Yarn store adventures!

First of all, a scarf update. This is how it looks at the moment:



It's about 3 1/3 feet long. I'm in the middle of the thirteenth repeat. Probably only a few more (seven at absolute most) and I'll be done. I'd better look into getting some blocking wires (it's curling up awfully)!


In (IMO) much more exiting news, I went to a yarn store a few days ago! I chose to go to The Knitting Room in Arlington, MA, since a friend needed a ride into the city (it's a ways away and her car had broken) anyway. The store was nice. It was quite small, but given that it could offer a rather limited set of yarns it carried a decent variety in terms of weight, fiber content, color, etc.

I got:


(the second picture is an attempt to better represent the color of the yarn, which is really a magenta -- the first picture is too washed-out and pink, the second too red)

This yarn is for making Tasha from Knitty. (I also picked up size 5 and 6 circs to make this project.) I am kind of shocked at myself for getting a yarn that's even remotely pinkish, but whatever. I like it.

Because it was on sale, I also got:



I have no idea what I'm going to use it for, but it's purty.

Yay for yarn stores!

Progress!

I think I'm working on the fifth or sixth repeat of the cable part of the scarf. (Can't say for sure; it's downstairs, and the dog is sleeping, so I can't go down there tonight.) I've been sitting for thirty minutes to two hours at a time, knitting while watching TV with Dad and sometimes other family members. I only got the chance to do that a few days this week, but it's added up. I'll try for a picture next week, if I remember (is it New Year's Eve next Sunday? ...maybe no post from me till two weeks from now, then...). It seems to be going so fast -- big yarn and big needles and only something like 30 sts/row seem to knit up amazingly quickly after the armwarmers. But I've still got at least two-thirds, probably more like three-quarters or four-fifths, of the scarf to go. It's maybe nine inches or a foot long.

Cables are still scarily easy. And it's getting easy for me to read my knitting with this scarf -- I still check the pattern, but I can usually see what should come next without checking.

Guess what I did?

Ta da!

YAY!

Pattern: Dragon Scale Gauntlets

Yarn/Needles: Plymouth Encore D.K., color 425, something under 2 50-g skeins, on size 6 DPNs

Time: Three and a half months (but not much knitting got done for the first few weeks).

Modifications: Cast on four (?) more stitches than the pattern dictated. Nine rows of ribbing at the top rather than six.

Techniques learned: knitting in the round, knitting on DPNs, m1, ssk/k2tog, sewn BO (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!), following a chart, tinking (I dropped stitches at one point and had to go back twelve rows to fix it...)


Notes: Did I mention that I LOVE the sewn bind-off? So easy (if a bit time-consuming), so good-looking, so stretchy!

The pattern was pretty easy to follow once I figured out a couple of the more confusing directions (thanks to help from folks on LJ!). I thought that working back and forth for one chart repeat to create the thumbhole was a neat trick.

These are so comfortable and warm! My only gripe is that my row gauge changed during the course of the project, so one of them is shorter than the other. But ah well. It gives them character, right? ;) I definitely want to knit these again, only paying more attention to gauge (maybe do both at once?), and using a yarn that will actually show off the stitch pattern better -- it's visible on these, but not really from a distance.

I got wonderful help at various stages from several different people on the knitting LJ community and am so thankful for it!

All of my pictures relating to this project can be found here.

And aw, heck, just a couple more in the post for good measure:

Of course, I've already cast on for something else -- the Ropes and Ladders Scarf, sans ladders (I didn't like how they looked in my swatch). It's my first time doing cables, and I was blown away by how easy they are!

I am using this yarn:

It is some sort of wool/acrylic blend on a cone. No idea what. I got it from my summer roomate. Whatever it is, it's wonderfully soft, very fun to knit with except that it's a loose single ply so it's kind of splitty/fibrous. It's probably worsted weight or so on the cone, but when it comes off it poofs up a bit so it's probably one and a half to two times as thick.

Here's how the scarf looked earlier today:



Since that picture was taken, I knitted another repeat. I really hope that the yarn is woolly enough to block well, since the stockinette sections bordering the cable are curling. We'll see...

(crossposted to the knitting LJ community)

WAY WAY WAY busy -- so this will be brief.

No pics still -- no damn time to upload them. (I don't even really have the time to be making this post.)

I've finished row 7 of the 7th pattern rep. Chart is 11 1/2"ish in length, ribbing 11 5/8". So 28 rows, 4"ish in the past week.

I think that this one is coming out shorter than the other. It's really frustrating. I may have to knit more chart rows before starting the thumbhole so that they come out even.

Well, something got done, at least...

I did get a bit of knitting done over break -- mostly on the plane on the way home, but a few rows here and there while home and on my way back. I had knitting group today, too. I got six rows done in sixty minutes. Currently I've finished the third row of the fifth pattern repetition. The chart section is 7 1/2" long; the ribbing is 7 3/4". So over vacation I did thirteen rows, 1 3/4". Not terrible. Hopefully I can keep plugging along over the next couple of weeks... It's starting to get a tad bit boring now, the excitement of finishing one having worn off.

Again, no pictures. I have a massive amount of work, was writing a paper all day so no time to upload (and now I really need to go to bed).

Over halfway done... I'll be aiming for another two repeats in the next week!

I am a MACHINE, folks.

Bunches of knitting done in the past week -- about 10-12 rows each day that I was able to sit down and knit. I have knit up to the second row of the fourth pattern repeat (where the first set of decreases occur). Current length is 5 3/4" chart, 6" ribbing. So that makes 38 rows, about 4 3/4"/5" done in a week.

I ROCK.

Still no piccies, sorry... flew home today, no time/inclination to upload them in the past few days, and I left my charger/uploader at school. Mebbe next week.

Today on the plane home I dropped the LAST two stitches of the LAST of the three repetitions... caught it fast, and only had to tink one row, thank goodness.

It's good I made so much progress in the past week, because given that I'm at home this week I don't anticipate getting a lot done. We'll see. I'll certainly try to make time...

One down, (slightly less than) one to go!

I cast off the left armwarmer on Wednesday/Thursday. Cast on the right armwarmer yesterday (Saturday). Whee!

The completed one fits pretty well. It's been a struggle not to start wearing it before the other one is done! Final length is approx 16" in the chart section, 16 1/2" in the ribbing... umm. That's rather longer than it was supposed to be... Good thing, though, because I definitely like it as long as it is.

I thought that just finishing with one knit row and 7 rows of ribbing after the thumbhole would be plenty to make it long enough, but I ended up doing 9 rows of ribbing before binding off. If I'd known I probably would've knit three rows of chart before starting the ribbing. Oh well. It looks fine as is. I used the sewn bind-off, which was surprisingly easy and the results of which I quite liked. I think I'll definitely use that one in the future as well.

There are a couple of holes and some laddering loose stitches (mostly on the top/bottom ribbing), but all in all it looks pretty good. I'm proud. :)

Today I completed the last of the seven beginning rows of ribbing for the second gauntlet. It's currently an inch long.

Sorry no pictures at the moment; I took some but haven't had the chance to upload them... maybe next week.

Allllmmmmoooosttt there...

I am on row 5 of the eighth pattern repetition. This is the part with the thumbhole. I'm a little annoyed because I was finally getting my tension down and now with all of this purling back I think it's wonky again. But oh well...

I'm really really close. I hope to be done by the end of this week, if all goes well (knock on wood). It'll be a bit of a push, maybe... seven more rows of the eighth repeat, then three to six of a ninth chart repetition, then sevenish of ribbing... that makes about seventeen to twenty altogether. I can do six to eight rows in a lecture, of which I have two this week, so that makes twelve to sixteen... then I will get another four rows or so done at knitting group if it meets next Sunday. So probably I'll do sixteen to twenty rows this week. I might have to put in a little overtime to finish it, but barring something going massively wrong (again, knock on wood) I think I'll have one down, one to go by the next time I write. Wheee!

Current length: approx 13 1/2" in the chart section, 14 1/4 " in the ribbing. So progress from the last week is seventeen rows, 2 3/4"/3" in length.

Still going...

Got a bunch done this weekend because I sat through three hours of lectures on Saturday. I saw two other women knitting there and was highly amused.

Current status: Two rows left in the sixth pattern repetition, which includes the second set of repetitions. Chart section is about 10 3/4" long; ribbing is 11 1/4". That means that I knitted two and a half repeats this week -- much more than I calculated as my average last week! -- and added 4" in length to the chart, 4 1/4" to the ribbing. Hmm... I'm knitting the ribbing as tightly as I can... I must've started to knit the chart more tightly as well. I'll try to loosen up on that.

I wouldn't think that eight stitches is that much of a decrease, but the gauntlet visibly tapers. It fits quite nicely. I think I'd have liked it a little tighter at the initial ribbing, but I was messing with DPNs for the first time while knitting that so the relative looseness of it isn't surprising.

I'm getting a little nervous that the skein won't last me for the whole gauntlet. Good thing I bought three skeins rather than two. But we'll see.

Today nobody came to the knitting group. I was sad, but at least I got all of that knitting done on Saturday to make up for what I didn't get done today (I just did one row while waiting to see if anyone was going to show up).

Still moving forward...

Progress picture!



You can't really see the pattern well there, but oh well.

I have started the FOURTH REPEAT (I am 4 rows in right now), aka where things get slightly more interesting because I start decreasing (just 4 stitches over 12 rows, nothing major). I tried to put a lifeline in after the end of the third repeat (which I finished in class on Wednesday), but didn't manage it. The stitches are tight enough on the needles that I had to slip them onto the yarn needle, and then back onto a knitting needle from the yarn needle, and in doing so I started dropping stitches (thank god for the lifeline that was then threaded through them!). They were a bitch to pick up again (one got pulled THROUGH the stich below it, the chart work is so tight), and a bitch to get the lifeline through in the first place, and so I gave up. I'll probably rue the day when I drop another stitch... but oh well.

The chart section is now 6 3/4", and the ribbing is 7", meaning that a) I have knitted another 2 1/2" on each section, and b) my strategy of making my row gauges on the chart vs. the ribbing more even by knitting the ribbing really tightly has worked. I've knitted about a repeat and a half in the last week. Four rows at knitting group today. If I keep doing about 4 rows/hour, I'll manage something slightly over a repeat each week (assuming 3 hours class time in which I'm partly knitting, partly taking notes, and 1 hour dedicated knitting with my knitting group), and should be done with this gauntlet in about a month. Looks like that scarf for Grandma won't be done in time for Christmas, but oh well, I can always give it to her another time.

Phew.

I had to undo 12 rows (that's a whole repeat!), but I fixed the dropped-stitch mess and started knitting forward again. Currently I'm almost done with the second of three initial pattern repeats. The chart section is about 4 1/4" long; the ribbing is 4 1/2".

The knitting (well, fiber arts) group I organized met today for the first time. Of the four interested people, one only showed up briefly and then had to leave, one forgot about it, and the third person (other than me) came because he doesn't know how to knit and wants to learn. So I taught him to cast on and knit today, using leftover acrylic and the crappy plastic size 8 needles from my scarf. While he worked on things, I played with other leftover acrylic and my new(ish) Clover size 9 bamboo straights. They're okay -- kind of short, and the points are blunter than I like -- but hey, I got them for like $2, so I can't really complain. They feel great in my hands, certainly.

Progress undone. :(

Dropped a stitch. In trying to rip back to fix it (I don't have a crochet hook and anyway wouldn't know how to handle a dropped stitch in a patterned knit), dropped a few more. Am now slooooowly ripping back until all stitches are back on the needle correctly. I've undone like 5 rows already. Sigh.

Due to that disaster, I haven't been feeling good about knitting, so I haven't worked much to fix it or anything. I figure I'll just keep plugging away at it in class.

On the bright side, I organized a knitting group in my dorm! :) It looks like there'll only be 3-4 of us, but it should still be fun.

Progress!

Here's what my knitting looked like a week ago:




Here's what it looks like as of today:



Yay for progress!

Lucky me, I have a lecture class this quarter in which I can sit and knit. It's about 2-3 hours/week, so I have time to get stuff done! I'm also going to start looking into getting a knitting group together in my dorm.

The chart section of the left gauntlet is about 4" long, and the ribbing is about 4 3/4" (yikes; here's hoping they don't start to pucker because I really don't want to mess with short rows. I'm currently 5/6 of the way through the second of three pattern repeats. The knitting on chart rows is sometimes tough. I've come to hate M1B (M1R). I can do M1F (M1L) fairly easily most of the time now, though, and the decreases were never really a problem, so hey, at least it's a start. I'm getting a little laddering, but mostly at the very beginning of the gauntlet. And there's a weird little hole partway up the middle of the chart section, where I think I messed up. But otherwise, things look fine. I am a little paranoid about what may happen later if I have to do short rows, so I think I'll stick a lifeline in the last row of the third repeat. But who knows if I'll really need it.

...

*knocks on wood*

Fluff!

Well, I knitted (knit?) 2 more rows today. OMG the chart is freaking hard!!! I can do all of the stitches, but it's difficult to do them neatly/well/quickly when I'm working on DPNs... other needles keep getting in the way! It doesn't help that my stitches are really tight in that section, either. Oh well...

I FINALLY uploaded pictures so that this post can at least have a semblance of substance to it. First, pictures of the two swatches that I did for the gauntlets:




And here's a closeup of the stitch pattern from the chart swatch... it's hard to see, though. (It's tricky to see in person, too... I'm hoping that it comes out better in the actual gauntlets.)




I took a picture of the gauntlets in process (all ten rows of the left one), but for some reason it didn't upload. Maybe next week.


Also, here's a couple of pictures of the yarn that my summer roomate gave me. Isn't it purty? It's an acrylic/wool blend. I'm going to make a scarf for my grandma, and maybe the DNA Scarf for one of my parents if I have enough left over (who am I kidding, it's a HUGE amount of wool!).




...and that be all for this week. Hopefully in the coming days I'll start to knit again... I have a lecture class that I don't know if I'll need to take notes in, and a looong boring lecture thingie on NCAA eligibility to attend Tuesday that I'll DEFINITELY be taking the knitting to...

NO TIME NO TIME NO TIME!!!

Two rows in the past week. I'm off the ribbing and into chart repeat #1. But very little knitting time, as I'm sure you can guess.

Bought a pair of #9 Clover straights from Michael's because I had a 50% off coupon. Was hoping to score a set of interchangeables, but they didn't have any.

That's about all I've got to say for this week.

Slow going.

So people on Livejournal said that different row gauges shouldn't make a huge issue. If they do, I can always do short rows. (Wheee. *rolls eyes*) Cast on on the plane home on Tuesday. DPNs are MAJORLY fiddly. Eek. Now that I'm about five rows in (still doing ribbing) it's a little better. My first couple of rows look like the stitches are very loose at the join. I'll probably try to sew it up with the tail during finishing rather than frogging it.

No pictures of swatches or new yarn yet. Too busy. ;)

I'm itching to get to a consignment shop and buy a sweater to unravel for yarn. Call it my new mini-obsession. I was going to use a sweater that I have, but it looks like the seams are heavily overstitched, and my reference says that that could mean that the stitches were cut at the ends -- therefore no good for unraveling. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to tell whether the seams on a given sweater are good or not... perhaps it'll just have to be trial and error.

BYARGH.

So remember how I said that my gauge for the ribbing swatch was off, but I think I could finagle it?

Row gauge for ribbing swatch: 6.4 rows/inch
Row gauge for chart swatch, which I just finished tonight: 7.4 rows/inch

This would make a 2" difference in the lengths of a 96-row tube. I'm worried that
the gauntlets would therefore pucker or otherwise look weird if I tried to knit them with these gauges... *sigh*... Posted on the knitting lj community, hoping for help soon.

I got the awesome pretty yarn from my roomie. Took pictures, but everything's packed up to go cross-country right now so I can't get them onto my computer. Will post next week, methinks. Thinking that the Irish Hiking Scarf (posting from my boyfriend's computer so no access to that link right now, sorry) might be a good pattern for it, since I'd like to make something to give to my grandmother AND it would give me the chance to learn to make cables.

But that's for future. Right now I just need to focus on getting these darn gauntlets to WORK. Here's hoping that I'll be able to get some knitting done on the plane, if I so desire...

Swatching... swatching... swatching...

Finished the first swatch for the Dragon Scale Gauntlets, 24 st/32 rows of p2k2 ribbing.

Gauge stated by the pattern: 6 sts and 8 rows per inch.

Gauge I got: 8 sts and 6 rows per inch.

Head, meet desk.

Hopefully I can finagle it -- just add some more stitches in the ribbing for the gauntlets. I need to take my arm measurements and see. I may also skip a repeat of the chart; we'll see.

I am doing two chart repeats, bordered by 4 sts garter stitch, for my second swatch. I've completed one repeat. It was a little tricky at first to do the decreases/increases, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. SSK, in particular, is a breeze most of the time now. My only real concern is whether I'm doing the m1s so that they slant the right way... I don't think that I am. I can't really tell, though, because I've got 34 sts squooshed together on a short needle so I can't get a good look at the fabric I'm producing. I'll see how it looks when it comes off of the needles.

Well, that's basically it... I'll try to have swatch pictures next week (hopefully I'll have finished swatch #2 by then), but that's a little iffy since I will be packing up to go home for two weeks. We'll see.

DONE!

I finished my scarf!

(no, I don't know what I'm doing with my hand in that picture...)


Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern, and of the interesting stuff that happened at the color changes:

Pattern: Seven rows of garter stitch on either end; four sts garter on either side (slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise), with three repeats of this stitch pattern in the middle.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red and... umm... blue. (Can't find the ballband...) The better part of 2 skeins.

Time: Slightly over a month. Probably about 20-25 hours (hey, I'm a beginner, so I'm slow. ;) )

Notes: This came out to be about 3 1/2' long and about 8 1/2" wide. It's a little on the short side, but not terribly so.

After the first couple of repeats, I noticed that the previous color was creeping up along the edge into the new color on one side of the scarf:





I didn't appreciate that, so instead of slipping the first stitch of the first WS row after the color change, I knitted it. That fixed the problem.

All of my pictures relating to this project can be found here.

This was a good first pattern for me. It was simple enough (only 4 repeating rows) that I had it pretty much memorized by the end, but complex enough that I didn't get remotely bored until I was just eager to finish because I'd bought the yarn for my next project.


Speaking of that next project...

I am swatching. (Oh, the p2k2 ribbing, will it never end?!) Gauge seems wonky... I might be making gauge in terms of sts/in (hard to tell until I get it off the needles), but I definitely am way off in terms of rows/in -- it's supposed to be 32 rows = 4", and I think I've just hit 4" with 8 rows left to go! *sigh* Oh well... Actually, since it's really horizontal, not vertical gauge that matters here -- I can always take out a pattern repeat, or just have long armwarmers -- as long as my horizontal gauge is basically okay, I'll be happy.



(crossposted, sans babbling about swatches, to the knitting LJ community)

Soooooo clooooooose...

Five rows of garter stitch and weaving in of ends, and I'm done with the scarf. Well, maybe I'll have to do a quick wash before I count it really finished... it kind of smells.

So close to the end of this project, I am of course looking forward to the next (Dragon Scale Gauntlets). Swatching will be fun... 24 sts/32 rows p2k2 ribbing = 4" for this, supposedly, so I guess I get to do a 34x40 swatch. In p2k2 ribbing. With tiny (to me, at least, though I know that I could go much tinier) needles and yarn. (I'm not even sure I can fit 34 sts on one of my DPNs...) And I also need to swatch a chart repeat, but that should be fun for real. Hopefully I'll be done with the swatching pronto, and then somehow I'll find time to knit the actual gauntlets (next week is the last week of class, so my 1 hour per day of knitting time will be disappearing). I'm sure that it will be an adventure. Maybe I'll do a couple of chart repeats in my chart swatch, just to get the hang of it before I'm working on the actual garments.

I made my very first post on the knitting LJ community! It was to ask for help with some parts of the gauntlet pattern that were unclear to me, and I quickly got an extremely clear, useful answer. It was great. :)

I've got nothing else.

Almost done!

Missed my weekly post last Sunday because I was in Maine for a wedding. Not much knitting done on the plane there or back, but I did get some done in the car (I flew in and out of Boston and drove up to and back from Maine) and while chatting with people when hanging out the morning before the wedding. And, of course, there's been two whole weeks of stats class since I wrote last.

To make up for missing last week, I bring you PICTURE:

This is the scarf as it looks now. It is currently 2'6" long, and I'm thinking it'll end up being about 3' -- I'm starting to run out of yarn, and hoping I can eke another six inches from what I have left. Once that's done, I'll be moving on to a pair of Dragon Scale Gauntlets.

...which brings me to my next bit of news.

While in Belfast, I visited the yarn shop there (the name escapes me, but there's only one -- it's right in the center of town) to pick up some yarn for a future project. (I chose the gauntlets mostly because I happened to find and like some yarn in the weight for which that pattern calls.) I also got size 6 DPNs, which (oh joy) means that I get to learn to knit on DPNs. (Also, I picked up some point protectors, but that's unexciting.) I guess that I need to learn to swatch on DPNs before I can knit on them, though... I have my theories about how to do it (based on how one swatches when using circular needles to knit in the round), but I'd like to have said theories confirmed. I'll poke around and see what I can find out.

Anywho, as further compensation for missing a post last week, I bring you yarn porn:

It's the yarn that I plan to use for the gauntlets, of course. The color is rather a darker blue than in the photo. I bought it for that lovely blue-black variegation -- it should look lovely in the gauntlets' scaly pattern. I should only need two skeins, but I bought three because it was fairly cheap and I wanted to be absolutely sure that I have enough. (Anyway, you can never have enough yarn, right? ;) ) I didn't check the dye lots before I bought -- lucky for me that they all match!

In further knitting news, my roomate has a HUGE cone of wool/acrylic blend that she is planning to just give me, only barely used, when she finishes making a felted purse out of it. (She says she'll be sick of it by the time she finishes.) It's a wonderful cream color, with some brownish bits, and it knits up beautifully. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Can you say scarves?

Coming along...

I've now got two blue stripes, and 2 1/5 (ish) red stripes. And the scarf is ONE FOOT AND 1 3/4" long! Yaaaay! :) That's almost six inches longer than last week.

I started weaving in some ends; I'll probably do that periodically in non-class downtime so that I don't have to do them all at the very end (which would be really tedious, and I couldn't do it during class -- it takes too much concentration). I've been knotting the yarn, which I know I shouldn't do, but I'm paranoid about it unweaving itself, and since this is just a scarf it's not as though the knots are going to get terribly irritating.

Hoping to get a lot done on the plane next weekend (flying to the other coast for a wedding -- 12 hours of flying, more or less, in the space of 3 days! *dies*), but we'll see. I'm crossing my fingers that my needles don't get confiscated!

Baby's First Mistake

...okay, not my first. But my first on a real project when I wasn't just messing around.

What happened was simple: I finished row 2 in the pattern, forgot to mark that I'd finished row 2, put my knitting down. Picked it up again later, looked at my notes to see where I'd stopped, and started knitting row 2. Again. Twice through the pattern rep I had to set it down, and when I picked it up again I immediately saw that I'd been doing an awful lot of purling for being on the right side of the fabric.

Oopsie.

Well, I learned to un-knit. I probably have twisted some stitches, but oh well -- not sure how to tell if they're twisted before knitting them, and I certainly won't want to rip back to un-twist them once I've gotten far enough forward to see that they're twisted (not to mention I'd probably just twist others trying to un-knit that row again).

I modified my plan and only did 20 rows of red, then 12 rows of blue. I'm back in red now. It's about 8" long (wow, did I really knit six inches in a week?!). Sorry no pictures this week; I spent my alloted weekend knitting-related time frogging the misknit row instead -- I definitely think that that's something I can't do in class while still paying enough attention.

Single Chevron swatch and scarf begun...

I did a swatch for my first project ever, which will be a scarf in the Single Chevron pattern.

Here's the swatch:

For the swatch I cast on 24 sts and did 20 pattern rows. It came out to 6.25" x 3.75". The pattern itself is fairly straightforward and relatively easy for me; it didn't take me long to get the hang of it.

A close up of the pattern:

After I finished the swatch, I started right in on my scarf. I cast on 32 stitches, and did 7 rows of garter stitch before starting the pattern repeats.

Here's a picture of it in progress yesterday evening (which is about as far as it is right now, too):

It's about 2" at the moment. As you can perhaps (hopefully?) see, I'm doing 4 stitches of garter stitch on either side of the pattern. 3 stitches sometimes, actually, because I'm also slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise in the hopes of getting a nicer edge. So that's sl1 purlwise, k3, 3 repeats of whatever row of the pattern I'm on, k4. I'm going to do 32 rows of red, then switch to the blue yarn that most of my swatch is in for 20 rows, and then back to red again for another 32, and so on and so forth.

Yaaaaay for finally starting projects! Hopefully between stats class and plane rides I'll have this done or mostly done by the end of the summer.

WOOHOO!

I HAVE FINISHED MY SWATCH!!!!

Here's a picture of the whole, huge, long, ugly thing:

The middle looks icky because I was doing so many increases and decreases in so short a space.

Here are a couple of pictures of the stripes:













...and one picture of the stripes from the purl side (I think that this one looks kinda cool)...

And here's a picture of the ribbing.

So. Where and how did I actually find the time to finish this, you ask?

Statistics class.

The professor lectures right off of the slides that he has printed out and handed to us. I barely have to take any notes, and if I didn't have something to keep my mind a little busy I'd go crazy from boredom. So I knit. And I am going to be fantastically productive in class for the next 8 weeks. *g*

I went to my LYS and bought myself a pair of size 10 Crystal Palace bamboo straights to replace the crappy plastic size 8s I've been working with so far, and I've been working up a swatch for my next (or should I say very first? *squee*) project. It'll be pretty simple; I'm just going to do a striped scarf in this stitch. I cast on 24 sts for the swatch and will probably do 5 reps of the pattern. I'm on row six right now (one rep and a half) and was amazed the first time I really looked at the work and saw the pattern! It was way cool. I think I made a couple of goofs, but they don't really show because it's a dark yarn (the red in the swatch pictures above). Hopefully the swatch will be completed by the end of the week (I have an hour each morning, yes, but I'm kind of slow and I do have to pause to take notes or actually pay full attention on occasion).

Wheeeeee! This is so exciting!

Another week missed...

...this time due to an awesome road trip with teh boyfriend. Sorry about that.

Not much knitting done on said road trip, unfortunately...

I have one row of invisible (purled) increases and one row of p2 tog tbl decreases left. Then on to color switching!

In other news, my summer roomie is apparently a knitter too! She has like six HUGE bags of yarn. It is awesome. She's been knitting for longer than I, but we may be at about the same skill level in a sense because she says she can't make anything that's not rectangular as of yet and I have some confidence that I could make shapes (yay increase/decrease practice!).

AUGH FINALS!

See title of post. Very little knitting done. Even when studying for finals I haven't been able to manage it, as I did when studying for midterms. If I'm anywhere near my computer I just get too distracted.

So. Working on m1p. It left HUGE holes in the fabric sometimes, for some reason that I just can't identify (it seemed to work well other times...). Also working on ssp. Haven't actually tried that yet. Looks fairly straightforward, but I'm finding that the straightforward-looking things end up being complex and the complex things end up being simple, so we'll see.

And yet again, MORE PATTERNS! ...I'm never going to manage to actually do all of these...


Wavy

I just think that this looks really cool... plus people will go wacko when they hear I knitted it. *g*


Saturday Market Bag

Practically everyone on the knitting LJ community has been making this. It always comes out looking good. And heck, I can always use more bags...

Georgia knitting, and another pattern

Missed the weekly update last week because I was in Georgia at my cousin's wedding. My grandma was there and she was so thrilled to see me knitting... it was great. As soon as I brought out the needles she was like, "I want to watch you knit!" I was amused. I'll have to knit something for her now; I'm sure she'd love that.

Did a bit of knitting on the plane and in Georgia, but not much because I also had to try to do schoolwork while traveling and attending a wedding (needless to say, I've been playing catch-up this week). Managed another couple rows at an improv show that I attended with my boyfriend on Friday night. I've just finished the purl bar increase and am about to finish up p2tog. Then on to m1p and ssp.

And, again, I've found a pattern that I just have to make someday...

Circular Shrug/Vest (.pdf)

Still not much to report...

Working on invisible increases and the ssk decrease (which I thought would be horrid but is actually ridiculously easy. I think it looks okay...

And, of course, I found another pattern I want to make: Sound System Snugglers

Chartreuse Knits: Dragon Scale Gauntlet Pattern

Not much to report. Finished M1 and sl1 k1 PSSO; next will be working on invisible increases and SSK. Been rather too busy to do very much. Hopefully I'll be close to done with increase/decrease practice in 2 weeks -- that's when I fly to Georgia for my cousin's wedding, and my mom will be bringing me a yarn needle so that I can start to practice weaving in loose ends.


On another note, found this pattern:

Chartreuse Knits: Dragon Scale Gauntlet Pattern

I so want to make these! I will never have cold arms again!

Not much done, but found some projects for much, much later...

Well, not much to show for this week -- too busy. I finished practicing the (knit) bar increase, though I still don't think I'm doing it qutie correctly, and k2tog. Now working on M1 (not too difficult once I got the hang of picking up the strand between stitches, but it'll take another couple of rows to see whether it looks okay) and slip 1, k1, PSSO (haven't actually tried this yet -- looks annoyingish).

So, to flesh out this update I give you... things I want to knit!

Flower Petal Shawl
PRETTY!!! ...but it'll have to wait until I have enough experience to be willing to brave lace.

Angelina Vintage Jacket
ALSO PRETTY!!! ...but given that it requires actual shaping/consistent gauge, it'll probably be undertaken some long time after I've managed the shawl. ;)

Progress! And learning! And fun stuff like that!

I almost thought I wouldn't have anything to say this week because I have been getting to bed really late -- thus no time for knitting. But then I discovered that knitting is a good way to keep my hands busy while I study for midterms. So I've added probably four inches to my swatch this week. :)

The first thing I've started working on is just knitting more loosely. My swatch is kind of ugly now because the width increases dramatically (when I feel like taking and uploading pictures I'll upload a piccie -- probably I'll do it when the swatch is done). But I finished the k1p1 and k2p2 ribbing, and they both look pretty good. Now am practicing increases and decreases. My bar increases keep making little holes in the fabric, which I don't think they're supposed to do... that's not what it looks like in the picture in my book, anyway. I think I'm confused about how to knit into the back loop of a stitch. Even the video I watched at knittinghelp.com didn't fully clarify for me. Oh well. k2tog, which is the decrease I've been practicing, also looks like it's creating holes. Maybe I need to knit more tightly when I do increases/decreases...? Probably when I've finished the swatch and have accumulated all of my "what am I doing wrong" kinds of questions, I'll make a big introductory post on the knitting LJ community and see if I can get some good advice.

In other news, the stockinette at the bottom of my swatch is really curling, and it's irritating me.

Some background

Hi.

So... me. Or, at least, me in relation to knitting, which is after all the subject of this blog.

I've gone through many crafty periods in my life (watercolors, embroidery, braiding, ...) but I wasn't even really interested in knitting until probably eight months ago, when someone whose blog I read started posting about her knitting. I decided I wanted to try. And a couple of months ago, on a fencing-team trip in Colorado Springs, I picked up a pair of kneedles and some yarn and an instruction book, and started to learn.

Currently there isn't really much to say. I finished a garter-stitch swatch to practice knitting and purling, and am now working on another swatch to practice stockinette, ribbing, and perhaps increases/decreases. But I only do a row or two every few nights when I have the time before bed, and given how much work I have and the fact that it's midterm season I don't have a lot of time, so things are going slowly at the moment. I did an inch of stockinette (that is the one where you alternate knit and purl rows, right?), and now I'm working on an inch of k1p1 ribbing. Then k2p2 ribbing, and maybe I'll try k3p3 just to see what it looks like... or maybe not. And then probably increases and decreases. Oh, and I have to practice changing yarn too, and weaving in loose ends. Once all that's done, I'll start in on a scarf with the yarn that I have left.

...so expect to hear about my spiffy new scarf sometime next November.

;)

I plan to post every Sunday. If there hasn't been much progress, it'll probably be short and sweet.

How it all began...

This blog, I mean, not my knitting. Given all of the time and effort that went into the creation (specifically the titling) of this, I thought that it'd be fitting to start out with a record of the conversation that my friend and I had when trying to think up a good name for this thing.


fleurdiabolique (5:04:23 PM): hey, what's a good name for a knitting blog?

fleurdiabolique (5:04:30 PM): sticks and string is taken. :(

[friend] (5:04:36 PM): hmmm

[friend] (5:04:38 PM): *ponders*

[friend] (5:05:19 PM): Ah, she says. A challenge.

fleurdiabolique (5:05:30 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:05:37 PM): wait, is that a title?

[friend] (5:05:41 PM): no. lol

[friend] (5:05:43 PM): ^_^

fleurdiabolique (5:05:49 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:05:50 PM): jj

fleurdiabolique (5:05:52 PM): *kk

[friend] (5:05:56 PM): I guess it could be, but it wasn't intended as one. :-P

[friend] (5:06:07 PM): hmmmmm....*ponder ponder*

fleurdiabolique (5:06:15 PM): lol

[friend] (5:06:37 PM): Knitting Knews. :-P That would be stupid.

[friend] (5:06:37 PM): lol

[friend] (5:06:43 PM): Unless you want something REALLY straightforward.

fleurdiabolique (5:06:48 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:06:51 PM): i'll take any suggestions

[friend] (5:06:55 PM): hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[friend] (5:07:17 PM): Knitting Gnus! :-P

[friend] (5:07:22 PM): I have NO idea where that came from.

[friend] (5:07:23 PM): lol

[friend] (5:07:26 PM): Please disregard it.

fleurdiabolique (5:07:29 PM): lmao

[friend] (5:07:42 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:07:42 PM): I have to say I'm tempted...

fleurdiabolique (5:07:43 PM): lol

[friend] (5:07:43 PM): *is odd*

[friend] (5:07:46 PM): hahahaha

fleurdiabolique (5:07:46 PM): but no one will get it

[...]

[friend] (5:08:19 PM): yeaaah...that would be odd. lol

[friend] (5:08:27 PM): I really wasn't serious

[friend] (5:08:44 PM): I mean, unless you found a picture of a knitted stuff gnu. ^_^

[friend] (5:08:48 PM): which would be freaking bizaree.

fleurdiabolique (5:08:57 PM): lol

[...]

[friend] (5:16:48 PM): Knitting Knook / Knit Wit(s) / Knit a non [anon?] (not sure of the point of that one, it just sounds okay) / Knit Pick (Knit Picking / Knit Picks) /

[friend] (5:16:55 PM): no GOOD ideas yet. Just those. Lol

[friend] (5:17:03 PM): I kinda like the Knit Wit(s) one

[friend] (5:17:04 PM): lol

[friend] (5:17:29 PM): depends on the point of blog, I guess. Is it to say what your'e working on/what's finished, just knitting themed/other?

[...]

fleurdiabolique (5:17:55 PM): It's more kind of a "this is what I'm up to with knitting right now" thing

fleurdiabolique (5:18:00 PM): because I am addicted to blogging

fleurdiabolique (5:18:01 PM): lol

[friend] (5:18:03 PM): ah, okay

[friend] (5:18:03 PM): lol

[friend] (5:18:09 PM): hehee. cute

[friend] (5:18:22 PM): "Knit Wit" still sounds funky. :-P

fleurdiabolique (5:18:26 PM): knitwit.blogspot.com is taken :(

[friend] (5:18:31 PM): awww. phooey!

[friend] (5:18:36 PM): knitwitting!

[friend] (5:18:36 PM): lol

[...]

[friend] (5:20:28 PM): "Knitting Knomes"! Or "Gnitting Gnomes"!

[friend] (5:20:35 PM): link

[friend] (5:20:53 PM): Knit Kit!

[friend] (5:20:55 PM): *is on a role*

[friend] (5:20:57 PM): *roll

[friend] (5:21:07 PM): Not a very clever one, but a punny/stupid one! Lol

[friend] (5:21:14 PM): it's a roll nontheless.

[friend] (5:21:15 PM): :-P

fleurdiabolique (5:21:15 PM): Gnitting Gnus!

fleurdiabolique (5:21:16 PM): lol

[friend] (5:21:20 PM): hahahaha! I still love that one!

[friend] (5:21:21 PM): ^)^

[friend] (5:21:22 PM): * ^_^

[friend] (5:21:27 PM): Even though it doesn't make much sense

fleurdiabolique (5:21:33 PM): lmao

fleurdiabolique (5:21:36 PM): and it's available

fleurdiabolique (5:21:40 PM): ...because it is nonsensical

fleurdiabolique (5:21:41 PM): lol

[friend] (5:21:45 PM): HAHAHA, really?! That's awesome!

[friend] (5:21:48 PM): It totally makes sense.

[friend] (5:21:53 PM): Anyone can figure out that Gnus is news.

[friend] (5:21:54 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:22:05 PM): lol

[friend] (5:22:26 PM): ...you should knit a gnu JUST to post a pic so it makes sense. ^_^

[friend] (5:22:32 PM): *is half kidding.* :-P

[friend] (5:22:52 PM): Knit Wit Gnus!

fleurdiabolique (5:22:53 PM): lmao

[friend] (5:22:54 PM): Lol

[friend] (5:22:58 PM): I'm having too much fun, aren't I?

fleurdiabolique (5:23:08 PM): you're amusing me, so it's all good ;)

[friend] (5:23:12 PM): heehee.

[friend] (5:23:17 PM): Knit Wit News, maybe. Or something.

[friend] (5:23:38 PM): I like the wit because it's like you're crazy over your knitting, and it means wit too, like clever or something. :-P

[friend] (5:23:39 PM): It's cute

[friend] (5:23:49 PM): ...not that you can't tell that yourself, obviously. lol

fleurdiabolique (5:23:59 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:24:04 PM): knitting knewbie

fleurdiabolique (5:24:05 PM): lol

[...]

fleurdiabolique (5:25:20 PM): Yarn Yarns!

[...]

[friend] (5:25:28 PM): heehee!

[friend] (5:25:30 PM): I bet that's taken

fleurdiabolique (5:25:34 PM): dammit, not available

[friend] (5:25:39 PM): I figured

[...]

fleurdiabolique (5:26:11 PM): DAMMIT

fleurdiabolique (5:26:17 PM): and it's like, a week old!

[friend] (5:26:17 PM): Knitting on the Brain

[...]

fleurdiabolique (5:28:50 PM): knice knitting?

[friend] (5:28:55 PM): heehee

fleurdiabolique (5:28:58 PM): i still think i prefer gnitting gnus to anything

fleurdiabolique (5:28:59 PM): lol

[friend] (5:29:03 PM): eeeeeeh...something's weird about the nice spelling that way

[friend] (5:29:06 PM): otherwise I'd like it

[friend] (5:29:07 PM): heehee.

fleurdiabolique (5:29:07 PM): i mena, out of the stuff that hasn't been taken

[friend] (5:29:13 PM): Knit Witting Gnus!!!!!!

[friend] (5:29:14 PM): Lol

fleurdiabolique (5:29:18 PM): or knitting knewbie

fleurdiabolique (5:29:19 PM): oooh!

[friend] (5:29:21 PM): Yeah, Knitting Gnus is cool

fleurdiabolique (5:29:26 PM): knitwit knewbie!

fleurdiabolique (5:29:27 PM): lol

[friend] (5:29:28 PM): eh...you won't be a newbie forever, though

[friend] (5:29:30 PM): heehee

fleurdiabolique (5:29:31 PM): yeah i know

fleurdiabolique (5:29:48 PM): knitster

[friend] (5:29:53 PM): heehee

fleurdiabolique (5:29:55 PM): taken

[friend] (5:29:59 PM): Go with Knitting Gnus! Do it! Lol

fleurdiabolique (5:30:12 PM): naw, but it has to be spelled the same

[friend] (5:30:13 PM): and find a picture of a gnu and a picture of knitting stuff and make a funky image!

[friend] (5:30:26 PM): oh, sorry, Knitting Knus! Or Gnitting Gnus!

[friend] (5:30:29 PM): or soemthing.....that just sucked. lol

[friend] (5:30:34 PM): Knitting Gnus works....

fleurdiabolique (5:30:42 PM): lol

[friend] (5:30:43 PM): Knit Witting Gnus still sounds neat to me. Or Knit Wit Gnus

[friend] (5:30:45 PM): ^_^

[friend] (5:30:50 PM): Knit Wit Gnus

fleurdiabolique (5:30:53 PM): i think that that's a bit too much

[friend] (5:30:58 PM): lol

[friend] (5:31:03 PM): I like that last one. Knit Wit Gnus

[friend] (5:31:08 PM): EVERYONE has a two word name

fleurdiabolique (5:31:12 PM): I Like To Knit!

[friend] (5:31:19 PM): lol

[friend] (5:31:22 PM): SOOOOOOOO taken

fleurdiabolique (5:31:23 PM): it's not taken

fleurdiabolique (5:31:24 PM): lol

[friend] (5:31:30 PM): really? Meh. It's kinda boring, though

[friend] (5:31:30 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (5:31:33 PM): yeah, i know

fleurdiabolique (5:31:40 PM): knitpicking?

fleurdiabolique (5:31:47 PM): taken

fleurdiabolique (5:31:49 PM): *sigh*

[friend] (5:31:55 PM): HAHA. I don't know . It just popped out of my fingers.

[friend] (7:52:15 PM): Lol

fleurdiabolique (7:52:18 PM): lol

[friend] (7:52:20 PM): I swear I didn't even think it. O.o

[friend] (7:52:49 PM): heehee...I like it though. *giggle* Knittles...eh-heh-heh

fleurdiabolique (7:52:52 PM): lol

fleurdiabolique (7:52:54 PM): yes dear

[friend] (7:53:01 PM): *is tired and more easily amused*



...so, three hours of conversation and probably twenty or thirty name suggestions later, the title of this blog was henceforth decided to be...

Knitting. Yay!

...yeah. I got kinda tired. ;)

I promise to create a post with actual substance soon.