Category: Knit Page 77 of 88

I’m making headway, slowly, on the Breeze T. I have finished the front, bound off the shoulders together, and crocheted the collar. Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn before finishing the first sleeve (I had 2 balls left when I started the sleeves, and I finished the 1st ball before finishing the 1st sleeve).

I knew I was going to be short of yarn, because I decided to make it a different size than when I bought the yarn. I had already adjusted the pattern by shortening the sleeve somewhat, but it still wasn’t enough. So, out it came.

Then, this morning, as I was approaching the end of the 1st sleeve, I realized that I forgot to change my needle after the garter row stitches. So out it came. This makes the 3rd frogging episode on this sweater (one for the front).

So, while I was in a ripping mood, I frogged the too-tight sock, skeined it, and took it into the shower with me.

Frogs may have won some of the skirmishes, but I’m determined to win the war. I don’t know why this sweater is causing so much difficulties for me. At this point, I just want it over so I can move on. I’m too stubborn to abandon this sweater because I really liked the finished garment I saw at LYS.

Thanks, Kate, for your note. No, I really don’t intend to rip out both socks unless I really have to. But have you ever been in a state where you are just so frustrated that you just want to rip everything apart and start with a clean slate? I can in such a mood.

Same mood, as a matter of fact, with my laptop. I installed the critical upgrades the other night to prevent the dreaded worm that is going around. However, once upgraded, some component got seriously corrupted (Remote Access Services, for the geeks out there), so now I can’t dial out nor use the DSL. No internet access period (I’m using my work computer to write this post). Now, this is the same computer I tried to upgrade to XP a few months back, and it stubornly refused to. So it’s still running a seriously outdated Windows version (NT4). I’m now in the final throes of “I’m getting a new laptop.” I’m just trying to convince my checking account that it is really a neccessity, not a luxury. Especially since all the rest of the computer equipment are still up in Seattle.

I have the finishing blahs … I can’t seem to get myself to finish anything this past week. I have 2 pairs of socks in progress, but can’t seem to get motivated to finish them. I have about one bobbin left to go on my colored rovings (of the 11 ounces), and can’t seem to get into the rhythm for finishing it. Then, there’s the Pi Shawl.

I keep coming up with excuses for not working on these. The weather is too nice. I’ll just sit out side on the back deck. You’d think that I can take one of those projects out on the back deck with me, don’t you? Nope. Can’t do that. I pick stuff up, can’t concentrate, and put it back down.

I keep thinking of new projects that I’d like to be working on. Dangerous train of thought. I can just imagine if I started everything I wanted to start and get to the home stretch and leave them all hanging. I have enough unfinished projects without that.

On the same vein … I took an intarsia class last week. It’s something that has always eluded me. I always seem to have those gaps at the color changes because I can’t remember which way to twist the yarn. Well, the class solved that for me. Just a simple little mantra … “old over, new under”. That’s it. So simple. 3 hours for one mantra.

But now I think I need to practice it and get it ingrained in my head. So, guess what? A new project. Besides, there’s that 10% off class coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I’m thinking a small, quick project. And this looks fun. It seems that I suddenly have lots of little ones of varying sizes to knit stuff for.

Then there’s the new Spin-Off that just arrived in the mail this week. This is the second issue that has projects for knitting with rovings. This one has some beautiful felted bowls that were made by knitting colored rovings into giant bowls and then tossing them into the washing machine.

I’ve been wanting to make myself a felted bag, so I thought … why not use rovings instead of yarn? After all, I had a blast with knitting that shawl from the silk cap. So, off to the store I went. 1+ pound of colored rovings of several different colors later, I started a felted tote from Simple Knits. I’m hoping that this will bust the finishing blahs since it’s difficult to put down those rovings.

There are a few things that I’m finding out about working with wool rovings. First, use a diz to make your rovings into an even size. This is much easier than using your eye and feel to get the roving into a consistent size for knitting. Even so, you’ll still get some thick and thin spots. It shouldn’t matter too much once you felt the object. We’ll see.

Second important learning experience … You may need to change the way you hold your yarn when you knit. It’s definitely not for speed knitting. I found that I had to change my knitting from picking to throwing, while holding the yarn in my right hand lightly. Otherwise, my normal tension of the yarn in my hand was causing the roving to pull apart. By throwing, I have almost no tension on the roving as I place it around the needle.

Once I’ve made these observations, it’s kind of fun. The photo shows a ball of rovings that’s already been pulled through the diz once. I found that it was still too thick to get the effect that I wanted, so I’m pulling it through the diz again before I knit it up.

Word of caution here … the next ball of rovings, I may pull it all through to the right size before knitting. The weight of the diz can be heavy enough to break the rovings. Remember, these things are delicate. There is absolutely nothing, apart from friction, holding all those fibers together!

Have fun!