Well, it's time to block the swatches (finally). I've been putting it off due to a combination of worrying that once blocked, I'll discover that they all suck, and I have no hope of ever passing Level 1 and... well, mostly just discovering that they suck. Which, of course, would mean that I can't *actually* knit, and I'm just managing to fool everyone into thinking I can. So, having "saved" some old exercise machine floor mats, I coated them in clean, white (waterproof... mostly) plastic.
Then, I sorted out the swatches. My other great fear is that somehow, I'd get them mixed up - turn in "lifted increases" as "K2tog/SSK" or something. (Hey, it could happen. It *has* happened to people. This whole thing can be nervewracking.) So, staying in their little baggies with their little lables, I placed them on the blocking boards. Believe it or not, that actually took some courage.
Once that was done, it was time to get blocking. Which actually took about an hour and a half and all the stainless-steel ball-head pins I could find. Most of swatches 13-16 are pinned with lace pins - which are tiny, and easy to mistake the pointy end for the allegedly unpointy end. (Don't worry, I didn't bleed on the swatches.) But I wanted the edges square, and the cables un-squooshed, and the lace holes really open. Everything needed to look pretty. Then it was a case of setting them up somewhere I could douse them thoroughly. Completely independently of anything having to do with knitting (really), my husband recently purchased a drying rack. Which, of course, was perfect...
... and then I hit these little swatches with my trusty spray bottle, and got 'em soaked. (I love my trusty spray bottle.)
I let them dry for most of the day in the shower, then, once they weren't actively dripping, moved them to the Offical Drying Site in front of the heater vent in the living room. It was looking like we wouldn't be needing heat at all... and then Friday, the temperature plummeted, so the heat was on.
Well, as long as I was soaking things, I decided to make a two-color floppy pom-pom for The Hat. I don't actually have a pom-pom maker, but was able to make one out of the insides of a CD game - Peggle, if you're curious. If you play free online, you get ten levels, which is plenty to get addicted. If you do the free download, you get more... but then the game will stop working when you hit a certain point. Since I'm totally addicted, I got so good at the ten free levels that there wasn't really a challenge - so I went ahead and got the CD for Peggle. I also got Peggle Nights. Peggle. It's addictive. You've been warned. Anyway, it made a lovely pom-pom maker:
And a nice, two-color pom pom. I ended up hanging it off the end of my swift, which lives in the corner by the heat vent... on top of large bins of yarn... in the living room. Hm. I need to do something about that one of these days, my yarn is taking over again.
Anyway, most of the swatches look absolutely fantastic... except for swatches 1 and 2. I very, very clearly did NOT do 2.5" of ribbing for either of them, which is a shame, since the garter or stockinette part is FANTASTIC. But only having to reknit 2 out of 16? And the other 16 are DONE? That's pretty darned fantastic! I have also made up a label form that I just need to fill out:
References: Cast on: Stockinette: Lifted increase (left-slanting): Lifted increase (right-slanting): Bind off: |
So, this week, it's reknitting the two swatches, trimming and attaching the pom-pom, filling out and attaching the labes, and answering the measuring/gauge question. Then it's just finishing the writing. I can get this out the door by mid-April, right?
You're obviously amazing and don't suck!
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