05.29.08
The Curer?
Instant gratification does not seem to be easily achieved this week. Despite coming to the conclusion that knitting anything that required to cast on another once the first was completed was not going to cure my problem I choose to start some slippers for my besty.
First I thought I would crochet them as she really liked these pair of baby booties and wanted something simlair so I stumbled my way through the first which came out a tad too big, so I had a little think and knitted the second, which may or may not fit, I am yet to get her try it on. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to give her a pair of mismatched slipper, which ever she likes the best I will do the second in the same way. If only I had written what I had done it would be a lot easier to make a second the same.
05.24.08
Instant Gratification
I am in need of instant gratification, I have come to a halt on TP’s cardi as I try to work out what to do since the mock ribbing didn’t look great.
I have a long queue on ravelry including a few projects I could quickly churn out for instant gratification:
Broad Street Mittens, for SIL
Crocheted Slippers, For Sister
And I really need to replace Lossy’s Felted clogs I made him last year.
So which would be the most successful for instant gratification. I’m thinking any thing which requires to cast on a second as soon as I have finished the first does not really meet the criteria. Which only leaves the Branching Out scarf, Perdita or the Triangle Motif Cuff.
Branching Out: I have the yarn sitting in my stash, Patons Bluebell in a pretty greenish colour, it would be a rather quick knit if the lace pattern isn’t too hard to remember, Might have to give it a go to see.
Perdita:
Once again I have the yarn in my stash, Naturally Stella bamboo yarn, although I’m 100% sure I want to use this single ball of yarn for this project, but then what else could I use it for? I scarf? another baby vest?
Triangle Motif Cuff: Crochet is always fast and I only need to do 3 motifs, but what yarn?
I guess I should just go and do something.
05.20.08
Armholes & Sleeve Caps
When I started to work out the design for TP’s Cardi, I never thought twice about the armholes, I did however worry about how to work out how to do the sleeve cap. I understand how a sleeve cap needs to fit into the arm hole but do you think I can work out how to knit a sleeve cap that will fit into the armhole. I have looked at a couple of articles in some knitting magazines I have, but they really made no sense, talking about square roots of the armhole length etc. I have a book waiting at the good ol’ library which I hope will help me out with this one. Designing knitwear by Deborah Newton. It looks like it will have what I need, so wish me well, as I stumble my way threw a designing debut.
05.17.08
Design Sketches
I’m not the best at drawing so I brought Photo Shop in to play with these, please forgive me. These are my sketches for TP’s Cardigan, my first go at designing a knit garment. I’m doing pretty well with the knitting, up to the final repeat of the cable on the fronts. The plan was to go into a mock rib stitch at around the empire line, but having shown TP the sketch she doesn’t like the “lines” at the top, so we have decided to go for stocking stitch from that point up. On the back I’m hoping to be able to carry the cable up to the hoodie then pick up stitches from each side of the panel to complete the hood, I have no idea how to do that though. The first big challege with this is working out how to do the armhole shaping as I want it to have fitted sleeves, I have read a couple of things which I hope will help with this part of the design. In the mean time I will just keep knitting, knitting, just keep knitting.
05.13.08
So Fast and So Cute
I was well impressed with myself this past weekend. As planned on Saturday, I got stuck into the Baby Shrug. 
This was the progress around 3pm. It was going pretty well, the pattern was well written and easy to follow, the yarn was a darling to knit (a bargain at $2 a ball for 100% wool) and it was a portable project so I was able to take it to mums and get some knitting done there too.
By the time I headed to bed on Saturday night I had cast off the main garment and was ready to pick up for the bands, I thought it was best not to do this at 11:30 at night.
After a nice Mothers Day sleep in and yummy B&E for breakfast I curled up on the couch, still in pj’s, and picked up the 130 odd stitches around the fronts. For once I got it right the first time, so it was quick going from there. It wasn’t until I only had the wrist bands left to do and was taking this photo when I noticed the mistake, of course things couldn’t go too smoothly. By this stage I was not going to undo it so I continued on with a plan.
And what a plan it was, I think it was a pleasent supprise how well that “mistake” turned out.
Such a simple flower saved the garment and made it look even better, then it would have.
I’m happy to report that Baby’s Daddy was very impressed with it and couldn’t wait to take it home and show it to the new Mum.
05.10.08
Silk Slip Fabric and Baby Project
This morning I took a trip to the local Spotlight to finally find some fabric for my Silk Slip which has been sitting in hibernation for some months now. I had a lucky find of some knit fabric on the clearance table which looks like it will do nicely. Now to get the sewing machine out and sew it up.
I also happened upon this yarn below which I am hoping this weekend I will be able to whip up a this Debbie Bliss Baby Shrug for a workmates newborn baby girl. She was only born on Thursday and although I had wanted to knit them up something (as I had for another workmate who is pregnant) but nothing had grabbed me. Then I found this wool and the pattern so away I will go.
05.09.08
Mothers Day
What gives retailer the idea that mothers want small appliances for Mothers Day? I DO NOT want a new jug, nor do I want to receive a mixer this Sunday. To be honest I don’t want anything for mothers day, I received a lovely early Anniversary present just a few weeks ago which serves nicely as a double celebration present.
Having said all that, today we received a delivery, of an appliance, but not just any appliance an Dyson.
This does not count as a Mothers Day present as it a gift for the whole family. We have wanted a Dyson for years but it has been out of reach, but thanks to a great deal we were able to get one. What great fun it was to un-pack and bath in its metalic orange glory. Now we just need to try it out.
05.04.08
Designing
I have started the swatching for TP’s Cardigan. I wanted it to have a heart like cable on each side of the front, the swatch I have done is from the Sweetheart cable pattern, from a pair of socks in an Interweave knits magazine. I have some work to do working out the end & beginning of the pattern so I don’t have broken repeats in it. I will scan the sketch that I have for the cardigan as soon as I can get the temperamental scanner to work.
I took the photo in B&W as I wanted to have side lighting to really show the cable but I couldn’t work out the white balance to correct for the lamp I was using (a LCD book light). I need a good few hours to sit and play with the new camera to get a good grip on a lot of the features. Today I had a quick trip to the library and got the only book I could find on on D-SLRs, it’s not the best, but will give me some pointers I’m sure.
05.01.08
Lossy’s New Hat
Lossy was in need of a new beanie, the first I made him was short, the next a bit longer, but still a little on the short side, only just covering his ears. Third time lucky, this one fits well. I used this pattern thanks to exartstudent kindness for providing it to us all for free. It was a great pattern to knit and really easy, once I got the set up rib correct, how hard do you think K2, P2 rib could be? I also taught myself how to do the cable without a third needle, I found cable front really quick once I got the hang of it, but struggled a lot with the cable back. I feel a lot more confident now tackling the sweetheart cable for TP’s cardigan, which is next on my list.
I started last night writing out the cable pattern from the graph for these socks. I can’t imagine ever being able to knit a cable from a chart so I thought this was the best bet, plus the graph for working from the top down, where I will be working bottom up. I hope to swatch it up tonight while watching both the Biggest Looser & Survivor.
