Knitting Fail.... sort of

A week or so ago, I helped Chey find her outfit for the day (translate: I made her wear a dress.... to school.. the absolute horror) and came to realize that almost every knit item in her closet is too small. Darn, right? I must now knit my daughter a cute little cardigan that she can wear with her dresses and skirts... my life is rough, eh?

Being that I am an incredible mother who always puts her children first (I had a rough day yesterday, give this one to me, OK?), I immediately went through my queue on Ravelry and chose the pattern and yarn for a cute, cabled, short-sleeved, cardigan. The chosen garment pattern was "Sea Princess" By Elena Nodel and the yarn was a cotton and silk blend by Misti Alpaca in a colour called Orchid, which Chey immediately took an intense dislike to.... "It's PINK! I hate pink! It's too GIRLY!"

This should have been my first warning that this project might not go the way it was intended. I persevered, however, and managed to convince Chey that the yarn was more purple than pink (slightly more acceptable, but not perfect) and cast on... The astute among you will notice that I never mentioned a gauge swatch. That would be because (don't tell anyone, particularly my knit club students), I NEVER knit a gauge swatch for a child's item of clothing. I normally pick a size larger and yarn & needles appropriate for the pattern and go... This always works out because if my gauge is tighter (i.e.: smaller), the sweater will fit because I chose a larger size and if my gauge works out the other way... kids grow and it will fit, eventually. Besides skipping this step means that  I've saved myself the 15 minutes of time (OK, more like 1 hr including washing and drying, which we should all do, right?!) it took to knit the swatch (knitters will understand the absurd nature of that statement... 15 minutes vs. many, many hours... time well spent when it comes to saving your arse because you took the time to knit the swatch, let me tell you)

Back to my story... I cast on the sweater, organized the knitting charts (one for each front, each sleeve and the back) and went to work. After several inches of smooth sailing, I checked the pattern to see when I should start the armholes (it is worked top-down) and noticed that I had made a fairly large mistake, or rather I made two mistakes, a largish one and a larger one. The first mistake was that I missed a cable cross (it was two crosses, actually)  several rows back, but as I had missed the same cable crosses on the matching front, I decided I could live with the error. That's when I noticed the larger error.. I PUT THE WRONG FRACKING CABLES IN THE WRONG FRACKING PLACE(S).... GAH!!!! Instead of placing the arm cables, you know, on the arms where they belong... I had put them on the fronts and put the cables for the fronts on the arms..... Total rookie mistake (or maybe a mistake of the too self assured??). Fortunately, the cables were easy to fudge and I was able to switch charts and blend the different cables into their correct locations. After a good smack in the head and some breathing exercises (I wish I drank alcohol at times like these... as an excuse for the error and a nerve steadying tonic, but alas, I do not drink), I worked out how to blend and exchange the charts and started back to work. The cardigan was going quite quickly, although I'll admit, not as quickly as I would have thought for a child's cardigan and eventually I came to the end of the body and cast it off.... For some reason, this is when I noticed that it seemed a tad.... large

Remember that I didn't do a gauge swatch?? Well, my thumb to the nose directed at the knitting gods has rebounded.... Gauge for the pattern: 19st=4"... my gauge: 15sts=4".... that's nearly 22% larger.... 22% larger on a cardigan that was already going to be fairly large???

That would be a sweater, not for my six year old daughter, but for me....... and it's even big on me...

I probably should have noticed sooner and if anyone points out the mis-crossed cable (some were done on purpose), I will hunt you down.

still needs buttons and to be blocked

As a final flip of the bird from knitting karma? Chey is right ticked off that she is not getting the pink cardigan that she wanted.......

Radio silence.

Oopsy. It's been over three weeks since my last post and I'm not exactly certain where the time has gone. I haven't been particularly busy.... I don't think.  Perhaps just a little post Holiday let-down.

I have been doing a little spinning since Christmas. I joined a new spinning group on Ravelry that has jump started my spinning mojo (it has also jump started a bit of a fibre buying spree, but we won't talk about that..... they have a LOT of great places to buy fibre from on that board and I haven't got the willpower to resist). I joined a SAL (spin-a-long) for December and January and spun 2 braids of the same fibre/colour in 2 different ways, but the results were similar other than the thickness of the yarn.

50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Silk, by JulieSpins in December Dusk. I spun the first braid as a lace-weight 2ply and tried to maintain the colour shifts with some blending in the middle.


The second braid was spun slightly thicker and then navajo-plyed. The resulting yarn is approx. a light-worsted to worsted weight yarn. I just realized that I gave it away without taking any pictures or copying down the details.... it doesn't look much different than the lace weight though, just picture that in a slightly different weight.

I've also started another SAL. This was a challenge to spin something from your stash that you've been avoiding.... either because the braid was just too pretty to risk spinning, a new fibre type that you haven't spun before or some other intimidating reason that the fibre hasn't been spun. I decided to tackle some 50% cashmere, 50% silk top that I obtained before I ever even LEARNED to spin (my friend bought it for me on the boxing day (can you say SALE) of the Christmas that I was given my wheel... at least I owned a wheel, so I'm not completely crazy).... it was just too pretty to pass up. This is my first real attempt at spinning from the fold (and it's going fairly well, although a bit more thick and thin than I'd like, but that could be the fibre blend). I'm hoping for enough yardage for a longish lace weight cardigan.....

I've also been knitting a bit. I finished a new tunic length top last Thursday. I was determined to wear it on my trip to Tucson and bound off and sewed in the ends about 10 minutes before the cab arrived to take me to the airport.... I LOVE it! The pattern is Allegheny by Thea Colman, knit in MCN 200 by JulieSpins in the colourway of Garnet Ruby.

And speaking of Tucson.... my step-mother invited me down to Tucson to help her with some personal stuff and I leaped at the chance (it involved organizing and I'm quite good at organizing). We did take a break from the work at hand, when I mentioned that people were going to ask me what I thought of Tucson and my only reply would be "the house I stayed in was very nice"..... She took me to Pima Canyon for a bit of a hike in the mountains. It was gorgeous....

On the home front, the kids and I have been doing some Science Experiments in preparation for a project Eli has to do for school. I introduced them to Non-Newtonian Fluids in the form of Oobleck (Cornstarch and water in a proportion of approximately 1 part water to 1.5-2 parts Cornstarch). They had fun squeezing the Oobleck into a solid state and then letting it turn into liquid (when at rest) and oozing through their fingers. I don't think it quite meets the criteria of Eli's science project, but it was a lot of fun!

Phew.... I had a lot to share.... three weeks is too long not to blog, I think.....

why, yes.. I do still knit...

I was looking at my last couple of posts and realized that they didn't have any knitting or knitting related references in them.. Shocking really.... so this one should make up for it..... it's gonna be ALL knitting.... you have been warned.

I finished these gloves tonight. After the mismatched fiddlehead mitten fiasco, I really wanted to make something that, well.. to be frank.... fit... AND that fit the same person, at the same time without any injuries that would require a mitten to fit over, say a hand that has swelled up to three times its normal size (the mis-sized mittens from hell did find a good home though, so I'm happy).... and I LURVE Julia Mueller's patterns..... These gloves (pattern is Rococo from Twist Collective) are to be given to my friend Barbora for her birthday. We are having lunch tomorrow and I am pleased that she will receive a pair of gloves that I can be proud of.... and both at the same time which is an extra bonus...(I was prepared to give her one with the promise of a second).





I've also been trying to write up patterns for both Chey's mitten scarf AND this fun fur vest thingy..... When I made the orignal vest for Chey, I just winged it in the car on a very long trip around a rock slide on a drive home from BC... I turned out to be quite cute, but the pattern notes I made did NOT create the same garment (I tried several times and failed and the yarn I chose does not like to be frogged, so the results were tossed)..... I then decided I'd do it top down, but it's just not turning out right... so I think I'm going to give it up...... I have knit two vests in the last two weeks and they don't look bad when they aren't ON, but lose much of their appeal when worn. The mitten scarf is being test knit (by myself) and it's going slowly because the damn scarf part has to be twice as long as a normal scarf so the scarf doesn't choke the wearer when the mittens are on.... and I need more yarn to complete that, which will happen tomorrow..... and hopefully the pattern will be done shortly after that.....

Original Vest	Top Down Versions

I've also been working on this cardigan. It normally only takes me a couple of weeks (it's been three and I still have both sleeves left) to finish a cardigan, but I'm just not lovin' this one and it's slow going as a result. The colour is "meh".... I plan to overdye it when it's finished, but first I must actually FINISH it......









And finally...... I've joined the Western Canada Oddball Baby Blanket Society (I was peer pressured into it.. I'll admit it). This is a wonderful group of knitters who knit baby blankets for the NICU of the Foothills hospital in Calgary. I knit with several members and their overlords (just kidding, sort of....*wink* ) and was feeling a bit off... being the only person at knit night who wasn't a member.... and so here I am.... contributing to my first blanket.... The theme is the 3 little pigs and I am knitting the last piggie and then finishing the blankie up with some kind of border..... I'll post pictures when I'm done (or at least have started on it... I must buy yarn first as I don't actually have any acrylic in my stash that would be suitable). I officially have a month to do my 6 inches and the border, but my intention is to finish in a week or so.....

Oh... and I made another crochet hat (the same as all the ones I made in December) in there too..... just thought I'd mention it....

Another FO

Lookie what I finished yesterday..... isn't it purdy??? Details of the modifications I did are on Ravelry



I'm still working on the Super Fiber Sampler.... I haven't been that motivated, truth be told... but I will finish the first half soon (I guess another week or so is still "soon", right?)

Diminishing Ribs....

I finished another sweater. The Diminishing Rib cardigan from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits (it's the cover sweater). I'm undecided as to whether I like the sweater or not. I'm just not thrilled with the collar and lack of closures on the front. I think the neckline would look better and fall in a more flattering way if the collar was a v-neck or a crew, but the tubular cast on straight collar (I don't know what it's called) is floppy and not very attractive (on me). I did not go with the pattern recommendation of knitting the pattern with positive ease. I knit the smallest size which would be zero ease or slightly negative ease and when I move and the cardigan shifts and falls to the sides. When this happens (which is every three seconds), the cardigan looks huge on me. Others who have knit this sweater before me have solved the problem with various closures, but I'm not sure I want to go that route. Overall, I love the idea of the sweater, the diminishing rib pattern is flattering and easy to knit, but if I were to knit this sweater again, I would knit it with a different collar and some kind of closure in mind. I was also concerned about the attached i-cord edge rolling, but a good steam block seems to have solved that problem.

My only modification to the pattern was to lengthen the whole cardigan by 3 inches. About 1/2 inch per 1x1 rib section and another 2 inches in the modified 3x1 rib section.





On a more positive knitting post, Chey finally fits a sweater I knit in 2006 before she came along. I just really loved the pattern and hoped I would have a daughter for it....... and I did..... so here are some pictures.

Growing a knitter.....

I taught Eli to knit last spring. He learned quickly, but only averaged about a row or two per week throughout the spring and summer and fall. He finished his masterpiece this past week. A hat, knit with Malabrigo. Using the inspiration I received from the Yarn Harlot's book "Knitting Rules," I cast on 20 stitches (turned out to be about 10 too few) and had him knit in garter stitch until the hat fit around his head, slightly stretched. Once is was completed, I then picked up and knitted a 2x2 rib brim with a bit of a rolled stockinette edge. Anyway... it's complete and it looks great! He immediately had me cast on for his next project... a matching scarf (although, I don't think there is enough yarn left, he might end up with a cowl).

Dontcha love the "teenager-ish" look on his face..... LOL





My latest project is coming along very nicely. After a few false starts (I thought I was going crazy... every time I started the sweater all of the cables were backwards... until I realized that I was starting on a wrong side row, which STILL needs to be read from left to right on the chart, not right to left.. duh....), I'm nearly finished the first front piece of my Fireside sweater (again, it's a Ravelry link for those who aren't members). I've added three inches to the length, but probably should have only added one or two.... Oh well, it's gonna be a wonderfully warm and luscious sweater to wear. The only thing I'm not super thrilled with is the buttons, so I'm going to knit that piece last and hope for some inspiration.

Oh... and don't look too closely... I've mis-crossed several cables, but decided that it can only be seen on close inspection




And finally, the last of my Christmas knitting... a pair of socks for my Grandmother.... Hopefully, they'll be done for Christmas, but I'm not loving the yarn or the colour (although, she really likes both), so it's taking me longer....

Back to back..

It's been a busy couple of weeks, visitor-wise. First my Grandmother (my children's' GREAT-grandmother) came out for a visit and to watch the kids while Dale was working so that I could go to the retreat. Then, almost immediately following came my Mother-in-Law..... it's all or none in the visitor department at our house, baby!! LOL

Unfortunately, this means that I haven't done much in the way of any knitting. I started (and ripped out several times, until I liked the way the colours were working out) a scarf for myself out of Handmaiden Fine Yarns Swiss Mountain Cashmere and Silk in a colourway called "Nova Scotia" which is a lovely blend of teals, blues and greens. I'm knitting the scarf from a stitch pattern out of one of Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries, I think it's called Vine Lace..... I now know why it is that I've never knit myself a scarf before..... it's a lot of turning and short knitting rows.... although, I did take the opportunity to teach myself (I figured out how to do it without looking up any techniques) how to knit backwards and can now knit backwards as fast as I can purl and will soon be able do it faster, I'm sure.



What I have done, with all this company, is finish (or very nearly) my Christmas shopping! Yes, that's right.... I'm done!! I have four children left to buy for and I'll do that in the next week or so (I know what they're all getting so that makes it like they're done to, IMO)...... even my Christmas knitting is almost done..... I have two small-ish projects left.... mwhahahaha! I love being done early!

I also decided which yarn I want to use to knit my Fireside sweater (sorry, it's a Ravelry link for those of you not on Rav.). I'm going to use Malabrigo Silky wool, two strands held together in the colourway of London Sky. I had enough for one strand in my stash and ordered another "set". I'm not worried about the dye lot because I'll just hold one strand from my stash and one of the new and it'll blend out nicely.... I'm excited! I've loved this pattern since I first saw it......

Ohhhh.... and I'm pretty sure I know what my darling hubbard got me for Christmas.... but I'm not telling, just in case I'm wrong.... It's gonna be awesome though......