Man Socks

Finished Will's socks! I was mightily bored of that pattern before I was done. Now I would like to branch out and try some more ambitious sock patterns, but I have these piles of self-striping/patterning Regia ... maybe I can find something that works with that. I *cough* may have obtained a copy of "Sensational Socks."

The Wallaby continues to baffle and amuse me. It turns out my 9s are too big, not too small, and yet I think the fabric is borderline too tight. And this cannot possibly be of interest to anyone but myself (if that), even my faithful sister-in-law. *sigh*

I need to figure out my traveling projects, and soon! Never mind that I have not figured out what clothes we will need. We must have priorities!

Pattern: Yankee Knitter Classic Socks
Yarn: Regia 4fadig - Jacquard Color
Needles: My grandmother's shiny blue Boye Size 2 aluminum "knitting pins"

Sleevy Goodness

Knitting away on the sleeve and guess what – ha ha – I'm not getting gauge on them either. Could DPNs and circulars be significantly different? Probably, but I don't wanna deal with this. So what do you do when 9 is too small and 10 is too big? There is no 9.5, right? Probably I'll go back to the 9s on the assumption that it is still spreading out from the border, and that I will be OK since I am knitting the very large size. Then I will be wrong, and Talia will get another sweater.

Grrr. I am enjoying my bamboo DPNs, though. I bought metal size 8s without thinking and I hate the way they clink around together while I'm knitting. Of course I don't HAVE 9s ... guess I'll need to make another trip to the yarn store ...

I'm afraid I'm going to get sick of this yarn before I even get started!

4th Time Not So Charming!

Will I ever get past the first few inches of this sweater? So here is where I am now: I started once on 8s. Once on 9s. Once on 10.5s. Ripped it all out and did gauge swatches on 9s and 10s, purchased for the occasion. The 10s was slightly too big; the 9s slightly too small. I decided to go with the 9s and the larger size pattern. (Of course I did not go so far as to wash and block my swatches. Let's get real. I hardly do that with my finished products.)
Then I started knitting on the 9s. And the gauge is considerably smaller (it's supposed to be 18sts/4in. On the swatch I got 19, now I am getting closer to 20, or more) This is probably because – as many wise people have warned – I am knitting in the round and my swatch was flat. Sigh.

I probably I need to do what the pattern suggested in the first place, and knit the sleeves in place of a test swatch. On 10s, I guess, since in addition to the gauge issue, I am not loving the fabric I am creating.

The other variable is that I didn't like the way the ribbing looked the first three times I started the sweater. I could have just made it shorter, but instead I decided to try a moss stitch border. I think I like the way that looks, but am I going to wish I had ribbing? And do I need ribbing for the sleeves, or should they match?



About the only thing I really like so far is the way the blue yarn looks that I put in to mark the row where the pocket goes! Oh where is my Alaskan advisor when I need her!!!! :)

Mysteriously ...

more yarn has been purchased. What's going on around here!!??? Not only hasn't progress been made on the Wallaby (unless you count the startling advent of gauge swatches) which I finally frogged, after it became clear that it was going to be ginormous on the 10.5s, nor Will's socks been completed, but new yarn has somehow found its way into the stash.

But it has a purpose! And a reason! It's practically a necessity, even. It's for the Mushroom Cap and Mittens in Home Spun, Hand Knit,a very simple two-color pattern that I'm not even sure qualifies as Fairisle. And the teacher at the Fair Isle workshop said we had to practice! So I had to buy it. I was thinking of purple, so as not to be a slavish follower of the pattern, but I really liked this blue.

Oh, and I *cough* may have bought some other yarn too. I looked at my Cascade 220 that I bought last summer and decided I DO love it but that I don't want to make a child's garment out of something I can't machine wash. So I called the store in Virginia Beach and they still had some of the same dye lot and ... I ordered two more skeins. So now I will have 1500 yards, enough (I hope!) to make a sweater for me.

Those don't really count as "purchases" do they? Special circumstances, I think.

Not Much to Look At

Is it better to post boringly, or not to post at all?

Not much to see here, mostly because I spent most of last night un-knitting the body. I was using Size 8 needles and it was way too tight and stiff. Of course, I was way off gauge. Perhaps doing a gauge swatch would have been a good idea! the pattern even suggests starting with a sleeve to check gauge. But no, I didn't do that. And I'm still not doing it, I'm just trying again with Size 9s.

I made more progress on Will's socks, but they're too boring even to take a picture of. However they kept me busy on the car trip to New Haven and back. That was before I read the thread about knitting in the car. I should probably learn to knit socks on circulars. But I like my DPNs!

I have a long "To Do" list, and this is not on it.