Unfinished Skew

Remember Skew? The pattern quite took over my spring.

Then, with 3 unfinished Skews on the needle, my attention wandered elsewhere. Recently, I have been working to finish up languishing projects. I started work on the mismatched pair, progressing through the increases. Then I remembered I had a single sock I could work on, and perhaps I could finish it up in time for it to count for Sock-A-Month's October. So I switched to the grey sock pictured above and got knitting.

So let me recap the story of the grey sock. I started knitting the skew for my dad. I wasn't sure if it would fit him or not, so I didn't finish until he was visiting and could try it on in progress.  We determined that it would fit, and I quickly finished off the first sock, and knit like mad to finish the 2nd sock. I didn't make it before he left.  My attention might have wandered, but I returned to the grey sock, intent on finishing for Father's Day. When I got to the heel, I discovered my numbers didn't line up. I ripped back to the start of the increases, ready to redo it more carefully. I ran the numbers in my head and couldn't get them to line up, and that's when I put the sock in time out.

I ran the numbers again recently, and pretty much figured out that I wasn't going to get the heel numbers to match up without fudging one stitch. I don't recall doing it for the first sock, but I just will go ahead and do it to on the 2nd sock so I can finish it up. I knit like the wind on that 2nd sock, got the heel done and kitchenered, and started on the leg. That's when I held the 2 socks together to see that they matched perfectly. They did NOT. The sock I was knitting on was smaller than the first sock. I counted stitches, but the rows numbered the same. I compared the two socks. That's when I got a sick, sinking feeling. I've been there before.

I got out the calipers and measured, but it only told me what I already knew. Sock #1 was knit on a 2.50mm needle (size 1.5), and Sock #2 was knit on a 2.25mm needle (size 1).

Ironically, when my dad was visiting, I had pulled out the calipers, the size 1/1.5 needles, and the St. Peter Port socks, and told him the disastrous story of what happens when you knit a sock on a needle .25mm different. He's no knitter, but he's worked all his life with electronics and wood, and has a good appreciation of precision and of utilising the right tools. He fully appreciated the story, and commented that he wouldn't even have kept the 1.5 size needle, he would have thrown it out to prevent this from ever happening again. I countered that the 1.5 size needle was useful, and look, I was knitting those new socks for him on it.

I don't recall what happened that I allowed myself to start the 2nd sock on the wrong needle. I can't imagine why I let my attention lapse so carelessly. But now I won't be able to finish sock #2, and that pair of socks is going back into TIME OUT.

an embarrassment of yarnz

I seem to have a lot of incoming yarn this fall. I found a new dyer of delicious stripeys, Rosy Retro, and decided I needed to bring home one of her skeins. The skein is called "Garbo", which reminds me of my mother's paper dolls that I used to play with, and I can't wait to see how those blues and greens knit up.

I traded my Old Blue Jeans WM for an Amethyst WM. The colour is rich and deep and very lovely.

Lastly, I needed some trim for my Miller's Hat. I went to a local yarn store and spent a great deal of time wandering through, looking at all their worsted weight yarn in brown, grey, rust, black, and even olive.  I found some Malabrigo that looked promising, but it was a chunky weight, and I needed worsted. I eventually settled on some heathered Cascade 220. I hadn't intended to choose Cascade 220, but of all the colours I examined, this one had the warmth and richness needed to compliment the lovely Ember colourway.

Finishing the Miller's Hat didn't take long. I don't have any good photos of it worn; beware, those are yet to come. But I'm quite pleased with the outcome, even if the decreases will forever be steep and a little too short.

a second finished object for today

Yay, something else got finished off today, ends and all. These haven't been languishing nearly as long as the hat, but they've been waiting for a few weeks for just the final inch. Now I can get these soaked and ready for gifting.

Unfinished Object, Finished

I woke up this morning thinking about the Quincy I started last November. I'm home with a recovering flu-victim, so I had the time to pull the hat out of the drawer and take a look at it. Turns out, it didn't take long at all to finish up the crown and make this a finished hat.

I think it'll fit a kid 5-8 years old. Yay, an unfinished object out of its hibernating drawer.

How I fixed the hat

After my previous post outlining how I ran out of yarn for the decreases for my miller's hat, I settled down to see what I could do.

I did go ahead and use the leftover Skinny Bugga by holding it double stranded. I alternated rows between the gothling and the Bugga, and I only knit the decrease rows. This made the decreases rather steep, as there's supposed to be a row between each decrease row. Impressively, the Skinny Bugga doesn't show at all.

Next up, I need to find a contrasting colour for the lower band.

Miller's Hat, Stuck.

So, the pattern requirements are 220 yards of worsted yarn. The skein supposedly has 260 yards of worsted yarn. But it's not enough. On the 2nd row of decreases, I have 7 grams of yarn left, and no hope of finishing this hat.

When staging this picture, I also tossed in the little ball of fingering Bugga that was left over from making the herbivore. There's 4 grams of that. If I held it double, it might pass for worsted, but while it's the same colour, it's far more luminous than the worsted yarn.

Not. Happy.

Pernicious Gauge

Not too long ago, I started knitting up my worsted gothlings in Ember, using the Miller's Hat pattern. The pattern suggests a size 6 needle, with a recommended gauge of 20 stitches to 4 inches in herringbone stitch.  I just started up the hat as a swatch, which allowed me the luxury of already having progress made, if the gauge was correct, or I would have to start over anyway, if the gauge was wrong.  Well, the gauge was way off.  In a size 6 needle, I was getting 20 stitches to only 3.25 inches.  I went up 2 needle sizes and started over.  My gauge is still small, more like 20 stitches measuring 3.5 inches, or sometimes 3.75.  I'm not willing to go up any more sizes.  The cable part of the hat is to be knit on one needle size larger, and I'm not willing to knit this yarn on a 9/10 combination, which would be too loose for this weight of yarn.

The herringbone stitch is tricky, because it involves floats, which tighten up the gauge, but I pay careful attention to those floats to make sure they aren't too tight. That's what makes the knitting so tedious.  I have 8 more rows of this stitch, and I am quite looking forward to being done, so I can move onto the fun part.

The picture shows the size 6 version above, and the size 8 version below. I do think it'll be very pretty when done!

Acquisitions

The red-n-black yarn from the previous post got sent out into the world, and in return, I got Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder, a Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs club yarn.  I've wanted this yarn since I saw it, and am glad I could make a successful trade.

The pictures I took of it were all washed out, so I sent the picture to NinjaTeen, and handed him the skein of yarn. With his photoshop skillz, he painted it up so it looks like the true colours again. I'm still deciding what this yarn will be, but it will be worn around the neck for sure.

Recently, I looked at my WM in "My Old Blue Jeans", thinking about starting to knit it into a clapotis. I looked at it critically, and realised it wasn't quite the right blue for me.  So when I saw a blue WM at Loopy Ewe that was to my liking, I tossed it into my cart and bought it. Amazingly, I succeeded. I had already filled up my cart, so that I just hit the $75 shipping threshhold. I have 2 skeins of Malabrigo, both destined for things for other people, 2 fancy-shmancy crochet hooks I want to try, and the WM in Blaue Tinte.

The My Old Blue Jeans was perfect for a Ravelry swap, so it's on its way out, and I'm expecting a lavender skein in its place.

Acquisitions

A few weeks ago, I had a really good etsy day and managed to snag 3--count them, 1 2 3--skeins of Gothsocks. My secret was to employ the ninja skillz of my teenage son.  This would be gluttonous and greedy, considering how difficult it is to buy this yarn, but I'm only keeping one of them. One is going to Australia, to a mama who couldn't wake up at 2am to buy yarn, and the other will be traded for a colour that caught my fancy.  The blue one, Tardis, will stay with me.

Acquisitions and progress

Last week I ordered yarn. I read about it on the Ravelry Longies/Soaker group, and I admit I was encouraged by a glowing review by the Yarn Harlot. So I ordered a skein of green merino from Marr Haven.

The yarn arrived early this week. It was every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped. So soft and so plush!

I caked up the yarn as soon as I'd photographed it, and immediately started swatching. I've been working all week on a little pair of newborn sized longies. For a friend. No babies expected around here.

I do love being able to knit the legs together, just like 2 socks at a time.

Sparkly completed objects spring forth fully formed from my needles

I have 2 finished objects. They're delightful things, and I'm very happy to have completed them. Looking back, I see that I never blogged any progress, and there's not even progress photos, save one. Looking back further, I see that I didn't even blog the arrival of this lovely stripey yarn.

The yarn is Night, a gilded Gothsocks by Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs. I was so impressed with how perfectly it pairs with  Eurota Purplewing, a Skinny Bugga! yarn, that I had to knit them together. Twice.

It started with some socks, of course. Sparkly socks with no fancy pattern, just a toe-up sock with a ribbed leg. The heels were knit double-stranded for extra strength.

Moments after completing those, I cast on for a pair of gloves. Thus we get the only in-progress photo, and ill-staged shot of the cuffs that start out a pair of top-down gloves.

I wove in the ends to these last night, and would be wearing them now if it weren't so dang hot!

 Here's me, headless but happy with my new sparkly knitwear!

No picture--Green smoothie

I'm new to the Green Smoothie thing, and I'm still trying to make one that the kids will consume. I tell them it's not a fruit smoothie but a green smoothie, which helps, but still it has to be delicious. I use a VitaMix, which is the only blender I've ever owned that can churn up anything I toss in it.

Today's smoothie:

Carrot juice (from Costco)
frozen spring greens
frozen banana
ripe pear
flax seed
1/2 avocado
frozen blueberries

Delicious flavour, but a little sludgy.