Aaaaaargh!

It must be scream like a f*ing pirate day, because I just realized how badly I’ve messed up Haruni part B.  As in, now I need to frog back all 11 rows I’ve done on it.

I was so SURE I had downloaded the corrected pattern (but apparently I hadn’t), even sent notes to the designer to make sure I was knitting it right, and still I managed to totally mess up the repeat structure.  I think I know what’s needed now, though.

So, back in the freezer with it, and I will just have to go to my socks for comfort knitting.

Did I mention the benefits of multiple WIPs?

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Multiple WIPs Again!

Well, didn’t win the Knit – A- While Vampire Giveaway.  Ah, well. so it goes, there’s a great KnitCircus giveaway from Sunsetcat

toes and beginning of ribbing on size one circs...

On the plus side, I cast on Ann Bud’s “On Your Toes” socks from Interweave knits. Used Judy Becker’s Magic Cast On (which I love, btw).   It’s a nice, simple pattern, perfectly suitable for TV knitting or late night casual conversation knitting.  The Knit Picks yarn is a great change from my love-hate relationship with mohair as well.  It’s well behaved and doesn’t surprise me (and it looks yummy too).

As I mentioned in the Labor Day Episode of the Ramblin Ambler, I got mixed up about the size of the Addi circs in my knitting bag, and wasted time buying more US #2′s when I needed #1′s. Fortunately, the LYS was really nice about letting me swap them, so that’s cool. (Of course, I probably should have gotten shorter circs, but live and learn).

I’m still working on Haruni (and well into Part B now, need to get a good picture of that I suppose).  Just getting to the point where that part is starting to ‘make sense’, and approaching yet another transition point.   I actually decided I had to print out the chart key, because otherwise I’ll never remember where it’s K2Tog first and Sl2K1PSSO for the other repeats and where it’s Sl2K1PSSO first and Sl1K1PSSO for all the others (or however it goes).

I also frogged the Calla.  I think it had just been hibernating too long, and when I picked it up again I couldn’t get the stitch counts right, and besides, the pattern really would have been better with a shinier yarn.  Maybe market bags for that cotton poly blend…?

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Fuzzy Grass, Fuzzy Yarn

Got some more pictures taken.

Here’s  some nice grass gone to seed by the Dorsey Train Station.  I think it’s beautiful myself.  I also took pictures from the train station itself, from the front and the back. I particularly like the Maryland flag on the front and the sunlight through the window on the back.

Entered Knit-A-While’s Vampire Knits giveaway (end date 9 September). I didn’t enter the contest at You Just Gotta Keep Knitting, because I just couldn’t beat one of those names, but if you think you might the deadline is 27 September.

I’ve recovered the five rows I frogged on Haruni, putting it in the freezer did the trick nicely.  I talked a little bit about the recovering/lifeline process in today’s episode of  the Ramblin Ambler, mostly because I’d never heard anyone else addressing the issue I’ve been having with it (i.e. the lifeline is there, but it doesn’t hold the stitches ‘nicely’ as a needle would, even if you tug on it, when you’re working with really grabby yarn like, say, mohair).  Took it to the first Labor Day foodfest an showed off how pretty it is even on the needles (can’t wait to see what it looks like blocked…).  Will take more pictures once I have enough of the border that the change of pattern is clear.

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Really Kinda Sucks

Well, as I was nearing the end of the last round of lace repeats in part A of Haruni, I realized that there was a BIG problem.  The first ‘stem’ was really, tragically, misshapen.  I finally realized that there was no way to delicately work back on this one, there was nothing for it but to frog back to my lifeline.

Remember how I said I didn’t much liking with the Claudia handpanted mohair, but I’d probably start to love it by the end of the project.  Yeah, I was loving it, up until I started to frog.  Then it turned into this cobwebby, goopy, grabby ooze of a yarn.  That, and it broke (so I spit spliced it).   That was just, well, a really gross tactile experience.

On the other hand, now that I’m back at the lifeline, with all the stitches neatly picked up again and my Knit Picks cables neatly linked together with that little adaptor I picked up, I’m prepared to start loving the project once more.  Hopefully I’ll be back where I was soon, then I’ll check the size of my yarn ball (expecting the 17x mm circumferance or more), and get on to the excitement of knitting that lovely border.

In other news, it’s damn hot here.  And my A/C is broken.  Posting from the computers in the public library (did I ever mention that I love my library?).

Edited to add – I found a blog contest which gives away a skein of Lorna’s Laces (I’ve always wanted to try that!) Check out Kim Werker’s blog.

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Well, That Was an Adventure

The ICC (Inter County Connector), MD rte 200, is being built across I95 between DC and Baltimore.  Leaving aside the myriad issues this brings up, ecological and otherwise, and just talking about the physical structure, it’s really pretty.  I’ve been wanting to take pictures for a while, and the other day I finally did.

There’s a problem, however, with pulling off 95 to take pictures of construction sites, and that’s getting back on 95 afterward.  So rather than trying to ease my way back onto the shoulder and then merging into traffice, I pulled through the gravel path and onto the on/off ramp, also being built.  I’m glad that I did, because once I drove up the rise I saw some more really pretty construction. (images link to larger copies).

I took all these pictures at very high resolution, figuring I had the option of either scaling down the finished picture or cropping in regions of interest.

So then I had to figure out how to get back on 95.  I asked a friendly construction worker, who suggested I pull through the site, turn left, then right, and I’d end up back on MD 198, which I did.  So that was a bit of an explore.  Drove off to a quaint littl hardware store I like and spent too much for a weed wacker.

Following up to Thea’s question about the stitch marker, here’s what happens if you use a non split ring and the ‘trick’ to thread a lifeline through, the ring gets stuck.  Click to get a larger image which really shows the unblocked texture (purl side of shawl).

I’ve entered a couple more Blog Contests.  Sunset Cat is giving away some combination of yarn, stitchmarkers and patterns, plus is fixing to review knitting books (drawing from a date guessing pool).  To celebrate her 50^th post Implausible Yarn is giving away yarn and a bag, (drawing from those who explain their blog or screen names).

The Haruni itself is coming along nicely.  The ball of yarn is now 19.5 cm in diameter, so coming up on that halfway mark (I’ve totally lost count of my repeats, so this is now my only check…  GAK!  If I miscalculate and run out of yarn I’ll scream).

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Speaking of non sequitors…

I found the camera, and did drive down 95 yesterday, but chickened out when it came to pulling over and taking the picture.  I got this on through the passenger side of the car while driving down route 1, though:

Of course, as soon as I uploaded it to Flickr I found a better one of the same thing, actually, a whole bunch of them. Notice how well KimberlyFaye composed the picture.  I’d be jealous if I hadn’t taken mine while driving by.   I think I did reasonably well, considering.  I guess rule #1 for take better pictures is stop the car?  Meh, I’m not unhappy with it.

…and speaking of knitting, today’s blog contest is brought to you by ArizonaKnitter, who’s giving away the Vogue Lace Knitting Stictionary.  Check it out!

I’ve been working on Haruni, and am really pleased with the progress.  I followed a tip from Ravelry, and threaded my lifeline through the hole in my KnitPicks interchangeables (it’s there to tighten the tip with).  This brings it through easily and without worrying about skipping a stitch, and it doesn’t slow down the knitting either.  The downside is that I can’t use my ‘snag free’ stitch markers, there needs to be a break in the loop to free the lifeline with.  Ah, well, it’s a learning experience anyway.

I keep taking pictures of the Haruni, hoping I can show how the lace pattern develops.  I’m not really satisfied with what’s been coming through.  But see if you can spot how the center of one ‘leaf’ leads to the next ‘stem’ and vice versa.  Little, interlocking curves of stitches, making airy and dense sections which flow into each other.   I’m really happy with it.  As predicted, the mohair is growing on me as well.

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Growing the Feather and Fan

Well, I’ve been working on the Haruni, and it’s coming along nicely.  I’m getting used to the Claudia’s Handpainted Mohair as well.  That beautiful halo (which I love, BTW) comes from horrible, hairy, loosely plied yarn, which I didn’t think I could tolerate.  Who knows, by the time the project’s done I might well miss it.

I’ve been dealing with Cast-On withdrawal by working through the CraftLit back catalog.  This is actually more entertaining than downloading directly from Libravox, both for the book-clubish elements and because rather than choosing from hundreds of books I’ve been choosing from a limited library.  Just finished Turn of the Screw, and am in the middle of A Tale of Two Cities.  I’m thinking I’ll skip Frankenstein, because that would be re-reading, and it’s not the point of the exercise.

I’ll probably be starting another project in the next few days.  It’s always nice to have more than one thing on the needles.  I’m also considering joining a yarn swap.  If I do it, I’ll post it.

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…and, a year later…

Claudia

Originally uploaded by efbq

Yeah. I know. My last post was in May of ’09. sorry about that.

Still here, still knitting. I’m about to start my most ambitious project to date, a mohair shawl known as Haruni (which is the Elvish word for grandmother, per Tolkein). The pattern, which is absolutely awesome, is a free download from Ravelry. (If you don’t have a Ravelry account Chemgrrl has a picture up on her blog)

So I’ve got some really yummy yarn, Claudia’s Handpainted Yarns Kid Mohair in “Just Plum”.  I found an amazing shawl pin which matches it perfectly.  The pattern calls for the same yardage as in my skein, and states that about half the yardage goes into the border, and states very clearly how many repeats of the base pattern to do before beginning the border.

Still, I’m a bit paranoid about running out of yarn in the middle of the border, so I want a check on how many repeats I can manage.  To that end I’m pulling out my algebra skills, so I’ll be able to reassure myself I’m not going to run short.

I don’t have a really good scale, so I’m going to have to rely on measurements.  The ball is 217 mm in circumference.

IIRC, circumference is 2π4 and volume is 4/3 πr³

By my calculations, this gives a radius of about 35mm, and a volume of about 179,503mm³.

So, half that volume (89,751mm³) would give a final radius of 28mm and a circumference of 176mm.  So I have a way to check myself.

Of course, the first calculations gave me a final circumference of 35mm, which can’t be right, so who knows how far off my math still is…

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