Knit Once, Purl Forever

The Real Mystery

 

I just found out about the Through the Loops Mystery Sock project today. I've always wanted to participant in a "mystery" project and I always participate in Soktoberfest. What a perfect way to kill two birds?

Now I'm off to select a sock yarn from my stash and get started on  this project!

So what if I have already have a pair of unfinished socks on the needles? So what if I have a barely start baby blanket on the needles for a baby who has already arrived? So what if I should be knitting the Sheldon turtle for said baby's older brother? So what if I should be starting the x-mas stocking I promised the Hubby long ago? So what if I really should be knitting any number of UFOs that I won't name (they're on my Ravelry page)?

Why would I ignore all of these projects?

It's a mystery all right.

Or maybe not....

Project Update: Josephine

Here's  my latest project:

This is Josephine. She doesn't photograph well.

Pattern: Josephine Top by Deborah Newton

Yarn: Rowan 4-ply Cotton in a super pale colorway.

Needles: US 4

Other: Originally, I did not really care for the color of this yarn as it is so super pale. I received it during one of my secret pal swap escapades way back when. I had read on that person's blog that the yarn was a failed selection for one of her projects, so she gifted it to me. I've kept it in my stash for a long time, unsure what or if I would ever find a project for it.

That said, I think this yarn is perfect for this project. I love that it is pale as I think the pattern shows up well.  I think this will turn out great. There's just no telling when it will be finished. I need to find the urge to knit more.

And I seem to be on a knitting roll. I'm two for two in knitting two days in a row. Yay me!

Sick

I'm sick. Too sick to talk, blog, or even knit very much.

I do have a new project on the needles. Here's a couple photos I took  prior to coming down with the creeping crud:

More information available via Ravelry (must log in).

Turning Point in Knitting: Wheat Cable Vest

I've reached the turning point on the Wheat Cable Vest and it is temporarily on ice or in timeout--whatever you want to call it.  For once, it is not my fault. Really, it's not my fault.

Here's the front of the vest:

It was originally going to be the back, but I knit too far and happened to stop at the exact length that was written for the front. The front and back are knit the same up until the armhole shaping, so it was all good. I followed directions for the front and finished one of the shoulders. Then I took a good look at my project and a good look at the schematic of the pattern side by side:

Do you see what is wrong here?

Yep, I didn't do any shaping for the armhole. I've read thru the pattern several times and I really don't think it's my fault. I'm almost 100 percent sure that I followed the instructions as written and the armhole shaping for the front has been left out of the pattern instructions. I would say 100 percent for sure, but I'm never 100 percent sure about my knitting at any time. I know there's always a slight chance that I'm off track or that I will be off track.

The turning point is when I make the connection that my knitted item is not going as it should. What to do now?

The next step is to rip that one completed shoulder back and figure out what I need to do to get some shaping going for the arms. I'm hesitant to do so and the vest and I stared at each other for the better part of the day yesterday. And I know this shouldn't be a big deal because errors in pattern instructions happen. Errors HAPPEN! I'm just not used to the error belonging to anyone other than myself.

Now to turn the corner and fix it. That's the real turning point here.

The Tipping Point in Knitting

I'm currently reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a great read, filled with interesting case studies and stories to illustrate each point. I'm really enjoying reading it as I enjoy learning about human behavior and how we're influenced. Here's a summary from the book itself, "The Tipping Point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire."

Anyone who follows knitting blogs is well aware that certain knitting trends or patterns have definitely crossed that threshold, tipped, and spread like wildfire all over knitblogland. The Monkey Socks,  Clapotis,  Ballband Dishcloths, the Rogue sweater, and the Jaywalker Socks are just a few of the projects that have spread like wildfire infecting many, many knitters and knitting bloggers. I've been aware of this trend for as long as I have been knitting and blogging about knitting, but before now I never really gave much thought to the reasons behind the overly compelling urge to knit these projects because everyone else is doing it.

In fact, in the past I've always considered that the reason to knit these popular projects is just that: because everyone else is knitting it. There is something to say about the stickiness factor of seeing different takes on the same project every time you surf to another blog. A couple of times, I've found myself knitting projects that did not really appeal to me the first time I saw them.

After reading half of this book, I find myself wondering if I'm knitting those "wildfire" projects because of the patterns and finished objects or because of the influences and personalities of the knitters responsible for spreading the fires in the first place. What do you think? Are you influenced by the pattern or the knitter? Are you influenced by anyone in particular? Or is it simply a matter of seeing the same project knit over and over that makes us crumble and cast on?

Which comes first? The pattern or the knitter?

Snow Way

I should have a finished Snowflake Sweater to show you, but I don't. It's almost finished. In fact, I probably would be finished if I had knit sleeves for my real arms instead of for the Go Go Gadget arms that I apparently believe that I have. I don't have Go Go Gadget arms as handy as that would be. And that little mistake caused me to have to rip 2 inches from the cast on edge of both sleeves.

I don't know if you've ever ripped the cast on edge of a ribbed sleeve, but it was not easy. It was not as simple as pulling the yarn and watching the sleeve unravel. Not at all. I had to use a crochet hook and unravel each stitch one by one. Did I mention that this was no fun?

I'm also wrestling with seaming up the raglan sleeves. I'm taking a lot of care to get this right as I want to wear the finished object. The Hubby even noticed that this project is taking me longer than normal to finish and commented on that fact. I tried to explain that this is the first sweater that I have knitted flat versus knitting in the round. Finishing is a lot faster with the "round" version. The explanation was a bit lost on The Hubby, but I'll have to remember the truth about the finishing of each type of sweater the next time I  get ready to cast on for a new sweater project.

Of course, I already have two partially knit sweaters on deck for the Clean Slate Knit along and guess how many of those are knit in the round. That would be zero. Maybe I'll know what I'm doing by the time I finished the third sweater. One can only hope!

Cat Got My Words

I may not be a woman of many words, but I have been a woman of many knits. In fact, I've been knitting my little heart out.

Here's the progress on my latest project:

It's the first sleeve of the Snowflake Sweater in the Bernat Cashmere booklet. As recommended in the pattern, I'm using the Bernat Cashmere in Earth (brown) and Petal (pale pink). So far, I love this yarn.  And I love this project too.

I recently broke out the winter clothes and I'm definitely in a funk with my winter wardrobe. I've had a lot of my sweaters for several years and I would really like new sweaters. I think that's the inspiration behind the first sleeve. I hope it sticks around.

And if this is not enough progress in the knitting department, I've also made good progress on the Socktoberfest socks. More about that soon!

And my words? Maybe this guy took them. He sure doesn't seem too concerned if he did...

Long Time, No See or Speak

I haven't had much to say on the blog lately. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that blogging just hasn't occurred to me lately. It hasn't crossed my mind and I haven't even spent any time thinking about what I might write if I were going to post an entry.

Of course, that doesn't meant that there's hasn't been a lot of knitting going on here. It's mostly been all about socks here at the Knit Once blog. I currently have three different sock projects on the needles: the Monkey socks, a simple ribbed sock, and the new sock pattern that I featured in the photo in my last post.

And then I dreamed about making another baby blanket like the Mystery Baby Blanket I created last fall.  I think this one will have some new twists, which I will post about here when I know for sure. This blanket will be knit in two shades of solid blue squares mixed with white squares. I won't use variegated yarn this time. I am planning to use the same flannel fabric on the other side of the quilt if there is enough of it leftover from last time.

I'll be back later with photos of what I have so far.

Sir Rips a Lot

The voices were right you know. Sharon knew. I knew it too, but I loved that colorway so much that I REALLY wanted it to work.

This is what's left of the Sirdar Jacket in the Plum colorway (145). Although I really love that colorway, I had to admit that it's just not the best choice for a cable sweater. Ripping the sweater was a wise decision. The Plum colorway will find the right pattern eventually. It's inevitable.

As for the Sirdar Jacket?

We're back in business with gray Rowan Felted Tweed in colorway 159.

Yay! There is finally a pattern going on here that we can actually see! I love this yarn by the way. Did I mention that already?

It's crunch time at the office this week, so I don't know that I will be around all that much. I will try.

Sir Time Out

That's the status of the Sirdar Jacket. I ignored the voice (is it bad if it's voices?) in my head for as long as I could until I could no longer ignore the fact that we really need a time out.

 

It even looks guilty, doesn't it? Notice how it curls up and away from the camera? Guilt. Pure and simple.

The stitch markers talked me into a shameless beauty shot. You know I've been dying to use these, but they're actually necessary too. I've found that they help me follow along with the pattern. And the reason for that?

It's not easy to see the cable pattern because this yarn is so dark. I've only knit 10 rows of the cable pattern so far, but I think that would ordinarily be enough to get a sense of the pattern.

You can see the pattern in this off-color shot.

I really love this yarn and I like the way the cable pattern is shaping up. But the pesky voices tell me to stop knitting. They say the cable pattern won't show. They warn of the danger of knitting an entire sweater and not being happy with the results. It's very disconcerting because the more I knit, the more they nag. I keep telling those pesky voices that the pattern will still pop out with time and many more pattern repeats--we, the voices and I, just need to be patient. It will be more obvious if I just knit more. Who's right?

Of course, even if I do decide to continue knitting Sirdar with this yarn, I have another reason to rip. Can you see what I've done?

Next to the Ladybug (to the right, to the right), I've replaced the seed stitch that is shown on the pattern picture with 1x1 ribbing. And I hate the way this looks! In my defense, it wasn't intentional. I *swear* that I followed the pattern as written and ended up with the 1x1 ribbing. I've studied the pattern several times now, and when you alternate k1, p1 with p1, k1, 1x1 ribbing is the results.

So, Sirdar is in time out until I decide if I'm going to rip down to the band and begin the pattern again with seed stitch on the panels that surround the cable pattern. What to do, what to do????