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i’m stubborn all right

When I’m determined something will work a certain way, I have this overwhelming need to get it done.  I looked at the elephant pattern and I KNEW it could be knit in the round, it would just take some understanding of the construction.

I made my excel sheet, changed half of every round to be purl directions, and changed each round so that the purl directions were on the opposite half each time (ie: one row is knit half in knit, then half in purl, and the following row is knit half purl, then half knit.  That way each side gets garter ridges and remain each knit from the outside-in).

Confident that I had overcome the foolish mistakes I’d talked about last post, I sat down and got to work.  I even put in 2 stitch markers; an orange one (for stop) to show me the end of the round, signify the tail end of the elephant, and be a location for the increases, and a green one (for go) to show me the face end of the elephant and remind me to just keep on working past the marker so I’d have nice, unbroken garter ridges.  It worked perfectly.

It worked so well that I got into a rhythm of knitting while watching tv, only occasionally stopping to glance at the chart just to see if the next round had the increases twice or five times.  I got about 6 ridges past what you see above when I stopped, and stared at my knitting in disbelief.

I’d done it again.

I’d gotten so caught up in my own cleverness that I’d forgotten the most basic rule, the fundamental core of following a written pattern: READ the pattern.

I couldn’t figure out why the front of the elephant was curving so nicely but the back was flaring so much.  Well DUH- any glance at the INSTRUCTIONS would show the answer to that.  The increases weren’t ALL on the tail end.  The rows with 5 incs/row had them at the tail end- but all the rows with 1 or 2 incs per row had them at the head, so the body would grow towards the head too!

Is this what they mean when they say someone was hoisted upon their own petard?  It feels apropos.

Sigh

After realizing what I’d done, I caved.  I symbolically speared a Kleenex with my knitting needle and waved a white flag.  Enough.  I give.

I will knit the damn thing flat, and seam it, smiling the whole time.

So I started again.*

Since I was already starting over I gave the whole thing a critical eye and thought I`d like it to be bigger.  I could kind of estimate the final dimensions based on what I`d already knit, and I really wanted the elephant to be larger, more like the size of the baby, instead of a small toy.  So this time I cast on with the yarn held doubled.  I had 2 full balls of the Red Heart Misty left over after knitting Esther`s Slippers and I thought it would be enough…

I got about 5 ridges past this point when I started to worry about not having enough yarn.  I only had the 2 balls, and it was from many years ago, so it`s not like I could get more.  Plus I was still knitting the elephant on 3.75mm needles so I`d get a dense (read: stuffing-proof) fabric, and we all know how much garter stitch likes to eat yarn.  After going to all this trouble I`d really hate to have both sides of the body done and run out of yarn halfway through the underbody, or whatever, so I had no choice but to start over, AGAIN.

This time I`m pairing the Misty with some Pingouin Safira (that Robyn gave me at guild a few months ago, thanks Robyn!).  The colors work well together, and I think the overall heather-y mix of purples is still boyish, but soft enough for a baby.  The fabric I`m getting is dense and squishy, but even if I stretch it I can`t quite see through it, so I know it will hold up to a good stuffing.  And yes, Maaike, since I`m knitting it flat, it will regain the structural integrity of the seams to help it keep its shape.  😛

I`m hoping to have the elephant done before my surgery (not next Monday, but the one after) because I will be off work and unable to drive for a bit afterward and I would like to give it to the new mom myself.  Plus it would be nice to have one less obligation over my head while I`m home, especially since if this one is anything like last time, the first week will pass in a haze of pain meds and sleep, only this time I still have school work to do.  I`ve got about 2-3 hours of studying to do each night to stay on track, but I think in 2 weeks I can still manage to knit a garter stitch elephant.  I may not get much sleep…but hey- I`ll have plenty of time to sleep soon, right?

*I DO still insist that it CAN be knit flat, and if it comes out cute enough to make another one, I will probably attempt it.  Probably.  But either way, I KNOW it can be done.  Really.  It can.  Uh huh.


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almost, but not quite there

I was going to be all proud of myself.  I was going to post about how I’d been so clever.  Can you guess where this is going?

This photo shows the progress I’d made last night on Flo the Elephant.  I was actually a little cocky, thinking to myself how smart I’d been to concoct a way to work the pattern in the round.  See, the pattern has you knit two elephant sides that look like flat elephant shapes, then you seam them together from the tail up over the back and over the head to the trunk.  You then seam the trunk, and sew in an underbelly, and do the legs.

I wasn’t crazy about the look of the seam down the face and was sure there was a way I could work it to avoid it.  My first thought was to work the two pieces flat, but joined down the center of the face.  So if you count the left side of the elephant as Side A, and the right side as Side B, I would knit each row for Side A as written, then knit the same row for Side B, all as one long row.  Before I cast on, though, I realized that if I did the whole thing in the round, I could avoid having to seam down the back and bum too.  Sure, it would mean purling every 2nd row (since it’s a garter stitch elephant), but I knit stockinette stitch all the time, and don’t mind purling.  Perfect!

After I knit the first round I realized I’d have one more thing to modify- not only was I working every 2nd row as a purl row (plus whatever decreases or increases that row called for), but I would also need to work that row backwards.  The original row was supposed to be knit from the other end after having turned at the end of the previous row…so I would have to work the directions from the other side since I was never turning the work.

The pattern starts with 10 sts so I cast on 20 sts, divided them onto both halves of a long circ for working magic loop, and got to work.  It was late, but I managed to get through 8-10 rounds before bed.  As you can see from the photo above, it worked perfectly.

In fact, the only thing still bugging me was that, had I thought to cast on using a backwards loop or figure 8 cast-on, I could even avoid having to seam the top of the elephant’s back.  I was tempted to start over but managed to talk myself out of it by convincing myself that had I done the seamless cast-on it would probably be loose and let the stuffing show through, so I was better off.  Right?

So there I was, confident I’d figured something cool out.  I would knit this elephant in the round, and it would work for the trunk and the legs too, and I’d only have to seam the bottom, and it would be fast and perfect.

And then I went into Ravelry to add it as a new project.  I started to write in the project notes so other people could do it too…and that’s when I realized my big goof-up.

The body is knit flat, twice, then seamed.  I converted it to be seamless by knitting both sides at the same time.  But I didn’t think.

Let’s say the pattern is:

Row 1: [k1, kfb] twice, k to end – 12 sts

Row 2: [k1, kfb] five times, k to end – 17 sts

and so on.  (Note: this is a free pattern, and I’m only sharing these two rows for the sake of this example).

In my sample, shown above, I purled every alt row starting with the first row.  So for what I worked, I did:

Row 1: [p1, pfb] twice, p to end – 12 sts I did this on both sides of the needle, so my row had 24 sts.

Row 2: k7, [kfb, p1] five times – 17 sts This row is knit as per the pattern, on both sides of the needle, but BACKWARDS- all the increases are supposed to be on the bum end of the elephant, so since my row never turns, I have to work across the row to the far end to work the increases.

Have you yet figured out what I did wrong?

I’ll show you this way.

For me to work this in the round, starting from the tail end, I would have to work the first half of the row as per the pattern, but the other half of the same row BACKWARDS.

So row 1 instead of being

Row 1:NDL 1: [k1, kfb] twice, k to end NDL 2: [k1, kfb] twice, k to end

I have to do this:

Row 1: NDL 1: [k1, kfb] twice, k to end NDL 2: k7, [kfb, k1] twice

See the difference?  My original plan, that I’d actually knit last night, had me working both sides of the elephant the same, so the finished 3D toy would have the increases on both sides.  NOT what was intended.  Reworking it the proper way would mean that the increases would always be at the bum end of the elephant.

But wait!  There’s more!

Not only do I have to work the second half of every row from back to front, I also have to work every 2nd row completely backwards (‘cus it’s supposed to have been worked on the wrong side row, but in the round I have no wrong sides).  On top of THAT, I have to remember to work every alt row as a purl row.

Is your head spinning yet?

🙂

I put together an excel file so I can keep track, and it will work this time.

I *think*.


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permission to cast on granted

It’s done!  The KP pattern is finished, has been edited and is now flying its way off to Washington!

It feels good to get something crossed off my to-do list that isn’t school related.  Though, now that I have a little breathing room on my plate (nice mixed metaphor, huh?) I will be casting on tonight for a new project!

I recently found out that an acquaintance of ours had a baby boy.  It’s the sister of the husband in the couple I knit the sari silk pillows for, and when I asked the husband if there were any special colors or animals with meaning in the Indian tradition, he told me that elephants were very popular and a sign of good luck.  So I will be knitting a stuffed elephant for this new baby.

I did some Ravelry window shopping yesterday and was torn between the elephant in World of Knitted Toys (which I have) and Flo, the vintage pattern reissued by Franklin Habit in a recent Knitty.  I’d settled originally on the first pattern because the trunk is upturned, which I’d always thought was good luck.  But today the husband told me that all the elephants they have around, or that he’d seen in relation to Indian culture, have the trunks pointed downwards.  So Flo it is!

I’m going to modify the pattern by using a thicker yarn to get a larger toy, and will also be knitting it in the round.  It’s garter stitch, so I will be sacrificing the ease of knitting every row…but I will gain time with not needing to seam up the entire toy.  It will work…at least it does in my head. 🙂

–

Here’s the Featherweight cardi to date.  The lower border is done and bound off, and I just need to do the body border, then the sleeves.  It’s been languishing ‘cus I will need to pay attention to properly pick up the hundreds of sts around the entire neckline, but once I get that done it will return to being an easy, pick-up-and-knit project.

df


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shameless begging

Knit Picks is participating in a baby blanket contest, and I’ve created a page for my Lullaby Blanket.  Would you vote for me?  In order to rank my blanket, you need to click through to add a comment, then choose the star rating.  You’ll need to leave a comment for it to go through, but you can vote anonymously if you prefer.

You can view the entry, and vote, here.

Thanks!


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a sweet way to start the day

Yannick and I alternate mornings and since he gets a late sleep-in on Saturdays (the store opens later that day), I get the late sleep-in on Mondays (our day off), and he takes the boys to daycare.  Neither of us sleep in on Sunday ‘cus we take the kids to swimming lessons early in the morning.  I woke up this morning to a “homemade” Valentine’s Day card from my hubby:

I’ll admit this breakfast left me with 3 distinct thoughts:

1. Awwww!

2. Wow, he has touched every square inch of my food with his fingers.  Yum!

3. What else am I going to eat?  (Seriously, that’s like 3 bites of egg and 1.5 of cut-up pepperette.)

🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day!

–

(Completely unrelated to anything except that I’m typing this with Much Music on in the background:  I just can’t get through the music video for Pink’s latest song (F*n Perfect) without crying!  This time I managed to hold out to the end, but those tears still sprang up when the girl mouths the words to her daughter.)

–

I forgot there was a little knitting done last week.  Early in the week I’d swatched to see what border treatment I’d want to do.  The pattern calls for 1×1 rib, but I was afraid it would pull in and look “sweatshirty”, and Maaike suggested maybe a moss stitch border would be nice.  I swatched both, and decided that while I love the look of moss stitch, it was too heavy for such a light, airy top.  The 1×1 rib, because it was worked on the same number of sts and with the same size needles, barely pulled in and gave exactly the look I wanted.  (In other words, the designer was right, LOL).

–

There’s been a lack of delicious on the blog lately, so here’s some more sweets for Valentine’s Day:

Yes, my boys do cuddle voluntarily, while watching TV.  [insert awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww here]


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Lullaby Blanket

I know this was officially published last Summer, but for those of you having a hard time finding a copy of the Spring/Summer 2010 St-Denis magazine, I am now able to get you the pattern directly!

Lullaby Blanket

Photo by Veronik Avery

The pattern is available through Ravelry (even for non-members).  More information here (my site) or here (Ravelry page).

–

On a separate note, I’ve was home all last week with a sick Henri, so have got NO knitting and NO studying to show for my time.  He had a double ear infection – I know, AGAIN.  He just had a double on Jan 4th, after having a single on Dec 17th.  😦  Anyways, he also had a small infection in his lungs, not quite a pneumonia, but a little bit, and a TON of phlegm with a deep hacking cough.  So though he missed the official PJ day at school, we had a PJ week at home together.

I spent every nap time and bed time working on my KP pattern (that I feel like I’ve been talking about forever…though it’s “only” since last Summer).  I’m almost done!  The pattern itself is all typed up and set into my pattern template, all the notions and details and instructions and such all properly laid out.  All that’s missing is to work up some charts in Knit Visualizer (‘cus it imports looking better than my working charts in Excel) and it will be done!  I’ll mail the finished sample off to Knit Picks and then it will be out of my hands.  I’m really glad it looks like I’ll be true to my plan of getting it mailed off before my surgery.


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and it goes on

More of the same ’round here.  Been playing phone tag between the vet and my parents, trying to figure out what’s going on with Nikki.  I’ve been to visit her at the vets’ a few times, and on the outside she’s doing ok (playful, eating, etc) but there’s something going on inside that they need to figure out.

–

More studying, still 2-3 hours every night.  I am really, really looking forwards to never having to be in school again.  I enjoy the testing aspect of it, and I enjoy grades, and all that.  Even the math is fun- I never thought I’d ever use higher algebra again, but when it comes down to it, it’s only a puzzle that needs to be solved, and I like the challenge.  I just really, really don’t miss the studying part.  Especially when the studying mostly entails lots of very detailed note-taking.  Very REPETITIVE, detailed note-taking.  Our course has a textbook, a formulas workbook, and then some online text that the instructors put together just for our class.  It hasn’t been uncommon for the textbook to spend 20+ pages covering some obscure, random knowledge that I will never need to use again, just to then be directed to the formulas book where, before getting to the examples, spends a few pages reviewing the same knowledge, and then finally we have to read the relevant online section, which quite often is an almost straight summary of the previous 2.  Thankfully I learned my lesson last year and got better at making my notes, including leaving room when making my textbook notes for the odd bits of possibly relevant stuff from the online part, so I can include it without having to waste time (and notebook pages) writing out the same thing over and over.  I think my hand is starting to cramp LOL.

We’ve had 2 tests so far, and we’ve both done well on them.  There’s a discussion assignment (quiz) due by Feb 6th, and then the next official test isn’t due until Feb 28, but we are going to do it this week.  That will put us a full month ahead of schedule, which was my goal all along.  I need us to be ahead this year so when I have my surgery next month I don’t risk falling behind if I’m zonked on pain killers.  Even if I only miss about a week or so of studying- a week or so of 2-3 hours a night adds up fast!

–

Brought Henri back to the hospital yesterday for yet another blood test.  This one tests for the same thing that we’re testing for by giving him a trial run on a certain medication.  The medication is serious but the dosage is low, so it is possible to think it’s not working simply because the dose isn’t high enough.  The blood test is 100% accurate if it comes up positive, but it if comes up negative you can’t trust it.  Stupid, I know.  Hopefully between the two tests we’ll get a conclusive answer one way or another, and can move on.  If Henri doesn’t have what they think he may have, then I’d like to get him off the meds asap.  And if he does have it, then I’m looking forwards to being able to do research and get informed, especially on what to expect.  (I’ll talk more about it once I know anything definitive).

–

The Featherweight Cardi is zipping along.  Because it’s at a stockinette stitch part, it is very easy to pick up and put down.  Whenever I have more than 5 minutes to spare, and access to my computer, I have been working on putting together for the KP pattern I’ve been mentioning for a while.  But I leave the project on my couch, so when I see I have only a few minutes here or there, I can still get a row or so in.  The little bits of time add up, (plus Saturday night when Maaike and I watched The Life of Brian and vegged and knit) and the work has managed to grow faster than I’d thought it would.

The first photo (above) was taken the same day I posted the other one for you- Jan 28th, right before bed.  This next photo was taken yesterday (Feb 1).  If you look at where the first one stops (a good 2″ above my bent elbow), you can see that 4 days of free minutes adds up to quite a few inches of knitting!

Now I’m going to get back to work before braving the wonderful weather to go pick up the boys from daycare.  Stay safe until the weather clears up!

ETA- I didn’t realize the photo was so dark.  Here’s a lighter version:


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doggy chauffeur

(Note: the photos in this post were taken on my cell, so while they look good there…they’re grainy and color-weird here.  Sorry ’bout that).

Yesterday I left work early to head over for an annual doctor’s appointment.  The visit started with a bit of a scare as I parked, then walked over to the hospital, waited for the elevator then got out on my floor only to find it deserted.  I mean DESERTED- bare walls, no people, and rows of garment racks wrapped in plastic lining the walls.  The entire floor was being used for storage, it seemed.

I started wondering if I’d made a mistake.  Maybe I was in the wrong pavillion?  I could have sworn I’d always taken that elevator up to her office, but the last time I was there was for my 6-wk postpartum appointment so that was almost 2 years ago.  Maybe my memory was fuzzy.  I went back down to the main floor then trudged down to the next set of elevators.  It wasn’t ringing any bells for me but I waited there then went back up to her floor.  When the doors opened this time there was no doubt that I was in the wrong place.

I was really confused.  I went back down to main, then wondered if by going from memory, had I chosen the wrong floor?  I knew it was a high number, I’d thought 6th floor…could it be 7?  8?  I went back to the first elevator- I was sure I’d gotten that part right.  I went up to the 7th floor, elevator doors opened- not it.  I went up to the 8th floor and I knew it wasn’t right either, but I got out anyways.  I didn’t know where else to go.

I found a woman and asked if there was a directory I could use to look up my doctor.  Luckily she knew the doctor and told me she’d look it up for me.  Turns out that probably right after my last appointment the whole floor had moved locations.  Not only to a new floor- to a new building!  To a building even closer to where I’d parked than the hospital was!  I couldn’t believe it.

I thanked her, then ran to the elevator then over to the next building.  At this point I was about 10 minutes late for my appointment, but this doctor is usually at least an hour behind so I wasn’t too concerned.  In the end I got there, got settled and knit while listening to podcasts while waiting for my appointment.  The Featherweight Cardigan is a great stocking stitch pattern that requires even less brain cells than a sock.  It’s really easy to pick up and put down, and I’m really enjoying working on it.  I was there for so long that I listened to the last 10 minutes of a Knit Naturally podcast, and 2.5 episodes of the Entertainment Weekly podcast (I’m an info junkie).

When I left the hospital to make my way back home to pick up the boys from daycare, there were a bunch of missed calls on my cell.  Unfortunately I emerged into the middle of a little situation.  My parents are away, and since my siblings are in and out of the house often and irregularly, they decided to board their dog.  She (Nikki- the dog) had been losing weight lately, and not eating, and now she was needing to be force-fed, and they found she was too skinny, and her color was off, and stuff.  They wanted to do blood tests (the kennel has a vet clinic on-site) but my cousin is a vet with her own animal hospital, so my parents texted to say they wanted Nikki brought there.

The only problem was that everyone seemed to be busy.  My sister was at school and my brother was busy so in the end my other brother came over to babysit the boys while I went to pick up Nikki from the kennel and bring her to the vet.  Note- this was all finalized by 7pm and the vet closed at 8.  It was a lot of driving around, but in the end Nikki made it there only a little after they closed, and they started to take care of her right away.

This was a quick shot of me and Nikki in the car on the way to the vet.  I kept trying to put her on the passenger seat but she kept climbing into my lap so after 10 minutes I gave up and just let her cuddle on me the rest of the way.

I got home and let my brother leave.  I decided to see how much progress I’d made on the Featherweight Cardi after the bursts of knitting at the doctor and also at my friend’s dance show last weekend.

It’s really coming along!  I think I’m going to keep going until it’s about an inch longer than my white tank top, then move on to the border then the sleeves.  If I have enough yarn then I’ll make them about 3/4 length, otherwise it will be short-sleeved.


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rhinebeck, part deux

I never showed you what I got at Rhinebeck, did I?  In all of the year-end rush and getting my other patterns published I think I completely forgot!  Let’s fix that with the first of a 2-parter (not because I bought all that much, but because I don’t have all the photos with me).

First I bought this huge hank of 100% wool.

It’s 1322 yards of what feels like a DK weight, from Mountain View Farm, NH.  I’d like to dye it but am waiting until I know for sure what project it will be.  It might end up being Mothed, from Knitty, though I’m not 100% on that yet.

Next is this pattern for the Deep V Pullover by Helen Hamann.  When we passed by her booth she was there (I think it was her), wearing this top.  I loved how it looked and instantly bought a copy of the pattern.  I didn’t pick up the yarn, ‘cus though it was actually affordable, it was also 100% alpaca and I overheat like crazy.

At the Moonlight Llamas booth I bought this bar of fiber-wrapped soap.  I had a hard time choosing and almost walked away with an eucalyptus one, but in the end settled on tangerine/lime.

One of my favorite purchases was this 80% alpaca, 20% silk laceweight called Tango for Two by A Touch of Twist.  It’s a dark, charcoal-y black, and I bought 3 skeins with 215 yards each for only $6/skein!  I had told Maaike that I had some specific goals for the trip, one being to find something special in a laceweight to make a shawl/stole for myself.  I think this fit the bill!


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i didn’t miss school

I really didn’t miss school.  Year 1 (of 4) finished in August of last year, and we were off for the last few months.  It didn’t really feel like a break what with all the surgeries and stuff we were going through, but at least at night my time was my own.  Year 2 started January 3rd and it’s been nuts for the past week.  I put together a little study guide for Yannick and myself, detailing the minimum we need to do each night so we don’t fall behind.  If you finish and want to start the next day’s stuff, great.  But you need to at least do the current day’s work to be on track.  Well unfortunately this week I thought that one section was only a repeat of some work from last year, so I lumped the whole 30+ page chapter into 1 night, planning on only reviewing last year’s notes.  I didn’t realize that we’d only covered parts of it last year and all the rest of it was new.  That chapter has taken almost all week to go through, what with all the formulas and terms and such.  UGH.

I took part of Thursday night as a break from studying and got a much-needed haircut.  My hair was long enough to make a (tiny) 1″ ponytail, but it was enough for me.  Plus my color was long overdue.  I was feeling brave and offered my stylist a chance to go wild, changing my color and cut as she saw fit.  I seem to go through these moods every few years!

So here is my new color and cut.  The cut looks similar from the front but only ‘cus it’s tucked behind my ears.  It’s a true bob, with the back shorter and angled, and the fronts actually very angled towards my chin.  And the color-well, clearly that’s changed!  I don’t know how well it comes through the monitor but it’s a warm brown with reddish tones to it.  It’s still new, and still taking some getting used to, but I think I like it!  I keep feeling like I’m wearing a wig, though, and can’t stop staring when I pass by a mirror LOL

My kids didn’t even notice.  When I asked Jakob what color my hair was, he said “yellow, like me”.  Only when pressed did he change it to “brown”.

Speaking of the boys, I taught them to sew this weekend.  Jakob had expressed interest in my needles when I was seaming something, and when I found we had some time to kill after lunch but before nap on Saturday, I decided “why not?”.

I took some cardboard out of recycling and cut it into shapes; a circle for Jakob and a rectangle for Henri.  Then I went around the shapes with a hole punch.  I first started with a house for Henri and a car shape for Jakob but I couldn’t get those shapes evenly fitted into my 3-hole-punch so I just cut them into regular geometric shapes.  I then took 2 of my gold, bent-tipped Chibi needles and threaded them with red worsted-weight yarn.  I placed it doubled with a big knot on the end and that was all it took to get started.

First we started by going over-and-under, then I showed Jakob how he could make a different look by going “over” every single time.  He did a great job at it, really concentrating on doing his stitches and pulling the yarn taut each time.  Henri just had fun pushing the needle through whichever hole was closest until the yarn was too caught up to let him go any further.  It was a lot of fun to teach them and watch them at it, and a really inexpensive (free from stash and garbage LOL) way to pass the time.  Once we were done it was nap time, which meant more study time for me.

Our first exam is tomorrow night, and next month’s session looks a little slower-paced, so hopefully I will have time this week to type up the KP pattern so I can mail it out on Monday.  I’ve wanted to do that for 2 weeks now and just wasn’t able to.