Anklets

I am going to spare you further shots of my veil, which could also currently be identified as "giant fuzzy shower cap". I will be done with the lace pattern for the center in just nine more rows.

The blazer finally got frogged a little, but not as much as it needs to be. I'm just way more interested in the veil right now, which isn't such a bad thing. If you're going to practice project monogamy with any project, wouldn't your wedding veil be the most fitting thing to get such devotion?

But I finished something, amazingly enough. These were actually a half-row and bindoff from being done for nearly a week, but the veil (ok, and Harry Potter) kept me away.



The yarn: Cascade Sassy Stripes, about 2/3 a skein
The pattern: my own invention
The stripes: deliberately asymmetrical
The weird ribbing around the feet: "arch support", or a nice socky hug for your feet.


The heel: my upside-down dutch heel, which I decided I don't actually like that much. It doesn't fit well, and you don't wind up with enough stitches for the sock to go all the way around your upper heel. I had to do the decreases very gradually, and the stitches are still very spread out around the upper heel.
The verdict: very cute, very fun stripes, but not my best work.

In other news, my good buddy Kate brought me yarn from Ireland! It's green, "like Ireland."



It's 100g pure wool and feels great, with a cool thick-and-thin texture. What should I do with it? It would make a really cute hat with plenty left over, but I'm not sure if there's enough for a scarf. It also looks like it would felt really well, so maybe a bag? Or I could use it as the thick yarn in some scribble knitting... (example)

hmmm...

Obviously you guys are trying to kill me

Back from Dave's high school reunion, trying to get caught up. No one is making this easy for me.



It actually started at six hundred something, but I didn't quite have the presence of mind at that point to take a screenshot. I am still a little overwhelmed.

(if you were curious, I've *only* got about 70 feeds. Just some people have like 50 posts they edited.)

Back to normal

(or as close to it as we usually get)

The internet has been working for all of fifteen minutes, and I feel sooooo much better. But, before I can get caught up on blogs I will be leaving town for about a week. Dave's having his high school reunion this weekend and it is my job to tell everyone how successful and well-known in his field he is. Hee hee.

Things have been moving quickly this week (which makes it even more annoying not to have the internet), and we now have a date, a site, and a honeymoon all in line. Squee!

Also: I heart chart B.



Smooshed but pretty! And way more interesting than chart A!

Not so Comcastic After All

Internet is down. Thanks to the transition from Time Warner to Comcast. I am furious. Sorry if I don't read your blog for a while, this does not look like it will be ending too soon.
(too bad I feel guilty about blogging/reading blogs from school!)

I'm glad you guys liked the lace! I've been getting tons done on it lately, mostly because I can't use the internet.

Heart-stopping lace moments

Based on my limited experience, I think there are two kinds of heart-stopping lace moments. The *good* kind is when it's blocked and it looks amazing. The bad kind is when you have a Lace Knitting Accident and you nearly pass out from shock.

We're fine now, of course.



I wanted to see how big the thing was getting and how it looks so far, so I devised a complicated plan involving 4 knitpicks cables (only 2 40-inchers, one short one and one middle-length one. note to self: get more 40-inch cables for stretching out lace pieces) to hold all the stitches with enough room to actually lay the thing flat. I am just over the halfway mark if you count by rows (sadly, only about 1/4 the total area) and have started the second (interesting) lace chart.

I have a handy tip for everybody. When using multiple knitpicks cables to hold your stitches and using those plastic caps to make sure they don't fall off, if you have an odd number of caps left over then you probably have an end that is not capped. Each cable has two ends, and so each cable needs two caps. Not one. Check several times.

Fortunately only about 1/2 of a repeat fell off the needle, and few stitches were dropped. The ones that were dropped were only yarnovers and with careful reference to the chart I made sure I had all my stitches where I needed them. But damn, was that scary.



I am hoping this starts to look more interesting soon.

Save this blazer!

Along with the purple socks and veil, I've been working on the Equestrian Blazer from Interweave Knits (for pic click and scroll down). There is a LOT going on in this blazer. I have one of the fronts done, but sadly I do not think I will "have it going on" while wearing this blazer. Namely, Liz's Crazy Row Gauge has conspired to make this sweater two inches longer than it's supposed to be. And I'm pretty sure that will make the hem hit somewhere closer to the "dumpy" range than the "smokin'" range.

Here's a picture, you'll probably have to click for big to see everything I'm talking about.



The bottom, to the waist, is shaped with short rows and decreases along a seam line, highlighted in yellow (ok, they're all yellow, but you can spot the lowest one, right?) You knit straight for just a few rows, giving a place to attach the button, and then start the Interesting Upper Half, where you simultaneously a) increase along the bust dart line, b) decrease where you want the neck to widen and c) increase the number of stitches in the collar, which will fold over when you're done.

(that tab at the top is where the collar wraps around the back of your neck. Ignore it for now)

Still with me? I want to make it two inches shorter from armpit to hem. As far as I can tell, these are my options:

1) Frog to two inches below where I started the armhole and start the armhole there instead
advantages: easier
disadvantages: will it look weird to have the bust dart right on top of my bust? Aren't those supposed to be below the bust?

2) Frog to the waist and redo everything, working the collar and neck the same way I did before but putting more "slope" in the bust line. To do this I'd work the increases every three rows instead of every four, and I'd need about 10 rows fewer--just under 2"
advantages: might look better
disadvantages: more thinking required, and I'd have to figure out how to make a perfect M1 from the purl side

I suppose a third option would be to work with gauge and needle size until my row gauge is right and then maybe make a bigger size? But that sounds like such a PIA, plus the bigger sizes come out longer (the whole problem in the first place), plus I also have most of the back done.

A fourth, of course, would be to give up. But I'm not that desperate yet.

Help! Advice, tips, tutorials, more options are welcome!

Loony?

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind...

(Sorting Hat song, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Though some have questioned the wisdom of knitting oneself a doubly-thick wool scarf (it's done in stockinette in the round) to wear while standing in line for a movie, outside, in Texas, in July. But I wouldn't put it past my favorite Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood--especially if it was supposed to protect against Nargles or Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

I finished the first Twisted Flower sock, but I'll take a picture later. That thing is so hard to capture! I can't start the second because I need to wind the yarn, and my ball winder is currently holding the laceweight merino for my veil. I'm worried about tangles, so I'm putting off taking it off the ballwinder core until I have an empty paper towel roll I can use instead.

I wish you could feel how soft and squishy this is.



And because I can't wind the yarn for the second Twisted Flower, I started another sock.



This is in Cascade Sassy Stripes Superwash--the same yarn Mom used for her sock-in-a-day sock. One of the stores downtown that sells cool "sundries" has started selling yarn recently, and a lot of it is really gorgeous. Also among their stock are beads, purses, funny books, tiny catapults that launch tiny pigs or ninjas, fake cockroaches, antique ribbons, nativity scenes... it's a great store. And they were hiring, so my little brother has his first job working there. Dave and I made a trip down to look at wedding places (omg) and stopped in the store, where he bought a nice pair of chopsticks, a hackey-sack, some little tin soldiers, and a skein of purple sock yarn for me. Yay!

These are going to be little anklets, and I think I'm going to go for that sporty arch-support style, with ribbing around the middle of the foot. I can't decide if I should do plan 1x1 ribbing or a 1x1 twisted rib. If I go plain, I'll probably have to transfer to 0's. Any thoughts? And should I do slip stitch all over the heel to make it extra cushy and sporty, or just go for sleek? It's not like I'll be running in these, of course.