Tuesday - August 12, 2008
Quick update
As soon as I got home, I pulled out the extra yarn from the Orange ARan. No mysterious breaks on the spare, except one that had been knotted back together. I'm putting this one down as because of the basket.
Saturday - November 24, 2007
Changing pictures and giving thanks
Well, Caleb and I went down to Baltimore for Thanksgiving this week. His parents and one of my aunts joined us for the meal, and my sister-in-law's parents and brothers came for pie.
We had a computer slideshow of past Thanksgivings going at one point, and my dad took a picture of everyone who was there right before pie. The people in this picture are different from the people who were in the pictures from previous years; some have died, some were at other family gatherings, and even those who have been in the pictures are different people than we once were. We've also added a lot of new people to our family. I'm thankful to have and to have had so many wonderful people in my family.
And for some knitting content, the Orange Aran, which I worked on on the way to and from Baltimore:
Saturday - November 10, 2007
Actual progress!
I cast on, paying attention to my gauge swatch, last night before going to dinner. I ended up using the needles the pattern calls for, not the ones I'd used, so it was actually good that I ripped out so many times.
Here's what I have from working on it so far:
I'd forgotten how much I love cables. There's something so wonderful about the calm reordering of the stitches into the patterns. I'm getting my eye for reading cables back as well, which is nice.
Additionally, after working with lace, socks, and sweaters in the round, it's nice to have something where I can make a good-sized chunk of visible progress.
I had started regraphing the graphs into one huge sixty stitch repeat, since there are two of four rows, one (or two, depending on how you count) of twelve rows, and one of twenty. Instead, though, I just went and got an extra stitch counter, so I'm keeping track of the four and twelve on one and the twenty on the other. It makes life a lot easier.
I fiddled with the RSS feed, and I hope that things are working better now.
Wednesday - November 07, 2007
I will listen to and obey my gauge swatch.
Well, I started knitting the Orange Aran over the weekend, and realized I was on the wrong needles after the third row. I then ripped it out and swatched, whereupon I found out that with the change in my gauge since I started this project, it was the right size (probably; I haven't blocked).
The whole week has been like this.
Friday - October 05, 2007
Woo-hoo!
I e-mailed the people at Shelridge, and they sent me a fully corrected pattern and were really helpful. The new chart is so much more clear, so I think I'm going to be able to get going on it more.
Wednesday - October 03, 2007
Startober
Well, it does seem to be getting near the time for me to do my yearly post on the Orange Aran. After all, Rhinebeck is approaching.
Inspired by Erica's Start-ober, I've pulled it back out. I love the yarn, the pattern is going to be glorious, and all about the sweater seems good. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I got it in 2004, I haven't gotten very far on it. The charts are confusing, so I'm rewriting them into one large chart, but that is a level of fiddly work that I'm not really looking forward to. Still, I'm plugging away on it.
In other knitting, I got the Afghans for Afghans box all sealed up to go.
Tuesday - May 02, 2006
Progress!
Chaise is coming along; I'm increasing again at
the waist shaping. I really like how it's looking.
Providence is cold, wet, and gray. It's hard to believe that it's May now. Somehow, it just isn't cotton sweater weather yet. (I guess this means that I have time to get the sweater wearable!)
Pictures to follow when the light is better.
Providence is cold, wet, and gray. It's hard to believe that it's May now. Somehow, it just isn't cotton sweater weather yet. (I guess this means that I have time to get the sweater wearable!)
Pictures to follow when the light is better.
Wednesday - March 08, 2006
If at first you don't succeed...
Well, I started on the Orange Aran over the
weekend, happily casting on, counting and counting again, and then knitting the
first couple of rows, I got to the instruction to change to the larger needles.
Darn. I was already using them.
So I ripped that out and cast on again, counting and counting to make sure that I had the right number of stitches. Then I messed up on the set-up row and, while I was going back, dropped a stitch that unraveled itself from the cast on.
Darn.
Luckily, third time was the charm:
The charts are more compressed than I'd like. I started recharting the whole thing, but I'm hoping that the smaller cable panels will be obvious enough I can just follow their logic.
I really do like this sweater.
Darn. I was already using them.
So I ripped that out and cast on again, counting and counting to make sure that I had the right number of stitches. Then I messed up on the set-up row and, while I was going back, dropped a stitch that unraveled itself from the cast on.
Darn.
Luckily, third time was the charm:
The charts are more compressed than I'd like. I started recharting the whole thing, but I'm hoping that the smaller cable panels will be obvious enough I can just follow their logic.
I really do like this sweater.
Friday - September 16, 2005
Getting Ready for Rhinebeck
My mom and I are going to go to Rhinebeck again
this year. We've made the hotel reservations, and she has her plane tickets.
When I looked at our swag from last year, I realized that I've made a sweater and a part of a sweater from the pinky purple yarn, that I've knit up about an eighth of the Koigu into a scarf, and that the sock yarn is waiting, all balled up and ready, for me to finish the AFSC sweater and so get to start another portable project. My mom is steaming away on her Blueberry. I'm planning on borrowing Caleb's sheep to help teach the imperfect. Only the Orange Aran is still languishing.
My parents are in town tonight and tomorrow morning as a stopping place while they head up to Cape Cod. They took Caleb and me out to dinner, and we ended up talking about the Harlot's latest escapades (Caleb is the only one of the four of us who doesn't read her at least occasionally) among other things. After dinner, we were talking about Rhinebeck and Blueberry and my poor, untouched sweater. I dug out the pattern and the yarn to show them.
It's such pretty yarn. It's not anything like any of the colors on the website; it's like unbaked pumpkin pie and the color of a wood floor and red hair and fall days. Looking at it feels warm. And the pattern is even prettier than I'd remembered.
I was sitting here, reading the pattern as I worked on the bands of the AFSC. The Oange Aran calls for 4.5 mm needles. That's what I was using to knit the bands. Maybe, once I finished the AFSC, I could cast on for the Orange Aran as my complicated project. After all, is winter in Rhode Island really lace shawl weather?
Then, however, I realized that the ribbing is done on sixes, which are currently in my Birch. Dang. I guess I really should be responsible and finish Birch before I start a new complicated project.
But I think I might have another set of sixes somewhere...
When I looked at our swag from last year, I realized that I've made a sweater and a part of a sweater from the pinky purple yarn, that I've knit up about an eighth of the Koigu into a scarf, and that the sock yarn is waiting, all balled up and ready, for me to finish the AFSC sweater and so get to start another portable project. My mom is steaming away on her Blueberry. I'm planning on borrowing Caleb's sheep to help teach the imperfect. Only the Orange Aran is still languishing.
My parents are in town tonight and tomorrow morning as a stopping place while they head up to Cape Cod. They took Caleb and me out to dinner, and we ended up talking about the Harlot's latest escapades (Caleb is the only one of the four of us who doesn't read her at least occasionally) among other things. After dinner, we were talking about Rhinebeck and Blueberry and my poor, untouched sweater. I dug out the pattern and the yarn to show them.
It's such pretty yarn. It's not anything like any of the colors on the website; it's like unbaked pumpkin pie and the color of a wood floor and red hair and fall days. Looking at it feels warm. And the pattern is even prettier than I'd remembered.
I was sitting here, reading the pattern as I worked on the bands of the AFSC. The Oange Aran calls for 4.5 mm needles. That's what I was using to knit the bands. Maybe, once I finished the AFSC, I could cast on for the Orange Aran as my complicated project. After all, is winter in Rhode Island really lace shawl weather?
Then, however, I realized that the ribbing is done on sixes, which are currently in my Birch. Dang. I guess I really should be responsible and finish Birch before I start a new complicated project.
But I think I might have another set of sixes somewhere...