Try to contain your excitement

Allow me to dazzle you with yet another time-consuming, challenging and complex FO!



"Chains" Dishcloth
From Knit Dishcloth Sampler by Sandy Scoville
Started: 19 May 2006
Finished: 21 May 2006
Lily Sugar 'n Cream
US 8 needles

Progress Photos-Again nothing too exciting, you've seen similar ones before...

I started over my Spey Valley sock on size 1's. This was really my first major frogging. Pulling the needles out was like pulling off a Band-Aid. You know it's going to hurt, but it needs to be done. I'm much happier with it now, so I'm glad I did it. Things are going much faster now. I think I knit about 4 inches during a couple hours at Last Saturday Knitting this morning. That's record speed for me and socks!


My friend's Branching Out is coming along, considering I only work a few rows a day. I've completed 15 of the 27 repeats.

Sausage

Spey Valley Sock #1 is almost done. I really like how it looks off of my foot. The yarn is a lovely, rich blend of browns, with a touch of a bluish gray here and there. (Although it probably looks really bad in the photo.) The ribbing is nice and squooshy-looking. However, when I put the sock on, my leg looks and feels like a sausage. The two “Vikkel Braid” rows, while really impressive and cool (looks like the knitting is sideways), may cut off my circulation because they do not stretch. The ribbing itself is stretched to the max. I’m not sure I like it. What to do, what to do?

At first I thought I would finish up the sock and wear it around for awhile to see if it’s comfortable. I can’t get a good feel with the needles still in it. Although the thought of frogging almost an entire sock makes me ill, I think that's the direction I'm headed. In case you're wondering, yes, my gauge is off. Of course I didn't check it until it was too late. If I redo these, I'll use a bigger needle.

Q&A

[Thanks for all your comments on my rainbow scarf post. I’ve never gotten 6 comments before!]

Is the scarf a brioche stitch? No, it’s a mistake rib pattern. K2, P2 over an odd number of stitches.

How did you get it done so fast? This pattern is listed in the 2 to 4 hour project section of LMKG. I lost count after four hour-long TV shows. I estimate that it took me 6-8 hours, and it was my major project of the week. I was slowed by the fact that Noro sticks to itself and the yarn is quite “twisty” and I got tangled up numerous times. Thanks for the tip on washing the Noro, this scarf could use some softness. Overall, the Noro was a fun yarn. I just wanted to keep on going to see how the colors would blend together.

Happy weekend, everybody!

I've been away

Hmm. Where to start? I've been away from home and the internet for over a week. Yesterday was my first day back at work and I'm slowly catching up on things around the house.

My grandma died early last week. Although I have been expecting this since February, it’s still hard. She really is in a better place now. The past several weeks were not good to her.

Due to my somewhat unusual family situation, my mom and I lived with my grandparents while I was growing up, so my grandma was really a second mother to me. She was a huge influence on my life. She taught me basic sewing skills, how to make chocolate chip cookies, and was always my biggest supporter.

My grandma was a knitter, and the pastor even mentioned during the service that knitting was one of her hobbies. She was not an obsessed knitter like many of us knitbloggers, it was more of a “healthy” habit. She may have tried to teach me to knit when I was younger, but I wasn’t really interested. I started knitting in November 2004, just a few months before she stopped. Her cancer treatments made her lose interest in knitting and cross stitch. (Can you imagine? Just sitting at home for months doing nothing but watching bad daytime TV?)

I showed you a pillow a few weeks ago that she had almost finished. All that was left was the final seam. I finished it four days before she died.



We started going through some of her things and I, of course, snatched up some knitting stuff. I’m thankful that I took up knitting when I did, or who knows what would have happened to these things that were so much a part of her life. No one else in the family knits. Two of my aunts do embroidery and cross stitch though, so hopefully they will take some of that. There’s still a lot to go through. In another post, I’ll show you some of the things I took, including the FUNNIEST PATTERN EVER.

I didn’t knit a single stitch for a week. However, I finished up this cross stitch that I started over Easter. I hope to get it framed before next year!



Started: 14 April 2006
Finished: 15 May 2006

So once again, I have a 2 FO post. Hopefully some knitting photos next time!

Not one, but TWO FO's

I've been in a bit of a knitting slump lately. I can't seem to do anything too challenging (i.e. something that needs to fit) these days, so I've been working on quick, confidence-building projects.



Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
2 balls Noro Kureyon, Color 170,
US 9 needles
Started: 27 April 2006
Finished: 03 May 2006

I am thinking about giving this scarf to my cousin for Christmas. She's 12. Do you think she will like it? I'm not sure if a 12-year-old would think this scarf is ugly and/or would never wear something handmade. What do you think?

I found a partial ball of kitchen cotton in my stash and wondered if I could get another dishcloth out of it. And would my hands feel the pain of 100% cotton like last time, or have I learned how to knit without "cotton pain"? I worked on this over two nights and am happy to report that I am pain free! Bring on the dishcloths!


Stripes from Knit Dishcloth Sampler
Lily Sugar 'n Cream, partial ball, color: shaded denim
US sz 8 Addi Turbos
Started: 04 May 2006
Finished: 05 May 2006

And, just because, a tulip for spring:


Edited to correct the date, because it was irritating me. I uploaded the tulip photo several days before completing the post. :)