A Knitting Time Out
I should have known better.
I should have known that the insanely complicated sock was going too well. Especially since I did a good part of the sock on a dark plane. Twice. I even had a very experienced knitter (whose advice I normally take) tell me that the calf circumference looked really big.
I told her I have big calves. Which as much as I hate to admit it on a public blog, I do. They're very muscular calves. I even measured my calves to figure out what size sock to make. After I cast on the stitches and had knit for an inch, I tried it on my calf and it seemed to fit just fine. See, this sock pattern has you take 3 different measurements to figure out what size to initially cast on and then how to decrease correctly for the rest of the leg. So what was the problem?
Apparently measuring my calf in an airplane through my jeans wasn't the smartest thing to do. Tonight, I tried the sock on again and it was obviously too big. About an inch too big. I remeasured, and sure enough, I had been off in my initial measurement. I've ripped it out and restarted, but now I'm starting to rethink the whole pattern. Perhaps this just needs a time out.
Should I,
a.) rewrite the pattern
b.) set it aside and make Simple Things
c.) set it aside and make Skew socks
Posted by: Jess on Monday, March 15 at 8:45 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
"Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude..."
"...Nothing remains quite the same." That Jimmy Buffet, he gets the island vibe. I can't tell you how wonderful having a week off and spending a good part of that in strong tropical sun felt. Some of us decided that we must be just starved for vitamin D because just 2 days of warm sun made me a lot more energetic. Even the day that was not sunny still had a warm rain, which is preferable to the freezing rain and fog I came home to.
(That's a photo of a dolphin)
We went offshore fishing one day with Sea Reed Charters. We saw dolphins several times, but it's really hard to photograph dolphins. At least it is with my camera. We didn't catch many keepers, but we were busy hauling in little sheepshead and sea trout. I guess because it's been such a cool winter, the fish haven't been as active as they normally would be.
My last day on the island was spent looking for shells. We rented a boat for a day and went to a nearly isolated beach with incredible shelling. The shells were piled in deep drifts. It was an amazing day, gorgeous sun, white sand and cool ocean water. I was kind of hoping that since my plane was overbooked that I would get bumped onto a later flight. No such luck though, I had to come home.
I'm sure you're wondering about how much knitting I got done. Well... not a whole lot really. I knit on the planes and I knit one morning on the beach. Otherwise we really didn't spend a lot of time sitting around. We were really too busy to take out my knitting much. I have a start on one sock and a start on the shawl. I promise to kick it in gear and get something done for you soon. I did organize part of my stash when I got home, but I'm not sure I'm ready to fess up to what that actually looks like.
Posted by: Jess on Sunday, March 14 at 8:30 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Spring Thaw
ThisThorpe Hat won't be worn for much longer. The days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer eah day. I've been wearing my sunglasses almost permanently for the last few weeks. If they're not over my eyes, they're resting on top of my head. In this neck of the woods, that's a sure sign that spring is on it's way. Now, I know that this spring thaw probably won't last. It's a teaser before the real spring starts. We always have a monster snow storm in March or a big ice storm in April. So it won't last, but boy does it feel good while it's here! Sam Cook, one of my favorite writers from the News Tribune, wrote an article about it here. He wrote exactly what I've been feeling lately. Check out the link today, as it's only good for 5 more days.
As for the hat, it's one I made for my husband after he saw the baby version I did. It's made out of Cascade Superwash in a chocolatey brown. My husband thinks it would be even cooler with a nose piece - it would look like a battle helmet. I guess this is what I get for marrying a history geek. :)
I am off to pack for my short trip to Florida! I have some sock yarn in a yummy multi-colored brown to make Millicent from Cookie A. I've got a thing for knee high socks, I must have a pair! I also took some Handmaiden Seasilk for a scarf - seems like perfect beach knitting to me. I'll be posting photos on Facebook while I'm gone and will be sure to write a full report when I get back. Don't tell my husband, but I've heard that Sanibel Island has 2 knitting stores!!
Posted by: Jess on Sunday, March 07 at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Olympic Overview
I had great intentions of taking pictures at the Olympic Closing Ceremony at Fabric Works on Sunday. However, I was frantically trying to weave in ends and finish up my sweater. Plus, the hockey game was on and you haven't seen knitters until you've seen them screaming at a hockey game. One of my Optimist Club members stopped by to drop off some hats and was shocked to see everyone watching the USA/Canada game.
You might notice that my Slinky Ribs sweater is missing its arms. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to leave it as it is or if I'm going to knit long sleeves. I wore it today under a black short sleeved shirt and solicited opinions everywhere I went. I kind of like it as a vest, but I think a long sleeved sweater will have a more timeless look.
As part of the Knitting Olympics, several Optimist Club members and other knitters donated 156 hats and 2 blankets to SMDC's birthcenter. I am completely blown away by the generosity of knitters.
Now that my sweater project is in a lull, I've got a full blown case of Start-itus. I'm trying to figure out what knitting I'll take along on my trip next week. In the meantime I'm trying to finish up a very old Unfinished Object (UFO). I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging next week - it will probably depend on whether I take my laptop with me to Florida or not. Right now I'm thinking not. No worries though, there will be plenty of knitting on the beach and I promise to take pictures.
Posted by: Jess on Tuesday, March 02 at 8:47 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: knitting, knitting olympics, sweater
Baby Knits
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Pay no attention to the woman who should be doing her Olympic Knitting. Heck, for that matter, pay no attention to the woman who's house is a mess because she's been knitting her fingers to the bone for the last few days! In the heat of the competition, some things have to fall by the wayside and in my case it's been the house.
I don't have any updated sweater photos for you, I'm a few inches further than I was in the last post. I put the live stitches on a piece of waste yarn the other day and I didn't have as much to knit as I thought I did (one of the positives to being a short woman). I think I can make it to the bottom of the sweater tonight and start on the sleeves tomorrow. Which pretty much means that I will not finish my Olympic sweater in time. I'd love to try to convince you all that I really meant to make myself a sleeveless sweater... but I won't. It's meant to have arms and that's the way it will be.
In the meantime, I'm working on a child's hat for a birthday party we are to attend in 1/2 hour. Yikes, must keep moving!
The sweater and hat you see above is one I finished about a month ago forKnittymuggins.
The hat is Heart on a String from Susan B. Anderson. The sweater is a one skein wonder from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. Both were knit from Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. Unlike most cotton yarns, this one was soft, fluffy and didn't make my hands hurt. The only unusual thing that I noticed was that the heart on the hat and the cardigan are made out of the same color - however, when I washed the cardigan it came out much darker than I had expected. I'm not sure why this would be. Both patterns are sweet and easy and I'd knit them again for another baby.
Posted by: Jess on Tuesday, February 23 at 8:25 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: baby, knitting, knitting olympics
The Final Stretch
If you're competing in the Knitting Olympics, we are down to the final stretch. It's that last long race to the finish when your muscles are burning and you're wondering if you might. just. pull. this. one. off. All over town, people are asking me if I'm finished with my Olympic knitting yet.
Will I pull it off? Will I finish my Slinky Ribs sweater? Honestly, I have no idea! I'm down to the second half of the body, which is all stockinette stitch. The good news is that stockinette just flies by after doing 2x2 ribbing for the first half. The bad news is that I don't have any car trips or uninterrupted knitting time scheduled. I do however have a girls night out scheduled for Friday night, to celebrate a friend's birthday. I think I might be able to get away with knitting at that for a bit.
To make matters even more complicated, I have a hat to knit for one of my 5 year old's classmates. He's having a party and my 5 year old has decided that Momma needs to knit hats for everyone in her class. I've compromised by saying I'll only knit hats for birthday parties. She informed me that he has a camouflage coat so his hat must be green. I think I have the perfect yarn hiding in my stash for this one. At least kid hats are quick! Wish me luck in the final stretch!
Posted by: Jess on Tuesday, February 23 at 5:24 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: olympic knitting, sweater
The US Olympic Hat
Some clever knitters already figured out the pattern to the US Olympic Hat. This hat was knitted by lotzakatz on Ravelry. I linked to the pattern in the post about the Opening Ceremonies.
Earlier today, my 5 year old was telling me that I needed to knit a hat for her kindergarten teacher, "Because she's AWESOME!" It couldn't be just any hat though, it had to be a hat with lots of colors, because this teacher would like that a lot more. When I showed my daughter this hat, she immediately started redesigning it. "Momma, you could do green down here and then don't do that top part because she won't want it pointy, just straight up and down." Hmmm... like mother, like daughter? She also volunteered me to make a hat for one of her friends at school. I think I do a good enough job overcommitting myself, I don't really need help.
Now I'm off to bake another cake for a Mardi Gras celebration at my daughter's school tomorrow.
Posted by: Jess on Monday, February 15 at 7:31 PM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Tags: hat, knitting, knitting olympics, olympics
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