Time and my game plan has passed ...

No matter what kind of notes you make for yourself, if you don't touch a project for 4 months, you essentially have to start from the beginning to figure out where exactly you are .. and even then you might not figure it out :| // sigh

Just after the New Year, life got busy for myself and my friends; one bought a house and moved, another was involved in a belly dancing show and i had my own personal health issues that were taking over aspects of my life. So the fun stuff gets put away for a while.

fast forward 4 months ...

Knatter is back!!!! W00t w00t w00t .. I'm just beyond tickled, seems like forever since i've seen my friends (and i work with one) Needless to say, the first knatter all we did was graze and talk all nite - i think i pulled my knitting out the bag, but can't say for sure ..

The following week, I pulled out my knitting, took a look at where i was, and started to scratch my head .. i knew where i was, but what was i supposed to do now?? Figured it out, did a row or two yes it took me almost all nite to figure it out .. , then had the same issue the following week, and the one after that .. so pfft .. i give up .. start again ..

If you remember this pattern has been having me scratch my head from day one! They say this pattern is written in american english, but not sure what america they are talking about .. some of the terminology ...

so a painful decision was reached .. frog the side and start again .. this time i'll be doing both sides together so I can do the same thing immediately on each side .. I normally do that, but I was afraid I would start going backwards or the wrong way with the cabling pattern. Boy did that get me far LOL

Anywho .. this is now frogged, and at tonite's knatter, I'll be casting on again - but with two sides!

Tinking Frogs ...

Now that got your attention didn't it? And you're prolly thinking, knowing grace, this is going to make some sort of twisted sense .. and believe me .. it does .. honestly!!!

You've prolly guessed the frog part since I've been working on my sweater using recycled yarn, but the tinking you might not have figured out yet!

I've been working on my winter seafoam flower (ravelry project link) and while the left side when up in no time flat, the right was problematic-ish .. I got both the right side and left side, joined in the middle and one piece when I realized what they meant by ... work as follows from RS: 3 garter sts, M.1 ... on both the left and right back pieces .. when you join the pieces together you get ... 6 garter sts, M.4 ... // sigh .. ah well .. froggy went to market and I started both pieces again .. while prolly no one but me would have notice .. the fact that I noticed was enough ..

I got the left side all done with no incident and started on the right side .. noticed something I missed maybe 5 rows in ... rippit rippit rippit rippit again ... started again, got halfway thru when I noticed that I had added an extra cable twist .. AAAAAARRRRRHHHHHHGGGGGGG .. so rippit rippit rippit rippit again ..

FINALLY - the right side is done with a few missed garter st .. at this point .. i'll live with it me thinks .. and if someone is looking that closely at that location, it's not my knitting they are checking out // znerk!! ahem .. anywho ..

I got the sides down and joined up ... I've not sewn in the back flower yet, I'll wait for that, just in case I change my mind about ripping that ..

My latest quandry comes from this particular direction .. "AT THE SAME TIME ... inc 1 st each side by K 2 sts in the last but one st, and repeat the inc on .... " I understand that I need to increase each side .. but am totally wondering What K2 stitches???? The pattern link is here and this is the section titled BACK PIECE after the CROCHET FLOWER and LEFT and RIGHT SIDE sections .. section starts out with "BACK PIECE: Slip the 2 back pieces on the same needle with pattern towards pattern = 66-72-80-88-98-108 sts. Continue as follows: 1 edge st " .. oh and if you need to know . i'm making the XL size ... Any ideas? Help? Interpretations????

Now for the 'tinking' part .. i was reading an article in either knitting daily or interweave online .. not sure what one .. but the author was discussing her frogging skills, but also talked about reversed knitting which she coined as tink .. as that's knit spelt backwards .. how clever is that!

AHA ... found it!

I decided to read a bit further on and found this sentence in the FRONT instructions just a wee bit further down the page ...
DECREASES AND INCREASES: At the same time when piece measures 3 cm / 1 1/8'' dec at the side as described for back piece and when piece measures 22 cm / 8 3/4'' inc at the side as described for back piece. When all dec and inc are complete there are 42-46-50-54-58-64 sts on needle.

So I do my increases at the edges :D .. w00t w00t ..

Winter Seafoam Flower

My previous post shared my adventures with recycled yarn - and this is the project that I'll be using it for .. this sweater is just soooo gorgeous and I've been drooling over it for the past few months waiting to be able to start this for Restitch 2010 (I've made a group on Ravelry for it that you are more than welcome to join - Ravelery members click here

Today I struggled with crochet, and I've not done any in 20 years since I made a blanket for my new born Godson ... then it was like 11 years before that that I crocheted .. oi vay! Talk about getting frustrated!! But I hit up the videos on Garn Studios and got the flower section on the back done in just a few hours .. I had a few back up and restarts (yes this means I frogged!!), I see a few spots where I'm like .. Hmmm??? .. but all in all, I'm very happy with it

The Drops Design patterns have always been a wee bit intimidating for me, but I'm biting the bullet and just forging ahead .. i'm a smart woman and I can figure this out ... taking my own advice of 'one line at a time' should be my mantra for this pattern.

I think once i get over the (**shudders) of charts and the not so simplistic language in the pattern, I'll be fine .. I made it thru the crochet flower back piece ..so the rest should be workable! It seems easier now than when I first started, so I can't see it getting any harder .. I know .. famous last words!! heh .... But if I have to frog - I frog .. only way to learn :)

Wish me luck!!