Just another "doh" moment

Here's my Monday Me.

I'm a pretty hardcore knitter. I tend to think of myself as fairly accomplished, and no technique or style of knitting is out of bounds. I wanted to be able to fair isle two handed, so I learned continental. I can even knit back and forth that way, without much of a noticeable gauge difference. I don't actually knit Continental much (English is way faster for me, sorry!), but I can. Fair isle isn't that difficult, it just requires concentration. I usually knit faster when doing colorwork, because it's interesting. I haven't done a lot of intarsia, but that's fine, too- I might try some argyles, but I'm just not a huge fan of most intarsia. Cables are fun, lace can be challenging but is mostly intriguing... my skills have grown greatly over the last year and patterns I looked at perplexedly even a year or two ago are second nature to me now.

And then, here's the Me part of it, I do something inane. I crochet a blanket and get 50 rows in before I realize I somehow messed up my number of stitches per row back near the beginning. I cast on for Jeanie right after I got the yarn... only a few days after the pattern came out... and screwed up the first row. Today I finally went back to it, and realized that I'd been doing make 1 stitches everytime I was supposed to just knit in between two twisted stitches. Seriously silly mistake, and I'm now 3 rows in after hardly any time knitting at all. Oy. I can get these complicated concepts... but forget what needle size I used for the back of a sweater, so I can't knit the fronts and sleeves. (I'm looking at you, baby owl sweater)

Unfortunately, my size 3s, 4s, and 5s are all the same color metal, so I can't just use this photo as evidence. Gnashing of teeth!

Other than paying attention to my work, reading the pattern correctly, and writing down my alterations to the pattern... what could possibly go wrong?

There's always this.


For the record? It was Crazy Hat day.

Babies, Babies

There's been a lot of pregnancy going on. Not close to home, but in the family and friends arena. Let's recap my failure to actually complete a baby project... but first a review of the more successful baby gift ventures.

First up, the ginormous lavendar baby blanket. I prefer not to think how much time I spent on this. It was definitely over a year- maybe 18 months? Cry. It hasn't found a home yet. I should get a better detail picture- but imagine, if you will, lots of cables and lace in that purple blob.


Next, a blanket for my boss from last year. Cute! Aran! I love this pattern wholeheartedly.


And then a crocheted blanket for a coworker and his lovely wife- that was recent, it's in the archives.

Another blanket made a brief appearance. I love the yarn and like the patterns, but I think I'm afraid of the edging. It has been sitting lonely for quite some time now- I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done with the squares now, and just need to get my butt in gear to finish it.


Meanwhile, I decided to make a bunch of other baby things. First up is another version of the Aran blanket. Well, after repeat 3 of this one I discovered I had been completely destroying one of the cable patterns. Let me say this again. I knit an entire afghan in this pattern. And 3 more repeats of another one. And only THEN do I realize that I was reading it incorrectly! Lucky for me, this yarn is so sparkly and funky that nobody except a fellow knitter would ever be able to tell. Mwahaha. Here's the latest project pic, more than 4 repeats in (thanks to my progress at SSK yesterday):


I also started a bunch of baby sweaters. First up (and finally photographed!) is the coral cabled sweater:

I finished the majority of the body, up to where one joins the sleeves. And somehow I cannot knit the sleeves. Here's an example of wacky laddering and icky shaping:

So I frogged the sleeve, and am back to just the body of the sweater. Two years later. But look, pretty cables!


Then there's the blue sweater. I started this for Scott's baby, and sadly I realized after knitting the two fronts that I had made them for a girl. This yarn screams baby boy. Oops! Here it lies yesterday evening, photographed for the first time- back done, two fronts done, one sleeve done, and one sleeve on the needles:

And after the frog pond, here's the current state of affairs:

But look! Cables!


There's also the Baby Owl sweater- I have completed the back (and only the back):

Progress?

I need to locate my camera, post-wedding, and get some pictures up. I never posted the blue sweater- probably just as well, since I need to rip out both (completed) fronts. Sigh. Frog pond, here I come!

I have completed three repeats of the pastel baby blanket, as originally seen here- so for now, imagine a little bit more than three of these:


On vacation I ended up not knitting as much as I anticipated. I still am on Chart 3 (for the second time) for my symmetrical stole. But that's progress, right?

My Autumn Rose sweater kit has not yet appeared in the mail- insane demand has apparently lead to the shop running out of yarn. No word on if it has been shipped yet- so I'll just wait patiently. And play with the baby blanket, which is like pastel crack.

In the absence of real knitting news, here are a few clips to amuse:
Avenue Jew
GMail on the move

I have no project fidelity

My Schaeffer yarn came in. OH YES. For a shawl. OH YES. Funny thing is, that I'm about to start the Mystery Stole project... will I be able to do both?

I've nearly finished the craft project, so I'm timely with that. And I finished 3 squares of my cousin's baby afghan, plus another couple rows of crochet for my coworker's baby afghan. Surely I can start the lace shawl today?? Hmm.

Too many projects. Too little fidelity. But I think it's time to head up to Rockville and pick up that gorgeous yarn right now. And cast on. What better things do I have to do??

I've been alternating projects- one repeat of lace, one row of crochet, one repeat of a baby afghan square, one repeat of Brian's sweater. It's fun, but I may never get everything done this way...

Here's a tease of what's on the needles:

The baby owl sweater (back is done, I started knitting the two fronts at the same time. Haven't worked on this in a day or two, though, since I can't knit from two balls simultaneously on the metro.


And the beginnings of something new, though a bit blurred:


I absolutely adore the KnitPicks Options set. In fact, I am currently using 3 of the 4 cords. (again, no project fidelity). Note also the awesome chart keeper- this is so amazingly useful! And I love that it can stand on its own.