Back to Back

I told myself I wouldn't blog till I had something to show. Ta da!



After ripping back the armhole decreases, I got back on track. But then had to frog back again because I confused ssk and k2tog. I think I still had vacation brain.

Back home, finally I was on my way. About six or so inches and the back will be finished. YAY!

However, I've looked over the instructions for the front. This is my first sweater and reading about how to measure for the buttons and buttonholes is scary. I see that math is involved and math and I have a love/hate relationship.

Experienced knitters, any and all tips and tricks on how to do this would be greatly appreciated!

The Adirondack Frog

There's all kinds of critters here in the mountains--fish, deer, bears, black flies, ducks, bees, ants, chipmunks, mosquitoes. But this morning I discovered the Adirondack frog.



Two days ago this:



Today this:



Yeah, there used to be the beginning of the armholes. But something was wonky with my decreases. Even though I knew what to do, I sort of made things up as I went along and so, rip-it, rip-it. Hello, Ms. Frog.

Same Old

We've been coming to this cabin in the mountains for so many years, we know what to expect to see:

blue skies with fluffy white clouds



pink sunsets



greenery



ducks



But here's something new--the Jackie Sweater now has the beginnings of armholes!



My goal for this vacation is to complete the back of the sweater. But, on second thought, "goal" and "vacation" really shouldn't be used in the same sentence--especially when there's ducks and sunsets about.

A Little Bit of Knitting

I packed three knitting projects and, yesterday, worked a bit on two of them.

The Hitchhiker Scarf. I think I'm at the half-way point--though, the scarf never seems to change. Despite that, it's a very soothing garter stitch scarf with "teeth."



And I finally finished the first chart on Wendy's Mystery Shawlette. This was a Knit-Along project that most people finished in early June. It's an easy lace--a good beginner's project. I'll finish it . . whenever.



Later this afternoon, I'll dig out the third project--what I want to be the main project-- and try to make sense of my notes. I'll blog about it in a day or two--but the entry probably won't be all that different from what I wrote last year.

Long Time, No Blog

I can't believe it's been more than six weeks since I last blogged! It isn't as if nothing has been going on--rather, too much stuff has been happening.

Over the past few weeks, friends and I celebrated a milestone college reunion. Lots of fun! I look at my friends and I don't see our well-earned markers of the years gone by -- I see the 18 year olds were all once were.



Then, we had old kitchen cabinets removed and new ones put in. What a mess!





Cabinets are up--there's still more work to be done. The kitchen isn't finished and the entire apartment needs painting and a general overhaul. But that's for when the weather is cooler.



Next, I came down with bronchitis. I spent two weeks in a blur of coughing, drowsing and reading cozy mysteries. Couldn't smell or taste anything (except salty and sweet). 1,000% better now, but still tire easily.

However, thank goodness, I felt strong enough to go to Yankee Stadium this past Saturday and see Derek Jeter get his 3,000 hit. YAY!



One thing that wasn't happening over the past few weeks was knitting.



Only a few rows in each project every few days. But now that I'm feeling better and the apartment isn't as chaotic, I'm a bit more motivated to knit.

More about that in my next post.

The Brilliance of Knitters

During vacation, I worked on the Jackie sweater. When we got home, I noticed this--



a wayward stitch! A rogue stitch that somehow slipped off the needle when I did a K2tog. I put a pin in it, the sweater went back into the project bag and I hoped that, by ignoring it, the problem would go away. It didn't.

Now what to do about it?

Ladder down to fix it? It seemed awfully far to drop and I didn't trust myself to successfully do this. Rip it back? UGH! I hate ripping back and always try to figure out ways to avoid this. Finagle a fix? That would involve knotting and weaving and not being totally sure that the stitch wouldn't get loose.

I continued to ignore it.

Wednesday evening, I went to my knit group. I didn't bring anything to work on because I just wanted to catch up with everybody. Since the women in the knit group are amazing knitters, I asked them what to do.

Most of them agreed that, given the circumstances, (it didn't show, stitch count wasn't affected) a finagle would be fine. Then one brilliant knitter remarked that since the wayward stitch is only a stitch or two from the edge, I could leave it be for now but to pick it up when I sewed the seam.

Went home--looked at the stitch, nudged it over to where the seam would be and YES I could do that! Neither the stitch nor fabric gets pulled and the wayward stitch would be nice and snug in the seam. Many thanks to C. for figuring this out!

So I'm back on track with knitting the sweater. The days are noticeably shorter and we've had brief moments of cooler weather. Sweater-wearing days will be here before we know it.

More than Knits and Purls

There's always been something about the stitch pattern on the Jackie Sweater and the colors of the Briar Rose yarn that reminded me of something. Never could quite put my finger on it till the other day. . . .






An accident that the Jackie Sweater went into the knitting bag when I had to decrease what was coming on vacation? I don't think so. Some Knitting Power must have been the one who switched the two knitting bags and made me realize that I'm knitting the water, rocks and sand of this very special place.

Changes

In the last Snit n'Knit post, I decided to bring five projects on vacation. Two bags worth of projects.

But when it came time to load the car, our building's elevator broke. We live on the sixth floor. It would have been impossible to schlep our ton of stuff down six flights of stairs. So we had to edit the boxes, bags, suitcases down to about half a ton and the knitting was a casualty of this downsizing. Two projects --- one bag.



I thought I had grabbed the striped baktus and the almost-completed clapotis.



Yep, that's the striped baktus and the Jackie Sweater. OOOOPS!

An unexpected change in my knitting plans. But that's OK.

Another change:



Look at that temperature! That's what it was when we arrived at the lake. Downright chilly then and, during the night, it got even chillier. Big change from the 90+ NYC temperatures!

However, there are some things that never change. And, for this, I'm happy!

Tie One On

All week, I've been doing spring cleaning. Uh. . . no, that's not something that happens yearly at Chez Snit n'Knit. It's spring 1987 spring cleaning that I'm just getting around to.

Weeding the scarves was one thing on the "to do" list. I love how some women effortlessly and elegantly wear a scarf. I'm not one of them.

So, with that in mind, I was ruthless about purging the scarves. However, one made me pause.



This is a scarf (probably rayon) that I found among my Dad's things when we cleaned out my folks' house. My Pop was certainly not an ascot and smoking-jacket wearer and so I doubt he ever wore this scarf. My guess it was a gift from long ago--1940s or '50s.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the colors in the scarf are picked up in the Jackie sweater. There's also something retro-looking about both. I think I'm going to have to learn how to wear this scarf!

Knitting Odds and Ends

Am I still knitting these days? There's a secret project on the needles. Sorry, can't talk about it right now.

I'm also working on the sweater--but not too much. I'm trying to do at least two rows a day. Maybe one morning I'll pull it out and discover I have the entire back finished. Not yet, though.



I'm using a Signature circular needle and love it! The tip is pointy and swivels and the join is perfect. Despite my two rows a day, they make me feel like a speedy knitter.

Signature Needle Arts had some difficulty with the second generation circulars--the joins weren't smooth and that causes the knitting to snag. The secret project is on a set of those. I've read that Signature has excellent customer service and so I may be returning that needle for a third generation needle. It probably wouldn't be bothering me if I didn't have this perfect circular.

The secret project is being knit on a size 7 needle. I swatched it on size 6 and size 8 circlon needles. Unfortunately, I don't have a size 7 circlon. I think for a future knitting project, I'll have to use a circlon--they felt unbelievably good!

And that's all I have to report!

G is for

Daffodils are so last week!



This week, other things have started to grow and turn green.

Some very early tulips--




A few trees are beginning to flower and bud--





And my Jackie sweater is also very slowly growing row by row!

Status Quo

Nothing new here. All the projects that were on the needles are still on the needles.



Startitis fever has passed.

However, over the past few days, I've discovered that in my aunt's needle box are some needles that some people covet.



Besides these three circlon needles, I have two more. When I get the time, I'll play around with them and see for myself how they compare to these new-fangled needles. Stay tuned!

Has anybody used the old Susan Bates circlon needles? What do you think of them?

Another Lesson Learned

Since this is my first sweater, I didn't trust myself to just follow the pattern. I had to overthink it!

One thing I questioned was the what, how, where and even the why of the waist shaping. I bugged other knitters. I took notes. I drew charts and made lists. And, despite all the help I was getting, it didn't click.



I should know better. I'm a retired learning specialist. I went to workshops--geez, I gave workshops--on learning styles!

Teacher--teach, thyself!

Am I a visual learner? Not really. I like displays and charts--but I need something more.
Auditory? Nope--not at all. Talk goes in one ear and out the other!
Kinesthetic? Hands on? Feel it? Touch it? BINGO! That's me!

So I knit another swatch where I worked the shaping. I put the words of the pattern into action.



OHHHH! Now I get it!

This pattern is fabulous--it's so intuitive. Perfect for a new to sweater-knitting knitter! After this week's detour, I'll be casting on again.

Lesson Learned

Here's where I am with the sweater:



But I'm OK about it!

As I was knitting the sweater and reading the pattern, there were a couple of things that didn't make sense to me. I checked, double-checked and hundredth-checked my math. Wrote out rows, charts. But something wasn't clicking.

Yesterday I sat with somebody and we went over the pattern. I learned that no matter how well-written patterns are--and this is an exceptionally well-written pattern--a pattern should be looked upon as a suggestion. It's the knitter who does the final tweaking and decisions.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the pattern (or my math!) -- it's just that I'm more comfortable making a couple of minor changes. And guess what? I'm the knitter--I can do that!

So I frogged it. It was only twelve rows. No big deal. When I cast back on, I'll be casting on as a more confident knitter.

C is for. . .

Casting on for new projects!

Yes, plural. Projects--two of them. I promised myself that, once I finished the Fussy Watch Cap, I'd start these two knits.

Nothing fancy--just a plain sock. A portable project. The yarn is from Sundara's Petal Collection sock club--Lenten Rose. (I just realized that Ash Wednesday is next week. Probably the subconscious at work when I chose the yarn out of the stash.)



And I've cast on for a sweater. My first one! The pattern is Anne Hanson's Jackie and the yarn is Briar Rose Fibers Fourth of July in a custom color.



This doesn't look like much. But since I've been talking about this sweater since November, I've finally taken the first step--casting on!

A New Beginning

2010 is going to be the year of a sweater for me. Just one--my first.

Sometimes I think I need a knitting shrink to figure out why I have a sweater phobia because I've never, ever made one. I haven't even knit so much as a baby sweater. For the past couple of years, I've thought, "This is it--I'm doing it. I'm knitting a sweater."

But how many sweaters have you seen on this blog? Nada. Nothing. Zero. Calling Dr. Knitting Shrink!

However, at the Knitters Review Retreat, it all came together for me. I took a sweater class with Ann Hanson. Ann's skilled teaching gave me a huge boost of confidence. Plus I have my measurements and a load of tips for knitting a sweater.

And, sure enough, a pattern I've had my eye on--Jackie Leisure Jacket-- was for sale in the Retreat's marketplace. No excuses--"Oh, I'll buy and download it later." Suddenly I had the pattern in my hands.

One of the suggested yarns is Briar Rose's Fourth of July. Chris, of Briar Rose, was at the Retreat and, again, I had no excuse for talking with her right then and there and placing an order.

And that brings us to right now.





Look at me, I'm swaaaaaatching!