knit1frog2

hourglass math

So...my latest dilemma with the hourglass sweater is coming up short on yarn.  The errata says that some knitters have come up one or two balls short among other pattern errors.  Seeing that the sleeve alone would easily gobble up 2 skeins of the 40g/99yd yarn, I started to do some calculations...

• say I use 11 hanks/skeins, this would equal ~ 440g/1089yds (this amt seems short for a sweater with very long sleeves)
• 11 skeins at 50g, would be ~ 550g/1353yds (this yardage is more like it)
• 1353 - 1089yds = 264yds ~ 2.67 each of 40g balls

So it looks like I'll need another 3 balls at least...I called AS and they have the yarn!  (apparently the UK hanks are in 50g quantities)

hourglass progress

So I finished the body on Monday night...

okay, this *was* relatively a quick knit

I was confused at first with how exactly this was supposed to come together...you knit the body like a tube with decreases/increases along the sides.  (this idea I really like, b/c I've heard that sweaters knit in the round tend to not have much shape and are a bit too stretchy)  Then you knit the sleeves in a tube and connect them.  This is what didn't make sense to me, looking at the final drawing of the sweater pieces, I didn't see a straight edge sleeve tube connecting to the tubed body. 

Many thanks to Pamela who I met at the local knitters group (no I just really don't like the term SnB, thank you) it is all coming together for me now...that and she pointed out that the Vogue knitting book had an illustration of what exactly would be happening. 

After meeting and knitting with the group at Jerzey's I raced home and scoured the book...there it was.  Clear as day.  I had only bought the full Vogue Knitting recently, so I still hadn't unearthed all of the treasures that await in that book!  I had the compendium for a long time, which I see now, is nice to have as a takealong, but doesn't contain anywhere near the informative pearls of knowledge as the full copy.

this is what I knit last night :)

The sleeve looks more tapered than it actually is...the darn Inox needle cord is soooo curled, and yes I'm knitting my sleeves straight b/c I didn't have a long enough needle to do them magicloop style or a short enough circular to knit in the round.  Oh, and I suppose an added bonus of knitting the sleeves straight, is that I finally have something to practice my continental purling on.  I'm getting better, but wow is it challenging.  I still have to think when I purl.

weasley update

Awhile back, I had posted where to find copies of the Weasley sweater pattern.  (Unbelivably one of my LYSs carried it, but no, they no longer have any copies--I checked).  I had received an email from Tina who thanked me for posting the info as she was able to finally get her hands on one or two (ha!).  Well, she checked in last week and sent me this photo (which she gave me the okay to post) of her finished sweater:

One of Tina's friends made the robe!

Doesn't she look darling?  She even mentioned running into Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who loved her outfit too...

Oh, one other thing...if you're utterly and completely desperate...as in your-world-will-implode-if-you-do-not-find-the-pattern, Tina has an extra one that she'd be willing to part with.  Really though, after seeing the pattern and having knitted two myself...I can say you really don't need one.  It's a straightforward pattern with straight sleeves and a roll-neck.  There are tons of generic patterns like that out there that will get you through.  Try this one (sans cables and do a ribbing on the sleeve ends)...it looks just like the Weasley pattern...

yikes a new project

well hmm...Zina told me that Acorn Street had blocking wires...so I went on Saturday innocently enough to look.  They didn't have any and they wouldn't be placing an order for another month.  I continued looking...

Well, before I knew it...this Noro caught my eye...and no Zina, I don't blame you for my newest stash enhancement... ^_~

so tidy and neat, all ready to wind...

Isn't that the prettiest blue?  It's even prettier in person.  And you know what the Iroha is for, right?  When I started to wind the hanks, I saw something odd.  One of the now-skeins was small...much smaller than the other yarn cakes so i weighed it.  Take a look:

it should be 40g, not 25g!  gah.

Sigh.  Of course I paid the same price as the other hanks for it, but since I've already wound it, can I say anything to the yarn store?  I did save $40 though on the purchase from punchcards.  (one of the reasons I love Acorn Street)

But check out what a good girl I was...

mark the day, I actually made a full swatch!

oh joy with flowers

Well, I stopped by Hilltop's sale yesterday to pick up some cotton tape to make the tank from the Rowan cotton tape book that Michele sent me. 

oddly, I'm really liking reds lately!

There's also a jacket in that book that I'd like to knit at some point, but they didn't have enough yarn in the color that I wanted.  It's a blessing in disguise really.  I took the red cotton tape and headed to the register.

Of course, I didn't quite make it all of the way there, b/c MF and I spotted the cutest scarf on the planet.  It was a simple knit, however, it had strands of a mohair with super cutie yarn with teeny tiny flowers strung along it every couple of rows.

red is for MF, hover over the pic for my color!

Even though I've been liking reds lately, moss or celadon green is always the color for me!

Now I'm off to make espresso and later it's a viewing of Wedding Crashers...ha!

gift day

So at work today, I was gifted this messenger bag...and I was way psyched--

this thing has a zillion pockets!

See that lower RH red corner there?  Well, if you unzip it, you'd see this.  Yes, isn't that hilarious?  Yup, each little pocket or opening has an icon and it also has one of these in case you're confused about what goes where.  If only it had a pocket with ball-of-yarn-with-knitting-needles icon.

Then I stopped by my mailbox and found this:

me?  a cotton tape knitter?

I had seen a tank made from this book and wow, I knew I had to knit it at some point.  I saw it on Michele's blog and left a message about how amazing hers looked and she sent me the book!!  Talk about a sweetheart...thanks again Michele!!  I really wouldn't have imagined that I would have ever liked anything from this, but how I was wrong.

Then I stopped off at half-price books and found these:

$6 and $10 respectively!!

They were such a great deal, I couldn't leave them behind.  Especially when Tadpoles & Tiddlers is no longer available.  Yup, it's been a great day!

fruit salad footies

So my earlier sad, sad photo of the unfinished footies...well I just couldn't stand it anymore and after a moment of silence, I fixed them last night.  Thank you everyone for the kind words and your earlier support on the cashshort pair.  Now take a look, don't they look vibrant and fruity?

no pompom yet, but wouldn't orange ones be nice?

the gauge is wha..?

hmmm...so I've cast on and started the Paloma...and um...right.  Gauge is supposed to be 14st/4", or 3.5sts/in.

Can YOU tell how to count this??

1, 2 no wait.  blob, blob...

Here is what the sweater actually looks like.  The yarn is part of the stash from the Skeins sale...it was a steal, though they didn't have red.  I wish now that I would have picked up some black to do the cowl part b/c me thinks this camel color won't be too great against the color of my face...and I want people to say, "great sweater!" instead of vomit when they see me.

Oh yes, and I'm able to better my skills at the purling Continental since the yarn is pretty forgiving and it doesn't matter too much if the stitches are somewhat uneven!  I'll be a continental knitter yet!

(after note:  I did find a way to check the gauge.  It turns out, if you hold the swatch up to a light source, you can see through it!  It's reminiscent of looking from the inside-out of the invisibility cape in the Harry Potter movies!)

blocker

I can block a knife attack, I can block a kick coming my way, but I've yet to block a sweater.

I finally broke down and bought this...

but I won't see it for 4 wks!

Sure I could have made my own.  In fact I've seen lots of people do this and they've come out really well!  I really thought about doing it...but Joann's was having a 40% off sale, what else can I say?

short of cash

So I cranked the left one out Saturday night and the other one Sunday AM...I thought it would be a good use of the 3rd ball of the leftover Rowan Cashsoft that I had used for my Sockapal2za pal's socks...but look...it's just so sad...

that little ball in between there isn't nearly
enough to finish!!  argh.

I have never wished until now, that yarn came in thirds on the shelf!  argh.