Well...That's Interesting...Now What?

So, I have been diligently working on the Martinelli Sweater...between all of my time sensitive projects.

I have completed the body, and the straps.

The whole pattern was very clear and straightforward, so I didn't encounter any real snags...until now...when I tried it on before picking up the sleeve stitches...

I had known all along that I was going to have to a camisole under the sweater because the lace pattern is fairly open. What I hadn't banked on was the immensity of the neckline. I feel very exposed. The neckline is high enough that it covers all the important bits...it is just very very very wide. There is no way to not show bra and cami straps. I would have to wear a strapless and a tube top.

Had I realized earlier that this would be the case I would have knit much wider straps.It wouldn't have been that big a deal. Now I am wondering if I need to un-graft the straps, unravel them, and start over with 20-30 stitches instead of the 9 the pattern called for. I hate working backwards. I would rather just cobble together a fix than backtrack. (Remember the peach baby kimono that I put off frogging for a year or two? Yeah. I don't backtrack well or willingly!)

I think I may have a solution...but if it doesn't work, it will just aggravate the problem. The sleeves, which are stockinette, have a six row garter stitch border. So, I'm thinking, that I can pick up stitches all around the neckline and do a 6 row garter there too. I think that I will need to mark the corners, since the neckline is kind of square, so that I can miter there...otherwise the border will poof out. Not sure.

I guess I will go ahead and knit the sleeves, see how it looks with them on...like somehow the problem will magically fix itself (I am the queen of wishful thinking)...and then reevaluate.

Ugh.

Ribbit Ribbit

I was working on Les Tuileries Monday night, when I noticed that I had messed the stitch pattern up in the second or third row...which was 8 inches or so ago.

It would have bugged me forever.

So, I frogged. All night. And then rewound the yarn on the skeins.

The biggest headache came from the fact that since I am using a hand dyed cotton, I had been alternating skeins every few rows. Talk about existential yarn boogers as I unraveled it. NIGHTMARE.

At least I got several movies finished while I worked. (I seem to be on a literary/BBC/Jane Austen kick.) And since Tuesday was my late day at work, I was able to sleep in.

So, here I go. Starting fresh.

Finally, Someone is Having A Girl!

That sweater, that lovely peach baby sweater, the one that I have been avoiding like the bubonic plague ever since I realized I had to frog back about 3 rows, is finally going to have to be faced.

All of my friends, up until now, have very accommodatingly all been expecting boys. Until now. Both Dessert and Belle are expecting girls now. Also, Red doesn't know what she is having, but it might be a girl. So the excuse of no baby to knit for is now out the window.

I do have the added excuse of my book with the pattern being in the display case at the library...but while that might keep me from moving forward, it can't really keep me from frogging back. (Besides, the display comes down tomorrow, so not much of an excuse.)

In other words, I am going to have to bite the bullet and frog. The impending babies are just the motivation (gun to the head) that I needed.

I will put it off a few hours longer though. I am babysitting Ark and Fish for Belle tonight, so I think I will wait until then. Maybe being faced with as-yet-unborn Blossom's big brothers will give me an additional kick in the pants.

Enough with the BOYS already...

The cute peach baby sweater I was avoiding frogging on can sit in the work basket a while longer. The original friend it was for is having a boy. The second friend who it could have gone to is, as of this past Monday, having a boy. A third friend/acquaintance, just announced this morning that she is also having a boy.

On the plus side, this was a GREAT excuse to buy more yarn in blues and greens…

And my hairstylist is expecting…she might even be having multiples…surely one of them will be a girl…

I have a wonderful father!

I meant to post this earlier, and just forgot.

About an hour after I posted my previous entry about the woeful lack of a cable needle, my father came by my condo.

He had seen my needle sitting on the table and, knowing I was stuck at home, thought I might want it. So, along with some library books my mom had checked out for me, he brought it by on his way to the office.

He noted that it appeared a little the worse for wear, since both their cat and puppy had gotten a hold of it. He offered to buy me a new one if it was ruined.

It wasn't ruined. I got a lot done on the sock...and was able to put off frogging the baby cardigan yet again!

Isn't my dad the best?

Now What?

I had promised myself that I wouldn't work on any other projects till I finished the Blarney socks. In this way I hoped to avoid second sock syndrome. Today I am stuck at home with laryngitis and have some seriously glorious knitting time ahead of me.

The problem: I accidentally left my cabling needle at my parents' house, thereby rendering it very difficult to work on cabled socks.

Possible Solutions (and why they won't work):
1. Use one of my other cable needles. (The socks are knit on size 2's and the cable needles I have are all 8's and larger)
2. Use a double pointed needle. (Don't own any.)
3. Buy another cable needle. (Not supposed to leave home when you have called in sick to work...besides, what if the teller wanted to ask me a question...I have NO voice.)
4. Go get my cable needle from my parents' house (Same reason as above)

So what am I going to do? Bite the bullet and do the other project I have been avoiding...frog back the baby sweater with the twisted stitches...

And then maybe work on a scarf...

The end

To Frog or Not To Frog

I was knitting a very, if I do say so myself, cute baby kimono the other night. I got the pattern out of the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. The book was sitting open on the floor as I lounged on the couch. I had the DVD player remote holding it open to the right page.

I happily knit along, did all of the sleeve increases, and then went on to K34, CO20, K34....or rather K34, CO20, K17...since it suddenly struck me that the sleeves were going to be VERY narrow. It turns out that the DVD remote was covering a critical instruction to knit even for 6 rows after the increases were finished.

I tinked back, picked back up the cast-off stitches, and continued on my way. I knit the 6 rows even and then went to bed, planning to redo the K34, CO20, K34 row the next time I picked it up. It was late, and it was a work night.

Disaster...this morning as I picked up the sweater as I was tidying up and noticed in the warm light of the rising sun, that the stitches I had picked back up were twisted! And since I didn't notice it in the flickering light from the television the night before, the problem has grown. Instead of just tinking back a few stitches...I now will have to frog several rows!

The Dilemma: To Frog or Not to Frog

Reasons Not To:
1. It is on the back of the sweater
2. The yarn is variegated, so it isn't that noticeable.
3. Its not even that big of an error...just 20 or so twisted stitches...not a dropped stitch or hole!
4. The "error" could be viewed as creative license...what makes handknits handknits...a unique feature of this particular garment

Reasons To:
1. It is a gift for my friend's baby
2. It is her first baby
3. If it shows in the little bit of light here in WA, think how much it will show in CA!

Needless to say, the reasons to frog, though fewer than those against, carry a lot more weight. So, I have set the kimono aside...temporarily...I will probably wait until my quarter at school ends before I pick it up again...

Besides - First Friend isn't due till this summer. I have oodles of time!