It seems as though the knitting never ends.....

    Sometimes it feels that way. I knit for a while on this project, then knit for a while on that one. I pick up the super boring "no-holes-please" crocheted afghan and work on that for a row or two. That's usually all I can manage in one spurt. Sometimes I get two or even three spurts a day.


    Then along comes this pattern for a felted purse. I purchased it a long time ago, even bought the crocheted version. It's calling to me. It wants me to make it. I even bought some purple wool with which I can make it. I have the pattern out and have read it through at least three times. It's still sitting here, on the table right next to my chair.


    I am thinking that right now, I just have too many projects on the needles and hooks. Something will have to be finished before I can even think about starting another project. I'm trying to be really stern with myself, but I can feel my resolve slipping. I can't tell you how many times I've stopped myself from getting the needle out for the purse.


   Today I've been knitting on the Pi Shawl. I'm on the last section, after the final stitch count increase. Elizabeth Zimmermann says that about forty more rounds and you will think it's big enough. I have a feeling that's not big enough for me.


    I'm currently using a 29 inch circular needle. I was going to move to a 60 inch, but changed my mind because the tips of the longer needle are much more blunt. I prefer the sharper tips, especially for lace weight or sock weight yarn. So I plug along with the huge number of stitches on the shorter needle.


    I needed to write about this today, it's really been bugging me. Hopefully I can stay strong and not give in until I get something, anything, finished. I'm hoping some of you will send me strength. Thanks!

Project Updates

    1. Remember the great garter stitch monster blanket I was knitting for Owen? This morning I frogged it. I just wasn't into it any more, and it was too big anyway. I re-wound that yarn and have started on a different project. I am making him a double knit pad to lay on. I'm using the Elizabeth Zimmermann one yarn version. It's unbelievably awesome.


    2. I took the Pi Shawl with me on Friday when I babysat for Owen. I got quite a bit done on it. At least I'm through the next set of lace holes, at round 36 of the 48 rounds before the next time the stitch count doubles again.


    3. I am making some progress on my own double knit lap blanket. It's getting harder to do. I'm beginning to change my mind about making a big one for the son-in-law. I think it'll just be too much work. Those of you who know me, know I'm not a big fan of work. So it's back to rethinking a crochet pattern for his blanket. But he doesn't want holes....


    And lastly, 4. I'm still thinking about recreating my notes for my story. I just haven't decided yet.... and I have gotten encouragement. Thanks to those of you who have given it to me.



   

   

Babysitting and New Discoveries

    I know I've been lax and haven't written in a few days. But I was kind of busy. Wednesday, Kim H. thought that since it would be just the two of us for Stitch n Bitch, she proposed a road trip, not just breakfast. So we went to Out of the Loop yarn shop, a LYS down in the Fishkill area. I frequented this shop when we lived down that way.


   I found some absolutely luscious yarn that I had to buy, and of course I had to use it right away! I wound it up after I got home, and started my third Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's so pretty! I will take photos another day.


    I babysat all day for little OG Thursday and today. It still amazes me that I get so freaking tired just hanging out with a 3 month old baby! It's not like I'm chasing him around or anything. He just lays there! Granted, it's awesome now that he is laughing and smiling.


    The other day, as I was reacquainting myself with the directions for the Pi Shawl, I was flipping through the book Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Almanac. This copy is special, as it was a gift from a friend. So there I was reading her stories, and something caught my eye. It was a little ditty about double knitting, and how it makes a light yet cozy blanket.


    Now, I have done some double knitting, and while it's do-able, it's not easy. But as I read her instructions, it occurred to me that she is talking about doing the whole thing with only ONE yarn strand. Every other time I've seen it, it's always with two strands of yarn. I read it, and couldn't wait to try it. I had some heavy-ish weight yarn and grabbed my size 11 bamboo circulars and set to work. And guess what? It works! I am making a small sample as she suggests, and it works!


    The resulting fabric is soft and extra cushiony just as she said! I will take photos soon, so you can see what I'm talking about. Can you blame me for being excited? I am bursting with plans to make a blanket for my favorite son-in-law, as well as a wee one for his son.

Sad Face....

    I have one of those on. See, my best knitting buddy and I have decided we aren't going to Rhinebeck this year for the Sheep and Wool Festival. We just have no money with which to splurge on fibery goodness.


    But we have pinky sworn to get a "Rhinebeck Wish Jar" and every time we get even just a little extra money, we promise to put it in the jar. In the course of the next year, we should have saved enough to be able to go.


    It's a shame really, because we only live about 10 miles away from there, so travel money isn't an issue. It'll all be spending money for us.


    I get all excited reading about Clara Parkes and The Yarn Harlot going to Rhinebeck, and it's kind of surreal. It makes me want to go stand out on Rte 9 here in town and watch to see if I can spot them driving by. I'd even get a sign that says "Honk if you're going to Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool!"


    I just hope that they will all be there again next year. The festival is kind of a big deal in the knitting world, so I imagine they will be there.


    On the plus side, I've been knitting on the garter stitch baby blanket today while watching TV. I feel that I should mention again that it was designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann, and is in one of her books.

Crafting frustrations

    I am getting frustrated in my crafting. Not all of it, just the designs of the brilliant knitter, and yarn goddess Elizabeth Zimmermann. I have so far only been able to make one of her patterns, the Pi Shawl. But there was a problem.


    I can not start anything on double pointed needles. I have tried, believe me. I get going, and as soon as I start thinking "OK, I think I got this..." there is the tell tale metallic TINK sound of the back needle sliding out and hitting the floor.


   In order to make the Pi Shawls that I made, I needed to cheat. Since I couldn't do the beginning on dp's, I had to improvise. I actually knit it back and forth until it was big enough to go on a 16" circular. Then I joined it and continued working in the round.


    When it was all done, I had a short seam I had to sew up in the very center of the giant circle. No one has ever noticed it.


    I have had problems with her pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket too. I really want to make this, but I can't decipher her instructions. I hope someday that someone translates her "pithy directions" into modern knitting jargon that I can understand.


    Now for the most frustrating project. I want, so very badly, to make her garter stitch Square Baby Blanket. I have tried twice. This time there's no problem with the instructions, I got that. The first time I attempted this pattern, I used up all the really pretty baby yarn that I had, and was only into the 2nd quarter of the blanket. For months I looked for more of the yarn. NO ONE had any. It was like it disappeared off the face of the planet. I still, to this day, have not seen any more of the yarn.


    So I decide to try again, and buy lots of the yarn I chose. I'm not gonna run out this time! And what happens, as I'm in the 2nd quarter of the blanket? Well that's when my arthritis in my shoulder decides to act up. And I have to stop knitting. Hopefully it's only temporary, but I'm not holding my breath. For some reason I am destined to not make any of E.Z.'s designs except for the Pi Shawl. Maybe I'll start another one of those... I do have enough awesome black and white lace weight yarn to make a really big shawl.

Designing My Own Sweater, or Not

    I have been thinking recently about knitting a sweater, for myself, but designing it myself. In other words, I'm designing it in my mind.  I'm taking elements from different sweaters and putting them together. I would like to make a pullover, with wide ribbing at the cuffs. I would really like to put thumb holes in the long sleeves. I know of someone who did this, and I think it's a terrific idea.


    I want to make it in sock weight or DK weight yarn, on slightly bigger needles than recommended, so it's drapey. I also want to make it tunic length, to cover up my big rear end. It sounds to me like I need to re-read my Elizabeth Zimmermann book, all about how to design your own sweater. I would even knit a gauge swatch for it, so I would know how many stitches to cast on to get the size I want. Necessary evil.


    After writing those words ^ last night, I got out my books, and looked through them. I couldn't find what I was looking for. So today, after work, I went on Ravelry.com to peruse through the mountainous number of sweater patterns. Once I narrowed it down to pullovers, the number got much more manageable. Only five pages.


    Here is one that I found, that I really like:

   
    And best of all, it seems doable! It's called  Simple Summer Tweed Top Down V-Neck Sweater. It was designed by Heidi Kirrmaier, and it was a free pattern on Ravelry! YAY for free patterns!!


   I am not making any promises that I will definitely make this sweater, but I will certainly think about it, hard. Also, there were two sweaters by the aforementioned EZ in my list, which mentioned exactly which chapter in which book that the pattern appears! So I will go check that book again.


    I feel I must mention, that if I do make the above sweater, I will probably make the sleeves too long, so I can put the thumb holes in. I am quite adamant on those.

In Which I Change Mind....

    I know, I know, I said I had decided on a pattern. But after I got about 6 rows into it, I remembered that I've tried to make this shawl about 3 times before, and never finished any of them. I didn't like how they looked for some reason.


    This is how far I got today:

    I haven't frogged it yet, but I will. This yarn is too gorgeous, I will find just the right shawl pattern for it, I promise. Maybe it's time for another Pi Shawl....


    In the meantime, friend Kim has been doing some awesome crochet work. She has inspired me to get my stash of Sugar and Cream out, and go through it. I know I have a bunch of the different shades of denim....

Not knitting today

    Nope, I am not knitting today. I think. So far. First of all, I got to sleep in this morning, until after 9! That's huge for me. I am still, at 11:22 a.m. drinking my coffee.


    Second? There is nothing currently on the needles that I wish to work on. Not the Baby Surprise Jacket, not even the Wingspan Shawl. I am not in love with either of these projects at the moment. I was thinking maybe I'd look for an old project still on the needles, a shawl I started when we were in Fishkill, I was using Paton's Lace yarn in the Patina colorway. Very pretty stripes.


    Later on, I shall look for it. Here is a photo I took of my progress at the time:

    I think it's safe to say that I haven't made any more progress on it that the photo shows. Looking at the photo really makes me want to go find it.... I want it to be huge, and I know I have more yarn in my stash.


    Wish me luck in finding it! Looks like I may knit today, after all....

This Weeks Knitting Report

    The Arachno Shawl I've been working on is really progressing nicely! It was difficult unraveling the dropped stitches of the border, because of the yarn. Once I got past that, the transition ribbing was only four rows, then it was on to the main body of the shawl! Here is a photo of my progress so far! I took it just a few minutes ago:

    Here is a closer shot of the center area.

    As for the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket, it has been put on hold for the time being. The Universe decided, I guess, that it wasn't to be created at this time, at least by me. My buddy Kim and I couldn't co-ordinate our schedules to get a decent chunk of playdate time. I totally understand, and know that the Universe is wiser than I shall ever be. There must be a really good reason for it.


    I must say that I'm pleased to have gotten this post done so early in the day! I'm sitting here drinking my coffee, and watching (listening) to The Graham Norton Show on BBCAmerica. I know that there are some days that my post doesn't get written until much later into the evening.


    So now I can enjoy the day, with no pressure to write a post! I hope you all enjoy your day too!

One project stalled, a new one started

    The stalled project is pictured below, I have gotten to 5 ridges on the Elizabeth Zimmermann baby surprise jacket. This is where it gets unclear in the directions. I'm still waiting for a playdate for help.

    For good news, I got to start a new project today! A friend of my Hubs is having his very first grandbaby, by the end of this month. Hubs has asked me to make his favorite crocheted baby blanket for the new parents.


   There is one little problem. The original version is made with 7 colors of a really pretty baby yarn. Unfortunately I haven't seen about 4 of the needed colors in many months. Since they "know" this baby will be a boy, I went out and bought some of the same pretty yarn, but only three colors, white, blue and a blue variegated. I'll make the blanket, but with wider stripes since there's only three colors of yarn.


    The pattern calls for the yarn colors to be used two strands together, starting with 2 of white, then white and the second color, then 2 of the second color, then one 2nd and one 3rd, then 2 of the 3rd, etc. Here's how it looks so far:

   As you can see, I am on the solid blue stripe. I'm doing four rows of each, except for

the white. I used more than four of that color. I think it will be very pretty, I just hope it's big enough!

    And for the best news, I didn't have to go to Hobby Lobby for the yarn! I found what I needed at Michaels. The original colors were - white, yellow, peach, pink, lavender, blue and green. I would have needed to go to Hobby Lobby because that's the only store I've ever found that had this yarn in the peach color. Every other time I've made this blanket, I had to get the peach yarn from ebay.


   Let's just say that I am pleased at how the blanket is turning out. I think I forgot to mention that the yarn is Bernat Baby Coordinates. Its really pretty, it had a shiny thin ribbon running through it. You can see it in the photo if you look closely.

The Un-Crafting Report

    At the present time, I am not working on anything. That's right, not one thing. The secret project I started, I ended up frogging because something wasn't right. I was in the decreasing, but had waaay too many stitches left for the K3, K2tog round. I would like to start over, but I think I should use a smaller size needle, and then it would need to be shorter than 16". I don't have any circular needles less than 16". Perhaps you can see my dilema.


    When I go babysitting, I am taking my nook, so I can read while Malia naps. I am currently taking a break from Game of Thrones III (I don't remember the exact name of the book), and have started reading the Ann Rice werewolf novel. So far, it's good. I do miss crocheting and knitting. I have even looked through the newer patterns I have gotten from Ravelry, which I put on one of those stick drive things. There is another colorwork blanket which I might be interested in trying. At least, when I get some money ahead to buy the yarn.


    All I can do is hope that soon I can get together with my knitting expert friend so she can interpret what the great EZ means in the directions of the baby surprise jacket. I can't even call it a pattern, it's really directions.


    On a totally different note, I finally baked my famous walnut peanut butter chip brownies last night. I finally felt like baking! I used the metal pan, when I should have used the glass one. They are a little overdone on the edges. Next time, I will remember to use the glass pan. That's how long it's been, that I forgot which pan makes them come out the best!

Knitting Update

    Well, the new tire cover is done, I just need to hook up with my helper to get it on. Photo will be posted once it's applied! I did start the EZ baby surprise jacket, and I've gotten as far as I can without assistance, which means interpretation. She was a knitting genius, but sucked at pattern writing. Hey, no one's perfect! Love her anyway.


    While I am waiting, I decided to start another project, which I am keeping quiet about, as the person I'm giving it to reads my blog, sometimes. It's going pretty well, actually. Started this morning by casting on, and doing the first row, the K2 P2 ribbing didn't come out right. So I counted again, and found out I only cast on 62 stitches, when I was supposed to cast on 72. So I frogged it and put it in my bag, as it was almost time to leave for babysitting.


    While Miss Malia napped today,  I got out the mystery project (mp), cast on the correct number of stitches this time, and did the whole ribbed section.  When knitting in the round, I don't join right away, I knit the first row first, then join and continue knitting in the round. I find it much easier, and when finished, I just take the long tail and stitch the tiny gap closed. No harm no foul.


    I know my limitations, and can usually find a way to get done what needs to be done, as far as knitting goes. Like when I did the Pi Shawl. I started out knitting it back and forth, until it was big enough, then I joined it and continued in the round. After it was well established, I took the tail and gently seamed up the opening. Looks nice, and you can't tell that I am an absolute idiot when it comes to double points.


   Now for a brief word about the weather. It was, and still is, very fracking hot today. Even with the air on, I am melting. I need an ice bath, and more Edy's Fruit Pops. Pineapple and pomegranate are my two favorites. And it's gonna be more of the same tomorrow! This is not helping my breathing, either. So I'm trying to stay cool, and stay still, or there could be trouble in the breathing department.


    Well, this just sucks! I closed this post, so I could take a photo of the sweater's progress. And the batteries are dead in the camera.  Last time, I bought two, and guess what? The compartment where I put the spare is open. So it could have fallen out at anytime, anywhere. I am so completely bummed! I guess I have to go to Rite Aid tomorrow and get another one. So, I guess you'll have to wait until then to see the photos. Sorry. OK, go back to your lives now.

I Need Help From Fellow Knitters, Please!

   OK, so I'm stumped. I started making Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby surprise jacket, but have gotten stuck. I love the way she wrote, but.... the directions for this jacket in her book, E.Z.'s Knitting Workshop, have me very confused.


   If there is a knitter out there who has translated this pattern into comprehensible language that a relative beginner can understand, would you please answer in the comments? I would really appreciate it! I got confused, and would like to see simply written directions.


   I placed my stitch markers where she said to, but I still have to count all the stitches, because each marker sits right smack in the middle of the two stitches that I must knit together, so there's a lot of moving stitches around, to move the marker. All I require are simple, "pithy" directions, like for the Pi shawl, of which I have made two.


   Thanks in advance for any help!