Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Branching off


Branching off, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

I am frogging this because I keep screwing up rows 3 and 5 of the lace pattern. I don't know WHY I keep screwing them up. I can't even see the mistakes! But I'm afraid it will turn into a giant mess if I keep going, and I've had no luck knitting back.

Also, I would rather have cables.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

AHHHHH!


AHHHHHH.jpg, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

At least this mistake just randomly happened and then eventually fixed itself, unlike the one from the other night which spiraled further into disaster with every row.

I've added on for the sleeve and am making short rows. This pattern is kind of scary.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Friday post fixing.


Friday post fixing., originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

I still have no idea how it happened, but on Tuesday I screwed something up and wasn't able to fix it properly due to the coffee shop kicking us out. I spent an hour on it still that night and finally got it fixed to some point or another. On Wednesday, I didn't knit at all. On Thursday, I was all prepared to move forward when suddenly, I found myself in a Bigger Mess™. This involved lots of frogging, and some tears, and there may have been wine involved!

I was actually dreaming about these crazy cables last night. It was a bad, bad situation.

But tonight I took a more concentrated effort to fix it, which seemed to go very well for the first hour, then it was wrong AGAIN. This was when I realized that my problem was happening because the thing I thought I fixed on Tuesday was not really fixed properly. The second hour, I spent knitting backwards all that I had just spent fixing, plus the extra two rows from Monday's error, and then finally doing a complete set of eight rows to make sure all the errors have been fixed. (They have, thank Hera.)

Tomorrow: Lifelines!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Scarf


branching-out.jpg, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

This is fun, but it's hard to see the pattern because my needles aren't wide enough to stretch out properly. I got two pattern repeats done today.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Malabrigo


Malabrigo, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

What self-respecting knitter is wearing a store-bought scarf? Um, that would be me. But I totally cannot wear my Harry Potter scarf anymore, I'm just tired of it. I also like to keep a small, simple project at work for my breaks, lunches, and those days when Illustrator takes ten minutes to open.

I'm going to do a scarf and a head wrap thing, I think. I have two skeins of this. It's SO FANTASTIC, of course.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Gauge is for worryworts!


Gauge is for worryworts!, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

Day two of Arwen. The cables are still gorgeous. They look like that on the other side, too!

The main concern is of course the gauge. The pattern calls for 18 sts and 26 rows = 4". My swatch ended up being 18 sts and 24 rows = 4". The last time I tried to do a sweater, I had similar results and therefore went up a needle size, which brought me to long sweater (is looooooong). I turned to the Knitting Answer Book. It said:

"If you have the right number of stitches per inch, but fewer rows than you are supposed to, it means that your stitches are too tall. This can happen if your stitches are a little too loose." And, "If you can't match both, then matching the correct number of stitches per inch is more important, because you can adjust for a row gauge that's not quite right by simply working the length indicated by the pattern."

Right, I can totally do that.

Except while knitting away, I thought well, self, I do tend to knit pretty loose. Maybe tightening up a bit will help? And so once I got past the hem, that's what I did. And now, my gauge is at 19 sts and 26 rows = 4".

WHATEVER. I'm just knitting a frakking sweater here. It will either fit or it won't. It's now long enough that I can hold it up to myself and guess, yes it should fit.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

A sweater for Arwen.


Arwen, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

I'm knitting a Sweater for Arwen. For myself. We are like one in the same, Arwen and me. We're both brunette, immortal, and all that stuff.

This right here is an entire day's worth of work. (There may have been occasional pauses to watch BSG and reflect upon how pretty Helo is.)

I'm already somewhat hesitant about the pattern, since size M is going to be a perfectly tight fit, and size L was going to be, I don't know, Eomer-sized instead of Arwen-sized. (I don't know, Eomer seems like the beefiest of the LOTR guys.) Since I started this as a retaliation to the sweater that is looooooooooongcat, I'm now going to err on the other side of caution. This cardigan will probably end up to be Frodo-sized.

But the cabling. It's so pretty. And it's reversible! I am very taken with it. It is getting fondled a lot. (Maybe I should name it Helo???)