Indecisive

I'm having a hard time getting anything started. That's part of why I signed up for the Knitting Olympics - without the eXtreme pressure of Christmas knitting, it's hard for me to get motivated. Plus, you know, life. Pssht.

So instead of the scarf that I'm just resisting for some reason, I went ahead and cast on for the Pi shawl/baby blanket. I really need to stop doing projects that grow as you do them - they're very psychologically discouraging. I need to do top-down shawls or something. But the Pi's fun so far, anyway. I'm using the version from Knitters Best of Shawls and Scarves, and it really is easy. My friend (whose baby the blanket is for) is having some problems, and it helps me to send her positive thoughts. Anyway - here it is, up to the first lace chart:

Olympic Knitting!

I've entered myself in the junior sweater competition. Yarn Harlot has a new challenge up, and it sounds like fun.

I'm going to knit Tubey. Probably. Depending on where my other projects are at the time. I may go with the lace baby blanket instead, but I'm almost certain I can do that in 16 days, and the Tubey I'm not so confident about.

I did buy my first ball of yarn. I hope I like what I've planned for the colors - I'm going with that AC Moore Luxury stuff, in Sky, Denim, Magenta (or was it Plum?), Brown, and Black. And my mom lives somewhere with a Michael's, so she's in charge of procuring the black - she can get two balls a week at the 40% off. So that's my plan.

I finished my first MK swatch, and am most of the way through the second. The plan was to work on it this morning, but Stuff Came Up (tm). So hopefully I'll get to finish it this afternoon. These swatches are harder than they seem like they should be. I've learned two different new cast-ons, and I now know three ways to purl. I'm going with combined on the swatches, but I can't really tell that it makes a difference. (Well, maybe. I should do one swatch "regular" to see, but I feel like I don't have time.) For some reason, there's one visible line in the stockinette part of this swatch. I don't know why. I may rip and redo. Blast!

FOtopia!

First, the scarf. Did I even mention I was making this? I got the pattern here and it's the two skeins of Kureyon my knitswap buddy sent. I should try to take another picture - it really does have colors, not just black blobs. And it took me like two days to make and then two weeks to weave in the TWO tails. I suck. But I get to wear it tomorrow!



This is the cabled hat. I should have taken a picture on a head, but this was like ten seconds before I ran out of the house to give it to the recipient. He didn't like it. Too girly? Dunno - I thought it looked better on, but I can definitely understand thinking I'm a freak for making it. Originally got the yarn for the Lion costume, but it was too orange, so no great loss. The pattern was really fun - of course I waited too long to write it out, so now I'd have to refigure it all. I remember it involved casting on 42, and the cable is 9 stitches wide and 1 for the turning (purl) row and the short row part goes from 32-16 and back. Should be enough to recreate it, I think. Oh, and the yarn is Plymouth Encore. Don't remember what size needles - probably 7 or 8 US?



The "Batman Begins" shawl(ette). Finished it this afternoon. The total stitch count was 140ish, I think - I had enough yarn to go one or two repeats bigger but got bored. It's a nice little shoulder wrap. And it makes a nice full-size working shawl for the 2-year-old!



The shawl, again. On. Demonstrating why I am not, in fact, a shawl-wearer.

Dear Internet: Please Work Better

Ok, I think I cleaned up the weird triple-posting thing.

I also found the errata for "The Best of Knitters: Shawls and Scarves". It's here: http://www.knittinguniverse.com/books/bookscorrections/shawls/shawlsscarvesweb.pdf.

And... what was the other thing? Oh, I'm trying to get to this pattern: 3 Hour Hug but it seems to be gone. And the Wayback Machine doesn't seem to be working. I just can't figure it out, and it's bugging me.

No actual knitting news - today's late opening for the LYS, so I'll get my needle/crochet hook tonight, and THEN I'll have something to say. I hope.

Hey, lookit that

Well, I'm glad I did take a little trip out to AC Moore last night. Turns out their "Luxury" is only $6/ball, so with the weekly coupon, that's only $3.60. Well, and gas. But I head out that way at least once a week anyway.

So. Now my problem is figuring out what colors to use, since they have different ones. I'm thinking two shades of purple and... something else. That's the tricky bit. I'd say green, but they don't have the shade I want. Then again, they were out of black when I went, too - maybe there are more colors they were just out of. They don't have it on their website and searching for "luxury" is pretty fruitless. (I mean, I didn't JUST search for "luxury". But adding the word to searches about yarn really doesn't help.) And it's not listed on any yarn review sites that I could see.

Oh no! More yarn shopping is called for! Alas, whatever shall I do?

I also wonder what a "knitting and crochet party" is. It's advertised at all their stores, but I haven't seen anywhere what that means.

Anyway, the other reason it was a good trip is that I got The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns with a 50% off coupon, so yay! I'm not sure if I'm regretting it or not. For a long time I've wanted Folk Bags which they sell there. And I was going to get it. But it's back with the knitting stuff, and I thought, oh, I'll look and see what they have in the book section. And they had the Handy Book, so I got that instead, being too lazy to go all the way back to the back of the store again. Dunno that I'll ever use it, but it's a nice reference to have, I think. Someday. For some reason, I was under the impression that it had more options than it actually does. And I don't even make sweaters! What was I thinking? Well, maybe it'll make a nice gift for a knitting friend.

And I had a dream that Knitty's surprise was up, and it isn't. And I'm surprised! So I guess that works.

Last night I finally got around to watching Batman Begins. And I have two projects that need proper tools before I can start them, and take a lot of concentration. So I grabbed a skein of TLC Amore that I had bought like three years ago to make a scarf out of, cast on, and started knitting. The Batman Begins Shawl! It's even black. Quite appropriate. Anyway, here's the pattern so far, such as it is:

Materials: 1 skein TLC Amore
Size 10 US circular needles - I'm using my Denises and I just stuck on the longest cord, so whatever length that is.

(KFB - knit into the front and back of the stitch)

CO 1
KFB

Begin Increase 1:
KFB, Knit across

Repeat until you have 5 stitches on the needle, then complete the Dropstitch Bit

Dropstitch Bit:
Row 1: K1, *yo 2x, K1* repeating ** across
Row 2: K the actual stitches across, dropping all the YOs off the needle. (AKA K1, *drop 2 YOs, K1* repeat ** across)

Knit 5 rows of Increase 1 followed by a Dropstitch Bit until there are 40 stitches on the needle.

This is where I decided that it was getting too pointy, and I wanted to increase the width faster than I was, so I placed 2 markers so that the 20 center stitches were between them (leaving 10 sts on each side) and switched to...

Increase 2:
Row 1-4: KFB, K to last stitch before first marker, KFB, K across
Row 5: KFB, K to last stitch, KBF (yeah. I'm not sure if knitting the back loop and then the front actually makes a difference - I mean, I KNOW it doesn't in the black boucle yarn I'm using, but I wonder if it would otherwise - but at any rate, that's what I'm doing.)

And then doing Increase 2 followed by the Dropstitch Bit. I'm up to 60 sts on the needle - I plan on making it until the yarn runs out and binding off. Great TV knitting, and I mean, I'm only looking for something to throw on around the house, so it works for that. I wouldn't use it for a night on the town or anything.

(Ok, I totally lied about placing the markers - I'm just counting stitches. But it was the easiest way I could think of to explain where I was putting the middle increases. And placing markers WOULD be a good idea, I just don't have any on me right now.)

Procrastinating?

I am not procrastinating. I just want to get this down to remember it. You know, I should just memorize the link to Tubey. I type it often enough. Anyway, I want to knit one. And my friend wants one too. But cashmerino is expensive. So the two ways I found around that:

1) WEBS has 25% off orders of $120 or more, so if we ordered the yarn for two sweaters, it'd be $6 per ball. Or if I were just making one solid-color sweater, Discount Yarn Sale has bags of 10 for $60.

2) AC Moore has a similar yarn, Luxury, for I think $6.50 (maybe $7, gotta check that). And they have 40% off coupons every weekend. So I just have to buy one ball a week for 15 weeks - if I got my mom in on the act, I could do it in 2 months. And it'll be at least that long before I have the free time to knit it anyway. Also, apparently, AC Moore will take competitor's coupons, so if you have a Michael's and/or a Joann's, you can get 3 balls a week. I don't, so I can't verify that, but it's worth looking into, I think. Dyelots? It's striped! Ha!

Now, back to that hat - it's looking MUCH better the second time around, and I'm glad I'm redoing it. Really.

Look, it's Orange!

And - the final result! This actually has very little to do with the real color, but I thought it was a pretty picture. Also, see that background? Master Hand Knit Program Level I! w00t!



Lil' K wanted to help. Since we didn't let her help wind up the yarn, she insisted on holding it for the pictures - and, hey, the color came out pretty accurately in this one. It's a little less red than that, but very close. (Of course, that's on my monitor - who knows what it looks like on yours? Hey, if we all started calling "blue" "yellow", would anyone know the difference? Like, woah, man.)



So there it is. One teensy ball of more-or-less fingering weight yarn. (I wound the two strands together and will be using both ends of the ball to knit from. Please don't tell me I should have divided it - I know, I just couldn't figure out how.) I'm having doubts about it actually making a scarf - but it is 440 yards. And both skeins were exactly the same length. So... we'll see.

(And for the record, if you need to make something for your favorite Swami, Jacquard acid dye "burnt orange" is a good way to go.)

Now, for entirely my own reference - the projects I need to finish, in order. Ish.

1. Multidirectional scarf. I would have had time to do this if KnitPicks and Dharma Trading had been a little lazier.
   
2. The cabled hat. I'm going to start from the ball I have left, but I think I may wind up frogging the existing one. Or knitting directly from it. I am lazy. Needs to be done by Saturday.
   
3. Dr. Who Scarf repair. This was the first big project I ever did, for my husband on our first wedding anniversary. I don't even know how to fix motheaten knitting, much less when I'm going to get the time to do it, but I need to find out and then make time. Yeah.
   
4. The Matthew scarf. Which needs to be done by the end of February, to be on the safe side.
   
5. The baby blanket, by sometime in April, I should check on when exactly.
   
6. Master Knitting swatches. I did one of my written questions today! The LYS was closed for the holidays, so the husband will be buying me a skein of beige Cascade 220 tomorrow.
   
7. Thrummed mittens for my mommy. These don't need to be done before next Christmas, but it's good to plan ahead.
   

So there you have it. Sweater? What unfinished sweater? Bahhhh...

Dyetastic!

Allrighty then. KnitPicks and Dharma Trading are out to get me. I ordered at lunchtime on December 28th. On December 31st, I had both packages on my doorstep, all snuggled up next to each other begging to be torn into and reveled in. Three days! Total! And I picked the cheap shipping specificially so that I'd have time to finish a couple other things before setting off on my journey into a neat new hobby!

Well, I guess I can't complain. Still. Three days! That's crazy. I have visions of picking the overnight shipping and having it delivered all Wiley E. Coyote style, before I even hit "confirm".



The yarn. It actually looks more like "sunshine" in the picture than it did in real life. I would have named it "sand", but then probably fewer people would buy it. (I did have a color card, and wonder if this was a weird batch or something - it looked yellower on the card, too).



A nice bath. Dunno if it's true or not, but one of the KnitList folks tipped me off to KnitPicks yarn sometimes having wossname oil (spinning stuff) or other random gunk in it, so I washed it first. Probably a good idea in general, even if it's not a specific KnitPicks problem.



I added the dye to the water...



...and stirred it up. The amount of dye I bought is supposed to dye two pounds of fabric, and I had about four ounces of yarn, so it was a total guess as to how much to use. (Well, I could have weighed out 1/16th of an oz., but I don't have a scale that's accurate for that small an amount.) The water turned a pretty orange, anyway.



I put in the yarn. The water was hot at this point, but not simmering yet. When it reached 180, I put in the vinegar. I kept it at about 190 for the rest of the time.



Not the greatest picture, but you can sort of see that the water is clearing at this point. This was after about 20 minutes of simmering.



A bath in Synthropol. I'm kind of scared of this stuff. I don't know that I'll use it again.



Rinsed out the Synthropol. I'm a little worried that the water still isn't running clear, but with every rinse I notice that the cotton ties I used on the skeins are lightening, so I hope that the loose dye is only coming from them. If there really is a problem, I should be able to fix it once it's knitted up. I hope, anyway.

Now I'm waiting for the laundry to finish so I can use the washer to spin out the yarn, and I'll lay it out to dry. If the color looks anything like I expect it to, it'll be perfect! (It was Jacquard Acid Dye "burnt orange". I suspect "pumpkin" might have been even better, but I expected the yellow to have an effect on the final color. Of course, it was so light, it probably didn't - we will see, I suppose.)

Book Review - Stahman's Shawls and Scarves

Just before Christmas, the LYS called me up and left a message. "Stahman's Shawls and Scarves is in. We'll hold it for a week before sending it back." Indeed? Of course, the very next message was the same woman, very apologetically - "Oh, I see you put a deposit down. We'll hold this until you come pick it up." That's better. No sending my $30 book back! (Although I see Amazon has it for the bargain price of $50. Go with your LYS!)

In general, I'm happy with it. I'm not a shawl person, really, but I burn with desire to make one. Why? Dunno. The challenge, I suppose. And everyone says that this is THE book, and the stuff on the Faroese shawls seems interesting, even though I know I won't really understand it until I try.

But... I just don't think she's a very good writer. So it's kind of hard to get into. (Yes, I understand that it's mostly patterns. But the other stuff is important too, and that's what I'm talking about.) Anyway, when I do force myself to sit down and read it, I learn things. And if you want to knit this type of shawl, I think it's definitely worth the price.

The seaman's scarf parts - look, I've designed one before. They're not complicated. They're more... the exact opposite of complicated. But somehow, her description makes them sound a lot more bewildering than they really are. Which is a problem with a lot of "how-to" books - it's a lot easier to show someone than to tell them, and not everyone has the knack of telling. You get so caught up in teaching every detail, you make it sound ten thousand times harder than it is, and you just confuse your student. I did learn two tricks about seaman's scarves, at least one of which I will definitely try. So she definitely has information I don't - I just wish she disseminated it more clearly.

As far as I can tell (not having knit any yet), the patterns are well done, though, and that's really what you're paying for, right? The charts seem clear and easy to understand. I haven't searched for errata yet - ok, that's not bad. The Robert Scarf apparently has an error, but I wasn't going to make that one anyway. Of course, the one I am going to make is freely available on the web, but if I'd just used the pattern I wouldn't have all that other useful information.

Bottom line: if you want to learn to make faroese shawls, buy this book. Otherwise, a more general shawl book might be indicated. (I'm really happy with Knitter's Magazine's Shawls and Scarves which has a Myrna Stahman article/pattern in it but also has a lengthy errata page that I cannot for the life of me find right now. Definitely find it before trying to knit anything from it.)

Christmas Goodies

Apologies in advance for the massive post this is about to become. Hey, I even broke it up some!

My wonderful knit-swap buddy sent me two skeins of silky wool and two of Noro Kuryeon, which is something I've always been curious about but have never had the chance to try. And it's like she read my mind about favorite colors, which is very cool. She also sent me a handy booklet thingy that has estimate yardages for a variety of projects - I always just use the display ones they have at the LYS, but it'll be more polite to have my own.

My mom apparently just went down my wishlist and gave me EVERYTHING on it. The six-skein knitter's tote (which is ENORMOUS. And quite heavy. So it's more of a storage system than a tote, but if I ever fly anywhere by myself, I've got it covered.) and the Boye Needlemaster set and membership in TKGA and a subscription to Creative Knitting magazine (I'm glad she didn't get me IK, I'm still mad at them) and and and... whew. And she got my aunts and uncles together to get me the first level of the Master Hand Knitting program, which is nifty.

My husband's grandmother sent me the Denise Interchangables. And she passed away between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it's been kind of an emotional time for us (putting it mildly). And now I have these needles, and knitting with them makes me think of her. She was an amazing person, and while I don't think she'd actually like me getting all gooey over it, they really are special to me. I don't have the way with words I'd need to really express it properly, sorry.

I may be able to do a better job with explaining the next thing. My cousin gave me a gift certificate, which I spent on yarn to make a baby blanket for an expectant friend. (Dear Friend: I'm sorry, the obsessive need to document trumps surprising you. Please stop reading now if you don't want to find out more!) But hey, didn't you want to get that spendy alpaca handpaint? Well, yeah, but I also want to make this blanket. Am I regifting my Christmas present? I don't think so. I still get the joy of picking out a pattern and knitting the thing and using a yarn I wouldn't normally use (fiber snobbery be damned, baby blankets need to be washable!) and giving the present. Which is way more pleasure than I would get just making something for myself. Besides, I have UFOs I need to finish for myself - if I knit for OTHER people, I can start new projects guilt-free.

Speaking of other projects - I ordered KnitPicks' alpaca cloud to knit the Matthew scarf. But it needs to be orange. So I got the "sunshine" (which is much paler than it looks on the website) and some burnt orange dye and I'll be going to town. I've never dyed anything before, so I'm a little nervous, but I have faith that it will work out. (Alison Hyde was very reassuring about the whole thing!) And I was pleasantly surprised - I placed both of these orders at lunchtime, and by this evening I had both shipping confirmations in my inbox. These folks work fast! It is kind of a bummer that I'm spending almost as much on shipping as I am on yarn/dye, but even with that, it's still not going to be a terribly expensive project.

And I don't want them to go too fast - I need to finish Yet Another Hat before I get into another WIP. And at some point I'll probably yammer on about the Stahman book, but today I've gone on long enough, no?

Recycled Silk Hat

FO time - The Three-Month Hat. (Total knitting time: what, like four hours? Sheesh.) It's yet another Tychus, of course. Like I've said before, the recycled silk just does not photograph well. The flash doesn't help, of course. But it's finished, and I like it, and I'm wearing it right now. Now - matching wristwarmers (original idea) or huge heavy scarf? It is a dilemma...



I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting this picture. Bizarre self-portrait contortions aside, you still can't really appreciate how neat this hat looks in person. It's also a lot bigger than it was last night. So I guess it'll be a good thing to have a record of when it's large enough for me and three of my closest friends.

Percy Protocol

It occurred to me that this should be in a separate post, so hey. Here it is!

Ok, so I am completely lame and can't figure out how to post a gift pattern to the Knitlist so here's the slightly-more-verbose version of Percy:

Materials:
1 ball Bernat Disco (13sts/18 rows = 4") (shown in Aqua Velvet)
Small piece of fabric - I bought a 1/4 yard remnant of pink satin-ish nylon and had a ton left over. 1/8 yard is more than enough if you're buying off the bolt.
2 large googly eyes
scraps of felt
one purse handle - I had a random acrylic one, but you can get much nicer ones online.
miscellaneous: hot glue, sewing needle, thread, embroidery needle for finishing
Needles: US10.5 circular - I use a long one and magic loop, but whatever length you need for a 10" diameter piece.

Percy is 6" wide by 5" tall.

1. CO 40 sts, join (being careful not to twist)
2. knit in round until tube is 5" tall
3. BO 20 sts.
4. Knit remaining sts back and forth in stockinette for 5"
5. BO remaining sts.
6. Sew up bottom opening and turn inside-out (purl side is RS).
7. Attach eyes - cut small circles of felt, sew in appropriate place on flap. Hot glue eyes to felt.
8. Attach handle according to type of handle purchased. Because the one I had was not meant for this type of purse, I cut a very thin dowel to the width of the purse and sewed the handle to it through the fabric (dowel inside purse, handle outside). This gave it enough structure to support the bag, and the lining covers the dowel.
9. Line. I accomplished this by handing it to my mother, but if she's not around, cut the fabric to the outer dimensions of the purse and hem all around until it fits inside. Fold into thirds, and sew the bottom third to the middle third, making it the same shape as the bag. Then hand-sew to the inside of the purse.

Shawl Sharing, Tiny Tychus

Two pics of me modelling the finished shawl. Still haven't given it to the intended recipient yet, but oh well. I think it turned out fairly well - again, I'd do more repeats for less length if I were to do it again, but I still like it. And of course I can point to every, um, design feature in it.

Also, a quickie FO - on Friday, I decided to give my husband a hat for Christmas. I had made him a Tychus, which he claimed to like but also complained that it was too warm. So I had a leftover ball of black Baby Ull (and we all know my feelings about that, but I really like the guy) so I made another one using it. Cast on 60 sts. and short-rowed down to 32, which is a LOT of knit stitches. And I finished on Saturday. So now my shoulder kinda hurts AND he has a hat that looks like he got it for $1.50 down at the gas station! But it is 100% wool, so there's that.

FO! YAY! (Diamond Shawl)

Yes, I am a Super Genius indeed. Of course I chose a pink background to photograph a peach-colored shawl on. Well, I didn't so much choose it as just not want to disturb it after laying it out to block and then thinking I needed a photo.

Anyway. It's done! Hooray! Now all it needs to do is dry. The person it's for does so much for everyone; I hope she'll take it as something nice for herself. Unless she doesn't like it. Or is allergic to alpaca. My goodness, I hope not. ANYway. As long as it doesn't end up as a carwash rag, I'm happy.

Interweave Knits = TEH SUCK

All right. I just have to bind off and (two weeks after I wanted it done, a week after I thought it would actually be done) I'm finished the shawl. So I figured I could take 10 and finally update this silly thing.

And the very first thing I have to do is express how much I dislike Interweave Knits. I bought their stupid magazine, after waiting months, just because I wanted ONE PATTERN. One pattern that, even at the beginning of the month when I checked publication dates, they were still claiming they were going to print in their worthless rag. So I went to the bookstore - husband and baby waited in the car, I grabbed the mag and left. (Um, yes, I did stop and pay for it first. Sheesh.)

Did they publish the pattern? No, of course not. They put ONE SENTENCE about how you could see the winners of the Scarf Style contest on their website. No mention of how they'd been promising to publish them for a year.

So I figured, well, it's not a complete waste of $7, right? I'll look at the rest of the magazine. Ew, that's really ugly. That's awful. Why would anyone knit THAT? Oh, that's ok, but it'd look awful on me. Ugly, ugly, nasty, ugly, insane... hey, those socks are nice! Oh, they're only listed in one size? Well, they're not nice enough for me to get out the calculator, really. Ugly, ugly, icky, bleah. Advertisements. The end.

So I spent money I don't have on a magazine I don't want, and it makes me angry. I sent them a letter expressing my disappointment, but of course they haven't responded. Why should they? The suckering is complete, my cash is theirs, they don't need to have anything else to do with me.

And now I have to find yet more cash to buy the pattern I wanted. Whenever it becomes available. If it ever does. Anyway. If you'd like to see a really cool scarf that I will never actually be able to make, you can check it out in the designer's blog - http://redthreadsblog.blogspot.com/. (The Chinese Luck Dragon scarf.)

Five Ninths!

The shawl is 5/9 done. A little bit more than that. If I were to knit it again (which I won't, not because I don't like it but because 80% of the fun of knitting for me is figuring out a new pattern and I've had this one memorized for awhile now) I'd make it a repeat wider across and then less long. Because it is coming out much more like a double-wide scarf than a shawl. I know, I know, blocking. But I don't usually knit big things, how can I not be nervous?

I can't wait to finish. There is a lot of upheaval in my life right now; knitting this thing is keeping me focused. But at the same time - one of the things I'm focused on is how much I want to give it to the recipient. I hope she likes it. I'm trying so hard to knit it detachedly - ego-free, I guess. It's hard. Really hard. But I guess it's an interesting mental puzzle. I've made measurable progress, though, which is pretty neat. I still can't get over hoping she doesn't give it away, though. More work necessary.

I haven't worked on anything else. In fact, for two days I couldn't knit at all - I had to tink everything I attempted. But I think today I'll be able to get some good time in. I hope to have it finished by the weekend and then maybe, just maybe, I will have time to do everyone else's presents.

Notes to Self:

Two notes to self:

1) Bernat Disco is 13sts/18 rows = 4" on US10.5 needles. Percy is 6" wide by 5" tall. So, basically, the pattern is CO 40, join, knit in round for 5". BO 20 sts. Knit remaining sts back and forth in stockinette for 5", BO. Turn inside-out - purl is RS. Sew up bottom. Attach eyes - cut small circles of felt, sew in appropriate place. Hot glue eyes to felt. Attach handle. Line. I'll write that out better later, but I wanted to note it down while I could still remember.

2) Create pattern for Mommy Mittens. Yeah, in my ample spare time.

Percy

Actual post to follow - just wanted to get the pictures up while I was thinking about it.

Stitch Markers

Well, I'm bummed. I actually have a chance to knit, and I left the next ball of yarn at home. So. No more knitting. But I am one third of the way done, so that's cool. (Of course, I want to start another project - and I was really counting on using this afternoon to catch up on this one. Bah.)

So this pattern has a repeat of 12 stitches, and I'm using stitch markers after each repeat, because I can just about manage to count to 12, but 72? No, probably not. But there are three rows where the repeat is shifted, and there's a sl-k2tog-psso at the end so I can't just mentally shift the repeat over a bit. So whenever I'm moving the counter back and forth (because otherwise it would get buried in the k2tog) I get annoyed, and I think, why am I using stitch counters? It's wasting so much time! But then I remember, oh yeah, doing this little manouver three out of twenty rows takes way, way less time than ripping back every time I mess up.

So it's worth it. (But, see, I'm not making any drastic mistakes, because I'm using the markers, so I think, well, I don't make drastic mistakes, what do I need these silly markers for?) So I need to keep reminding myself.

Self? You need markers. Continue to use them. Thanks.

Home Again

Well, back from Texas mostly in one piece. I'm about a third of the way done with the shawl - well, it will be a third once I finish this ball of yarn. So, ok, more like a quarter. It's a little panic-inducing with how crazy it's gotten at work, but I will definitely be able to finish it, if not anything else, for Christmas.

The lace wristlets are almost done. I need to finish them tonight since I think my husband will be seeing the person they're for tomorrow. And it would be nice to get them out of the way.

And I really want to finish my hat. But who has time for that?

The diamond lace is pretty easy. It's taken me up to this repeat to really *get* it, but I think I do now. I only have to glance at the pattern, and I think one or two more repeats and I won't even need that. There's one spot where I messed up the center of a diamond pretty badly, but I think once it's blocked, you won't be able to tell. (I guess not that badly, then. But it irks me, since I worked really really hard to fix it, and you can still tell where it is.)

So, here is my Christmas gift to you, Internet - a quick, handknit present for the random giftees in your life. Get one of those cardboard coffee cup insulator thingies from your local coffee shop. Knit a tube about that size - you can make it a little bigger than the narrow end and not bother with shaping. Enclose a gift card from said coffee shop. Hey, it's what all the people I can't think what to get are getting this year - quick, easy, uses up scrap yarn, and slightly more thoughtful than "just" a gift card. (What, some people don't drink coffee? Um, ok, you can make a bookmark to give with a book gift card? A cellphone cozy with a prepaid minutes card? Oh, the possibilities, they make my head swim.)

And that reminds me, I promised my husband I would knit him a camera cozy for our spiffy new digital camera (early Christmas present from the in-laws, whoohoo!) I wonder what color it would like?