More on Why I Frogged This

Sideways Cardigan beginning
Originally uploaded by sunasak

You may be wanting more info on why I frogged my start on the sweater on the cover of the Spring 2008 Vogue Knitting. Or not, but I'll tell you anyway.

I found the pattern an interesting challenge, especially the backwards lifted increase, which took me a while to suss out. But, it looked thin and weak in the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton DK weight yarn (gee whiz, could they have made that yarn name any longer???). I kept looking at it and thinking it was just not as substantial as the picture in the magazine, even though I had the correct gauge. I finally came to the conclusion that I would like it a lot better in a thicker yarn. I had mis-read the pattern in the first place, and thought it called for the yarn I had, which it hadn't.

If you look at the picture, you'll see how thin it is. I tried to convince a friend who was making the #1 pattern in my same yarn, only white, that hers also looked a bit thin. I think she was agreeing with me, as we looked at her swatch.

Then I realized there was another pattern in the same issue that was done at least partially from side to side. And it was lacy. And the yarn used in that sweater was DK weight. It's #29, Lace and Cable top (link is to Ravelry--apologies if you aren't on there). It has a really fun and interesting lace pattern combined with a very fat cable. I am using my metal KnitPicks and really enjoying it. The yarn does split a bit, but the metal makes it go much smoother than the wood versions do. It's slow going because, well, I hate to say it, but I have been so tired in the evenings that I have not been able to knit much at all. Tonight may be a good knitting night, though.

My yarn shop friend didn't want to make this one because it is so full of holes. Let me assure you that, as a middle-aged person, I will be wearing a tank top under this blouse!!! My screamingly white flesh is not something I need to inflict upon the general public!

You'll have a picture of the work in progress soon, as well as the Frog Explosion sock I am knitting on the bus nowadays. I am over halfway finished with the second sock, so I guess I better photograph the first one, huh. I just haven't been home or awake long enough to take a picture.

Knitting Ups and Downs

Pagoda Lace and Bus Dashboard
Originally uploaded by sunasak

It was a very long weekend. And much knitting was done, though not all that much to show for it. Sigh. Took a major dip in the scummy old frog pond...

But, in good news, here is the Redwood Pagoda Lace sock #1 in Knitivity Redwood colored sock yarn, fresh off the needles in a rather scuzzy tour bus. I spent over 24 hours with the high school band on a trip to Arlington, Texas for a competition. I would have gotten a lot more knitting done if both the trip up and the trip back hadn't been during normal sleeping hours. I finished the sock while the rest of the folks were out procuring dinner in a locale full of preferred vendors: fast food, pizza and Starbucks. I stayed in and breathed diesel fumes and finished the sock.

I worked and worked on Mr. Greenjeans in red during the many hours we spent in a church rec hall between the preliminaries and finals of the competition. I made almost an entire sleeve but then realized that, sigh, I was making the size XL sleeve, not the L, and I would never hit 60 stitches before my arm length was reached at the rate I was decreasing. So, yesterday in my sleep deprived fog, I frogged the entire sleeve and redid it. Perhaps this time I decreased too briskly but it looks OK and I got down to where I want to start the ribbed border for the cuff. But it sure felt bad to re-do the same knitting twice. I did enjoy crafting with other band mothers, though, so I had good camaraderie with the crocheters and beaders who were also chaperoning.

I have nifty new yarn to post, perhaps tomorrow, thanks to the latest Loopy Ewe sneak-up. A couple of very interesting ones! And KnitPicks sent me a replacement #4 pair of tips for my Harmony set (you may recall, one original didn't screw in properly), so I now have one bonus 4. Good, I like that size. So, all is not lost--I just feel like I lost some productivity (yes, knitting is a process, and I should REJOICE that I get to knit twice with that nice Cascade 220, yup). But I have new things I want to knit!

Not much knitting time today, but tomorrow I hope to get on to sleeve #2 and more done on sock #2.

I hope you all had better knitting weekends than I did!