fumblingwithneedles.com

I got a few good suggestions on manly-type scarves to knit for my boyfriend. So I went out and bought some gray wool, and furiously started knitting. Then we got in a huge fight, so I said screw him, frogged it, and put the yarn away. And since we still haven’t really kissed and made up, he will remain hand-knit free, thankyouverymuch.

In other less angst-y news, I recently found out that one of my best girlfriends is (FINALLY) pregnant. The very second she told me she was pregnant, I was already buying yarn in my mind. I am hoping for a little girl, because well, little girl knits are just too damn precious for words. Boy things are good, too, but well… I love pink, dammit.

So I started the First Coat by Debbie Bliss (ravelry link) from Essential Baby, but I’m not sure I like the yarn I was using (Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Bubblegum), so it’s sitting in the UFO box for now.

My crazy mormon cousin, who I don’t like very much (not because she’s mormon [well not entirely]) is also knocked up, so I figured I’d find a simple baby blanket pattern to make for her. After clicking around ravelry for about 9800 hours, I found one that was simple, and quick. I didn’t have the book with the pattern, so I figured it was easy enough to improvise.

So far, I have learned two things:

I loathe seed stitch if it’s more than a few rows.

I should never EVER knit while I’m drinking.

I don’t even know what the hell I did. It looks like I decided to start adding stitches.

Now I’m torn. I could rip back and fix that mistake, or I could just keep going, because I really don’t care if she likes it or not. She’ll probably never look at after the day I give it to her anyway. (This is why I’m so incredibly fond of this part of my family.)

Also, I’ve spent about a katrillion hours on ravelry lately looking at shawls.

God help me.

I’m supposed to be cleaning my house right now, but I don’t want to.

So. Last week, I went to visit my boyfriend in Virginia so that we could spend Valentine’s Day together.

I was stuck at Long Beach Airport with a fog delay, so I decided to take out my knitting. The guy next to me, who was annoying the SHIT OUT OF ME with his cell phone said, “Are you allowed to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Knit. At the airport.”

“Well, they let me through security, so I’m going to say yeah, it’s ok.”

“I didn’t think you could bring knitting needles with you. Aren’t they very sharp?”

“Well, they’re wood, not metal, and no, they’re not sharp. That pen in your hand is probably as sharp as my needle. Like I said, I got through security. And there’s a woman knitting down there, too. People are allowed to knit on planes now.”

“WELL. I didn’t know THAT.”

Dude, if fucking Al Qaeda is going to take down a JetBlue flight, it’s not going to be with a knitting needle.

(This is why I hate people.)

I’m still working  on the Central Park Hoodie - ok, that’s a lie - I haven’t worked on it in about two weeks. I think there’s something inside my brain that secretly doesn’t want me to finish anything, because the only thing I’ve finished is a garter stitch scarf that I made to wear to Virginia, which I of course didn’t finish until today. Four days after I got home. From Virginia. So I gave it to my sister.

When Scott (the boyfriend) met me at the airport, he was carrying this HIDEOUS Arsenal (English football team) scarf. Part of it was red and white, part of it looked like the Union Jack, part of it was black… it was just an eye sore. I love Scott. I adore this man more than I can put into words. But jesus effin christ, does he have no fashion sense. And he knows that. He loves things that are “tacky”. This scarf is beyond tacky. So I told him that I was going to knit him a scarf that didn’t make my eyes bleed.

I took to the interweb and started looking at different scarves that were more than just garter stitch. I have to tread lightly here, because he already has made a comment (though he swore up and down three months later that he never said it) that sometimes men’s knits look “a little fruity”. So I need to find something that he’ll actually WEAR.

After reading La’s post about the scarf and hat she’s making for her mom, I clicked around Hello Yarn and found this scarf, that has an X and O cable pattern. I think it’s totally adorable, and since we sign everything we write to each other with “xoxoxo”, I thought it would be cute. My problem is, I don’t know if HE will. Plus, I have a feeling it will take a while to knit with all that cabling and what not.

So, knitters, any suggestions for a quick testosterone-friendly scarf?

My poor, poor, neglected knitting blog.

Crap, I didn’t realize I haven’t updated this thing since OCTOBER. But the truth is, I haven’t been doing that much exciting knitting.

I started the Central Park Hoodie in September, knitting it furiously with the intention of having it finished so I could wear it when I went to see my boyfriend in November.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

When I realized that was not going to happen, I put it (and knitting in general) down for a few weeks. Around December, my company owner’s son talked about his organization (assisting homeless veterans) and the need for warm clothing items to hand out, so I came home and decided to make a dent in the crappy Caron One Pounders I have left from this lap blanket I made for my mom. So I made about a dozen garter-stitch scarves. I figured it would be easier (and twice as warm) and faster if I just knitted in the round and then just joined the ends of the tube with fringe.

I really thought it would use up the acrylic (I won’t use it but I refuse to get rid of it), but I swear that shit just keeps reproducing in the bag, because it’s still there.

Anyway. I have been working on the CPH. I have the back finished, and I almost have the left front finished. The front is going really fast, thanks to the pattern being easy to memorize, so I don’t need to mess with the chart every row. It’s pretty mindless as long as I remember to cable on the third row. I just need to work on it more.

I am going to finish it. I swear.

In other excited knitted item news, I received this little gem from Michelle(in addition to a Yarn Harlot book):

I have to tell you, seeing the word “hoar” in yarn brings a little tear to my eye.

I’ll update more. (No, really.)

There has been a lot of knitting going on lately, and I wish I had an actual FINISHED OBJECT to show here, but all I seem to enjoy are works in progress, and ripping those WIP right out and starting something else that will probably never get finished. But I am determined, people! Because I am going to Virginia in November, where it will be cool, so I am forcing myself to finish my CPH before then.

So far I have the ribbing on the back piece, and I’m about fifteen rows into the pattern.

I don’t know if my hacky purling skills, or this yarn, but my stitches aren’t always consistent.

I am enjoying the cabling pattern, and it’s moving along nicely (I don’t have any pictures of the cables yet).

I’ve also been attempting to make my mom’s little dog Mackenzie a hooded sweater, but mostly it just looks like I’m making a pair of panties.

I’ve discovered that I’ve been knitting the size for a smaller dog (that, and Mackenzie has grown since I started this thing), so it’s likely going to be ripped out and I’ll save the yarn for something else. It’s KnitPicks Swish Superwash, and I like it. I think the color is called “bubblegum” or something.

My friend’s birthday is coming up soon, so I thought it would be fun to try a SIMPLE lace shawl pattern for her. She and her husband are mystified by knitting. They watched me knit a hat one night, and I thought they were going to lose their minds. Her husband, DB, is fascinated by circular needles, and the difference between them and straights. We had a strange and lengthy conversation about them, and wood vs. metal the other night. I’m hoping that means a set of either the KnitPicks Options needles or the new Harmony set will be gifted to me for my birthday (especially since he ASKED me how to spell “knitpicks”). That would be nice.

Anyway. Back to the lace. I was reading one of my knitting blogs, and saw that the Forest Canopy Shawl was good for beginners, so I thought I’d give it a try. I bought the pattern, and then I bought some laceweight yarn. Well, I don’t think I have to tell you that this didn’t go well. It’t not the pattern was too hard, but the lace was a much finer weight than I’m used to with size eight needles. I can do tiny yarn with tiny needles, but not tiny yarn with bigger needles.

So I was telling my dilemma to La, and she suggested that I try a heavier yarn, and directed me to Elann’s Baby Cashmere. I ordered it, and after I stopped petting it and rubbing it on my face, I started knitting it.

And, while my lace didn’t look perfect, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for not being completely clueless.

Then as I tried to flatten out the yarn for the picture, I saw this:

I dropped like, three stitches many rows below where I was. I was not happy. So I started ripping. And before I knew it, all of it was gone. I really should learn to just put the yarn aside for a while until my frustration goes away instead of just instantly ripping. Anyhoo, I realized that there was no way I’d get the shawl done in time anyway, so I started looking around at smaller projects, and thought of a scarf with the feather and fan pattern. Using the same yarn, I started knitting it with size seven needles, and what I got doesn’t look anything like the pictures I’ve seen on Ravelry.

The patterns between the yarn-overs aren’t showing, and I don’t know if it’s the needle size or what. I don’t know if I should abandon this or keep knitting, hoping that a miracle will occur during blocking and it will magically be beautiful, and you can see the pattern. I’m not too worried about ripping this one out, because it’s an easy pattern, and it’s pretty quick, so I have time to start it over. I just need to know how to make it look like it’s supposed to.

Any and all advice is welcomed.

I started my first sock!

This is some Lorna’s Laces Sheperd Sock yarn I swiped from a girl in my local knitting group who was purging her stash. I got one skein from her, and already had two skeins of the same colorway (Iris Garden, I think is the name) that I bought before. I LOVE THIS YARN.

I love the colors (pink and purple are my favorite colors), and I love how the colors are striping in a large spiral pattern.

Since I loathe the DPNs (oh, how I do), I had a girl in my knitting group show me how to cast on using the magic loop method, and I have to tell you - I AM IN LOVE WITH THE MAGIC LOOP.

I increased too many times and ended up with something almost big enough to be a baby hat (seriously, what is my problem?), so I ended up having to rip out a lot of rows. I was making some good progress after that, and realized I made a stitch on one side by doing an accidental yarn over, which created a hole. And me, being the ditz knitter that I am, I didn’t notice this until about, oh, fifteen rows up. So again, I ripped.

I guess it’s a good thing I don’t mind ripping back and starting again.

I have this feeling I’m going to become of those knitters who has a thousand WIPs and no FOs. Especially since I’ve found about a dozen patterns this week that I want to start, including the Central Park Hoodie, a shawl (god help me), and a totally adorable hooded sweater that I’m going to make for my Mom’s spastic little dog Mackenzie.

And oh yeah - a second sock.

In my last entry, I wrote about the frustration of reading charts, and keeping all of the changes in the pattern accurate.

I made some notes on the side of the chart, and color-coded the different cabling patterns, and all was going well. When I saw the cable patterns emerging in my work, I almost lost my mind with excitement. Luckily, I was at work, so I maintained a little composure, but inside I was ecstatic. This was a big moment for me.

Now, if you look closely at that picture, you’ll see that the cable on the left isn’t quite right. That’s because while I was knitting on my lunch break at work on Friday, the jerks I work with kept bugging me, and I had one stitch left at the end of the row. So I went back, and figured out that I didn’t do a knit stitch before the first twisted stitches, so I tried tinking back.

Have I mentioned that I have no idea how to tink back with cables? Because I don’t. I did my best to figure out all those twisted stitches and get them back in order, but at some point I dropped one of them.

So now I’m left with a gap at the top of the cable, and it looks like I dropped the stitch. And I have no idea how to pick it up when it’s part of a cable stitch.

I really wish my neighbor was a knitter instead of pantsless psychopath (I’ll go into that later in my other non-knitting blog.) so that I could run over there for help in these sort of situations.

SO. Where were we when last I updated? Oh, yes, I was cranky and mad and yelling at my knitting.

I found some circulars in size 7 at the LYS by my office, so I got back on the hat horse, determined to make it work this time.

I started working, and paid VERY CLOSE attention to the pattern AND to my work, so that I wouldn’t honk it up and have to start all over again.

My best friend Kay called me and told me that they were getting some boxing thing on pay-per-view, and invited me over. I don’t care about boxing (sorry, but if a bunch of hillbillies aren’t making left turns for four or five hours, I’m just not interested), but I decided to go and took my knitting with me.

I should not have done that. I switched the yarn over to the DPNs alright (though, it was very very awkward, I’ll admit), and placed my markers in all the right places, and was very dilligent to follow the pattern for the decreases. About five minutes later, not realizing I had been talking, watching TV, dodging insane 2 year-olds who were trying to steal the pointy objects from my hands, and just generally not paying attention, I had totally fucked it up. There were more stitches on one needle than the others, I didn’t know what row I was on… it was a mess. BUT. I was not ripping back again, and I was past the point of correction, so I decided screw it, let’s finish this bitch and see what happens.

 Well, this is what happened:

Um. Yeah.

So I decided to work the pattern again, and this time it will look less sloppy. I am determined.

Dammit.

Also, to those who are interested, my other blog is here.

I don’t know what the deal is with this theme, but half the time it won’t let me post pictures, so I’m going to try and use my flickr account instead.

My boyfriend was visiting last week, so I didn’t do much knitting (but I did a lot of something else, ahem). I’m making some progress now on the bag. It’s about half-way done.

I haven’t gone to my knitting group in what feels like forever. I missed two meetings because the boyfriend was here, and then I had car trouble, and now my car is conspiring to keep me away from today’s meet-up as well. Stupid car.

This is one of the pictures I tried to post a few weeks ago, but couldn’t.

I love the colors on this scarf so much that I want to wear it every day, even though it’s not cold here. My only complaint is that it’s a little scratchier than I thought. Maybe I need to wash it again? I don’t know. But it’s pretty. There are a few flaws here and there, but I really like it.

I wish my dad would get here and fix my dumb car.

I’m beginning to regret that whole felted bag idea. Mostly because I’ve cast on THREE TIMES, and I can not seem to get it right. I keep twisting my stitches, and I’ve started over many times. I work to make sure I don’t twist them when I start the second row, but I notice after I’ve joined them, and it’s all one circle, that’s when it gets all honked up. Please please PLEASE offer me any tips and/or advice on how to not do this. Do I need longer circulars? Do I need to be less retarded?

Seriously. WTF?

Man, I really need a new coffee table.

I’ve been knitting like crazy this week. I found this yarn at Michael’s a few weeks ago. It’s Patons SWS, and it’s so soft and yummy I want to dip it in frosting and eat it.

Please don’t look too closely at the scarf I’m working on, because then you’ll see where I worked in the new yarn at the end of a row making it stick out and look not-so-great. But this is for me, and I love the colors so much that I just don’t give a crap about imperfections right now. It adds character, right?

Pretty soon I’m going to need to break out of my knit-stitch-squares-and-rectangles phase and try something else. There’s a woman in my knitting group, Bonnie, who swears there’s this hat that I need to make, and that it’s SO EASY I just HAVE TO DO IT. She’s a lovely woman, but I think she over-estimates my abilities.

Saturday, I’m going to hang out with a knitting group that Wen invited me to. I didn’t answer the e-vite for a few days, because I tried like crazy to talk myself out of going into a room full of total strangers with all my weird hang-ups about going anywhere I don’t know. But then I said screw it, and decided to get over it, and hope that I can distract the ladies from my hacky knitting skills with my milk/white chocolate marble fudge.

Because fudge is good.