Scarf Pal Scarf Finished; Socks Begun

My ISE5 scarf is finished! I just can't believe how beautiful this scarf (Branching Out from Knitty)turned out after blocking. I hope my pal likes it! I've ordered some goodies to put in her package, and once they arrive, I can send this away before I get too attached to it! I was going to make a shawl with the remaining skein of Misti Alpaca laceweight plus the new Cherry Tree Hill Possum yarn I bought, but I may just have to make one of these scarves for me!

Now that the scarf is done and I know I will make the December 1 deadline easily, I cast on for my daughter's socks. She chose the skein of Sundara sock yarn in the Bird of Paradise colorway that's been in my stash for awhile. She had liked the Rainbow Socks pattern from Magknits, but I tried and tried and just couldn't figure it out. There is even an online tutorial for these socks--which led me to believe that it's a pattern that would have frustrated me and for which I'd have to concentrate heavily while knitting--that's not what I like in socks.

Since she doesn't like lacy or textured socks, that brought us back to plain stockinette, so I used my Sock Wizard software for the first time and figured out the measurements that way. Now I have a nice, mindless project, and I'll let the vibrant colors of the yearn do the work!

Scarf Pal Scarf Finished; Socks Begun

My ISE5 scarf is finished! I just can't believe how beautiful this scarf (Branching Out from Knitty)turned out after blocking. I hope my pal likes it! I've ordered some goodies to put in her package, and once they arrive, I can send this away before I get too attached to it! I was going to make a shawl with the remaining skein of Misti Alpaca laceweight plus the new Cherry Tree Hill Possum yarn I bought, but I may just have to make one of these scarves for me!

Now that the scarf is done and I know I will make the December 1 deadline easily, I cast on for my daughter's socks. She chose the skein of Sundara sock yarn in the Bird of Paradise colorway that's been in my stash for awhile. She had liked the Rainbow Socks pattern from Magknits, but I tried and tried and just couldn't figure it out. There is even an online tutorial for these socks--which led me to believe that it's a pattern that would have frustrated me and for which I'd have to concentrate heavily while knitting--that's not what I like in socks.

Since she doesn't like lacy or textured socks, that brought us back to plain stockinette, so I used my Sock Wizard software for the first time and figured out the measurements that way. Now I have a nice, mindless project, and I'll let the vibrant colors of the yearn do the work!

I Won Yarn!!

Just when I was feeling sorry for myself for having to miss both Stitches East and Rhinebeck (where every other blogger in the knitting universe seems to have gone...), I got an email (on my birthday, no less!) that I won the contest I had entered on Yarn4socks.com! Today my gorgeous skein of Schaefer Anne arrived. I have been wanting to knit with Anne for a long time, and now I'll have the chance. I will probably use it for socks, but I will check out other ideas on Ravelry. The skein is a beautiful mix of fall colors: oranges, golds, and a tawny brown. I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much, Valerie!!

In other news, my Branching Out for my ISE5 pal is just about finished--I should be able to cast off tonight, and then will probably block the scarf later this week. It will be my first time using the blocking wires I bought a year ago, but given my new infatuation with lace, I don't think it will be the last.

I Won Yarn!!

Just when I was feeling sorry for myself for having to miss both Stitches East and Rhinebeck (where every other blogger in the knitting universe seems to have gone...), I got an email (on my birthday, no less!) that I won the contest I had entered on Yarn4socks.com! Today my gorgeous skein of Schaefer Anne arrived. I have been wanting to knit with Anne for a long time, and now I'll have the chance. I will probably use it for socks, but I will check out other ideas on Ravelry. The skein is a beautiful mix of fall colors: oranges, golds, and a tawny brown. I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much, Valerie!!

In other news, my Branching Out for my ISE5 pal is just about finished--I should be able to cast off tonight, and then will probably block the scarf later this week. It will be my first time using the blocking wires I bought a year ago, but given my new infatuation with lace, I don't think it will be the last.

Two Sleeves at Once

I have finished the front of my Gatsby Girl Pullover; with the back already done, now it's just down to the sleeves. Since I've been working on this sweater (in between lots of other smaller projects) since July, I am really ready to finish. So, I decided to think about knitting both sleeves at once, something I've never done.

I posed a question about this technique on the wonderful Yahoo KnitList Group, and got such an overwhelming response--probably about 40 people detailing the benefits of knitting two sleeves at once! Of course, I decided to give it a try and cast on. Many of the people who wrote me about knitting two sleeves at once did have some great tips to keep disasters from happening. Many of these are lessons learned from personal experience, I'm sure, and I'm happy to know about them and to share them here with you:

--Put a marker at the beginning (right side) of the first sleeve. That
way you'll always be in the right place if you have to stop knitting in the middle of a row.
--Never stop between the two pieces; at least start a row on the second sleeve if
you have to stop in the middle, otherwise you'll forget which sleeve you
just finished working on.
--Pin the two sleeves together in the middle so everything will stay straight. You can move the pin/marker up as you knit.
--Another suggestion was to put a big safety pin at the beginning of the second sleeve, as a reminder that this piece must be knit before turning!
--To prevent the two balls of yarn from tangling, put each ball in a Ziplock bag and snip a corner to run the yarn through. If you don't do this, at least stop and untangle the balls at the end of each row to keep tangles from getting too serious.
--Pay attention to things like increases, and make sure you do them on both sleeves. Use a row counter or other method of keeping track of increases--perhaps one on each sleeve--if that's easiest.

So I've done two rows and so far, so good. I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you to all my wonderful KnitList friends--you ALWAYS come through!

Two Sleeves at Once

I have finished the front of my Gatsby Girl Pullover; with the back already done, now it's just down to the sleeves. Since I've been working on this sweater (in between lots of other smaller projects) since July, I am really ready to finish. So, I decided to think about knitting both sleeves at once, something I've never done.

I posed a question about this technique on the wonderful Yahoo KnitList Group, and got such an overwhelming response--probably about 40 people detailing the benefits of knitting two sleeves at once! Of course, I decided to give it a try and cast on. Many of the people who wrote me about knitting two sleeves at once did have some great tips to keep disasters from happening. Many of these are lessons learned from personal experience, I'm sure, and I'm happy to know about them and to share them here with you:

--Put a marker at the beginning (right side) of the first sleeve. That
way you'll always be in the right place if you have to stop knitting in the middle of a row.
--Never stop between the two pieces; at least start a row on the second sleeve if
you have to stop in the middle, otherwise you'll forget which sleeve you
just finished working on.
--Pin the two sleeves together in the middle so everything will stay straight. You can move the pin/marker up as you knit.
--Another suggestion was to put a big safety pin at the beginning of the second sleeve, as a reminder that this piece must be knit before turning!
--To prevent the two balls of yarn from tangling, put each ball in a Ziplock bag and snip a corner to run the yarn through. If you don't do this, at least stop and untangle the balls at the end of each row to keep tangles from getting too serious.
--Pay attention to things like increases, and make sure you do them on both sleeves. Use a row counter or other method of keeping track of increases--perhaps one on each sleeve--if that's easiest.

So I've done two rows and so far, so good. I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you to all my wonderful KnitList friends--you ALWAYS come through!

Persevering

Not much to report this week.
I was supposed to have gone to Stitches East with a knitting group pal, but a work meeting got in the way. Considering I haven't used a lot of the stash I bought at last year's Stitches, I was actually OK about it. To appease myself, I went to Knit New York just before my meeting, sat and had a cool drink and knit on my Gatsby Girl for awhile. I also picked up the new Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts issue, because I've been reading and hearing that there are some great patterns in it. I also love the holiday gifts for knitters they describe--I want them ALL!

Next weekend might have been my opportunity to go to Rhinebeck, but alas, I don't think that will happen either. I have a couple of commitments at home that are going to prevent me from going. I may take a yarn shop detour near where I have to be on Saturday, I'll keep you posted! Mark my words, one of these years I'm going to get there!

In the meantime, I'm making good progress on Gatsby Girl and also on Branching Out, my ISE5 scarf project. I had one scary moment where I laid out the scarf to measure it, and saw that I had dropped a stitch about 4 INCHES BACK with no visible way to save it...yes, I had to rip back that intricate lace, but all seems to be well now. So being deprived of yarn events is at least allowing me to get my WIPs to the next stage...

Persevering

Not much to report this week.
I was supposed to have gone to Stitches East with a knitting group pal, but a work meeting got in the way. Considering I haven't used a lot of the stash I bought at last year's Stitches, I was actually OK about it. To appease myself, I went to Knit New York just before my meeting, sat and had a cool drink and knit on my Gatsby Girl for awhile. I also picked up the new Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts issue, because I've been reading and hearing that there are some great patterns in it. I also love the holiday gifts for knitters they describe--I want them ALL!

Next weekend might have been my opportunity to go to Rhinebeck, but alas, I don't think that will happen either. I have a couple of commitments at home that are going to prevent me from going. I may take a yarn shop detour near where I have to be on Saturday, I'll keep you posted! Mark my words, one of these years I'm going to get there!

In the meantime, I'm making good progress on Gatsby Girl and also on Branching Out, my ISE5 scarf project. I had one scary moment where I laid out the scarf to measure it, and saw that I had dropped a stitch about 4 INCHES BACK with no visible way to save it...yes, I had to rip back that intricate lace, but all seems to be well now. So being deprived of yarn events is at least allowing me to get my WIPs to the next stage...

Quickie!

I seem to have lost the cute red and black cell phone case I knit right after we got our new phones at the end of August. How disappointing!


I immediately cast on for another one, this time a cute pattern that allows me to practice my skills at bead knitting. It is bulkier than the first one I'd made, but it's cheerful and unique and I love it!

Thanks to Karen, a new Ravelry friend, for the awesome pattern--check it out!

Quickie!

I seem to have lost the cute red and black cell phone case I knit right after we got our new phones at the end of August. How disappointing!


I immediately cast on for another one, this time a cute pattern that allows me to practice my skills at bead knitting. It is bulkier than the first one I'd made, but it's cheerful and unique and I love it!

Thanks to Karen, a new Ravelry friend, for the awesome pattern--check it out!

Lace Lessons

I finished my hubby's Slipped-Stitch Rib socks--I think they look great, if I do say so myself! I hope they fit him perfectly, I may have to stretch the foot of one of them just a bit. Now we just need some cooler weather so he'll want to wear them (not that I am in a rush for cool weather--I'm LOVING the warm October we're having!)

But the real reason for today's blog entry is to discuss the lessons I've learned since starting Branching Out, which I'm knitting in doubled Misti Alpaca laceweight (which is stil pretty darn thin, even doubled!) in a mossy green colorway.

The project has been growing on me, and I'm actually looking forward to the "magic" that happens with blocking.
However, I made one mistake about 10 rows back. I thought I'd just keep going and no one would notice. But alas, I couldn't stop thinking about the error (the stitches weren't lined up right on either side of a center stitch that remains throughout the 10-row pattern). Last night, in a rush of bravery, I ripped back to the mistake. And here's what I learned:
1)I understand why people who knit lace use a lifeline. That would have helped me a great deal. As it was, I kind of held my breath and ripped, and I was very lucky that I didn't lose more stitches than I did.
2)It is much easier to "read" lace by using a chart than by reading written-out instructions. Although the pattern gives both, for some reason (I've read lots of charts before...), I chose to follow the written-out directions. That was fine until the mistake was made. Three rip-outs later, I decided to consult the chart to identify where that center stitch should be and what should come before and after it. Once I used the chart, I had the problem fixed in no time flat.
3)I'm still not sure if I like knitting lace, but I can see the addictive quality of it (just like socks, and other things that have cult-knit status). I have a feeling that by the time I'm finished with this scarf, I'll be hooked on lace.

We have a long car ride coming up this weekend--I've decided that rather than casting on for my next set of socks (possibly Monkeys...we'll see), I will just take Branching Out and Gatsby Girl and make much progress on both of those, before starting my next pair of socks. Let's see how that strategy works.

Lace Lessons

I finished my hubby's Slipped-Stitch Rib socks--I think they look great, if I do say so myself! I hope they fit him perfectly, I may have to stretch the foot of one of them just a bit. Now we just need some cooler weather so he'll want to wear them (not that I am in a rush for cool weather--I'm LOVING the warm October we're having!)

But the real reason for today's blog entry is to discuss the lessons I've learned since starting Branching Out, which I'm knitting in doubled Misti Alpaca laceweight (which is stil pretty darn thin, even doubled!) in a mossy green colorway.

The project has been growing on me, and I'm actually looking forward to the "magic" that happens with blocking.
However, I made one mistake about 10 rows back. I thought I'd just keep going and no one would notice. But alas, I couldn't stop thinking about the error (the stitches weren't lined up right on either side of a center stitch that remains throughout the 10-row pattern). Last night, in a rush of bravery, I ripped back to the mistake. And here's what I learned:
1)I understand why people who knit lace use a lifeline. That would have helped me a great deal. As it was, I kind of held my breath and ripped, and I was very lucky that I didn't lose more stitches than I did.
2)It is much easier to "read" lace by using a chart than by reading written-out instructions. Although the pattern gives both, for some reason (I've read lots of charts before...), I chose to follow the written-out directions. That was fine until the mistake was made. Three rip-outs later, I decided to consult the chart to identify where that center stitch should be and what should come before and after it. Once I used the chart, I had the problem fixed in no time flat.
3)I'm still not sure if I like knitting lace, but I can see the addictive quality of it (just like socks, and other things that have cult-knit status). I have a feeling that by the time I'm finished with this scarf, I'll be hooked on lace.

We have a long car ride coming up this weekend--I've decided that rather than casting on for my next set of socks (possibly Monkeys...we'll see), I will just take Branching Out and Gatsby Girl and make much progress on both of those, before starting my next pair of socks. Let's see how that strategy works.