NaKniSweMo Update #2

I was just about to go to sleep (3:13AM), but I realized that I will be riding the train into the city tomorrow, and I needed to have my precious knitting with me.  In order to carry on with the design, it is about time that I added the steeks for the neckline.  So, before I did that, I decided to try it on, just to make sure that my waist shaping measurements actually fit my body correctly.  I had to add 22 rows to the pattern on a whole, because at the gauge that I am knitting with, it would have been 2.5 inches too short.   Who wants a Midriff Argyle Sweater when they want to look professional at work in their knitted attire?

So I put half the stitches on another needle, and put it over my Afro hair.  It was able to stretch over the massive mound of curls (Good sign)  Then I put my arms through.  No sound of ripping (Good sign).  Then I slid it down to my waist area.  I experienced normal average stretch that you get from a well measured sweater.  I was surprised that the Fair Isle was this stretchy. 

So, here is my sweater, up to the point of where I will add the steeks for the Deep-V neckline.  I am so excited about it.

So, according to my stitch calculations, the sweater is at 40% done.  I am going to have to do some serious catching up, but I am very hopeful still.  My main concern is the fear that I won't have enough black yarn.  EEEEEK!  We will see.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  40% looks more like 60% in this picture. 

I am also waiting on my Knit Pro Tunisian crochet hooks that I ordered from http://www.getknitted.com/ . These hooks will attach to my Knitpicks needle cable/wire and I can pick up stitches using the crochet hook.  My motto "Work smarter, not harder" .  So, the needles are coming from the UK, because although Knitpicks sells crochet hooks, they do not sell the interchangeable one.  Knitpicks are only allowed to send Knitpicks products in the US and Canada.  The KnitPro products are the exact same design as Knitpicks, just sold exclusively in Europe and Australia.  Why, why why????  I asked Knitpicks if they were going to addit to the list of products.  They kindly let me know that all of their customer's requests go into consideration.  We will see what happens.

NaKniSweMo 2010 - Update #1

I must say that this sweater is taking me on a wild knitting journey.  But, I am loving every minute of it.  Here is a day-by-day account of my sweater progress.

Day 1 (1,610 Stitches) - I realized that I got a suitable gauge using the size 6 needle, and if I did the charted 42" pattern, it would coincide with the actual 34" sweater measurements.  So, I went ahead and casted on 200+ stitches. 

Day 2 (2,070 more stitches) - I finally started the colorwork.  I'm so excited. 

Day 3 (2,300 more stitches) - I am beginning to love this pattern.  I love the way that the fabric is beginning to shape up.  This yarn feels so soft.  I already started the waist shaping within the first 4 color rounds.

Day 4 (2,860 more stitches) - I love the way the pattern looks.  I love the color contrast.  I am totally happy with my project.  Wait, is that a mistake I see?  Oh noooooooo!  I'm not ripping this thing out.  All that hard work!  Looks like I need to call in the doctor for a sweater surgery.

Pre-Operation

Ripping Back the Line of Stitches

Changing the Colors

Post-Operation.  Whew!

The next day, I was happily knitting along on the train, and then I felt a jarring pain in my pointer finger.  Ouch!  It happened two more times, then I saw a slight trickle of blood.  Ok, It's time to put the knitting down for a moment.  This is getting a bit too crazy.  What?  Put the knitting down?  HELL NO.  This is NAKNISWEMO.  We don't give up so easily.  Looks like I will have to buy some rubber fingers tomorrow. 

I know it's a small cut, but it hurts like hell. 

Swatching Ugh!

365.309 - Swatching Ugh!
Originally uploaded by shamekaknits

The Face of Frustration. I am attempting to be a good girl and do a proper swatch for my NaKniSweMo Deep V Argyle Vest project.

The pattern calls for size 4 needles, and a DK weight yarn. I am using Shelridge Farm Softouch DKW. I know that this is supposed to be steeked, and this is a Superwash yarn. I fully intend to sew it before cutting the steeks.

So, using the size 4 needles, I get 32 stitches/4 inches instead of the recommended 22 stitches/4 inches. REALLY ???? Then, I decided to move up a needle size and see where that brings me. The size 5 needles give me 28 stitches/4 inches. That's when I got fed up and took this picture. When will I ever be able to start? The portion closest to my fingers is the size 5 swatch. I can see a considerable difference when I compare the two, but it still isn't enough.

So, I tried a size 6 needle, and that gave me 26 stitches/4 inches. Using this, I decided to go up to the size 42" measurements. 230 stitches casted on, divided by 6.5 is roughly 35 inches. Since my real measurements are 34 inches, I wouldn't mind having 1 extra inch of ease. That leaves room, just in case I want to have a big dinner, or a few desserts. Hehe! By the time I finish this sweater, Thanksgiving leftovers will have already been consumed.

So I casted on, and am officially moving forward with this sweaeter. FINALLY! Wish me luck, or better yet PRAY FOR ME.

Ms. Raspberry Fudge Cocoa Plans

So, I am not sure how badly I have been saying this, but.....I LOVE COLORWORK! There, I've said it. The actual knitting part of my colorwork Chullo hat went by in a breeze. It's just my surgery for the earflaps that needs to be scheduled for a day in the near future.

So, being that I love colorwork now, and I have no idea why I never attempted to make a true Fair Isle garment before, I set out to plan my next project. I was also inspired by David Reidy's Sticks and String podcast where he talks about Fair Isle knitting, and even recommended two books that I just had to buy. So, without further adieu, I present to you my planned "baby" for whenever I finish my 10 in 2010 projects. Her name is Autumn Rose, and I am Christening her as Ms. Raspberry Fudge Cocoa.

I have decided to make the color scheme Pink and Brown instead of Red and Gold.  Don't get me wrong.  I like the autumn colors.  But, I just love the pink and browns better.  Also, noone on ravelry has a sweater with my color scheme, which makes it all the more special.  I need to use Excel to chart out my colors.  Some genius decided to make the chart in the book white and gray.  As if colors didn't matter in a sweater that uses 11 different colors.  DUMB, DUMB. DUMB! I don't know if it was the pattern designer's fault, or the publisher's fault, but I think someone should have spoken up and said something before the book went to print.  ( My 2 cents - but really who am I?  Just a person who bought the book and wants to make something out of it, and have a reason to rant and rave about how wonderful it is)  Hmmmm... maybe they just want to make knitters evolve into Fair Isle pattern designers.  Hmmm.. then I could have someone buy one of my patterns one day.  We will see. 

So, aside from the Simply Shetland 4 at Tomales Bay book, I bought Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti, and Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting.  I have suddenly become interested in all the history and different techniques, and the best patterns to use for different body shapes etc, etc, etc.  I have a feeling that these two books will help me answer all of my questions.  It sure beats buying a pattern book with a DUMB portion of the pattern in it, that you are just supposed to guess.  OK, I am going to stop being so mean.

I have decided to join NaKniSweMo, since this is November, and I still have to cast on 1 sweater for my 10 in 2010 projects.  I have decided to make Eunny Jang's Deep V Argyle Vest.  I know it's not a full sweater, but here is my mathematical logic as to why I will still use it for NaKniSweMo.  The rules state that the sweater should be at least 50,000 stitches.  Upon my calculations, my vest is 39,587 stitches.  Now, if you were to divide 50,000 stitches into 30 days, that would equate to 1667 stitches per day.  That leaves me at a deficit of 6.25 days of knitting.  Therefore, if I start on Nov 7th, I should be ok right? That's a yes in my book.  It's time to swatch! 

Baby Sweater Progress - Chocolate Covered Orange Slice

It only took 2 episodes of Vampire Diaries and 1 train ride home to make it this far.  Now, let's see what tomorrow brings. I am having fun with this sweater. I also want to hurry up and finish it, so that I can get back to my Chullo hat.  It's frickin' cold outside, and I really want to wear my hat as quickly as possible. 

Also, I am making a concious effort to blog more often.  We have to celebrate the little daily victories in life with beautiful words.  Even, if it is just 2 baby sweater fronts and half a back, while the hat is waiting for attention. 

Weekend Plans for 10 in 2010.... FOILED!

So, I set out to have a calm, relaxing weekend at home.  I though that I would get a lot of knitting done.  My intent was to work on my Through the Loops Mystery Sock while I was traveling home from work on Friday, finish the earflaps of my Chullo hat on Saturday, and perform the surgery required to complete the hat.  I also wanted to work on my Interlocking Cables sweater on Sunday, and just see how far I could get (no pressure).  All of these projects are 10 in 2010 projects.

Currently, the sock is at the heel flap stage.  The last clue for the toe was distributed on Friday.  I don't have a serious problem with the sock.  It's just that row 11 of the pattern is a cable row, and I hate cabling socks because the yarn and needles are so tiny.  So, I would get into a good groove on my travels to and from work, and then reach the cable row. Ugh!  It's really hard to do that on a moving bus.  I am also afraid that I will drop my cable needle and lose it forever on the bus. 

My Chullo hat is at a stage where the crown decreases have started.  It has gotten to the point where I need to switch to double pointed needles. 

However, those DPN's are being used to recreate the ear flaps, because I don't like the ones that I have attached.  So, I forsee an earflap surgery in the near future.  I will remove the existing earflaps, leave live stitches on the hat, and kitchener the new earflaps to the hat.  But first, the new earflaps have to be made.  I decided to double knit them, and use an alternate pattern so that my hat isn't too much of an alpaca parade.  Here is a picture of the beginning of my double knitting work. 

The most troubling/annoying thing about the earflaps was that I needed to do increases in the double knit project.  I have yet to find a youtube video that explains how to do this effectively.  I have found pictures, but they just confuse me.  Somehow it all managed to click when I realized that you have to increase on both the main side and reverse side.  After that discovery, the knitting part was a piece of cake...until I got sleepy.

My Interlocking Cables Sweater is at the point where I am increasing for the chest/bust area.  This sweater is full of exquisite cables, and just CANNOT be done on the bus/train because it has gotten to a point where it is just too big to carry.  I'm not afraid to lose my cable needle, because it is a size 7 DPN, and I have made it thus far without a problem.  I was hoping to have at least separated the front from the back. 
Here is a picture of the sweater before I go to the bust increase section.

My 10 in 2010 knitting "flow" had gotten interrupted by a special request for a baby sweater/hat set for the neighbor's soon-to-be-here child.  The baby shower is this coming Saturday, so I have to move fast.  I don't know the gender of the baby, so that made it a bit difficult in choosing the right colors from my stash.  Then a lightbulb went on.  I realized that the mother-to-be's favorite color is orange.  So, I pulled out some Berroco Comfort that I received in a swap and casted on.  Here is the sweater. 

So, what really happened this weekend was.... I got invited to an awesome Halloween party.  I went shopping for a costume on Friday (after working 2 hours extra), and was just too tired to knit on the bus ride home.  Saturday, I spent the day with my grandfather, then went to Target for some last minute make-up to start getting ready for my halloween party.  The makeup took forever to do, but in the end it was totally awesome.  I got to the party just before the bewitching hour of 1AM when they started charging an entrance fee.  I saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones that I would love to party with again. 

Here is my costume. 

Sunday, like a true Vampire, I slept through most of the sunlight hours.  I woke up in time to cook dinner for my mom, then flat ironed my hair because the HOT party made it curl up after it was so nicely done.  After the hair fiasco I decided to write a blog post.  Too tired to knit, so I will be working on that baby sweater on the bus tomorrow.  I hope everyone had a happy, safe, and enjoyable Halloween. I'm excited to buy 50% off candy tomorrow. 

7 months later... The New York City Yarn Crawl

I have been away for 7 months, and I am soooo sorry I kept you waiting for so long.  I have run into a slew of things that I can use as excuses (summertime fun, birthday fun, working too hard, computer issues, internet issues) However, I dont want to dwell on the negative.  Let's look to the future of happy knitting time.  I have so much to get you up to speed on.  So let's start with my most recent knitting adventure, and take it from there.

On October 9th and 10th, New York City Hosted a Yarn Crawl.  I had an absloute fun time galavanting around the city, and entering myself into raffles for a huge yarn basket. 

Saturday I made it to Knitty City, Yarntopia, and The Yarn Co. This was my first time visiting Both Yarntopia and The Yarn Co.  I bought the Stitchionary 5 Book at the Yarn Co, and received a book that they wrote called "Knits for All Seasons" as a free gift for spending over $25.  That was so nice of them. Honestly, I didn't look at any yarn, because I already have waaaaaay to much of a stash.  My friend threatened to cut my hair if I bought a skein.  So, I restrained myself.  LOL!  I am glad that I have books with patterns to help me knit with the yarn that I already have.



On Sunday, I made a plan, and headed to 6 stores in Brooklyn, and Manhattan.  My list of intended stores was Knit-A-Way, Brooklyn General, Lion Brand, Purl Soho, Downtown Yarns, and La Casita.  I made it to every store except Downtown Yarns, because time was just running out, and so was my energy.  Here are some pictures that highlighted my trip.

Brooklyn General

This store was so warm and friendly.  Part of the NYC Yarn Crawl was a Scavenger Hunt for knitted apples.  As soon as I walked in there it was right there.  Isn't this tree awesome? I want one in my house.  LOL!  So, each apple had a tag with info on the knitter who made it.  I had to send it to one of the yarn crawl organizers via an email.  I was intent on finding the apples in every store that I went to.

Another sweet treat that Brooklyn General had to offer was an apple pie/cobbler contest.  I had a sliver of both pies, and they were equally delicious, but I chose the one that had a slight sweet and tart flavor.  Flavor complexity is a winner in my book.  I perused around the store for a bit, and found some really nice magazines, but since I didn't want to get caught up on falling in love with a project when I put myself on a yarn diet, I declined to purchase them and torture myself.  I will be back to the store though.  I love the fact that they have plenty of yarns that are not your usual run of the mill yarns.



So, my next step of the journey was to go to the Manhattan to 14th Street, so that I can go to the Lion Brand Store.  These 8 stops seemed to have taken forever.  When I got to Lion Brand it was busy and bustling.  I signed up for the raffle, and found the apple in a basket of project bags. 

And speaking of apple, with New York being the Big Apple, I found the store's front showcase to be very fitting to the NYC persona.

Lion Brand


My Next Stop was Purl Soho.  I admired the fabric display in the front of the store.  I love the fact that this store is a home to knittiers, quilters, cross-stitchers, and embroiderers alike.
Purl Soho

However, this store was SUPER CROWDED. I had to run out of there to catch my breath.  I took a quick stop at Starbucks for a refreshing Iced White Mocha.  But, not before I got a picture of the Purl Apple.


After this, I realized that making it to Downtown Yarns before they closed was impossible.  I am very unfamiliar with the streets in the Lower East Side, and didn't want to get out of the train, and waste time walking in the wrong direction.  So, I just went straight to La Casita.
La Casita


I was greeted by the ever-so-lovely-and-knowledgeable Hannah.  She offered me a glass of Cava as I walked into the store. I love knitting stores that double as coffee shops and wine bars. 



So I settled into my favorite knitting shop for the rest of the night.  I ate some Empanadas and salad that were finger lickin' good. 


I marveled at the raffle prize, hoping that I could be one of the lucky winners.

'

 I found the apple for the Scavenger Hunt



I decided to actually knit for the rest of the evening.  I knit this baby hat for my nephew.


Once the ensemble was finished, he tried it on a week later.  Doesn't he look so cute?  The color looks a little "froggy" to me, but it's a welcomed deviation from Baby Blue.  The pattern for the Jumper is called Pepita, and the hat is the Sockyarn Baby Hat.  I used 2 skeins of Wool Candy Meringue Sock yarn in the Fresh Herb Colorway. I made the socks using the same instructions that were in the Pepita pattern for the attached feet. I figured that babies grow really fast, so he would outgrow a footed jumper very quickly.  I added some length to the foot part of the sock as well as the cuff.  In this picture he is 2 months old.  He is growing so fast. 


This encompases 2 of the projects on my 10 in 2010 list.  Whew!
Coming up next.... More knitted updates on the status of the rest of my 10 in 2010 projects.