epiphany

the 24 days of advent have been succeeded by the 12 days of christmas, and i am plugging away, slowly but surely, at my advent calendar knitalong.  it's such a fun knit, because it never gets boring.  once you get tired of a lace repeat, you do your transition rows and move on to the next beautiful pattern (she has used traditional estonian lace stitches).  above, a clip of days 1-5, featuring my first nupps on day 2.  they don't really show up much on this colorway, but it's been fun doing them nonetheless.

here's the whole thing up through day 8 (so 1/3 complete), wrapped around a european size pillow (26" wide).  i used weed-whacker line for blocking wires to stretch it out.  it worked pretty well!  we had beautiful sunlight this morning, but it has clouded up this afternoon.  i was hoping for a better picture; however, the color is pretty true.  click on the picture to see much bigger.

this is how i'm tracking rows on the kindle -- with notes.  on this note, i've just completed row 12.

done in a day!

well, yes, i'm now 13 days behind on the advent calendar KAL, but day 3 was so easy (especially compared to the nupps!) that i was able to complete the pattern portion in one day (yesterday).  i had a bit of sitting and waiting to do yesterday, so there you go.

i celebrated by having an old-fashioned and sitting down after dinner to finish the beads in the spacer section.  i cranked 'em out!  knit the remaining rows lickety-split, and started day 4.  started, counted the chart, tinked, counted the chart again, counted my beads -- i had about 40% fewer stitches than i was supposed to have.  what?  i did not perform any unnecessary decreases -- i know!

i realized i forgot the yarn-overs before and after the beads.  so i get to tink all the way back to the beads and see whether i can stretch the yarn to add those yo's, or will have to redo the beads (BOOOO!).

i took much better pictures this time -- the last one was one of the worst pictures i've ever published.

this picture is more clear, i believe, because i used a flash, but the color is not as true.  if you click on the picture you can zoom in and see the top row has beads but no yo's.

the hurrieder i go, the behinder i get.ツ

groups of nupps

my progress on the KAL is slow -- the nupps take some time.  they're kind of fun, and kind of a pain.  i am using a crochet hook, but i'm using it to do the purl on the return row.  the nupps are not very obvious -- maybe when i complete the whole section (day 2), they'll pop a little more.  or maybe when it's blocked.

i did decide to add beads -- i had some square ones here at home, and the colors were right.  some are bluer, some are greener, but they have a metallic bronziness that goes well with the yarn.

sorry about the background -- everything i do these days is a bit quick & dirty;  this was the first pillow i grabbed to quickly pin, take outside and photograph the lace.

so if i finish section 2 today, i'll be 11 days behind.

because starting a new project makes me feel good

i had noticed this lace scarf knit-along in november, and dismissed it as impossible.  but i needed a bit of a boost the other day, and impulsively jumped in 5 days late.  it's a project that has some features i've been wanting to try, nupps and beads, specifically.  i started up on monday, and tried to knit charted lace with medium to dark-colored laceweight yarn on size 2 needles in the car in the dark during swim practice, and guess what happened.  so i'm back-tracking, retrieving the lost yarn-over and losing time, but i love the yarn and the project.  and i look forward to quiet afternoons with a small glass of dry sack by the fire, knitting.  ahahahahaha! 

picture from lollygirl.com

i shall take a picture of the advent scarf as soon as i have more than one inch of fabric to show you.

my new toy...

you know how amazon.com gives you free shipping on books if you go over a certain amount? i was ordering some books for my daughter and came up just short. so naturally i needed to buy the barbara walker treasury, seen above. i pored through it, and after my recent experience with päivi's  22 leaves KAL, i wanted to just experiment a little. i found a little lace design, printed out some graph paper and got to work! well, hardly work. but some fun thinking and calculating and figuring.

i thought i'd try a square and just repeat a simple pattern out to make a lace kerchief, in effect. it's really fun, and i can't wait to finish this one so i can start another! i'm using some autumn colorway sock yarn from joann's called sensations bamboo & ewe pattern, a wool/bamboo/nylon blend. the colorway does not allow for much view of the lace, but it's inexpensive and easy to work with. i think i might use a plainer yarn for my next experiment, but it looks very fall-like, and i like it.  if i figure out how to write an elegant chart that someone besides me, myself, and i can understand, i'll write up the pattern and post it on ravelry.  it's just the repeats and exceptions that i don't know how to express on a chart.  but that will be fun to figure out, too!

finally, i have one last picture of my official french market bag in use -- it's so pretty, so handy, and i can't wait to do another. it's one of my favorite patterns ever.

as always, if you click on a picture, it will pop up much bigger.

i cannot believe...

... i knit something this beautiful.  thank you so much, päivi, for the wonderful opportunity and for sharing your talent and your lovely pattern with us.

it's obviously a quick blocking job,  ;-) but i had to squeeze in the blocking between school obligations, errands, etc.

click on the picture to make it much bigger, as usual.

i pause to admire...

... oh yeah --  the last row of the 22 leaves shawlette!

we now return you to our regularly scheduled knitting.  i can't WAIT to block this and see how it looks!

well, cr&p.

so much for "Miss High-and-mighty, I'm using lifelines, nyah-nyah"!  i meant to put one in after clue 3.  the road to hell and all...

i mean really, it's like saving or backing up on the computer, isn't it?  you should save/back up when you don't want to recreate what you've done.  since i did NOT follow my own "sage" advice often enough, i have much time invested now in the deep annoyance of:

1. realizing that something does not look right, 
2. trying to fix something 3 rows ago, 
3. realizing that looks WORSE and tinking back, 
4. and the most aggravating thing of all -- knowing that i know better and could have prevented all this by just (say it with me) using a lifeline!

i did figure out this morning that i will NOT have to frog to my lifeline on row 32.  in fact, i this morning i found that i had knit 14 stitches instead of 13 on one section on row 67, setting up my "wait a second, this doesn't look right" moment 2-1/2 rows later.

bbl -- gotta go put in a lifeline. knitting will ensue.  and some ryder cup golf watching.  and some college football watching.  oh, yes, i am QUITE busy.  haha!

ps -- i wish i had taken a picture of the weird stitch arrangement that clued me into my error last week, but i panicked ツ

no joke

this is MUCH MUCH MUCH better.  and may i say thank heaven for a/c.  and may i also say that i hope that my friend madtosh lisa has working a/c soon!

and here's the cardigan she mentioned in the comments.  it's straight up gorge, though i'm concerned i might not survive all that stockinette.  cables could be introduced.  so could a pretty lace insert.

or it might just be perfect plain!

ready for my (clue 3) close-up

clue 3 complete, even as the speedy knitters are finishing clue 4!  can't wait to start on my next set of leaves!

saving myself from myself == throwing myself a lifeline

or, the lifeline in lace.  i know there are some novice lace knitters in the 22 leaves mystery kal, so i thought i'd show how i insert a lifeline.  the purpose of the lifeline is insurance against mistakes.  once installed, it gives you a place to rip back to, where everything is known to be correct, and you don't have to tink all those rows, with all those yo's and double yo's.

i put my first one in on row 22.  i deliberately chose an even row on this pattern so i would be able to slide my tapestry needle through purled and knitted stitches, and no yo's.

it's quite easy to do.

1. find a tapestry needle and contrasting thread/yarn (i used crochet cotton)
2. make sure your fabric is correct per the pattern
3. slide the stitches to the middle of your cable (if on a circular)
4. carefully follow the cable with your threaded needle, going right next to the cable, through the stitches.
5. write down the row number that has the lifeline inserted
6. that's it!

here's what it looks like -- i have one at row 22 and one right through the live stitches at row 34.

yup!  scrunchy lifeline goodness!  i did not pull out my old one until i successfully installed the new, as you can see.

now knit according to the pattern, carefully NOT knitting your lifeline, leaving it free to be pulled easily from the fabric, since you'll never need it, because you took the time to do it!!

that's what it looks like after the row has been knit. 

all this lifeline business is the reason i'm still not done with clue 2, i'm sure.

clue 1 complete!

lessons learned:

1. print out the chart enLARGEd
2. knit kid-free, and
3. knit kid-free

did i already say that?

mystery knitalong

lankakomero (see link under must-reads in the right-hand sidebar) is having a mystery KAL -- so fun!

destashing some lace yarn, and we're off!  first clue released today!

chester and maiu are also knitting along, i think -- i swear chester must think i dress in red, carry a pitchfork and sit on his left shoulder twirling my evil tail ;-).

i AM the macguyver of knitting

these are my new stitch markers.  yes, they're plain, but they can be fancied up, can't they?  so why am i the macguyver of knitting?

if you know what those little cylinders are, you and i are in the same club.  for everyone else, those little containers hold insulin to be dispensed by an insulin pump, used by people with type 1 diabetes.  actually, you might be in the club of people who have t1d.  i am in the mom of the t1d kid club.

i was getting really aggravated with the last stitch marker of the many many stitch markers on my long-neglected clapotis, because it was just a sloppy, floppy piece of yarn.  how i thought of those little gaskets on the cylinder, i do not know, but i broke into the sharps container to grab them.

i grabbed many!  now here is my little stitch marker in place:

goodbye, old marker, you served me well, but you annoyed me once too often;  clapotis, beware -- i have finish-itis!

now my hands smell like insulin;  yes, mom, i DID wash them really well, but since i'm in colorado on vacation, i'll eat a nice, beautiful, luscious palisade peach, right from the fruit stand on the highway, just to make sure my blood sugar does not run low ;-)

because i can...

i think i'm just about at 30,000 feet, and, whoa! free wifi!  there's no way to get a double chin-free angle without calling a great deal of attention to myself, so i'll live with the highly unflattering view of moi. ツ

so here's a look at my knitting. i think i'll catch up on some daily show episodes while i knit. high altitude awesomeness!

this is the border of the scarflet i am knitting. can you see the points?

and here is the top edge -- i love it! i am just about ready to start my decreases.

would you judge me if i ordered a bloody to drink while all of this relaxing is taking place? i'm not driving when i get to baltimore...

simple arithmetic?

+

+

+

 =

hours of scarf planning fun!

maybe no product, but so fun to think about ;-)

1.  madelinetosh prairie, color wren

2.  elsie knitted border

3.  english inset

4.  graph paper ;-)

searchin' for a rainbow

and i found one in these crazy hobo bags.

i have to say i have become addicted to this bag. the first one was an attempt at a sort of sophisticated, subtle, stripey thing:


the next one i hinted at in my last post, as it dawned on me as i dutifully knit stripes on the last one that i had some noro to use up and this could be even more fun.
i call this one sunrise, sunset bag.
here it is in its full noro glory, felted, and either lying on the table in or hanging by the door of my favorite lys abuelita's.

it was so much fun to watch those colors evolve -- the addictive chemical ingredient of noro -- that it occurred to me that i could do even more, so...

i have done a third one as well. i was supposed to be writing up the pattern for the class i will be teaching on sunday, 5/17 (woo hoo!), but i couldn't stop myself from exploring the possibilities with this easy/fun pattern. look, prefelted:


see how much yarn i had left over when i finished it? that's it, in between the handles. i was sweatin' it. out of 6 skeins of kureyon.
here it is, finished, in all of its sloppy, floppy, hobo, hippie glory:

there's no perspective, so what you can't tell is that it is the perfect shoulder bag size, roomy but you're not going to be pulling floor lamps out of it a la mary poppins.

i call this one the "i wish i still had the purple and teal paisley shirt that would totally have gone with this" bag. for every big giant square on the first two that i did, on this one i did four little ones. which makes it look like a hippie quiltie hobo bag for sure! love love love it! i actually bought a zipper for this one and may line it with a worn out pair (many exist) of my little boy's pants. (angela/alittlebird's idea)

i have experimented with the handles each time. i hate to commit to one, but i think the last one, which does not involve any crocheting, and makes a good-looking, sturdy handle, will be my handle of choice.

meaning that, for the class, i actually probably won't have an entire sample to show them.

that is, unless the discontinued noro i got online cheap shows up promptly via the comfortably reliable UPS, and i go ahead and make another one for the class. what? you think i need hobo bag rehab? what if i told you thinking about hobo bag construction was keeping my head from exploding?

i knew you'd understand ;-)

but has UPS' ups and downs delayed my creative knitting insane startitis? no. look what the new "wish i had the paisley shirt" bag holds:



see this? and this? and this?

no, i can't help it if they conspired to make me do this:



another look:


there is a leaf stitch in the nancy bush book. it forms a triangular scarf that increases 2 stitches every other row. you tell me why it shouldn't occur to one to substitute that for the boring stockinette in the weekend cardi? hmmmm? because, you say, one knows nothing about lace, and there's no pattern for the half-diamonds along the front, the part of the sweater everyone will be looking at? that one may have to rip out and reunvent those triangles four or five times? why should that stop one? it's over 100 st. per row by the time you get to the second screwed up triangle?? hey -- the cardi increases at each raglan edge 2 stitches every other row! it's a natural!

and the yarn is fantastic -- not heavy and clunky like kitchen cotton -- it actually drapes and has a sense of itself.

now if i can only finish this thing before the noro gets here, i'll be good to go. cloning is my only other option.