Brioche Begins

I finallly got my head wrapped around the brioche stitch, or got my head unstuffed enough to just TRY it!  The attempt was ... interesting ... to say the least, but i frogged it and tried again.  I also did a wee bit more clicking and research and found another pattern that made more sense to me.  Don't get me wrong, the orginal pattern i had found was decent enough, but I think she went to far to explain things - and made it harder than it needed to be.  This other pattern I found at Fireflower Knits made way more sense to me for some reason. Maybe because she laid out it with simple knit directions without the explanation.  It was nice to be able to start the pattern without having to read a full page of explanations that came before they needed to.  (Hmmm - maybe that's why i had such an issue with my Seafoam Flower sweater - it was over explained, and didn't have instructions where they needed to be ...food for thought there).  This specific line was my personal lifesaver "Edited to add: Slip all stitches purlwise with yarn held in front throughout."

The stitch itself is pretty mindless and creates its own rhythym once you get going - granted i needed to keep my eyes on what i was doing because of the yarn overs.   The brioche stitch itself is 3 stitches (sl 1, YO, K2TOG), and each row starts and ends with a K stitch.  Easy Peasy! 

As you can see in my pic (go ahead and click, it'll open in a new window), I got the first cable started - and also shifted my stitches over by one :( ... not even gonna try and tink (reverse knit) this, and i'll just frog it and start it again - this bit here took me less than an hour to do, so I'm thinking it's going to knit up pretty fast.  Back to the cable part - she has you slip the stitches to your cable needle, then slip them back - not to sure WHY this needs to be done .. im thinking that's where i shifted my stitches over is doing that .. ah well .. I'm excited and pretty pleased so far, even though Im gonna have to frog it and start again ..

Im doing this with Red Heart Super Soft in Royal Purple with US 10s

Phase II

The first attempt went well with using the medium sized shallow bowl, but it still wasn't quite big enough, so the next step was a dinner plate.  Had to really sweet talk it to get it over the plate and the whole while i was saying, "Thank God I didn't drop any stitches' LOL ... if i had, I would've seen them then LOL ...
I put this on the dinner plate last nite, re-sprayed it with my spray bottle - this am it was damp on the underside that was resting on the towel, so its been flipped and just waiting for it to dry out totally before i try it again :)  I think its gonna be okay :D  woot woot woot .. now to decide on the scarf .. course you know i've changed my mind on it LOL

Blocked Salvage Attempt

I've decided to try n salvage my poor beanie beret ... blocking should hopefully fix this.  Granted it IS acrylic yarn, but should be able to be shaped regardless.   I used a shallow bowl that we use for pasta or chicken caesar salads, force-fed it onto the bowl and wet the edges, and dampened the rest.  I know i should prolly apply heat, but will battle that later.  Let's see if this happens to work at all this way.  Keep ur fingers crossed for me please <3

umm .. blech n yuck :(

Nope, do NOT like how this turned out at all!  Doesn't look like the pattern pic at all ... and of course i think to look at the project pictures that other members posted AFTER i finished. Seems that im not the only one that ended up with this funky shape :S   This isn't a pattern that naturally shapes into a beret like the one i wrote does, but has to be blocked over a plate .. if this was done in a wool blend, then that would be an awesome idea .. but its 100% pure acrylic ..
So off to ravelry i go again to find an actual beret, i've enough of this yarn kicking round that i should be able to make up another one as this one used maybe ½ the skein. And worse comes to worse, i can ditch one of the scarf patterns i had picked. Maybe I won't need to do two scarves, if i manage to find another beret pattern i like that uses worsted / aran weight yarn.
im just so disappointed that this turned out this way.  I know i followed the pattern exactly and i knit to gauge, so not an issue at my end .. // kicks desk and sulks a bit :'(

I'm going to block this and see how it turns out .. can't be any worse than it is now, right??  Off to find a bowl / plate i can use for this .. ahhh i know ...the shallow bowls we use for pasta should be perfect me thinks :D

Decreases Started

Cables Started

Finally making some progress!! And im enjoying getting back to knitting too! I'm not as fond of this pattern as i thought i would be - i tend to like more detailed and textured patterns, but this isn't to bad ... most of my friends think im crazy because i like working cables :D Im thinking im going to have to do 3 repeats of the base pattern instead of 2, because of the amount of hair i have. Figure one cable set is 3" roughly and it twice it might be to snug of a fit ... just have to see when i get that far .. maybe later on today???

Fingers Twitching

Forgive me blog, for i have sinned. It’s been 1 ¹/₂ years since my last post :| Hard to believe its been that long, but it has .. oi vay! Where has the time gone! It seems so much longer since my last post, but according to my blog - last post was june 8, 2010 - but before that it was Feb 1, 2010, so almost 2 years really .. now that feels right!
But i’m back .. bought some more yarn (I srsly need a scarf n hat) I saw my hat n scarf not that long ago, but of course when i go to use them ... they aren’t there :| So - I bought more yarn and have picked my patterns for a beret hat and a really nice lacy type scarf.
I've had both of these in my queue forever tho on ravelry. Beckett Beret Pattern and since i couldn’t decide on what scarf, im making both of these - Double Day Flower Scarf and Agave Scarf.  I wished that the designer of the hat or scarf had made a pattern for its mate .. but course not, so i got to pick ones that were close enough to the other.

The yarn i got is soooo soft and of course its purple ;) i bought 3 100g skeins and each should take up 1 skein each :D  i've a few other patterns in my queue that i would rather do, but they aren't the right weight (i swear i'm cursed LOL)  but im thinking these are close enough in pattern that they should compliment each other nicely!  I've pulled out my needles for the hat.  I prefer to use circulars and to make sure i'm not pulling it to tight, i use 2 circs :)  I could use DPNs, but meh ... i prefer the circs - just easier all around to use.  I was hoping to start this tonite - i prolly still could, but would be up all night knitting if i did that .. heh ..not that I've never done THAT before!  Im thinking with the YOs and the cabling it shouldn't take me more than a day or two to get the beret done once i get back into the groove of knitting again .. and the scarf shouldn't take much longer than that.  i was gonna do mittens, but not sure bout the casting off at the fingers as i like the combination glove / mitten kind ... i find that extra bit tends to keep your fingers that wee bit warmer :) and i can have finger mobility when needed .. i'm telling you i suffered a bit last winter with having to take my gloves off while txting ...bloody touch screens LOL  really dont want to have to live thru that again .. so gloves might take me a wee bit longer .. I think im gonna need another skein .. or i give up on one of the scarves .. hmmm .. naw .. another skein works for me 

updated 12.29.11 -  I've grabbed another skein and lucky me it was the same dye lot!  Last one mind you, but i've got it at least .. so i'm hoping to make the beret, scarf (at least one) and a pair of mittens ;)