And it all came to a screeching halt.

I've been working hard on the wool_soaker_group's soaker challenge this week. My goal was to make a felted soaker wrap and pattern by Sun. night at 11:59 EST.

First, I made the knit version, which I previously posted. Made the rise higher which also increased the back width--a good thing.

Next I made swatches, measured them and took pictures.



Felted, measured, and took more pics.


Tried different leg openings,


And felted them (which lost all the curling sides--a predictible result, but disappointing none-the-less.)t


Figured out percentage of shrinkage and used that with ratios to figure out the rows and inches.


Knitted a to-be-felted version.
Look! She ran out of yarn again! Er...I mean.... Look! What pretty stripes!

Those aren't just any stripes; they're Fibonacci stripes.
Remember the math sequence from pre-algebra: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21.... ?

Well, the theory is that you can use those numbers for the number of rows for each stripe. No matter in what order you do them, it should still be pleasing to the eye. Here's a more detailed explanation.


Inside view:


Folded view:


Comparison view:

Looks rather huge next to the ready-to-wear knit version, doesn't it?

I figured....that's okay......I did all the computations, and ratios, and percentages, and feel confident that it's right.

And it all came to a screeching halt.

Rating the wrap

On my way to writing a felted wrap pattern, I've made a regular wrap. I need to get the shaping and sizing correct so I know what I'm shooting for.

This one will be closed with aplix, with a version to be closed with buttons, so just ignore the pins. I haven't committed myself to this, as you can see I still have the yarn attached (the last loop is not even held by a pin--I like to live dangerously.)


View of the inside:


View of the outside:

If you click on the pics you can get a closeup view.

Here's my questions so far:

1. The border all around is garter stitch. The increases/decreases help the wrap roll in (I didn't position the wrap that way--I had to fight it to stay open.
I figure there will be some stretching going on as it's used, but does anybody have a gut feeling on whether it'll stretch too much?

2. How's the sizing?
End to end (rise): 13"
across the front top: 8"
across the back top: 12"

I was aiming for a small--and looking at the rise, that doesn't look long enough. So I guess I should make the rise 15". Or 16"?

3. Does it wrap around enough in the front? Do you pull the wool rather tightly when you put on a wrap? I guess when I make the rise longer, I can also make the back to wrap around more of the front...

4. Anything else that you notice?

If you leave comments on my blog, know that I do read them all. I just don't know how to respond to them!

New things

I haven't been knitting quite as much lately because I've been painting.

Here's my kitchen before:


Here's proof that the wallpaper was indeed strip-able, even after 15 years:


Here's after:

Lots still to do, but at least the colors are brighter (and I mean BRIGHTER!) and fresh paint makes everything looks so clean!

Sock
I've been working on my Amble sock. In the beginning, I followed the written directions, being slightly panicked at the thought of losing my post-it note (placeholder) and not being able to back it up. Things got easier as the pattern emerged. When I got to the heel, I started following the chart (which I've never done before), and it really was easier to follow.

I was mostly done with the gusset when I discovered that I had dropped a stitch. Instead of frogging 6-7 rows (panic, panic), I decided to try unravelling just those stitches and knit it back up.

Here's pic with the stitches unravelled and on a needle. I took the time to put the rest of the stitches on waste yarn (black, which is why you can't see it.)



Here it is with those stitches re-knit.



Another new thing I've learned to do!

Done!

The Clapotis is done!

Although, I must admit that when I looked at the leftover yarn, I thought, "Hmmm, if I knit tighter, could I get one more repeat?"

I suppressed that thought fortunately, before I made myself crazy.

Here it is with DD#1.

Groundhog's Day

I feel like I'm in the movie "Groundhog's Day". The one where Bill Murray lives Groundhog's Day over and over and over again--each day doing the same thing.

Yep, that's my life. At least, it's my knitting life.

Here's the state of my Clapotis. I've ripped it out TWICE since last posting, each time ripping an additional 12 row section. STILL not enough yarn, and I thought this last time would be sure to reach.

In case you're wondering, I have 28 stitches left. That's all --- 28. I've been debating on just binding off and having one squared off side. Or, ripping apart the other side to make it match. Or....

But since I'm living Groundhog's Day, I suppose I'll rip out an additional section and try again....

95% sure

I'm 95% percent sure that I'm going to run out of yarn.


It's the 5% uncertainty that keeps me going. I think, however, that no matter how fast I knit, the yarn will be finished before I am.

This is my Clapotis, and I'm now on the decrease rows which comes to a point---just knitting an ever decreasing triangle.

Must knit faster.....

Must knit faster.....

Amble socks beginnings

Finally got started on this month's 6SoxKAL. Here's my beginning of Amble using Paton's Kroy Socks yarn in Regatta Blue.

It's going well, although this is now the 3rd WIP that I have that follows a chart. I have no mindless/book-reading knitting. However, I'm not ready to start another project, so maybe I can finish one of these soon.

Here's my finished granny square afghan. (No, I didn't forget to take pictures from before, it really took this long to sew it together.) I used nonaknits idea again--just hold you cursor over the picture to see the finished product.

I managed to invert the whole afghan--the right corner is now the left corner and vice versa. Doesn't really matter, though, on a no-plan afghan.

YO! The Experiment

Or rather, The YO experiment, since this is all about Yarn Over's.

Challenged by Patti (or maybe distracted), I did different sets of yo's to see which looked the best, and here's my results. (Of course, this would be more worthwhile if my pics were better...)

The first set of eyelets were done on stockinette st. The bottom was done on the knit side, and the top was done on the purl side.

In knitter's shorthand, it becomes:

knit side: K1, *yo, K2tog, K2, repeat from *.

purl side: P1, *yo, P2tog, P2, repeat from *.


Here's how it looks from the wrong side:

I like the bottom row better, done on the knit side (which is good, since it's easier). The stitches around the eyelet look much neater.


Next, I did K1, P1 ribbing, with the bottom eyelet row done on the right side, and the top row done on the wrong side.

Bottom row: K1, *yo, K2tog, P1, K1, repeat from *.

Top row: P1, *yo, P2tog, K1, P1, repeat from *.


Pic from the wrong side:

I stretched this out a bit too much to see properly, but again, doing the eyelet row on the right side looks much better.

The last set was done using K2, P2 ribbing.

Bottom row: * K2, yo, P2tog, repeat from *.
Middle row: K2, *P2, yo, k2tog, repeat from *. (done on wrong side.)
Top row: *k2, yo, sl st p, k1, psso* . (this is from the Wooly Wonder forum here ).



View from the wrong side:


None of the methods that I did from the wrong side looked as good as the right side, so that's something to keep in mind for the future.

That's my experiment for the day...(and had the unexpected results of finding my missing needles that were in my "experiment" yarn. :)

CIC package

I finally have a CIC (Children In Comon) package ready to go.


It contains:
1 feather-and-fan shawl
3 toys (2 fish, 1 puppy puppet)
2 orphans-for-orphans sweaters
3 pr. basketweave socks
3 pr. chutes-n-ladders socks
3 pr. easy slippers

These were such fun! I have a couple of more patterns waiting to be tried. Off to knit!

Later that same night...

Here's the balls of yarn that I wound. Only 2 balls to do, so I decided to just hang the yarn over my knees rather than get out the lampshade. Not that that's really a big problem, but I do have to get the lamp from upstairs, unscrew the current lampshade, put on my yarn lampshade, and bring it downstairs.

So, for 2 skeins of yarn I decided that wasn't necessary. Big mistake. On both skeins I lost concentration, the skein fell off my knees and into a big knot. Spent the next hour (not really, but it seemed like it) untangling the mess. Definitely NOT worth skipping the lampshade. Maybe next time I'll remember....

Cookie energy

I"m finally braving the superslow cyberspace to post in my blog today. Between the teenagers who are home over the summer and seem to think they can use the net, summertime activities, and the superslow movement of the computer (did I mention it was superslow?) I haven't been blogging.

However, I've taken a couple of pictures.

Here's one to show my Clapotis. Actually, it's showing the stitch holders that occur every SIX stitches. That might be normal to some, but to me it's an unusual occurance.

If I'm paying attention, it's not too bad, but when I'm cheering at DS#1's baseball game, it's dangerous. I didn't drop a stitch, but by the time the 3rd holder flew off and I had to find it on the bleacher amidst peanut shells, I decided to pack it away.

Here's how the Clapotis looks now. I've started the dropped stitch rows--look at the upper left corner. I think I'm about halfway done, and I have my yarn in a black bag so I can't see if I have enough left. Time to worry about that later.


I also over-dyed some gold yarn. That's the gold showing through, and I overdyed it with burgandy, blue, and green. This is for my first pair of charity longies so I hope it turns out well.


Here's the soakers and longies that I've been working on. Lots of variegated variety. :)


I've also been baking cookies today. This is a yummy peppermint patty.


I was going to call it quits, but I just ate the cookie. Hmmm, I wonder why I have so much energy? Maybe I'll go wind some yarn!

Rats, foiled again

This post was supposed to be titled "I TOLD YOU SO!". I've been waiting til DD#1 got home from camp to tell her that. Picking up from my last post, who uses a heavy winter quilt in the middle of the summer, anyway?

So, I picked her up last night, heard about the 7 hours practice every day, the amount of running, sweating, playing, sweating, eating and sweating that they did.

Waited for the perfect moment, then innocently asked, "So....did you use the quilt at all?"

"Oh, yes, I'm so GLAD I brought it. Everyone loved it, and at night it was so COLD!"

Rats, foiled again.


My "other-than-knitting" project for the week is to put together these blocks of a granny square afghan. I've found some cool HTML code from nonaknits. Hold your cursor over the picture, and the afghan blocks will be revealed.

How cool is that?

I do have all the squares, but in my haste to remove the blanket without moving my feet, I swept one or two away. These blocks have been accumulating over the years and it's now time to put them together and donate it to a needy organization.

In knitting news, here's a picture of my Saxon Braid Scarf. I keep reporting that I've done "another inch", so I thought I'd show how all those inches add up.


Here's what I'm doing with the baby alpaca. It's the beginning of a Clapotis, although I'm skeptical that it will cooperate on the dropped stitches. I know it should be done with different yarn and brighter colors, but somehow this appealed to me.

Camp and stuff

Here's my LYS sale purchases. I spent about an hour in the store going back and forth, what to buy....what to buy....


The sock yarn was an easy decision. So was the red fluff. That wasn't even my decision--that's DD#2's yarn--a reward for going with me. As you can see, she's started on a scarf already.


The baby alpaca was my splurge. It's gorgeous yarn, so soft and warm. It's not at all feminine, but I'm still hoping it will make a nice shawl for the winter (or the summer air conditioning!)






We worked madly on the quilts for the past week, and here they are in their completed state.

I've decided that I can never be a quilter--it takes way too much patience. Even this simple pattern: 4" blocks, sewn in strips, and the strips offset so points didn't need to match was too much for me. Both DD's worked on theirs a lot, and DD#1 did almost all of the work herself. Up to the tieing it together that was done late last night, when she pleaded with me to do it until I gave in. She had to have it today to go to a sports camp.

I tried "It's summer! It's HOT! Why do you need a heavy quilt?" But it didn't work. She seems to think that the air conditioning will be enough to need this quilt. Who am I to argue, though, when my thoughts are all about shawls, and scarves, and sweaters, and wool socks?




Off she went this morning armed with her quilt and this pile of flip flops and yarn (yes, we have a red fluff theme going on here.)

This is another project that was supposed to get done, but didn't. (No matter how much pleading was done, I wasn't about to start making fuzzy flip flops at 11:30 at night!)

She plans on doing these in her spare moments.

HA!





Besides quilting, if you can call it that, I've also done a bit of knitting: two soakers and a pair of CIC socks, and dyed some yarn.





Now if only someone would clean my house!

Sale distractions

This arrived at my house late last week.

A sale. A BIG sale. At my LYS.

I had big plans, but they got slightly hampered by this.


This is the beginnings of flannel quilt that will be DD#2's, although DD#1's is coming next. We're doing the simplest of patterns: 4" blocks, sewn in a row, then offset with the next row to hid any uneven-ness.

This quilt, while fun, has been taking up time and money that was to be spent at the sale. (especially money :) I'm hoping to get there soon, with some $$, and in the meantime have been researching my "want-to-make" list for yarn requirements. Never hurts to be prepared.

I've done barely any knitting lately--just a couple of inches on my Saxon braid scarf, which looks just like the last couple of inches, so I'll skip the picture.

While the sewing machine was out, I also fixed the zipper of a pair of shorts of DS#1.

Please mom? They're my favorites!

But honey, you understand that I can never make it look as good. Getting it closed will be the best that you can hope for.

Please, mom?

How can one say no? So I did it. Broke my last good needle, and ended up sewing with a needle used for silk or something fine like that. The eye of the needle was so fine I had to take the needle out of the sewing machine to thread it, then replace it without twisting the thread. All of this was under a time constrant. (Self-imposed. If I put it off, maybe he will forget. Nope.)

Turned out ok....better than expected, actually.

Back to planning for new yarn!

Monster feet!

It's monster feet!


Oh, wait, it's felted clogs, my mistake. The variegated yarn (knit 2 strands together), turned out a nice speckled effect, didn't it?


Can you guess what this is?




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(how annoying is this?)










That's right, it's a short toed socklet, knit from this pattern, the English version.

I've knit the 2nd one also, but now my feet are dirty, so a pic of one will have to do.

DD#1 said, "You're....not...going....to actually...wear that....in PUBLIC......are you?"
DD#2 said, "I can't believe you're actually going to wear that!" (meaning I'm way too old and un-hip.)

Ah....I've found another way to embarass my children!

Didn't get much knitting done over the weekend, but I did go to 2 reunions and do some hiking. I say "hiking" because....I'm a wimp. It was only 2 miles long, but for over half the time it was rocky like this. Can't enjoy the view when you're looking down at every step.

However, I did finish 2 pairs of CIC socks using the 6 Sox KAL pattern: Chutes and Ladders. The teal pair was the white pair from before that I finally dyed. The marroon pair is from gifted yarn. The marroon pair is what I worked on over the weekend. I didn't knit at either reunion, although taking it to my High School Reunion might have calmed me down.


This is my thrift store find for today. A bunch of knitting needles, some plastic that I don't care for, but some metal circulars that I'm really excited about, plus a set of 5 metal sock needles. Not too bad for $1.58!