Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm sorry that I have no pictures for you today, but I've been a little busy destroying our kitchen in an attempt to get everything ready for tomorrow. I had it completed destroyed last night and managed to get it together so I can do it all again tonight. I am sooo excited. Can't you tell?
This is our first Thanksgiving as hosts. We were supposed to have it last year, but we had some, well....issues surrounding the oven and it's location. So last year we went out for Thanksgiving. It was alright, but it will be nice to have a good (I hope), homegrown Thanksgiving this year. That is, if I can calm down enough to enjoy it. That is yet to be determined.
So let me tell you of the things I've been doing. Hopefully I will have time over the weekend to take pictures to show you. The 2x2 scarf is done. It's lovely. You can hardly tell where I suddenly switched from knitting backwards, or really, what seems to be referred to as "combo" knitting. I think that it doesn't look wrong, because it isn't. What I mean by that is since I was doing both the knit and the purl stitches "backwards" that it was actually turning out "right". Almost. If I had been doing the purl stitches right I would apparently have a much thicker and tighter fabric since I was knitting into the back of the stitch, but since I truly committed to the wrongness of my knitting, it was turning out okay. I hear that this is the way that some regions prefer to knit. You can read about it on the knitty board. I'd go find the link for you now, but I'm tired and lazy, so if you really need it, you can ask =) Maybe by then I'll have gotten some sleep, or coffee. In my world those things are interchangeable.
Back to the FO's. The only other thing that I've actually finished is another mini sweater. I'm not sure how many I plan on doing, but they're so easy, it doesn't matter. (Somehow the list of recipients of the sweater grows everytime I think about it. The skein of yarn does not. I think we know who determines how many people get the sweater. Damn fascist yarn.) I did make a mistake last night and do 2x2 ribbing instead of the 1x1 that I should do for the waist. It looked really nice, and if I hadn't already had the other half in 1x1, I would have left it, but I ripped it out and *fixed* it. I use the word "fix" loosely as my 1x1 ribbing looks like total crap. I mean really, really ugly. The stitches look wonky, they're not in a straight line, it's terrible. I'm pretty sure that I need some practice there, because my 2x2 looks great. In fact, before I realized my mistake on the ribbing, I even thought to myself, wow that looks really nice. What the hell is wrong with the other side? Oh, right. doh! Very Homer Simpson.
The mystery project has also been worked on. In fact, I've gotten to another color change in the Intarsia. Intarsia is really great. An enormous pain in the arse, but very pretty....except for my stitches at the color joins. It doesn't seem to matter how tight I pull those stitches, they always look, and are in fact, loose. I thought maybe I was pulling too tight and that was what was making the stitches look big and ugly, but if you pull at the join you can see all the extra yarn in there. My best guess it that it's because the yarn has that modal stuff in it, which makes it a little more stretchy, and in theory, easier to work. Apparently cotton is a real b*tch to work with, and it needs to be blended with something to make it workable (not that I didn't know that already since that Dale of Norway Stork almost made me clinical) I just think this yarn is a little too stretchy for intarsia. All of my other stitches are quite lovely.
Since I've noticed this trend, I've been yanking the crap out of both stitches at the join and this has been helping a little. The only problem is that with weight and size of the object, as it hangs that joint gets pulled on and kind of goes out of whack. I'm hoping that washing will help.
Speaking of washing, I'm scared to death to wash this thing. There are some pretty dark colors next to some pretty light colors and I fear for bleeding. If it bleeds at all, I think I will have an emotional break down. I know they've tested it, but still. I guess there will just have to be a boat load of pictures before I wash it.
The final thing that I've picked up is the wreath. It was so small and simple. I mean 18 sts. by 3 rows. It took 15 minutes. One small problem, tho. I used worsted weight, I used size 8s, and I got this tiny, pathetic little circle about an inch big. Heather saw it. It was sad. So, I'll be revisiting that pattern. Surely more stitches, and perhaps a couple more rows is in order. Still, it's a short project, but looks nice. I even bought cute little bows from Joanns to attach to them. They will be a nice accompaniment to the sweater.
So I guess that's it. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I promise to overload you the next time around. Hopefully several things will be blocked and look all nice and purdy. And, now that I think about it I might knit up a little swatch with some stripes of dark and light shine and toss it in the wash. Lord knows I ordered waaaay too much (and some wrong colors), that I could use to test it. If it works, it sure would make me feel better. Maybe I'll put some ugly looking stitches in there in the hopes that Maytag is actually a god and can make it allll better. =)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICANS! ENJOY YOUR DAY!
This is our first Thanksgiving as hosts. We were supposed to have it last year, but we had some, well....issues surrounding the oven and it's location. So last year we went out for Thanksgiving. It was alright, but it will be nice to have a good (I hope), homegrown Thanksgiving this year. That is, if I can calm down enough to enjoy it. That is yet to be determined.
So let me tell you of the things I've been doing. Hopefully I will have time over the weekend to take pictures to show you. The 2x2 scarf is done. It's lovely. You can hardly tell where I suddenly switched from knitting backwards, or really, what seems to be referred to as "combo" knitting. I think that it doesn't look wrong, because it isn't. What I mean by that is since I was doing both the knit and the purl stitches "backwards" that it was actually turning out "right". Almost. If I had been doing the purl stitches right I would apparently have a much thicker and tighter fabric since I was knitting into the back of the stitch, but since I truly committed to the wrongness of my knitting, it was turning out okay. I hear that this is the way that some regions prefer to knit. You can read about it on the knitty board. I'd go find the link for you now, but I'm tired and lazy, so if you really need it, you can ask =) Maybe by then I'll have gotten some sleep, or coffee. In my world those things are interchangeable.
Back to the FO's. The only other thing that I've actually finished is another mini sweater. I'm not sure how many I plan on doing, but they're so easy, it doesn't matter. (Somehow the list of recipients of the sweater grows everytime I think about it. The skein of yarn does not. I think we know who determines how many people get the sweater. Damn fascist yarn.) I did make a mistake last night and do 2x2 ribbing instead of the 1x1 that I should do for the waist. It looked really nice, and if I hadn't already had the other half in 1x1, I would have left it, but I ripped it out and *fixed* it. I use the word "fix" loosely as my 1x1 ribbing looks like total crap. I mean really, really ugly. The stitches look wonky, they're not in a straight line, it's terrible. I'm pretty sure that I need some practice there, because my 2x2 looks great. In fact, before I realized my mistake on the ribbing, I even thought to myself, wow that looks really nice. What the hell is wrong with the other side? Oh, right. doh! Very Homer Simpson.
The mystery project has also been worked on. In fact, I've gotten to another color change in the Intarsia. Intarsia is really great. An enormous pain in the arse, but very pretty....except for my stitches at the color joins. It doesn't seem to matter how tight I pull those stitches, they always look, and are in fact, loose. I thought maybe I was pulling too tight and that was what was making the stitches look big and ugly, but if you pull at the join you can see all the extra yarn in there. My best guess it that it's because the yarn has that modal stuff in it, which makes it a little more stretchy, and in theory, easier to work. Apparently cotton is a real b*tch to work with, and it needs to be blended with something to make it workable (not that I didn't know that already since that Dale of Norway Stork almost made me clinical) I just think this yarn is a little too stretchy for intarsia. All of my other stitches are quite lovely.
Since I've noticed this trend, I've been yanking the crap out of both stitches at the join and this has been helping a little. The only problem is that with weight and size of the object, as it hangs that joint gets pulled on and kind of goes out of whack. I'm hoping that washing will help.
Speaking of washing, I'm scared to death to wash this thing. There are some pretty dark colors next to some pretty light colors and I fear for bleeding. If it bleeds at all, I think I will have an emotional break down. I know they've tested it, but still. I guess there will just have to be a boat load of pictures before I wash it.
The final thing that I've picked up is the wreath. It was so small and simple. I mean 18 sts. by 3 rows. It took 15 minutes. One small problem, tho. I used worsted weight, I used size 8s, and I got this tiny, pathetic little circle about an inch big. Heather saw it. It was sad. So, I'll be revisiting that pattern. Surely more stitches, and perhaps a couple more rows is in order. Still, it's a short project, but looks nice. I even bought cute little bows from Joanns to attach to them. They will be a nice accompaniment to the sweater.
So I guess that's it. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I promise to overload you the next time around. Hopefully several things will be blocked and look all nice and purdy. And, now that I think about it I might knit up a little swatch with some stripes of dark and light shine and toss it in the wash. Lord knows I ordered waaaay too much (and some wrong colors), that I could use to test it. If it works, it sure would make me feel better. Maybe I'll put some ugly looking stitches in there in the hopes that Maytag is actually a god and can make it allll better. =)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING AMERICANS! ENJOY YOUR DAY!
posted by Jes at
9:07 AM
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