Category Archives: WIP


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2010-11-05

Rhinebeck Rhecap, Part 1:

Maaike and I drove down to Woodstock in the afternoon of the Thursday before the festival.  We left early because Maaike was registered for a class on Friday on spinning exotic fibers.  That meant one thing- I had a day to myself to roam free in Woodstock!

Our inn was right in the heart of the Woodstock village, and it was amazing.  To a tourist, at least, it feels like an artist’s community right in the middle of a forest, complete with bubbling stream and rushing waterfall.  I LOVED it.

To save money we took a room with a shared hall bath.  Our room was lovely, quaint and welcoming.  My favorite part of the room was the top drawer of the dresser which held journals that had been filled in by previous occupants of the room.  It was so sweet to look through the memories that other people had made in that same spot.

After meeting a few other guests at our inn who were also there for Rhinebeck, I went out for my walk.  Unfortunately it was clear that almost nothing would be open for another hour or two so I took advantage of the time to grab some breakfast at the Oriole9, a restaurant that had free wifi.  (Our inn did offer a continental breakfast, but my tastebuds have been majorly screwed up since the tonsillectomy, and I can’t really eat much.  Sweets, dairy and the like taste the worst, and the continental breakfast was muffins, fruit and yogurt…so that was out).

I’m not posting all the photos here, but there was so much to see and photograph in Woodstock.

Everywhere you’d look you’d find tie dye, peace signs and other “typical Woodstock” trappings.  You’d think it would get overdone or theatrical after a while- but it never did.  It just seemed to make sense.

Across the street from our inn was one especially colorful shop:

The black figures in the center of the photo are 2 life-sized Blues Brothers sculptures, posed reclining in patio chairs.

After setting out for my walk I passed two stores then the street meandered over a bridge.  I looked down to see a beautiful rushing stream, and then a few more stores later I followed an alleyway to suddenly come across this waterfal feeding the stream.  It was just perfect.

I forgot I can’t rotate photos in WordPress…so let’s just all hold our heads to the right, m’kay?  🙂  In the heart of the main street was a little community center that had some colorful sculptures around.  This blue park bench had hearts on either side with this peace symbol and hand in the center.  It was just the thing to hold my Rhinebeck Travelling WIP (which was finished 2 days after we got back- more on it later).

As if it weren’t enough to randomly come across streams and sculptures, there was also “found art” everywhere, like a peace sign drawn into the sidewalk concrete, or another peace sign made out of broken bits of motherboards and little round stones found on a garden ledge.  Along the way I also found this guitar carved into someone’s fence.

When I left Oriole9 I went over to the Tea Shop hoping to find some of the same tea I’d had with my breakfast.  They didn’t have it, but I did buy sample sizes of 6 other flavors; the Cream Earl Gray has since become my new favorite.

I didn’t buy much else during my walk- just a polished gemstone to add to my collection, and these two VW vans for the boys:

That evening Maaike and I met up after her class and headed down for an amazing dinner at The Red Onion.  (It must have been good if I enjoyed it even with my silly tastebuds).  It was a beautiful steakhouse with low candle light and black & white photographs of nude women on the walls.  (Those two things don’t seem to go together, but it was very tasteful…no pun intended!)

We finished our night back at the inn, knitting in the lounge with the other Rhinebeck women there.

—

Getting back to the present, it’s been more of the same around here.  Every night I’ve been working on getting my pattern ready for publication.  It’s getting close…I have hopes to maybe mail it off on Monday.

I spent the day home with Henri who seems to be fighting a gastro.  I don’t like when my kids are sick, but I’m not sorry about getting an extra day to stay home cuddling with him.  I do feel really bad for the poor kid, though- he threw up again tonight right as I was about to put him to bed, and I had to put him in his crib (his pjs were still clean) so I could clean up the floor.  I had the lights on, and kept going in and out of the room to get more paper towels and floor cleaner, etc, and then I looked over and my little fireball of energy- the kid who never sits still or stays put- had laid himself down on his stomach and closed his eyes.  It was heartbreaking.

I can’t work on anything important while Henri’s awake because I keep my focus on him, especially today when I was always on the lookout for signs he was about to throw up (so I could protect our couch, etc).  So while we were watching a new Diego DVD I’d picked up, I started the first Ravenna Mitt.  I think it will be cute, but will have to try on the completed mitt to see if it is right to give all the teachers at the daycare.

And now the kids are both asleep and I’ve had what little I can stomach as supper (toast.  all I eat is toast.  all I can taste is salt.  this kinda is annoying) and am going to do more math, more calculations and more tweaking to get the pattern to look and sound just right.


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2010-11-03

Today is photo day at the boys’ daycare.  I can’t wait to see how the pictures come out!  Lately Jakob’s “say cheese!” face has a big grin but tight, squinty eyes…I’m hoping for a photo that’s not too silly looking.

Speaking of daycare, I’ve been thinking about what to make for the teachers this year.  I enjoy making something for the teachers, and they’ve told me that they appreciate it too.  Now that Henri is there, that’s a second class with another set of teachers to craft for.  Plus I make something for the owner too…so this year I wanted to find something small but that would still be appreciated.

I think I’ve settled on making the teachers each a pair of wristwarmers.  It’s small, practical and even people who don’t get cold enough to wear mittens or gloves can wear them.  They’re stretchy enough to fit a variety of wrist/hand sizes, and hopefully something I can get done in a relatively short period of time.

I didn’t want to rely on stash yarn for this mainly because I figured that the only way to make it fair would be to make everyone the same pair in the same color.  I stopped at Wal-Mart today after dropping the boys off at daycare and on my way to work.  I don’t have anything against chain-store yarn; I think that every yarn has its place in the right project.  (Well…except maybe Phentex.)  All the cotton I use for dishcloths and bath sets is from either Wal-Mart or Zellers, and a lot of the yarn I use for baby projects too.

The selection was really low today.  Either they’re getting rid of the crafts department (I noticed the fabric cutting table was gone), or someone really bought them out.  I did, however, find 4 100g balls of Bernat Satin in black- exactly the color I’d been hoping to find.

I think everyone could use a pair of cute, soft, black wristwarmers.  Hopefully the teachers will think so too!  I’m going to take another look through Ravelry, but I think I’ve pretty much settled on using this pattern– the Ravenna Mitts by Meg White (probably NOT of the White Stripes).  It’s crochet- not knitting- but it looks fast while still being pretty and feminine.

While there I came across this bag of 3 “unknown fiber” balls.  1 lb of “unknown fiber”.  Some of the “unknown fiber” bags you can tell what they are, and I liked this one.  I think it is combined with rayon or nylon…the yarn looks like a woven core wrapped with a shinier strand.  I tried to get a close-up shot to show you:

I’m sure it’s 100% fake stuff, but I love yarn like this, with a silky drape and light weight, for Summer stuff.  I won’t know the exact yardage until I run it through my yardage meter, but I’m sure I have enough for a tank top or lacy shell.

So that’s today.  And lately?

I’ve been working like mad on one special project for the last 2 months.  I had a pattern approved by KnitPicks towards the end of August, and then received the yarn to get started literally the day before my tonsillectomy.  Needless to say…I didn’t get much knitting done for a few weeks.  The one time I tried I knit in the wrong color, and that was enough to teach me that if I was going to finally get this pattern published, I would have to do it right and wait until I was off pain killers.

The knitting has been finished for about a week now, and I had the pattern photos taken last Monday.  I have been spending every night since then working on typing up the pattern so I can send everything off to KnitPicks.

You’d think with this many hours of work behind it, I would feel closer to my goal.  I don’t.  I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the pattern out in time for Hallowe’en…though I know that my 2 surgeries and work and health stuff with the kids had a lot to do with that, so I’m not beating myself up over it.  Still, now that the knitting is done I’m itching to move onto the next accepted design, but I can’t call this one “complete” until the pattern is written up.

Luckily I’ve finished all the laundry, and have nothing else to do each night for the rest of the week other than to finish the pattern.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can have it in the mail by Friday.


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more knitting (and crochet) under the influence

Some minor setbacks (dehydration and a slight infection) have prolonged my tonsillectomy recovery, and I’m still home from work, still barely eating, and still taking pain meds.  A few days ago I berated myself for not working on my Superhero Costume which will be published as soon as I can get it finished- but I didn’t feel like I was able to knit and design properly without a clear head.  Because of which I worked on simple projects if/when I felt able to knit.  Today I really gave myself a hard time about it because I’d really wanted it published before the beginning of October (very unlikely at this rate), and that self-goading pushed me enough to try to work on it.

I should have listened to myself!  I’ve been knitting for most of the afternoon, and slightly rewriting the pattern as I went to account for readability and ease in construction.  I didn’t take a photo, but those of you who have seen the original Superman-themed Superhero baby costume know that it is a one-piece, footed baby outfit.  The legs are knit first, toe-up, and since I’d only received the yarn for it the day before my (latest) surgery, I had only completed the first foot.  I was right at the bootie section and today joined the contrasting color for the leg, did the intarsia bit and was coasting my way through the leg increases…about 5 minutes ago…when I realized my big goof.  I have yarn for 2 versions of the pattern- one for babies and one for toddlers.  Each version has a different color scheme.  And the yarn I’d grabbed for the leg and had been knitting with all afternoon was NOT the right color.

It’s not the end of the world, though I think I will rip it out then take a little nap before continuing.  I immediately thought of “knitting under the influence” which reminded me that I’d mentioned, but never shown, the crochet mistake I made thanks to these pain killers (empracet, for those who are curious).

A friend’s daughter turned 2 this month, and had her birthday party on my birthday.  I had picked up some books as a gift (after a consult with the girl’s mommy) but when I went to wrap it and be prepared I felt like it wasn’t enough to just wrap up the books and give them.  I had a few days before the party so I asked Yannick to get out my bin of cotton (‘cus I still can’t lift anything over 10 lbs) and I picked out some bright white and some hot pink. 

I’ll get more into the details of the pattern when I post finished photos, but to sum up, it’s 2 granny squares that have been joined into a bag with a base and side gussets. 

You know that old reminder in knitting?  The one that goes “join, being careful not to twist”?

Oops!

At least it was an easy fix.  This has now been 3 drug-induced crafting mishaps.  Hopefully 3 times is the charm and this will be the end of it!

Of course, I will end up needing a 3rd surgery, so hopefully 3 times is a charm there too!!


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tuesday

I know it’s not Tuesday.  But it was Tuesday, Aug 31st when I drafted the photos for this post, and I don’t have the energy or desire to go change the permalink.

It’s been a lot of same-old around here since my last post…at least until today.  So now I’m grumpy.  Why I’m choosing to post while grumpy is beyond me, but I found a few minutes of time so here you go.

I did some crochet this week.  I’ve been working on one project as a birthday gift for a friend, then decided to squeeze another project in a few days ago.  That one proved to me that, just like knitting, crochet doesn’t work well while on painkillers.  I took photos before fixing my mistake, but they’re still on my camera.

Here are the boys last month sometime.  Henri loves wearing stuff on his head…hats, glasses, etc.  That’s a pair of sunglasses he’s got on there.  Jakob is always pulling Henri’s chair over to feed him or swipe food off his tray.

This was one of the progress photos of the Enchanted Forest Cardigan.  It’s hard to see, but it’s the complete back (on the right) with the left front attached by 3ndl BO on the shoulder.  That’s not in the pattern, but I prefer it to seaming the shoulders, so I’d short-rowed the decreases to prepare for it.

A shot of Jakob wearing Yannick’s sunglasses.  Just because.

Here’s the back of the cardi after I’d seamed in the sleeve and the side seam. 

And here’s the fronts.  Since this photo was taken I’ve finished seaming both sleeves and the sides, and picked up and done a few rows of the button band.  I’m planning on ripping out the sleeves to redo them and make them more streamlined, ‘cus really, they’re huge.  It’s cute when they’re pushed up, but that’s about it.

This is one of Henri’s 18 month chair photos.  I can’t believe what a big, gorgeous boy he is.  Let’s just bask in that and ignore all the eczema, m’kay?

As for me…I’ve got a few more patterns coming out with KnitPicks, some I’m currently working on, and some waiting for the yarn to arrive.  I’m healing from the surgery, and gearing up for the tonsils next Friday.  Tomorrow’s my birthday, and I’m seeing friends in the afternoon and evening, and that will be a lot of fun.  And this afternoon my hernia popped out again.  So apparently, despite the odds, I had a screwed up c-section AND a hernia in another random spot.  It hurts, and it really, really sucks, but I’ll get it all sorted out.  And eventually I’ll be all fixed up.

Eventually.  I hope.


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knitting while impaired

I have another post in draft mode, all ready with photos and just waiting for the text.  I was going to try to work on it tomorrow, but tonight I found such a silly mistake in my knitting that I had to pre-empt myself to share it with you.

While on leave from work I decided to do some knitting for the boys.  First I got out Jakob’s mitered square blankie and rummaged through the sock yarn stash until I found the ends and bits of the same colors, and then used them in Henri’s so they would have the matching colors.

The photo below shows the order.  While Jakob’s blankie is mitered squares, Henri’s is garter squares that meander around in a big spiral from the center. 

I picked it up and began square #6, and by working on it off-and-on, along with a long car ride to and from Toronto last weekend, managed to get 26 squares done.  The big blue area is to match the same one in Jakob’s blanket.

Now that Henri’s is underway, I wanted to work on Jakob’s for a bit.  Almost all of the diamonds and triangles were already done.  Yesterday I did the red and black square between the pink and the large blue one.  I knew that today I’d have some knitting time at the hospital, because I had my pre-op appointment for my tonsillectomy.  I wanted to be able to just grab the knitting and go, in case I had to keep putting it down, so I decided to cast on last night before going to bed and get the next diamond ready for today.

I chose the Toasted Almond sock yarn from the last pair of socks I knit for myself, and thought I was being really clever in working one of the side diamonds.

Not so clever after all.  Only after I finished the diamond tonight did I realize that this diamond has no place being where it is!  D’oh!

The lesson here is two-fold: 1. always double-check your work when knitting on painkillers, and 2. if you rush to get something done before bed, you’ll probably regret it in the morning.

And on that note…off to rip…


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i felt the earth move under my feet

That was crazy- I felt my first earthquake!  I was sitting in my chair at work when all of a sudden it started vibrating, for about 3 seconds a shot, for about 30 seconds.  I was enjoying it until I realized that my office chair DOESN’T vibrate!

The other day I made the mistake showed Maaike my unfinished object dumping ground.  (Shh…don’t tell her it was only one of many…)

Well, she’d already known that many years ago (March of 2005) I’d started the DKNY Enchanted Forest Cardigan.  I guess she’d never realized how much I’d done before stopping, and she might have kinda guilt tripped me into having it done so I could wear it at Rhinebeck…which is, I have to admit, a good idea.

So for the last few days I have been getting a good chunk of my nightly studying done while at work, thus freeing up a bit of time to knit each night.

This is how the sweater looked when we last saw it here on the blog:

efwip3
These were the complete fronts…
efwip4
…and the back, at the time I’d last worked on them.  By the bedspread I can tell it was in our old house, before Jakob was born.  By memory I know it was before we got married, probably somewhere in Winter 2005 or Spring 2006.  The back is basically the two fronts done as one unit, with a small strip in between them that will later grow and overlap the two with a different tree.

I had to borrow a needle from Maaike ‘cus I was knitting this on my old Denise interchangeable set, which is a fine set, but a little sticky on the cord for this yarn.  I have no idea where my 5mm circ is, so Maaike lent me a KnitPicks Options one with nice sharp points.  I do all my cables without a cable needle, so I like a nice point for finagling my way in there.

I borrowed the needle on Saturday morning when I ran out to do some errands before going to my cousin Robyn‘s son Mackenzie’s 2nd birthday party.  Yannick was away for the weekend and I’d caught up a little on my studying, so I took advantage of the boys’ afternoon naps to knit.

It’s now Wednesday, and as of last night I have completed the back up to 4 rows past the armhole bind offs.  (Pretty much where you see the corner of the Hefty Ziplock bag on the right side of the first photo).  I know within the next couple of nights I’ll have the body complete, and then it’s only sleeves and bands/collar to go!  I’m looking forwards to having this one off the needles well ahead of Rhinebeck.


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numbers

Aren’t numbers funny?  They rule our lives in so many ways…currency…time…sizing.

Before my time at the gym was put on hold by the hernia, I’d managed to lose Henri’s baby weight plus another 20 lbs.  Inspired by the fact that I was no longer even nursing, I packed away all my maternity clothes, even the items that were just for shlumping around the house.  Even the comfy yoga-style pants.  Even the nightgown.  The problem is that my “before” clothes don’t fit very well, but I don’t yet consider myself an “after”.

My closet and drawers currently have 3 levels of clothing.  Level 1 are the bigger stuff that I’m really trying to weed out.  Some of my old standbys really just look too baggy when I wear them, and anything that obviously doesn’t fit gets either tossed or donated, depending on the level of deterioration.  (Even the unfortunate don’t want plaid pj shorts that haven’t had elastic since 1993).  Level 3 clothes are the clothes I’ve been hanging on to since the days when I was closer to where I’d like my “after” to be.  I got rid of most of the really slutty stuff from my bartending days (small clothes = big tips) and the stuff that might fit one day, but styles have changed so I wouldn’t want to wear them anyways.  What’s left are classic pieces that won’t solely make up, but will round out a wardrobe nicely.  Some items still have price tags, bought when I lived in the make-believe land of “I’m only 5 lbs away from this shirt, and it’s on sale, so I’d be crazy NOT to buy it”.

Level 2 clothes are the ones I’m currently wearing.  I don’t really like them, they’re not really all that fashionable, but they fit better than either other level.  They’re the clothes that I can’t wait to no longer have to rely on.  The clothes I wear ‘cus I have to, but not ‘cus I want to.

I’ve been putting off going out to buy nicer stuff because of the age-old adage of anyone who has tried to lose weight- you don’t want to waste money investing in nice clothes that won’t fit you for very long (you hope).

On our way back from New York we stopped at the outlets in Lake George and my dad enouraged me to buy some new shirts for work, since I’d been complaining about my wardrobe.  There were some nice clothes at really good prices, and not at least taking a look would have been a wasted opportunity.  The first 2 stores were depressing.  I tried stuff on, it would fit, but not comfortably.  I knew I’d never wear it out without pulling at one part or trying to hide another.  Finally at the 3rd store I changed tactics.  Instead of taking the size I’d LIKE to be I sucked it up and tried on clothes in the size I AM.

Let me tell you, I felt like I was in Pretty Woman.  We got there 30 minutes before closing, but I had so much stuff in my dressing room between the stuff I’d gathered, stuff my mom gathered and then stuff Yannick brought me, that we ended up staying there for an hour.  I ended up getting a bunch of tops, everything from casual “throw-on-with jeans” tees and funky tops, to dressier shirts and blouses for work.  It felt so empowering to put on stuff that fit and was flattering to look at, and it makes such a difference when getting dressed in the morning.

This led me to take a good hard look at my Audrey cardigan.  When I’d cast on I’d had the choice between a size 1″ smaller than my bust, or a size 3-5″ bigger (I forget right now).  I chose to go with the smaller size, since I’m trying to get away from excess baggage.  When finished the sweater fit like a glove- literally.  The sleeves are perfect as is the body…except that I don’t have the body that I’d like to show off in a skin-tight sweater.

Luckily blocking helped tremendously.  The sweater now has a lovely drape even though it is knit in a bulky yarn.  The thickness at the seams has eased, and it actually grew a little too much, so much so that I need to remove about 5″ from each sleeve in length, and only once I fix the loosened buttonholes and sagging buttons will I know if it is too wide around.

I realized that while it was nice to have the quick knit of a bulky sweater, there’s NOTHING that can compare to a well-fitting item of clothing.  If I want something to be proud of, I can knit a bunch of bulky sweaters and frame them in shadow boxes.  But if I want something that I can also wear, I need to make sure it will fit and be flattering.  And if that means knitting a little longer but using thinner yarn, going for a better drape, or a different style than the one everyone else is knitting ‘cus it just won’t flatter me- then so be it it.  I know this cardigan will be one I’ll wear from time to time, and I can’t wait to wear the one I know I’m going to make that will fit beautifully.


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pre-olympics

Here’s a photo I took Friday evening before the opening ceremonies.  My equipment was assembled and I was ready to go!

I’m going to be knitting Franklin Habit’s Prairie Spring Tunic from the premiere Fall/Winter 2009 issue of St-Denis.  I’m knitting it size 2, using the same colors as I needed it to be neutral- it is going to be a baby shower gift for my cousin’s wife.  They have a chinchilla as a pet (and used to have my chinchilla too) so I will be adapting the white blips in the Fair Isle section to be chinchillas.  If I have time I plan to knit a stuffed chinchilla toy as well.  It is an Olympic challenge for me partly because of my time constraints, and partly because to date I find my Fair Isle colorwork sucks.  I rock at intarsia, but I’m not comfortable with stranding the yarn without puckering or pulling.


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no tapestry needle? no problem!

notapestryndlpin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYuydpcXbc4

The above is a video I made quite a while ago.  Some of you will recognize the project in my hands – it’s Kate Gilbert’s Papa Bunny that I had made to send to a friend’s daughter in 2008.

This video shows what to do when a pattern asks for a common technique – but you don’t have the right equipment with you.  The last row of the directions said to “thread the live sts onto the working yarn with a tapestry needle and pull tight to gather”.  The only problem was that I didn’t have a tapestry needle with me.  I didn’t like the idea of pulling the stitches open with my fingers so I could get the yarn through easily, as it would distort them.  I came up with this idea instead.  It might be familiar to some of you, or it might be new to you.  Either way, it helped me and I hope it helps you too!  If you’d prefer a photo tutorial (vs the video above) let me know in the comments and I’ll make it happen. 🙂


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i am an idiot and don’t do what i did

How many mistakes can one knitter make in one project?  Let’s outline below.*

Remember Kayla’s Lace Cardigan?  This is the project that my friend Julie picked as a birth gift for her daughter.  Who will be turning 2 later this year.  Anyhoo…

I’d started the cardi last year after translating it from Norwegian.  Yeah.  I got about 4″ into it when I found an error in the stitch counts that I couldn’t work out.  I emailed the publisher and had to put it aside to work on something else.  At some point I slipped it onto smaller needles so I could work other projects, and it languished in my knitting bin.

This year, once some health issues and timing and sleep and such were worked out, I knew that I needed to regain my focus and get back to work.  It’s not fair that Kayla is almost 2.  (Although lucky that I was always going to knit the size 2 size).

I’ve been working on it steadily for the last 3 weeks.  The pattern is written by dimensions, not rows, as in “when the work reaches 10 cm work a decrease”, or “when work reaches 25 cm BO 2 sts at markers” and so on.  I’d already worked out that my gauge gave me X rows per 2cm, so I had gone through my working copy and written down the row I should be at for each of the length notations.

Tuesday night I’d knew I’d have the whole body finished by the end of the night.  The body is worked in one piece up to the armpits, then the right front, left front and back are worked separately.  Early on in the evening I’d finished the right front, my first of the fronts.  I eagerly laid it flat on my couch to measure to ensure I’d reached the required 44 cm.

It was 38 cm long.  I couldn’t believe it.  I measured from the bottom up to the first button hole which should have been 20 cm – it was.  I remeasured the length – still 38 cm.  What?  Ok, I thought, it was my fault for measuring on a couch.  I went and got a foam tile and my pins, laid it out and remeasured.  Even with SEVERE blocking, there was no way it would reach 44 cm.  I realized maybe I’d counted my gauge on the couch last year.  Stupid me for not pinning it out!  That will teach me.  I patiently wrote out my current (supposed) gauge, then remeasured a section down towards the cast on and wrote down the number of rows per 10 cm that I got.

They were exactly the same.  WTF???  How could I have the same gauge but not have it work out?  I remeasured a 3rd time – spot on.  Ok, enough of this.  I’d had enough trying to figure out where I’d screwed up.

I would have to rip.  I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong, but I assumed I must have fudged a row count somewhere.

The easiest spot to rip back to and know what row I was on was the armpit row, since it had the easy-to-find bind offs.  (Remember, it’s an allover lace pattern).  I yanked out the needle, ripped back to the armpits (over 60 rows) and painstakingly reinserted the needle into 197 tiny lace sts, decs and YOs.  I worked one row to reorient my stitches properly on the needle and pick up any accidentally dropped stitches, and had enough.  My eyes were going squinty, my head hurt, and it was late.  I went to bed.

Wednesday I kept picking it up to work on, but suddenly something new was bothering me.  The bottom of the cardigan, from the cast on upwards, is worked in an allover eyelet lace pattern.  Then after about 4″ of work, you insert markers where the armpits will eventually be, and a few times over another 8″ you decrease at the markers “keeping pattern going across”.  Well apparently I’d interpreted that rather loosely.  On rows where the pattern fit into the remaining number of sts on either side of the markers, I’d worked lace.  On rows where they didn’t quite fit, I’d worked stockinette stitch.  For some reason it never occurred to me to work the lace across the markers.  Anyhow, looking down at my work I now had these unsightly panels under each armpit, with a mix of half-formed lace and stocking stitch.  Not pretty, and not what I wanted for Kayla when she finally got her sweater.

kaycarwip2

It was staring me in the face- I had to rip back.  I called Maaike and told her of my plans to rip.  She convinced me to wait until I saw her later that night and not to rip in the heat of the moment.  I managed to wait, but she agreed with me- it just didn’t look good.

Yesterday I brought the knitting down to my ball winder.  I knew I’d be ripping back the better part of a ball and a half of sock yarn, and wanted it properly wound, not just wrapped around the ball band.  I ripped, and ripped, originally intending on stopping just before the first set of bind offs.  That way I could at least salvage my original 4″ of work.

In the end I just ripped the whole thing out.  I figured that I must have made some mistake somewhere to wind up with such a difference in total height, so I would be better off just starting over from scratch at this point.

This afternoon I put Henri down for his nap and made a glass of tea and settled down with recordings of So You Think You Can Dance (both US and Canada) and my knitting.  I cleared my mind and glanced at the pattern to see how many hundreds of stitches I needed to re-cast on.

My translated notes read: CO 197 sts w/3mm needle

I grabbed the needle I’d been working with (an Aero) and started to cast on.  Then I thought “hmm…I don’t remember owning a 3 mm Aero needle”.  I pulled out the needle slip bags from my larger knitting bag.  There were 3 in there from way back when I’d been in the swatching stages.  There was an empty 2.75mm Aero bag, an empty 3mm Addi Turbo bag, and a full 3.25mm Addi Turbo bag.

Oh crap.

Anyone want to guess what screwed up my knitting?  Did you pick it up already?  I mentioned it way up there…

I’d started the cardi last year after translating it from Norwegian.  Yeah.  I got about 4″ into it when I found an error in the stitch counts that I couldn’t work out.  I emailed the publisher and had to put it aside to work on something else.  At some point I slipped it onto smaller needles so I could work other projects, and it languished in my knitting bin.

I can’t believe it.  I never put it back on the proper needles.  My gauge, that I’d remeasured in the bottom 5″, was from my original knitting.  So it was spot-on.  Everything after that, everything I’d knit in the last 3 weeks had all been done on the 2.75mm Aero that I’d used as a stitch holder so I could use my 3mm for other projects.  Had I left myself a note, had I even looked at my needle properly, I would have switched and by now had been done the entire body and be at least halfway through the sleeves.  Had I even looked before ripping I could have ripped back to that 4″ point to at least save that much reknitting.

Sigh.  I didn’t look.  I didn’t notice.  And now I’ve got an entire project to start over. At least I can restart my “start date” in Ravelry.

….grumble grumble….

 

*Yes, I’m ignoring the loooong delay in posts, and all the missing posts on the boys and knitting in the last 2? months.  They’ll come when they come- if I didn’t get this post up I would just not bother.  To make up for it, here’s a mosiac of my boys, both at 8 months.  Can you tell who is who?

8-month-twins-bw