Month: July 2006

  • I have central vac…

    …so therefore have no vacuum bag to toss! Thanks for looking out for me, though. I certainly hope them crawlies aren’t going to come climbing up several rooms’ worth of vacuum tube. Hmmm.

    Anyway. All this finishing has left me wanting to start something new, although it probably don’t get much time due to design priorities. Mmmm, Pakucho cotton (sorry, a bit blurry).

    I started this on Wednesday night at SnB – can you guess what it is?

    Yep, Raspy from Denim People. My run placements were screwed up unique because I didn’t read the pattern properly, but it was going swimmingly – and fast! This is how much I had on Thursday afternoon.

    Unfortunately by Thursday night, I realized that although I cast on for the smallest size (to fit bust 32″, finished size 35″ – I don’t like that much ease my sweaters) my gauge was screwing me over. Wayyyy too big.

    So nearly three skeins’ worth of knitting was ripped. I took 16 stitches off the body of the sweater and went down a needle size as well, for good measure. I just finished the first ball again. The yarn ripped like a champ, although it had only been knit up for 24 hours before it was ripped! Soooo soft, too.

  • cleaning house part II; or, ew, ew, ewwww

    Warning: spider content ahead! If you want, skip down to the pretty knitting content…

    I read Norma’s post about her invisible spider problem the other day, and just mainly thought “Ewwww, that’s gross” and “I’m glad that doesn’t happen in my house”.

    Clearly, I was taunting the universe. Tonight I was tidying up the kitchen counter, and killed a little wee spider. And then there was another one. And then I thought…”oh shit”.

    I look up, and lo and behold – a ton of tiny little spiders on my kitchen and breakfast-area ceiling. EWWWWWWW. Normally a spider or two doesn’t really freak me out, but this? I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

    Anyway, I got out the vacuum and sucked up all those little fuckers. Called the boyfriend complaining, then went back for the ones I didn’t catch the first time. I just went downstairs again for a glass of water, and didn’t see any, so hopefully I’ve gotten a good amount of them. Again, EWWWWW.

    Knitting – the finishing, part II. No, I haven’t finished sewing up VBC yet (which is by the way the “Vintage Pink Cardigan” from Interweave Knits, Spring 2005).

    I did, however, get to nearly all the finishing on the supermerino diamonds cardigan. It’s a bottom up raglan, a vneck, with knit in bands. When I finished the neck and raglan decreases, I was faced with a dilemma – what to do about the collar. I tried just doing a couple rows of seed stitch and binding off, but obviously I got a “corner” on the front edges that I didn’t want.

    I ripped back, and this is what I came up with:

    I bound off the centre stitches and kept the first and last six stitches (the bands) on dpn. Then I just knit a strip of seed stitch up from the left side and sewed it down along the back neck as I went, then grafted the stitches to the other band. This ensures a nice smooth collar around the back of the neck.

    A shot of the whole sweater, ends in, ready to go in for a block and some buttons (which I already have in the stash, score!):

    It looks a bit teeny, but I know it’ll stretch out a lot in the blocking. And it does mainly fit, anyway, so I just need a bit of growth.

    I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting every day (or thereabouts), and I think it’s going well – it’s more a matter of saving up content and photos so I have something to post! I’ve got enough for another couple of entries saved up, too, so those who like an often-updated blog: enjoy!

  • cleaning house

    Since I’m probably going to be spending nearly all knitting time for the rest of the month working on a sweater for Knitty (I got the yarn today and it’s gorgeous!), I figured it was a good time to finish up some lingering projects.

    First up is VBC – I needed to do the neckband, sew it all together, and weave in the ends.

    I managed to sew up the neckline, do the neckband, put in one sleeve and sew up the side and sleeve seams on that side. Looks like it will fit well, although the sleeve is a bit long for 3/4 length – it’s more like bracelet, maybe. I need to find buttons, too…

    I also plied up some yarn – this is Navajo plied using the newly souped-up plying head. I’m not sure if I like yet; it has hooks rather than the sliding clip (it’s old) and the hooks are kind of far apart. Very difficult to fill the bobbin evenly and efficiently. Plus, the whole head is kind of heavy and takes a good bit of effort to work.

    The yarn turned out pretty good though! It’s all purples and yellows, with some white and inbetweens. Merino and silk, so super soft too!

    Tomorrow – the supermerino sweater.