College Football Knitting

I'm recovering from a pretty nasty bout of food poisoning. So bad that we had to go the ER at 2:30AM on Friday morning. I'm feeling better now and taking it easy this weekend. I canceled all my plans and am buckling down to get some knitting done.

I need to do some finishing stuff. I knit a cute, funky earflap hat 2 weeks ago and it needs something. I was thinking of adding a felt flower to it. I think that would add some nice color to it.

I also need to sew the buttons back on my Sesame. I took them off several months ago because they looked terrible. I couldn't get them sewn on right, but I have some smaller needles now that should fit through the button holes. Now I just have to find the buttons... I also re-blocked the sweater last weekend. It needed a good stretching, the sleeves were just a touch too tight. It fits much better now although I could still use a little more ease in it. I never tried it on with a long sleeved shirt until about a month ago and realized they didn't go well together.

The Peony Buttony sweater is going well. I sort of expected to have it done by now, but life got in the way. I should be able to finish up the body this weekend and then hopefully get the sleeves done over the Thanksgiving break. I am worried about the neckline on it. I think I might have mentioned before that it's rather floppy. I'll figure out what to do with it after it's blocked.

I knit up the Dolores Park Cowl this week for Vince's sister, Julie's birthday present. It was a pretty quick knit and it very cute. I used two strands of Bernat Alpaca held together. It looks nice and is very cozy. I made it a little larger than the one shown. I'm going to block it out this afternoon and we'll get it in the mail for her Monday.

Sorry for the lack of photos, my camera is MIA. I have no idea where it has gone. It's somewhere in the apartment, I just don't know where.

Back.

I got home from Ohio yesterday morning. I'm off to see the Yarn Harlot tonight in Denver.

I knit a lot over the trip. I finished Sesame!! (I need to re-sew on my buttons, but other than that it's lovely and I wear it constantly.) I knit some hats, some gifts, some of everything.

I'll be getting photos of everything in the next few days so I can share.

Away

I'm off to Ohio in the morning. No internet for two weeks. Crazy.

I'm sad I didn't get my Sesame done before I left, but it's all packed up and ready to be finished. I got buttons this afternoon at Joann's. They're a bit plain because the selection wasn't too great, but I can always change them out if I want.

Really?

I honestly am having a bit of an issue dealing with how much of a PITA this button band is being. I got the button holes done (a few look weird but whatever...) and gradually made it through the 8 remaining rows of 1x1 ribbing.

The the cast off. I had read that people had issues with this. I was keeping a close watch! First I tried my wonderous suspended cast off. I love it dearly. However, the sweater did not. I got about 6 inches in and realized it looked weird. (Read: weird = wavy as all get out!) I pulled back. I tried just a regular old bind off. UGH! But because I'm stubborn and I really, really, really, really wanted to get the sweater done, I blindly marched on and cast off everything. Yeah, I'm stupid. I have to pick the whole thing out again. This time I'm going to try the tubular cast off. I've never done it, but apparently it should work. If not, I'm going to rip the whole band out and re-knit it in 2x2 like the rest of the sweater. Or get pissed off and put the damned sweater down the garbage disposal!

Seriously! If you write a pattern and everything is SO CLEAR all through the whole thing and then the instructions for the the finishing touches leave the knitter with something that as Heidi Klum would say "looks homesewn" why would ANYONE knit your pattern. Sorry designer. Maybe you didn't have this issue, but from the looks of Raverly, a lot of people did have an issue with it.

That all being said, there is no way I'll have this thing finished before I go now. I have to fix the first button band, knit the second* and then re-knit the collar. I'm so mad.

*I almost started knitting it this morning until reason took hold and I realized that knitting something that doesn't look good twice does not make things any better.

Packing

I'm packing for my trip to Ohio. I have way too much yarn in my suitcase, but it makes me happy, so whatever.

I had major issues getting the button band started on my Sesame. I think I ripped it out 6 times before FINALLY getting it right. Of course, I flew through the whole sweater until the very end. I'm going to try to finish up as much as possible tonight, go buy buttons tomorrow and hopefully have it blocking by around 8 so it has some time to dry. I really want to wear it on the plane Tuesday. I hope that happens.

What good little knitters do.

My stash is a mess. Always has been. I'm sure it's better than some people's. I've been pretty good about pairing like yarns in ziploc bags and then shoving them into hiding spots. Most of my stash are orphans though. I don't usually buy yarn with projects in mind - something I'd like to change. I tend to buy things because it's pretty, it feels nice or it's one sale. Maybe all three. So I have a lot of single or double balls. That's the majority of my stash.

I'm trying to be good and match things up with patterns. I freely admit that I would not be doing this it it were not for Ravelry and my new printer. So far I've matched up quite a few things. I've printed patterns and shoved them into the bags along with the yarn. I'm really proud of myself. Now I have an actual working queue. Want to knit a scarf? I have 2 lacey ones waiting. Hat? I've got waiting so far. I should have more in just a little while. Charity knitting? I have a lot of pale pink Cotton-Ease that has been in my stash for about 5 years. I printed off two baby bootie patterns and am looking for those series of hats I queued the other day.

This all started because of my upcoming trip to Ohio. I'm finally off to see a surgeon about my stupid gimpy knee. I will be without the BF, the dog, the internet and the DVR for 2 weeks. I need things to knit.

On the Sesame front - I am having some issues with the sleeves. I want to shorten the sleeves just a bit --- but if I do, the stripes won't match up. Ugh. I guess I just have to deal with long sleeves.

Westward ho!

The sleeves are cast on, knit to about 10 inches and moving along quickly. I need 9 more inches before I can start the cap shaping so I'm hoping to get that done tonight.

Something about Sesame Street.

Sesame is moving right along. I'm working on the 3rd piece now, the left front section. I should have that all done tonight and be ready to move on to the sleeves. I'm really hoping I can get this all done soon.

I took a few days off to knit a toy for Bug. I am trying to come up with something that he cannot rip through in under 5 minutes. No luck with this first try, but he likes it and is a happy little dog.

This was how it started. (No face since it was going to be eaten in moments...)


This was the during...



And the after...

Keep on waiting.

My sleep schedule is all kinds of frakked up. I forced myself to stay awake so I can call the doctor's office in Ohio the second they open. I can't wait much longer for surgery. I need to feel better. I need to be able to go places. It's making me crazy. It's utterly exhausting to be in pain constantly.

I started the sleeve shaping on the Sesame tonight. It's moving along very quickly. I really like the pattern and the stripes keep the stockinette from being too boring. I don't mind stockinette too much, it's good mindless TV knitting, but sometimes it can get boring.

New.

I've been mucking around the the html on this little baby trying to figure some stuff out. Sorry if things were looking a little fug last week. I think I've got it all sorted out now.

On the good stuff!!

I went yarn shopping Friday. I got 15 skeins of Cascade 220. Six each of Garnet and Misty Lilac Heather. Two Bronzed Green and one Lake Chelan Heather. I'm knitting Sesame out of the Garnet and Lilac. It's coming along very nicely. (I have a few photos but they all look like poop so I'm going to take some more once the light is good.)

During my shopping trip, the yarn fumes got to me. I did my math all sorts of wrong and ended up buying six skeins of each color, when I really needed six skeins TOTAL. Oops. So I now have enough for several sweaters. I'm knitting the Sesame as planned, but I'm going to use the leftovers to make two more sweaters. Most likely one 3/4 or shorter sleeved top-down raglan and a cute little 3/4 cardigan. I have the blue-green Lake Chelan Heather which will make a nice contrast with the Lilac, and some charcoal grey in my stash that would look good with the garnet if I need some more color. We'll see how it all goes.

The Bronzed Green was Vince's purchase. He wants a scarf. We dug through some stitch dictionaries last night to see what was good. he found a few things he liked.