If you've read my blog for any length of time, you may have noticed that I don't knit many socks. And when I do knit socks, I let the project drag on and on and on. Recently I was invited to knit socks with Mary and her friends. (Okay, I actually might have invited myself.) It was decided that we'd knit Carole's Picot Edge Socks in July. I wasn't sure if I'd get them finished by the end of the month. But guess what - they are done and I finished them in less than a month! I love the picot edge on these socks! Thanks for sharing this pattern, Carole!
This time things started to make more sense to me. Turning the heel wasn't nearly as confusing as it had been in the past. I guess I was feeling a little smug and I stopped counting the gusset decreases on the first sock. I sped right past the place I was supposed to stop. I had to rip out about 10 rows, pick up the stitches then get back on track. Along with other self-imposed problems like having to figure out how to match up the length of the second sock, I think I knit 2.5 socks! :)
The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Black Purl. I like the striped sock better than the funky spiraling swirl sock, but I'm happy with the whole pair.
Now I've decided to knit two socks at once. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm really excited about this! I love learning new things and it will be great to have two socks done at once. My LYS has a KAL each month and this month we'll be knitting socks. The voting is still open so we don't know which pattern we'll use but we do know they'll be toe-up. I guess it's cheating to have started the toes already but I couldn't wait to swatch and cast on. Guess I should wait on these...
Here is the latest Springtime Bandit. This one is in black and is being knit from Berroco Touche for Emma to match a new dress. Gee, it looks like a manta ray!
What "works in progress" do you have these days?
Oops! Guess I had an unintentional blog vacation again. I was in Chattanooga the first weekend in June then there was Vacation Bible School and blogging got away from me. Here are a few random snippets of what's been going on...
*I was in Chattanooga at the synod assembly as a voting member for my church. It was such a great experience! In addition to attending to the business of the church, we attended workshops, worshiped daily and heard several inspirational presentations. One was by the Rev. John Nunes. Among other things, he spoke about malaria and the effort to eliminate it by 2015. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, you should go.
*Did you know that getting rid of malaria can be as simple as using a bed net, being educated, and getting quick treatment if you are infected? A $10 donation will buy a bed net and provide the education needed to use it effectively and learn the symptoms of malaria. If you would like to donate, you can do it here. (I would link to my personal fundraising page but it has too much personal info on it for me to put out on the Internet. Let me know if you want to donate that way and I'll send you a link.) Thanks for considering to help stamp out malaria! I'll try not to go on and on about this initiative but I'm pretty pumped up about it!
*Let's see, what else has been going on? I made fish tacos again with this recipe. Yum! I liked it better than the other recipe but Steve and Emma didn't.
*Oh yeah, I unbound (what is the proper term?) my Springtime Bandit and rebound off with a different method: K2, put the stitches back on the left needle, K2tog through the back loops, K1, repeat. I'm so glad that I found a stretchy bind off that works for me! There are actually points to my shawl now. That wasn't planned but it happened due to the new bind off. And I love the Cascade Venezia I used for this shawl!!! It's a merino/silk blend that feels so nice and is great to knit with.
*We've been gardening but I think that deserves its own post so more on that later. I'll just say that I'm really excited to see cucumber blossoms!!!
Remember the blue Springtime Bandit from last Wednesday's post? This thing is not cooperating! Well okay, many of the problems are because of me, but still...
Problem #1: Pattern error. The pattern calls for the left half to be a mirror of the right half. But remember how I didn't like the way the two sides were looking? It's really supposed to be knit right to left then right to left again. So last week at the KAL, we ripped out our shawls.
Problem #2: Knitter error 1. I restarted and got far enough to see that I had the same problem. I had gone ahead and mirrored again!!! That's what I get for talking while knitting. Sigh... Ripped again.
Problem #3: Knitter error 2. Did I learn not to talk while knitting this pattern? No! Trying to knit while talking to a friend before the beginning of a play isn't a good idea for me. I missed a YO and didn't realize it for several rows. How in the world did I not notice that?! Ripped out several rows.
That's where I am now. But I'm not loving how it looks and I think it's because of my gauge.
Potential Problem #4: Gauge error (AKA Knitter error 3). The pattern calls for size 9 needles and for the gauge swatch to be blocked. With 9s I get the correct gauge but before blocking. I really prefer the look of the shawl with 8s but I followed the crowd and used 9s. I guess I should knit and block a quick swatch to see what happens when the yarn is blocked then decide what to do. I have just enough yarn to knit this and I'm afraid I'll run out if my gauge isn't right.
But in the meantime I think I'll start a chemo cap for a friend. Maybe that's what I'm supposed to be knitting right now. What do you have on the needles, on the hook, or otherwise in progress? How is it going for you?!
It's been all about shawl knitting around here lately. Here are the three projects that have been getting my attention:
Springtime Bandit: This is the shawl I'm knitting for a KAL at my LYS. I like it a lot but I'm struggling with the stitches on the sides of the "leaves." See how they look different from the right side of the shawl to the left side? I'm using the same decreases on both sides of the shawl and I'm guessing that the slant of the stitches makes them look different. My new friend Mary is knitting this with the same yarn (in a beautiful green) and her stitches look balanced. She's using SSK and K2tog and I'm using SKP and K2tog. I'm thinking the SKP is the culprit but I don't know why it looks so different. Any ideas why SSK looks more balanced than the SKP? Mary suggested I knit a swatch with the SSK decrease to see what it looks like. That's a better idea than ripping it all out like I planned on doing.
What do you have in progress right now?
A couple of the ladies in the Prayer Shawl Group are having a KAL to make Haruni (Rav link). It's a great knit so far and I'm looking forward to knitting the edging. The yarn is Araucania Ranco Solid and I really like the color. In the LYS, the color looked more like the columbine on the bottom. But as you can see, it looks more like the iris on top.
What are you knitting these days?
Just a quick post today because I've got a bunch going on - trying to finish up nine hooded capes for a drama program, getting ready for school, church stuff, etc. I'm in the middle of a couple of knitting projects right now and here they are (details can be found in Ravelry):
The Original Prayer Shawl - I'm using James C. Brett Marble Chunky yarn. I love seeing the color changes while I'm knitting. I would have finished this on the trip home from spring break but I ran out of yarn. I'm hoping to get to the store today.
Zackenbarsch - This is a test knitting project. I'm using Cotton-Ease from my stash. I keep forgetting how much I like knitting with this yarn. Here's a link to the designer's original project.
I hope each of you has a great day and that you get a lot accomplished!
This photo reminds me of a group of people hanging out - some talking to each other, some looking around. It's a daffodil convention. :)
I neglected to share a finished project with you. Anneliese (Rav link) was designed by one of the ladies in the Prayer Shawl group. You can't tell from this photo, but it has a slightly scooped neckline at the center spine. I enjoyed this project and I especially enjoyed helping as a test knitter.
My latest work in progress is La La's Simple Shawl in Patons Classic Wool (Cognac Heather). It will also go to my church's prayer shawl ministry. I'm a little concerned about the shawl being knitted in wool. Care instructions may be a good thing to include with it. I hope to finish it by next Saturday so it can count toward the Prayer Shawl group's 40 shawls project (we're already close to 50 shawls!).
In non-knitting WIPs, my classes are still going on, laundry is being done, and I did some grocery shopping (doesn't always get done!). And I'm preparing a sermon. During Holy Week next week, we are going to have a healing worship service at church. Our pastor asked our deacons to preach but they are unavailable. So I get to preach. I'm looking forward to it, but I still feel pretty clueless about where the sermon is going. I'm learning a lot, though!
I hope all your knitting and non-knitting WIPs are going well!
Lately my knitting has been mostly about prayer shawls. (I am still knitting on Palindrome and it is growing, slowly but surely. Only 20 inches left to go!)
I've finished knitting my friend's Hamamelis Shawl. I bound off, using this method, but it was still too tight for as much as I wanted to block it. So I "unbound" the whole thing and am now using a sewn bind off. This is much stretchier and matches the other shawl edge well. But it's taking me forever! I've left a really long tail with which to sew and it takes time to pull the whole tail through the loops. I'm sure there is a better way to get a stretchy bind off (suggestions?) but I'm glad I found something that does work.
This is the prayer shawl that probably will not be. I really like how it looks and I love the color combo but it will take too long to finish this by Easter. I'm using the Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf pattern and it may end up being a scarf after all.
So today I started a ripple shawl, using a modification of Debbie Bliss's Zig Zag Stripes scarf from Scarf Style. The color changes will be at the ends and the middle will be a solid color. I'm still playing with the colors. I've cast on for a rainbow progression at each end (because I have lots of different colors of yarn) but I'm not wild about rainbows. (I love real rainbows but don't really like using all those colors at once.) I may just end up choosing a few colors for the ends that complement the green I have available for the middle. To be honest, I'm not wild about the ripple pattern either. But I've seen several projects that turned out beautifully so I'm hoping I'll be happy with this when it's done.
Have you been watching the Olympics? I've watched new sports (to me) and old sports but I think my favorite right now is short track. It could be because I like watching Apolo Anton Ohno skate. He seems like such a nice guy and boy can he skate!
While I do have knitting WIPs, I don't have much time to photograph them. Plus two are repeats - the Tenza mitts and the Palindrome scarf. I just have to knit one thumb on the mitts then I'll be done. And last night I cast on for a Dean Street Hat (Ravelry link). It's coming along very well but will look more exciting as an FO. :)
What's been taking more of my time is getting ready for school. The homeschool enrichment classes that I teach begin on Friday. This semester I'm teaching four LEGO classes (two about simple machines and two where the kids build models then experiment to learn about things like friction, force, etc.) and a biology class.
On a different note... I'm so concerned for the people in Haiti. One minute they're going about their day and the next minute life has radically changed for so many. And how do you get help when there is so much chaos and there is nobody to help you? We can all pray and donate money but I wish we could do more.
