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!

Restitch - GO!!!

Restitch 2010 is now underway! The official kick-off has started. If you've not hit your thrift shop of choice, dark closet corner, relative's closet - now's the time to head there :) ... I got a start with my Looping Chalices hat and the Dripping Chalices scarf using the cold weather and no decent stuff in my yarn stash as an excuse :D .. worked for me heh .. umm let me define decent .. nothing that wasn't marled, swirled or black .. marled / swirled yarns have the nasty habit of losing your decorative stitches and I really didn't want to use black ... it's so hard to see to work with. So i frogged the sweater I bought at Value Village and balled it up for my hat and scarf.

Quick chat on the scarf .. Popsicle Scarf pattern on ravelry written by Purple Sage - it had just the right look to nicely compliment my Looping Chalices hat. It was a quick and easy knit to do, even tho I found it tedious at times, it was still super easy and quick to make .. the M1 and then dropping that stitch 7 rows later is a perfect change. This scarf is actually taller than me and I'm 5' 3". It's nice and warm - and the pattern allows it to be almost a reversible scarf.

For my first (well second ... third!) project I picked this gorgeous sweater from Drops Design - DROPS Jacket with cable and lace pattern and crochet triangle on back piece. I've always been a wee bit intimidated by their patterns, but was definitely taking the plunge! I just fell in love with this pattern and am itching to try it! I think even if I supremely goof it, it'll still look stunning .. LOL

A friend from work gave me a sweater that doesn't fit her boyfriend - unless he was a gorilla, and this man is NOT a gorilla. AWESOME!! Ooodles n ooodles of yarn there .. Gorgeous seafoam green worsted weight. Got to Knatter on Wednesday nite and had my balls of yarn all ready to go, pattern printed .. just had to do my test swatch and I was off .. heh .. so I thought. I did my first swatch with the 8s that the pattern calls for .. it was small .. so i jumped up a needle size to 9s ..that was small too **scratches heads ... thinks a bit .. hmmmmm The pattern calls for 2 strands of DK yarn with it being 12 wpi (worsted) and 17 sts / 4 in (also worsted). I'm generally a gauge knitter .. I did NOT want to go up to 10s .. not with YO and cables being in this pattern .. I had visions of my hoodie or NOT sweater skitter across my brain .. so I looked at the yarn .. Gina had a skein of worsted on the couch so I compared the strands .. well geeze o pete .. bloodyhell .. ** kicks the table .. rolls eyes Bet you already know what I saw and quickly figured out. Since the yarn was kinked from being knitted, it was alternately DK and worsted weight. **bangs head So this yarn in essense wasn't DK or worsted .. it was technically both. When I did my hat and scarf, it didn't matter what the gauge was, so I took no notice of it so to speak .. but gauge matters in this pattern ..

BUT

You knew there was a but .. there always is .. heheheheheheheheh ... Helene had found this site on steps to take when you buy a sweater from a thrift shop and the best way to get it unraveled and unkinked. While I had already read it, I didn't do the soak, fling and hang part of it . ... So that's my current step in my project ..

Oh the link?? Recycle Yarn from Thrift Store Sweater I'm half way thru my yarn and have pics and an adventure with it .. like you would expect anything else .. I'll be posting about that one later with my observations and finished 'yarn' :D Talk to you soon!

Re-stitch 2010 ...

Just a wee bit early for me .. I was watching the mercury drop and drop and drop as it got colder and colder for that week before Christmas .. so i went digging for patterns .. found some beauties, then dove into my stash .. hmmmm - okay this isn't going to work .. i've stripes, marls, marbles - or black .. i do NOT want black .. grumbles ..what to do ... what to do ... AHA! I know it's only early December, but why can't I start my Recycle project a wee bit early .. find a sweater, frog it and then make a hat n scarf :D w00t w00t w00t .. i'm so clever!! heh

Let's take a few steps back here .. i've an issue with hats ... they look like garbage on me .. even ball hats look horrid .. so I don't wear them .. when we had a car, earwarmers were great .. but no car this year .. soooo - i have a choice .. freeze my kazots off, or buckle and find a hat .. what i decided on was a type of beret / slouch hat .. large enough to hold the rat's nest i call hair, and classy enough I might not look like a total git in it! Then I would make a scarf that matches .. found some really nice ones and added them to my scarf queue ..

So off to the local thrift shop .. I found 2 beauties to use .. and started with the plum coloured one since it matches the dark trim on my coat .. i've a lavender coat so this does look good .. only concern it's a fuzzy type yarn .. but that's cool .. makes life a wee bit tricky to knit with at times .. but I'll adapt :D First off I took off the collar and then started to work on the hood .. next victim was a sleeve ... Now I had more than enough to do a hat (I didn't frog the collar - just the hood and sleeve) at this point and that's all I needed to jump in both feet without looking.

I start working on a chunky cabled beret ... knitted up great .. now I did this double stranded and my cast on was too tight, so that made the ribbing band TIGHT .. easy enough to fix .. rung the needles thru the ribbing stitches, unravel it to the needles and do a ribbing w larger needles :D Awesome plan .. but for some reason it ended up small .. I put it on my husband goes .. you look like the Pope ... :O I put it on and show my friend helene and told her what reg said .. she laughed and said .. well you do! LMAO .. oi vay! I knit it to gauge CRAP!!!!! So froggy came visiting and took my Pope beanie away .. You do realize that's the second project that i've frogged at starbucks .. altho that would've been frogged regardless .. so while frogging I had my stitch dictionary with me and started to look thru the panels .. and then I had a nova thought ...

I decided that I would write my own pattern that would fit my rat's nest and go from there .. and it would have a matching scarf to go with it :D Since the yarn is fuzzy, I've opted to do test swatches of the panels I like the best and decide how they look in this yarn and see how they knit up with this weight yarn at this gauge ... So far - one is done .. the horseshoe panel - done over 2 panels and the pattern 3 times ..

Once I post this, I'll be starting on the next panel .. I hope to have even a quick pic and blurb to put up for both of them before the end of the week .. but please do not hold your breath .. time hits a warp around me lately and runs off at mach 9 .. seriously .. where does it bloody well go!?!?!

anywho .. wish me luck and I do plan to have fun on it .. we do have a community site ready to launch soon .. keep an eye on this page for future announcements ..

OMG .. I am such a freeeken twit! Yes I know .. you've heard this before .. well twit for brains here started to look at the yarn she was using .. now, while the swatch knitted up to gauge that was with me doing double stranded knitting for the first time AND my tension was rather wibbly .. so of course as I get used to it .. it evens out .. so of course the beret wouldn't fit .. i was using worsted and NOT bulky .. oi vay .. some days i should seriously lock myself away for sharp objects .. pfft

Bobbles Bibbled n Bammed!

Wow it's been a bit since i've had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts for a blog post .. errr at least one that makes sense of sorts. :\ .. Well the GOOD thing about not posting in a bit is that I've a lot to share at least ..

BOBBLE CARDI:
is FINALLY done .. I didn't break any land speed records getting it there either .. Just took my time .. the 'slowest' part of finishing was thinking bout the zipper .. the one i bought was to long .. it matched perfectly, and was separating .. so I knew I had to fidge it somehow .. Now if mum was still alive, she would have been able to say .. oh do this .. but she isn't - so I had to dredge my memory (rather a deep scary place at times!!) and then ask my 96 yo grandmother if I was on the right track - she may be 96 but she's still sharp as a tack with a wicked sense of humour LMAO .. love my gma!!! She gave me the answer i needed in order to go ahead with confidence - (now i'm wishing i had taken pics of this .. :( )

Line up the bottom as usual; the take the excess at the top and fold it over and then cut. Then securely lock stitch / zig zag it into place .. now there could be an issue of the zipper tape unraveling with the cut .. I've cut it with pinking sheers .. if that proves to not work, the n I'll do some interfacing / zigzag stitching .. but it's all done .. a wee bit boob snug, but this hasn't been washed yet, and I know it will relax in the wash and over time with wear .. Ravelry members you can access my notes on the project page.

Just a few pics to show what it looks like .. doing this I broke 2 needles and refreshed my knowledge of profanity in several different languages .. stooopid thread ... it was a perfect match .. as well as a the main ingredient for frustration .. it's now in the trash and i changed threads / colours and the rest of it stitched up zippy quick ROFL ..



To see what else I've got bubbling in my brain .. I've sent up another post with my plots n plans ...

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the coming year with joy and eagerness :)

knitless ...

This picture was taken on 27^th of October at our Knatter nite .. I meant to get this photo and a blog post up titled "Knitless since Tuesday", but it just didn't happen .. spending the next 2 days after this as a lump on the couch sick is reason enough .. I just didn't have the energy or inclination to hunt down a sweater that I wanted to do.

BUT

You knew there was a but .. heh .. I found one :D **knitterhappydance. And it is just wayyy to cute for words .. NOW .. I wasn't sure if I would use the purple still or try the cardinal red I have .. but I really do have that earmarked for a different project (I'll tell you about that one when I actually get to making it .. )

I found the Bobble-Edged Cardigan, a free pattern at unicornbooks.com. What I really like about this is that it's got texture, but a LOT of stocking stitch .. I've never done bobbles before so I really intrigued by it .. and of course the pattern ... what's rather unique about this is that it doesn't have traditional ribbing ... it uses bobbles for the ribbing .. how cool is THAT!

I've named this Bobble Cardi (ravelry project page) - for now .. until I can get more inventive with a name. The instructions are pretty straight forward - altho I did manage to have to frog it when I was at the 17^th row .. yeah i know .. you are NOT surprised ... What I had done, (even tho I made notes) reversed left front and right front on the chart .. I'm doing this pattern pretty much as written. Notice I said .. pretty much as written .. the one difference i'm doing here is that I'm doing the fronts and back as one-piece .. (no pics yet) and I'm doing the size 38 instead of the 40 since the last one I did was a 40. I still have the zipper that matches this yarn and I just might do a double bobble front ribbing instead of 1 row button band - the juries still out for now as I'm going to wait and see just how this fits me.

Gauge is "18 sts and 26 rows = 4" in st st using larger needles",larger needles being size 7. Well when I used the 7s for my swatch,I was like ½" smaller - so .. gauge for this yarn is same rows and stitches on size 8s .. and I tend to knit to gauge .. so I listened to my gut and we'll just have to see how right it is .. course I AM leaving wriggle room with the 'button' band :D

I just started the chart again and have hilighted my notes and specific points to remember lol .. I think that this one is going to work out .. I swear if I doesn't .. I'm going to trade off, throw out, sell, or burn this yarn!!