Ladies and gentlemen... We have a jersey!
*Okay - it means plait not knit, but the ancient Romans weren't big on jumpers!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Veni Vieo* Vici
Ladies and gentlemen... We have a jersey!*Okay - it means plait not knit, but the ancient Romans weren't big on jumpers!
Good News, Bad News
Good News
I'm not innumerate... just stupid (and forgetful).
So I'm looking at this jumper, trying to work out what to do on the yoke, and it dawns on me that the pattern I wanted to use - feather and fan - works over a multiple of 12 stitches as well as over a multiple of 18. And since I clearly don't have a multiple of 18, I wonder if I have a multiple of 12? And then I think, 'That's a familiar thought...', and I go back to my pages and pages of calculations, and realise that in fact, that was what I intended to do all along. (Some days I shouldn't even get out of bed). So I whizz up the yoke, working my decreases in, whizz round the neck (including Elizabeth Zimmerman's suggested short rows because I'm feeling invincible) and cast off. I sew in all my loose ends, sew up the underarms, and Voila...
Bad News
The neck is too small to go over Katie's head.
So I'm going to have to unravel the neck and a fair chunk of the yoke and work out what to do next. And I've never successfully picked up stitches after unravelling in my life. Generally if I bugger something up this badly, I wind up undoing a whole piece. But because this jumper is basically knitted in one piece, that just not an option. So I grit my teeth, gird my loins (without quite understanding what that entails) and start unravelling... And what do you know?
Good News
It worked! I managed to pick up every stitch (and with none backwards yay!) and I can now work back up the yoke and make a bigger neck! And I'm throwing a photo in now in case it all turns to custard again and gets thrown on the fire:
The girly pink jumper is not the only project on the go, of course. I actually finished off Jessie's cardigan. I went to a handful of shops (two seconds to type that - three days to do it!) and
Bad News
I couldn't find any buttons that would work anywhere. But we are not to be defeated by a mere dearth of buttons! Oh no! Katie and I got busy with the fimo and created our own:
And, Good News
They work!
You can't really see them in that picture, but Jessie's forced smile was too good not to share! Here's a better look at them in place:
The 'I' keeps coming undone because it's so skinny, but do I care? Not even a little bit.
I'm not innumerate... just stupid (and forgetful).
So I'm looking at this jumper, trying to work out what to do on the yoke, and it dawns on me that the pattern I wanted to use - feather and fan - works over a multiple of 12 stitches as well as over a multiple of 18. And since I clearly don't have a multiple of 18, I wonder if I have a multiple of 12? And then I think, 'That's a familiar thought...', and I go back to my pages and pages of calculations, and realise that in fact, that was what I intended to do all along. (Some days I shouldn't even get out of bed). So I whizz up the yoke, working my decreases in, whizz round the neck (including Elizabeth Zimmerman's suggested short rows because I'm feeling invincible) and cast off. I sew in all my loose ends, sew up the underarms, and Voila...
Bad News
The neck is too small to go over Katie's head.
So I'm going to have to unravel the neck and a fair chunk of the yoke and work out what to do next. And I've never successfully picked up stitches after unravelling in my life. Generally if I bugger something up this badly, I wind up undoing a whole piece. But because this jumper is basically knitted in one piece, that just not an option. So I grit my teeth, gird my loins (without quite understanding what that entails) and start unravelling... And what do you know?
Good News
It worked! I managed to pick up every stitch (and with none backwards yay!) and I can now work back up the yoke and make a bigger neck! And I'm throwing a photo in now in case it all turns to custard again and gets thrown on the fire:
The girly pink jumper is not the only project on the go, of course. I actually finished off Jessie's cardigan. I went to a handful of shops (two seconds to type that - three days to do it!) andBad News
I couldn't find any buttons that would work anywhere. But we are not to be defeated by a mere dearth of buttons! Oh no! Katie and I got busy with the fimo and created our own:
And, Good News
They work!
You can't really see them in that picture, but Jessie's forced smile was too good not to share! Here's a better look at them in place:
The 'I' keeps coming undone because it's so skinny, but do I care? Not even a little bit.
Monday, August 04, 2008
1 + 1 = oh bugger!
It's official - I'm innumerate.
When I was planning out the sweater I'm knitting for Katie I couldn't find the calculator, and I had to work out how to fit the pattern I wanted on the yoke in with the decreases. So I have five pages that look like this:
It took ages, but I finally did it - and was very smug about not relying on technology... So I knitted the body up to the underarm, and I knitted the sleeves, and I joined them all together. Then I did a few rounds plain, and confidently began the pattern. I got to twelve stitches from the end of the round and realised that it just wasn't going to work.
I now know that 96 is not divisible by eighteen, so I guess I can count it as a learning exercise. And Katie is getting a sweater with a dead plain yoke. D'oh!
When I was planning out the sweater I'm knitting for Katie I couldn't find the calculator, and I had to work out how to fit the pattern I wanted on the yoke in with the decreases. So I have five pages that look like this:
It took ages, but I finally did it - and was very smug about not relying on technology... So I knitted the body up to the underarm, and I knitted the sleeves, and I joined them all together. Then I did a few rounds plain, and confidently began the pattern. I got to twelve stitches from the end of the round and realised that it just wasn't going to work.I now know that 96 is not divisible by eighteen, so I guess I can count it as a learning exercise. And Katie is getting a sweater with a dead plain yoke. D'oh!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Look
I just found a photo that the lovely Tracey from Knit Rangers had posted on flickr - this is me knitting the orange thing at a Knit Rangers meeting:
Apart from showing the glorious orangeness of the orange thing, this photo also shows my lovely new spectacles. I first got glasses when I was eleven, and I wore them off and on through my teenage years, but I stopped wearing glasses over twenty years ago. Then at the beginning of July, I trundled off to the optometrist and had my eyes checked - and I now have to wear glasses all the time (which will make the roads of Auckland a damn sight safer for everyone else!).
So there I am, all excited about my new specs, and about how clear everything looks, and do you know? Not one person aside from my immediate family has even noticed??? The other day I commented on a customer's new hair cut and colour, and she was thrilled because no-one else had mentioned it, and I'm sitting there thinking, "I noticed your hair cut because of my new GLASSES. If I wasn't wearing GLASSES I wouldn't have noticed!" but nothing, not a sausage.
I said to my partner, "Maybe it's because people just expect middle-aged women to wear glasses." Which made him go white, and mutter 'middle-aged??????'. Then he had to race off and look at sports cars on trademe until he felt better.
Apart from showing the glorious orangeness of the orange thing, this photo also shows my lovely new spectacles. I first got glasses when I was eleven, and I wore them off and on through my teenage years, but I stopped wearing glasses over twenty years ago. Then at the beginning of July, I trundled off to the optometrist and had my eyes checked - and I now have to wear glasses all the time (which will make the roads of Auckland a damn sight safer for everyone else!).So there I am, all excited about my new specs, and about how clear everything looks, and do you know? Not one person aside from my immediate family has even noticed??? The other day I commented on a customer's new hair cut and colour, and she was thrilled because no-one else had mentioned it, and I'm sitting there thinking, "I noticed your hair cut because of my new GLASSES. If I wasn't wearing GLASSES I wouldn't have noticed!" but nothing, not a sausage.
I said to my partner, "Maybe it's because people just expect middle-aged women to wear glasses." Which made him go white, and mutter 'middle-aged??????'. Then he had to race off and look at sports cars on trademe until he felt better.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
This is getting silly...
Honestly - I should rename this blog 'the monthly excuse'.
I was all geared up to post on the 14th of July - because I finished a sleeveless pullover the day before (having started it on the 4th of July - ooooh - just occurred to me that it was knitted between American Independence Day and Bastille Day, and since it was done on circulars it should really be called the Revolutionary Pullover. He he he. Jeez that was bad - forgive me: I'm very tired!)
Where was I? Oh yes - so there was I all set to post, having wrested control of the computer from the children, when Jess announced she'd put a bead up her nose. She didn't, of course, announce this to me - she waited until I let her have five minutes on the phone to my sister, and then told her. So we dropped the phone, grabbed the keys and hot-footed it down to the local emergency clinic, where a very nice doctor removed a shiny pink bead from her left nostril. I gave her a good telling off - no so much about the bead per se, but about being so unoriginal - a three year old sticking a bead up her nose is such a cliche!
And since then I've either been too tired, too busy or too far down the queue to be able to get on the computer and post. Jess has discovered the joys of the computer, and if she's not fighting Katie for a turn, they're both fighting their father for a go. And I get to sit and knit, which is nice.
So the pullover...
First the good stuff: I adore adore adore the wool I used - Cleckheaton Vintage Hues (which I vaguely recall raving about the last time I used it [yes I did - here].) And the colours are fabulous - all 1970s oranges and yellows and greens. And I'm ever so proud of myself, because it's the first garment I've knitted entirely on circular needles, the first V-neck I've ever done, and I didn't have a pattern.
The bad news is that I got the tension wrong and it's wider than it was supposed to be - so it sort of sits out around the hips. And then of course the biggie - variegated wool knitted in the round makes stripes and when you divide at the armholes the stripes get wider. I knew that, really. But when I first put it on I was a little taken aback at quite how desperately unflattering it is. The combination of wide horizontal stripes, bulky wool, and one narrow stripe that somehow appeared right in the middle makes my bosom look huger and droopier than ever. So attractive.
Good job really that I don't much care! It's lovely and cosy and warm and I've been wearing it quite happily - I just avoid mirrors while I've got it on.
In other knitting news I started a cardigan for Jess on Monday and finished it today - six days! Yay for huge needles! I say finished, although it hasn't yet got buttons, but I don't have any buttons to sew on and I figure since I still haven't done the buttons on the Sunrise thing...
It's based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater - and it fits beautifully. And I'm three quarters of the way through a jumper for Katie (again EZ's seamless sweater) but that's on 4mm needles so it'll take a little longer.
And now I'm off to bed... Back in September I guess! :)
I was all geared up to post on the 14th of July - because I finished a sleeveless pullover the day before (having started it on the 4th of July - ooooh - just occurred to me that it was knitted between American Independence Day and Bastille Day, and since it was done on circulars it should really be called the Revolutionary Pullover. He he he. Jeez that was bad - forgive me: I'm very tired!)
Where was I? Oh yes - so there was I all set to post, having wrested control of the computer from the children, when Jess announced she'd put a bead up her nose. She didn't, of course, announce this to me - she waited until I let her have five minutes on the phone to my sister, and then told her. So we dropped the phone, grabbed the keys and hot-footed it down to the local emergency clinic, where a very nice doctor removed a shiny pink bead from her left nostril. I gave her a good telling off - no so much about the bead per se, but about being so unoriginal - a three year old sticking a bead up her nose is such a cliche!
And since then I've either been too tired, too busy or too far down the queue to be able to get on the computer and post. Jess has discovered the joys of the computer, and if she's not fighting Katie for a turn, they're both fighting their father for a go. And I get to sit and knit, which is nice.
So the pullover...
First the good stuff: I adore adore adore the wool I used - Cleckheaton Vintage Hues (which I vaguely recall raving about the last time I used it [yes I did - here].) And the colours are fabulous - all 1970s oranges and yellows and greens. And I'm ever so proud of myself, because it's the first garment I've knitted entirely on circular needles, the first V-neck I've ever done, and I didn't have a pattern.
The bad news is that I got the tension wrong and it's wider than it was supposed to be - so it sort of sits out around the hips. And then of course the biggie - variegated wool knitted in the round makes stripes and when you divide at the armholes the stripes get wider. I knew that, really. But when I first put it on I was a little taken aback at quite how desperately unflattering it is. The combination of wide horizontal stripes, bulky wool, and one narrow stripe that somehow appeared right in the middle makes my bosom look huger and droopier than ever. So attractive.
Good job really that I don't much care! It's lovely and cosy and warm and I've been wearing it quite happily - I just avoid mirrors while I've got it on.
In other knitting news I started a cardigan for Jess on Monday and finished it today - six days! Yay for huge needles! I say finished, although it hasn't yet got buttons, but I don't have any buttons to sew on and I figure since I still haven't done the buttons on the Sunrise thing...
It's based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater - and it fits beautifully. And I'm three quarters of the way through a jumper for Katie (again EZ's seamless sweater) but that's on 4mm needles so it'll take a little longer.And now I'm off to bed... Back in September I guess! :)
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