Quick Update

I am currently on a trip with my parents - they flew to London from Seattle last Thursday, and we've been having a good time so far travelling around and doing a bunch of family history at the same time.

The bad is that I haven't knitted as much as I would like, and that our schedule has meant that I haven't been able to go to some stores (such as Get Knitted) that I was hoping to go to.

The good is that they came bearing gifts! I had ordered a ton of stuff from Knit Picks that they brought with them - some yarn to finish my Ravenclaw scarf, new cable lengths for my Options set and some yarn for my first ever sweater! Soon, you will get to enjoy (making fun of me) knitting up A Cardigan for Arwen.

I'm either brave or very, very stupid :)

Spring Sprogs (FO!)

Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don't you? 'Course you do.
--Tom Lehrer, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"


Ahhh... spring. I don't know about where you are, but here in Jolly Ole England, spring is in full force. Hundreds of daffodils can be seen almost anywhere you go (it's quite breathtaking, actually), and cherry blossoms are starting to appear. It's a time when heavy coats are put aside, people look at their gardens (usually in dismay), and this year - two of my cousins are due within weeks of each other.

As a beginning knitter, I had to think long and hard about what to make them. They are sisters-in-law, so I didn't want to make a sweater/blanket/bear set for one and then a pair of booties for the other. Also, while I'm up for trying anything, I did have to think about projects I could do - twice - in the amount of time I had left myself (about 3 months). I decided baby booties would be the best course of action.


Pattern: Ballet Pumps (left) and Mary Janes (right) from Sublime's "15 Designs for Babies".
Yarn: Plymouth Dreambaby DK (50% acrylic, 50% nylon) in colors black (113) and pink (126).
Needles: KnitPicks Options 4.5 mm (US7)
New-to-me Techniques: Increases (Make One versions A and B), Decreases (K2tog TBL and K2tog), short row shaping.
Start/Finish: Mary Janes: 03 FEB 07 - 12 MAR 07. Ballet Pumps: 05 MAR 07 - 12 MAR 07



My cousin, Dave, and his wife, Heidi, are expecting a girl. I know that this is what they were hoping for, as they already have a son, and so I thought the pink would be a perfect choice for them. Of course, at first I was reading the pattern entirely wrong (as you may have read in my earlier post.



My cousin, Michelle, and her husband, Chris, are also expecting a girl. I thought the combination of black bootie with red ties would fit in nicely with their goth lifestyle.



This was my first project using my new Options needle set that I had received at Christmas. All I can say is that I really love this set. As a new knitter, I was so thankful to have a variety of needles available to me as I was swatching for these. The cables are nice and flexible, the tips nice and pointy, and in some ways I think I may prefer them to my Addi Turbos (can I say that and still be a knitter?). If you're thinking of getting a set of interchangeables, I highly recommend these. The bonus is you can buy any of the pieces individually should you lose a tip or a cable or just if you have that much knitting to do.



I also enjoyed working with the yarn. While the recommended yarn is a lovely-to-the-touch cashmere/merino blend, I really felt that something machine washable would be a bit more important. As it is, this yarn is quite comparable in softness, plus it came in black, which was a must-have!

All in all, I really enjoyed this project. Once I figured out how to read the pattern correctly *blush* I could easily sit down and work one bootie up in an evening. That combined with how little yarn is used is a great weapon to have in your knitting arsenal for that last minute baby shower.

Wow!

I just wanted to give a thank you to the many who have commented, welcoming me to the land of knit blogs and knitting (since I'm still a beginner!)

I've listened to several podcasts, where the hosts will talk about what a warm and welcoming community this is, and I just have to say how true it is, and how much it is appreciated!

I have a couple more FOs to post soon - two adorable pairs of baby booties that I'm early with (at least, I haven't heard of the recipients being born yet!)

I'm heading into York tomorrow, which will (of course) include a stop by a yarn shop :)

FO - Irish Hiking Scarf

Pattern: Hello Yarn's Irish Hiking Scarf
Wool: Lion Brand Wool-Ease (80% acrylic, 20% wool) in Oxford Grey #152. 3 skeins used.
Needles: Addi Turbo US 8 (5.0mm) circular
New-to-me Techniques: Cables!
Start/finish: 20 Dec 06 - 29 Jan 07

My husband, who I tend to call Mr. Tall in the blogosphere, bikes and trains to work every day. The cold and wet weather here in England is a lot different than in his native Southern California. I felt very guilty about having the car during the day while he is stuck commuting, so I offered to make him a scarf as a peace offering.

I showed him a number of patterns that I was really gung-ho to try, and we both agreed on this one. It is manly enough for him and it gave me something new to learn, so we were both quite happy.

I cast on our first day back in the states for Christmas. I accompanied my mother-in-law and brother-in-law as we took grandma to a doctor's appointment. I cast on in the waiting room, and 8 rows in, when I successfully turned my first cable, I was so excited, I quickly showed my brother-in-law. He did a god job humoring me and seeming impressed. I found the pattern really easy and fun and quickly got to the point where I just didn't need the pattern anymore.

At first, the yarn felt a bit scratchy to me, but I got used to it, and it started feeling very nice. It was a good match for my addi turbos - I felt like I could fly along on this project (fly is a relative term for me as a beginning knitter).

Mr. Tall is also quite happy with it, and got to use it a few times before spring made it's debut here in Yorkshire. I'm also really glad that I got the make-a-project-for-your-husband thing out of the way as that seems to trip a lot of people up ;)

If I was to do this pattern again (which I would like to do), I would most likely stagger the cabling in the middle row, so that there was cabling every 4th row, as I really looked forward to that part. It might also be interesting to make the middle cable a different color, and if you use two skeins of the same color for the outside cables, this may be possible, right? Again, beginner here so I'm still figuring all of this out ;)

The importance of pattern reading

As a beginning knitter, one thing has been hammered into my head as being of the utmost importance when picking up needles and casting on. This is so important that should I fail in any way, gremlins will pop out from my couch cushions, rip my needles from my hands, and chomp them to bits. They will nibble away at my fingers, so that I can never knit again since I am unworthy of being deemed a knitter. That one thing, holiest of holy, is gauge.

Every pattern starts with a reminder to us, the knitters, lest we forget: "Take time to check your gauge". Today, I share with you something even more important than gauge *hears a collective gasp across the knitti-verse*. Perhaps it is the naïveté of being a beginner in a craft where so many have gone before that I dare even suggest that this one thing is more important than gauge. Perhaps I will go down in history as being wise, and brave enough to exclaim "The emperor has no clothes". I will take shelter in the relative anonymity that is the internet and forge on. I will open myself up for potential finger-nibbling by gremlins. Heck, I'll just say it:

Reading a pattern correctly is more important than making gauge.

*looks around the room and notes a distinct lack of gremlins*

Well then, I guess I am free to explain myself. Knit something to gauge, and whatever you knit may fit, but it could be non-functional or unwearable in public. Your sweater may have sprouted a third arm. Your glove may have forgotten your opposable thumb. None of it really matters if you can't read the pattern correctly. Why then, don't pattern makers also warn "Take time to understand the pattern"?

Now, I realize in posting this that experienced knitters will get a good chuckle at this. But beginning knitters out there may learn a good lesson from my misfortune. My pattern, for a pair of Mary Jane Baby Booties read as follows:

Cast off 9 sts (1 st remains on needle), k2, slip these 3 sts onto a safety pin, cast off 3 sts...

So, I did the following:
I cast off 9 sts
I knit 2
I moved my NEXT 3 sts to the safety pin
I continued casting off 3 sts.

This produced a bootie with a very inconveniently placed strap:

Knowing that is not what was intended, I figured it HAD to be because of gauge, the most important power in the knitti-verse. I therefore started again and paid careful attention to each and every stitch. That bootie came out the same. Luckily, at the time, I was at my LKG (Local Knitting Group). A wise and experienced knitter, Julia, came to my aid and pointed out the error of my ways... I frogged back. I then:
Cast off 9 sts (leaving one on the needle)
Knit 2
Moved THOSE three sts to the safety pin.

In the end, all was right with the world. The resultant bootie looked like this:

In hindsight, I can't read the pattern without seeing how clear and obvious the directions are. Isn't that how hindsight works, though? The benefit of time and added wisdom makes one embarrassed to remember what they once thought - how feathered bangs or acid washed jeans were a great look, how cool New Kids on the Block were, or how That Boy was simply the best thing ever to have happened to you.

That is why I kept that first, failed bootie. I will put it in a box somewhere, and when I feel like taking a trip down memory lane, I will find it (probably under a Vanilla Ice cassette tape), laugh at it, remember lessons learned, and I'll realize just how much I've learned and how much is left to know.

Article Link

Perhaps it was kismet that I was listening to Bessie Smith's "Whoa, Tillie, Take Your Time" when I stumbled across this article on knitting. Given that the author is a person of faith and I was wading through my to-do list, perhaps it was a divine message.

This list of "faith lessons from knitting" applies to any religious background. For me, the one I always lose sight of is the last one:

8. While finished products are nice - and sometimes very nice - it's realy the process that's the most important. After all, if all you wanted was a sweater, you could have bought one cheaper and a lot faster than knitting one. Living is all about process too, about the working at it, day in and day out. The finished product - the life well lived - is celebrated when we aren't there anymore, at our funeral. Until then, we just keep working at it, one stitch at a time.

I think this is especially nice, because one of the reasons I truly enjoy knitting is how deceptively simple it is, and how relatively untouched it is by technological advances. Really, there is no magic technique we can use to speed up the process of making a sweater or a pair of socks, and still be hand-knitting a garment. We can make socks two at a time on two circular needles, and while this may make the socks go quicker (or at least avoid second-sock syndrome), it doesn't change the fact that they were knit stitch by stitch by stitch.

I think there is a lot about life in general to be learned from knitting, and perhaps the reverse is true.

For now, I wanted to share this article with those who have not yet read it. Are there other lessons you would like to add? Comment and tell me. :)

FO - Chocolate Rib Hat

Pattern: That Chocolate's Gone Straight to Your Ribs Hat
Wool: Paton's Fab (100% acrylic) in brown.
Needles: Clover Mamboo Needles 4.0 mm
New-to-me techniques: k2tog, working in the round on two circulars

I found this pattern really easy to follow and work up. As my first ever finished project, I was so excited when I finished that I ran up and had to show my husband right away, despite the fact that he was asleep in bed. I'm nothing if not enthusiastic :)

This above picture reminded me of something. It ate at me for awhile until it hit me... the way the hat decreases at the top reminds me of Dumb Donald from Fat Albert:

The hat was a Christmas gift to my brother-in-law, Matt. When I mentioned I was learning to knit, he asked me for a brown skull cap. Matt was an ideal recipient of my first ever FO because he is very laid back and easy going that I didn't have to worry about making it perfect or what his reaction would be.

Matt currently lives in Arizona, where it's been cold enough lately that I hear he's gotten an opportunity to wear it!