SAL Wednesday 11/2015: Know When to Hold 'Em

Housewives Tarot

 I have been somewhat lacking in what the french call va-va-voom since finishing the Tru Wuv Shawl: I have been merely doing pootling knitting - lesiurely, straightforward, no complexities, 18 row pattern repeat ... Mini Diva's retro/vintage cricket sweater:

Front and back complete, no errors ... I decided to knit the sleeves TAAT (Two At A Time) as usual - it seems a bit of a drag, but not half so much as having to make one followed by the other:

Again - nice and straightforward, increases every 6 rows, no issues.

However.  

Let us zoom out a bit:

I have 3 more repeats to do, or another 8 1/2 inches before getting to the top of the sleeves, plus the border of the rather deep V-neck. And that is the last unused ball of yarn.

One of the problems with using retro/vintage/just plain old patterns is many of them don't list the yardage of the recommended yarn, and one can't find any information on it - this pattern was for Wendy Pure Wool 25g. and needed 16 balls/400g for the size I'm making (or Wendy Courtellon Double Knit 20g, using 23 balls). I had bought 10 balls(500g) of Drops Cotton Merino with a total of 1198m/1310yds and thought that would be enough.

My unwillingness to live the adventurous life on the raggedy edge increases weekly, if not daily, I'm sure. I've ordered another 2 balls.

Go see how other people don't run out over at Life and Yarn ...

StitchAlong Wednesday 6: Grumping

Wizards Tarot

 
Today I am feeling as pugnacious and grumpy as this Queen looks - after a good day yesterday where I achieved everything on my long list of things to do, today I am on the huh and trudging through treacle and have nothing much to show for it.

Having completed the Lily Go MKAL, I tried to resume work on my 2nd attempt at Tru Wuv: I have finished the transition charts, and am starting the lace setup chart. Except that it doesn't work - I end up 2 stitches out. I am pretty sure this is some kind of obvious thing, like the 2 stitches that are actually and aren't technically part of the set of edge stitches; and I can't 'read' the knitting because I suck at that and plus it just looks like lots of holes rather than a pattern at the moment.

So rather than give in to the almost overwhelming and disproportional rage - come on, guys, it's only a blimmin' knitting pattern fer pete's sake, right ? - I shall turn to something else entirely ....




A couple of almost vintage patterns from roughly the same era ... I shall make one in time for the start of Mini Diva's cricket season:

And I shall be using some lovely squishy Drops Cotton Merino DK yarn:
 

 

However, Mini Diva tends towards the fashionable as opposed to the stylish, so I'm not sure that she will agree that a cricket sweater worn off-field with jeans is a classic look. 

You can leave me to mither and check out some nice things over at Yarn and Life ....

StitchAlong Wednesday 4:Hobbled

Tarot of the Cat People

I feel like I haven't much to report today - I have been distracted by Real Life and Leaving the House type things like indoor cricket training for Mini Diva  .... only an hour, which I spend chatting; but it's 30 mins to walk there, and another 30 mins to walk back, so that's 2 hours out of my day ....

But I have re-started the Tru Wuv Shawl that I ended up cutting apart, this time using the lovely smooth and slinky Drops Lace in 0100 'off-white', together with size 8/0 silver-lined glass beads:

I don't want to jinx myself, but so far no errors have been made. 

There has been no further progress in the Lily Go Lightning Thief MKAL as there was no clue last week - but one is due tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I have started a tea cosy, and am writing the pattern down as I go - so watch this space.

There is just too much to be done and too few hours in which to do it ... so I am legging it, leaving you to browse other yummy things over at Life&Yarn ....

Stitch-Along Wednesday: False Start

Tarot of Durer

Well, here we are with the first WIP post of the New Year - Titch is back at work, the kids are back at school, the house is almost back to normal after the holidays, it's super-frosty and cold outside - must be time to knit, right ?

Well, almost.

I'm waiting for the Lily Go The Lightning Thief MKAL to begin - tomorrow. I shall do the Medium size, for which I am all wound up and have beads galore: 50g of size 6/0 and 50g of size 8/0 clear silver-lined seed beads, which I had for a very reasonable price from Nicola at Chromabeads on eBay, whose service is fast and friendly. Yes, I am afraid I have bought there far more than once now, and thought I should share my good fortune with you.

I know, you're wondering if I have enough. I was too, actually. But 50g of size 6/0 is about 450 beads when the pattern calls for 468, and 50g of size 8/0 is approx. 1400 beads when the pattern calls for 1242. Oh yeah, that's me, living life on the Raggedy Edge again.

At least I have plenty enough yarn - I have 724m of GorgeousKnits 4ply superwash in the colorway 'Mallard', otherwise known as a dark teal that Mini Diva loves. She's also a huge fan of the Percy Jackson books, having read them first on her NintendoDS a few years ago, so there are 2 obvious reasons why I'm doing this MKAL.

While I have been waiting, I thought I would start Tru Wuv (who doesn't love a Princess Bride reference ??)

 using a skein of Violet Green Hand-dyed Merino 2ply, which was undyed and so a nice shade of cream, along with a ton of beads. Here is what happened:

Yeah, looks like a major malfunction to me, too. What it actually is is the remnants of the first two sections after all the beads had been cut out. No, this isn't some super-insane form of steeking gone wrong, this is what happens when you try to tink back and you can't because the centred decreases (I chose to do S3K2P rather than K5tog) had sort of felted in this sticky yarn and were impossible to unstick, separate and generally return to a yarn status. I couldn't even unravel the plain stockinette part.

Swearing ? Oh yes, lots. And lots. 

And then some more.

So I've ordered some nice smooth alpaca and silk Drops Lace, and shall start over. But not immediately - you can imagine the pattern and I circling each other like boxers right after the bell to start the second round has been rung ....

Pop along to Life & Yarn to see what else is being stitched this Wednesday .....

SAL Wednesday : Intervention

Tarot of the Magical Forest

I have been absent because I have been feeling very low and dejected, owing to a combination of circumstances - not least of which was completing Mini Diva's Wilde cardigan and being quite unhappy with the result. I might be brave (or resigned) enough to post about it on Friday.

My MIL is our Secret Santa recipient this year, and I determined to make her a gorgeous cardigan. After overcoming such obstacles as picking the color (I took advice from two of my SILs, so I have others to blame if it is wrong) and measurements (again, a devious SIL achieved this - you may admire and envy my foresight, see previous brackets), spending hours searching for exactly the right yarn in terms of weight, color etc to find it and then discover JUST before I clicked the 'buy' button - thank the gods - that it was handwash only .... as I say, all this was overcome, and I selected 9 balls of Sirdar Wool Rich Aran in 'Powder Blue' at what I thought was a really reasonable cost of £43.

So, given the (reasonable yet expensive-for-me) cost of the yarn and for whom it is destined, I spared no effort, and did this:

No, it's OK, I'll wait while you pick your jaw up from the floor.

Yes, it's another swatch. The third in as many months, at least. 

Is it a sign that I am irrevocably doomed to a sensible and unexciting future of being an Engineer rather than an Artiste ? 

Might there be hope for me yet to go back to those freewheeling days of yore when I cared not a snap of my fingers for gauge, where I revelled in the thrill of living right on the Raggedy Edge, when we did not know if something would fit until it was actually Put On.

Oh yes - the swatch results: I got 19 st x 24 rows on 4.5mm needles when the pattern requires 18 st x 28 rows.

What do you mean, did I do another one on different size needles ? 

Are you CRAZY ? 

I'm too busy swigging gin and waiting for you to do an Intervention.





Pop over to Gracey's, to see what else is going on in the mad dash to Christmas .....