I’m now officially finished the left front piece of the Enchanted Forest cardigan. I was almost finished at 4pm this afternoon, but then…well..my brain decided to kick in.

See, I was looking down at the stair-steps of all my BO rows (I’d forgotten to slip the first st of each BO section) and thought that there must be some better way. Then I remembered short row shaping for doing a 3-needle BO for the shoulders. “How clever of me!” I thought. Sure I was on row 134 of the 136 row piece. It didn’t matter, I’d just rip a few rows and start over at the beginning of the BOs.

So I frogged down to row 112, then tinked back to place the stitches on the needle, ready to begin at row 111.

Then I looked at my pattern again.

Ahem. Those unattractive BOs? Yeah, those were my NECKLINE BOs. Last time I checked, necklines weren’t seamed shut.

I breathed deeply for a few moments, calmed myself, and re-did all the knitting I’d spent the afternoon doing.

On a postive note, this time I DID implement the short row thing on the 3 big 12-st BOs for the shoulders, (on the armhole side this time). I verified the pattern, and since there is a division for the back neck, and both shoulder sides have the same no of sts as the 2 front pieces, I’m golden.

Next time I’m reading the pattern FIRST, listening to my brain LATER.

The left front piece of the Enchanted Forest cardigan has 136 rows.

I was just on row 134.

I looked down at the stair-step rows of bind offs, and thought, “There has to be a better way.” I’ve done a 3-needle BO on shoulders before, but not with short row shaping for the bind offs on the sides, just on the remaining sts on top. I thought, “This won’t be too hard!” and decided to use my book on finishing to walk me through the short rows in preparation for a 3-needle BO. I was so proud of myself. I was invisioning how nicely my shoulder seams would be, and how clever was I for coming up with this?!?

I looked down to where the BOs started. At row 111. I thought, “That’s nothing. I can frog down to row 112, tink the row to put the sts back on the needle, work the short rows and be finished the front with the piece on a st holder before dinner time.”

I frogged down to row 112.

I tinked down to row 111, putting the sts back on the needle.

I looked closely at my pattern.

That’s when I noticed that the BOs I was planning to short row were the NECKLINE decreases. Last time I checked, neck openings weren’t seamed shut.

Oh well. At least I had the idea, that’s what counts right?

Now to redo the next 25 rows. Again.

I can’t believe I ripped from row 134. For nothing.

The left front piece of the Enchanted Forest cardigan has 136 rows.

I was just on row 134.

I looked down at the stair-step rows of bind offs, and thought, “There has to be a better way.” I’ve done a 3-needle BO on shoulders before, but not with short row shaping for the bind offs on the sides, just on the remaining sts on top. I thought, “This won’t be too hard!” and decided to use my book on finishing to walk me through the short rows in preparation for a 3-needle BO. I was so proud of myself. I was invisioning how nicely my shoulder seams would be, and how clever was I for coming up with this?!?

I looked down to where the BOs started. At row 111. I thought, “That’s nothing. I can frog down to row 112, tink the row to put the sts back on the needle, work the short rows and be finished the front with the piece on a st holder before dinner time.”

I frogged down to row 112.

I tinked down to row 111, putting the sts back on the needle.

I looked closely at my pattern.

That’s when I noticed that the BOs I was planning to short row were the NECKLINE decreases. Last time I checked, neck openings weren’t seamed shut.

Oh well. At least I had the idea, that’s what counts right?

Now to redo the next 25 rows. Again.

I can’t believe I ripped from row 134. For nothing.

The left front piece of the Enchanted Forest cardigan has 136 rows.

I was just on row 134.

I looked down at the stair-step rows of bind offs, and thought, “There has to be a better way.” I’ve done a 3-needle BO on shoulders before, but not with short row shaping for the bind offs on the sides, just on the remaining sts on top. I thought, “This won’t be too hard!” and decided to use my book on finishing to walk me through the short rows in preparation for a 3-needle BO. I was so proud of myself. I was invisioning how nicely my shoulder seams would be, and how clever was I for coming up with this?!?

I looked down to where the BOs started. At row 111. I thought, “That’s nothing. I can frog down to row 112, tink the row to put the sts back on the needle, work the short rows and be finished the front with the piece on a st holder before dinner time.”

I frogged down to row 112.

I tinked down to row 111, putting the sts back on the needle.

I looked closely at my pattern.

That’s when I noticed that the BOs I was planning to short row were the NECKLINE decreases. Last time I checked, neck openings weren’t seamed shut.

Oh well. At least I had the idea, that’s what counts right?

Now to redo the next 25 rows. Again.

I can’t believe I ripped from row 134. For nothing.

Thanks to the many helpful people on the MontrealKnits and Knitlist yahoo groups, I’ve been given a list of white wools that felt well. Some were contradictory (1 person said Cascade 220 in white felts great, another said horrible), but I had enough options that I was able to browse the web. I almost ordered 9 skeins at my LYS in the Classic Wool from Patons, but at $6.50 CAD each it would have been a bit pricey for me to use as testers for my knitting designs.

Lee Ann from MontrealKnits suggested Wool of the Andes from www.knitpicks.com and I’m very excited to announce that I’ve just placed my order. The yarn is $1.79 US per skein! How can I go wrong? For under what it would have cost me to buy the Classic Wool, I was able to get 2-4 skeins each of MORE colors. (I ordered min. 2 skeins of each ‘cus the skeins only have 100 yards and I’m felting so plan on using it double-strand.) Thanks Lee Ann!

Now I have 12-15 business days to wait for my order, which gives me plenty of time to finish up some wips by then. Today’s plan:
-finish the left front of the Enchanted Forest cardigan (only 20 rows to go)
-get a good chunk done on the World’s Best Felted Knitting Bag Ever (only about 50 rows done so far. *sigh*)

CALLING ALL KNITTING GEEKS:

Run, don’t walk to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you like either a) the books, b) any other Douglas Adams books, c) British-style humor, d) sci-fi stuff, e) adorably-manicaly-depressed robots.

I loved it. Loved it. So did Yannick, and he claims not to be a geek. (He claims to be the cool guy that took me- the geek- under his wing for protection, but that’s another story.)

And there’s even something in it, a little treat for the knitters out there. :]
Here’s a pic to conjure strange thoughts:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/images/pr400big.jpg

My only complaint would be that they cut out big chunks of the storyline, but then it would be a 40+ hour movie if they didn’t. Still, basic elements were all there, and the casting was superb. An excellent movie that will definitely be in my collection.

CALLING ALL KNITTING GEEKS:

Run, don’t walk to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you like either a) the books, b) any other Douglas Adams books, c) British-style humor, d) sci-fi stuff, e) adorably-manicaly-depressed robots.

I loved it. Loved it. So did Yannick, and he claims not to be a geek. (He claims to be the cool guy that took me- the geek- under his wing for protection, but that’s another story.)

And there’s even something in it, a little treat for the knitters out there. :]
Here’s a pic to conjure strange thoughts:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/images/pr400big.jpg

My only complaint would be that they cut out big chunks of the storyline, but then it would be a 40+ hour movie if they didn’t. Still, basic elements were all there, and the casting was superb. An excellent movie that will definitely be in my collection.

CALLING ALL KNITTING GEEKS:

Run, don’t walk to see Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you like either a) the books, b) any other Douglas Adams books, c) British-style humor, d) sci-fi stuff, e) adorably-manicaly-depressed robots.

I loved it. Loved it. So did Yannick, and he claims not to be a geek. (He claims to be the cool guy that took me- the geek- under his wing for protection, but that’s another story.)

And there’s even something in it, a little treat for the knitters out there. :]
Here’s a pic to conjure strange thoughts:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/images/pr400big.jpg

My only complaint would be that they cut out big chunks of the storyline, but then it would be a 40+ hour movie if they didn’t. Still, basic elements were all there, and the casting was superb. An excellent movie that will definitely be in my collection.

I’m very excited. At 9:30 tonight I will be parking my behind in a movie theater to watch The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with a big tub of buttered popcorn. You see, Passover ends at 9:00pm, so the popcorn will blessedly be mine. And I’ve read the 5 (6?) books that make up THGTTG about 4 times since high school. I’ve been waaaaaiiiiiiiiiiting for the movie version to come out, and now it’s out. And I can eat popcorn. It’s really a cause for celebration!

This is what I found in my inbox a little while ago:

Is it bad when I’m being told to lose weight by my computer? I think I should be insulted.

I would take this to heart, but I’m too excited. I’ve been coming up with all kinds of design ideas, knitting of course, and I’m itching to get started. I’m going to buy/order what I need at my LYS tomorrow, but first I’m on a mission to find a white wool that felts. Then stand back, because I’m hoping my ideas will explode!

Happy end of Passover!

I’ve almost finished the left front of the Enchanted Forest cardigan, just one little cloud to go (read: 30-ish rows) and it’ll be time to cast on for the right front. Another whole chart to go. Yaaaaaaaay.

Big news for any Montreal bloggers or fans of us: a new one has joined our ranks. Please visit Lee Ann over at Fuzzy Logic and say hi! While you’re at it, you can visit the Montreal Knits website and see pics from the meeting this past Sunday at the Second Cup at Gare Centrale, or join the Montreal Knits yahoo group that Veronik Avery has set up. Yes, that Veronik. 🙂 From the Montreal Knits website you can also find links to other Montreal blogs, and other Montreal stuff to do. There will also slowly be pics of the different LYSs in town, I think she has one up so far.

Night.