War Games

Every summer a lot of the kids from church go to the Northern California Florida College Camp for a week.

Every year the camp holds War Games...a version of capture the flag played with flour bombs.

Last year every person on my team, Omega, died...except for Champ. (Champ is Ark, Fish, and Blossom's 14 year old brother.)

Champ lived until the end of every round. It was amazing. He would climb trees, hide behind boulders, and just survive. He also took out more of the opposition than I think the rest of Omega combined. (And that is saying a lot, because we had some extremely athletic senior guy campers on the team.)

A while ago I promised Champ that I would knit him something, since I had knit hats for all the other boys at church. I asked him if he wanted a beanie. After some discussion we settled on something even cooler...

I made him a ski mask to wear to war games.

I think he likes it.

(I did make him promise not to hold up any 7-11's in it though.)

Smart for Once

I am currently working on the German Herringbone Skirt in Custom Knits.

There have been a few sizing issues with the other projects I have made from this book (MGM, Tilney). Please note: these issues have not in anyway diminished my love for the book!

This time I was smart. I measured it to find out what length I was getting from each repeat of the pattern. Then I multiplied that measurement by the total number of repeats the pattern called for, and added the 4.5" of the yoke. It was going to be SHORTER than I wanted...so I fixed it AHEAD OF TIME!

I know. How unusual for me.

I ended up adding an additional pattern repeat between each of the decreases. This means I SHOULD get an appropriately modest length. I will even try it on before I start the yoke.

Now my only concern is running out of yarn!

Epic Fail

ARGH!!!!

I have been knitting happily along on the Tilney Sweater...in fact, I am this close to finishing. Or, at least, I was this close to finishing.

I knew going in that I needed to lengthen the sweater(I like my sweaters a little longer than normal), so I bought an extra skein of yarn. Then, just to doubly ensure that I had enough yarn for the length, I went ahead and finished the sleeves and neck ruffle before I did the body's lower hem ribbing. I figured I would try it on before I moved the body back over from the waste yarn, and see how much longer exactly I needed to make it.

I tried it on at Blondie's house the other night. Epic Fail.

The sweater is INCHES bigger around than I need it to be.

I have no idea why this is.

I actually did a gauge swatch this time...and I got gauge.

I even made it a smaller size so that it would have negative ease...just like Wendy Bernard said to do in the lovely, well-written text.

(I have a 39" actual bust measurement...she recommended having 2-3" negative ease...so I made the size for 37"...)

I am flummoxed.

I will clearly need to unravel the majority of the work. I think I will just unravel the WHOLE THING, and reuse the yarn for a sweater vest. The yarn, while the right gauge, is...sturdier?...than I would like. Wendy's version in the book is made from an alpaca/silk blend, and mine was 100% merino. I still really want to make Tilney. I love it. I adore it. It is the reason I bought the book. I just need to find a drapier yarn to make it from.

And clearly, I need to make a MUCH smaller size, and try it on FREQUENTLY.

Twilight Knitting

I love the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyers. They have even inspired me to knit!

My parents live but a few hours from Forks, the town in which the books are set...so as part of my grad school graduation frivolity...on Monday we made a pilgrimage.

I, of course, wore the Twilight/Blood and Shadows scarf that I made.



It was a big hit. Edward liked it.



Alice liked it, too.



I am big nerd.

Beware the Blogging Knitter

While pursuing yet more fun on my graduation vacation with my parents, I found myself in the small town of La Connor, WA. It is one of those adorable towns that is full of antique shops, bakeries, and artisan galleries.

It also had a yarn shop. The yarn shop was called Jennings Yarn & Needlecraft.

It was, without a doubt, the worst yarn shop experience of my life. (And that includes the shop where staff followed me around because they thought I was going to shop lift.)

Mom, Dad, and I went in there. I was actually initially impressed. It had quite a nice selection of Noro Kureyon (although it was priced quite a bit higher than the going market rate)...not to mention quite a few inspiring luxury fibers. (Angora. I love angora.)

However...the service was abysmal. The owner/employee was standing right there at the counter when we came in. Yet, we spent a good 5-10 minutes in the shop before we were even acknowledged. (The person cannot claim that she didn't see us...I mean, Dad is 6'5"...) Once we were acknowledged, it was with a curt hello. And that only came after Mom POINTEDLY stared at the woman as we walked by the register. Another 5-10 minutes passed, and the lady finally finally left the counter and came back to the back part of the shop.

She asked: "Did you want something?"
I answered: "Nothing specific."

Rather than saying she was available to help if I had any questions, or muttering any other number of polite stock sales phrases, she wheeled on her heel and went back to the register. I was baffled. I even had to stand at the counter a moment or two before she bothered to ask if I was ready to check out.

As we walked out of the shop, Mom marveled at the utter horror that seemed to pass for customer service. I told Mom that we could take comfort in the fact that they didn't know who they were ignoring. I am a blogger. I am a knitting blogger. One should not raise the ire of a literate and proliferate knitting blogger. I would eviscerate them in online literature.

Jennings Yarn & Needlecraft is in a delightful setting, but the staff is definitely below par. The fine fibers can not begin to make up for the shabby treatment. I can find better yarn elsewhere, the same yarn at a better price elsewhere, and anything I want online. I do not have to put up with your snottiness. And no one else should either!

AVOID THIS SHOP!!!

Non-Post

Dear Internet,

I will be away from you today. No real blogging will get done.

Sorry,

Me

Technology Failure

I didn't want to lug Custom Knits up here to WA with me...but I didn't have a chance to photocopy the pages I needed for the skirt I am working on.

That's fine. I have an iPhone. It has a handy dandy notepad feature. As you may recall from an earlier post, I had previously typed the pertinent parts of the pattern into my phone. And by previously, I mean over a week ago.

Epic fail.

By the time I got past the first notation for decreases, I couldn't remember whether or not the number of completed pattern repeats I had listed were cumulative. The first decrease came after seven repeats. Then I had written 10 repeats, second decrease. Did this mean that I needed to knit 10 more repeats before the decrease, or that I needed to decrease after the 10th from the cast on?

ARGH!!!

Luckily I have a tendency to overpack knitting-wise, and have other projects to work on.

Maybe I will get a chance to glance at a copy of the book at a store today or tomorrow.

If not, I just hauled 7 skeins of yarn across 2 state lines for nothing!