Just In Time

Just in time for 80 degree weather I have mostly finished Whiskey. Okay, I do still need to sew one sleeve closed, and i have to weave in some ends 9but not many thanks to using a cone of yarn!), I need to buy and apply some buttons, and I need to block the collar, but otherwise it is done! The button bands took no time at all to knit. Instead of knitting a hood for the sweater I just did a shawl collar (I wouldn't have used a hood, so why waste the time or the yarn?). Now I only have to hope that I don't forget about this sweater by the time it starts getting chilly again. Looking at my photo I just noticed the odd bunching near the collar. I hadn't noticed that before. Please cross your fingers for me that that is just from the way I laid it out and not from knitting issues.

On Saturday I joined a couple of my suburban friends for a different kind of S'nB. I spent the day doing some needlepoint. This was the expensive hobby that I had done somewhat extensively before swapping my sewing needle for a pair of knitting needles. I spent the day working on making a needlepoint belt. I didn't get very far then, and still haven't gotten that far. It was pleasant stitching again, but I think that knitting is still where most of my money and my heart will go :-)

Despite being finished with all major pieces of Whiskey, the sweater is still not done. For some inexplicable reason I didn't bother with blocking the right front this weekend. I thought I would block it, I intended to block it, but yet, I didn't. In an effort to not loose complete momentum with this sweater I did some seeming instead. I attached the left front to the back and I attached the left sleeve. I tried the sweater on, and I wish that I made the sleeves a bit longer. They aren't so short that I won't wear this, but I prefer sleeves that reach a tiny bit past my wrist. I like the length of the sweater body though and am now looking forward to wearing this, though I don't expect that to happen until fall.

As far as socks go, I have started my gusset increases on my Trekking sock. I know that the sock in the photo looks short, but when I compared it to the finished sock, the gusset started at the same place. In other words, the second sock is moving along without any bumps (knock wood).

Closing In

Whiskey is almost there. Just a bit more to go. I have 2 sleeves knit and blocked. I have the left front knit and blocked. I have the back knit and block. Last night I finished knitting the right front, soon it too will be blocked. All that is left on Whiskey is to make the button band and to give it a collar. The pattern calls for the sweater to have a hood, but I don't really think it needs a hood, so my version will simply have a shawl collar (I think). I have finished all the knitting that needed to be done with the contrast color and still have one full skein left. Last time I measured I still had about 8 oz of my 1lb cone left, it is so nice to not be worried about running out of yarn.

I may not get around to doing the button band or collar for a bit. I have picked up Forest Path again which means that my size 2 needle is back to being used on a different project. Besides, it is hard to feel any finishing urgency when it was 86 degrees yesterday.

Frog is a Four Letter Word

On Saturday I blissfully picked up Seasons of Darkness and Winter of Light and pleasantly knit and knit on it. Then I went to bed. Sometimes while I am sleeping good ideas come to me. My mind is freer and less constrained and sometimes creative. Sometimes, though, while I am sleeping I realize that I made a major mistake somewhere.
Sometime between Sat night and Sun morning, as I was sleeping, I realized I might need to frog some of Season of Darkness. I thought that I would have to frog the work I did on Saturday, the first work that I have done on this sweater in months. You see, as I was sleeping I remembered that I have to have some steek stitches in the sleeve so that I can create a front and a back. I remembered that these steek stitches get inserted a couple of inches before approximately half of the stitches are cast off. The work I did on Saturday left me about perhaps 20ish rows away from the cast off area, and this was closer than I remembered for the steek stitches to start.

As I compared the finished left sleeve with the right sleeve I realized that I am 3ish inches past where the steek stitches should have started. I did not knit 3ish inches last night. Apparently, I started making this mistake before Seasons got set aside. (See photo on the right )
Fortunately, working on the piece on Saturday reminded me of how happy this project makes me. Perhaps even more fortunately, my office isn’t open on Patriots’ Day (a Massachusetts Holiday that occurs on the day the Boston Marathon is run), so I had plenty of knitting time in which to correct my mistake, which I did. I guess, in the spirit of stupid optimism, I could look at the mistake as a way to prolong my enjoyment of this sweater and not look at it as a set back. Could I be that “glass if half full”? By Sunday night I was past the progress that I made on Saturday, and I had finished my skein of dark brown, so I set this aside so I can wind the dark brown into a new cake.

Since I still had another full day in which I could knit I started the second sleeve for Whiskey (by the way, I had managed to finish the left front on Saturday (I think)). Here is my new Whiskey progress:

Four Letter Words

Were said on Tuesday night. After posting about my speedy progress on Whiskey I went home and worked some more. I was nearly done with the left front when what did my eyes see?

Can you see the problem?

Maybe not, perhaps this is too much of a close up on the problem area. This is how it should look:

As you can see, the squares should line up so that the dark diamonds form a diagonal stripe, and the light diamonds form a parallel diagonal stripe. Is that what mine does? No, somehow I managed to put two diamonds of the same color above one another.

Time to frog.

I certainly did not feel like frogging on Tuesday night, so instead, I dug into my smallish stash and pulled out some Socks that Rock yarn. I have never posted a photo of this purchase, and I stopped making socks shortly after I bought the yarn. I found my sock mojo again when I discovered the collection of fabulous sock patterns by Cookie A. Cookie A, you may recall, is the designer of Knitty's Pomatomus socks and many other Knitty socks. I will show you progress on this soon.

By the way, you can see that Isis is ready for her close up Mr. DeMille. I tried to shoot the yarn without her, but she clearly wanted to be the focus of the photo.

Whiskey Continues

Having time off can be a beautiful thing. With it, you can make all sorts of knitting progress. After finishing the first Whiskey sleeve I cast on for the left front of the cardigan. I have already done my armhole shaping and am nearing the end of the front. Considering that this is being knit with size 2 and size 3 needles, I am amazed at how quickly it is going. I finished the sleeve and most of the left front in under a week, which I consider to be good progress. Details of the plaid and cabling:

Please ignore the evidence of Isis sitting on my knitting, she was looking to be the center of my attention.

It's A Sleeve!

I picked up Whiskey again. I moved Forest Path Stole onto some spare size 2 needles until I figure out if I am buying more yarn and cast on a sleeve for Whiskey. I spent two days in PA working on the sleeve and now it is finished! I have a back and one sleeve done, so I think I am about 1/2 way finished the sweater. Somehow though I still have a ton of yarn left on my cone. It is really nice not to worry about running out of yarn.

On another front, my Blackberry Ridge yarn for Season of Darkness has arrived! Unfortunately, I was already in PA when I got the email letting me know it was here, so I haven't picked it up yet, but expect to get back to Season in the very near future.

As for PA...I went to the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute, I can't show you any photos because cameras were not allowed. After going through the exhibit I went through some of the rest of the museum, including the giant beating heart. As a child, the heart was always the thing that stood out most in my memory. The heart is big enough to walk through, it is labeled and lets you know as you travel through the different parts, including letting you know when you leave the heart. It was everything that I remembered it being, except that it was much narrower than I remembered it being. I guess perspective really matters. It was fun going through the museum and pretending to be close to a child again.

Finally, here is a photo of my finished Whiskey back. I know it isn't vastly different from the last photo that I posted, but this one is done and the last wasn't. My plan is to start the first sleeve next. The hitch with this plan is that my size 2 addis are being used by Forest Path. I am about 1/2 way finished with Forest Path, assuming that I don't do the full length of is (a safe assumption since I have used the first skein of yarn and only had 2 skeins!). I know that I could buy another pair of addi 2s, but I just don't want to have 3 sets of size 2 needles. The other pair of size 2s that I have is tied up with Season of Darkness.

Despite my mistake with Forest Path, it is moving right along. I am finishing the 9th tier today, and it seems to be a decent length (or that it will be). I am guessing that I will do 13-15 tiers then start the side border. I was able to do nearly 8 tiers plus the bottom border with one skein. I still have the side border to do and I don't know how much yarn that will require. I would buy a 3rd skein of the zephyr, but I am a bit concerned about dye lot problems. I still love this pattern and this yarn. I think the key to my lace enjoyment is mixing things up. When I did the shetland tea shawl the change of lace motifs kept me interested, anticipating the next change. Ethereal Fichu bored me because it was monotonous. This should be tedious since there are only 3 motifs and since each tier uses all three in a regular and specified order, but for some reason, I am not bored. I haven't completely memorized each of the charts, and I think that helps keep my interest. I don't have to look much at the charts, but each time I start one of the three I have to double check how it begins. 2 of the 3 I have no issues with. I do anticipate the side border driving me mad, it is seed stitch, rows and rows of seed stitch, which I despise, but fortunately, that is still a ways off.

Finally, in an attempt to gear up for bike commuting, which I hope to begin soon, I bought a laptop messenger bag. It isn't pretty or stylish, but it will secure my laptop when I am riding and will give me space to carry my necessities (like work clothes, though not suits). Now I just need the weather to get at least a teeny bit better. :-)

Just a quick update. I started my cabled/plaid jacket using a Reynolds Whiskey Pattern. I managed to finish the cable part and start the colorwork. The sweater seems very green. In fact, I think it would be perfect for St. Patrick's day, unfortunately, I won't nearly be done then.

I also managed to finish the back on Jezabel and start the front on it. I haven't gotten far yet. I have no photos because my camera battery died.

Finally, I got around to putting buttons on my Nantucket Jacket, which I plan to wear as I travel to the British Virgin Islands. Again, no photo, no charged camera battery.