Fruit Stripey

Well, I've made some more progress on the Lilleput cardigan. I've just completed the first sleeve and I'm about to begin the back. It's been pretty steady knitting: a little here, a little there, but nothing I'm in a big hurry to finish. I think this will be my commuting knitting for a little while. If it turns out well, I think it will end up in the State Fair.

Kinda reminds you of Fruit Stripe Gum, yes?

One project that has been languishing has been my Hydrangea bag. I have all the stuff to finish it except the zipper foot for my sewing machine. I had been considering whether I should challenge myself to finish it as a Ravelympics project, but after seeing the cease-and-desist letter sent to Ravelry by the United States Olympic Committee, I've decided that I must enter it in the Ravelympics. It'll be either WIPS Wrestling or the Felted Freestyle. Or maybe both, if the Ravelympics mods will let me enter the same project twice. Did you notice how many times I've used the word "Ravelympics" in this paragraph? It's four times so far, but I may be able to come up with a couple more. I think that my writing about this asshattery on the part of the United States Olympic Committee towards the Ravelympics constitutes Fair Use (commentary & criticism?), but who knows, I might get my own cease-and-desist letter. I'll have to check with my buddy Paul, who has lots of experience with cease-and-desist letters. And for good measure: Ravelympics. (I've sharpened my pitchfork and have lit a torch, though it's not an official Olympic one, just a metaphorical one.)

Anyway, Friends, I'll keep knitting away. I'll probably still watch the Olympics on television, but every time I hear some blather about the "Olympic Spirit," I'll be reminded that the whole movement has been taken over by money-grubbing jerks. Way to make looking at chiseled, nearly-naked swimmers less fun, USOC.

Until next time, Y'all.

You win some, you lose some.

Today was a mixed bag for my knitting. Early in the day, I decided that it was time to felt all the parts for the Hydrangea bag. I re-read the instructions a couple times, and once I felt like I had a handle on the concept, I threw caution to the wind and threw all that knitting into the washer. I checked it every so often, like the instructions said, and it actually turned out well. The flowers themselves could have gone a little longer, but I wasn't taking any chances on going too far.

Once I emptied the washer, I set to stuffing the bag so it would dry in the correct shape and I laid out all the flowers and turned up all the petals so they would dry nicely too. Everything is on the dining table and I'll give it a couple days to dry. I just hope the wet wool smell is gone by the time I get home from work tomorrow. I can comfortably call the felting a win.

I also made a little more progress on the Owl hat, having completed the ribbing around the face and the little talons as well. I made the ribbing a little longer than called for in the pattern, since I felt like it needed just a touch more around the face. I also changed how I did the talons; instead of following the designer's instructions, I used an i-cord technique that made a little more sense to me. The talons are also a win.

As for the "lose some" part of the title to today's post, I had all kinds of frustration with my Glacier gloves. And it was all my own damned fault. Sometimes I just overthink things, and tonight was one of those nights. I was working on the gloves and found that I was short one stitch midway through the round. So I un-knit that half of the round, then un-knit the previous round, because I thought I might have accidentally knit two stitches together. After all the un-knitting, I counted my stitches, and counted them again. As I had the right number both times, I decided that it was safe for me to re-knit the round and then re-knit the half round where I'd lost that stitch. When I got there, I was missing the same stinking stitch! I thought I'd die. But it turns out I wasn't missing that stitch after all. I was reading the wrong round of the chart. I was never missing a stitch. The Whole Damned Time. It took me two hours to figure this out and the whole thing was an exercise in futility. I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here, but I think I'm immune to it just now. Tomorrow's a new day, as they say.

That's all I have for tonight. I'm going to set my knitting aside for tonight and hope for better tomorrow. Until next time, Friends.

So cute, I could puke.

So the Provence cardigan is finished, and it really is disgustingly cute. Like, so cute, everyone at the baby shower would have just squealed over it, if it had been done in time and I had gone to the shower. So cute that anyone who sees it has to hold it up and exclaim over it. So cute you want to make another one, even with all the seams. It's that freaking cute.

I finished it last night, like I expected, at Stitch 'n' Bitch. I picked up those pesky selvedge stitches and knit those button bands in about an hour. I didn't have any buttons, so after I finished up at a work-related meeting, I ran up the road to the Joann's and started looking. It takes me forever to make up my mind about buttons; I always want to make sure they're just right - they should go with the sweater, but not be too matchy. They should also be cute and have holes big enough for me to sew them on using the same yarn I knit the sweater with. It's a tall order! Anyway, I found some cute flower-shaped buttons that met all the criteria, in addition to being the right size for the buttonholes. I think they're exactly right for this cardigan and I hope it gets worn and worn.

Now that that project is finished, I think I have a little breathing room until I have to start knitting baby things again in earnest. Of the eight pregnant people I know, three of the babies have been born, and I have gifts completed for two more. The other three aren't due until March or later, so I think I can knit their things after the New Year.

In other projects, I continue to plug away at the Hydrangea bag, knitting flower after little flower on my bus rides to and from work. I can do about three petals each way and I've nearly finished with the light green so I'll probably start the dark green ones next week. I think I'll also wind up the yarn for my Glacier gloves so I can get started on them this weekend. This will definitely be a complicated project, and not one for social knitting. It might even be too challenging for TV knitting, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. Until next time!

It's Friday and I haven't really finished anything.

Unless you count the Kusha Kusha scarf that I got so sick of seeing unfinished that I knit another inch, then bound off. It's probably not quite long enough, but it'll just have to do. I expect that I'll felt it this weekend and decide after that what I'm going to do with it. I still have a whole cone of stainless steel yarn and about half the cone of merino left, so I might look around on the Rav to see if there's anything else to do with it. It might be a good, long while though.

In other news, the rest of the yarn for my Hydrangeas bag arrived this week. Three of the colors were exactly as called for in the pattern, and the fourth was a little darker. At first, I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but after seeing it in daylight this afternoon, I think it will be alright. I'll likely wind up the yarn so I can knit all the fidldy bits of flowers on my bus rides to and from work. I still have to get the bag handles and a zipper, but I have plenty of time for that.

As for the Snowy Owl, I've completed its ears and have closed the top. My friend, Mary, loaned me her size 15 double points, which made it easy to finish up. All I have left to do is knit the eyes and the beak and it will be ready to be loved by a special little kid. I think I have enough yarn left to make another one, so I might get to have one for myself!

I've also made a lot of progress on the Schmidt vest; the front shoulders are nearly done, which means I'll soon move on to the ribbing around the neck and the arm holes. The project continues to get admiring glances from folks on the bus, which is nice. I love that people show an interest in knitting as well as appreciation for hand knit goods. Most people mention that they had a grandmother or an aunt who knit and how they liked the stuff they made. Maybe they'll decide to pick up some needles themselves. It's possible.

Well, that's it for tonight. Until next time, friends.

This project-starting thing keeps happening to me.

I can't stop starting new projects. It seems that I'm compelled to make new stuff. In the past few days, I've started a felted bag and a stuffed owl. I've thought about starting some baby booties. I've also thought about starting a baby hat. I feel like I've exercised a great deal of restraint having begun only two new projects.

The felted bag is a Noni pattern by Nora J. Bellows, Hydrangeas. I bought the pattern at least two years ago, but probably more like three, when I was on vacation up in Michigan. Back then, I didn't have the skill level to complete the project, but I knew that I would definitely want to make it someday, so I shelled out $8 for it. Of course it called for 5 different colors of Cascade 220, none of which ever seemed to be available in any yarn shop I'd ever been in. I tried to buy the yarn for it at Broad Ripple Knits when I was there last weekend, but there was only one color that was even close to what was specified in the pattern, so that's what I bought. I ended up ordering the rest of the yarn from Webs, which should be arriving any day. It doesn't look like much, yet, but once it's felted and the flowers are added it will look awesome.

The stuffed owl is a total impulse start. I was goofing off, looking at my friends' activity on Ravelry, when I saw that one of them had favorited the Big Snowy Owl pattern from Purl Soho. The pattern called for Blue Sky Alpacas' Bulky yarn, but I happened to have a bunch of Cascade Lana Grande leftover from when I made Jared Flood's Umaro blanket last winter. I cast on yesterday afternoon, and by the time I realized it was bedtime, I had knit all the way to the top of the head. I stuffed it this afternoon and expect that I will do the ears tomorrow night at Stitch 'n' Bitch. This is a fast, easy project. I may even have enough yarn to make one more, which might take care of some of these baby projects.

The other projects I've considered starting are from Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits, which I bought last weekend. I've had Tiny Shoes in my queue for ages, and I've been thinking I might also want to make myself and Ishbel, since everybody (& their brother) on Ravelry seems to have made one. The baby hat I've been considering in another Little Owl Baby Hat by Irina Poludnenko. I made one last winter for my friend Kate's little girl and I think it's high time I made another. I think I'll make it in Rowan Lima again, but this time in brown & natural.

Well, that seems to be it for tonight. I hope to have a finished objects post soon, so keep your eyes peeled, y'all. Until next time.