The Bunny Fairy

All heck has broken loose at work - it's that time of year. Lots of overtime, no knitting time... so, since I'm trying to keep this updated M-F, I give you a pic of The Bunny Fairy!

Report - check. Pattern - check.

March 15, 2010. Week 42. Yeah, I know, I wasn't going to keep track of the week numbers, but I still am. Sigh. And, you'll note, I have less than ten weeks to hand in my packet, or I'll have to start all over again. I did finish my pattern except for the final measurements (since I haven't blocked it yet) and report (on blocking... which was helpful, since I'm about to block stuff. This week, it's finally time to hunker down and block my swatches.

Since I don't have any photos of knitting, and photos of reports aren't terribly exciting, here's a birthday card I sent to one of my best friends last week. (Her older brother is named Brian, and we couldn't stop giggling when we found the card. We could see him doing this someday.)

Imaginary Woodlawn!!

Bonus Weekend Post!!

The knitters get to have Imaginary Rhinebeck; now the stitchers get Imaginary Woodlawn! The lovely folks of Nelly's Needlers (the group that runs the show each year) have posted photos of everything on the 'net!

Go see!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preservationnation/sets/72157623455198693/

Now I know in advance which pieces I'm hunting down and getting the information on... or, rather, saying "Sarah Leigh, can you find...?"

It's been almost a week since I started a new project, so...

Got some things finished. Got my best friend's long-overdue wedding sampler pillow door-hanger thing to her, and she loved it. (Yay!). Mailed the box of Yarn Goodies to my brother, which included this instructional swatch:


And, in a fit of yarny optimism which I'm blaming squarely on my favorite knitter-down-under, RandomKnits, I actually pulled out supplies (!) and did a proper schematic (!!) and swatched (!!!) for Girl From Auntie's Rogue Hooded Pullover (aka the Rogue Hoodie). I've had the pattern for years now, and kept *meaning* to start it, since I love it (and, let's face it, there was always the hope that I'd suddenly lose 50 pounds, which would mean it would be a much smaller, less-yarn-requiring, faster knit). Through the magic of Twitter, I learned that half a world away, someone was casting on... thus, I was compelled to follow suit. But, darnint, after the Argyle Hearts sizing disaster of Ravelympics 2010, I was going to do it RIGHT. I want to be able to wear this thing when I'm done with it!!

As there are limited options for patterns that will actually fit over my hips and understand that "big butt" doesn't mean "super-long arms", I'm getting pretty good at altering patterns to fit. So, first, I write out what the designer's sizing hints are in my "Naughty" notebook. (Hey, it was a dollar at Michael's before Christmas; I have a "Nice" one, too, but I didn't grab it when I needed something to scribble my Hello Kitty reverse pattern in. So, it's my knitting notebook now). Then, the joyous task of sizing myself, while wearing the clothes I'm going to wear under the hoodie, so the blasted thing will fit over them. This - not so fun.Then deciding which measurements can be kept honest (such as length of arms), and which should probably have more ease added. (Darn you, hips!)


Then, swatching. And measuring, and swatching again, and re-measuring, just to make sure. Looks like I get a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch, and... and I hope I wrote down the row gauge somewhere. Anyway, once I know how many inches I'm gonna get, I can actually put the sweater on graph paper. This tells me that (a) I'm short waisted, (b) I'm going to be putting the kangaroo pocket a bit higher than "normal" for comfort and (c) six skeins of yarn should be Quite Enough. I'm doing it in a lovely chocolate brown color, rather than the green I'd originally intended, because the yarn called to me. (Yarn does that, you know.) Then there was casting on.

Sunday night, during the Oscars, I cast on and managed to knit 10 rows of twisted stockinette (not bad). Sadly, Monday, I discovered that I'd somehow managed to cast on an extra FORTY stitches. Frog, frog, frog went the pretty sweater beginning. (It'll at least be quicker to reknit those 10 rows with 400 less stitches, right?) Then there was the long-tail cast on, performed twice as a not-long-enough cast on, followed by a much-too-long-tail cast on, which I deemed was just fine by me.


Then there was the knitting eight rows, and discovering the danged thing was twisted - and I KNOW it wasn't at one point, so how the heck did this happen??


Eight rows it takes to notice the dang thing is twisted. Grrr.
So, it was all frogged AGAIN, and this time, screw it. I did a cable cast on (just not being up to Yet Another too not-enough or too-much long-tail cast on), and knitted the first row back across, so there's a DEFINITE direction the stitches should be if they're not twisted.


Then I carefully put the whole thing down on the counter, and got the stitches all going the way they should before starting the second row in the round:


No way will twisting happen AGAIN.
(And it didn't. You would've heard the screams.)
Let me add that two complete frogs and several partial frogs of this sweater has resulted in a pile of chocolate brown yarn that will be an absolute bear to untangle. (Note to self: Frogging after 10pm is like feeding Gremlins. You won't like what you find in the morning.) The upside of the frogging? I was actually able to "try on" my little knitted loop before frogging, and discovered I had VASTLY overestimated the ease needed for my hips, so the rows are now a good four inches shorter than they were originally. I don't need to be wearing a hooded cabled muu-muu. So, finally, by the end of lunch on Tuesday, I had a big loop of brown stitches. This bit of knitting has the following characteristics:

1. It's the right size. The schematic will be amended accordingly.
2. It's not twisted. This means I may actually be able to keep knitting right up to the armpits this time.
3. I now have so much invested in this hoodie that there's no way I'm not finishing it by the end of April (dammit).
4. I think it's secretly laughing at me.

Anyway, knitting recommenced during commutes and lunches throughout the week. As of this morning, here's where I am:


Look! You can see the pointy bits of the knotwork started!!
There's hope I'll finish someday. (And hopefully before the Celtic festival at the end of April!)

Yarn on Thursday: Stitch Edition - The End of Strip #2

The project: Knitting all the stitches in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory.
The yarn: Anything you want. I'm using a Phentex "Monster Ball of Yarn" (32 oz. 100% acrylic), which won't block, but will give good stitch definition.
The needles: Again, whatever you want that goes with your yarn. I'm using my beloved Lantern Moon size 7s, because they're pretty.
Why this is happening: Because lots of people want to learn new stitches this year!

This week's stitches: Pavilion (#32) and Pique Triangles (#33)

Pavilion is another 36-rows-is-one-repeat pattern, and I'm getting near the end of this strip, so first, I decided to start assembling the first two strips together. Thanks to giving up buying yarn (and any other craft related things!!) for Lent, I actually had to hit my stash - and found another Pound O' Yarn in a complimentary darker green. So, I did single crochets up the back, and, once it's all assembled (meaning I've actually finished Strip #2), I'll chain down the front. I'm hoping I'll have enough of the dark green for all the seams and the entire border. A pound makes a sweater, right? So there should be enough...


wrong side view
... and then I got the thing knitted up. Since it's a pattern based off a multiple of eighteen stitches, I put six seed-stitch border stitches before and after the 18 stitches of the pattern, and at thirty-six rows, it only got one repeat. I followed it with six rows of seed stitch border for the "top" of the swatch.




Things I noticed about this pattern: As you can see, it needs blocking - I wasn't sure which photo really worked best, so you get both. It's a cool pattern, though - triangles and bars put together in a really interesting way. Needs blocking, needs blocking, needs blocking. I can see doing an entire (sweater, scarf, blanket) out of it, because it looks pretty cool on both sides. (Darn, should've taken a shot of the back).

Pique Triangles is a nice little four row pattern over a multiple of five stitches, so I set it up with five seed-stitch border stitches before and after twenty pattern stitches (four horizontal repeats). Then I knit four rows, and checked to see how close I was to the end of the strip. Then four more rows. Then four more. Then one more set of four, because I wasn't sure I had enough inches left for the strip (remember, it has to match the pink one it's being attached to) to do five repeats. So, four repeats of the pattern for a total of twenty rows. Then, to make it stand out a bit (especially since it's an "end" pattern), I did one row of border/k20 sts/border.


Things I noticed about this pattern: Reversible, but I think the front side looks prettier - like little triangular flags running along a line on a yacht. It does pull in a bit, so blocking would help. I think it might be pretty on a hat, perhaps? It's an easy-to-remember fill stitch (really, remember two stitch sequences, and switch between RS and WS when knitting them).

So, Strip #2 is almost finished. Starting on the wrong side, I did the final seed stitch border, and it ended up being seven rows. I cast off knitwise on the right side, then finished the single-crochet-up-the-back for the strips. Then I chain-stitched down the front, putting my stitches into the through-the-strips loops of dark green that resulted from the single crochet on the backs of the strips. It makes a very pretty finishing seam between the two!


What shows through from the single crochet on the back


front, with chain stitch down the seam
You know what that means - next week, back to pink, and starting on Strip #3!!!

A note on the whole project: Since there are 139 stitch patterns (some are listed under multiple headings), plus 7 different edgings in KnittingOnTheNet.com's Stitch Directory, I'll be trying to do two to three stitches a week, minimum. This should get everyone a goodly number of new stitches by the end of the year, and hopefully get me a blanket. No worries if you "fall behind" or "start late" - this is for fun & education, there isn't *really* a time limit of any sort on it. If you're just discovering this project, this link will take you to the beginning, and this link will pull up all the related entries. Just knit on, and have fun!