning last night, and I was forbidden to look at it. I behaved and didn't click it until I got home last night.
It was a wonderful event with some delicious cake, fruits, and drinks. I received a beautiful blanket of 16 knit squares that the knit nighters each made. It was beautifully peiced together, and each sqaure was very pretty and interesting. With some of the left over yarn RevKnits made a cute little hat. AuntieJojo gave me a set of 5 cute onsies, VSkiver gave me a little washcloth square that matches the blanket, Ms.Crafty knit a beautiful little sweater for the baby, Suzanne gave me cute little bootees, and Aliflo gave a cute monkey comfort blanket. (I think I am remembering everything; I don't have my cheat sheet on me!)
Everyone put in so much work to throw such a fun party, and I appreciate all those wonderful people have done. Lynitter did an excellent job coming up with little games to play (even though we kept getting distracted by knitting and yarn to focus on racing to get the games). The "guess the size of the belly" game with the yarn was amusing; I decided to play as well, cutting my own string after everyone else had. All but two people overestimated my belly size; even me!
It was such a fun night, and thank you all so much for planing this out. You are all so wonderful, and the next time I'll see most of you is the knit in public day!
Of course because of moving to a new house this weekend, as of tomorrow I am going to be out of internet and won't be able to post any pictures of the event. I do hope a certain someone sends me photos so I can post some up here, but it will certainly won't be a speedy process.

Suffering Knitting.

I know, I know.. I haven't been updating. A lot has been going on here; we are in the midst of packing all of our belongings to make a move from our crummy apartment to a slightly less crummy house. Work has also been more stressful than I can summarize, and my knitting has been suffering. I've had less time to knit with everything going on, and am starting to feel stress about making my May 31st deadline for the Icarus shawl. I'd take a picture of the progress, however the camera and computer that it hooks into are already packed up.
We're moving on Saturday and won't have internet for a while, so my updates are again going to be pretty sparse, unfortunately. But hopefully my knitting will pick up and when I do get a chance to post again, there will be many pictures and fun things to write about

Shawl Status

Ever since finishing the Flower Basket Shawl I have been working on the Icarus which I plan on wearing to the wedding on May 31st. It's been pretty slow going since I've been under a lot of life pressure. There's been stress at work, but mostly we have been spending all of our time searching for a new place to live. Last week we finally found a place and put down the deposit. We've spent some of the past 2 days packing boxes to move to the new place, and the rest of this month and into May we're going to be packing more, moving, and unpacking. So all of this means less time to spend knitting. Hopefully I'll still manage to get the shawl done in time for the wedding, and not blocking it the night before the wedding!

I wore the flower basket shawl to the bridal shower, and it was a hit! People were impressed and it was very comfy and fun to wear. I've gotten a lot of compliments on the shawl, and it makes me pretty proud that my first lace at this gauge was received so well! The Icarus is being knit at an even finer lace weight, so hopefully it will come out just as nice and be just as impressive.

Flower Basket Shawl

Over due post! Last week (April 14th) I finished the Flower Basket Shawl. Usually, I do a sewn bind off because it leaves the edge nice and loose, which is what I wanted with this. However, binging off some multi-hundred stitches this way is less than efficient, so I did a regular I don't know what to call it bind off, and went up 2 needles sizes. All proud of my finished shawl, I spread it's ruffly self on the bed to take a pre-blocked picture and measurements, and then threw it in a sink full of water and Soak for 15 minutes before pulling it out, squishing it in a towel, and attempting to block it on the floor. I pulled out my blocking wires for the first time (yai!) however it was not a successful block. In the time it took me to try pinning, undoing, repinning, and readjusting, the whole thing dried, and I was still not getting the pretty little peaks that were supposed to be there. It took me maybe an hour and rug burns on both knees to decide that maybe I needed to undo the bind off, and redo it with a much looser one. I stayed up late picking the stitches apart (which probably took another hour) and then redid a nicer bind off. Really now, who among us has not ever stayed up late just trying to do one more row, get past this one part, or finish the whole thing because "I'm so close!!" Even before re-blocking, I could tell that this new bind off was going to be a lot more successful.

The lesson I learned this time was that blocking and getting the peaks works MUCH better if you bind off correctly. It also takes less than 1/4 the time to do. Don't make the same mistake twice. I'm pleased with this, although because "it's only a shawl" I didn't do a gauge swatch, so when I took it off the needles, I didn't know how big it would be. Jon said it looked like a cape. This instantly led my mind down the lines of purple-flower Bat Girl!! I didn't say it out loud, but the image is still there and amuses the crap out of me.

Onto the pictures!

Pre-blocking:


Closeup of blocked detail:


Showing the back being worn just before the shower:


And a side view to see the belly... oh, and the shawl!

A Long Post... But with Pictures!

I took pictures of my most recent finished projects. Woo hoo!

First, we have the Double Wing Top that I recently completed. I have worn it twice since it came off the needles. The verdict? I'm still getting used to it. I like the way the pattern looks, however I wish the charts were written in the right order so I could have the lacy pattern at the bottom and the closed fabric on top, or all lacy pattern. I think it kinda looks a little off having the solid pattern on the bottom with the rest lacy. Since this is a more summery tank for me, I am pretty happy with the lacy-breezy feel, but it just means that I have to wear a small tank underneath. The only other thing I'm not too happy about it its length. This is my own fault however, since it is entirely the yarn I was using, but I also figure that it'll be one of the last shirts that still covers my stomach come July.
The yarn I used was Sweet Grass Wool Toe Jammies. It is a superwash wool and tencel yarn, which means that blocking is difficult. The yarn likes to soak up water and stretch as far as it can. For shawls, great! For tops, not so great. I was pre-warned (thank god) that if stretched, this will NOT spring back. So instead of proper blocking, I have used the dryer. It actually did a good job of what I would expect from blocking; more even stitches, nice fluff, soft..
You can also tell in some of the pictures where I wasn't actually doing math to figure out where to make my modification to string in the rope, but it's not too big of a deal to me. I am also VERY glad I did, since the "empire" shaping that the directions had me do were not enough and without the rope I look like a frumpy square. Thank you, insta-shaping!

Next is the Pinwheel Baby Blanket that I March 14 and finished March 22. It was knit on size US10 needles using Cascade Bollicine Maxi. The blanket went pretty quickly and was a nice brainless knit where I didn't really have to think too much about what I was doing. The only thing that was a tad bit irritating was having to start with the DPNs. Because I am not used to using them (hello, magic loop!) some of my stitches were wonky towards the center, however when I figured I had enough stitches, I moved up to the smallest circular needles I had. When the stitches got to crammed on those needles, I replaced the cable for a bigger one. THIS is where the Knit Picks Interchangable Set comes in quite handy. I decided instead of doing a plain knit cast off I would try to make a fancy edging. Also, because (as everyone knows) stockinette curls, and no amount of blocking is going to eliminate it completely. I decided to try a picot edging to see if that helped with the stitch's tension. It seems to have helped some, but of course not 100%. I'm still quite happy with it though. I also decided to start the bind off when I had a little over half a ball of yarn left, and good thing too! By the time I was finished, I had a whole 3 yards left. Whew! Yes, by the half way point I was sweating quite a bit.

And finally on the evening of March 22 I cast on for the Vine Lace Baby Hat. The only thing I remember about the yarn is that it is wool. This is a very easy pattern to memorize and knit, and I ended up finishing the next day, March 23. The only edit I made to this pattern was to add an extra panel or repeat since I wanted it to be a slightly larger size and since the yarn was smaller than gauge and I only have limited DPNs (see comment in the Pinwheel Blanket). It didn't make a difference to the decrease directions, with the exception of how many stitches I pulled the yarn through in the bind off; 10 instead of 9. I used a balloon to block the hat, which also doubled as a perfect model for pictures. I also decided to photograph the crown since I think the decreases are pretty cool looking.

The Debbie Bliss yarn came in a lot sooner than I expected. I think on Monday the LYS owner let me know that it was in and I could pick it up. So yesterday on my way home from work, I decided to swing out to the shop and pick it up, along with some yarn for the one and only Christmas knitting I will be doing. I unfortunately made the wrong decision and took the longest most traffic filled way, when I thought that it would actually be fastest. I took the highway that EVERYONE takes when trying to get to San Francisco (or the airport), so it was nice and backed up... at 2pm. Then I had to go through a tunnel, which wouldn't have been so bad, but a car fire was blocking one of the lanes and backed it up for about a mile. Whew! But I made it and my happy little perfectly matching ball of yarn was waiting for me.

This was the first time I was in The Yarn Boutique in about 2 years, and they had moved locations since I had been in there. It's a nice little place, and looks like they have more space than at the old location, and each inch of the store is certainly taken advantage of for housing yarn, books, and notions.

When I got home, I was excited to start knitting my sweater again, without having to worry about running out of yarn. I seamed up the sides and was knitting some of the collar when I got too excited and pulled it over my head. When I walked to Mr Kiwi, he popped up out of his chair and was sure to tell me how great and cute the sweater is and how much he likes it. (I think he's gotten really good at putting up a show about my knitting ;o) ) Because of the super chunky yarn, it is pretty heavy to hold, but once it is on, it feels so soft and warm. The pattern makes the sweater slightly loose and not fitted at all, but it looks nice and is very comfortable. I think this sweater will be in competition with the Placed Cable Aran as my favorite go to sweater. I've also noticed how similar they to are to each other with the cables running up the front and back.

To all of the American readers: Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope everyone gets massive food induced comas all day and all weekend, and still manage to do lots of knitting!

Sweater Knitting

I had been working on the Simply Marilyn throughout the week, and brought it to Stitch n Bitch with me on Wednesday. Before I left, I realized that I might need one extra ball of yarn. I had just finished the sleeves, and needed to attach everything and knit the collar. About 30 minutes into SnB, I ran out of yarn. So close to finishing the sweater too! I have found an LYS that found one ball of not only the color I needed, but the same dye lot too! All I have to do is wait for it to come in, and then my sweater will be finished soon after. Hooray!

While I'm waiting on that, I figured I should do some more stash busting and knit something out of the yarn I already have. I have decided to knit the Minimalist Cardigan with Alpaca with a Twist that I got on some crazy sale while visiting Booth Bay Harbor. So far, it is going very well. Because I am using such small yarn, with all the ribbing and seed stitches, this will be a pretty long project compared to my track record. But it feels so nice, so I'm really going to be enjoying this one. The alpaca is also a smaller gauge than the yarn they require, so I am simply following the directions for a larger size in order to get the size I really want.

It's Back!

After Thursday's post of not enjoying the Mustard Parallelo, I decided enough was enough. It's unfortunate that I'm not going to finish that project, but on the bright side, I now have enough yarn to knit two much more enjoyable sweaters instead of the one. I might even have a ball or two left over from one (or both!) to make a hat or scarf from. All of these are much better situations than fighting with the darned pattern that will only make me think of how frustrating the knitting was each time I wear the sweater. Not something I want to think about each time I put on one of my own projects. Instead I will have two or more that will be more exciting to knit, and more fun to wear.

Friday after getting off of work, I sat myself down to try to find a new project to work on. I decided to walk away from GGH Bel Air and Soft Kid this time, and I'll focus on frogging later. My mother in law had sent me some yarn for my birthday that I haven't done anything with yet, so I figured it would be a good idea to use that up. Plus, since it is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky, it will end up being a quick project.

..little did I know....

After a bit of searching, I found Simply Marilyn which called for the exact yarn I have, and in the exact quantity. Great! I cast on Friday evening, and now Sunday afternoon, I have finished the front and back, and am working on the sleeves. This is much more rewarding than the last sweater; it's going quickly, it's enjoyable, relaxing, and I am looking forward to when I get to wear it.

Perhaps I'll get some pictures up when Mr Kiwi is around and let's me use his camera.

Rebecca Magazine

Perhaps I got cocky. I plowed through my first two sweaters with absolutely no problems, and even modified as I went. I had too much faith in my knitting abilities. Now, I am one who rolls my eyes and mumbles "shut up!' when someone says "I am scared of [insert technique here] because it looks so haaardd and scary!" It's really annoying, and dammit, there is no reason to fear multiple circular needles, DPNs, cables, socks, etc. It's only knitting.

However, as I work on the Mustard Parallelo, with is pattern 32 from Rebecca Magazine Number 32, I find myself learning where UFO's and abandoned projects come from. These patterns have all been translated from German, and I have been having problems with it since I cast on. Nothing is described in a way that I can understand, and somethings simply don't make sense at all. Following suit with my last project (yeah, that lace scarf that no one really knows about), I feel like throwing this damn half finished sleeve in a corner and doing something else.

I know this can be a great sweater. A very comfortable sweater. But when I can't even figure out what the hell the pattern wants me to do, it makes me want to take the yarn out and make something completely different that does not come from a translated Rebecca magazine. They have very cute patterns, but dammit if I am ever going to try to knit one of them again.